The Competition

39

Friday, October 11

I woke up the next morning with an aching head and a gnawing emptiness in my stomach. I’d barely managed to choke down three bites of my steak, so the Bloody Marys had hit pretty hard. On the bright side, my pants were looser. Hell of a thing, this Mass Murderer Diet.

A pale, gray morning light poured through the gap between the drape and the window. I burrowed deeper under the covers to enjoy the warmth for just a minute more. It was almost as cold in the early mornings as it was at night. Keeping the covers tight around me, I snaked out a hand and called in my breakfast order: two eggs over medium, bacon, and toast with a large pot of coffee. Then I threw back the covers and forced myself out of bed.

After I’d showered, dressed, put on my face, and finished breakfast, I decided to drop in at the office. Bailey had said she’d call when she had our interviews set up. Since I hadn’t heard from her yet, I figured I had a little time to go in and talk to Eric. I hadn’t spoken to him in a while, and I wanted to get his take on our latest developments.

The sky was heavy with dark clouds that looked ready to open up and pour any minute-which they did, just as I got to the back entrance of the courthouse. I stopped by my office to check my in-box and found it blissfully empty. Maybe I was about to have a good day. Lord knew, I was due.

I went over to the window and looked out at the city. Even on a gloomy, wet day like this the view lifted my spirits. I stretched my arms up and leaned from side to side to work out the kinks that had built up from too many nights of fitful sleep and too few days at the gym. As I brought my arms down, the sleeve of my sweater caught on my earring and pulled it out. I felt my shoulder, but it wasn’t there. I looked down at my feet, but it wasn’t there either. Damn, it must have fallen under the table.

I got down on my knees to look, but it was too dark to see anything, so I got my phone and turned on the flashlight app. I saw a metallic sparkle against the wall-as far out of reach as possible. Groaning, I crawled under the table, but as I put my hand out to grab the earring, I noticed something stuck in the corner of the wall. At first, I thought it might be a cockroach or a water bug. I snatched my hand back. But then I noticed it wasn’t moving. And it looked too square. I shined the flashlight on it. Definitely not a beetle. It was a small, black rectangular box, no more than an inch long.

I pulled at it and it came away from the wall with a ripping sound. It had been attached with Velcro. I clutched it in my hand and backed out from under the table. I turned it over and saw a tiny red LED light and what looked like a USB port on the end. What the…? A bug? It had to be. My heart gave a dull thud in my chest. Who’d planted it? And when? I stood there staring at the object in my hand, trying to figure it out.

I knew it hadn’t been there before. My office had been swept regularly during my last trial, and it was clean then. Could it be the press? This school shooting was definitely big enough to make it worth their while. Tabloids were used to spending big bucks to get the “scoop,” but this case was hot enough to make even the mainstream press dig into their pockets. I thought about who else would want to keep tabs on me. Vanderhorn? This case could give him a real shot at the governor’s mansion-or doom him to a life of obscurity in a midlevel law firm. And what about sociopathic Lilah Bayer? She had plenty of reasons to want to keep an ear trained to find out if we were closing in on her. The list of possible suspects was daunting. The thought of someone sneaking into my office and planting that bug-and eavesdropping on me for who knew how long-made my skin crawl. I left the bug on my desk and quickly walked out of my office and down the hall to the fire escape. I stepped out and let the heavy metal door slam shut behind me. Then I pulled out my cell phone. The street side of the fire escape was enclosed by metal bars that let in all of the traffic noise, which was considerable at this time of the morning. Graden answered on the first ring.

“Rachel? Are you okay?”

I almost never called him during the day. If there was business to handle with him, Bailey usually took care of it. “Yeah. Well, no. Not exactly.” I told him what I’d found in my office and listed the possible suspects. “Vanderhorn might be a stretch, though-”

“Maybe not, actually. Like you said, his political future depends on this case. Your list of possible suspects sounds right on.” Graden was silent for a moment. “Where are you right now?” I told him. “And where’s the bug?” I told him. “Just leave it there for now and obviously don’t say anything you wouldn’t want everyone to hear. I’m sending someone over there to check it out. For now, I don’t want whoever planted that thing to know we’re onto them. I’m going to assign a detective.”

“Then you want me to do what? Nothing?”

“As impossible as that is for you. Our planter has to be someone with access to your office, so you can’t even talk about this over there. Not to anyone.”

“Even Eric?”

“Even Eric. For now, the fewer people who know about this, the better. Just let me handle this, okay?” I was silent. Doing nothing really didn’t work for me. “Rachel? I’m not kidding. Any move you make could screw things up.”

I sighed. “Okay, okay, I get it.”

I ended the call and stared out through the bars at the traffic. My world was a study in insanity. Two murderers on the loose and now someone was bugging my office. What was next? Alien invasion?

There was only one thing to do. Go back to work. I had planned to get Eric’s input on the case, but there was so much I couldn’t share, I didn’t feel comfortable talking to him now. I took the back hallway to avoid passing his office and ran to catch an elevator. I’d just stepped inside when my cell phone rang. It was Bailey. “What’s up?”

Bailey huffed. A sign she was righteously pissed. “You won’t friggin’ believe this-”

“Hang on, let me get to a safe place.”

I could’ve told her to hold off till I got to the station, but her tone unnerved me. I didn’t want to wait.