by Carsen Taite
Maybe her father was right and she needed to go on the offense. It had taken all her powers of persuasion to convince him she didn’t need Lena Hamilton at her side during this show to spin her every word as part of a PR campaign. Maybe she’d been wrong to think this was just another case of the feds barking down the wrong trail as they’d done so many times in the past when it came to zealous prosecution of terrorism. Their motto was always act first, figure out the facts later, and that usually played out with full-scale raids that netted loads of discovery that might or might not lead to an eventual arrest. Since 9/11, she’d represented several clients caught in these nets. Their reputations and businesses ruined while the initial stages of the case dragged on, sometimes for years. At the end of the day, no one cared that they’d never actually been arrested or charged with anything. All anyone ever remembered was that day on the news when dozens of men and women with guns toted away boxes of “evidence.”
The only thing she could do, the only thing she wanted to do, was to keep this investigation from dragging on, and she had an idea about exactly how to do it. “Dad, will you go get me a drink, please?”
“What?”
Her father looked as surprised as if she’d asked him to fly to the moon. “A drink. Champagne, water, anything. I need a moment alone with Agent Flores.” She injected a stern note of authority in to the words to let him know she wasn’t going to back down. He lingered for a moment before apparently deciding not to fight before he stalked off toward the bar. As soon as he was lost in the crowd, Ellery said, “Look, here’s the deal. I’m here on business. It sounds like you’re here on business too, but yours is getting in the way of mine. I’m going to get to work and start schmoozing people who are interested in buying my work so I can have enough money to pay my bills. I was under the impression you were here in a social capacity, but if you’re really here to talk to me about why your fellow agents busted up my life this morning, then I’m happy to talk to you, but not until I’m done. Later tonight, tomorrow, whenever, but not now. Do you understand?”
“I do,” Sarah said.
“Great. Now, I’m going over there.” Ellery pointed at the display of her work. “I’d like it if you would find some other place to hang out.”
“Until when?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you would talk to me whenever. When does the show end?”
Ellery sighed. She’d hoped her firm tone would send Sarah packing for the rest of the night. The idea of seeing her later that night was enticing, but the idea of having to talk wasn’t. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll meet you after, but you can do the talking this time. Depending on what you have to say, we can make a date…” She paused and winced inwardly at her poor word choice. “We can schedule a time for me to answer any questions you have.”
Sarah’s cocky smile told Ellery she’d caught the slip and her reply sealed it. “Sounds like a plan. Where should I meet you for tonight’s date?”
Ellery shook her head, knowing it was pointless to correct her. She mentally tallied how long it would take to shake her father after the show. “Eleven thirty at Sue Ellen’s. Just you. Okay?”
“Sounds very mysterious.”
“The only mystery here is why anyone would think I have anything to do with what happened that night.” She could feel her voice starting to rise and she took a deep breath while she sought calm. Here, in front of all of these people, was not the place to unleash her anger. She considered pointing out how she’d stuck around after the bombing and helped, but she knew enough anecdotal evidence of criminals crowding close to a scene to watch the effects of the destruction they’d set in motion to know that Sarah Flores wouldn’t find that fact persuasive. In fact, this entire exercise was probably a waste of time, but she was going to push forward, and her goal was to find out more than she shared. Shouldn’t be hard since she didn’t know a damn thing other than Special Agent Sarah Flores was attractive and arousing.
She’d have to be very careful or she was going to be in big trouble.
Chapter Eleven
“You’re welcome to stay here with me,” Ellery said, “but I’m not leaving.” She injected what she hoped was a powerful dose of authority into her voice. She and her father had been engaged in this argument during the entire drive home from the show. He kept insisting she check into a hotel and she firmly refused. What was the point? The press could find her just as easily at a hotel as they could at her house. At least if she was home, she’d have her studio, her own bed, and maybe she’d be able to deduce what the feds had been looking for based on what had been taken. Wherever she was, she wasn’t going to wait around and play defense, and it would be easier to mount an offense if she was in a familiar setting.
He pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. “Fine,” he said. “I know how you are once you’ve made up your mind.”
“I hope you’re not about to deny that your genes have anything to do with my stubborn streak,” Ellery said in an effort to break the tension. Truth was she could use his help. As overbearing as he was, he was a fierce advocate and had a brilliant legal mind. His presence during all of this was fortuitous and, as soon as she had more information, she’d gladly take advantage of his skill. “So, are you going to stay here or check into a hotel?” It would be more convenient to work together if he stayed at her house, but if he went off to a hotel, she’d have a much easier time slipping out when she needed to without having to explain her movements. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was ten thirty. She’d have to hustle if she was going to make it to meet Sarah. If her father stuck around, she wasn’t sure how she was going to explain her sudden need to duck out to him.
“If you’d rather have your privacy I’ll get a room, but I’d feel much better if you’d let me stay. I promised Leo a case of beer and a bottle of really good bourbon if he’d keep an eye on you.”
