Page 24 of Grave Danger
She dug her car keys from her purse and rose from the chair. “My answer would be, ‘Don’t ask me that question.’”
Their eyes locked a moment—nothing confrontational, just an understanding between the two of them. Jack laid his notepad aside, choosing not to write anything down.
“Fair enough,” he said, rising. “I’ll walk you out to your car.”
Chapter 8
Jack got home very late Monday night. He opened the front door quietly, praying not to set off the alarm and wake Andie, Righley, and the entire neighborhood. The living room was dark, save for the amber glow of the streetlight through the picture window. Their vintage 1950s house had its share of creaky old floorboards, but Jack knew the exact location of each one. Slowly, like a soldier through a minefield, he started across the room, careful not to step on the wrong plank.
“Jack?”
The unexpected voice in the darkness nearly stopped Jack’s heart. “Andie?”
She was a silhouette on the couch, wearing her robe and slippers. Their golden retriever was asleep at her feet, too old now to run to the door and greet him the way he used to, back in the day when poor Max must have thought that every time Jack walked out the door he was planning never to return. Jack wasn’t sure why Andie had waited up, but her next words were the four most ominous in any relationship.
“We need to talk,” she said.
Jack caught his breath and took a seat beside her on the couch. “Now?”
“No, I waited up to tell you we need to talk tomorrow.”
“Good point.”
She repositioned herself on the couch, putting enough distance between them to face Jack as she spoke. “We agreed that you would cut back on your criminal caseload.”
“If this is about Zahra Bazzi, that’s not a criminal case.”
Andie sighed. “Yes, which is like saying oral sex is not sex. I was called into a videoconference this morning with the State Department.”
“About my case?”
“About your case and Zahra’s sister, Ava. They told me they had the same meeting with you, so don’t play dumb.”
Jack connected the dots. “They want you to make sure I don’t make my case about the disappearance of Ava Bazzi. Is that it?”
“Okay, before you get up on your ‘This is America’ soapbox, just calm down and listen to me. I’m not going to tell you how to try your case. I would never do that, any more than you would tell me how to conduct an FBI investigation.”
Jack was feeling a little better. “Thank you.” He reached for her hand, but she pulled away.
“I’m not finished.”
“I’m listening,” said Jack.
“A marriage between an FBI agent and a criminal defense lawyer isn’t easy.”
“No marriage is easy.”
“Right. But we agreed in our last session with Dr. Stanger that living our professional lives in information silos, unable to talk to one another about our jobs like a normal husband and wife, wasn’t good for our marriage.”
“Which is why we agreed to relax the Rule.”
“We also agreed that you would shift more toward civil cases, away from criminal. But then right out of the starting block, you take on a high-profile civil case that puts you opposite the US State Department.”
“Like I said, this is not a criminal case.”
“It’s worse. Unlike any criminal case you’ve ever had, it puts me right in the middle, between you and the US government.”
“Are you asking me to drop the case?”