Visions (Cainsville #2)(99)

“There. Go ahead. Take a look.”

I shook my head. “Will Evans tried the same thing.”

“And as long as you associate with me, there will be someone who thinks it’s his duty to tell you exactly how horrible I am. Whoever Morgan hired to investigate me was certainly thorough. Every charge I’ve ever heard is here. I will rest easier if we get this over with. Clear away the rumors. Render the ammunition useless.”

I looked at him, pulled over the first pile, and began reading.

—

What did I find in those piles? Nothing worse than I’d heard. Nothing worse than I suspected. I knew Gabriel had a juvenile record for pickpocketing. I also suspected he’d continued picking pockets, along with other methods of theft, through his teen years, to support himself. He just got better at hiding it.

There were accusations of assault. Some true; most not. Again, what I’d expect. I’d seen Gabriel use his fists, but he was more comfortable intimidating with his size, as he’d done with James. There was an accusation of murder. He scoffed at that.

“Killing a business rival?” he said. “It suggests I need to eliminate an opponent to defeat him.”

“Terribly insulting,” I said.

“It is.” He paused. “Also, untrue.”

A large chunk of the file concerned his activities during college. How he paid for his degree. The rumors were that he’d dealt drugs or run an illegal gambling ring.

“I’m going with gambling,” I said. I checked the piles. “Ooh, I win. Wait. Bookmaking and usury, too? So you ran the gambling ring, took bets, and lent money?”

“You know I hate hiring help.”

I laughed. The drug dealing accusations were in the “lies and damn lies” pile. As I expected.

The biggest part of the file dealt with Gabriel’s business activities. Accusations of blackmail, extortion, bribery, intimidation . . . The list went on. The only one that he denied was judicial bribery. As for the rest . . .

“If I did those things as often as they claim, I’d never have time to actually practice law.”

“That’s why you hired me.”

A faint smile. “Perhaps.” He waved at the guilty-as-charged pile. “I’ve done them all. Just not nearly in the quantity suggested.”

That left traffic violations—guilty—and a paternity suit. The latter was in the “damn lies” pile.

“It was a setup,” he said. “I was defending one of two men charged with a series of bank robberies. They’d turned on each other. The opposing lawyer sent a young woman to seduce me in hopes of getting my files.”

“Ah. Honey trap. Let me guess. She couldn’t get the files, so the other lawyer tried blackmail instead, claiming you’d gotten the girl pregnant.”

He glanced at me.

“Ouch,” I said. “I think I just got frostbite from that look.”

“I am hardly foolish enough to fall for seduction in the first place.”

“Hey, I never said you fell for anything. It’s a freebie. No reason not to take advantage.”

“Not unless I have a shred of dignity. I’m not that desperate, Olivia.”

“And again, I didn’t say that. But okay, so you didn’t sleep with her, and she still claimed paternity. I’m guessing it didn’t get far.”

“It did not. It was merely an attempt to embarrass me professionally. I spoke to my opponent—the one who sent the girl—and suggested it would be very embarrassing if I persuaded his wife to have the baby’s DNA tested against his. He convinced the young woman to withdraw the suit.”

“I’m amused by the fact you were more offended by that accusation than the murder one.”

“I’m not disallowing the possibility that I could commit murder, under extreme circumstances. But falling into a honey trap? Unknowingly fathering a child? Absolutely not.”

“Noted. That’s it, then. All your sins laid bare.” I leaned back. “I can reciprocate if you like. I stole a Dr Pepper when I was twelve.”

His brows shot up in mock horror.

“It was an accident,” I said. “I was distracted and thought I’d paid. I still felt bad.”

He shook his head. “I suppose you smoked a cigarette once, too.”

“Twice. I had a wild youth, but I’ve overcome it. The only things I’ve done recently are lying to witnesses, trespassing, breaking and entering, and shooting people. All in the last six weeks, roughly coinciding with when I met you.”

“A coincidence.”

“Indeed.”

He reached for his now-cold coffee. He was still calm, at ease, the wall down, blue eyes as warm as they’d been earlier. James’s stunt hadn’t changed his mood. If anything, he seemed happier to have cleared the air.

Lydia buzzed, and Gabriel wrinkled his nose, not exactly resenting the intrusion but not appreciating it, either.

“That would be my ten o’clock appointment,” he said.

“Do you want me to move into the—?”

“Stay. Keep working on Cainsville. I’ll check in when I’m done.”





CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE


Last night before bed, I’d jotted down notes from my chat with Patrick. Now I wrote them out, adding questions as I went.