Page 2 of Trial Run

“See that you do,” he said with an extra dose of surly. “I won’t hold my breath though.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope and she held her breath, praying it wasn’t an eviction notice. “The postman just came and he had this letter for you. I told him I’d bring it by.” He held it up and squinted. “Looks kind of official.”

He shoved it at her, and she took it and stuffed it into her book bag without a second glance, taking a small amount of joy in his crestfallen expression as he realized she wasn’t going to share the contents with him. The guy had a lot of nerve, intercepting her mail. No doubt he was hoping it was a big check so she could pay her rent on time. Fat chance.

“Mom, we better get going, right?”

She shrugged away her thoughts about Mr. Peterson and led Ben to the car. When they pulled up to his school, the lack of cars told her they were late. Again. “Sorry, bud.”

“It’s okay. We missed all the waiting in line this way.”

She grabbed his shoulder and squeezed before he jumped out of the car. Some days his positive attitude was the only thing that kept her going. She was a grown-ass woman and shouldn’t be relying on an adolescent to keep her sane.

She sighed and shifted her focus to the rest of her day. If she didn’t hurry up, she was going to be late to her own exam, and college professors were way less accommodating than middle school teachers.

James, the teaching assistant for Professor Wiles, was passing out the exam as she walked into the room. He shot herthe same annoyed glance she’d received many times during the semester, and she slipped into a seat in the back of the room and fumbled through her bag in a quest to find a pen that worked. Her hand brushed the letter Mr. Peterson had brought over and she bent the edge to look at the return address. Dallas County Courts. Definitely not a check. Nothing good came from a court notice. She looked back at the front of the room and saw that James was still several rows in front of her, so she risked a look at the front of the envelope, and her heart stopped when she spotted capital letters in big, bold, red type: JURY SUMMONS.

Crap. One more obligation to navigate in her already overpacked schedule. Single, working moms with a full college load should automatically get a free pass. She started to rip open the envelope to see what hoops she’d need to jump through to make that happen when James’s voice hissed in her ear.

“It’s a little late to be looking at your notes.”

She met his eyes with her most stern mother look and let the frost linger for a full moment before she put the envelope away and accepted her copy of the exam from him. This guy might have all the power right now, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. “Thank you, James. I’m sure Professor Wiles is thankful to have someone to handle all his administrative tasks.”

He huffed away and she instantly regretted her impulsive act. One day her mouth was going to get her into trouble, and she already had more than she could manage.

Two hours later, she handed in her exam and prayed for the best. She’d finished in the middle of the pack, timing-wise and hoped the grade would be about the same. She needed this course to graduate, but it wasn’t going to make her career ambitions. She rushed to her car to find a ticket for having exceeded the time on the meter and she stuffed it in her bag with the jury summons. The law was not on her side today, but she didn’t have time to dwell on her misfortune.

A few minutes later, she pushed through the doors at Dante’s, the restaurant where she worked. Lunch prep was in full swing and the owner, Lydia, called out for her to head directly to the private room in the back and get it ready for a special reservation. She gladly complied, and used the first few minutes in the empty space to read through the letter from the Dallas County Courts. A quick scan of the possible ways out told her she didn’t have a viable excuse and she’d have to show up in person to plead her case, but when she checked the report date, she saw it was for the following Monday morning. How could that be? She’d never gotten a jury summons before, but surely they gave a person more than forty-eight hours’ notice before sucking their lives away?

“Why isn’t there water on the table?”

Brooke whirled around, startled by Lydia’s voice. “Sorry, I just got some bad news. I’m going to need to take Monday off.”

“No chance. We’ve got the Rotary Club lunch and that other thing. I need everyone working all week.”

Brooke held up the notice. “Nothing I can do about it. Jury summons.”

Lydia laughed. “Seriously? I’ve gotten four of those and they’ve all gone directly in the trash.” She held her arms out wide. “Don’t see me getting thrown in jail, do you?” She smiled. “The cops have better things to do than to hunt down no-shows for snooze duty. Trust me, you’ll be fine. Toss it, but for now, focus on your job.”

Lydia glided out of the room and Brooke watched her go. Maybe Lydia was right. She could toss the notice just this once. She’d make a promise never to ignore another one. Who would know?

Her phone chose that exact moment to loudly announce a new call with the obnoxious Imperial March ring tone Ben had chosen for his incoming calls. She pulled the phone to her earwithout bothering to glance at the screen. “Hey, kiddo. Make it fast, the boss is close by.”

“No need to worry. The boss is in her office.”

The voice was low and even. Not Ben. No, it was someone else. Someone close by. She glanced around the room, but she was the only one there. She held the phone out an arm’s length and looked at the screen. Unknown caller. Had to be a crank call. She moved her thumb toward the red button to hang up but froze at the next words.

“Listen carefully to everything I’m about to say. Ben’s life depends on it.”

Chapter Two

Reggie watched while the petite woman in front of her hefted her big bag onto the conveyor belt, certain the contents were going to trigger a search. Why would anyone carry a bag that big into the courthouse anyway, especially after what had happened a few months ago. Anyone who barely even watched the news knew about the shooting and the enhanced security that came after.

“Sorry for holding up the line.”

The woman tossed the comment over her shoulder, looking back long enough for Reggie to see her flushed cheeks and her brow furrowed into a contrite expression. Okay, no matter how annoyed she was to be standing in this line, she didn’t have to be an asshole. She pointed at the bag. “If you have anything in there that’s likely to set off the alarm, you’re going to want to take it out and put it in one of those trays.” She pointed at the dog food bowls that served as the catchall for watches, electronics, etc. that might trigger the metal detector.

“Thanks.” She tugged a tablet out of her bag and shoved it into one of the bowls and set it on the conveyor belt.

“First time here?” Reggie asked. The woman was attractive and now that she’d started talking to her, she may as well go all in.

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