Ellery sighed. It wasn’t in her to send family packing. She clasped his shoulder. “Stay. I’ve got plenty of room. And thanks for everything today. I know running interference for me wasn’t what you had planned for your trip.”
“Not hardly, but I’m happy to do it.” The expression in his eyes was distant and his words eerily hollow. “I’m always here for you. I hope you realize that.”
She’d never seen him look so maudlin. Maybe he’d had more to drink than she thought. She started to ask him about the source of his angst, but decided she didn’t have the energy to expend on anyone’s issues but her own. No, she needed to keep her focus on whatever Sarah Flores had to say.
Once they were in the house, Ellery led him to the guest room, and within twenty minutes, the lights were out. She left a note on the kitchen counter and headed out to her car. She’d just opened the door when Leo’s voice cut through the night.
“Figured you were in for the night.”
She walked across her driveway and stood below his porch. “As far as anyone knows, I am.” She gestured toward the house. “Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it.”
“You sure you’ll be able to pay up? I hear Uncle Sam’s got all your money.”
“Uncle Sam doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’m on it.”
“I got your back, girlie. If you’re not home by morning, I’ll raise the alarms.”
She reached up and shook his outstretched hand before making her way to her truck. There were days when she’d prefer not to have all her comings and goings carefully chronicled by Leo, but it was nice to know he was keeping an eye on things.
She’d only made it to the end of the street before her phone rang. Either she’d been caught by her father or Sarah was impatient. She stopped at the sign and fished the phone from her pocket. Meg’s name flashed on her screen. It was after eleven. Meg was a night owl, but as much as a pest as she’d been since Ellery had left the firm, she’d never called this late. Ellery picked up the call. “Meg, what’s up?”
“We need to talk.”
&nbs
p; “Look, I know you’re upset, but I’m sure everything can be explained. Maybe we can meet and go over our old client list. I’m sure this is one of those deals where they’re trying to pressure us to get at a client.”
“If only it were that. I’m at the place where we tried out those fake IDs our first year in college. If you leave your house now you can be here in fifteen minutes.”
Ellery knew the drill. Whatever Meg had to say, she couldn’t or wouldn’t say over the phone and the shrill edge to her voice meant whatever she had to say was urgent. “I can see you first thing in the morning. Wherever you want.”
“It won’t wait. I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Meg.” Ellery waited a few seconds before she pulled the phone away from her ear to look at the screen, but she already knew the line was dead. She’d worked with Meg for years and it wasn’t like her to engage in histrionics. Whatever she wanted to talk about was not only urgent, but too sensitive to talk about over the phone. Any other day, Ellery would have declined to engage in this kind of covert drama, but today hadn’t been like any other day.
She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to meet Sarah. She couldn’t call her because she didn’t have her number. The only time she’d called it had been on her landline at home and the caller ID had only showed a blocked line, which was normal for a federal office. Since she was headed in the opposite direction from where Meg was waiting, there was no way she could run by, tell Sarah there’d been a change of plans and make it back across town to Meg. Not to mention, she didn’t have a clue what she would tell Sarah if she could bend time and make the trip. “Hey, my former law partner, you know, the one whose office was raided this morning? Well, she has something important to tell me, but pay no attention to whatever it might be. Catch you later.”
No, she really didn’t have a choice. She’d go see what Meg wanted and whatever Sarah had to say could wait until morning. As she turned the car around, she tried not to think about Sarah in her captivating red dress, sitting at a bar, waiting for her. Lying in wait was more like it. Despite the palpable sizzle of attraction between them, Ellery was cool-headed enough to realize Sarah had a dual purpose for wanting to meet her that had nothing to do with sex appeal. She was probably better off postponing the meeting until she had a good night’s sleep and some distance from the arousal that rested just below the surface of her skin.
Meg was seated near the rear of Snuffers, the beer and burger place they’d frequented when they were in college. The place was packed with the late night drinking crowd, and Ellery was surprised she’d managed to score a seat. She slid into the booth and launched right in. “What’s up?”
Meg nodded slightly and shot a look at the young waitress approaching their table. Ellery noted Meg had a full mug of beer in front of her, and she ordered one too mostly to give the waitress something to do, far away from their table. She waited until the girl was lost in the crowd of coeds before she spoke. “At least give me a hint.”
“Does anyone know you’re here?”
“Besides you and the several hundred other people in this place? No.” She leaned across the table. “Look, Meg, you’re starting to scare me.”
“You think you’re scared. You weren’t at the office, meeting with new clients when the feds burst in with guns drawn. This is serious.”
“If anyone knows it’s serious, I do. The manager at the Melrose booted me out of the place because none of my credit cards would go through. My bank accounts are frozen, and I had to sneak out of the gallery earlier because protestors had lined up across the street. I promise you, I know it’s serious, but I also know I didn’t do anything wrong. Now, what’s so important that you had to sneak in a meeting with me this late?”
She reached into her purse and pulled out a flash drive and set it on the table.
“What’s on this?” Ellery asked.
“It’s a copy of the search warrant affidavit.”
“I thought it was sealed.”
“It is.”
