Jury of One by David Ellis

Author:David Ellis [Ellis, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 2005-02-28T23:00:00+00:00

41

Shadows

SHELLY SIGHED WHEN she returned to her office. She not only had the appeal of Judge Dominici’s ruling on the police investigative file to finish, she had promised to look over a complaint that one of the law firm’s associates was planning to file with the state Human Rights Commission, alleging racial discrimination against a company in town. This extra work was the price of these nice offices and resources—a price that she had insisted on paying, but still, it was keeping her away from full-time concentration on Alex’s case.

Her cell phone buzzed. She recognized Joel’s number.

“We were followed tonight,” he told her. He sounded breathless. He was in the car, she could tell, from hearing the radio in the background.

“Who?”

“Well, I don’t know. My guys picked it up. A pretty good tail, I have to say. I had no idea.”

“You weren’t looking for it,” she said. “But who?”

“Well, I’d assume law enforcement. Probably the feds.”

She didn’t know how to react. There was something creepy about it, no doubt, but she felt a measure of validation. It told her that she was onto something here. Maybe.

“We lost them,” said Joel. “In fairness, we weren’t ready for it.”

“Sure. No problem. What do you suggest?”

“I’ll put a tail on myself,” he said. “If I’m followed again, we’ll get ’em. But I don’t think they’ll make that mistake again, Shelly. They probably know we outed them.”

“Don’t be sure.” If it was the F.B.I., enforcing Shelly’s promise that she would not expose the operation prematurely, they might want to be noticed.

She hung up and noticed the newspaper sitting on the corner of her desk. Paul Riley had written a note from his personal stationery—“FYI”—and she saw the article. The Daily Watch was following the closing days of the state legislative session, in which the Democratic-controlled House and Senate had passed legislation to repeal the ban on abortions funded by public aid. The law banning publicly funded abortions had been passed in the late ’90s, when the G.O.P. controlled the Senate and there were enough conservative Democrats in the House to pass the bill. That law had effectively ended any state funding of abortions—with the necessary exceptions to satisfy the Supreme Court—which meant that it had affected only the indigent, those who needed public aid to pay for the procedure.

The Democrats, now in control of both chambers, had passed a bill two days ago to end the ban, to open up the taxpayers’ wallets once more for this particular procedure. Governor Langdon Trotter had vowed a swift veto. His challenger in the November election, Anne Claire Drummond, bitterly criticized the governor’s response. This was not about abortion, she said, so much as it was about treating the poor differently.

The story accompanied an article that showed a surprisingly strong showing for the Democratic nominee. Anne Claire Drummond was a former state legislator and congresswoman from upstate. She had made a name for herself as a proponent of universal health care, which was probably not the way to endear herself to the state’s voters.

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