Reasonable Doubt

by Carsen Taite

  Because you let it.

  As much as she tried to ignore it, Sarah knew her internal voice was spot on. On some level, she’d probably always known the truth, but she’d ignored the implications because if she admitted it wasn’t the job that kept her from getting what she wanted, she would have to face the fact she was responsible for her loneliness. Maybe I’ve always been afraid I wouldn’t find the same charge from a relationship as I get from chasing bad guys. With the revelation came the realization she’d been wrong. The question now was what was she going to do about it.

  The restroom door opened and Aadila walked in. “We’re about to start up again.”

  Sarah forced her focus back to the case. “You get anything from the phone call?”

  “He called his girlfriend, the one who had the plans on her computer, but the conversation was short. He asked her to let his teacher know he wasn’t going to be in school today. That’s about it.”

  “Do you have someone watching her in case she gets wind of what’s really going on and takes off?”

  “Yes, but she’s on campus. They’ll pick her up again this afternoon after school.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there in just a minute.”

  Sarah waited until Aadila left, and then turned on the water and splashed her face. As she patted away the water with a paper towel, she stared at her reflection again. The circles were still there, but her brow was less furrowed and the haunted look was fading. She would get through this day, but when it was done she was going to make some real changes. She was going to start by asking Ellery’s forgiveness for her abrupt departure last night. In person. With kissing. A lot of kissing.

  *

  Ellery flipped the switch on the saw, raised her safety visor, and listened to the sound of her doorbell. She had it wired so it would ring in her studio in case she was working, but no one else knew that and she considered ignoring the intrusion. She wasn’t in the mood for visitors and she was already deep into this project.

  The ringing started up again and she glanced at the clock. It was just after noon and she realized the persistent caller might be Meg. She set her visor on her workbench and made her way to the house where she found Meg standing on the front porch looking perturbed. She swung open the door and Meg walked in bursting with conversation.

  “Damn, what a day. First Naveed no-shows and then I sat in court up in Collin County for an hour before the prosecutor finally showed up. Bitch scheduled two hearings at the same exact time. I love how they don’t give a shit about our time, like I’ve got nothing else to do but sit around and wait until she’s ready. Then she had the nerve to ask me if I could reschedule for next week. Well, I told her—”

  “I get the point.” Ellery had spent years listening to Meg’s constant bitching about the adversarial nature of the business, and she’d written it off to a by-product of the job, but she no longer had to suffer through her rants. “I’m about to fix a sandwich. You want something?”

  “I’m good. I’ve got a late lunch scheduled with Lena Hamilton. Need to do some damage control after last week. What did you need? Have you heard from Naveed?”

  Of course Meg would want to get ahead of the bad publicity generated after the raid at her law firm. Ellery remembered her father urging her to use Lena’s skilled PR services, but she didn’t have the stomach to do the on camera interviews Lena would urge her to do in order to preserve her reputation. Meg would thrive on the attention. Not for the first time, she reflected on how much like her father Meg had turned out to be, which brought her back to the reason she’d asked Meg to stop by in the first place. “Let’s make this quick. No, I haven’t heard from Naveed, but I asked you to come by because I need to know why you didn’t mention that you represent Sadeem Jafari.”

  Meg’s eyes darted around the room while Ellery waited for her to settle on an explanation. “Take your time and make it good,” she said.

  “Maybe we should sit down,” Meg said.

  Ellery didn’t budge. “Maybe you should just tell me the truth. Right now.”

  “Ellery, it’s not that simple.”

  She offered one of her best imploring looks, but Ellery had given in to her too many times in the past to fall for her woe-is-me act now. “Meg, tell me the truth, or I’ll go to the feds right now and tell them I think you’re complicit in whatever Jafari is up to.”

  Meg’s expression quickly morphed into defiance. “Fine, but there just isn’t much to tell. I wanted to keep Amir’s business. He came to me with his cousin. Jafari said he wanted to open a foundation to help his Muslim brothers and I figured asking a bunch of questions was not the way to keep on Amir’s good side. I didn’t do anything affirmatively wrong. I just filed the paperwork. If Jafari lied, it’s on him.”

  “You can’t really believe it’s that simple.”

  “I’m not you. I don’t spend all my time trying to parse all sides of an issue. A client hires me, I’m his advocate. End of story.”

  Ellery shook her head. Meg had always done well by her clients when it came to an all out battle because she would fight to the end. Her problem was she loved the fight so much she forgot to warn them away from danger in the first place. Here she’d committed a cardinal sin, letting a business decision override an ethical one, one that could cost her her license and maybe even her freedom if the feds thought she’d acted intentionally. “They’re going to find the documents on your computer. How were you going to get around that?”

  Meg’s face turned red and she looked away. “I don’t know. I guess I thought they might think your father drafted them since he prepared Amir’s paperwork.”

  Anger welled up inside Ellery as she realized the truth. “Is it simply easier for you to lie than admit what you did? You know the documents weren’t created until after my father left the firm. You figured the feds would assume I drafted them since they’d thought I helped Amir, isn’t that right?”

