Reasonable Doubt

by Carsen Taite

  The candor Ellery had found annoying at the courthouse was refreshing in this venue full of people posing in order to garner votes. What harm could come from engaging in a little light banter? She raised her bottle. “Thanks for the compliment. Special Agent, huh? Is that a nickname or do you have a badge to back that up?”

  “Oh, I have a badge, a gun, the whole thing. Would you like to see it?”

  Danny cleared her throat. “Okay, that’s my cue to find Ellen and see if she needs anything. You two have fun. Sarah, if you’re going to leave without me, at least have the courtesy to send me a text.”

  As Danny walked away, Ellery took a long pull on her beer and tried to remember that she too was here with a date. Sarah’s flirting was fun in the abstract, but she had no business flirting back when she planned to leave with April at the end of the evening. Time to strike a more serious tone. “Seriously, what agency are you with?”

  Sarah looked around, like she was searching for an exit, and Ellery was instantly sorry she’d asked the question. She started to change the subject, but Sarah replied, “FBI. I just transferred from D.C.”

  “No wonder we’ve never crossed paths. What division?”

  “Fraud. Nothing flashy.”

  “Do I detect a slight bit of regret?”

  “No, it’s just been a big adjustment for me. I mean the move. Different place, people. You know.”

  Ellery sensed there was more to this adjustment than Sarah was letting on, but she didn’t push. “How do you know Danny?”

  “Uh, I met her through work. You know, all paths lead to the same place kind of thing.”

  Again with the evasiveness. A local assistant district attorney and an FBI agent stationed in the nation’s capital weren’t likely to just run into each other at work. There was something about their connection that Sarah wasn’t willing to share, which made Ellery instantly curious. It’s none of your business. Before she could process her thoughts, Sarah changed the subject.

  “So, Danny says you used to practice law, but now you’re doing something else?”

  “I restore and repurpose furniture.”

  “That’s a bit of a change.”

  “Sometimes you need a change to make you feel alive. You know what I mean?”

  Sarah didn’t answer right away, but Ellery could tell by the light in her eyes, the idea resonated. Finding comfort in the warmth reflected back at her, she stared a bit too long into Sarah’s eyes. She was still staring when she heard a voice over her shoulder and the feel of an arm around her waist.

  “Ellery, dear, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” April’s voice held a low, possessive growl. “Jana Kaplan would like to meet you. She’s running for city council and she has some great ideas about small business development that I told her you would love to hear.”

  Ellery glanced at April and then back at Sarah who didn’t appear to have broken her stare. She cast about for some way to keep the connection. “April Landing, meet Sarah Flores.”

  April reached out a hand. “A pleasure to meet you. Any chance you’re related to Angel Flores, the city councilman?”

  Ellery shook her head at April’s inability to turn off the networking gene.

  “Not that I know of,” Sarah said, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “Is he one of the honest ones?”

  “She’s new in town,” Ellery said, offering April a fake smile. Ellery knew April well enough to know she was conducting an internal calculation of how nice she had to be to the new girl based on how valuable she might be to her in the future. FBI agent might hold a lot of credibility for some people, but for April, a politician or business mogul was much more interesting. Time to steer April away before she could grill Sarah some more. “You said Jana was waiting.”

  “Yes, she’s over by the bar. Come on and I’ll introduce you.”

  April’s smile was real now and Ellery supposed she should be glad. Smiling April was actually very beautiful and, if you could get past her constant need to be in the spotlight, she was a fun and interesting date. But she wasn’t glad because walking off with April meant she was walking away from Sarah. She met Sarah’s eyes and raised her shoulders in a gesture of defeat. Did she imagine she saw regret reflected back?

  She started to tell April to go on and she’d be right there just so she could have one more moment of this magnetic connection, but at that moment, the floor shook and a loud boom echoed through the room. At first she chalked it up to one of the many small earthquakes that had been shaking the ground around Dallas in the previous months, but as people began to line the windows, pointing and shouting, she had a chilling sense of doom. Seconds later, a loud ring cut through the cries of the crowd, and she saw Sarah pull out her cell phone and glance at the screen. Sarah’s entire demeanor morphed from flirting partygoer to duty bound cop. Her eyes took on a steely glint and her jaw was set.

  Ignoring April’s tug on her arm, Ellery asked Sarah, “Is everything okay?”

  Sarah looked up, a far away expression in her eyes, as if she’d forgotten Ellery or anyone else was in the room. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” She’d only taken a few steps before a voice cried out.

  “Someone’s bombed the arena!”

  *

  Sarah watched as more of the crowd ran toward the windows in response to the shout about a bomb. She gripped her phone tighter as if she could squeeze the bad news out of it. She read the three-line text twice to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. NTAS ALERT. Explosion at high value target. Report in immediately.

  Holy shit. The very first National Terrorism Advisory System alert and it was in her backyard. No need to look out the window to know what happened. She started toward the doors, but Ellery’s voice cut through the dark cloud of her thoughts. She started to answer, but she was interrupted by more shouts.

