Read The Referral Game for Free Online

fight back, but instead it made him more timid, more dependent on his family.” She paused. “I take it that you are aware of some of our history together.”
    “Just the bare bones that Edgar thought necessary to impart. I take it that Mrs. Pomeroy didn’t approve of your marriage.”
    “No she certainly didn’t, but I could have taken that. Mrs. Pomeroy was a very old woman, very set her ways. She didn’t think I was good enough for the family, nobody would have been, it didn’t have anything to do with me in particular. She was cold, but she didn’t show the naked hatred I saw from Silas. He was the real heat; Mrs. Pomeroy was merely cold. She only became enraged at Edgar and me when I suggested that we get our own place. She didn’t want to be abandoned by Edgar.”
    “I understand she was a cold domineering mother to Edgar.”
    “Who told you that?” She asked surprised.
    “Edgar.”
    She thought that over for a minute. “That may be the way he remembers it, but believe me she loved and indulged him. It made her happy. He was her favorite.”
    “But I understood that she kept Edgar on a short leash financially speaking.”
    “Only because Edgar had no sense around money. If it were not for their mother I’m sure that both of the boys would have been in bankruptcy years ago. Besides it was her money, not theirs.”
    “So you decided to leave and ask for nothing?”
    “I’ll tell a tale out of school Mr. Randall. I didn’t leave with nothing. When I announced that I was filing for divorce Silas approached me with an offer; Leave without a fuss and he would give me twenty thousand dollars. He said that if I fought I would come out with nothing and he would drag my name through the mud as well. He hinted that he had some dirt on me that would cause me a lot of embarrassment. I had reasons of my own for wanting to speed the divorce through so I accepted the money and ran. You see I was pregnant.”
    “What? Edgar said nothing about a child.” I said stunned.
    “Edgar never knew,” she replied. “When I discovered that I was pregnant I asked Edgar for a place of our own, I thought that the child would complete us and we would be a real family. But when I saw that he would be unable to pull away I decided to keep the baby a secret and leave. I knew that if Edgar’s mother discovered that I was going to have a child that she would insist that I either stay or give up custody. With my past, and their family money and influence, it was a foregone conclusion that I would lose a custody case. I couldn’t stay and raise the baby there and I couldn’t strike out on my own and leave my child behind. So when Silas came along with his dirty little offer I took it and gladly. It fit in nicely with my own plans plus it gave me some seed money to start over on.”
    “So Edgar has a child.” This could really upset all of Edgar’s plans to settle things and have nothing further on his conscious.
    No Mr. Randall,” she said sadly.
    I would have given an arm if she would call me Frank just once.
    “I had a miscarriage and lost the baby.”
    “I’m sorry.” It sounded terribly inadequate, but it was all I could think to say.
    She nodded her head in acceptance.
    “We don’t have to let that go any further,” I said. I couldn’t believe that came out of my mouth. Pomeroy was a paying client and a well paying client at that. Anything I dug up, outside the deal we made on meeting Paula, was his. It was his money that I had spent finding it. I wasn’t making good decisions today. Maybe she would tell him herself.
    We sat in silence for a few minutes.
    “It’s still early,” I said. “And Edgar was very anxious to get this done. Could I call him and set it up for tonight?”
    “Of course, there’s a phone in the hall. Please get in touch with him.”
    I walked into the hall, spotted the phone, fished a dime out of my pocket and called the number that Pomeroy had given me. He answered on the second