Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,35

the family through it. So I signed the medical malpractice admittance, got fired to save the hospital, and agreed to sign for insurance fraud if the same charges were brought against the sister and they dropped the wrongful death suit. Otherwise, I said I would take them to court over the insurance issue.”

Jess didn’t know what to think. She didn’t understand the ins and outs of the law. She didn’t even know any lawyers besides the ones that Ginger had to deal with on occasion as she took men for the Residential Reentry Program.

“They must’ve agreed,” she said.

“They did,” he said. “I got thirty months for the two charges. The sister got fifteen for her role in the insurance fraud.”

“Wow,” Jess said, noting that he’d stopped eating too. “And what about your limp? Did that come from prison or before?” She watched the surprise roll across his face, followed quickly by a dark look that only stayed for half a breath.

“I limp?”

“Only a little,” she said. “Only when you get up after sitting for a while.” She shrugged to try to downplay it, as Dallas was obviously sensitive about it. “I’ve seen it once or twice.”

A frown had gathered between his eyebrows, and he studied the desktop for several long seconds. “I got beaten my first night in prison,” he said. “River Bay is a low security facility. Most of the guys there are like me—white collar criminals caught up in something illegal, but not violent. Not a lot of drug charges. Hardly any weapons. No sexual assaults. It’s mostly businessmen, guys who used to own businesses, or someone who made a couple of bad decisions that were bad enough to put them in prison for a while.”

“It’s still prison,” Jess said, mostly to prompt him when he didn’t go on.

“That it is,” Dallas said. “And there are still gangs in River Bay, and a man still needs to watch his back.” His facial features had hardened, but he didn’t back down from this conversation the way he had previously. “I didn’t know all of that, and I got jumped my first night there. The leader of the gang at the time wasn’t happy that I’d put his sister in jail. I was nearly unconscious by the time Nate got there.”

“Nate? Ginger’s Nate?”

Dallas nodded, everything on his face softening. “He came, and he got the others to leave me alone. I’m not even sure how, and every time I ask him, he just says it doesn’t matter. He and Ted took me to the infirmary and patched me up the best they could. I saw the doctor the next day, and I had a broken finger and two fractured ribs. Everything else was muscle and skin pain. Lots of cuts and bruises. It took me a long time to heal, because of the ribs, mostly. My back has been messed up since, and I suppose it does cause me to limp a little bit when I get stiff.”

Jess reached across the corner of the desk and put her hand over his. “I’m sorry, Dallas.”

“Nate watched out for me after that. I watched out for him and Ted. There are a couple of other guys in our band of brothers—Slate and Luke—and I worry about them. Luke especially. He’ll be alone in River Bay for three months after Slate gets out.”

“Do you still talk to them?”

“Inmates only get fifteen minutes for a phone call,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Slate once, and he said Luke hasn’t said anything, but Slate’s worried about him in there alone.”

“Why are they in there?”

“Slate ran a bank in San Antonio. A huge branch, and he processed fraudulent transactions over Christmas for an organized crime family.”

“What?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, it sounds bad,” Dallas said. “But it’s not. He just didn’t know what he was dealing with. He got a list of transactions to be completed from what he thought was a reputable company. He processed them. Later, he found out that he’d stolen over a million dollars from seventeen businesses in some mall in the city. He got four years. He’ll be out in seven or eight months.”

“Wow.” There was so much Jess didn’t know.

“Luke is a boxer,” he said. “A good one too. He was working his way up through the ranks to becoming pro, when someone he knocked out sued him for excessive violence. I guess the guy had suffered permanent brain damage. He sued Luke and the referee who didn’t call the match before