by Carsen Taite
“Is it standard for someone other than the police to be conducting the investigation?”
“Not sure what you mean.”
“I thought I heard Detective Ramirez introduce you as a prosecutor, not a police officer.”
Beautiful and smart. Ellen Davenport was proving to be very interesting. Danny scrambled for a response that didn’t give away the real reason for her involvement. “I’m part of a pilot program where a prosecutor is assigned to the homicide division. Theory is I can do a better job prosecuting the case if I’m in on the investigation from the beginning.” She conveniently left out the part about how these particular murders were the impetus for the pilot program. She watched Ellen’s face to see if she was buying it. Why wouldn’t she? What did a woman who ran a sorority know about criminal procedure?
Ellen’s expression settled into acceptance. “Sounds efficient and I’m happy to help. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
For the next few minutes, Ellen answered George’s questions without hesitation. Danny watched their exchange, but she only heard about every other word, distracted as she was by Ellen. Her composure, her wit. Her legs. Damn, her legs were long. And fit. And bare.
“Here’s a copy of the agenda for the meeting she missed.” Ellen handed a sheet of paper to George who Danny realized was standing again. The interview was over and she hadn’t said a word. Ellen probably thought the pilot program was bunk, or more likely, that she was a dolt. As George thanked Ellen for her time, Danny pulled a business card from her pocket, scrawled her cell on the back, and waited for an opportunity.
Ellen turned from George and winked at her. Winked. Unable to resist the signal, Danny thrust the card her way. “You can call me anytime. I mean anytime you have information. About the case. If you think of anything else.”
Ellen took one end of the card and held it for a moment before Danny let go. Their fingers were only an inch apart. “Thank you. I think we covered everything, but you never know what might come up. Rest assured, you will be the first person I call.”
As Ellen tucked the card away, Danny silently prayed something would come up.
Chapter Four
Wow. Ellen sank into her chair and let out a deep breath. When she’d gotten the call from Detective Ramirez, she’d envisioned a couple of burly cops in uniform showing up to ask questions. Never in a million years did she think Detective Handsome and his beautiful Latina attorney sidekick would appear instead. Those two should hang out together all the time—they made a striking couple.
No, Danny had the edgy feel of a truly single woman. Ellen flashed on the way Danny had stared at her legs through the entire interview. And then her verbal stumbles when it came time to focus on actual work. She’d bet her life savings that Danny Soto wasn’t involved with Ramirez or anyone else. Which was dangerous because Danny intrigued her. She’d be crazy not to be attracted, and it was obvious Danny returned the compliment. She’d put aside her own personal life when Vivian had gone into Cedar Acres. Maybe it was time for a little extracurricular activity.
She glanced at the calendar on her desk. Alpha Nu alums had a regular mixer every other month, and the next one was in a few days at a new club in a hotel downtown. Maybe she’d buy a new dress, shoes—something to show off her legs, and check out the scene. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and imagined Danny at the club. Leaning against the bar. Dressed in a more casual version of the tailored suit she’d worn today. Her collar open wide, offering a tantalizing view of her cleavage. The same electricity that had pulsed between them in the simple exchange of a business card now surged off the charts.
“Ellen, are you okay?”
Ellen opened her eyes and lunged forward at the sound of Jill’s voice. “Um, yeah. Guess you caught me napping.”
Jill gave her a puzzled look. “Sounded like you were in pain. You need anything?”
She was in pain, but not the kind Jill meant. “No, I’m good.”
“You look tired. All work and no play, yada, yada. Why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off? I can handle any calls that come in.”
Ellen looked at her watch. It was four o’clock. Maybe a couple of extra hours of downtime would be good. “Okay, I’ll take you up on it.” Jill started to leave the room, but Ellen called her back. A thought had been nagging at her ever since Danny and the detective had left her office. “How much trouble would it be for you to get me a list of alumnae that have died in say the last year?”