  “How do you know when they were created?” The minute the question fell from Meg’s lips, her eyes went wide. “Wait a minute. You broke in to the firm, didn’t you? Saturday. Kyle was certain someone had been there.”

  “Maybe you’re not the only one who will go to extreme measures to help a client. And take it from me, when it’s your own freedom on the line, nothing is sacred.”

  Meg’s response was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Ellery glanced over at the door as she tried to decide if she was relieved at the interruption or reluctant to prolong her exchange with Meg. She pulled open the door and looked outside. A young blonde stepped in front of the entryway. She was dressed in what looked like a school uniform complete with a khaki skirt and a bulky blue blazer.

  “Hello, Ms. Durant?”

  The girl looked familiar, but Ellery couldn’t quite place her. “I’m Ellery Durant.”

  She started to ask what she could do for her, but Meg appeared at her side and said, “Kayla, what are you doing here?”

  Kayla. Ellery’s memory flooded back. Akbar Jafari’s girlfriend. She’d shown up at the courthouse with Amir and Naveed the morning she’d covered for Meg. She too wanted to know what Kayla was doing here, but before she could ask, Kayla waved to another young blonde standing off to the side and they both stepped into the foyer. Ellery registered both girls were wearing the same uniform, and she recognized the second girl as the one she’d seen at Naveed’s house the day before. Jasmine. They were probably looking for Naveed, but she had no idea why they’d shown up here. She stood back and let Meg do the talking.

  “Have you seen Naveed?” she asked. “He didn’t show up for court this morning.”

  “No, we haven’t seen him.” Kayla turned abruptly to Jasmine. “There was only supposed to be one. Call and find out what to do.”

  Jasmine pulled out a cell phone and dialed while Ellery looked between them, attempting to decipher what in the hell was happening. As Jasmine whispered into the phone, she mentally calculated the facts. Two young, pretty girls stood in her entry
way, presumably looking for one of their boyfriends. All outward signs seemed innocuous, but a chill ran up her spine and a sense of danger thickened the air. She wanted these girls out of her house now. “Kayla, maybe you should go to Naveed’s house and wait there, and Meg and I will make some phone calls to see if we can find him.”

  Kayla didn’t respond, instead she said to Jasmine. “Well?”

  “He said to take them both.”

  Kayla smiled a hard, humorless smile. “Ladies, I need you to come with us.”

  Ellery shot a look at Meg who merely looked confused, so she spoke for both of them. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

  “Oh, it’s definitely time to leave, but you’re leaving with us.” Kayla unbuttoned her blazer and pulled it open.

  Ellery heard Meg gasp, but she quelled her own stirring fear out of a deep-seated instinct of survival. Under her blazer, Kayla wore a black vest covered with straps holding what looked like black sticks of dynamite. Ellery had only seen something similar in the movies and on cable news, but she knew without a doubt she was looking at a suicide vest.

  Was it real? Where was the detonator? She should care about the answers to those questions, but her mind was consumed with a single thought. In a moment she would walk out of her house with two terrorists and never see Sarah Flores again.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  For the third time in the last fifteen minutes, Sarah looked at her watch and bemoaned the slow pace of the interrogation on the other side of the wall. After a couple of hours with Naveed and nothing to show for it, Aadila had started talking to Akbar Jafari. Akbar lacked Naveed’s calm demeanor, but his willingness to admit an alliance with extremist views didn’t extend to any sort of confession about the bombing. When it came to questions about the break-in at his old employer’s building, he clammed up, no doubt well coached by the attorney his father had hired to represent him on that case. She looked across the room. Trip was reading the paper and Shirani, the HSI agent, had stepped out to take a call.

  “Their attorneys were notified that they were being brought in, right?”

  Trip looked up from the newspaper. “One of Aadila’s people called them.” He grinned. “It was kind of early though, so they may have had to leave a message.”

  “I thought you said this was being handled on the up and up.”

  “It is, for the most part. If you’re worried about evidence we gather getting tossed, don’t. As far as I’m concerned this is primarily an exercise. We’ve already got enough to charge them, and I don’t expect we’ll get much in the way of a confession out of any of these assholes. If they were really in it for public glory, they would’ve made sure everyone knew what they did right after the bombing. At this point, I’d be happy if they let us know where the Barstows are so we can scoop them up.”

  “If they even know,” Sarah said.

  “Oh, I bet Naveed knows. That little fucker is pure evil.”

  Sarah didn’t disagree. She’d gotten Ted Bundy like vibes from Naveed the moment she’d seen him sitting in the interrogation room, and she sensed the more they sucked up to him, the more likely it was that he would start bragging about his involvement. “I think it’s time for Aadila to start back up with Naveed.”

  Trip nodded. “I agree, but not until we’ve had lunch. It’s after one and I’m about ready to eat this chair.”

  Sarah laughed. In all the years she’d worked with Trip she could always count on the fact that he’d never miss a meal, no matter how hard they worked. She pressed the buzzer on the wall and waited for Aadila to step back into the observation room so she could suggest the three of them reevaluate their strategy over lunch. When the door swung open she was surprised to see Liz instead of Aadila standing in the doorway. “Hey, Liz, what’s up?”

