The Heart Heist Read Online Free Page A

prisoner. "Remember, we discussed this -- "
    Gary shook the parole officer's hand from his shoulder. "C'mon, Marty. The lady has a right to know the truth. Just what sort of animal I am." There was a note of asperity, almost bitterness, in his tone.
    "Think -- " Marty said.
    "Can it," Gary hissed. "I know what I'm doing." He turned back to Kerrin. "Listen. The truth is you have every right to be worried about my imminent arrival in your peaceful little town. Hell, I've got a record as long as your arm, lady. No. Longer," he decided, with a glance at the appendage in question. "Over ten of the past twenty years of my life have been spent in various reformatory schools, jails, and prisons. The last five of those have been right here on a felony burglary charge. If you'd looked more carefully in my file you'd have seen that I've committed over a dozen parole violations in my day. I have 'bad associates' and a 'poor early background.' They call me 'highly antisocial.' The DWP wants someone who'll think dirty, outside the box -- like a criminal."
    He paused, tilting his head at her. "Credentials. That enough for you?"
    Kerrin, shaking again, thought that they were more than enough. How could the DWP do this to her ?
    Rubbing his brow, Marty shook his head. "Gary, you know that's -- "
    "All true," Gary proclaimed. He watched Kerrin shrewdly, odd flecks of red gleaming in his eyes. "So, I get it. I'm not exactly who you want to have living next door to you in Freedom, am I?"
    "Well." Though she was trembling, Kerrin defiantly blurted out the truth. "No."
    "And you see now, that's the thing." Marty, his gaze shifting nervously between Gary and Kerrin, managed to get a word in edgewise. "The plan was for nobody in town to know Gary's, er, true identity. It would have made matters...a great deal simpler."
    This was the same lousy excuse Kerrin had heard from the DWP. Ignorance, according to them, would have been bliss.
    "Er, how did you find out?" Marty asked, apologetic.
    Kerrin's lashes lowered. She hadn't told the officials at the DWP and she wasn't about to tell Marty.
    "Oh, it doesn't matter." Gary, his elbows propped on the table, sucked in a breath through his cigarette. Balancing his chin on his knuckles, he blew out a quick stream of smoke. "There's nothing she can do about it anyway."
    Marty looked alarmed, but Gary ignored him. He glanced up at Kerrin, faintly challenging. "Is there?"
    "So you know about the DWP," she observed. "Their threats."
    Gary shrugged. "It's obvious they have something on you."
    "They'll pull out of town if they don't get their way in this."
    "Ah." There was a hint of amusement around his mouth as he took another drag. "I'm flattered."
    He would be, Kerrin thought. "The DWP said they'd close their plant in Freedom if you can't assure them it's safe. They said they'd build another one. Elsewhere."
    "Your town would die."
    Once again, he was right on the money, but Kerrin stifled her chagrin. She had to concentrate here, focus.
    When Kerrin's father had first informed her of the DWP's plans to hire a felon and put him in Freedom, she'd thought her problems were bad enough. But when the officials at the DWP had made the threat of building a new plant elsewhere, Kerrin had known she must do everything within her power to keep that from happening, including letting a prison convict into her town.
    Assuming, that was, the prison convict wanted to come.
    "So you understand that I can't challenge them," Kerrin pointed out to Gary. Slowly, she added, "But you can."
    He tilted his head, questioning.
    "You have a choice," Kerrin reminded him. "They told me so, that you didn't have to take the job, that it's voluntary." This was her only hope, the last possibility of preserving the safety and security of her home town.
    "I don't have to take it," Gary confirmed. There was suspicion in his tone. Languid before, he went positively motionless now. The smoke slowly curled up from his cigarette.
    "Well." There was a