“No trouble at all. I keep a running list for the slide show memorial at the annual board meeting. You want me to print you a copy?”
“Sure. I’ll take it with me if you have a second to print it now.” To cover the odd request, she added, “I might do a feature for the next newsletter.”
Ellen waited until Jill left before looking through the list. So far this year, seven alumnae had died, most of the tedious stuff of getting old like heart disease. But one name stood out. Joyce Barr had died a brutal death a few months before. Ellen remembered talking to the family who hadn’t been shy about sharing the details. Detective Ramirez and Danny had been pretty circumspect about the exact nature of Marty’s death, and Ellen hadn’t asked her family, not wanting them to relive the tragedy, but perhaps there was a connection. What were the chances that two alumnae of the sorority had both been killed so close in time?
She reached into her pocket and retrieved Danny’s business card. Danielle F. Soto, Assistant District Attorney. It looked so official, completely at odds with the looks Danny had been giving her during the interview. Danny had scrawled her cell number on the card, her handwriting bold and sure. Before she could think her way out of it, Ellen punched the numbers into her cell and waited through the rings.
“Soto.”
Brash, abrupt. This voice was all business. Ellen considered hanging up. Then she remembered business was why she called in the first place. “Danny, it’s Ellen. Ellen Davenport.”
The voice warmed. “Hi. Didn’t I just leave your office?”
“How far away are you?”
“Not far. George, I mean Detective Ramirez, just dropped me off at the courthouse.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
Ellen had held out some hope Danny would still be in the building. That she would come back upstairs. They would talk. Then maybe grab a drink. Dinner. And whatever else might follow. Ridiculous. If Danny had still been in the building, Detective Ramirez would be with her. They’d come together. She’d let her mind wander past the bounds of reality. Time to get grounded.
But reality whooshed past. “I thought of something that might be relevant to Marty’s, Mrs. Lawson’s, case. If you were still around, I was going to suggest we grab a drink and discuss it. But you probably don’t drink on the job, right?”
Danny’s laugh was delicious. “That’s mostly TV. And mostly cops. Actually, it’s kind of late in the day and a drink would be terrific. Shall I pick you up?”
She’d said yes. Thrown off balance by the quick acceptance of her invite, Ellen struggled to maintain control. It’d been so long since she’d done anything for her own personal fun, but she didn’t want to be without her own car. Having Danny pick her up sent a stronger signal than she wanted. “Pick the place and I’ll meet you.”
“Perfect. Meet me at Adair’s in Deep Ellum. In about a half hour? Do you know it?”
“I’ve never been, but I recognize the name. Half hour’s perfect.”
“Great, see you then.”
She set her phone on her desk and immediately considered calling Danny back, and canceling. What had she been thinking? She could barely remember the last time she’d been on a date. Probably last year when her friend Diane had set her up with an engineer who spent the entire evening talking about circuits and bandwidth. Surely it hadn’t been that long.
Maybe it had. She wished she had a change of clothes at the office, since her suit was wrinkled and the coffee stain on her shirt wasn’t goin
g anywhere. But if she changed, then Danny would know she’d dressed just for meeting her. And it wasn’t really a date. She’d called Danny to talk to her about the case. Anything more personal would be spontaneous, incidental. Careful and cautious as she usually was, she found herself hoping for spontaneity.
Chapter Five
Ten minutes had already passed. If she didn’t hustle she’d be late. Ellen grabbed her keys, phone, and purse and dashed out of the office.
Deep Ellum was only a few blocks from downtown. She drove by the hotel where the Alpha Nu mixer would be held later in the week. Sleek and trendy. Typical Alpha Nu. She continued east on the downtown streets, crossing into the eclectic neighborhood of Deep Ellum. She looked hard for Adair’s, but she circled the block several times without a sighting. Finally, she pulled over and consulted her phone for directions. Chagrined to learn she’d driven past the bar more than once, she focused on finding a place to park.
