Annalise thought about last night for hours before she fell asleep and again this morning. Now, she had to put it out of her mind for this unpleasant task. She’d taken off a few hours from TJP to visit with their victim in the religious abuse case.
She and Mitch drove down a narrow street on the west side of Washington. The road was bumpy and the buildings’ paint peeled off most houses. She spotted Palermo’s Groceries. “They live above the store.”
“Yes, you told me.” Quiet. “You all right?”
“Of course. Despite how distasteful this case is.” And despite what she’d done last night. Holy Lord, they’d fucked up.
After parking nearby, she and Mitch exited his car, walked a few feet and pulled open the front door. A bald man wearing an apron stood behind the counter. He glanced up at them. “Hello.”
“Mr. Palermo, I’m Annalise Manwaring and this is Mitch McCullen.”
His expression turned dark. Angry. “Come to the back with me.”
Down the aisle and into the office, they found a woman and girl waiting in straight-backed chairs. “They’re here, Mama.”
Introductions were made. “I’ll be out front,” Mr. Palermo said. “Patrice will stay.”
Two more seats had been set out. Mitch waited until Annalise sat. “Rose, I can leave, too, if you want to talk with the women. I’m representing you, so I’d need to tape your conversation.”
“Papa told me I could do that.” Rose looked at him with soulful brown eyes. She was a beauty with long dark hair down to her waist. “It’s okay. Mama said I’ll have to talk in front of men anyway.”
He sat and turned on his recorder.
Annalise tried to put the girl at ease. “Rose, last week we visited a victim who was assaulted at a religious camp, too, when she was nearly the same age as you. She’s married with two kids and is living a fine life. After we talk, you can call her if you want.”
“She’s…she’s happy?” Her face blanked as if the news was shocking to her.
“Very. I know you don’t think you’ll ever feel good again, but you will. Especially if the criminals are brought to justice. And make no mistake, the man who hurt you and anyone who covered it up are criminals.”
Rose nodded.
“So, can you describe what happened?”
She swallowed hard. “I went to the camp because my church recommended it. Papa had to save a lot for the fees. Things were normal the first two days. Then on the third…”
Rose gave them a similar description of the abuse as Cara Hamlin had experienced.
“Do you know if it happened to other girls?”
“Uh-huh. But we said we wouldn’t tell anybody.”
“You did, though.”
She smiled at her mother lovingly. “Mama and Papa knew something was wrong right away. I…couldn’t get out of bed the morning after I came home.”
Annalise’s throat clogged. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“They both said I had to tell.”
“I’m glad you spoke up.” Mitch’s voice was full of restrained anger. “A suit against him will keep him from hurting other girls like you.”
“She’s a nice Christian girl.” Anger flamed in Patrice’s formerly sad eyes. “Someone has to stop them.”
“That’s how Cara felt, too,” Annalise said in a soothing voice. “And the leaders were arrested.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Patrice seemed mollified.
“This is the procedure.” Annalise took a prepared sheet of paper that listed the exact events that would occur and watched as Rose and her mother read the timeline.
The Domestic Abuse and Violence Detective in her precinct would come to the house. She’d take Rose’s statement and the police in the camp’s district would go to the leader’s residence and arrest him. He’d get a lawyer, be out on bail, then the depositions would be taken remotely.
“We’ll be with you when you give your deposition. The lawyer will ask you intimate questions. You’ll tell him exactly what you told us.”
“Okay.”
“Do you think you can name the other girls?” Mitch asked.
“I…can’t.”
Patrice said firmly, “I’ll talk to their mothers. That would be the easiest way.”
“But if they refuse, we’ll act alone,” Mitch put in again.
“I thought that would happen anyway. But it’d be nice if the other girls talked.”
“They might, honey.” Her mother took her hand, making Annalise think of her own mother who’d always been there for her. “They’re members of the church.”
Mitch and Annalise exchanged looks, then stood.
“We’ll schedule the deposition and we’ll be with you Rose, all the time.”
