Page 5

Jaylen’s next sentence had the gummy sound of words spoken through a mouth full of peanut butter. “In the middle of the day?”
“Yeah.” Olivia took a swig of water. “Well, next Tuesday is divorce court. That Wednesday, I wake up a free woman.”
“Why is he calling you, though?”
“I don’t care. Listen, I need to eat, so you’re on speaker. Tell me about your day.”
“Lonnie is out of town until Friday, of course. Other than that it’s been just normal mommy stuff. Oh, here’s a story for you. I told you I got Tilly a big-girl toddler bed?”
“Yup, she like it?” Olivia unscrewed her container of day-old roasted broccoli, settling in to listen to the sheer banality of her best friend’s life. Jaylen was a touchstone of normalcy, leading a life messy with vegetable gardens, dogs, a bearded goat, and a dimpled dumpling baby. Olivia needed that steady dose of ordinariness, so she didn’t think that all of humanity was as depraved as the violent criminals she prosecuted.
And Jaylen, in turn, needed someone with an adult brain to talk to throughout her day. They kept each other sane.
“I dressed Tilly like a princess, and she laid down under her glitter blanket and fell right to sleep for her morning nap.”
“Aww.”
“You’re a prosecutor,” Jaylen said. “You know better than to jump to conclusions like, aww.”
Olivia chuckled as she took a bite of sandwich.
“I had trouble sleeping last night, so I thought I’d take advantage of Matilda’s nap and get one in for myself. I slept hard, only waking up to Tilly singing to herself.”
“Cute.” she said, past the food in her mouth.
“Objection. Not cute. While I was sleeping, Tilly took a red magic marker and colored my comforter.”
Olivia swallowed and coughed. “The white one?” Olivia’s phone rang. “Jaylen, it’s my office. I have to take this, don’t go away.” She tapped the button. “Hey, Steph. What’s up?”
“Three fires I thought you should hear about ASAP. And Gail said you were on lunch break.”
“Yup,”
“I asked you if you could sit in on Malik’s deposition for the grand jury after you're done with court tonight. I know you’re swamped with your current trial, but since this new case is your bailiwick, I want to lean on you a bit as the Offsed case resolves. It’s a lot. I understand that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Steph, I asked to be involved. I’m good to go for tonight.”
“Keep in touch. I think that deposition is going to be postponed.”
Olivia’s lips sank into a frown. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“Malik was supposed to come in this morning to talk with me,” Steph said, “but he was a no-show.”
“He’s one of the coffin nails you need to bang into place. You called him to check in? Could he have gotten the date mixed up?”
“I called his cell,” Steph said, “his office, his home line. I reached out to his emergency contact number—his girlfriend—she’s pretty frantic because she hasn’t seen or heard from him in a few days.”
“Do you think something happened? Something beyond cold feet?” Olivia pursed her lips hard with concentration. This was a national security case, and a lot was riding on this grand jury outcome.
“I don’t know, but he’s risking his cooperation status. Speaking of cold feet—"
“Uh oh.” Olivia put her hand on her forehead, feeling a wash of dread flood her system.
“The Offsed case. I got a call from Candace. That’s actually what spurred this phone call. She says she’s very ill and won’t make it to the witness stand tomorrow. She wants to know how to tell the judge she’s down for the count with an aggressive, debilitating flu. She’s in bed and doesn’t think that she’s going to be up again for weeks.”
Olivia’s sole surviving witness. “I can ask for a continuance. Judge Madison will want documentation from a doctor, of course. How did she sound to you?”
“Like she was laying it on thick,” Steph said. “But I’m a cynic. Maybe she was talking to me while she was clinging to her toilet bowl, getting ready to spew.”