Allison Brennan - See No Evil

Connor touched Emily’s cheek. “You’re strong, kid. We’re going to get through this, okay?”

“What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to be arrested?”

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Dillon and Connor left Emily’s room and Connor said, “I’ll bet they have a Bible somewhere in the hospital. The verse might mean something.”

Dillon shook his head. “Twelve years of Catholic school and you don’t know the verse?”

“In one ear.” Connor shrugged.

Dillon quoted, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’”

Faye didn’t mind playing hooky from school because she was always bored in class. Though she and Skip went to the same school-Robbie attended a different private school in downtown San Diego-they drove separately to the La Jolla beach. Cami was already there, but they had to wait for Robbie.

“He’d better be clean,” Cami warned.

“He is,” Skip said. “He has a twenty-minute drive. Give him a break.”

Robbie was late but sober, and Cami went through the plan meticulously. Her excitement surprised Faye. She hadn’t been nearly as excited about the previous murders. But Faye wasn’t as sure about this one.

The victim was too close to home.

“Skip, you have the gun, right?”

“Check.”

“Loaded?”

He looked at Cami, his mouth tight with anger. “I’m not stupid, Cami. Don’t treat me like an idiot.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Right.” Skip rolled his eyes.

Faye interjected. “We can’t start arguing. This is serious.”

“Exactly,” Cami said, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “This is the pinnacle of the plan. Once we execute it, we’ll be truly free of him. It’s perfect.”

“No plan is perfect,” Robbie said, speaking up for the first time.

“You’re not using again, are you?” Cami asked, an undercurrent of anger in her tone.

“Not now.”

“You have to stay clean. At least through tomorrow night. I can’t have you screw this up.”

“I won’t.” He glared at Cami. “I have it under control.”

“You’d better.” She turned away, but Faye didn’t miss the anger in Skip’s eyes. All directed at Cami. She feared he knew what she and Cami had discussed yesterday. At least Cami’s part of the conversation.

She took Robbie’s hand. She didn’t want to kill him. She really didn’t want to kill him. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “I’ll handle Cami.”

He softened a bit. “She’s a bitch,” he muttered under his breath.

Robbie didn’t understand Cami like Faye did, but that was okay. Faye knew how to control her friend, that was all that mattered.

“There’ll be a lot of security, so we ditch the gun.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want to be caught with it,” Cami said as if Robbie was an idiot. “It’s part of the plan.”

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea to connect the judge’s death with this,” Skip said.

“It’s a perfect idea. The police will never know what’s happening. It’s our swan song, as they say. And if anything goes wrong, you know the escape plan.”

“It’s risky.”

“That’s the thrill!” Cami stood and paced, kicking sand up with her bare feet. “If I can’t trust you guys, I’ll do it myself!”

Faye got up and touched Cami on the arm. “Cam, they’re just getting out the fear. Remember what we talked about? If we go into it scared, we’ll make a mistake. Talking purges the fear.”

Cami nodded, frowning. “Maybe we should do it alone. Just you and me. Alone. ” She glared at the two boys sitting in the sand a distance away.

Faye shook her head. “We need all four of us for the plan to work. You know that.”

Cami sighed. “I’m just excited and nervous.”

“It’s going to work. But not if we start turning on each other.” She frowned at Skip and Robbie. “That goes for you two as well.”

If they looked at her with a sense of awe or wonder that she seemed to be taking over Cami’s role as leader, Faye barely noticed. She was emboldened after being with her secret lover last night, especially since Cami didn’t know about the relationship, or their history. After all, Faye had been his first recruit, not Cami. He had only sent Cami to “recruit” Faye in order to give Cami a sense of control and power.

But Faye held the real power. And after last night she now understood what her role was. The secret thrilled her. Cami thought she was the one in his confidence. Cami didn’t know shit.

For someone as smart as Cami, she could be so dense about some things. Cami thought she had nothing to fear.

The guardian of the court records was a six-foot-tall fifty-year-old black woman with dreadlocks who wore jeans against the dress code, bright shirts that lit up the dingy basement archives, and hoop earrings so big Julia was certain she could have worn them as bracelets. Selene Borge didn’t take shit from anyone, especially lawyers, but she had a soft spot for Julia Chandler.

Julia knew this had quite a lot to do with her quarterly “donation” to Selene of a Starbucks gift card. The woman lived on hot lattes from the Starbucks across the street.

Julia brought two double lattes to the basement at eleven that morning. Selene smiled, took one before Julia had even offered. “Good morning, Ms. Chandler.” Her French-Jamaican accent was artificially exaggerated. Selene was from Jamaica and spoke fluent French-as well as Spanish and German-but she’d moved to America when she was four and could speak perfect “American” when she chose to.

“How are you today?” asked Julia.

They made small talk while sipping coffee. Julia saw two empty cups on Selene’s desk. So she was no longer the only attorney who knew Selene’s weakness.

Selene finally asked, “What is it you want from me today?”

“Your magic. A list of the case files assigned to a regular court-appointed psychiatrist.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Word is you’re on administrative leave.”

She hadn’t expected word to get out so fast. Julia said nothing.

Selene sat at her computer. She briskly typed. “Name?”

“Garrett Bowen.”

She punched in some numbers and his name. In seconds, a long list of case files was displayed on the screen. She printed them. “I take it you need these files.”

“Only the last two years.”

Another few keystrokes and the list was shortened to about fifteen.

“These are all juvenile cases.”

That meant she’d need a court order.

“I just want to look,” said Julia.

“Juvenile files require the consent of a judge,” Selene said as she slid the printout across the desk to Julia. “I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

“I understand.” Julia folded the paper and slid it into her purse. “I also need a list of every case Victor Montgomery presided over for the last two years.”

Selene frowned, fingers flying across the keyboard. Julia suppressed a smile. She’d seen Selene use only her index fingers in a painstakingly slow fashion when she didn’t like someone. Julia was glad she was on the “good” list.

“Here.” Selene handed her a three-page printout. “I take it you want to look at the files?”

“I’m happy to pull them myself.”

“Good, because I need to take my lunch break. Union rules. Can you stay here until my replacement comes?”

“Sure.”

“You’re a doll.”

Julia watched her leave and mentally thanked her. This was no longer a gray area. Julia was breaking the law. But she had to help Emily, and if this helped her, dammit-