Reasonable Doubt (13 page)

“Looks like you’re in a bit of trouble, neighbor.”

His words were low and gravely. Ellery shook her head in disgust. “Looks like. Seen anything interesting?”

“They carried out a few boxes from your studio, but other than that, it looks like they’re mostly just digging around in there. Some fella drove up in your car. Didn’t look like a fed, but he walked up to the rest of them and started saying a bunch of stuff. I couldn’t make out a word. He followed them inside and I haven’t seen them since.”

“That would be my dad, Gordon Durant, esquire.”

“Guess you’ll save some pennies, having a lawyer in the family.”

Ellery started to remind him that she didn’t need a lawyer since she was one, but she decided not to bother. What she wanted to do was walk over and find out exactly what was going on. The only thing holding her back was not knowing if they had a warrant for her arrest. If they did, she wanted to turn herself in on her own time, especially since other than what she’d heard on the radio, she didn’t know what the charges would be. If what the radio said was true, that they thought she was involved in a terrorist plot, there’d be little chance of being released on bond and she’d need time to prepare if she was going to be incarcerated. “Mind if I hang out here for a bit?”

Leo waved at the beer and sandwiches. “Help yourself.”

She nodded her thanks, but decided against putting food in her swirling stomach. She settled into a chair and pulled out her phone to text her father.
Update?

Still at it.

You should talk to the next door neighbor, Leo. He’s always got some inside scoop.

A few minutes passed before he showed up on Leo’s porch. If he was surprised to see her, he didn’t let it show. He declined Leo’s offer of a sandwich, but popped the top on one of the beers and settled in like they were old friends. “I know my daughter well. If I ask her to stay put, she’ll do exactly the opposite. I should’ve bet on it.”

“Hey, Dad, I’m right here and I can hear every word. As much as I know you love to be right, I didn’t have much of a choice. The Melrose kicked me out, and it appears none of my credit cards are working. Your pals next door have any insights to offer about why this is happening?”

“Sure. They think you helped a local group fund a terrorist cell. I guess in addition to conducting these searches, they’ve also frozen your assets. Hope you kept some cash hidden somewhere.”

Ellery stood and started pacing the porch. She looked over at her house. Twenty-four hours ago, she’d had everything she ever wanted. Work she loved, a cozy house in a quiet neighborhood, and the promise of more—a successful show and the chance to see Sarah Flores again. Now all of that was at risk. The memory of Sarah triggered a thought. “Dad, is there more than one agency at the house?”

“Just HSI as far as I can tell. At least they’re the ones heading things up, but it’s likely something this big would have some interagency support.”

Like from the FBI. What division had Sarah said she worked for? Fraud. Doubtful her division was involved, but it was possible. She racked her brain to see if anything about their coffee date earlier in the week could be considered nefarious, but her only read was that Sarah had been genuinely interested in her personally, not as the target of an investigation. Whether that was hubris or not remained to be seen. She didn’t have Sarah’s number or she would’ve called and asked her directly. She did have another call she needed to make though, and she walked across the porch out of Leo and her father’s earshot.

Karen answered on the first ring. “If you’re trying to drum up publicity, you sure know what you’re doing.”

Ellery sighed with relief at the teasing, but friendly, tone. “If you think I’m getting a lot of press now, just wait until they carry me off to prison.”

“You have to wait until after the show. I’ve been getting calls all morning. Seriously, I had to tell the caterers to order more wine. I think we’re in for record crowds.”

“I called to tell you I completely understand if you want to pull my pieces from the show.”

“Not a chance. And you must be there, even if you have to bust out of jail to make it happen.”

“No way. The bombing was hugely personal to so many people. My being there would be a huge distraction.” Images of the wounded flashed in her mind. “It was personal to me too.”

“Exactly, and that’s precisely why you need to be there. You didn’t have anything to do with this, so don’t hole up and act like you have something to be ashamed of. Show up and embrace your new life.”

