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“Mason Walsh?” he asked.
Mason nodded.
“I’m glad to meet you. My name is Kenneth Mathers.”
Mason had no idea who that was. The last name sounded vaguely familiar, but not enough that he could place it. “I don’t know you.”
“What about my brother? Thomas, but you might know him as Tommy.”
He shook his head. “No. Sorry. Doesn’t ring a bell.”
The suit leaned in a little. Mason looked to see if the correction officer would stop him, then did a double-take when he noticed that there was no one else in the lobby. Not the big guy who had stood near the door. Not the CO.
Interesting.
“I know you still have connections back to Hamlet—”
The name of his village caught Mason’s attention, ripping it away from the closed door. “You know about Hamlet?”
Hamlet? Did he sayHamlet?
“More than you’d guess,” agreed Mathers. “And that’s why I’m here today. I’ve exhausted all other options, and that town… that Godforsaken town… is proving more trouble than it’s worth. ‘Hamlet helps’ my damn ass.”
Pride bloomed inside of Mason. “Hamlet helps each other. Not outsiders.”
“Clearly,” Mathers said, his tone wry. “But you… you’re not an outsider.”
Mason’s laugh was low. Unamused. “Hate to mention it, but look around, Mr. Mathers. I’m stuck in here, a former deputy who was framed for not one murder, buttwo. I couldn’t be any more of an outsider.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I’ve done my research, deputy.”
“So you have.”
Mathers nodded at him. “The evidence is shoddy at best. Without it, you’d be guaranteed a mistrial and, wouldn’t you know, it seems to have been misplaced. The county doesn’t have any witnesses, any motive, anything that says you killed anyone, Mr. Walsh. Think about that while I lay out my offer, would you?”
Mason hated to get his hopes up—they’d been in the damn ground for so long now—but he couldn’t help himself. “I’m listening.”
“I need someone who knows Hamlet. Who can get around, he can help me get what I want.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?” asked Mason.
“Answers,” was Mathers’s firm response. “But you… what’s your price? To get me the answers I need… to buy your loyalty for a time… what is thatyouwant?”
That was easy. “Freedom.”
Mathers waved his hand. “Done. What else?” “I know there’s some you want.”
“You want answers,” Mason pointed out. For what, he had no clue, but if the big shot in the suit could back up everything he said—if he could get Mason out of jail—he’d do whatever was demanded of him. “So do I.”
“You want the truth.”
“Yes.”
Mathers narrows his dark blue eyes on him. “You can get those on your own. If I get you out of here, once you do this for me, you’ll have the full weight and power of Mathers Industries behind you to get you the truth. I promise that.”
Mathers Industries… was that why the name sounded so familiar? He’d never heard of the innovative tech business while he lived in Hamlet, but on the outside, Mathers was as common a company as Amazon or Apple. He just never thought that the man sitting in front of him would be an actualMathers.
Suddenly, he was eyeing the other man with a lot more interest. “What would I have to do?”
