If Raleigh was wrong about this one, her reputation would take a hard blow. But she felt strongly enough to take the risk.
I dont believe you, Griffin said, startling her. Do you want to know why?
I feel certain youre going to enlighten me, she said with a smugness she didnt truly feel. Suddenly Griffin Benedict seemed dangerous.
She took a sip of her tea, despite her earlier decision not to drink it. It was easier to hide her emotions behind a paper cup and her steamed-up glasses.
I have reliable information that you, personally, received incentives to convince the Project Justice decision makers to take on Anthonys case. Specifically, that you accepted a bribe.
Raleigh set her cup down with a thud, splashing tea everywhere. What? Are you crazy? Who would tell a reporter such a thing about her? Or had he made it up, trying to shake her composure?
Damn it, hed succeeded. A few nearby coffee-shop patrons looked over curiously.
Dont make a scene, Raleigh. She could hear her mother-in-laws voice in her ear, trying to hush Raleigh when shed been out of her mind with grief. Back then, she had let her big, sloppy emotions spill out onto everyone in her pathcops, doctors, reporters, many of whom blamed her for her husbands death.
She had learned self-control since then.
Im just telling you what I heard. Griffin took another sip of his coffee.
Raleigh scooted her chair back. I hadnt realized this was going to be a character assassination instead of an interview. Please dont call me again. She reached for her briefcase on the floor by her chair, intending to make a dramatic exit.
Wait.
His single word froze her to her seat. She wished she could have ignored him. But he was so damn compelling.
I didnt just take someones word for it. I demanded proofand I got this. He extended a piece of paper across the table toward her. Does this look familiar?
Raleigh grew dizzy as every drop of blood in her body fell to her feet. Yes, the paper did look familiar. It was a copy of her bank statement. The one that showed a twenty-thousand-dollar deposit made to her account from a numbered Swiss bank account.
She should have known. She had tried to tell the bank that the deposit was in error, but theyd insisted it wasnt. Then she had become frantically busy. She had pushed all thoughts of the aberrant deposit out of her mind, figured someone, somewhere, would miss their money, and the error would be corrected.
Care to explain the rather large chunk of change that landed in your account?
No, I would not, Raleigh said succinctly, trying not to panic. Would you care to explain how you came to be in possession of my private financial information? Because Im pretty sure theres an invasion-of-privacy issue here. I could sue you up one side and down the other.
But you wont. Because you wouldnt want this little piece of paper to become a matter of public record, would you?
He was right about that.
Dont worry, Raleighmay I call you Raleigh?
She refused to answer.
Im not going to publish the specifics of your bank account. But I do intend to find out whats going on with you. If there is an innocent explanation for the deposit, set me straight.
There is, but its none of your business. If you want to investigate me, knock yourself out. I have never accepted payment beyond my salary for the work I do at Project Justice, and I never will.
On that note, she made her exit. She could have sworn she felt Griffin Benedicts eyes burning into her back as she walked out the door.
GRIFFIN CLICKED off his recorder, watching as the auburn-haired ice queen glided out the door.
That had gone about as expected. Someone with Raleigh Shinns experience in high-pressure legal situations wouldnt cave in and confess with his first salvo.
She wasnt what he expected, though. Of course hed seen pictures and video of her. Hed thought she was plain, even somewhat unattractive in her clunky glasses, boxy man suits and hair slicked back into a matronly bun.
But in person, she was something entirely different. For one thing, she had a figure underneath those suits. Hed seen the hint of generous breasts beneath her jacket when she had reached for her tea, the barest shadow of cleavage above the top button of her cream silk shirt.
Her hair wasnt a boring brown, as hed believed, but had threads of fiery red and gold mixed in. Her real color, too. If shed had even a days worth of roots, hed have spotted it.
She apparently wore no makeup, but her skin was a translucent ivory, smooth and soft-looking. And she had a dusting of freckles across her nose.
Nice mouth. Kissable.
But her eyes had intrigued him the most. Those scholarly horn-rim glasses hid eyes of a deep, emerald green with gold flecks. In them he saw flashes of fire, especially when she talked about her work.
