Page 8 of On a Fault Line

“I’m going to give you more time to relax and think over the contract. Come find me whenever you are ready for the next steps. No rush. Take your time.”

Penny nods and offers me a smile. It feels weird leaving her on my couch looking so cozy, but I also have more responsibility in my job description than just taking care of her. And this other component just got more complicated.

Moving back into my office, I find my place behind my desk and enter the password on the keyboard for my computer to start up.

Using multiple screens, I open up several emails and text chains from workers who were hired to provide intel on Mark Tanner at the prison. The Hoffmans are privileged enough to supply supplemental income for several of the guards and a few delivery workers who periodically visit the prison.

Their job is to provide information about the layout of the prison, the routines of the inmates, and the staff schedule.

Unfortunately, with a high profile and very public case, the chance of getting to Mark Tanner in prison is next to impossible.

The Hoffmans and I have been watching Tanner since he arrived there to await trial. While I regret not ending his life when I had the chance, I have zero regret about putting my life in danger to protect the ones I love.

And everyone I cared for survived his evil plan, so I’m thankful for that.

But now we are scrambling to figure out how to end Mark Tanner and make it look like an accident before the initial trial date occurs.

Penny will crumble on the stand, and I am determined to intervene now so she doesn’t have to suffer later.

Unlike what the movies show, most state prisons don’t have secret tunnels under the facility that allow product and people to be moved in and out of the prison unnoticed. So to get access to Tanner, it has to be through staff members who’ve already been hired and vetted.

It’s very easy to play both sides of the line between right and wrong, and I would be naive to think Tanner doesn’t have any influence from his prison cell.

To counterbalance that fear, I check financial and cell records and make sure no one is double-dipping from the money bank and being a traitor.

I don’t even realize an hour has passed until I’m pulled from my thoughts by the soft knocking at the door.

I exit out of all of the windows I have opened on my screen and log out.

“Come in.”

It opens.

Peering around the door, Penny gives me a smirk. “I think I’m ready to sign away my rights.”

“You make it sound so dramatic.”

“I do have some modifications and amendments.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”

Picking up my cell, I send out a text to Leonard to summon him. He’s probably hanging out in the foyer or in the lobby. Regardless, he arrives in my office in under three minutes.

“Let’s get started…” Leonard says, getting into lawyer mode and less of a friend mode.

We’ve known each other for years. He’s handled most of the legal issues that come with beingmorethan a bodyguard for the Hoffmans.

While handling contracts with the women I go into “relationships” with is trivial work in comparison to what he’s qualified to do, he does this for me as a courtesy.

It’s just that Penny is the first woman to be part of the negotiation process. In recent years, I guess I’ve chosen women who have less of a spitfire opinion—on basically everything.

That’s Penny for you.

She sure has a mind of her own.

Before her, the contract would be written up and signed without ever meeting with a lawyer.

Penny is different. I actually want her to push back on certain things and challenge me. It’s when she’s being her fiery self that I get the biggest look into her heart and her mind.

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