  “I’m not sure. There’s a guy in reception who insists on seeing you. I told him you were busy today, but he refused to talk to anyone else and he won’t leave. He said ‘you’ll have to force this damn old Marine out of here at gunpoint, but I’m not going on my own until I see Agent Flores,’ which of course means we have him under guard. I plan to have him hauled off, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check with you first.”

  Sarah’s mind raced. The words damn old Marine brought a name to mind. “Is his name Leo?”

  Liz looked surprised. “Yes. Do you know him?”

  The minute Liz confirmed it was Ellery’s neighbor who’d pushed his way into division headquarters, Sarah barreled out the door, certain something was very wrong. She rushed to the lobby of the building, but the only person there was the receptionist. “Where’s the guy? The one who wanted to see me?” Sarah practically shouted the words, desperate for answers. The receptionist pointed to a door to the right and Sarah charged in. Leo was in a chair in the far corner of the room and two agents she didn’t recognize stood on either side of him. Leo’s face lit up when he saw her and he said, “See, there she is. I knew she’d want to talk to me.” He pointed a finger at one of the agents guarding him. “If only you dumb lugs had just listened to me in the first place.”

  “Leo, what is it?” she asked, her anxiety mounting. “Why are you here?”

  “Figures the day you call off your detail, something would happen. Ellery’s gone. Took off in a car with her former law partner and two young girls. Left her front door unlocked and her wallet in the driveway, but I didn’t need those clues to know something was up the minute those girls showed up at her house.”

  Sarah took a deep breath as she attempted to process the scattered bits of information. “Okay, I’m going to need you to start from the beginning. Slowly.”

  Leo grunted. “Fine. I’m sitting on my porch and this car drives up. I recognize the woman, she’s Ellery’s old law partner. Tall heels and lots of red hair, that one. Ellery comes to the door and lets her in. About a half hour later, a van shows up and parks in the street. Two young blond girls in school uniforms get out and go to the front door. One of them looks like a high school kid, the other one was a little long in the tooth to be wearing that outfit, but who am I to say?”

  Sarah rolled her hand to get him to speed up.

  “Okay, okay. So, the girls go in and about ten minutes later, all four of them come out and get in the van, but on the way there, Ellery trips and almost hits the ground. She recovers, they all pile into the van and drive off. Ellery was driving, and her partner, Meg, got into the backseat.”

  “And what about all this made you think something was wrong?”

  He fixed her with a hard stare. “First off, why was Ellery driving a van that wasn’t hers?” Sarah crunched her brow into a skeptical expression, but he kept talking. “There’s more. After they drove off, I noticed Ellery’s wallet, lying right there in her driveway. I figured she dropped it when she fell, so I walk over to get it, thinking I’ll hang onto it until she gets home. When I go to pick it up, I see this sticking out of it.”

  He handed her a business card. It was hers. The one she’d given Ellery on Sunday when she’d seen her on the street outside of Breadwinners. She turned it over and saw her handwritten cell phone number.

  “I called that number,” he said. “But you didn’t answer. I called the number on the front too, but they said you were busy. I figured if I came on down here, you would see me.”

  “You were right. Anything else you remember?”

  “I tried her front door and it was unlocked. She’d never leave her place open like that. I looked around for the car you folks have had parked on the street since last week, but it was nowhere in sight.”

  Damn. Trip had told her they’d pulled the surveillance on Ellery that morning since they were bringing Naveed and his pals in. At the time, she’d been happy for Ellery, but now she realized the lack of police presence had placed her in jeopardy. “You did the right thing. I may need you to sit with a sketch artist and describe the girls.”

  “I can do you one better.” Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “S
napped a couple of pictures. Got the van and its license plate too.”

  Sarah could have kissed him, but instead she grabbed the phone and scrolled through the pictures. Her anxiety spiraled now that she knew exactly who had shown up at Ellery’s door. She’d seen pictures of both girls in the files they’d reviewed just hours ago. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  She dashed out of the room and ran into Trip. The words poured out of her. “Ellery’s been taken. It happened about an hour ago and she’s in deep trouble.”

  “Slow down. What’s going on?”

  She shoved the phone at him. “Kayla and Jasmine showed up at Ellery’s place and took Ellery and her former law partner Meg off in a van. Ellery’s neighbor saw them leave.”

  Trip studied her for a moment and his expression, bordering on indulgence, drove her crazy. “What?” she asked.

  “You’re sure she was taken? That she didn’t go willingly? Those girls could’ve gotten wind of what’s going on down here with their boyfriends and decided to get some legal advice. Makes sense they’d go to the two attorneys who were already well acquainted with the case.”

  Leave it to Trip to stick to his usual mantra of the simplest explanation is usually the best. Normally, she would agree with him, but nothing about this case was simple, especially not when it came to Ellery. Sarah’s gut told her something was terribly wrong, and Ellery, by leaving her card where someone could find it, relied on her for rescue. No way was she going to let her down. She squared her shoulders and faced Trip. She’d find Ellery no matter what it took, even if it meant she had to walk away from the job.