Page 31 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

Ellery surprised himself by almost snorting coffee.

“It was either that or the Killer Karen Klub,” she admitted, “you know, KKK? But”—her expression grew grim—“one of my favorite people is actuallynamedKaren, and I just can’t use her name like that. Makes me feel dirty. So anyway I sent you a link,and AJ and I have more to scroll through. I was going to try to do a dossier on all the leaders of the chapter out here but….” She grimaced.

“What?” Jade was more than capable of that kind of research. In fact between her and Jackson, Ellery and Galen almost never walked into a case without knowingexactlywho they were defending and whether or not they had a chance at a defense.

“None of these people are who they say they are,” she said. “I mean, most of it is superficial—a name change in another state, a move, an altered employment record—but that’s even on the lower levels. So far. You’ll see what I mean when you start to look through it. I’ve gotten through two of their top five officers—they’ve got a chapter system, and this is the Sacramento chapter. It’s one of six across the country. However… fun fact. You’re gonna love this….”

She made the “gimme-gimme” motion with her hands, and he blinked and tried to remember he was supposed to be intelligent.

“None of them are from Sacramento?” he hazarded.

“Give the man another cup of coffee!” she crowed before quickly sobering. “None of them. Not one of these uptight, ‘let’s fuck shit up for anybody not straight, rich, and white’ bitches is actuallyfrom this state.I mean, it’s sort of weird. It’s not like California doesn’t have its own supply of shitheads, right? In fact, Iassumedthis chapter was from here. We’ve all met homegrown shitheads out in public, showing their asses. But thisparticularchapter of Sacramento Shitheads does not appear to be from Sacramento.” She shrugged and held her hands out. “Maybe I missed something. I could be wrong. Like I said, I only got to the first layer of changes. I’ll continue to data mine, and so will AJ, but that is something you may want to take a look at when you go all lawyerly and shit, right?”

Ellery smiled in bemusement. He remembered how Jackson had assumed Jade would eventually go on to law school and how Jade had laughed at that, saying she didn’t want the responsibility.

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “you really would make a great lawyer. Are you sure you wouldn’t—”

Her expression of horror was eloquent. “No. No. We’ve lost our chance to have a Black woman president with a law degree. I’m going to just mind the shit in my own backyard, thank you. Now go do official stuff with what I gave you. Go! Before you finish your coffee and we have to start the coffee/bullshit cycle all over again.”

Ellery held up a hand, balanced his coffee, and went, more eager to see the information she’d sent him now that she’d given him an angle.

He wished rather wistfully that she’d take him and Jackson up on the offer to put her through school, though. She’d make an awesome Madame President someday.

AN HOURlater, after scanning the data updates that Jade and AJ sent him periodically, he wasn’t thinking about anything but the mess of identities on his computer. There were maybe twenty people employed by Moms for Clean Living—fifteen of them locals, male and female—who had been hired through nearby churches. But as Jade had noted, the five most prominent women, the ones with titles—president, vice president, treasurer, activities director, public relations director—had, well,diversehistories, to say the least.

Ellery could see how tracking their info could have been difficult. Valerie Trainor, president, had been Valerie Schmitt in Nevada before a divorce, but she’d beenMelanieSchnarf in Arkansas before she’d gotten married to Conway Schmitt after she’d gone to school in Florida.

Conway Schmitt was a preacher, until he’d been arrested for—Ellery had to suppress his gag reflex here—molesting the preteen boys in his choir, which had happened shortly before Valerie had changed her name—and her identity—for the final time.

Okay, then. Valerie Trainor,originallyfrom Arkansas, and originally Melanie Schnarf.

One down.

Ellery moved on to the vice president of the chapter, Ellie Medlar, who used to be Elinor Carpenter before she got married in Tennessee, and before that had been Selena Chalmers in Alabama. Before she’d gone to school at—oh, hey.

Florida State.

Ellery took a deep breath then, checked the time, and realized that an hour had gone by already and he hadn’t heard a thing from Jackson.

Which was too bad. He finally had the barest hint of a pattern.

At that moment Jade slipped into his office and glanced over his shoulder.

“What’s up?” he asked, rubbing his temples gingerly. Low on sleep, high on coffee, and now buzzing on information overload, he wasn’t sure he could open a folder on another ladder-pulling white woman. It was incomprehensible to him. These women had, so far, been born poor, worked hard for an education with their MRS on the side, and then had set about making the same support systems that had given them food, clothing, and education when they’d been children absolutelyunavailableto anybody else. Valerie Trainor and Ellie Medlar had been given access to libraries and free books as children, as well as free lunches and after-school programs, and then had spent the last three years trying to kill those programs in California. It wasn’t even their state!

He tried to breathe through the indignation and focus on what Jade was doing, but it was hard. Jackson didn’t have a corner on retribution and vengeance, he thought crossly. Ellery had been hoping his big brain could kick some ass, but it didn’t feel like that was happening right now.

“I’m sorry, Jade,” he murmured. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you were ready for some fucked-up bullshit and a break,” she said, and he finally caught on to the unholy smile on her face.

He cocked his head. “Yes and… uhm, yes?”

“So you would not believe who is canvassing our neighborhood today. Want to guess? C’mon, Ellery,” she said, practically dancing. “Guess.”

Ellery knew his eyes rounded. “No,” he said, not sure if he’d heard right.

“Oh yes,” she said, nodding. “Yes. If you guessed the Stepford Dragons, you would beright.How far have you gotten on the information I gave you?”

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