Brutal Obsession (The Safeguard Series, Book One) (4 page)

“G
ood morning, Simpson,”
Ashlyn greeted as she walked past the security guard on duty outside the elevator access to the building from the underground garage. She’d already dropped her keys into her purse and had the straps over the shoulder of favorite black suit jacket. She was due in court within the hour and she refused to be late for pretrial discussion after what had taken place yesterday. “How are your studies coming along?”

“Finals are next month,” Simpson replied, his usual infectious smile slightly fractured due to her circumstances. Ashlyn didn’t like being the reason he was worried, but there wasn’t anything she could say that would alleviate his concerns for her. Keeping that in mind, she did her best not to show that her left foot was still quite tender. The high heels she chose this morning didn’t help, but the jurors took stock in professional appearances and she wouldn’t look anything less than the well-practiced attorney she was. “Any trouble on the way in this morning?”

“No,” Ashlyn answered gently with a shake of her head, refusing to look over her shoulder the way she had repeatedly when driving in to work this morning. It wasn’t like her to have this constant fear inside that led to making decisions she otherwise would have considered out of character. It had to stop. She dropped her purse on the conveyer belt for Greta to scan. The older woman wasn’t as friendly as Simpson was, but Ashlyn did get a nod of acknowledgement. “I’m sure Agent Coulter will have this wrapped up in no time.”

Ashlyn slipped the thick leather strap of her father’s old briefcase off her other shoulder as she put the rather large portfolio right behind her purse in its own tub. What she didn’t put down was the disposable coffee cup in her right hand. She’d stopped at her usual place to get her daily cinnamon caramel latte. She wouldn’t allow whoever was making her life hell to interfere with her already hectic pace. Changing her routine would only slow her down and her caseload wouldn’t allow for that if she were to maintain her momentum on the court’s calendar.

Agent Matthew Coulter had been assigned to her case and she’d given him all of her personal information, what little there was of it nowadays given the relentlessness of the caseload and the utter brutality of the suspects she’d been prosecuting. She’d even written down the names of those she’d faced in court, her neighbors that she never got a chance to talk to on a regular basis, the troop of doormen in her apartment building, the overtly opinionated barista who made her cinnamon caramel latte every morning, and even included the geeky pizza delivery boy who brought her a calzone two to three times a week. She didn’t lead the most exciting life when you got down into the details, but the federal agent had assured her he would do what he could to find the individual who’d been stalking her these past few months.

“Agent Coulter was already here,” Simpson revealed, motioning for Ashlyn to step forward underneath the metal detector. As usual, no alarms were sounded and she quickly started to gather up her items with her left hand. “Our shift had ended by the time he questioned the night shift late yesterday. He caught us bright and early at five o’clock this morning.”

“See?” Ashlyn inquired with a positive attitude she didn’t remotely feel. She caught sight of herself in the metal siding. Her professional appearance gave nothing away. “Agent Coulter is very good at his job. He hasn’t been jaded by the system quite yet.”

The entire federal building supporting the U.S. Attorney’s office in D.C. now knew what had been transpiring for months. The FBI field office was just next door and the Director of Personnel for the DOJ had made a personal request on her behalf. The media was currently having a field day, and while that wasn’t the approach she’d wanted to take, it was the way it played out because of the desires of the Public Affairs Office and the justice system—the same justice system she served as a federal prosecutor.

Ashlyn glanced once more at her blurred reflection in the metal side of the conveyer belt. There wasn’t a strand out of place from the way she’d secured her light brown hair into a matching clip. Her crimson colored lipstick wasn’t smeared as far as she could tell, despite the several sips of coffee she’d already taken. It was nice to see her efforts to look calm and collected this morning hadn’t been wasted.

“Have a good day,” Ashlyn called out before Simpson could ask her any more questions. She instantly felt the chill of the air-conditioned building sneak past the lining of her jacket. She’d made the right call to wear the matching black slacks instead of the skirt, seeing as it made her feel less vulnerable even with pantyhose on. Fortitude was what she needed at the moment…and a slice of bearing.

“Ashlyn, I heard what happened,” Dennis Paavo said as he held open the elevator door for her as she approached. She smiled her appreciation and then hit both of their designated floors. A few more people from her department joined them, instantly crowding the small space. She managed to stay by the control panel since she was on the second floor. “Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes, and not right now. But thank you for offering, Dennis,” Ashlyn reassured him, readjusting the straps on her shoulder while trying not to look uncomfortable. Dennis had asked her out for dinner a couple of times and she’d turned him down for various reasons. Bottom line was she just didn’t have the time to have a personal life at this stage in her career. “The proper authorities are handling the case and I’m sure it won’t be too long before it’s resolved and the threat is taken care of soon.”

