Final Appeal

with that much money at stake, I bet it’s complete.”

“Where would the appendix be?”

“Every judge on the panel would have gotten one, including Armen. It’s an old case but Eletha would know if we have it.” My brain clicks ahead. I didn’t see the older cases in the boxes we packed this morning, but Eletha could have packed them earlier. “She said Armen saved everything. We just finished packing this morning.”

“Go get ’em, tiger.”

“It’s about a million boxes.”

“Dig we must.”

Easy for him to say. He doesn’t have to deal with Eletha’s reaction when I tell her what I’m going to do.

*  *  *

“You want to do what?” Eletha shrieks at me, astounded. She stands protectively in front of the boxes that stack almost to the ceiling in Armen’s office.

“Shhh!” I look toward the clerks’ office, even though the door is closed. “You can go home. I’ll do it. I already called my mother to pick up Maddie at school.”

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Long fingers clasp at her chest and she breathes deeply, in and out.

“Eletha, don’t do the Lamaze thing, not for me. You can go.”

“You want to rip open all my boxes? We just finished!”

“I’ll put everything back.”

She shakes her head. “No. I won’t let you do it. No way. No file is important enough to ruin all that work.”

I wish I could tell her why, but Winn made me swear. “I’ll redo it.”

“Galanter wants this stuff out of here! I told him we’d be done tomorrow, you know that. That’s why I worked my ass off all morning! All week!”

“I know, but I need it.”

“What for?”

“A misconduct case.”

“What misconduct case is ten years old? Don’t bullshit me, Grace. We’re friends.”

I take her by the shoulders. “Listen, trust me. I can’t tell you anything more.”

“Why not?”

“Eletha, it’s the most important file in the world.”

“No file—”

“This one is.”

“Are you outta your mind?” Her dark eyes watch me with hope.

“No.”

“But I got class tonight, and Leon sure ain’t gonna sit anymore.”

“That’s all right. I have to do it myself.”

“Galanter wants in—tomorrow. It’ll take you all night.”

I remember the last time I was here in this office until dawn. “That’s okay.”

I look around at the boxes and so does she. It’s daunting, like moving an entire house in only one night. Twice. I wonder if I’ll be able to get it done in time. If I can’t, screw Galanter. He may not be a killer, but he’s still a jerk.

“I know what you’re thinkin’,” Eletha says to me, wagging a finger. “It’s gotta be done by morning. GSA is comin’ in to take up the rug.”

“All right, all right.”

“You want me to come back after class? It’s over at ten.”

“Nope. You got Malcolm.”

“I’ll bring him. He can sleep on the couch.”

“No, thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” She shakes her head, mystified. “Start with those boxes against the wall.” She gestures to about forty-five boxes, taped closed and stacked up like children’s blocks. “Those are the case files. Everything over there”—she points against the back wall behind Armen’s desk—“is old stuff, papers, and some older files. There could be some older case files in there, too.”

“Okay.” I eyeball the boxes in the back. Thirty, easy. Christ. I remember when I left Sam: all my stuff and Maddie’s in a storage bin, and it still wasn’t that high. “No problem.”

She points at the conference table and the chair against the window, both of which are heaped with brown paper packages. “That’s all the Armenian stuff. I put bubble paper underneath that brown paper, you know. You won’t be needin’ any of it, so don’t unwrap it.”

“I won’t.” Each package is labeled in black Magic Marker, some cryptically. STATUE. ANOTHER STATUE. PRAYER RUG. FRAMED THING. BIG THING. I laugh at BIG THING, lying horizontally across the chair near the window. “What’s that one?”

She wrinkles her nose. “You know, that big thing?”

“No, I don’t, El. I have no idea.”

“You do too. That wood thingie he had hangin’ up, like a baseball bat.”

Now I remember. The cudgel. “Oh, yeah. That big thing.”

“Right. It weighs a ton. Leave it alone, all of it.”

“I will. I promise. Hey, where’s the Indian headdress?”

“Oh, that?” She grins. “I lost it.”

“You what?”

“I can’t remember where I put it, for the life of me. I guess it just got lost in the shuffle.” She scratches her sleek head, then bursts into laughter.

“Eletha, what did you do?”

“It serves his ass right, doesn’t it?”

I have to agree.

“Okay. I gotta go, but I’m gonna do one thing for you. Make you a pot of coffee.”

“Deal,” I say and get to work.

I open box after box, digging into each with cheap government scissors. I go through the case files; each is a manila folder containing Armen’s notes, a set of briefs, and an appendix. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be in chronological order, or in any order at all; I don’t stop to read Armen’s notes, even those not written in Armenian. I can’t afford the time; I’m trying to nail his killer.

The afternoon wears into the evening and I go through cup after cup of coffee and box after box of files. Eletha pops her head in to say good-bye when she goes; then Artie, Sarah, and Ben, who’s still carrying a briefcase. I tell them I lost some papers, and they all offer to help, even Ben.

I check my watch. Maddie’s bedtime. I decide to call home, then Winn after that. I punch in the numbers to my house.

Maddie answers the phone, then proceeds to work me over. “But why do you have to stay, Mom?” she asks, her thin voice rising on the other end of the line.

“I told you, honey. Because it’s an important case. I have to work on it.”

“Why can’t somebody else work on it? Why does it have to be you?”

“Because I’m the only one who can.”

“Are you with your boyfriend?”

I laugh. “Of course not. I don’t have a boyfriend, I’m working. Now tell me what you’re gonna read with Grandma before you go to bed.”

“I’m too sick to go to school tomorrow, Mom. Madeline feels sick too, her forehead’s hot. She’s burning.”

I ease into the chair next to the conference table. “You’ll be fine in the morning. You just need to sleep.”

“But my head hurts. My neck is swollen.”

“Honey, listen. We’ll see in the morning, okay?” I tug a box over to the chair and cross my legs on top of it.