She wore a wedding ring, hed noted, but she wasnt married. Her husband had died six years ago. Maybe she wore the ring as yet more protection. Practically everything about her screamed that she was unavailable, not an object to be desired or lusted after by men.
Her strategy had the opposite effect on him. He had always been intrigued by the librarian types. Uptight clothes, glasses, frosty demeanorthose were traits that gave his libido a wake-up call. He was curious to learn more about what was beneath the shapeless clothes, and he fantasized about pulling off the glasses, mussing the neat hair.
Hell, what was he doing? Raleigh Shinn wasnt a potential lover. She was a sanctimonious lawyer who might or might not be guilty of accepting a bribe to use her influence unfairly.
Many convicts pleaded their cases to Project Justice. From what Griffin had heard, the foundation considered all of them, but took on only a very few.
Had Anthony Simonettior his wealthy, criminal fatherleapfrogged over other, more worthy cases with the help of some green incentive?
The jury was still out. Griffin had received only an anonymous tip about Raleigh, plus the copy of her bank statement left under the windshield wiper of his car. He did not yet have enough solid information to go to print, nor even enough to form his own opinion. The current facts as he knew them would not impress the network that was considering him for an anchor position on a national TV news magazine.
But the potential for an exciting story was there. Project Justice was hot news right now, and Raleighs possible criminal actions could explode in the foundations face, making for a splashy, TV-worthy, journalistic tour de force.
But first, he had to learn more. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Raleigh Shinn. Mostly, he wanted to know why she hid a hot body and a beautiful face behind that dumpy facade.
CHAPTER TWO
BUT IT HAS to be a mistake. Raleigh had been on the phone for twenty-two minutes, first on hold, then working her way up the corporate ladder of Houston Federal Bank. She was now talking to a vice president.
If it was a mistake, the condescending man said, it wasnt on our end. Now, its possible whoever made the deposit mistyped a number.
Exactly! So cant you just contact them and ask?
Im afraid not. Numbered bank accounts are numbered for a reason. Weve sent a query to the transmitting institution, but we havent yet received a reply.
If it was a mistake, the condescending man said, it wasnt on our end. Now, its possible whoever made the deposit mistyped a number.
Exactly! So cant you just contact them and ask?
Im afraid not. Numbered bank accounts are numbered for a reason. Weve sent a query to the transmitting institution, but we havent yet received a reply.
So maybe you could justsend the money back.
Thats impossible. Where would we send it?
Then put it wherever you put unclaimed funds.
Im not sure why youre so upset, Ms. Shinn. If there was an error, it will be corrected in a day or two.
She considered telling him that the twenty thousand dollars sitting in her account was causing her all kinds of trouble. Then she decided on a different strategy. If she couldnt solve the mystery of the strange deposit, maybe she could find out how Griffin got a copy of her statement.
Mr. Temple, she said, referring to the name she had jotted down. She kept detailed notes of every phone conversation. If her mother called to tell her she had a cold, Raleigh made a note and filed it.
Yes, Ms. Shinn? Is there something else I can do for you?
How secure is your online banking? I mean, how hard would it be for someone to hack into your system?
I assure you, maam, our computers are hack-proof. Every transaction uses the latest in encryption technology.
So there is absolutely no way someone could get access to my statement without my permission? What about bank personnel?
In most cases of illicit access to bank accounts, the security loophole lies with the client. Mail can be intercepted. A password can be stolen or, more often, divulged to someone who shouldnt have it.
She started to vehemently deny the problem could be on her end. She memorized her passwords, never wrote them down anywhere. But she did receive paper statements.
Very well, thank you, Mr. Temple.
My pleasure, Ms. Shinn.
She hung up, knowing little more than shed known half an hour ago.
Given what Griffin Benedict had told her, she had to view that strange deposit with new eyes. Rather than a mistake, could it be part of a plot to ruin her? If someone really had provided Griffin with that bogus tip along with the stolen bank statement, it meant she had an enemy. A powerful one who had gone to some expense to wreck her reputation.
