Reasonable Doubt

by Carsen Taite

  “Mostly.”

  “I bought the car. Spent the last ten years working a job that took every minute of every day. My social life consisted of a few drinks in bars and late night rendezvous. No wining and dining. You save a lot of money that way. Sold the house my grandfather left me, put the money in the bank and watched it grow. Between that and my savings, I was able to get the car of my dreams, since driving is one of the few pleasures I’ve had time to enjoy. I also have a weakness for expensive shoes.” She stared at Ellery. “Are all of your entanglements so easy to explain?”

  The undercurrent of anger was impossible to miss, and Ellery saw Leo start to rise out of his chair in challenge. She waved him back, sending him a look designed to say she could fight her own battles. “I think we should adjourn to my house. Leo, thanks for the beer.”

  He frowned as he looked between them, but he finally said, “You know you’re welcome here anytime. And you know what to do if you need me.”

  Sarah thanked him as well, but Leo only grunted. Ellery walked Sarah back to her house and led her into the kitchen. Sarah didn’t sit at the table this time. Instead she paced the floor, a frown on her face. “Should I bill the government if you wear out my wood floors?” Ellery asked.

  “From the start I couldn’t believe you would be involved in anything that had to do with terrorism, let alone the bombing.”

  “Obviously, you’ve changed your mind.”

  “Do you even care what I think?”

  Ellery stared at Sarah, trying to cipher the source of her angry tone. “I can’t believe you’re asking me that, but the truth is it doesn’t matter what you think. I know the truth.”

  “I wish I did.”

  “I wish you did too,” Ellery said. “So, we’re back to the bombing now. You and I both know the basis for the searches last week weren’t linked to the bombing. It’s a witch hunt. HSI has information that Amir Khan’s charity raised money that ultimately went to a group that may or may not have ties to a terrorist group. The proof isn’t concrete and the search warrants were a fishing expedition. The truth is there is nothing that ties Amir to the bombing, right?”

  “You have a soft spot for Naveed, don’t you? I remember you advocating for him the day we first met. Ivy League bound, star student, never been in trouble.”

  “What does Naveed have to do with this?”

  “I’m guessing the plan was for Naveed to fade the heat. Because if he says their plan to break into an office building was just a silly prank, then people would believe it. What I don’t get is why you quit practicing right around the time they all got caught? Maybe you were having second thoughts about representing young terrorists, which makes me wonder why you were with Naveed in court on his first appearance?”

  Ellery watched Sarah grow increasingly agitated as she ticked through her thoughts. She’d expected Sarah to show up and pressure her to make a decision about flipping on Amir, but her persistent focus on Naveed was completely unexpected. Well, when it came to being aggravated, she could join the club. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Would you like to fill me in or would you rather keep making these vague references to whatever it is that’s got you so riled?”

  Sarah stopped pacing, but she remained standing, staring. Ellery didn’t have a clue what message she was supposed to be getting from the silence, and she’d just about decided this entire meeting was a waste of time, when she saw Sarah’s expression settle from skepticism into resignation. She wanted to say something to urge her to speak, but decided to let her talk on her own time. When Sarah finally spoke, Ellery was surprised by her first words.

  “I’ll take a beer if you’re offering.”

  “Of course.” Ellery pulled a bottle and a cold glass from the fridge and set it on the table in front of her.

  “What, you’re not going to join me?”

  “Seems like I might need to keep a level head to deal with whatever it is you’ve got in store for me. Besides, I’m already one ahead of you.”

  “Good point.” Sarah took a deep pull straight from the bottle. Ellery watched her drink, remembering the heat of Sarah’s lips on hers, wishing this exchange were taking place under very different circumstances. While Sarah drank, she allowed her mind to wander into a fantasy full of wishing Sarah’s visit wasn’t about terrorism, bombings, and crime. She’d walked away from a life where her days were full of the drama that accompanied the push and pull of prosecution and defense. The fact that these very things were dogging her chances to get close to the one woman who’d captured her interest in years was cruel irony that clouded her thoughts to the point she almost missed Sarah’s next words.

  “Naveed was one of the bombers.”

  “Excuse me?” Surely she hadn’t heard her correctly. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I’m not.”

  Ellery did her best to shift focus. Despite Sarah’s earlier comments about Naveed, she’d been completely unprepared for the harsh accusation. “You have proof?” Sarah’s expression was pained and she pounced. “You don’t have proof, do you? This is another one of those throw something against the wall and see if it sticks tactics, isn’t it?”

  Sarah shook her head, but instead of triumph, Ellery read pain in her eyes. “I don’t have everything I need to prove it to a jury, but I have enough to know I’m right. The rest will come.”

  Ellery sank into one of the sturdy wood chairs and leaned her arms on the kitchen table that she’d crafted from remnants of an old barn. Seemed she could remake anything except her own destiny. “Tell me.”

  Sarah walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer bottle, twisted the cap and placed it in front of her. “I will, but you’re going to want this.” She sat at the table and sighed. “One of the tenants in the building that Naveed and his friends broke into is an architectural firm that designed the arena. Naveed’s cousin, Akbar, interned at the firm last year. I’ve confirmed that the original blueprints for the arena were present at the office at the time of the break-in.”

