by Brenda Novak
Matt was not an emotional person. He’d always been the calm one in his unit, the even-tempered prosecutor that every jury loved. The family mediator. But he was shaking.
“What did Travis tell you about her?”
“I’d rather hear what you have to say.”
Matt stepped back. “Why are you doing this?”
“I’m not doing anything,” she said, and for the first time he saw a break in her composure. She was as emotional as he was. “I just want the truth.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
“I honestly don’t care about past girlfriends. We both have old relationships. But I need to know that what I’m doing is for the right reasons, not because you have a personal conflict with Travis Hart.”
She might as well have kicked him in the gut. “If I had a personal conflict with anyone, I would fight my own battles,” he said. “I—I don’t know how I lost your trust.”
“You haven’t,” she said. “I just think ... I don’t know. Maybe you really didn’t think it was important. I’m okay. Yeah, I was mad at first, but I know how these things get twisted around and I can give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“I don’t want the benefit of the doubt,” he snapped. “I don’t want you to doubt me at all.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Sharon Anderson was my first law clerk. She was assigned to both Travis and me. I liked her a lot—she was smart and funny and very good at her job. But she was also very ambitious. So was I, so was Travis. From the beginning, Travis and I were rivals, and it wasn’t healthy. I was as guilty as he was in that rivalry, except I never did anything to jeopardize justice—on my cases or his.
“Travis convinced Sharon that I wanted her to fudge on a warrant. She did. I caught it and reprimanded her, and she told me I’d ordered her to do it, which wasn’t true. I thought she’d misunderstood what I said, so from then on I put everything in writing. But somehow, Travis convinced her that I was just protecting my own ass. Sharon was a workaholic, and Travis had her doing things he should have done himself. Yet—he would go to her with extra work and tell her I wanted it done by morning. I didn’t know any of this at the time, so when she turned things in early I just said thank you. She felt I didn’t acknowledge her sacrifices.” He rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t see what was going on. I admit I have tunnel vision when I’m working an important case, and it was worse when I was new. Once I figured out that Travis was sabotaging my working relationship with Sharon—why, I still don’t know—I tried to fix it, but it was too late. Sharon had changed. I suspected she was doing drugs, but couldn’t prove it. Then I found out that she and Travis were involved. It explained a lot.”
“What happened after that?”
“Sharon worked late one night and crashed her car. No one, except Sharon, was hurt. She tested positive for narcotics and was suspended from work pending rehab. She went to rehab, but never came back.”
“You don’t sound too sympathetic.”
What did that mean? “Can we sit down?” he asked.
“Matt—it’s late. I’m tired. I’m fine. I’m glad you told me your side.”
“My side? Did he tell you something different?”
She shrugged. “It’s a matter of perspective, I guess.”
“No, it’s not. I was wholly professional in my dealings with Sharon and Travis. I blame Travis for most of it, but Sharon chose to believe him.”
“And it wasn’t because you were jealous?”
“Jealous? Of Travis?” What the hell was she talking about.
Alex tilted her head. Now she looked confused. “Were you romantically involved with Sharon before Travis? I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it might explain why you hate him so much.”
Now it all came clear. Travis—that bastard—had told half-truths. Twisted things around. But this was an out-and-out lie.
“I never had a relationship with Sharon Anderson. Never. In fact, I’ve never dated anyone who worked in the D.A.’s office, except long before I ran for D.A., I went out a few times with the assistant director of the crime lab. Technically, the crime lab is under our umbrella, but they’re separate entities.” He paused. He wanted to be angry with Alex for believing what Travis Hart said, for not asking him for the truth immediately. But he was more desperate than angry.
He looked around her apartment. It was small—the kitchen opened into the living room. It was sparsely furnished, and she still had boxes stacked against one wall, as if she was moving in or moving out. What if he’d taken her to bed that night when she’d come to him after leaving her boyfriend? Would she have still moved into this place? It was clean, but generic. She hadn’t personalized it. It was like she was living in limbo, either waiting for her old life ... or a new one.
All his anger disappeared. Alex was still living in her own hell, and it pained him more than his wounded ego. He sat on the couch and turned so he could look at her.
“I have never lied to you, Alex,” he said quietly. “Never. The situation with Sharon was one in a long line of events involving Travis Hart. It never crossed my mind to tell you about it because, honestly, I hadn’t thought about it in years.
“I was never romantically involved with Sharon. She worked for the D.A.’s office, and technically I was her direct supervisor. Many people cross that line; I’m not one of them.
“Sharon was, however, involved with Travis. Travis is charming and attentive and used his slick manipulative skills to use her to sabotage me. She believed everything he said because Travis is, at his core, a con artist. He will say or do anything to achieve his goals. At that time, his goal was to get rid of me.
“And it worked, after a while. Even after Sharon left, I was spending so much time trying to salvage my relationship with my colleagues and staff that I couldn’t focus on my job. Sandy—Sandra Cullen, the D.A. at the time—saw what was going on but because most of Travis’s games were he said/he said, she couldn’t do much about it. After the incident with Sharon, she made sure we never shared a clerk, then I moved to the sex crimes unit.
