Page 28 of Trial Run

“Budget cuts. You should see what the less senior agents have to deal with.” Sarah jerked her chin in Lennox’s direction. “So, you work at the courthouse with this one?”

Reggie glanced over at Lennox, wishing they’d taken the time to work out an approach before barreling in here. Lennox merely nodded, so she decided to plunge right in. “Used to. I’m in between gigs right now, but I wound up on Shirley Mitchell’s jury and that’s what we’re here to talk to you about.”

Sarah leaned back in her chair, her face a mask of nonchalance, but Reggie noticed she started twirling the pen in her hand like it was one of those fidget spinners. She was interested in hearing more. Very.

“Someone’s threatening at least one of the jurors,” Lennox said. “We have reason to think the threats are real.”

“Do you now?” Sarah crossed her arms. “Lennox, should you even be here without opposing counsel?”

“It’s not my case.”

“I thought all cases at the DA’s office belong to the entire office.”

“Technically, yes, but sometimes we have to deal with cases that cross the line. This is one of those.”

“And you’re trying to drag me across the line with you?”

“Shirley Mitchell has a lot of contracts for federal public housing. If she’s in so much trouble that she’s threatening a juror, you can bet there are problems with her federal projects as well. Don’t you want a chance to take her down?”

Reggie watched while Lennox stared Sarah down, and after a few moments of silence, she decided she was tired of their back-and-forth. “The threats are real. I know it for a fact. Somebody needs to do something, and I don’t really care which one of you it is.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows, but Lennox flashed a hint of a smile which she quickly hid by placing a hand in front of her face.

“Say I take you up on this challenge,” Sarah asked. “What do you propose that I do?”

Now it was her turn to stare at Sarah while she reviewed and promptly dismissed every idea that came to mind. It was fine in the abstract to imagine a targeted operation designed to capture Shirley Mitchell, or whoever was working on her behalf, in the act of coercing a juror, but it was a whole different story trying to come up with a way to trick her into revealing her culpability

“Look, I’m not the one in a position to know,” she said. “I’m a regular citizen stuck on a case, reporting an incident of jury tampering.” She wagged a finger between Sarah and Lennox. “You two are the ones who are supposed to come up with the ideas about how to bring the bad guys to justice.” She paused and faced Sarah. “Do you really mean to tell me the bureau hasn’t been investigating Shirley Mitchell? Don’t you have some leverageyou can use with the DA’s office to get her to take a deal? If she did, this trial would be over, and the threat gone. Everyone wins.”

“So, you don’t care about her being prosecuted for making the threats—you only want the threats to stop?”

Sarah delivered the question with narrowed eyes, like she didn’t fully trust her motives, and Reggie didn’t blame her. She should want Shirley to go down for putting Brooke’s son in danger, but the truth was they might not ever prove she had anything to do with it. People like Shirley always had lackeys with misplaced loyalties who were willing to take the fall or take action to insulate their boss, and for all she knew Shirley might not know any of the details of the things that had been done on her behalf. But if the DA’s office could work out a deal to get her to plead guilty instead of continuing with the trial, Brooke would no longer be in danger and she could get back to her life. “I want whatever makes the most sense, and right now that seems like a plea. It’s a win for the DA’s office and will keep the rest of the jurors safe.”

Sarah sighed and looked at Lennox. “Is everyone you know a bleeding heart?”

Lennox replied with a shrug. “Maybe. She’s not wrong though. You have the resources to make this work.”

“The real question,” Reggie added, “is whether you have the guts to make it happen.” She held her breath as she waited for Sarah’s answer. If she wasn’t willing to take on the case, they’d be back to square one and she’d have to figure out a way to protect Brooke on her own. Not ideal, but maybe sorting out the truth was a worthy substitute for studying for her PI exam. She squared her shoulders and waited for Sarah’s answer. Whatever it was, she was ready, and she’d do whatever was necessary to keep Brooke safe.

* * *

Brooke dropped her keys twice while trying to unlock the door to her apartment, and she vowed to dropkick them across the complex if they didn’t work on the next turn. Thankfully, they complied and she pushed open the door and dropped her purse on the table just inside.

“Hi, Mom.”

She looked across the room at Ben who was sitting in front of the TV munching on handfuls of Cheetos with orange-tipped fingers. “Hey, kiddo. Make sure you don’t rub any of that on the couch, okay?”

“Sure, Mom.” He punctuated the response by rolling his eyes and, instead of finding it as annoying as always, she breathed a sigh of relief at the very normal preteen sign of disrespect because it signaled he wasn’t sitting around fretting about what had happened to him. “Can we get burgers from Jake’s for dinner?”

Burgers sounded great and totally worth blowing the last bit of cash she had on hand, but then she remembered. “Sorry, pal. I’m still without a car and they’re not on any of the apps. Does Shake Shack work for you?”

“Bummer, but yeah the Shack’ll do.”

He turned back to his show as if she’d disappeared in a puff of smoke. If only she could set aside the circumstances and act as nonchalant about the circumstances. If only she knew what the circumstances were. Maybe it was time to figure that out on her own.

She placed the order, trying not to flinch at the fees, and then fished around in one of the kitchen drawers. When you were about to list all the ways your life was messed up, pen and paper seemed like the way to go. She finally located a pen from the auto shop that had taken most of her savings last month, and a Post-it pad she’d swiped from the restaurant, deciding it would have to do. At the top of one of the Post-its she wrote:Reasons To Leave Town. She started to scratch it out, but decided instead it was a decent code for her feelings about her current options.

Talk to the judge

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