  “A little attenuated, don’t you think?”

  “Spoken like a true defense attorney. There’s more. Michael and Brian Barstow, the two other boys who were with Naveed and Akbar that night, have been going by Hashid and Abdul Kamal for the better part of the last year. Michael’s got a very interesting blog site, all about the evils of America and the glory of Islam.”

  Ellery didn’t bother to try to hide her surprise. She hadn’t met the other boys, but she’d taken Naveed at his word that the break-in had been a stunt, boys’ play. The potential impact on his future was the primary reason she’d turned down Amir’s request that she represent the entire group, and because the case was still lingering through the system when she’d left the practice, she’d left it to Meg to determine if talking to the other boys was even necessary in formulating Naveed’s defense. “Are you saying they were all involved in the bombing?”

  “I believe that’s true, but I don’t know everyone’s role yet.”

  “You said Naveed was one of the bombers.”

  “If he was involved at all, he was in it all the way. And I know he was involved.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. You said yourself, Akbar used to work at that firm. Why didn’t he take the plans for the arena when he worked there? Were the plans even missing?”

  “No, but someone could easily take a picture with their cell phone. The police didn’t search any of the boys’ cell phones at the time of the arrest, by the way. As for why Akbar didn’t take the plans when he worked there, I don’t know. Maybe this scheme was hatched after the fact, but if that were all I had, I would expect you to be able to tear it apart.”

  “What else?”

  “I just talked to my contact in D.C. Did you know Naveed has a girlfriend?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Doesn’t matter if you knew. The point is she’s a pretty blond thing. Petite and feminine. You know the type—a wink and a smil
e and she gets whatever she wants.”

  Ellery’s mind flashed to the girl she’d seen on Naveed’s doorstep the day before and the furtive, whispered conversation they’d shared. Suddenly, Sarah’s slow and deliberate storytelling gnawed at her nerves. “What’s your point?”

  “I guess he thought his files would be safe on her computer. I mean, nobody ever thinks the Barbie doll is guilty of anything, right?”

  “You must have one hell of a warrant if you’re tapping into communications by people not even covered in your original warrant.”

  “I’m not supposed to talk about a sealed FISA warrant. Wait a minute, how do you know what’s in the original warrant?”

  Ellery smiled at the gotcha. “You have no reason to know this, but I was a big deal in this town before I quit. I still have friends who are willing to look out for me.”

  Sarah looked her up and down as if appraising. “I have no doubt.”

  Ellery locked into her gaze and lost track of the amount of time they stared at each other as she pondered the attraction. It wasn’t just that Sarah was beautiful, charming, and a clever adversary. They were more than adversaries. At the root of it all, she believed they both wanted the truth, even if they took very different routes to get there. Sarah was trained to suspect everyone and whittle down from broad generalizations to a narrow truth. On the other hand, she’d learned to start by looking at her one client and then finding a host of other options to create doubt. Her way had failed her before, once with devastating consequences, which made her question if she’d missed something critical when it came to Naveed.

  “Tell me what you know,” Ellery said. “I need to hear it and I give you my word, if I can help you, I will.” She willed Sarah to hear the weight of the promise behind her words. After a moment, Sarah started talking.

  “All of those boys have girlfriends. Young, pretty, blond, girlfriends. Don’t you think it’s odd that a group of Muslim extremists would have the most Western looking girlfriends they could find?”

  “I guess so. What exactly did you find on the computer of Naveed’s girlfriend?”

  “Photos taken with a cell phone. Photos of the arena blueprints.”

  “What else?”

  “You don’t think that’s enough?”

  “You and I both know it isn’t. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Truthfully, we haven’t found anything specific yet. There are a ton of messages between them, but they’re still being sorted out. I imagine most of them are coded.”

  “You really think they would be careless enough to have the plans for the arena where they can easily be found, but have some kind of sophisticated code for communicating about a plot to bomb the arena?”

  “They’re terrorists, but that doesn’t make them smart.”

  “Naveed is.”

  “Exactly, which is why the plans aren’t on his computer.”

  Ellery wasn’t convinced, but she moved on. “So, what are you doing next?”

  “We have agents checking to see where each of them was the night of the bombing, checking cell phone records, etc.”

  “You obviously don’t want to tip them off that you think they were involved.”

  “No, we don’t want another Tsarnaev.”

  Ellery shuddered. She, like the rest of the country, had followed the trial of the one surviving Boston Marathon bomber. The story of the bloody shootout that preceded his apprehension, including the fact he’d run over his own brother while trying to escape the police, had been horrifying. “So, here’s what I don’t understand. Why are you telling me all of this?”

  “Naveed trusts you. That’s why you were with him in court, right?”

  “His attorney wasn’t available. I was just standing in.”

  “She could’ve gotten anyone to cover, but she picked you because that family looks to you for guidance. They always have.”

  “More information you gathered from e-mail?”

  “It’s true. And I think you care about them as well. Certainly enough to pay them a personal visit this morning.”