When she finally pushed through the doors at Adair’s, she felt more rumpled than when she had left her office. She took a deep, calming breath and looked around the crowded room.
“Can I get you a beer?”
She turned to face Danny, who did not look rumpled at all. She’d taken the time to change out of the suit she’d been wearing earlier. Tight, dark blue jeans, a crisp white shirt, and a fitted black leather jacket transformed Danny from lawyer to date.
Business. She was here on business. Business with beverages. “How about a glass of red wine?”
Danny shook her head. “Some other time. Actually, make that some other place. I’m fairly certain that if they have wine here it’ll be poured from a box.”
“Beer then. Whatever you’re having.” Ellen was determined to be a good sport even though beer wasn’t her thing. When Danny returned from the bar a minute later with two beer cans in her hand, she wished she’d asked for water instead. “No glasses?”
“What?” Danny looked at the beer she held outstretched. “Oh. Yeah, no glasses. I could ask for a mug, but don’t make me. I have a reputation to protect.”
A reputation for drinking beer straight out of the can. Now that was worth protecting. Ellen couldn’t deny she’d had a very different kind of evening in mind. Maybe a martini or two, or a bottle of wine, shared in a nice club with soft music, maybe even a live band, playing in the background. Kicking it over a couple of cans of beer wasn’t the kind of date she’d ever imagined.
Probably for the best. Business. Business. I’m here to talk business. She silently repeated the mantra, while Danny found them a booth. As they worked their way through the happy hour crowd, every other person they met clapped Danny on the shoulder, offering “How’s it goings?” and “What’re you up tos?” She watched, admiring the easy way Danny interacted with everyone she met. Admiring her legs and her butt in those jeans. Business? Who was she kidding? She could’ve told Danny what she’d learned over the phone. No, she was here because of the spark between them and her own hopes that a business drink might lead to a casual evening.
As they slid into their booth, Danny focused her attention on her. “Are you hungry? They have great burgers here.”
“I had a really big salad at lunch. Still full.” Ellen bit her tongue before she could say another word. The woman offers up a burger and you say salad? Key that up as the stupidest thing you could’ve said. I may as well hang a sign on my head that says, “I’m so not into you.”
Except that would be a lie. A big one. She scrambled to recover. “I’ll have to come back when I’m hungry and try one. A burger.”
“Do I make you nervous? You seemed so put together at your office. Unflappable.”
Had she? She hadn’t been trying, but she supposed she had felt more comfortable at her own office instead of here, on what was clearly Danny’s turf. Danny, who’d seemed rattled at the office, appeared perfectly at ease in this dive. She struggled for an answer that wouldn’t make her seem like a freak. “Not nervous, but I am anxious. I found some information you might be interested in.”
Danny raised her eyebrows and Ellen plunged in. “After you left, I went through the files. Do you remember hearing about Joyce Barr? She died earlier this year. Not from natural causes. The police determined it was a suicide, but her family was never convinced. There was a small article in the paper at the time.”
“And how do you know her family?” Danny’s tone was even, and Ellen had a hard time gauging her interest level.
“Well, that’s the point. Joyce Barr is, or was, an Alpha Nu alum. She graduated from a different university than Marty, but don’t you think that’s odd? Two Alpha Nu alumnae died under suspicious circumstances within a few months of each other?”
“How many Alpha Nu alumnae are there?”
Ellen stared down at her beer, suddenly feeling very foolish. The alumnae association had thousands of members, not including the graduates who’d never bothered to sign up with an alumnae chapter. Danny had a good point. “Tons. Look, I just thought maybe Joyce’s death might be like Marty’s. That maybe there is a connection.” She waited, but Danny only shook her head. Realizing she’d been off base, she said, “I get your point. People die every day. Don’t worry, I’m not a conspiracy theorist or anything.” She half stood and shoved an envelope into Danny’s hand. “Here’s the information I have on Joyce. Use it or not. You said to call if I thought of anything. Sorry I bothered you.”