“Thank you.”
When Mitch and Annalise got back into the car, Mitch said, “Sweet Lord, could this be anymore disgusting?”
“I felt the same way after talking to Cara. It’s a terrible world in a lot of ways.”
“Which is why we do this, kiddo. No matter how hard it is.”
* * *
What an idiot he was! He’d gone to Annalise’s house last night loaded for bear, not even admitting his jealousy over Adam Crenshaw. Even Nate and Mitch. And he’d kissed her. A full-bodied, intimate, claiming kiss. She’d claimed back. Now, sitting at his desk, he berated his actions. Luckily, she’d taken time off this morning, so he didn’t have to face her yet. He tried to concentrate on his work.
A bit later, he heard, “Luke?”
She’d come to the door. Her face was drawn, her shoulders stiff. And her bloodshot eyes told him she hadn’t slept well. “Hi.”
“Hard morning?” he asked.
“We met with the victim of our pro bono case.”
“Nasty stuff, huh?”
“Worse than I can describe. And it was after a sleepless night.” Standing in the middle of the office, Annalise sighed. “Hell, Luke.”
“Yeah, hell.”
She walked closer to his desk. “Is there anything we can do? About us?”
Don’t tempt me. “We said we’d forget it. What happened last night can’t happen again.” Though he wanted her more than he could remember wanting anything in the recent past.
“I suppose we can try to go on with our relationship as if last night didn’t happen.”
He leaned back in his chair. Frustrated, he asked, “Do you have any other options?”
Her brows arched. “We could have a secret, scathing affair.”
“That’s not who we are.”
“I know it isn’t. And besides, those things never stay secret.”
“We’ll be fine. If we didn’t have strength of character, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in life.”
“I suppose I’ve done harder things.”
“You have.”
She checked the clock. “We have a meeting with the whole team in fifteen minutes.”
“I need to check my email. We’ll head down in ten.”
Annalise sat at her desk. He called up his messages. “Oh, great. Just great.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“Jake Peters, the congressman from Maryland, who was at your party, has been accused of sexual misconduct.”
Her eyes widened.
He clicked into his browser. An article came up on a popular news site. “Representative Jacob Peters has been accused of sexual misconduct with longtime aid, Marla Livingston. No further details are available.”
“I know Marla. She was a young staffer on my father’s bid for State Senator. I think she had some subsequent jobs with him, but obviously I didn’t keep track of all the people who worked for him.”
“TJP supported Peters. We were instrumental in getting him elected.” His gaze narrowed. “Perfect timing, right?”
“In some ways. It’s a sign, isn’t it? For us not to…you know.”
The you know blew up his mind with all sorts of scenarios. The softness of her skin as he ran his hand over her arm, her breast full and heavy in his hand. How she moaned when he touched her. And most of all, the passion he’d let loose in her.
“Yeah. It’s a fucking sign.”
* * *
Annalise sat in the meeting of TJP employees, a bit stunned. Not at the accusation of a congressman behaving unethically, but that she and Luke had just dodged that bullet.
Harold sat at the front of the room, his face somber. Next to him, Clarke was equally serious. Harold said, “I assume you all received the memo about our guy, Congressman Peters. Assuming he’s innocent before proven guilty, we have to keep an open mind.”
Somebody snorted.
Harold’s jaw tightened. “William, do you have something to say?”
Will Trenton was an up-and-coming member of TJP whose job was the same as hers and Luke’s. His dark good looks and his smooth way of talking needled her, though. “Yep. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. We have to tread carefully here. My people still make campaign ads for him.”
“I don’t exactly agree with your truism, but yes, we have to be circumspect.”
“And cancel future ads, right?” Will asked.
“Not necessarily. We’ll wait to see his statement.”
“Well, I’m not working on anything for him.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look, I might want to run for office someday. I’m not going to taint my reputation for some lech who can’t keep his—”
Clarke interrupted, “Please don’t finish that sentence.”
The guy smirked.
