Unintended Consequences - By Marti Green Page 0,33

follow up with the doctor and hospital. Hopefully, they still have records from back then.”

Melanie was quiet. Dani could see her struggle with herself. She wanted to believe George, but Tommy had shaken her confidence in her own judgment. Her battle was one Dani had observed before, not only in young women but in older, more experienced women as well. No matter how smart or accomplished women were, they’d been raised to defer to men. It was true that women’s liberation had changed the world; women now could do any job and be taken seriously. Yes, they’d come a long way. For Dani’s mother, smart as she was, becoming a lawyer was something she’d considered to be beyond her reach. Melanie’s mother, on the other hand, had no doubt encouraged her daughter to pursue any career she fancied. When Dani stood in court arguing an appeal, the justices took her very seriously. Still, old stereotypes ran deep, and Dani knew too many women, smart women, who caved in when challenged by men.

Thank goodness Bruce, her boss, wasn’t one of those men in power who, subconsciously or otherwise, viewed women as lesser mortals. Perhaps it stemmed from the professional path he’d chosen: helping the indigent. Power was secondary in this environment, and anyone willing to help was eagerly embraced and equally valued. It was different in the Justice Department, where power was the reward for hard work and long hours and went to those whose commitment was not suspect by virtue of one’s gender. Dani guessed that was the case at the FBI as well, where Tommy had learned his investigative skills. If so, it was inevitable that Tommy had adopted some of the Bureau’s beliefs. She knew he thought she was too soft. Sometimes she wondered herself.

The flight back to New York was uneventful. When the plane landed, Dani headed back to HIPP. Before she had removed her jacket, Bruce popped into her office.

“How was your first field trip?”

Daily phone calls had kept him abreast of her findings. Now he fished for her reaction to being out front, cutting through the tangle of information to discern the truth, and making the decision to take on a client. Fear and excitement alternated within her. “Unsettling. Tell me, when you’ve interviewed prospective clients, how do you know when they’re handing you a line?”

Bruce chuckled, the easy laugh of someone who’d faced the question untold times. “Starting to doubt your initial impression?”

During most of the flight back from Indiana, Dani had wrestled with the question, weighing Tommy’s impression against her own and trying to dissect George’s story from every angle. “No, I still think the girl in the woods isn’t George’s daughter. But we may never know for sure. There’s no DNA sample in the police kit, and who knows if we’ll find any hospital records?”

“Well, without DNA, you can never be certain. You just have to trust your instincts. If the evidence trail that led to conviction is flawed, then there’s good reason to think the verdict may be flawed.”

“You know, Tommy disagrees with me.”

“That’s good. It helps to have someone take the other side. It’ll push you harder to find the truth.”

“Sure, but …”

Bruce raised one eyebrow, a trick she’d never been able to master herself.

“He thinks I’m just being a softy. I am a softy—I know that about myself. And watching George tell his story was heart-wrenching. That’s not why I believe him, though. At least I don’t think it is. It’s just—the look in his eyes, the heartache from wondering what happened to his daughter—it seemed real to me.”

Bruce looked at the calendar on the wall. “You don’t have the luxury of waiting until Tommy finishes investigating to decide whether we take on George’s case. Execution is less than five weeks away. If you believe he’s innocent, then you have to keep going. Do we have a basis for appeal?”

“Sure. His case could have been handled by a high schooler for all the work put into it. It screeches ‘ineffective counsel.’”

“It’s your case, Dani, and your call. What do you want to do?”

“I want to believe him. I want Tommy to find evidence that makes it right to believe him.”

“And if Tommy can’t find that evidence?”

“My gut says he’s innocent.”

“Then go with what your gut tells you.”

As Bruce left her office, Dani knew it wasn’t as simple as he’d suggested. Once, before she began working at HIPP, her instincts led her to believe in the truth of a defendant’s