Ryan motioned Amathea to keep behind him, and then stiffened, his arms crossed in defiance. "Davis had some samples of your work in his safe, not that they're worth anything. There was also a rather fat digital scrapbook, featuring your prime-time perp-walk and the trial he was so conveniently kept out of. Did you enjoy being the fall-guy for that scheme?"
"Not particularly," Conklin said, visibly bristling at the memory. "But while it lasted, the money was good. Now, of course..."
"So how did you get free? Did the people who needed you pay someone off, or did they just blow a hole in the wall for you?"
"You don't understand. It wasn't like that. And besides, all I wanted was to ask if you had any rooms to let. I was told that-."
"What? That the jerk that won Davis' digs would welcome you into his home? Look, just because I'm poor doesn't mean I have this uncontrollable urge to rub shoulders with a counterfeiter. You're not exactly the sort of person I'd want to trust around children."
Conklin looked pained, and closed his eyes. A moment later, he craned past Ryan for a look at Amathea. "Is that Cristall's little girl?"
Ryan huffed. "Thorough, aren't you. But I should have expected that you'd do some research before trying to bluff your way inside. So let me put that little pipe dream to rest. Neither I, nor Cristall Bellows, have the least little desire to find you lurking in the shadows at night. And I certainly wouldn't trust you around her daughter."
"Why not?" a woman said from beside him. "I would."
"Cristall!" Ryan said, surprised. "I didn't expect to see you until almost dinner."
She turned to Conklin. "Peter, is he giving you a hard time?"
"You two know each other?" Ryan said, incredulously.
"Of course," she said, kneeling to hug her daughter. "Who do you think sent him over here?"
"But don't you realize who he is? What he's done? Why would you-?"
Conklin turned his palms up. "I tried to explain."
She rose, carrying her daughter, and stepped closer, until she was nose to nose with Ryan. "Do you trust me?"
"Well, sure. But that doesn't mean-."
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