CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Porter Raleigh was scowling and cleaning his glasses. Carmen was nearly shouting, her face red.

“How far up your butt is your head, Nora? The point is not that this isn’t potentially important evidence. The point is that you are now in the goddamn custody chain. If we ever want to use these files to defend you, we will probably need you to testify that you got them from Tracey what’s-her-name and brought them here to review with Benny. You will be forced to testify at your own trial, if it comes to that, God forbid. That’s why I’m so upset. I just wish Benny had gone to Tracey’s apartment to get them to establish a chain of custody without you in the middle of it.”

Nora studied the kitchen table. “You’re right, Carmen. I should’ve talked to you before going to Tracey’s place—Tracey Stein, by the way—but there was no chance she was going to give them to anyone but me. So I made the decision in the moment. And if I’m charged and if these files are useful evidence and if the prosecution won’t stipulate they were Helen’s, then I’ll have to testify.”

Raleigh cleared his throat. “And then there’s the not-so-small issue of whether the State’s Attorney is going to see this as some kind of obstruction because we removed evidence—”

“We didn’t remove evidence, Porter,” Nora interrupted, lifting her head. “Tracey Stein did.”

“—accepted evidence that had been removed from the victim’s office,” Raleigh amended.

Carmen seemed less angry now. “Although the evidence is likely exculpatory, Porter, and we’ll definitely figure out a way to share it with the state at some point.”

Raleigh cleared his throat in reply. “Fair, fair,” he said. “I just hate to be vulnerable to procedural claims like this, especially when I’m going to roll boulders down the hill at the State’s Attorney to keep her from moving against Nora. Through forty years of practice, I’ve tried to avoid putting myself in that kind of position and don’t like the idea of being professionally tarnished by a client’s poor judgment.”

The kitchen was awkwardly quiet before Carmen finally spoke. “Okay, I think we’ve flogged Nora, and this topic, enough for now. She understands that she’s the client and should not be investigating, at least not without a member of this team with her at all times.”

There were nods all around the table before Carmen continued. “And are we clear on next steps? Benny, you’re going to interview Tracey and lock down the movement of these files. And you’re also going to track down this private investigator Jatinder Singh and the mysterious funeral visitor, Brad Holtzer. You’re also going to see if you can catch up with the chief security officer, Laslo Reiner, off campus to see what he knows. Porter’s paralegal is taking Helen’s files to his office, where they will stay for now, and he’ll return a copy of the files for use here. Meantime, tomorrow morning, Porter and I are taking Nora down to donate hair and blood to the Westport PD.”

For reasons he couldn’t explain, blind people made Benny uncomfortable. “Don’t like it when I can’t tell what somebody facing me is seeing,” he told Nora before leaving for his interview with Tracey. “That’s why I always make shitheads take off their sunglasses during an interview.”

Nora smiled. “Well, for starters, she’s no shithead. And Tracey’s what they call ‘legally blind’—she can see shapes and, if she holds a text up to her face, she can make out letters and read. She uses a magnifying screen at work.”

“Then I guess she ain’t actually blind,” Benny responded. “So is there a thing like ‘hard of seeing’—like what they say about people who don’t hear so good?”

“I don’t know, actually, Benny,” Nora had said, “and I hope to God you manage not to talk about this with her.”

Now Benny was sitting on Tracey’s couch after following her gesture toward the living room furniture and declining her offer of a glass of water. Tracey stepped smoothly around an ottoman and settled gracefully in an armchair facing him. There was an awkward pause before Benny broke the silence. “So you full-on blind, or what?”

Tracey smiled. “I’m not sure that’s even a thing, but it’s not what I am. I was born with twenty-twenty, but got too close to a bomb in Iraq. Shrapnel damaged my eyes. The docs say I’m lucky they could save them, but my vision’s been severely impaired ever since. Although I can see enough to do my job.”

“Right. Thanks for that and for your service. No offense intended,” Benny mumbled.

“Absolutely none taken,” Tracey said pleasantly. “I don’t mind your directness. So tell me how I can help.”

“Can you walk me through how you got the files you gave Nora and how you handled them?”

“Of course.”

When Tracey finished repeating the story she told Nora, Benny followed up. “Tell me more about the thickness of these files. You said one was a lot thinner than the others?”

“Yes, the one with Nora’s name on it. As I said, I lifted each one so I could get up close to the file tab—that’s how I read text—and I remember hers was skinny in a way none of the others were.”

“See that’s the thing, Tracey, all but two of them are really thick files, and those two are noticeably thinner than the others, at least they are now. What do you make of that?”

“Well, I suppose I could have missed it. If a second one was thin, I suppose I could have accidentally lifted it together with a thick file. I don’t remember doing that, but I wouldn’t have noticed if I lifted them at the same time. So I guess my answer is that I didn’t see a second thin file, but there could have been another. I didn’t notice any names missing, but you have to understand that this was a bad time—right after Helen.”

The room was quiet before Tracey spoke again. “Did I make a mistake? Is that a problem?”

“No, no, not at all. Really doesn’t matter much, but the lawyers wanted me to follow up. Lemme ask you this: anybody have access to the files between the time you got them out of Helen’s office and when you gave them to Nora?”

“Only Rob, although I don’t know if he actually went through them. I left the backpack with the files in his office when I told him about them. He said he would think about it. Not more than an hour later, he came to my cubicle and returned the backpack. He said they should go to Nora and I should make sure nobody else sees them. That’s when I took them home. So ‘maybe’ is my best answer. But I can’t say for sure.”

“Okay, Tracey,” Benny said, “that’s really helpful.”

“Hopefully I didn’t screw something up.”

“Not even a little bit. I appreciate your time. And, again, I meant no offense about the blind stuff. I’m sorry that happened to you. Really sucks.”

Tracey rose with him and extended her hand. “No offense at all, as I said. And three people in my squad didn’t come home from that day, so I’m actually pretty lucky, if you think about it.”

Benny shook her hand. “Honor to meet somebody like you and I’ll show myself out.”

Tracey laughed at his awkwardness as she stepped in front to lead him to the door. “Nice of you, but I can navigate my own house with my eyes closed, as they say.”

When Benny didn’t answer, Tracey added, “Sight humor never gets old, no matter how many times you don’t see it.”

Benny rushed through the door, calling over his shoulder. “Again, grateful for your time. Lemme know if you need anything.”