Ellery had no idea how much of Karen’s encouragement was aimed at making her feel more confident and how much was a mercenary means to sell out the show, but ultimately Karen was right. She didn’t have anything to hide. Whatever was going on was a huge mistake, and it would sort itself out, but it had nothing to do with her new life. She’d worked hard for the recognition she hoped to receive tonight, and if she let her former life eclipse her new opportunities, she may as well never have left the practice. She knew what she had to do.

“Make sure there’s lots of champagne. I’ll be there.”

Sarah pulled up to Danny and Ellen’s house and parked in the driveway. When she was ready to buy a house, she might like one like this—a Craftsman with a large, wraparound porch. The neighborhood was nice. Lots of trees, close to good restaurants and bars, within walking distance of several neighborhood grocery stores. Probably way out of her price range, but maybe she could find a place nearby that needed some fixing up.

Danny opened the door before she made it across the porch. “Come on in and grab a drink.” She rolled her eyes. “Ellen’s still getting ready.”

Sarah punched her in the arm. “Don’t act like you don’t like girls getting all dolled up on your account.”

“Well, I must admit, I do like it. Speaking of getting dolled up, look at you.”

Sarah felt the slow warmth of a blush rise through her skin. She’d changed outfits at least three times before settling on the flirty red cocktail dress with a daring side slit. She’d been told her legs were her best feature, and it would be stupid not to use them to her advantage. She feared her efforts would go to waste, though. If Ellery was even there tonight, she’d probably be too busy to give her the time of day, but if she had any chance of getting close, there was nothing like bare skin to do the trick. “Didn’t you promise me a drink?”

“Don’t you two dare start drinking without me.”

Sarah saw Danny’s wife, Ellen, walking toward her. They embraced, and Ellen gave her a long, appraising once over. “Don’t let Danny tease you. The last time she wore a dress was probably at her first communion. You look amazing.”

Danny nodded. “Mama gave up on me after I tore my dress playing touch football after the service. I couldn’t have been happier to retire that lacy contraption. Come on, drinks are in the kitchen.”

Sarah followed the couple through their living room into the spacious kitchen. “Wow, this is huge.”

Ellen laughed. “You should’ve seen it when we bought the place. It was the size of a large closet.”

“It was my have to have feature,” Danny said. “My entire childhood was spent in the kitchen. Meals, homework, family meetings—it was the most important room in the house.”

Sarah looked around. Everything about their place was foreign to a girl who’d grown up on navy bases. Her apartment in D.C. had looked more like a storage locker than a home. She’d hardly ever spent time there, and it seemed like a waste to decorate the place. She’d tried to make her new place in Dallas seem more homey, but so far all she’d managed were a few coordinated pieces the woman at the Pottery Barn down the street had convinced her were supposed to go together. As for her kitchen, she hoped the high-end appliances worked as well as they looked, but as long as she was within walking distance of dozens of good restaurants, she had no plans to find out anytime soon.

“So, what’s this show all about, anyway?” Sarah asked as Ellen handed her a glass of wine.

“Karen Tron is a big deal in the Dallas design community,” Ellen said. “She owns several showrooms in the Design District, and a few years ago she started a juried show to introduce new talent. You’ll see all kinds of work on display, from furniture, to knickknacks, to light fixtures, and wall paintings. Being selected for one of her shows is quite a coup, especially for someone like Ellery who doesn’t have a background in design. A lot of the other artists at the show have spent their entire lives making the rounds of the various shows, building an audience for their work.”

“Do you think she’ll show up tonight?” Danny asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Ellen said. “Probably better since you know her much better than I do.”

“I’m not sure I know her as well as you think. I mean, when she was in practice I saw her at the courthouse all the time. She’s a worthy adversary and I could always count on her to shoot straight with me, but I haven’t had a lot of social interaction with her. On that level, Sarah here probably knows her better than the both of us.”

