Inside by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online

the wall for support, she tried to decipher what was going on. “Virgil Skinner? That’s your real name?”
    He walked over and pulled the groceries inside so the door could close. “Yes.”
    As she’d guessed. “Are you…on parole?”
    “Sort of,” he admitted.
    Sort of wasn’t enough. “After sixteen years in corrections, I’ve never heard of anyone being ‘sort of’ on parole.”
    “I was exonerated in my stepfather’s killing.”
    Take another deep breath. “But…they have something else on you.”
    “Yes.”
    “What is it?”
    “What I did on the inside.”
    Oh, hell… “Are we talking murder?”
    When he didn’t respond, she knew she’d guessed correctly and the thought of that made her queasy. “I see.”
    “No, you don’t.” Bitterness oozed through those three small words, but he didn’t attempt to justify or explain his actions. He acted as if it would be futile to even try, that she wouldn’t believe him no matter what.
    He was seasoned, all right.
    Pulling the washcloth away, she studied the size of the red streak to determine how badly she’d been cut. Her injury wasn’t life-threatening, but it stung. “How long were you really in?”
    He guided the cloth back to her neck. “Fourteen years.”
    A lot more than six…. “How old are you?”
    “Thirty-two.”
    Four years younger than she was. “That means you went in when you were…eighteen.”
    “Like I told you before.”
    “So it wasn’t all lies.”
    “Not all of it.”
    He’d spent nearly half his life in prison. The tragedy of that didn’t escape her. Neither did the fact that he’d gone in as an innocent young man, wrongly accused,and been shaped into a killer. How was that for proof that the penal system wasn’t working?
    Her skirt had bunched up around her thighs. She smoothed it down, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Why did Wallace say you worked for Department 6?”
    “He used them on another investigation, and he knew they were mostly retired military with some trained civilians. He figured it would make a believable background. I certainly don’t look like a regular cop.”
    “No.” She had to clear her throat to boost the volume of her voice. “But…I still don’t understand. Why all the lies?”
    His thigh muscles contracted as he crouched in front of her. He had so much physical strength—but that wasn’t the only thing that made him intimidating. Anger, determination, even resentment, rolled off him like sweat. And, come Tuesday, she was going to be responsible for his safety and the safety of those she put him in contact with….
    He was answering her question. Yanking her gaze from his thighs, she struggled to pay closer attention.
    “We’re trying to protect the only family I have left.”
    “Your mother?”
    “I don’t claim her.”
    “Then your sister.”
    He chucked the envelope onto the desk. “Yes.”
    “Why? What do you need to protect her from?”
    “From the gang I joined when I was inside. When they realize I’m walking away, they’re going to make sure I pay, and if they can’t get to me, they’ll kill her, maybe even her children.”
    “So you’re debriefing.” Debriefing meant disassociating and divulging everything he knew about the gang to which he’d belonged. It also meant agreeing to testify.
    “Not exactly. I have nothing to say about The Crew. I’m merely trading my services for a new identity—for myself and my sister.”
    “You’re using what you learned about gangs by being a member of one to infiltrate the Hells Fury?” Where he had no loyalties.
    “Basically.”
    She searched for the knife he’d held to her throat and saw it lying in the corner of the room. “But…Wallace doesn’t trust me? Or Fischer? He felt he couldn’t confide in us?”
    “Trust entails a certain amount of…risk. I don’t take risks. Unless I have to,” he added begrudgingly.
    “So you insisted on a new identity.”
    “That’s right.”
    Apparently they cared