Danny reached out a hand to stop her departure. “Hey, don’t go. I did ask you to call. It’s just that in my line of work, I have to be able to separate coincidences from significant facts. If I don’t, some defense attorney will do it for me and make me look bad.”
“I bet that’s hard.”
“What?”
“Making you look bad.”
Danny blushed ever so slightly and Ellen wondered what had gotten into her. Despite her earlier touch of nerves, now her confidence level was off the charts. She’d usually never make such bold statements, but even Danny’s brush-off about the “evidence” she’d discovered didn’t deter her from flirting. She hoped her actions came across as flirting. It’d been so long since she’d engaged in the behavior. She wasn’t entirely sure she knew what she was doing or even wanted to take the risk.
What’s the worst thing that could happen? Danny could be all business? Well, then they’d just be back to how they started. She pushed the point by parroting back Danny’s earlier words. “Do I make you nervous? You seemed so unflappable just a minute ago.”
“Is that so? A large part of being a trial lawyer is maintaining a poker face. Can’t blame me if it slips every now and then.”
“Maybe I’m hoping I’m the reason.” Ellen reached for the can in front of her, and drowned the bare truth of her statement in a big gulp of now warm beer.
“You might be. As I recall, I was a bit of a mess when we met this afternoon.”
“Were you?”
Danny grinned. “Like you couldn’t tell. I swear I’m usually much better at playing the part of the badass.”
“Badass, huh?” Ellen cocked her head. “Yeah, I can see that. I suppose you’re used to getting whatever you want.” Danny shifted in her seat. Had she touched a nerve? Maybe she wasn’t used to women calling her out on her flirty ways. Ellen switched subjects to ease the tension. “How long have you worked with the DA’s office?”
“Just over seven years.”
“And you find it fulfilling?”
“Fulfilling? Yes, definitely. Plenty of attorneys work for the DA’s office just to gain trial experience, but I’m in it for the long haul. I get a lot of personal satisfaction knowing that what I do helps in some small way to keep our community safe. How about your work? Is working for a sorority fulfilling?”
“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?”
Danny shook her head. “No, really, I was serious.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t do anything to keep our streets safe, but sororities definitely provide a sense of community to
women during college and after. Active alumnae like Marty help dozens of young women make connections with former graduates who can serve as mentors and help them find jobs.”
Danny reached across the table and curled her fingers into Ellen’s. “You sound very passionate about what you do.”
“My mother says I’m a passionate person, but she doesn’t mean it as a compliment.” The minute the words fell from her lips, she longed to bite them back. Distracted by the heat of their touch, she’d veered into unplanned territory. Danny’s next question doomed further conversation.
“Do your parents live in Dallas?”
Ellen grabbed her beer and murmured an unintelligible answer as she took a healthy draught. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Her fantasy of a few drinks followed by whatever fun Danny was up for didn’t include getting personal. She scrambled for a change of subject that would keep things light and keep her private life private. What’s your favorite color? Favorite food? Favorite car? Desperate, she blurted, “You and Detective Ramirez seem to work well together.” There. An observation. Rhetorical. At most, Danny would talk about work and work talk was safe talk.
“Did you have another reason you wanted to meet?”
She hadn’t anticipated the non sequitur. “You mean besides to tell you about Joyce?” Ellen stalled. She knew what Danny was asking, but her confidence crumbled in the face of a direct question. “I guess I…Well, I hoped…”
The sharp ring of the phone on the table saved her rambling. Both of them glanced down at the display and Danny muttered, “Damn it.” She reached for the phone and swiped the answer key. “Soto. Whatcha got?”
A couple of brief words later, she ended the call. “I have to go.”
“Hot date?”
“He’s hot, but he’s not a date.” She stood and tossed a ten on the table. “Have another beer on me. Sorry I have to run.”