Page 2 of Savagely Yours
“Yeah, well,Iknow that.” She tucked a short strand of hair behind her ear and didn’t immediately let it go. “Still, I don’t pretend to be ignorant about how people on the Hill see me, too many of them older than my right to vote, never mind my right to practice law. And I know I’m damn good at what I do, but Dez…I’m trying to prosecute members of Congress.”
“Are you allowed to tell me that?”
“Probably not.”
“Well, I guess it’s only fair since I told you I have Black Cell Compartmented Access security clearance, which no one’s supposed to know about.”
She smiled.
I momentarily looked away, cleared my throat, and leaned forward, my hands clasped. “You know, the majority of human trafficking victimsdocome from Eastern Europe. The majority of offendersareWhite men, over fifty, who make at least six figures. Then, there’s the fact that your assignment came directly from POTUS. That means you’re the best person for the job, regardless of what some ignorant old fucks might think. Plus, look at it this way: if anyone, especially an…adversarial interest,has a member of Congress by the balls, isn’t that a potential national security threat? All that ‘interest’ has to do is threaten to leak their secrets to alter these Congress members’ decisions, which can ultimately end up hurting the American people.”
She slapped her palms on the table and stood. “Maybe you should write my closing argument.”
I rose, my body primed to mirror her actions and to never let more than a certain amount of space exist between us.
She walked to the window, spread a couple of blinds with her index and middle finger, and peered out. This morning, she’d walked in wearing a dark blue blazer over what I’d assumed was a white top and a matching pair of pants. With the blazer gone, I realized it was all one piece. One piece that fit her figure exceptionally well.
“What made you want to become a lawyer?” I asked. I needed a filler question to avoid asking her to close up shop for the evening and have dinner with me instead. “Don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
She didn’t turn away from the window. “You haven’t, and it’s the reason you probably think it is.”
“Your sister?”
“Yeah.”
When they were children, her older sister, Raven, was abducted and murdered in Louisiana. They’d been close, and she’d confided in me that the loss changed her in fundamental ways she was still processing as an adult.
“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” I offered. “I really am.”
She still didn’t turn. “And you know I appreciate you. Always. But come here a second. Tell me what this looks like to you.”
I joined her at the window, momentarily thrown off by a whiff of her perfume, and peered through the blinds.
A man stumbled through the near-empty courtyard. His hand appeared to be up near his neck, but we were too many levels up for me to be sure. Another man seemed to be following him, though much more slowly, from yards away. They were the only two in the area, and with it being a Friday, in D.C., and after work hours, the lack of a crowd wasn’t exactly unusual. Yet, something about the scene raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Are you on social media?” she asked.
“As far as profiles?” I studied the first man, who began to look familiar. “No. I scroll from time to time, but I don’t create anything. Or engage.”
“Have you seen the videos then? The ones with the...cannibals, I guess?”
“I have.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t get paid to think. I get paid to protect you.”
“Still, you’re a smart guy, Dez.” She shifted, and her hand brushed my knuckles. “What do you think? It’s just me and you. I won’t judge.”
The first man disappeared.
The second continued his odd, slow pace.
“I think, if a government has a track record of keeping things from the public, it’s not outrageous to think they’ll do it again or keep doing it.”
The second man turned around, looked from side to side, and then up, directly at the office window.
I pulled Tapley away from the blinds. “I think that’s Chris. I don’t know who the second guy is, but I’m pretty sure the first one holding his neck is Chris.”