Ellery reached across the table and palmed the drive. She wanted to know how Meg had gotten her hands on it, but more than that, she wanted to jump up from the table and find the nearest computer. Just a few clicks of the mouse and she’d know the details of the government’s case. But if what was on the drive was all she needed to know, Meg could have slipped it to her without this late night clandestine meeting. “Tell me.”
The waitress reappeared and Ellery tapped her finger on the table while she carefully arranged their drinks and lingered to ask if they’d like to order some food.
“No, thanks. We’re good for a while. I’ll wave if we need anything.” The waitress left and Ellery turned back to Meg. “Spill.” She held up the drive. “What’s on this?”
“I’ll tell you what’s on it and then I’ll tell you what’s not on it, but what the feds are going to find out sooner or later.” She pushed aside her glass of beer. “The feds think that you set up Amir’s foundation, Welcome Home International, that you opened their bank accounts, most of which are located out of country, and that you are the mastermind behind their ability to funnel money to organizations in Libya that are posing as charitable organizations but are actually terrorist recruitment centers.”
Oddly enough, the sheer craziness of the allegations left Ellery feeling relieved. “Well, that’s ridiculous. Talk about far-reaching. We’ve seen plenty of crazy accusations before, but this might top them all.”
“It might, but it’s not as crazy as it might sound.”
Ellery tensed. “What are you talking about?”
“They have documents. A power of attorney that grants you authority to act on behalf of WHI in all financial matters.”
“Wait a minute. I don’t know anything about that.”
“Did you know that you’re listed on their IRS nonprofit filings as the attorney for the organization?”
“That’s insane. And, no I didn’t know anything about that. It has to be a mistake. You know I’ve never done any work for Amir’s businesses other than to represent him at a few code violation hearings. I never had anything to do with the nonprofits.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
Ellery stared Meg in the eyes and saw traces of doubt. “Meg, I’ve never lied to you and I’m not lying now.” An idea popped into her head. “Wait a minute, if I was involved, my signature would be on corporate filings, right?”
“Not necessarily. The president of the organization, Amir, can sign the corporate filings on his own.”
Ellery’s hands shook as she tried to process this information. Knowing she was innocent of any wrongdoing didn’t change the fact that someone was focused on implicating her in a horrible crime. That she had no clue why made it worse. She picked up the drive and shoved it in her pocket. All she could think about was doing something concrete and she’d start by examining whatever evidence she could glean from the search warrant affidavit. First step: get the facts. Second step: formulate a strategy. Third step: go on the offense. “I need to see all of this for myself. Thanks, Meg. I really appreciate you getting this for me. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”
She stood up, but Meg’s hand on her arm stopped her from leaving. “What?” she asked, dreading the answer.
“There’s more. You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
Unable to imagine what could be worse, Ellery hesitated before finally shaking her head and sinking back into the booth. “Spit it out.”
Meg sighed. “The agents took all of our files. They said I’d have to check with the AUSA assigned to the case to make arrangements to make copies.”
Ellery nodded. She had no idea why Meg was telling her this, but she decided to go along. “Don’t count on that being quick. Remember when they tied up that ambulance company’s files for months and then they had to vet every copy service we wanted to use?”
“I do. That’s why a few months ago when Jonas, our IT guy, recommended we start scanning e
very scrap of paper and backing it up to the cloud, I bit the bullet even though getting it done was extremely expensive.”
“That’s great. So you have all your files?”
“Yes. Everything including a backup of all our computer systems. I had Jonas run some searches early this evening based on what I read in the search warrant.”
Ellery braced for Meg’s next words, knowing she was about to drop a bomb. “Okay.”
“I found the power of attorney form. Essentially the same one that was attached to the IRS filing. This one didn’t have your name filled in, but it did have Amir’s name on the signature block and it granted whoever was to be designated the power to deal with every aspect of the WHI’s financial dealings.”
“I didn’t draft that. Are you saying I did?”
“I know you didn’t. But I didn’t either.”
Meg’s stare threatened to bore holes in her head, but Ellery couldn’t process what she was trying to get her to understand. “But you’re saying someone with access to our system did draft it.” As her mind sifted through the possibilities, she checked them each off the list. A few paralegals. A few associates, but none who’d ever worked with Amir. He’d always been very particular that he only work with partners in the firm. In fact, as much as he liked her now, he’d been hesitant to take her advice in the beginning, preferring to rely on the man who’d handled his affairs for years.
“My father. Are you saying my father drafted the power of attorney?”
Meg nodded. “The metadata shows it was done on his computer. It was dated about six months before the charity was formed. There were other documents as well, documents Amir would have needed to set up the foundation. It wasn’t you, but it was him. I have no doubt.”
Funny she should use the word doubt, because doubt was all Ellery had now. Doubt about who she could trust, doubt about her own judgment. Meg appeared crestfallen at the prospect her mentor might have betrayed them, but Ellery reserved judgment. Simply creating documents didn’t make him culpable of terrorist activity. As much as this information gave Ellery pause, she needed to know more before she could draw any conclusions. “What else should I know?”