Sarah almost choked on her wine as they both turned toward her. She’d been silently observing their conversation while she pondered her own observations. She started to say that she didn’t have a clue, but both of these women knew what she used to do for a living and neither was likely to buy her “hey, I’m just a paper pusher for the FBI” routine. She cleared her throat while she considered her response. “Really good sociopaths are naturally good at it. Their lies don’t always come with all the usual social cues because they don’t feel any shame about lying, so there’s no struggle between the message the body is delivering and what the mind knows to be true.”

“Are you saying even you can’t spot a sociopath?”

“Not at all. Even people with little regard for human life give signals, just not the ones you might be used to, although I’m sure you’ve developed a fair amount of people-reading skills in the courtroom.”

“So, what about Ellery? What does your Quantico-trained gut say?”

Sarah paused before she answered, assessing whether her conclusion was more about her feelings than any empirical findings. But Danny was right. Despite the science, it often came down to gut instinct. For now, she was going to go with her gut, but she would also hedge her bets.

“I think there’s a lot more to Ellery Durant than meets the eye, but I don’t think she knowingly did anything to support the group behind the bombing.” What she didn’t say was that Ellery might well have inadvertently helped a terrorist group, which might make a difference in the investigation against her, but could still have serious consequences. It was pretty unlikely that HSI would care to parse out which was which, and she’d only been tapped with the task of giving the director an assessment of Ellery as a person, not determining whether she should be charged and with what. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to dig a little deeper.

*

“Where do you want me to drop you off?”

Ellery pointed to a side street. “If you turn there, you can circle around and access the back of the building. It’s a loading dock, and hopefully, it’ll be clear.”

Her dad followed her instructions and Ellery settled back into her seat, desperately trying to calm the sense of dread she had about the night’s events. They were in Leo’s beat-up Plymouth in an effort to hide from the crowd, but after they made one pass around the front of the building, it was clear there would be no way for Ellery to make a quiet entrance. Press had already lined the street and were taking pictures of everyone who entered the building. At least some of the other designers would be getting a lot of publicity for the event.

Not for the first time, she regretted her decision to come here tonight. It was one thing to hold up ideals, but quite another to see them through, and she feared others might be hurt by her attendance. Karen’s business could take a hit from the protestors who’d lined up across the street with signs decrying terrorism, and coverage of the other designers’ work could be eclipsed by new stories about how the attorney who’d helped terrorists bomb the arena had no shame about appearing in public. She couldn’t win no matter what she did, but at least if she’d stayed home no one else would be smeared by the dirt the public was casting her way.

“It’s not too late to change your mind.”

Her dad’s expression was hopeful. She knew he’d prefer it if she asked him to turn the car around and drive as far away from this disaster waiting to happen as possible. He’d probably be happiest if she would abandon this dream entirely and went back to practicing law, and she couldn’t blame him for expecting her to do what he wanted. She’d followed in his footsteps most of her life without ever questioning if it was what she really wanted rather than what he wanted for her. It was expected. It was responsible. It was easy. Until it wasn’t and she’d had to walk away or let it consume her. Now she’d found something that fulfilled her instead of chewed away at her soul. Would she let her chance at a new life slip away?

“I made a promise to be here, and this is the only place I want to be. You can just drop me off if you don’t want to come in.”

He nodded, and she detected a glint of respect in his eyes. He might not ever agree with her choices, but maybe someday he could understand that she was surviving her own way. He pulled the car up to the loading dock. As she reached for the door handle, he put his hand on her arm and gave it a light squeeze. “I’ll see you inside.”

Ellery climbed the stairs and knocked on the back door. Karen’s assistant, Rick, opened the door and ushered her in. He was dressed in a midnight blue tux with a deep purple bow tie and he bent down to kiss her hand.

“You’re not going to believe the crowd waiting to get in,” he said. “The fire marshal will be paying us a visit for sure, but the show’s going to be a sellout. Champagne?”

“No, thanks. The last thing I need is to pour alcohol on my already frayed nerves. Where’s Karen?”

“She’s up front talking to the press. Don’t worry—she’s making it clear all personal questions are off limits or they’ll be escorted off the premises, and she hired some big hunky guys to make sure that happens.”