“Wait, what car are you driving? Because there is a dog invo—”
“A dog? What kind? I love dogs!”
“I’m just wondering if there’s enough room in your car,” he said, hiding a smile. AJ drove a battered “student-mobile” that had started out as a loaner Jackson bought for the kids coming out of jail who needed a fresh start. Jackson housed them in his half of the duplex he’d been living in when he and Ellery had first met, and Jade and her boyfriend helped Jackson keep an eye on them from the other half of the duplex. The idea was they got free rent as long as they could prove they were trying to get jobs or get into school or do something productive with their lives. The first group of young men had moved out in early June—AJ’s boyfriend among them—and the next group were mechanically inclined. Jackson got them their own loaner-mobile, and told them it was theirs to use as long as they fixed it up.
AJ’s car didn’t have the benefit of someone who knew cars—although Mike tinkered with it once in a while—so it was a primer-spotted, shoestring, run-on-a-dime sort of vehicle, and Ellery wasn’t sure how well it would reflect on the firm.
“Hold on a second,” he said.
Then he took his courage in both hands and went to talk to Jade.
Jade Cameron stood maybe five feet, four inches in her stocking feet, and her curves would send a race car on a spin. An African American goddess with a gimlet glare and a penchant for magenta both in her clothes and hair, she was one of the few people who had been there to take care of Jackson when the rest of the world had bailed.
Ellery was Jackson’s person now, but before that happened, he’d had to get Jade’s seal of approval. He was pretty sure the only reason she’d turned over the reins was that Jade was quite simply exhausted by the job.
“Uhm, Jade…,” he began as he approached her at the built-in secretary’s counter that separated the waiting room from the offices.
“What do you need?” she asked, looking up from her computer with a frown line already between her eyes.
“The Townsends need a ride to their house and then across town.”
Jade’s eyes widened. “We’re doing that now?”
“There is something very wrong with that police report,” Ellery growled, looking out into the waiting room and relieved to find it empty. “I don’t trust them to be safe in their house, especially not if Ty gives me the names of the other people at the party where he was busted. AJ can give them a ride, but….”
She was already digging through her purse for her keys. “Isn’t Jackson supposed to be coming in? I thought we were all doing lunch.”
“Yeah. I expected him and Henry back about fifteen minutes ago. Think there was traffic? Maybe they stopped for lunch. Or coffee. Or….” Ellery wasn’t aware that he was rubbing his chest until Jade looked from his hand to his eyes and then back again.
“Yeah,” she said unhappily. “Maybe we should—”
At that point Ellery’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket.
And tried not to hyperventilate.
Don’t look at the news—we’re fine.
“What?” she asked, taking in his expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you have a local news channel on your computer?” he asked, and his healthy breakfast made unhealthy noises as she pulled up a news site. They both read the scrolling banner across the top together.
Shots Fired at Public Defender’s Headquarters. Police Have Suspect Barricaded in Stairwell.
“Oh shit,” Ellery said, his heart pulsing in his throat.
“Are we fucking serious here?” Jade asked.
Which was exactly what Ellery texted Jackson.
Are we fucking serious here?
Jackson returned, I told you not to look!
Where are you?
Hiding with Jenny Probst behind the giant copier in the supply closet.
You do that a lot, Ellery texted, and he could almost hear Jackson’s filthy laugh in return.
It’s not as romantic as it sounds.
Is Henry with you? And Ellery wasn’t sure whether to hope yes or hope no.
Yes. He’s the guy who barricaded the door. Ellery, he was coming specifically for Jenny. Do you know why?
He thought about it. The Townsend case was hinky, but he already had that file because Jenny had dropped it off the day before. The guy currently barricaded on the stairwell wouldn’t know that, necessarily, but then it could also be the case file Jackson was supposed to pick up.
Or it could be something completely unconnected.
I’d need to see the file