in the top of her field according to both her peers and former clients. She’d taken over her father’s practice which had included a variety of types of work, but what she really excelled at was criminal defense and she’d won many high profile cases that others had thought were doomed to conviction.
Sarah knew to be that good, you had to have passion. What had killed the passion for Ellery? She’d watched carefully as Ellery discussed her parents, the practice, and her new profession. The light in her eyes had brightened as she moved from subject to subject, and it was clear her passion had transferred to her new work, but Sarah detected lingering regrets about her former line of work. Did she miss it? Did she miss the attention?
Sarah pulled into the parking lot of the field office and shut off the engine. Now that she was back at the office, she needed to focus. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much about Ellery’s past. If she was still a big shot criminal defense attorney, their careers would curtail their chance of any kind of meaningful relationship. She should be glad things had turned out the way they did.
Mason and Liz were at her desk when she walked in. She chose to ignore their furtive looks. “Are you two prowling my desk for donuts?”
“Do you have any boxes of the WHI files other than the ones that were on your desk?”
Sarah forced herself to remain calm while she considered the question. Something was up. Mason’s usually easygoing tone was short and brusque, and Liz looked like she was about to throw up. There was something in those records that tied WHI to the group who’d carried out the bombing, and someone besides the assembled group realized it. The case was about to slip out of her grasp. She should be glad. You wanted to get away from the real crime, and terror couldn’t be more real, right?
But the bombing had been personal, if only because she’d been blocks away when it happened. She and her friends could have died. Ellery could have died. Lots of people had. She’d helped pull them from the wreckage with her own two hands.
Let it go . As she thought the words, she realized they weren’t going to give her a choice. In a few seconds, she’d answer and the remaining files in her file cabinet would be hauled off to be examined by someone she hoped was qualified enough to decipher them. Let it go .
She reached down and unlocked the cabinet next to her desk and pulled out a box. “Here are the files I was looking at earlier. No more boxes.”
Mason took the files and left without another word. Sarah confronted Liz. “What the hell was that all about?”
“He pulled me into his office after he finished up a conference call. Pressured me for an update. I couldn’t tell him we had absolutely nothing, so I mentioned the wire transfers. I made sure he knew we didn’t have anything concrete. Thirty minutes later, he came out and told me to box everything up, that ‘our resources were being redirected.’”
Sarah nodded, schooling her expression into one of nonchalance instead of the supreme satisfaction she felt about the split-second decision she’d made when she’d handed over the box. She believed Liz, but she didn’t know her well enough to trust her with the information that, while she’d told the truth about not having any more boxes of files, she still had a copy of every last one of them on her laptop at home.
Chapter Seven
Ellery glanced at her cell phone and saw Meg’s number displayed on the screen. Again. It was her third call in the last fifteen minutes. She looked at the clock on her dashboard. Her father’s plane had already landed and he’d be walking out of the airport any second, leaving her no time to pull into the cell phone lot and take the call. She wondered which of their old clients was insisting on meeting with her now. Probably Amir again since Naveed’s new court date was coming up soon. At some point she was going to have to refuse to
Sarah knew to be that good, you had to have passion. What had killed the passion for Ellery? She’d watched carefully as Ellery discussed her parents, the practice, and her new profession. The light in her eyes had brightened as she moved from subject to subject, and it was clear her passion had transferred to her new work, but Sarah detected lingering regrets about her former line of work. Did she miss it? Did she miss the attention?
Sarah pulled into the parking lot of the field office and shut off the engine. Now that she was back at the office, she needed to focus. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much about Ellery’s past. If she was still a big shot criminal defense attorney, their careers would curtail their chance of any kind of meaningful relationship. She should be glad things had turned out the way they did.
Mason and Liz were at her desk when she walked in. She chose to ignore their furtive looks. “Are you two prowling my desk for donuts?”
“Do you have any boxes of the WHI files other than the ones that were on your desk?”
Sarah forced herself to remain calm while she considered the question. Something was up. Mason’s usually easygoing tone was short and brusque, and Liz looked like she was about to throw up. There was something in those records that tied WHI to the group who’d carried out the bombing, and someone besides the assembled group realized it. The case was about to slip out of her grasp. She should be glad. You wanted to get away from the real crime, and terror couldn’t be more real, right?
But the bombing had been personal, if only because she’d been blocks away when it happened. She and her friends could have died. Ellery could have died. Lots of people had. She’d helped pull them from the wreckage with her own two hands.
Let it go . As she thought the words, she realized they weren’t going to give her a choice. In a few seconds, she’d answer and the remaining files in her file cabinet would be hauled off to be examined by someone she hoped was qualified enough to decipher them. Let it go .
She reached down and unlocked the cabinet next to her desk and pulled out a box. “Here are the files I was looking at earlier. No more boxes.”
Mason took the files and left without another word. Sarah confronted Liz. “What the hell was that all about?”
“He pulled me into his office after he finished up a conference call. Pressured me for an update. I couldn’t tell him we had absolutely nothing, so I mentioned the wire transfers. I made sure he knew we didn’t have anything concrete. Thirty minutes later, he came out and told me to box everything up, that ‘our resources were being redirected.’”
Sarah nodded, schooling her expression into one of nonchalance instead of the supreme satisfaction she felt about the split-second decision she’d made when she’d handed over the box. She believed Liz, but she didn’t know her well enough to trust her with the information that, while she’d told the truth about not having any more boxes of files, she still had a copy of every last one of them on her laptop at home.
Chapter Seven
Ellery glanced at her cell phone and saw Meg’s number displayed on the screen. Again. It was her third call in the last fifteen minutes. She looked at the clock on her dashboard. Her father’s plane had already landed and he’d be walking out of the airport any second, leaving her no time to pull into the cell phone lot and take the call. She wondered which of their old clients was insisting on meeting with her now. Probably Amir again since Naveed’s new court date was coming up soon. At some point she was going to have to refuse to
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