Doin' a Dime by Vale, Lynn (learn to read activity book .txt) 📕

to do a thorough background check on all of them before I talk to them. Is two days enough time to do that with?”

Two days.

Easy.

I could have it in ten minutes if he gave me a decent computer and watched my back for enough time.

“If you give me time to access the information, I can have it all back to you pretty quickly, depending on what I find,” I said, sounding as cocky and arrogant as I knew myself to be.

Lynn’s brows widened. “Then, by all means, use this computer and get that information.”

“What’s your email and I’ll forward it all to there. And” —I slid around the desk to the computer behind it— “how far do you want me to dig?”

He wrote his email down on a Post-It note and handed it to me. I took it and pressed it at the corner of the desk.

“Seeing as these men are going to be leaving prison early along with you, I’d like to be a hundred percent sure that I’m making the right decision before I bring this same offer to them. So, in that case, go as far as you think you need to go. I don’t care about moral lines and boundaries. I want to know everything.” He took a seat in the visitor’s chair all over again and pulled a phone from his pocket. “And you have two hours to get me as much as you can. That’s as long as the warden takes for lunch.”

With that last comment, he got to work on his phone, typing things out, answering emails, and generally staying busy as to not disturb me.

First things first, though.

I did my own research on the man.

Seeing nothing of importance to indicate that he was a piece of shit or anything, satisfied that I wasn’t working with a murderer or immoral killer, I went back to work on the list of names.

There were eight of them, and I narrowed his list down to four solid, trustable candidates and sent the information to his email.

Then, because I could, I went ahead and checked up on Wyett to make sure that everything was okay on her end.

Her bank accounts looked healthy, there didn’t look to be anything wrong with her, and she was up for peer review soon at work. A hospital that was only an hour away from Souls Chapel, and thirty minutes away from my warehouse loft.

I then entered into my security system to make sure that everything was okay on the home front.

I found not only her, but my dogs, all lounging on the couch watching a movie.

She was currently balancing a glass of wine on her leg and staring at a book while she listened to the television in the background.

On the couch cushion beside her, she had a textbook opened up in front of her.

She was studying something but had taken a break.

My eyes roamed over her face, over her braless state, and then down to the panties she was wearing under one of my t-shirts.

God, she was beautiful.

And soon I could finally have what was mine.

Or, at least, I could pursue it.

We’d never discussed what would happen when I got out of prison, but over the last few years, I’d realized a few things rather quick.

One, I didn’t want to let her go.

Two, I didn’t think she would let go, either.

I just had to convince her to give us a chance before she let her logical brain get in the way.

Backing out of the feed the same way I got in, I covered all of my tracks on the computer, feeling happy as hell that I could let my brain do the things it most wanted to do again. At least, one of the things.

The other thing, my wife, would have to be done later.

If she would give me the chance.

Closing the final window and turning the computer back into ‘lock’ mode like it’d been when I arrived, I stood up.

Lynn glanced up at me, bored.

I looked down at his phone to see him already reading some of the information that I’d sent to his email.

“I narrowed your list of eight down to four,” I told him. “The other four, although basically good, have the potential for more complications than I think you’d want right now. I sent you everything I could find on all of them. Patrick Wheat, however, doesn’t really have a cyber footprint, so he’s hard to look into. You’ll want to follow up what I gave you with an in-person observation.”

Lynn stood up. “And did I check out?”

He knew that I’d look him up.

“As long as ‘Lynnwood Thatcher’ is your real name,” I said. “It was in the email that you gave me. Then again, based on the aliases that I was able to dig up using Lynnwood, chances are good that I only know half of the big picture.”

Lynn’s face flashed with a grin.

“I’m a man of many faces,” he admitted. “I’ve done a bit that I’m not proud of in my life, but ultimately, it’s all been for the greater good. I never do anything without a good reason. My moral compass is fine and working. Nothing that I do will ever blow back on y’all. I guarantee it.”

I knew that. That was why I’d done the research for him in the first place.

“Okay,” I said finally. “I’m trusting you.”

He nodded once. “After I have a chance to look through the information that you sent me, I’ll be back in touch.”

With that, he opened the door to the warden’s office and gestured toward the guard that was waiting outside, I assumed, for me.

“Thank you kindly, sir,” Lynn said to the guard. “We are through.”

The man nodded.

He was a big motherfucker and looked slightly familiar.

“You look familiar,” I admitted. “But I can’t remember why.”

“I was a professional football player,” he said. “Name’s Rome.”

He didn’t give me his last name, but he didn’t need to.

I knew as soon as he said the name ‘Rome’ who he