Hidden Heart (Love Is The Law 1) Read Online Free

and you have an iron bar in your hand and you
smack them on the back of the neck to make them stop… and they hit the deck,
and bam! You're the criminal now. We all have our triggers. We could all
kill. Those are the interesting men. The low-life habitual criminals, the ones
who rob old grannies and treat prison like a three-times-a-year holiday camp, fuck them. I have nothing in common with them, and nor do you. But the lifers
are the ones with the stories, and they have had a lot of time to think."
    "Maybe I should be
interviewing them."
    "You should." Turner
sat forward, passion on his face. "I've met guys who've ended up serving
ten, twenty years just for one random mistake as a young man. Their whole life is now fucked. They get to open prison, try to rehabilitate, but how can they?
The world has changed. When these fellas were sent down, there were no mobile
phones. No internet. Life was different. I've seen big hard men go off on a
town visit and come back shaking - everything seems too fast for them, too
loud, too scary. You have no idea. I have no idea. God, Emily, those are
the men to talk to."
    "Except I can't. They're in
prison."
    "And they get to a point
they don't want to leave."
    Turner had shuffled to the edge
of his seat, but as his energy subsided he sat back, and Emily pursed her lips,
thinking hard.
    "Okay," she said at
last. "Yes. Perhaps we could work on a story together. Maybe… I don't
know, I need to go away and think this through, but there's more than a
personal-profile interview here. We could collaborate on an expose about
sentencing, opportunities, about … everything."
    "Collaborate?" A slow
smile spread over his face and he looked almost boyish. "So there's money
in it for me. Nice one. I like that. How much?"
    Bugger. He seemed to have
disregarded her caution and just assumed it was all set to go.
    Perhaps there was something in
it. Emily found that her heart was racing as his passion for his topic had
infected her, and she was raring to get started - on something. Quite what her
focus was, she didn't know, but his energy was compelling. "Well, like I
said, I don't have an actual commission yet…"
    "But you will. That's what
you do, isn't it?"
    Trying to explain the precarious
freelance life was always hard. Her parents still hadn't got their heads around
it, and Turner looked to be no different. "I will, yes…"
    "Are you sure?"
    Nope. She should make it
really plain that it was a long shot.  "Yes, of course. But I can't
promise any money until I have a definite yes from somewhere."
    "Halves."
    "Um…"
    He shrugged. "Those are my
terms."
    It didn't work like this. It
wasn't supposed to. She needed the money and if she did get a commission,
she needed all the money.
    But it looked like he needed the
cash, too.
    "Okay."
    "Sweet."
    They stared at each other for a
moment in silence. The money issue had thrown Emily slightly, and she fiddled
with her bag again, before standing up and extending her hand. "Thank you
very much for your time, Turner. I think we'll work well together. I'm looking
forward to it."
    He stood too, towering over her.
He was relaxed but it was still unnerving to remember he was recently out of
prison, and capable of anything. "So what's next?"
    "I need to find a
commission. And I've got to do some research, so I can find a good angle, and
that's where you come in. If you know anyone else I can interview that would be
great. I'll need your inside contacts, and your insights. I'll dig around, and
if you can dig around, great. I'll get in touch as soon as I have something
more concrete."
    "When will that be?"
    She bit back her sigh and tried
not to let her frustration sound in her voice. "Please. I don't
know."
    He, too, was holding some feeling
back - frustration? She couldn't tell. He thinned his lips briefly, and then
nodded curtly. "Okay. Okay, cool. Speak to you soon."
    "Yeah. Okay."
    Leave! She made an effort
and tore herself away from him, turning away and stalking