Plenty of people did not like her. The nature of her job was confrontational. She was constantly challenging unlawful judicial proceedings, inept lawyers, negligent police investigators. When a conviction was overturned, it meant someone, somewhere, had made a mistake or worse, and she had brought it to light.
Some of her own clients didnt even like her. Few of them were shining examples of virtue.
Then there was the general public. Project Justice received hate mail all the time from people who thought the foundations mission was to let killers out on the street.
The press alternated between loving her and hating her. Shed been in the news a lot lately with the Eldon Jasperson thing.
Even her own in-laws despised her. Shed never shared a warm relationship with them: they hadnt considered her a good match for their only son. Once theyd realized they couldnt talk Jason out of the wedding, they had tolerated her. But after Jasons death, the claws had come out again.
Jasons parents had blamed her for the fatal car accident. As if she hadnt heaped enough guilt onto herself.
After his funeral, she had quickly learned of her perilous financial situation. Everything Jason had owned was in trust, controlled by his parents, and they werent inclined to give her a dime. Without him and his familys financial support, she could not continue running the law practice she and her husband had poured all of their passion into.
Their small firm of Shinn & Shinn had specialized in providing solid legal representation to those who couldnt afford to pay exorbitant legal feesand theyd never made a profit. All of their living expenses had been drawn from Jasons trust. If Project Justice hadnt come along at the right time, Raleigh would have had to accept her only other job offer, as a drone at a corporate law firm.
Raleighs stomach growled, reminding her she hadnt had lunch. Daniel kept the office kitchen stocked with all kinds of healthy goodies, but Raleigh needed fresh air. A walk around the corner to her favorite deli was in order.
As she passed through the lobby she walked on tiptoe, hoping to avoid the receptionists attention. Celeste Boggs was one of the most terrifying people Raleigh knew. She was a vigilant watchdog, could purportedly shoot the wings off a gnat at fifty yards, and was fiercely loyal to Daniel Logan. Raleigh didnt doubt the seventy-something woman would lay down her life to protect the foundation.
But Celeste was short on manners, and once she started talking she was hard to walk away from. Right now, thankfully, she appeared to be engrossed in a copy of True Romance.
Raleigh had almost reached the revolving door when Celestes screech of a voice rooted her to the spot.
Ms. Shinn? Is that you?
She turned, forcing a smile. Yes. I was just
You have to sign out. How many times do I have to tell you young people to sign in and out?
But I was just going to
Celeste extended the clipboard and pen toward Raleigh with an admonishing frown.
Fearing Celeste would give her detention if she argued further, Raleigh signed the sheet.
Ive been meaning to ask, where do you get your hair done? Celeste asked.
My hair? No one ever asked her that. I cut it myself. Thats about all I do to it, besides wash it. Raleigh didnt have time for fancy salons. So long as her hair was out of her face and reasonably neat, she was happy.
That explains it, Celeste murmured, pushing her purple glasses back onto the bridge of her nose.
Raleigh put a self-conscious hand up to her hair. Not that Celeste had a lot of room to criticize, with her wildly curly gray locks pointing every which way. But was Raleighs do that bad?
She was about to turn back toward the door when Beth McClelland, Project Justices physical evidence coordinator, rushed into the lobby, her platform shoes clattering noisily on the wood floor.
Oh, Raleigh, Im so glad I caught you.
Celeste frowned her disapproval at Beth. Ms. Shinn is officially signed out. Youll have to wait until she gets back.
Raleigh wasnt about to ignore her best friend. What is it, Beth?
Beth shook a manila envelope triumphantly in the air. I got the DNA results back on the Rhiner case, she said in a singsong voice. And I think youre going to like the resu
What part of signed out dont you understand? Celeste interrupted.
Just leave it on my desk, Raleigh said in a stage whisper to Beth. My office door is open.
Celeste tsked.
Beth looked puzzled. Are you okay? You dont look so good. I mean, normally you would be prying these DNA results out of my hands.
Raleigh brought herself back to the here and now. Beth was rightshe should be excited. So Rhiner didnt do it?
Not only that, but the FBI got a hit on their computer. New suspect. Next-door neighbor.
Girls! Celeste objected. Youre in a public place! You must discuss your sensitive information some where else.