  “Was it a bomb?” “Look, it’s burning like crazy!” “It’s on Channel 4, right now.” She couldn’t tell who was doing the shouting, certainly more than one person. With no televisions in the room, everyone started whipping out their cell phones and calling out whatever facts poured in from Twitter, Breaking News, and Facebook. She grabbed Ellery’s arm and pulled her close. “Find an exit and wait there. Stay inside. Find a TV if you can—it’s your best bet for getting news, cell service might get sketchy real quick.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know, but it’s bad. Do whatever you can to keep folks calm.” She looked down at her hand that was still on Ellery’s arm. Ellery who was here with a date. For all she knew, this might be the first day of the end of the world. Deciding she didn’t give a damn about Ellery’s date, she leaned in close, so close her lips grazed Ellery’s ear, and whispered, “Sometimes you do need a change to make you feel more alive. Let’s hope we all get a chance to find out what makes us happy.”

  She didn’t wait for a reaction before she took off. She made it as far as the door of the bar when she heard a voice calling her name. Danny. She waved for Danny to follow her, pausing only when they were out of the room.

  “What is it?” Danny asked.

  “Don’t know, but I just received an NTAS alert with a report right fucking now text.”

  “So where do you report?”

  “Good question. I’m a hellavu lot closer to the arena than I am to the field office. I’m headed there now and I’ll figure out the rest on the way.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “Slow down, pal. You should stay put. Your wife’s in there and someone needs to make sure everyone stays calm.”

  “TV says there’s a lot of casualties.”

  “It’s probably too soon for them to know that. Besides, I wasn’t aware prosecutors were on the list of first responders. Seriously, Danny, staying here and keeping people calm is as important as anything else you could do.”

  “You feds, always hogging the glory.”

  “Yep, that’s us.” Sarah knew Danny was kidding, but she also knew Da
nny realized the potential severity of the situation. “I’ll do better if I know my friends are safe. Go find your wife. Okay?”

  Danny nodded. “Promise me you’ll check in when you can.”

  “Deal.” Sarah didn’t risk another look at her face before hauling ass out of the room, cursing the shoes she’d coveted in the store. She didn’t bother with the elevators, instead locating the nearest stairwell, removing her heels, and jumping the steps three at a time as she practically slid down the banister. When she reached the ground floor, she spotted a group of security guards near the door, working hard to keep guests from flooding out into the street. She looked at her phone and, as she had suspected, she no longer had any signal. She strode up the nearest guard and flashed her badge. “Special Agent Sarah Flores, FBI. You have a radio?”

  The guy glanced at his buddies and then reluctantly handed it over. As she ran through the frequencies, he asked, “What can you tell us?”

  What she wouldn’t give to have an answer to that question, but rather than admit she was just as clueless as every civilian clamoring at the doors, she merely shook her head. Finally, she found the local police band and listened for a moment before chiming in with her name and location as she started walking toward the site of the explosion, ignoring the protests of the security guard who wanted his equipment back. It could be the end of the world for all he knew, but he was squealing like a baby over a walkie-talkie.

  As she got closer to the arena, the smoke and dust hung in the air, making it difficult to assess the location and extent of damage. She heard shouting and she could see the distant red and blue lights of emergency vehicles approaching. She pushed through until she saw a group of Dallas police officers standing by the fountains in front of the arena in a semblance of organization. They’d strung yellow tape between two traffic cones in a makeshift perimeter. She jogged over, but the officer standing closest to her stepped closer as if trying to keep her at a distance.

  “Ma’am, we need you to stand back while we assess the damage.”

  “Special Agent Flores, FBI.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her badge. “I’m here to help. Where’s ground zero?”

  He handed back her badge without even really examining it. “We think it only affected a small portion of the building, but there are a lot of casualties.” He pointed to the west end. “Looks like most of the wounded are over there, but there are a lot we haven’t been able to get to and we won’t be able to get close until the rubble is cleared away.”

  She imagined he and his fellow officers were completely out of their league with a catastrophe of this proportion. Who wouldn’t be? She glanced around, wondering if anyone else from her agency had arrived on scene yet. Most of the people she saw looked like civilians who’d poured out of the arena, dressed in the colors of their favorite team and looking like their world had been upended. But wait a minute. She scanned the crowd again, certain she’d seen a familiar face. She strode toward a group clustered on the walk that ran around the arena. Sure enough, there was Liz from the office huddled with a different group of cops. Liz looked up as she approached, not even trying to mask her surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “Guess I could ask the same thing,” Sarah said. “I was at a reception at the W when I got the page.”

  “I live over there.” Liz pointed at the apartment building across the street. “I heard a loud noise and windows starting shaking. At first I thought it was another one of the earthquakes that’s been happening lately, but then I looked outside.”

  Liz’s voice faltered and her words trailed off, the image of supremely confident agent fading in the face of tragedy. At least it proved she was human. “Have they established a command post? Have you reported in?”

  Liz shook her head. “The local departments have protocols in place, but I doubt they’ve been having drills. It’s going to be a little while before we can get things under control.”

  Sarah flashed back to 9/11 when she was a fairly new agent with the bureau, stationed in D.C. Any protocol they’d thought they had had been obliterated by the surge of confusion of being attacked on multiple fronts. In the capital and in New York, people had pitched in, protocol be damned. She pointed to the west end of the arena. “Well, I’m headed that way to see what I can do. You with me?”