“And,” Clarke went on, “If you no longer want to fulfill what you’re assigned—in your case, who you asked to work on—you don’t have to remain on staff. But you’re a good worker, Will, and I’d hate to lose you.”
That silenced everybody.
Finally, Harold spoke again. “Now for reports on each committee. Let’s take one of the newest ones, Pittsburg’s 204th district. Luke, how much progress have you made?”
Annalise focused on their report until Luke finished. But she tuned out the others. She kept thinking of the mistake she and Luke almost made last night. It gave her more strength to do the right thing. Luke glanced over at her. She read the same thought on his face.
* * *
As they left the conference room shoulder to shoulder, they were silent, both sensing the other’s consensus to avoid any physical contact. Halfway to their office, Luke heard behind them, “Hey, Annalise. Wait up.”
She stopped and so did Luke. Nate Newsom caught up with them. Just what they needed. “Hi, both of you.”
“Hey, Nate.” She didn’t seem as enthused with him as the last time.
Luke nodded. “Newsom.”
The guy focused on Annalise. He was medium height with light brown curly hair and a boyish face. “I wondered if you’d like to have dinner tonight with me. The atmosphere here is oppressive, understandably so. We can go to our spot.”
“Your spot?” Luke asked, unable to control his response.
“Annalise and I used to hang out at this little bistro on K Street.”
“Go for it.” He walked away.
Back at his desk, he pushed them out of his mind. Despite the fact that she already had a date. After what they shared!
She came right back to the office. Closed the door. “Luke, about Nate.”
“We’re not talking about all this again.”
But by five, he couldn’t take her presence any more. Somehow today, her perfume permeated the office. He threw back his chair. “I need some space,” he growled as he walked past her desk.
“Luke please!”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And he walked out on her.
* * *
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, darling.” Karen Masters hesitated. “What’s going on, sweetheart?”
She’d bitten her lip, an indicator she was upset. She hoped she didn’t cry. She shouldn’t have made this a video call, but it was the next best thing to being with her mother. “Everything’s wrong today.”
“I saw the news about Jake Peters. Honestly, how many congressmen are going to do this kind of thing before there are repercussions?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I am upset by that because TJP took him on as a client, done ads for him.”
Her mom waited. She knew Annalise so well.
“But other things are happening, too.”
“Tell me.”
“Just a sec. I want to lock the door.” She got up and did the task. “I didn’t want anyone to walk into my office.”
“So, tell me.”
Annalise said, “I’m angry at myself.”
“Why? Is it your coworker again? I thought you were getting along better.” She’d filled her mother in on Luke’s objection to her working at TJP. But she hadn’t told her about the trip to Pittsburg.
She took in a heavy breath. “It is Luke. But there are some things you don’t know.”
“Go ahead.”
“We got close after our trip to Pittsburg to interview our candidate.”
“Close? How?”
“We shared some personal stuff I can’t go into for the sake of his privacy.”
“Ah. But still, that’s all right.”
“Last night wasn’t. He came over to my condo. He was mad that a campaign ad guy flirted with me. About my relationships with Mitch. And Nate.”
A knowing glint in her mom’s violet eyes. “So he was jealous. What happened?”
“We kissed, but it…it was exciting and sexy and so good. Oh, Mom, I participated, I encouraged the intimacies.”
“Do you have feelings for him or was it a lark?”
“I care about him. And last night was pretty intense.”
“Well, there are options.”
“We picked the only one we could. To forget what we did. Then this thing with Peters happened, reinforcing what a big mistake we made.”
“You do have to protect your reputation. I know you want to follow in Dad’s footsteps.”
“All that’s true. And Luke can’t have rumors about having a fling with his coworker. So, we made the right decision.”
“You sound so sad. I’m sorry. I wish there were better alternatives.”
She sniffled. “I feel lighter already. But could we talk a bit more about other things. Being with you makes me feel better.”
“What a wonderful thing to say, darling.” She smiled. “I love the suit you have on…”