“I ran for the State Senate for two reasons. One of the reasons was because of Travis—the work environment had become toxic. But the primary reason was because of a case I prosecuted where a teenager in a group home raped and murdered a young boy. The law at the time didn’t allow for neighbors to know whether any juveniles in a group home had a record of sex crimes, because of juvenile privacy laws. I wanted to change that—fix what was broken in the system. I thought if I could just explain to the rest of the elected officials that prosecutors’ hands were tied in some cases because of laws on the books, that they’d change the laws.
“I learned real quick that the system was broken on that end, too. When Sandy asked me to run for D.A., I did—because at my core, I’m not a politician. I can’t sit in a room full of people elected to serve this great state, tell them clearly what is wrong and how it can be fixed, and then have them completely ignore the problem or, worse, make up reasons for the problem and pass legislation to address so-called ‘root causes’ without fixing the problem placed in front of them. It was soul-breaking.” That was an understatement. To this day, Matt regretted his three years in the State Senate – he’d resigned after winning the District Attorney’s race.
“I came back to the D.A.’s office and Travis was still there, only it had gotten worse because he had opposed me in the election. The three years I was gone, he’d built himself a small but loyal following that would do anything he wanted. He was good at that—building alliances. They sabotaged cases—jeopardizing their careers—while Travis directed it without getting his own hands dirty. That was his M.O. The one valuable trick I learned from working in the Capitol was how the game was played. I put an end to it real quick. But not before we lost a major case because of evidence tampering. Evidence tampering that I could not prove was the work of Travis Hart, but used nonetheless to force him to resign. I threatened to pull every case he’d worked during the three years I was go
ne and go over them with a fine-toothed comb. He resigned.”
Matt rubbed his hands over his face. Alex was staring at him, a mix of emotion on her face. She was exhausted, but she believed him. He could see it in her eyes. Why didn’t she talk to him? Tell him what she was thinking?
“In hindsight,” he continued, “I should have gone over Travis’s cases because it’s clear that he was worried I would find something. I’d been so relieved that he’d left, I put the threat aside and rebuilt my team. Some reassignments, some re-training, some firings, some new hires. Now, I am extremely happy with our unit. I trust each and every prosecutor who works under me. Our law clerks are among the best in the state.”
“I should have talked to you instead of Dean,” Alex said softly. “I don’t know why I didn’t. I’m sorry, Matt.”
He got up and put his hands on her shoulders. “Alex, I will never lie to you. I will never use you. If you don’t want to work undercover, we’ll find another way. But more than anything, how you see me matters. It matters to me.” He pushed her hair away from her face and kissed her. “You matter to me.”
Matt kissed her again. Her lips parted and she leaned against him, kissing him back with the same barely restrained passion he had. He wanted to take her to bed, he wanted to make love to Alex and wake up with her next to him.
As if she felt his intensity, she stepped back. “Matt--”
“Don’t turn me away.”
He kissed her again, giving her no chance to argue. He held her close, his hands fisting in her tank top.
She put her hands on his face and looked him straight in the eye. Her heart beat against his chest, she wanted this as much as he did. Yet, she was going to ask him to leave. He saw it in her dark eyes. He held his breath. He would leave if Alex asked him to; he prayed she didn’t.
Something subtle shifted, as if every muscle in her body relaxed. Whatever she’d been looking for, she’d found. Her lips curved, her arms wrapped around his neck, and she kissed him, all reservations gone.
Matt picked her up and carried her to bed.
Chapter Fourteen
Matt hadn’t wanted to leave Alex without saying good-bye, but he had no clothes at her place. He left her a note then rushed home to shower, shave and change into a clean suit. Dean sent him a text message that he was bringing in Huang early, and to be at FBI headquarters by eight-thirty to sit in on the interview.
Matt arrived at his own office before seven to dispatch a series of memos since he expected to be out all morning. He called Zoey while driving to FBI headquarters an hour later to run through what he needed done, and to follow-up on the box from archives regarding the People vs. Paulson. He wanted it on his desk before noon.
Bringing in Eric Huang was a controversial call—if they were wrong, then Huang would tell Travis about the investigation. And even if they were right, Huang might not know anything of value. But Dean believed Alex’s theory that Huang had been the target, and he decided to circumvent the Sacramento PD and talk to Huang directly. Dean’s decision could cause huge problems between the FBI and Sac PD, but one thing Matt liked about Dean Hooper was that he weighed every possibility, then did the one thing that would yield the greatest results. He could play the political game with the best of them, but he never allowed interagency politics to interfere with an investigation.
Matt was five minutes late and Dean met him at the guard desk. “Huang is sitting in an interview room. I want him to sit for a few more minutes, though I think sending two agents to fetch him was enough to get him to talk. He’s as straight-laced as they come. Did you talk to Alex?”
“Yes. It’s all good, we cleared the air.”
“So Hart lied to her. I’m concerned that he knows what she’s doing.”
“How?” Matt shook his head. “Truthfully, I’ve heard the rumor about Sharon before, the one he spoon fed to Alex. It came out during the election, though not publicly.”
