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“Who is she?” When he didn’t immediately speak, she said, “You already told me her name is Violet and she works for the mayor. I’m not going to spill the beans.”
“I trust you, Kara, you know that. I want you to meet her. She works for the IT department in city hall. Very smart young woman. Quiet, observant, rather intense. She had a volatile childhood.”
“I can relate,” Kara said.
“Between the information Violet obtained and my investigation, I’m confident that a lot of people will be very unhappy next week.” He paused. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but you’ll find out after the hearing.”
Her stomach sank.
“You’re cutting him a deal,” she said bluntly.
He didn’t answer the question. “I contacted Chen’s attorney. I am confident about the hearing today—there’s no legal reason to toss your testimony or any of the evidence. I told him that I would be willing to negotiate a plea if Chen would answer detailed questions regarding the housing used for his laborers.”
“What the fuck, Craig?”
“It’s part of a bigger investigation, and again, I can’t give you the details. I won’t let him walk—you know me better than that. But I can negotiate time. This is a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.”
Something clicked. Violet—working in city hall. Chen—using housing that was what? Paid by the city? How would that work?
Kara was getting a headache. She hated public corruption cases. They were complicated and took thousands of hours to investigate and almost always ended up in a plea deal where someone lost their job and paid a big fine but rarely had to deal with the fallout from their actions.
“You’re letting him plead. Damn you!” This was the part of the system she hated. Plea deals and letting bad guys off with a slap on the wrist. It sucked. “Sunny is dead. He killed her,” Kara snapped.
Craig took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I promise you, Kara, he will serve time.” He retrieved a small cloth from his desk and cleaned his lenses, then put his glasses back on. “The reason I’m telling you this is because Chen’s attorney contacted the AUSA. I have a good relationship with the AUSA on this case, and she’s not going to let Chen walk, either, but she knows how to play the game. I want you to be prepared, because after this hearing, Chen is going to start negotiating. He knows that if the judge allows the evidence to stand, he loses.”
She got up and started pacing again. Dammit! She knew this could happen—it had happened before—but she thought Chen was a big fish, too big for anyone to agree to plea.
A knock on the door gave her momentary relief that the courthouse was open and the hearing would continue as scheduled.
“Craig, it’s Peter.”
“My investigator, Peter Sharp,” Craig explained. “Please let him in.”
Kara didn’t know the name, but recognized him when she opened the door. Tall, with lean muscles and smart brown eyes. There were dozens of criminal investigators in the DA’s office to assist prosecutors by verifying facts, interviewing witnesses and researching cases. Investigators often interrogated law enforcement or verified reports before a case went to trial to make sure that there’d be no surprises by the defense.
“Detective Quinn,” he said. “Glad you made it in before the lockdown.”
“Lucky me,” she muttered.
She secured the door behind him and he handed a file to Craig. “The statements you wanted before court today, though I suspect all hearings will be canceled.”
Craig glanced through the contents, nodded, placed the folder precisely on his desk. “You may be right, but Hargrove likes to keep a tight calendar. He may simply push everything back an hour.”
“If Chen can’t get into the building—his attorney is in the lounge, but Chen isn’t—then his attorney would have cause for postponement.”
Kara moaned. “That would really suck, Dyson. They’ll send me back to DC.” She hated this uncertainty. She wanted the hearing over, the trial confirmed, Chen in jail. Was that too much to ask?
“We don’t know what we don’t know,” Craig said calmly. “Let’s wait until we have more information.”
Sure, she thought, that was the logical, mature thing to do. But right now she felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. She suspected that had as much to do with her odd meeting with Lex this morning as being trapped in this office.
“Did Ms. Halliday make it in before the lockdown?” Peter asked Craig.
“I haven’t seen her,” Craig said.
“I’m curious to see why she was so insistent on coming in today,” Peter said.
Another knock on the door interrupted Craig’s response.
