AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alright, but you better show up. Freeman’s out of the hospital, so if you don’t get here, I’ll sic him on you.”
Corbett laughed. “Thanks for the warning, sir. I’ll be there.”
As he rummaged through a box on the counter for a coffee cup, he called Ridge.
“Hey!” Ridge greeted as he picked up the phone.
“Hey, Dawson. I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you. How’s Raven doing?”
“She’s hanging in. I wish this brother of hers would move the fuck to Siberia already, though. Makes me sick how he just seems to keep causing her more grief.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that too. So tell me about the... Yes!”
“Tell you about the yes?”
“Sorry, found what I was looking for, and a bonus.” Along with the cups, Corbett had found a canister of sugar. He liked his coffee black and sweet. “Anyway, tell me about the letter.”
“It said he got to Illinois, but he thought he was being followed, so then he went to Mexico. He promised he would keep in touch. The letter is postmarked from someplace called Matamoros.”
That triggered something in Corbett’s memory. Gilberto Sanchez was from Matamoros. “When was it mailed?”
“Hang on,” Ridge told him while he went to get the envelope. “Two days ago.”
“Alright, put the envelope in a plastic bag for me. I’m in town, so if it’s okay, I’ll swing by in an hour or two and grab it.”
“Sure, what are you doing in town?”
“Long story… for over a beer sometime in the future. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Ridge said.
When Naomi came out of the bathroom, she was dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, and she had her long hair pulled back in a ponytail. She felt better, more focused, but she was still upset. How had she not seen this coming? Ayden was truly a mastermind. She hated him even more for that, but she had to be careful. As long as Justin was still in prison, there wasn’t much she could do to the scoundrel that protected him.
“You smell good,” Corbett noted when she approached him. “I found some cups. And sugar.”
She gave him a weak smile and said, “Thanks,” before pouring herself a cup. Coffee never tasted so good. She took several long sips, inviting the warmth of the coffee into her bones. “I’m sorry about last night.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” he said. He knew she was embarrassed, but being a surprising gentleman, he tried to minimize it as much as possible. “Sit, please.” She came over to the table and sat down in the chair next to his. “Will you please tell me what’s going on? Start with how you know Ayden, and maybe throw in a little information about your brother over in Dominguez.”
Surprised, she couldn’t find the words to answer him. How did he know about Justin? She bit her lip, stuck between wanting to accuse him of investigating into her private life and letting everything she’d held in over the years come rushing out.
He hated to be the one to tell her, evident by the way he nervously ran his hand through his hair, but he explained, “It was on the news last night.”
Oh. Composing herself, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then began. “When my brother was a teenager, both of our parents passed away within two years of each other. I was at school in Boston. I... I should have been there for him.” She took another deep breath and pushed on. “My dad was in the bike business. He did restorations and worked on custom bikes. He had a shop in—”
“San Antonio,” Corbett said.
“Was that on TV too?”
“No, I’m sorry, go on.”
“He had a partner when he died. The guy brought in a lot of customers, according to my dad. My mother never liked him, but my dad and my little brother thought he was okay. When Dad died, I asked his partner, who my brother was very fond of, to look after Justin until he finished school.” Her tears returned. Unable to stop them from spilling out, she wiped them with the back of her hand. “Sorry,” she apologized before going on. “It was another mistake. A huge one that influenced the path my brother was going to take in life. My dad’s partner was a criminal. A drug dealer, a gun runner, and a racist pig.”
“Ayden Styles,” Corbett stated.
“Yes. Back then, I knew him as Christopher. By the time I found out who and what he was, Justin was so deeply involved, I couldn’t get him out. The saddest part is that he didn’t want out. He’d been taught by a master that what he was doing was okay. He was arrested a few times for petty stuff up until a few years ago, but I didn’t know the extent of what he was actually involved in. Not until he was caught holding almost an entire kilo of coke crossing the border into Mexico. Stupid kid tried to outrun the Border Patrol. He got shot and spent a month in the hospital. They offered him probation if he would tell them who he was carrying for. He refused. He’s been in prison two-and-a-half years. He’s on the downward slide now, and I think he’s ready to straighten out his life.”
“Does Ayden coerce you into defending them?”
