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“Who got them?”
“Well, we had them at the office for walk-ins. And we also went door-to-door in the district. We didn’t give everybody a button, but we did give them to people who expressed support for Jake.”
“How many did you have made, do you remember?”
“I think it was a thousand, but we didn’t give them all out. I remember after it was all over, I had a couple bags left andjust dumped them. In fact, I think the last time I talked to Nelson was when he called me up and asked for the buttons because Jake was going to make another run at it. I told him I dumped them years ago and he just hung up on me. Great guy, that Nelly.”
“Back in ’05, do you remember if the campaign sent people door-to-door in the Franklin Village area? More specifically, Tamarind Avenue—that neighborhood?”
“If it was in the district, I am sure we did. We went out every night. The whole staff and all the volunteers we could get. We’d meet at that deli on Sunset … I can’t remember the name. It was like a hundred years old, but they closed for good during the pandemic.”
“Greenblatt’s.”
“Right, Greenblatt’s—what a loss. I loved that place. They had a room upstairs and we would all meet there at six every night. We’d order sandwiches and a beer, expensing it to the campaign, and then we’d divvy up the neighborhoods so there wouldn’t be any overlap. We’d hand out buttons and pledge cards and then we’d split up to go knock on doors. Grassroots, man. But the truth was, I didn’t know shit about running a campaign. It was fun, though.”
“Who got Tamarind Avenue?”
“Oh, man, I can’t remember that. All I can tell you is we tried to hit every neighborhood at least twice. But I have no records, and that was way too long ago for me to remember who went where or what street. Are you trying to say someone from the campaign killed this woman?”
“No, I’m not saying that. I’m really just running down a loose end. This photo is from her apartment. She was murderedthere the Saturday before the election, and that button was in her junk drawer. That tells me someone from the campaign probably knocked on her door at some point leading up to the election. It may not mean anything at all, but we have to ask questions and follow leads wherever they go.”
“Got it. I wish I was more help.”
Ballard put the photos back in the file and closed it.
“I take it you’ve talked to Jake and Hastings already,” Kramer said.
“Yes, we have,” Ballard said. “I saw them both yesterday. You really don’t like Hastings, do you?”
“That obvious, huh?”
“Yes. But at one time you all were good friends?”
“We were, yeah. We were tight as a fist, we used to say. But Nelson got between me and Jake and pushed us apart. It started during that campaign, and then after we lost, I got blamed. Not by Jake but by Nelson, and that always rubbed me wrong, because he was only the driver. He didn’t write positions, didn’t strategize media buys. He did nothing except drive, and then he dumps it all on me, that I was the reason we lost.”
Ballard froze. She tried not to show what was going on behind her eyes, but she was sure that when she had spoken to Hastings about the 2005 campaign and the button in Laura Wilson’s drawer, he had said the election was before his time on Pearlman’s staff.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Nelson Hastings was Pearlman’s driver during the 2005 campaign? He was around back then?”
“Yeah, he was there,” Kramer said. “He had just gotten back from Afghanistan and was out of the army and Jake saidhe needed a driver. We didn’t pay him anything. He was a volunteer.”
“Did he do any of the knocking on doors?”
“We all did that. Even Jake. It was required.”
Adrenaline was beginning to course through Ballard’s blood. She had caught a discrepancy, possibly even an outright lie, in the net she had thrown. She felt the investigation suddenly had a solid new direction.
“Before I leave, I just want to ask you something,” she said. “Back in high school, did you know Jake’s sister?”
“Sure,” Kramer said. “We all did. Sarah. That was horrible, just horrible.”
“You were around the family when she was murdered?”
“Yeah, I was over there. Jake was my friend. But what could you say, you know? It was just a nightmare.”
“Who else among his friends was there for him?”
“Well, there was me. And Nelly. Another guy, named Rawls, who became a cop was part of our group.”
