Page 35 of Keeping Her Secrets

Mustique was pulling into the street where their safe house was when Jake called. Ash spoke with him briefly before ending the call. “They’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

When the other two men arrived, Mustique filled them in on her talk with Hanley and what she’d gotten him to agree to.

“That sounds like a good plan. If he goes for it, we can keep him on a short leash for whatever time he has left. My guess is he’ll announce his retirement any day now, due to his poor health.”

“Moody is holding his own but still isn’t conscious,” Nick added.

“It’s good news that he made it through surgery, at least,” Ash reflected. “What about you, what do you have for us?”

Jake leaned back in the chair and assessed Ash and Mustique as if he wanted to say something. Ash lifted his hand and rolled it in a get on with it gesture.

“It seems Leonie Craven is adopted, and I don’t mean legally. Jim Craven illegally obtained the child through a man named Lyle Peterson. Initially, we didn’t think it was linked, but Peterson is a known associate of Hashemi. Lyle did three years at Durban Correctional for assault, but that’s all we have.” Nick showed her and Ash a picture of Lyle Peterson.

“That must be the man Senator Hanley described from the library, but I don’t remember seeing him there.”

Jake shrugged. “He seems to be somewhat of a middleman, but we can’t figure out who he’s working for. I can’t help thinking we’re missing something.”

Mustique knew it was now or never. Did she tell these virtual strangers her secret and risk the pain of what they would think, or risk their lives by sending them into a situation they weren’t prepared for without all the facts? These men, all of them, were risking their lives to help keep her child safe, at the very least, she owed them honesty.

Mustique looked at Ash who held her gaze with his steady one. Not pushing her either way, he was ready to support her, and that made her decision all the easier.

“I think the connection is a man named Ben Rensburg. He’s Leonie’s birth father. I’m her birth mother.”