  “Someday you should try living under a microscope and see how it makes you feel. For your information, I went to Amir to discuss the only case I knew about at the time. You know, the one where you and your friends accused us both of conspiring to send money overseas to support terrorism. The one where you purposefully placed me in an adversarial position to my former client in an attempt to get me to reveal confidential information. If Naveed was involved in the bombing, I don’t know a damn thing about it.”

  “Would you even tell me if you did?”

  Caught up in the heated exchange, Ellery said, “I―”, but then she stopped. She couldn’t answer the question because she wasn’t entirely sure. In her line of work, the good of the one, the defendant, outweighed the good of the many, society. She’d always accepted the truism, and for years she never allowed herself to question the consequences, but last year, when the consequences became truly real, she had been forced to face the dark side of the work she did, and in this moment, it all came rushing back.

  She leaned forward and put her head in her hands. “I can’t talk about this right now. Go away.” She listened as Sarah’s footsteps echoed across the wood floor and she heard the sound of a glass clinking against the metal of her kitchen sink. In a few minutes she could be alone and then she would find a way to shake off the memories and ease back into the life she’d made for herself. A life where there was no room for a woman like Sarah, who would never be satisfied until she knew every little thing about her and then be horrified at what she found.

  *

  Sarah set the glass down, leaned against the sink, and looked out the window. The solar-lit backyard was serene, complete with a swinging chair and a gazebo filled with flowers. The large building to the left was probably Ellery’s studio, and she imagined it was as beautiful inside as out. She wondered if she’d ever be invited in to see the place where Ellery created the stunning pieces she’d seen at the show.

  Trip wanted her to get Ellery to talk about her former client. She was highly trained in questioning people from all walks of life, but everything about Ellery’s demeanor, her reactions, told her there was something complex at play and she wanted to get to the root of it, not because of what it might mean for the case, but as a way to understand this strong and complicated woman. She was convinced that whatever had Ellery so agitated had nothing to do with this particular case.

  She could be wrong. It was rare, but it happened. If she pushed now, Ellery might shut down and close her out completely. Trip would be upset if she lost access, but his feelings had nothing to do with her hesitation. Any pause on her part was personal. She finally settled on being as non confrontational as possible, and she didn’t even turn around as she spoke. “I’ll go away if that’s what you really want.”

  Silence.

  She waited, resisting the urge to turn around, to plead with Ellery to open up to her. Years of training and experience told her the fastest path didn’t always lead to the truth, but the patience she usually possessed was nonexistent, and she knew it was because she’d let herself get too close. She should walk away, call Trip and tell him to assign someone else or bring charges and let the chips fall where they may. She’d done the best she could, and if there was ever a sign she should no longer be doing this kind of work, her inability to crack Ellery’s impenetrable shell was it.

  She pushed back from the sink and walked alongside the table, so close to Ellery she could reach out and touch her shoulder, but uncertainty about whether the touch would be about comfort rather than attraction told her to resist the urge. As she crossed from the kitchen to the living room, Ellery raised her head.

  “Wait.”

  She turned slowly as if any sudden movement might scare Ellery back into silence.

  “Stay.”

  She walked back into the room until she was standing on the other side of the table, but she didn’t sit down. “We don
’t have to talk about it.”

  “Maybe I want to.”

  “If it’s what you want.”

  “Sit down. You’re making me nervous, towering over me like that.”

  “I’m guessing a lot of people don’t look down on you.”

  “Are you trying to be funny?”

  Sarah pulled out a chair and slid into the seat. “I was trying to add some levity to the situation. We haven’t had a lot of that in our short relationship.”

  Ellery straightened up in her chair. “Relationship? That’s an interesting word. I’m thinking you mean it strictly in the context of your behavioral analysis background, since when I kissed you, you ran out of here like the place was on fire.”

  As if that was the only thing on fire. Sarah cleared her throat. “We shouldn’t have…I should’ve stopped you.”

  “What? Before I even did it? As I recall, you kissed me back.”

  “I did.”

  “But it meant nothing to you.”

  “Did you ask me to stay so you could grill me about my feelings or because you had something else you wanted to say?”

  “I suppose both is not an acceptable answer.”

  “It is if it’s true. How about we start by talking about the case and then we can talk about the rest?” Sarah made the offer expecting Ellery to continue to resist. What she hadn’t expected was for Ellery to start telling a story completely unrelated to anything to do with the bombing or the unspoken attraction between them.

  “A year ago a man came to me for help. He was a family man.” Ellery spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “Good job, at least until he was arrested, and no prior record. He was on his second attorney and his case was set for trial in a month. I am, I mean I was, always leery about defendants who’d gone through a couple of lawyers, because, you know, the common denominator is the client. He was charged with murder. I called his prior attorneys before I took on the case. The first one was a family friend who vouched for the guy. He had bonded him out of jail, but the most serious criminal case he’d handled was misdemeanor shoplifting and he wanted no part of a murder case. The second attorney was a guy I detest. Blowhard, all flash, no substance. I wouldn’t hire him to represent my worst enemy.”