'Thank God. I don't know if I'm more afraid of the death penalty or having to appear in public in these awful rags.'
Matthew couldn't help smiling. 'You'll have to run a media gauntlet and I don't want you looking like Squeaky Fromme.'
Abbie smiled. Then her eyes lost focus and she looked tired and dispirited.
'What's wrong?' Matthew asked.
Abbie took a deep breath. 'I'm afraid I'll lose everything, Matt. My reputation, my career.'
'You haven't lost a thing and you're not going to. Geddes can't rob you of your pride unless you let him. You know you're innocent. It doesn't matter what the papers say or what the public thinks, if you can look at yourself in the mirror and know you're right.'
Abbie laughed. 'They don't let me have a mirror. Broken glass. It's a suicide precaution.'
Matthew smiled back. It was a perfect moment. The shared fears, the shared intimacy, the trust she showed in him. He didn't want the visit to end.
'I have to go,' Matthew said reluctantly. 'I have an appointment with Jack Stamm in a few minutes.'
'Your end run?'
'If we're lucky.'
'It's been a while, Matt,' Jack Stamm said after they shook hands and Reynolds was seated across from him in the district attorney's office.
'Thank you for seeing me.'
'I'm not sure I should be,' Stamm said, unconsciously picking up a paper clip that lay on top of a stack of legal documents.
'You know what Geddes has done, don't you?'
Stamm nodded noncommittally.
'Do you think it's right?'
Stamm looked uncomfortable. He unbent one end of the paper clip.
'Abbie is a friend of mine,' he said evenly. 'I have a conflict.
That's why I called in the Attorney General. I can't get involved in this case.'
'You're the district attorney of this county. As long as Geddes is a special deputy district attorney, he's your employee.'
'That's true in theory, but you know very well that I can't interfere with Geddes.'
'Geddes is using this case to settle a score with me and for self-aggrandizement. You saw his press conference after the arrest.'
'We shouldn't even be having this conversation. I have to let him try his case.'
'I'm not asking you to interfere with the way he tries this case. I'm asking you to talk to him about his position on bail. You can't believe it's right for Abbie to stay in jail for months while we get ready for trial. I just came from visiting her. She looks terrible. She's trying to hold herself together, but you can see the toll the effort is taking.'
'Abbie is wealthy. She can afford to go to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States. Geddes is afraid she'll rabbit.'
'Only if she's guilty. You know her far better than I, Jack. Do you think Abbie killed Robert Griffen?'
Stamm straightened the paper clip, then bent it in two. After a moment, he said, 'No. I don't think she's guilty.'
'Then how can you let Geddes keep her in a cage?'
'Look, Matt, you've tried cases against Geddes. You know how he gets.
I've spoken to him, and he knows I think he's wrong.
But he won't budge. What more can I do?'
'You can call the Attorney General. Tell Gary Graham what Geddes is doing. Tell him it's not right.'
'I don't know . . .'
'When you talk to Graham, tell him I assured you that Abbie will surrender her passport and she'll submit to ESP, the electronic surveillance program. I've already checked with the people who run the program and they'll supervise Abbie. She won't be able to leave her house without Geddes knowing immediately and she won't have to endure the jail.'
Stamm worried the paper clip while he thought over Reynolds's proposal.
Then he said, 'I don't know if Geddes will agree, but I think I can convince Gary to order him to go along.'
'Then please call Graham.'
Stamm hesitated. 'If I call Gary, there's something you'll have to do.'
'Name it.'
'Geddes is going to be furious because I went behind his back. And he'll be right. If I do this for Abbie, you've got to let Geddes save face. I want you to let him make the house arrest suggestion in open court and praise him for his thoughtfulness.'
Reynolds's lips quivered for a moment as he held back a smile. Then, without any emotion, he said, 'I have nothing personal against Mr.
Geddes. I only want what's best for my client.'
'I'm glad to hear that. Now I want you to listen carefully.'
Stamm put down the paper clip and leaned toward Reynolds. 'I'm going way out on a limb with this. I'm probably violating the Canon of Ethics to help a friend. Once it's done, I won't do anything more. Do you understand?'
'Yes.'
Stamm stood. He held out his hand. 'Do everything you can for Abbie.
Good luck.'
The sun was fading by the time the technician from the electronic surveillance program finished hooking up an oblong, footlong box to Abbie's phone. Abbie was now wearing a bracelet with a tapered piece of metal attached to it. A computer at a monitoring center was programmed to call her at her home phone at random intervals. When the calls came, she had to answer the phone and state her name and the time, then insert the metal piece into a slot in the box. People at the monitoring center would be trained to identify Abbie's voice and the insertion of the metal strip confirmed her presence in the house.
A unit in the bracelet also broadcast a radio frequency. If Abbie went more than one hundred and fifty feet from the box, a signal would go off in the monitoring center and trigger a pager that would aler/the staff.
Matthew accompanied the technician to the door, then returned to the living room. The French windows were open and Abbie was standing on the patio, her arms wrapped around herself, looking at the sunset. Matthew paused to watch her. Abbie closed her eyes and tilted her head back, savoring the warm and comforting breeze.
The scene was something Matthew had dreamed about. He and Abbie alone at dusk at the end of a perfect summer day.
Already there were long shadows creeping across the wide expanse of lawn, changing green into black where the silhouettes of the oaks and evergreens fell. On the horizon, the scarlet sun shimmered above the trees, its dying rays reflecting in the cobalt blue of the pool.
Abbie sensed Matthew's presence. She opened her eyes and turned slightly. He started, afraid she could read his mind, and frightened of what she would think of him if she knew his deepest thoughts. But Abbie just smiled and Matthew walked toward her.
'The police are gone,' he said.
'It's so nice just being alone.'
'I can go, if you'd like.'
'No, stay. I didn't mean you.'
Matthew stopped beside Abbie. It was part of the fantasy.
Abbie at his side.
'I bought this house because I fell in love with it,' Abbie said wistfully, 'but I just couldn't stay with Robert after I found out he'd betrayed me. When I was living in Meadowbrook, I missed not being here.
