East End: The Hear No Evil Trilogy, Book 1

no way was this situation with him in any way healthy. Nope. Completely unhealthy. I'd been warned off him and his friends, but I'd found a loophole. I was exploiting that loophole. But so far, I hadn't found anything on them. Nothing. Which was disconcerting because they were pulling strings. I felt like I was a dancing puppet, and I couldn't figure out where the strings were to cut them.

And then there was this other piece of him, the part that acted like he wanted me. Like I was the one woman on this planet that he wanted the most. I knew it was a game. I could see people like him playing these games with unsuspecting women. They probably got bored with their rich debutantes and socialites. Time to slum it for a while. We pulled up to a brick row home in Victoria, and I frowned. "Where are we?"

He laughed. "God, you ask a lot of questions. Just go with the flow. I promise you it won't hurt."

Go with the flow. Right. "Uh-huh."

I slipped out of the car and followed behind him to the tidy brick house. At the top of the stairs he pressed the doorbell. When the door opened, a middle-age man stood there. Tall, lean in his youth probably, but it had now given way to just being slight and slim. "East Hale. Didn't plan on seeing you again for a while.”

"Ryder Stone. How's it going mate?"

"Well, it was going great until I found you on my doorstep. Will, I be needing a solicitor?"

East put up his hands. "Ah, Ryder, you wound me. As if I would bring Old Bill to your door. Honestly, what do you think of me? Besides, I’ve brought a friend. You’re not going to make me look bad, are you?”

Ryder rolled his eyes. "Better come in then."

When we strolled in, we were led into a back room that was more office than anything. He offered to take my coat and bring us tea. Once seated, Ryder's gaze swept over me. "Miss, you are stunningly beautiful. And I would embarrass myself by tripping over what to say to you, but, and don't take this the wrong way, you have the stink of the Bill."

I grinned then. "That's because I'm Interpol."

Ryder's gaze shifted to East. "And you said you wouldn't bring Old Bill to my door."

East chuckled low. "Technically she's not Old Bill. She's Interpol. It's different."

Ryder sat back. "I don't know what he's told you. But whatever you’re looking for, I don't have it, I don't know anything about it, and I can't help you."

"Now, Ryder, don't be like that. Help us out. Nyla's got a case. And you may or may not have any information about it, but you could help her at least identify a few things."

I looked between them. "I'm sorry, but who are you? What do you do?"

Ryder shrugged. "Well love, I used to be one of the best fences in London. You name it; I could move it. But I had a specialty. It was jewels. I used to have a toy store. It was my family's really. And I would smuggle jewels in and out with the toys. Until I got busted."

I frowned. "You know, I vaguely remember a case like that."

He nodded. "Yeah. And they never did find the jewels. But I got busted on a technicality. And I had two choices: Go away for a long time, or give up the money and the bigger fish in exchange for my relative freedom and a whole new gig."

"You took the deal?”

"That I did, madam. I am not cut out for prison life.”

I sighed. "Well not many people are. I vaguely remember the case. You were part of the Wilson crew?"

"No, I was never part of their crew. I got drafted in their service, as they say, when I was too young to know any better. I was just the fence. But the Wilsons, they were the hardcore type. Murderers, rapists, you name it. If it was violent, they were into it. They happened to like pretty bits and bobs, too. But I wasn't down for anything violent you see. It was easy giving them up."

"Wow, so you’re a grass."

Ryder stiffened then. "Yeah, I grassed them. I like to call it surviving."

East nodded. "Ryder was instrumental in the Monaco case. He helped us find at least part of the crew that pulled the job."

I sat forward on my seat then. "Do you know how they pulled it off?"

He shook his head. "Not really. My job was finding lower value gems. Ones that could be cut to look like the real deal. They were looking for the best quality for the least money, and I was able to find them. I think they already had the art forger on hand, and they had a man inside replacing the pieces after they’d been authenticated. I had a buyer set for the originals, at least for the jewelry pieces. But the buyer wanted the whole collection, not just certain pieces. So the mistake was waiting. If we would have just offloaded some of those, made out with some of the money, we'd have been golden. But that’s not how it worked out. We got nicked. Not for the jewels, mind you, but for the art. Then the whole bloody thing unraveled."

I frowned. "And their man inside talked."

Ryder nodded. "Yeah. Started giving us all up, so when The Bill showed up on my doorstep, I sang like a bird. Returned the jewels and never saw a stitch of money.”

"Do you know who they were using for making the fake jewels?"

He nodded. "I can get you a name. I don't know if they're still working or not. I'm out of the business."

I glanced around at the fine oak furnishings. "Dare I ask, what is your new business?"

Ryder grinned. "Well, I'm an appraiser, of course."

I blinked. And then I couldn't help it; I laughed. "You're kidding?"

"No, not kidding at all. I