“Tell her my offer still stands. I can place her in the Bureau as a civilian—or get her into the Academy, if she wants to be an agent.”
Matt didn’t want that. He didn’t want Alex three thousand miles away. Especially after last night. And the Bureau could assign her anywhere—there were over fifty FBI offices in the country.
But, it wasn’t his call. Alex would have to make the decision herself.
Dean said, “You need to put your feelings aside, Matt. I’m telling you this as a friend—you’re emotionally involved, and that’s going to compromise this case if you go off half-cocked on Hart or anyone else.”
“That’s not me, Dean. You know that. Alex is solid. And we both have her back.”
“After what happened last summer, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting her to decline Hart’s offer.”
“I don’t want her in there because I don’t trust him, but this is a rare opportunity. We need to find a way to keep a better eye on her, though, in case she needs assistance.”
“I’m hoping after Huang, we won’t need Alex to go undercover. You ready?” Dean asked.
“Let’s do it.”
Eric Huang jumped when they walked into the interview room. He wasn’t handcuffed, he’d been given water and coffee, but he looked terrified.
“Thank you for coming in, Mr. Huang,” Dean said and sat down. “I’m Dean Hooper, Assistant Special Agent in Charge. This is Matt Elliott, Sacramento County District Attorney. I’m sorry you had to wait. Mr. Elliott was stuck in traffic. Do you need anything? More water?”
Huang had both hands wrapped around his water bottle. “No, thank you. I don’t understand why I’m here. The agents who came to my house said I wasn’t under arrest, but it didn’t seem I had a choice. They said it was about the shooting, but wouldn’t let me call my boss.”
“I’m hoping to be done here quickly, but I wanted to talk to you before you speak to Mr. Hart.”
“I told the police everything I remember. Believe me, I’ve been reliving that moment since it happened.”
“We have your statement, and it’s consistent with the evidence. But we’re investigating another line of inquiry. We believe that you were the target of Monday assassination attempt. Do you know anyone who might want you dead, Mr. Huang?”
His face paled. “That’s—that’s ridiculous. I don’t have enemies. Who would hurt me? That makes no sense.” He paused. “The detective asked me if I had enemies, and I don’t. You can ask him. I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?”
“No, Mr. Huang,” Dean assured him. “But our crime lab has analyzed the crime scene, and we believe that the shooter was aiming at you, not Mr. Hart.”
“That—I—I don’t understand.”
“You’ve worked for Mr. Hart for the past year, correct?”
“Yes—since he was appointed as Mr. Goodman’s replacement. I worked for Mr. Goodman in the Senate, then stayed on with him when he was elected LG. Mr. Goodman was a great man. I’m still close to his family.”
“You’re Mr. Hart’s legislative consultant, correct?”
“Yes, but as I explained to the detective the other day, the LG doesn’t have much to do with legislation. I simply review pending legislation and give him a briefing, so he knows what’s happening, what he might want to write a press release on, things like that. But he doesn’t vote unless there’s a tie in the Senate. There hasn’t been a tie since he was elected.”
“Has Mr. Hart asked you to do anything that was different from what you did for Mr. Goodman?”
“I—I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Do you have added duties? Anything unrelated to legislation?”
“No.”
Matt spoke up. “In the last few months, has Mr. Hart acted out of character? Has he done or said anything that made you nervous?”
“Mr. Hart has always been the same.”
“Do you like him?”
“He’s a good boss.”
“Good how?”
“I do my job, he reads my reports, says th
ank you. I don’t interact with him much.”
“Then why were you at a campaign event?”
“It was my lunch hour.”
“So you wanted to be there? To support him?”
“No, he needed me to be available to answer questions about legislation. I keep up to date on all important bills, and because of Mr. Hart’s focus on criminal justice reform, I am particularly well-versed in all matters of public safety legislation. If a reporter asked something he might not know off the top of his head, I would be available to give him a quote.”
“So it was your idea.”
“No, of course not, I don’t work on campaigns, but I checked with our legal counsel and he said that as long as I was on my own time, I could assist. It’s legal. I have a letter confirming that.”
“Do you habitually run things by legal counsel?”
“Yes. Mr. Goodman never wanted anyone think he was crossing a line, so if he had any concerns, he’d ask me to draft a letter and get an opinion.”
“And Mr. Hart?”
“He’s a lawyer, he knows more about the law than Mr. Goodman did.”
“So he hasn’t asked you about getting legal opinions.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
Still, Huang frowned, as if assessing something.
Dean asked, “Have you witnessed Mr. Hart engaged in any activities that you considered borderline? Something that Mr. Goodman might have gotten a legal opinion for?”
“I don’t know what you’re getting at.” Huang sipped his water and stared at the untouched coffee.
Dean leaned forward until Huang raised his gaze to meet Dean. “I’m going to trust you, Eric. If I’m wrong, a three year investigation is going up in smoke. But I don’t think I’m wrong. I think that you’re a good legislative aide, that you believe in the system, that you do not cross lines, that you have never consciously broken the law.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong. I swear, Agent Hooper.”
“Good. Because your boss may not be as squeaky clean as you.”
Huang wasn’t an idiot. He immediately knew what Dean meant.
