Once a Killer Read Online Free PDF Page B

papers from the top drawer of his cabinet. “See these?” he said, pointing to the documents now strewn across his desk.
    Michael glanced at them, but made no attempt to read them. They appeared to be a mix of newspaper cuttings and printouts from financial websites. “What are they?”
    “They’re all the deals you’ve advised on, involving public companies, in the last five years. We’ve checked them out, and there are some serious transactions here. You must be making a fortune.”
    Michael picked up a couple of the papers and scanned them, recognizing the transactions as ones on which he’d advised. “These are my deals.” He threw them back on the table. “So what?”
    Rondell gave Michael a knowing look. “Don’t tell me you haven’t worked it out yet. I thought you were an intelligent man.”
    Michael was not going to help by making this easy for Rondell. “Worked what out?”
    Rondell looked at the documents on the desk. “Can you imagine what this information would have been worth to my fund if I’d known about these deals before they happened?”
    Michael ignored the question and kept a straight face.
    “They’d have been worth millions to us,” Rondell said. “Just a little word from you at the right time, Danny Boy, and we could have traded in these stocks before the deals were announced to the market. Bam!” He slammed the desk top with his right palm. “Just like that, we’d have made a bucket-load of money.”
    “And you think I’m going to feed you information on my future deals?”
    Rondell made a pistol out of the index and middle fingers of his right hand and pointed it at Michael before making a shooting sound. “You got it.”
    “You must be crazy. That’s never going to happen.”
    “Hey. I don’t want you to think there’s nothing in this for you.” Rondell, leaned forward onto the desk again. “I’m a reasonable man. We plan to cut you into every deal. Believe me, it’ll make the money you’re earning now look like chicken feed. And the best bit is that no one will know anything about our little scheme. There’s no way anyone would connect the two of us.”
    “Why would I do anything to help you?”
    “Because you owe me.”
    “You really think I owe you something. Your mind must have been twisted up pretty badly when they locked you away.”
    “You’ll do it.”
    “Go to hell. Not only is what you’re suggesting against the law, but you’re asking me to breach the confidence of my clients. That will never happen.”
    Rondell laughed. “You really haven’t changed. You were always one to do the right thing. I guess your mother knocked that into you. But you’re forgetting one important little fact, my friend: you’ve already broken the law. You’re a convicted criminal. Remember?”
    “I’m no friend of yours, and what I did as a young child, under your influence, has nothing to do with the man I am today.”
    Rondell gave Michael a shit look. “I’m afraid it does. People like us don’t change. Not really.”
    “Don’t judge me by your standards. Some of us have climbed a long way out of the gutter.”
    “What do you think your partners would say if they learned what you did back in Chicago? Do you think any of them have a clue they’ve got a convicted killer as a partner in their prestigious firm? And think how your clients would react when they learn they’ve been working with a murderer.”
    Michael gripped his left thumb tight with his right hand. “I’m no killer.”
    “But that’s not what the records show. We were both sent away for what we did to that man, or have you conveniently blocked that out?”
    “Besides, you’d be breaking your own cover if you tried to expose my real identity.”
    “The difference is I have much less to lose. I’m not the one playing happy family up at Westport. What would Caroline say if she learned the truth about her husband? I assume she knows nothing about your real past?”
    Michael’s heart