Page 61 of Justice Delayed

Outside Fallon’s office, his boss’s assistant looked up from her keyboard. “You’re late. He’s waiting for you.”

“I know.” He held up the notebook. “Couldn’t find my notes.” Better gauge the boss’s mood before entering his office. “Kendra, how’s the temperature this morning?”

“Sunny with a chance of isolated thunderstorms.” She shot him a smile. “But I’m prepared for all kinds of weather.”

“Appreciate it.” Brogan headed toward Fallon’s closed office door and knocked once before entering the room and shutting the door behind him.

Seated behind his desk, Fallon glanced at his watch, then motioned for Brogan to take the chair opposite him. “Catch me up on the Thompson investigation.”

Brogan recapped what they’d gleaned from the files and interview with Jared Thompson, plus his conversations with Quentin, the detectives, and the former FBI agent.

“What’s your take on Jared Thompson?” Fallon walked a pencil across his knuckles, flipping the item with causal indifference, his trademark thinking stance.

“Thompson admitted to lying to the police about his actions the night Jesse disappeared, but that’s not what concerned him the most. He got agitated when we brought up Snake’s murder. I’ve interviewed enough people to know when I’ve touched a nerve.”

“Snake was Jared’s longtime drug dealer, correct?”

Brogan nodded. “When I asked him about seeing Snake before the man’s death, Jared sidestepped the question and threw us out of the apartment.”

“Hmm.” Fallon tapped the pencil on his cluttered desk. “What do you think of Harman?”

Brogan didn’t want to touch that, but Fallon’s expression warned that his boss wouldn’t let him sidestep the question. Fallon had told Brogan his first day on the job that he expected full honesty from his reporters. Given Brogan’s own shaky background, he had to be even more scrupulous.

“I, uh.” Brogan struggled to find the right words to diplomatically reveal his thoughts about Melender. “She’s maintained her innocence throughout everything—her arrest, trial, and incarceration. Now that she’s out, she’s very determined to find out what happened to Jesse.”

“Bottom line. Do you think she’s guilty as charged?”

“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” Brogan scrubbed his face. “I think she has valid points in favor of her innocence.” He picked his way through the words like a soldier clearing a minefield, wanting to give Fallon the truth but not the whole truth of his conflicted feelings for Melender. “Her lawyer did the bare minimum as far as fair representation, and he didn’t challenge any of the witnesses or circumstantial evidence presented at trial. Even I could see places in the transcript where her attorney ought to have followed up. Are there enough points in her favor to give a jury reasonable doubt? I couldn’t say, but it’s odd that a couple of years after the trial, her defense attorney ends up at the law firm for Thompson Energy.”

“Have you spoken with this attorney?”

“Not yet. I wanted to finish going through the FBI and police files first.”

Fallon leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers as he regarded Brogan, who tried not to squirm under the scrutiny. Could Fallon see that Brogan had lost his objectivity when it came to Melender?

His boss depressed the intercom call button. “Kendra? Please ask Seth to come to my office right away.” He released the button upon Kendra’s acquiescence but didn’t reveal why he’d called for Seth.

Brogan still didn’t have a clue as to what Fallon had in mind when, minutes later, Seth knocked on the door of Fallon’s office.

“Have a seat, Seth. I think you know Brogan’s been looking into the Jesse Thompson kidnapping,” Fallon said.

“Yes. Good timing, too, because it’s been in the news again since a chunk of the ransom money was found on that murdered drug dealer,” Seth replied.

Fallon looked from Seth to Brogan, as if trying to make up his mind about something. “Right.” The editor pointed a finger at Brogan. “As of now, you’re off your usual beats.”

Brogan’s heart sank. Despite his best efforts, it sounded like Fallon was firing him. He’d fallen in love with journalism all over again, writing about the little moments—and some big ones—in the lives of Fairfax City and county residents. While this job had morphed from a steppingstone back to the big leagues and into a real career move, he was now terminated.

Fallon turned to Seth. “What are you working on?”

His colleague recounted his current assignments to Fallon, while Brogan tried to school his face to not show the disappointment building inside him.

“Brogan?”

At Fallon’s query, Brogan snapped back to attention. “Yes?”

“I want you to bring Seth onboard. I think this has potential to be something really big.”

“You want us to…” Brogan nearly shook his head. Surely he hadn’t heard his boss right.

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