Reasonable Doubt (32 page)

“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. “Snapped 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.

*

Ellery gripped the steering wheel tightly as she listened to Kayla talk on the phone. She glanced in the rearview mirror at Meg who was seated in the back with Jasmine. Meg hadn’t said a word since they left the house, but her face was pale and she looked like she wanted to throw up.

Ellery could relate. She’d managed to leave her wallet in the driveway, but it wasn’t much of a clue. If anyone came looking for her, maybe they would get the hint and give Sarah a call, but she wasn’t convinced that would do much good since Sarah wouldn’t have any idea where she was. Frankly, she held out hope that it would be Sarah who came by her house. She’d left so abruptly last night. If she’d known she would never see Sarah again, she would have said something, done something to show her how she felt. To let her know the night had been about more than sex.

None of it mattered now unless she could figure a way out of this mess. She concentrated on figuring out Kayla and Jasmine’s end game. They’d been in the car driving all over the city for the past forty-five minutes. In between snippets of conversation on the phone, Kayla had instructed her turn-by-turn, and Ellery was now certain they were headed back toward downtown. What she didn’t know was what these girls had planned once they got there.

She tried to glean some idea of who might be on the other end of the phone, but Kayla’s side of the conversation was too vague to give her any clues. Finally, after a few minutes, Kayla set the phone down and concentrated on the road ahead. “Turn right here.”

They were on Ross Avenue now and Ellery could see the Dallas skyline just ahead. “So, we’re headed downtown,” she said.

“Don’t pretend to act like you know anything about what’s in store. All you need to know is that you’re going to take part in something important whether you appreciate it or not.”

“Important, like bomb another building important? Because if that’s the case, you and I have very different ideas about what’s important. It’s not too late for us to turn around. Meg and I will help you get out of that vest and you can take off. It’ll be like it never happened.” She gave Jasmine a pointed look in the rearview mirror to make sure she understood she had a say in the matter, but Kayla cut her off. “Save it, counselor. We’re ready to die for the cause. You should concentrate on getting ready to do the same when the time comes.”

“You’re crazy,” Meg said, rising up from her seat. “Ellery, stop the damn car and let me out.”

“Do it and you’ll both be dead right now.”

“Sounds like we’re going to be dead soon anyway,” Ellery said.

Kayla didn’t argue the point. “I suggest you keep driving.”

Ellery tried a different tack. “Jasmine, are you wearing a death trap too?”

“Ignore her,” Kayla said. She looked over at Ellery. “What business is it of yours how we choose to exercise our faith?”

“When innocent people die, it’s everyone’s business.” Ellery thought back to the night of the bombing and the memory of the broken bodies she’d helped pull from the rubble. The destruction had been devastating, and remembering the uselessness of it all made her angry enough to push for answers. “Besides, I have to wonder about this ‘faith’ of yours. Did you grow up in the Muslim faith or is it just something you do to impress boys?”

“It’s not about them,” Jasmine said.

Kayla made a zip it motion. “Seriously, Jasmine, shut up.” She faced forward again and said, “And you too, shut up and drive. Turn left at the next light and then right on Main.”

They were in the heart of downtown now. Ellery caught Meg’s eye in the mirror and subtly shook her head. They would have to be very careful if they were going to get out of this alive. She had no doubt now Naveed and his friends were responsible for bombing the arena, and they now had a plan in place to bomb another location. Kayla was whispering into the phone again, and Ellery considered the possibility Naveed and Akbar were orchestrating this whole thing. What she didn’t get was why they had involved her and why either of these girls would consent to suiting up with explosives. Were they truly convinced their actions were part of some glorious jihad?

While Kayla was occupied on the phone, she looked back at Jasmine. She kept crossing and uncrossing her legs and casting furtive looks out the window. Clearly, Kayla was the leader of this little expedition, and Jasmine was a reluctant follower. She needed to figure out a way to leverage that fact to help them out of this situation because right now things looked dire. Without a clue as to whether the explosives were real and how they were set to detonate, their options were severely limited. If they could get somewhere away from buildings and people, she could rush Kayla in order to give Meg a chance to get away, but if Jasmine was also wearing a vest, her action would be pointless. She didn’t want to die today. Not today of all days, not after she’d spent the night in Sarah’s arms and let her walk away. She should have done whatever it took to get her to stay, begging if necessary, but at the very least, she wanted to live long enough to have another chance to convince her what they’d shared was only the beginning.

Then again, what chance did she have? Sarah was a cop, through and through, and duty would always come first. Last night, the hours of pleasure they’d spent together, were an anomaly, a by-product of high emotions and physical attraction. When work called, Sarah made her choice, and Ellery could hardly blame her since her dedication was one of the qualities she found attractive about her.

Kayla’s voice jarred her out of her reverie. “Here.” She pointed to a parking garage entrance up ahead on the right. “Turn in there.”

People were walking on both sides of the street, going about their regular routines while she was driving a van, presumably loaded with enough explosives to ruin the lives of everyone in sight. The idea of driving into an underground parking garage made her feel even more trapped and helpless than she had when Kayla had first ordered her into the van. She spotted a parking space on the street, said a silent prayer, and jerked the wheel until she was parallel to the sidewalk.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kayla shouted.

If they were going to die anyway, she would decide the terms. “I’m not moving until you tell me what you’re up to.”

Kayla shot a look at Jasmine who turned her face to the window as if she was done participating in Kayla’s little game. “We are taking revenge for the religious persecution of our loved ones. I would have thought you’d have more loyalty to the people you represent, but apparently, Naveed and his father were only dollar signs to you. I’m fully prepared to die for what I believe.” She reached a hand inside her jacket and looked outside the van. “This isn’t what we had planned, but if you’re prepared to die with me right now, just say the word.”