Page 109 of Hard Evidence
Show time.
The Justice Project was no prestigious law firm.You had to push the doors open yourself, a fact Grey only realised after he’d spent several seconds waiting for them to open automatically.Douche.Jez glanced up and stifled a laugh as she caught sight of Serafina Hennessy’s horrified face pressed against the window.She’d planned to ambush Grey, but it never occurred to her that the tables could be turned?Oops.
A young brunette in an ill-fitting pantsuit ran down the stairs, then skidded to a halt and did a double take.
“Uh, Congressman Meyer?”
He plastered on his stupid, fake politician smile.“That’s right.Great to meet you.”
“Who are all these—” She gave her head a shake.“Raelene and Sera are waiting for you in the conference room.”
Grey led the way up the stairs, and the staff gawked as they meandered between desks and filing cabinets on their way to the meeting.A guy in a Pac-Man T-shirt surrounded by monitors looked on with suspicion, and Jez pegged him as the geek who’d been frustrating Echo for the past week.She still hadn’t managed to access the Justice Project’s servers.
“They’re just in here,” Pantsuit Girl said and pushed the door open.
Raelene Holtz didn’t look like a lawyer; she looked like a soccer mom.Serafina seemed shell-shocked, and they hadn’t hit her with a single question yet.
Grey offered a hand.“Ms.Hennessy?”
“Uh-huh.I mean, yes.”
Holtz stepped forward, hand outstretched.“And I’m Raelene Holtz.You brought quite the entourage.”
“Indeed.I’m sure you’re familiar with most of them.”He nodded to each in turn.“Braxton Vale, Dawson Masters, Zach Torres, Nolan de Luca, and Jerry Knight.And Ari, our private investigator.”
Jez pulled out a chair at the end of the row with Ari to her left, then Dawson sat beside Ari.Grey parked himself in the middle—it was his meeting, notionally at least—and the others took seats on the far side of him.Serafina kept sneaking glances in Jez’s direction, and her poker face was appalling.
“So,” Grey began.“I was intrigued to receive your note.Why don’t you tell me more about why you invited me here today?”
“Uh, well, so… Obviously, you’re a congressman, and upholding the law is important to you.”
“Obviously.”
“And, uh… And it’s important to me too.Us, I mean.To us here at the Justice Project.”
For fuck’s sake.How was she ever going to try a case?A mediocre prosecutor would eat her for breakfast.
“You’re doing great, sweetie,” Jez said.“Keep going.”
“We review past convictions for possible miscarriages of justice,” Holtz told Grey.“Coincidentally, one of the cases that came across our desk is that of your former roommate Levi Sykes.But you already know that, which is why you brought these guests along.”
“It’s difficult not to get curious when somebody tries framing an old friend for murder.”
“For clarity, which old friend are you talking about here: Levi Sykes or Justin Norquist?”
“Justin, clearly.”
“No, it isn’t clear.Two young women are dead, and only Mr.Norquist had the opportunity to kill both of them.”
“Have you spent any time looking at the so-called evidence in the Carlson case?Even five minutes?Because it’s entirely circumstantial, a story woven out of assumptions and misinformation,” Grey said, playing his part.Jez had told him to be polite but firm.Slightly confrontational.She wanted to rattle these women.
“And when you get down to it, that’s the basis of the Costello case as well.The media are reporting similarities in both deaths, so unless you’re going to suggest Mr.Sykes snuck out of a level four correctional facility to commit murder, there’s one obvious avenue of investigation.”
“Of course we’re not suggesting Levi snuck out of prison.We’re suggesting he hired someone to muddy the waters.It’s reasonable to assume he has those kinds of contacts now.”
“Oh, please,” Serafina blurted.“You’d believe Levi hired a hitman to kill a woman in a twisted plot to vacate his conviction rather than accept the obvious explanation that Justin Norquist is, in fact, a sociopath?Haven’t you heard of Occam’s razor?”
“Yes, which is why it’s so easy to dismiss the mental gymnastics I’d have to perform in order to believe Justin killed Amie.”
