Second Chances Read Online Free PDF

speakerphone.  The detective sounded groggy as he answered.  “Ron, you weren’t sleeping, were you?”  He asked languidly.  Without waiting for a response, he continued.  “Grab a pen and paper because I have a job for you.”
     
    The sound of crinkling paper answered him.  “How can I help you?”  Ron asked.  He was old and crusty, past the age of retirement, and the years of smoking in a car had taken their toll on him.  He coughed for a moment before he cleared his throat and said, “Go ahead.”
     
    “I need to know everything there is to know about this woman.  And I need it yesterday,” Gavin added after revealing her address. 
     
    “No name, huh?”  Ron commented.
     
    “Speak to the leasing office.  How hard can it be to get a name?  Christ,” he cursed irritated. 
     
    The old man grumbled a moment.  “I’ll take care of it, Mr. Meyers.”
     
    Gavin smiled icily.  He knew the man resented having to defer to him.  His father had first employed him some thirty years ago, and when the business was inherited, the employees were also.  “So, I’ll have everything I need by ten, I expect?”
     
    After uttering a barely audible sigh, the detective responded, “Certainly, sir.”
     
    Smugly, Gavin didn’t even respond before he pressed the button to disconnect.  He reclined in his chair contentedly.  It was good to be king.  And he most definitely ruled his corner of the world.
     

     
    The next morning at 9:55, Gavin sat glaring out his window overlooking center city, scowling.  Ron was cutting it awfully close and he hated being toyed with.  How difficult could it be to get the information he sought?  He turned, stared at the fax machine across the room on the horizontal filing cabinets and began to drum his fingers angrily on the desk.  He swore that if Ron didn’t come through for him this time, he would fire him.  Forget about all those years of faithful service.  The one time he truly needed him, he was being let down.  And then the fax finally sprang to life and began to spit out page after page of information.
     
    Without caring who might be looking into his office, he vaulted from his chair and began to snatch the pages before they could even come to rest on the tray.  Hannah Matthews.  The name had a nice ring to it.  He rolled it around his tongue once more.  Hannah Matthews.  Suddenly he was flooded with warmth.  He studied her credit report.  Ah, so that’s why she didn’t just find a cheaper place.  Chances were every community in town had turned her down.  He glanced at the page with the inquiries.  Yup.  Her family lived in Wilmington.  It’s amazing she even got out of that town.  It was one of those sleepy little places where no one had the ambition to even go to college, let alone move across the state.  Good lord, he wasn’t going to admire her.  He frowned.  Maybe she truly had no one here.  No options.  His brow furrowed.  He couldn’t develop a conscience now.  He needed this to change his life.  Grasping the last of the papers, he moved back to his desk to finalize his plan.
     
     
    A mere two hours later, he reviewed what he had constructed.  It could work.  It had to work.  He smiled.

 
     
    It had to work.  Hannah once again examined all of her options.  There really weren’t any others.  She swallowed.  Her only other option was to sell the rest of the furniture and move the kids into an extended stay hotel.  They could pay by the week.  Of course they’d all be living in essentially one room.  And she’d spend more on food, but nothing on utilities or local phone calls.  She calculated and scowled.  She’d have to rent a space for all of her goods that she sold at the flea market.  She wouldn’t have a garage anymore.  No matter how she crunched, tallied, and coerced the numbers, she couldn’t make them add up.  Hannah sighed in disgust and threw her pen down on the desk.
     
    She leaned