that would qualify. But there were problems with both theories. We
had the condom and the ME's opinion that Clarissa's clothes were put
back on her after she was killed, but we didn't have the traditional
indications of rape. Clarissa's shoe and the paint provided
circumstantial indications that Jackson pulled Clarissa into the van
before he killed her, but if he killed her during the struggle and then
put her in the van, it wasn't a kidnapping.
I avoided both possibilities and instead used Clarissa's employment as
an administrative law judge as the special circumstance. As long as
the jury believed that Melvin killed Clarissa because of her official
judicial duties, that was enough.
I passed Frist in the hallway as I was walking to the printer to pick
up the complaint.
'We need to talk about that cluster fuck of a press conference last
night on the Easterbrook case. The guy was nice enough to confine his
bitching to the bureau, but Griffith's still gonna want a briefing.'
'I think we're OK from that end. The husband's attorneys turned over
some information last night, and the police arrested Melvin Jackson a
few hours ago.' I left out the part about one of the attorneys being
my ex-husband. Although people in the office knew I was divorced, only
a handful of them knew who the ex was. One of the advantages of
keeping your own name. 'When I left MCT last night, the husband's
people were playing nice. I think the press conference was a wake-up
call.'
'Looks like it worked. Jackson's the disgruntled tenant?'
I nodded.
'What did they find on him?'
I told him about Dunn Simon's list of nonunion labor at the office park
and the evidence the police found when they executed the search
warrant. 'I was just doing the complaint. Do you want to see the file
before arraignment?'
'You know you should have called me, Kincaid.'
'I thought you told me to run with it until we got to proceedings.'
He looked at me skeptically.
'There's nothing to worry about, Russ. Everything's under control.'
In light of how things had come together, he couldn't argue with that.
'All right, let me see the complaint.' He took a quick look. 'Good
call. If you add in a rape charge, it might cloud the motive. Most
newbies would've thrown in every theory they could think of.'
'You only need one when it's good,' I said. 'I'm going to head over at
two for the arraignment. I assume you don't need to come with me.'
'The DA at the Justice Center can handle it, Kincaid.'
'Nope. It's my first arraignment on an agg murder. I'm doing it
myself.'
'Are the screens done?'
'They will be soon.'
'All right. Don't forget to call Duncan.'
I didn't need to. When I got back to my office, I had a voice mail
from Duncan's secretary asking me to come down to his office.
Terrific.
He had seen the press conference. Even worse, he had gotten a phone
call from Dennis Coakley. Dennis must have slept on it and woken up
even angrier.
I tried to calm him down by telling him about the Jackson arrest, but
the distraction proved temporary.
'What exactly did we talk about in here yesterday?' he demanded.
'Duncan, I know you're upset, but please don't talk to me like I'm in
kindergarten.'
'When you act like a child, Samantha, you get treated like a child.'
I couldn't help it. I exhaled in a way that might have sounded like a
scoff. 'I can't believe you actually just said that. Does anyone
really say that?'
'Watch it, Sam. You're a good attorney, but I won't have my people
talk to me that way.'
Threatening to fire me was the typical trump card around here, but now
I had one of my own. 'Or what, Duncan? You're going to fire the woman
who almost got killed last month on the job because she ruffled some
feathers trying to find the madman who's snatching women off the
street?'
'Don't even think about playing that game with me. Next thing you