  Liz nodded, seemingly grateful to have someone else take the lead. As they made their way through the crowd to the site of the explosion, Sarah took a moment to look back at the W. The windows of the bar where she’d been less than an hour ago overlooked this scene and she wondered if Ellery was still there. As if on cue, she heard a familiar voice call her name and she saw Ellery headed her way. She told Liz she’d meet her in a moment and stepped aside to wait for Ellery to catch up to her. When she did, Sarah touched her arm. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine. How about you? It’s kind of crazy out here.”

  “Definitely. You shouldn’t be here. We don’t know enough about the situation.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “For all we know there could be others.”

  “I couldn’t just sit up there and do nothing. I asked the cops at the front entrance if I could help, but frankly I think they’re so paralyzed at the thought something like this could happen, that they didn’t know what to tell me. And then I saw you. You look like you’ve got a plan. I know basic first aid and CPR. Put me to work.”

  “My plan is to stay alive and help as many people as I can.” Sarah should catch up with Liz, but she couldn’t help but take a moment to drink in the sight of Ellery. The suit jacket was gone and her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows. The muscles she’d only seen hints of before were now readily apparent. Ellery was strong and she was here. She’d be foolish not to take advantage of her help even if this dashing woman’s presence threatened to distract her. For a second she considered asking about April Landing, but the thought was fleeting. Ellery was here alone, and she’d sought her out to help. She’d be foolish to question it. She reached out a hand. “Stick close.”

  She didn’t wait for Ellery to reply before she dove back into the crowd, Ellery’s strong hand firmly gripping hers as she led the way. When they finally made it to the west entrance, Sarah pulled up short. Seeing the damage from a distance was no substitute for standing right in front of it. The glass windows of the hotel had shielded them from the acrid smell of burning rubble and flesh and the piercing cries of the wounded. Relatively speaking, the actual damage to the building was smaller than the cloud of dust and debris had led her to believe, but there was absolutely no doubt it had been deadly for more than just a few.

  She looked back to see Ellery’s face harden at the sight of the devastation before releasing her grip. With a simple nod, Ellery strode away toward a group of fireman and started working with them to clear chunks of cement debris from a section of the bomb site.

  “Sarah, where did you go?”

  Sarah turned to find Liz standing behind her. “Sorry. I’m here now.”

  “Great. Come over here. These guys could use some help.”

  Sarah took just a moment to glance back at Ellery. She was lifting a piece of concrete as if it was a feather. Her expensive suit and her handsome face were smeared with soot and her eyes blazed with a fierce determination that won Sarah’s admiration. As she started to walk away, she realized she had more in common with Ellery than probably either of them realized.

  Chapter Five

  Two weeks later

  Ellery tacked the final piece of leather into place and stood back to assess her work. She’d given the well-worn brown leather she’d recycled from old theater seats a sleek new life as a midcentury channel back chair, and she was pleased with the clean lines and the simplicity of the piece. She gazed around her studio at the massive amount of work she had accomplished in the last two weeks. This new collection was different from her previous work. These pieces were lighter, more utilitarian, modern and bright. She’d taken a lot of her inspiration from
the theater seats. She’d bought them for practically nothing at a flea market months ago, but it wasn’t until after the night of the bombing that she’d been inspired to incorporate them into her work. As she carefully salvaged the leather from each chair, she’d offered a prayer for the victims of the bombing whose lives had forever changed.

  She had stayed at the site of the explosion for hours, helping clear debris and assist the first responders in any way she could. At some point during the night, April found her there and tried to get her to leave or at least promise to come over when she left, but she stayed until dawn and then she’d gone straight home. In the shadow of their mortality, she could no longer pretend she and April still had anything in common, even if doing so would have never given companionship in those dark hours.

  When she had finally arrived home she had at least a dozen messages from her parents. She’d called and spoken briefly with her father, but his dizzying round of questions made her wish she hadn’t. He’d wanted to talk about every last detail. Was it a bomb? What kind? Foreign or domestic? How long before they had suspects in custody, and more importantly, who would represent them?

  Ellery had listened to his questions, but she hadn’t engaged, finally managing to convince him that she was okay and too exhausted and too busy to dwell on the details. What she’d seen that night had been too horrific to process, even with him. All she could do, like the rest of the nation, was spend the next twenty-four hours glued to the television, watching the major networks wield various theories about who had been behind the fatal blast. Pundits talked and politicians postured, but hours passed with no new information beyond an increased tally of injured and dead.

  She found her solace in work and she’d barely left her studio, even sleeping some nights there on the couch. Karen, the owner of the showroom in the Design District that sold many of her creations, had finally shown up on her doorstep when she couldn’t get in touch with her. Ellery assuaged her concern by showing her the new collection she’d started and then shoved her out the door so she could keep working. Other than a wave at her neighbor, Leo, when she met the kid who delivered groceries to her door, she hadn’t spoken to another soul since. Now, two weeks out, she was beginning to feel restless.