Page 92 of Grave Danger
“I can deal with ‘shocking.’ What makes me uncomfortable is that someone could look at this objectively and say it played straight to the worst stereotypes of ‘the abusive Muslim man.’”
“The key witness against Farid was his own daughter, Jack. I hardly think Yasmin is Islamophobic.”
“I’m talking about the way the judge reacted. Arguably,overreacted. Shutting things down immediately and ruling from the bench.”
“You think the judge is Islamophobic?”
“I don’t know. You don’t have to be an outright bigot to have prejudices. He wouldn’t be the first.”
Andie walked over to the coffee table and added the gift from Righley to Yasmin’s stack.
“I hope you’re wrong,” she said. “But if it’s any consolation, there’s someone else in the room who has every reason to celebrate but doesn’t feel like it.”
She was clearly talking about herself, but Jack was still confused. “Celebrate what?”
“I applied to the international corruption squad here in Miami. I got it.”
Jack was familiar with the squad, which had put one of his former clients in federal prison. “Well, that’s great news. But now I feel like a schmuck of a husband.”
“Why?”
“I should have been supporting you all this time. But honestly, I guess I just forgot you’d even applied.”
“You didn’t forget. I didn’t tell you.”
Jack didn’t quite comprehend. “You didn’t tell me? Andie, this is a huge step. It means moving on from your undercover work.”
“That’s kind of why I didn’t tell you.”
“I don’t understand.”
She stepped a little closer, lowering her voice. “This was when things were pretty shaky between us. I spoke to the marriage counselor about it, and she agreed. Undercover work requires time away from family for extended periods. That’s not the best gig for a single mother.”
Jack took a moment, but there was no way to read a happy Jack-and-Andie ending into her words. “But she would still have me, and we would be equal parents.”
“But what if we weren’t in the same city? Would you want her pulled out of school for weeks at a time?”
Jack was still trying to comprehend. “Let’s get out of the weeds and go back to the beginning. So, you went into marriage counseling thinking you were going to come out a single mother?”
“Jack, please. I wasn’t being pessimistic. I was being...”
“Realistic?”
“I was going to say ‘practical.’ Jack, like I said, things were at a low point then. We’re better now.”
“I guess I didn’t know how bad things were.”
“But we’re better now, right?”
“Uh, yeah,” he said without heart. “Better.”
Zahra’s doorbell rang. Jack was standing just a few feet away from the front door. Zahra was in the family room trying to fasten birthday hats on a dozen overexcited girls who appeared to be incapable of standing still.
“Jack, could you get that, please?” Zahra called from across the room.
Jack answered the door. The man on the porch was dressed in street clothes but flashed a badge with his photograph on it. He had court papers with him.
“Are you a process server?” Jack asked.