“It’ll be like trying to find a specific needle in a pile of needles,” Adam said from his position in the back. He was one of the paralegals to Bishop Vance and had a penchant for office gossip and Goth clothing after hours. Ashlyn breathed a sigh of relief when the doors slid closed, hopefully shutting off anyone else’s interest in further conversation. She’d known it would be like this, which was why she’d stayed home yesterday and met with the company representative for the security system installed in her apartment that had apparently been hacked. “Think about it. There are a number of people who could have it out for you. You’ve been successfully prosecuting cases for three years at a breakneck pace.”

“As I said,” Ashlyn managed to say without offending anyone the way she truly wanted to, “the proper authorities will look into it and deal with the perpetrator. We all know it’s business as usual for any prosecutor. Oh, and Adam?”

Ashlyn breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator doors slid open and she was able to step right out, only turning to get one thought across before they closed.

“Please tell Bishop to stop. He’s not poaching Mia from my team.”

Ashlyn didn’t miss the look of surprise that ran across Adam’s face, or the smirk Dennis was currently sporting. Bishop Vance wasn’t very well liked and neither was his team of vultures pecking at the edges of the more vulnerable team members. Their methods left a lot to be desired and most of the assistants kept their distance. Maybe having one of his pack of paralegal minions notify him that his backdoor dealings weren’t quite so concealed as he’d imagined would give him pause. If not, she could always subtly mention his recent office ethics violation in their next department meeting and air his dirty laundry in public…not that anyone of the lead prosecutors still thought of him as any kind of angel.

“You have fifty-two minutes to be back downstairs,” Gina announced as Ashlyn managed to finally make it to her destination. She gave a wave to her team of hard-charging go-getters, all four of them already at their desks buried within the maze of cubicles swilling coffee. She acknowledged them before walking into her office to set her stuff down next to her desk. “Chief Garner wants to meet with you beforehand, Victor Wright is sending over an IT technician to review your desktop computer, Mia and Parker are currently up on the schedule to go with you to court today, and Mr. Rutledge would like to confer with you on the Haung case before he schedules depositions for next week.”

“Chief Garner will have to wait until I’m back from court this afternoon. I need to confer with my witness one more time before he goes on the stand today, which means I’m leaving here in the next five minutes for conference room 5B downstairs.” Ashlyn set down her coffee and then rummaged through her purse for her phone. She could already see the list of missed messages, but she had a time constraint this morning. She switched her cell phone to silent before sliding it into the back pocket of the leather portfolio. It wouldn’t do to have it ring during court. The very sight of a cellular device inside a federal courtroom could send some judges into the stratosphere. She’d even heard that Judge Randolph had crushed Bishop’s iPhone with his gavel in open court. “Call Victor and tell him I’d like to see him around five o’clock today. I want Parker to stay in my office with the technician, especially since Agent Coulter is having his own specialist confirm that nothing has been disturbed on my work computers. Parker has the most computer knowledge on the team and I don’t want anything botched at this point. If even one of my working files goes missing, I’ll have Victor’s entire department crucified. Oh, and try to schedule Rutledge in tomorrow before lunch.”

Ashlyn had spent the time looking at the other message slips on her desk in reference to incoming phone traffic, deeming them relatively unimportant…at least for the timeframe of her pending appearance. There wasn’t anything of urgency that couldn’t wait until the end of the week, maybe even late tomorrow. She picked up her briefcase and her coffee before heading for the door. She barely managed not to appear irritated at the man who currently stood at the threshold.

Jarod Garner was the Chief of the Criminal Division that oversaw her department, as well as many others, and he was in fact very good at his job of supervising the administration of the division. That didn’t mean she could just drop whatever she was doing to speak with him regarding the very topic he’d dismissed out of hand three months ago.

Unfortunately, those in Ashlyn’s line of work had their fair share of threats and intimidations from those on the opposite side of the law. She was lucky to get through any given week without some corrupt criminal defendant threatening to kill her in some depraved way.

The majority of emails, letters, and various packages sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Building in D.C. addressed to federal prosecutors were vetted through a jointly operated U.S. Government/Postal Service facility which specialized in detecting all manner of threats. Ninety-nine percent of the mail—including all kinds of packages—were discerned to be nonthreatening and distributed through a secure service to the mailroom in the basement of the building.

It was only when some letter or parcel was detected and proved to be a risk through a battery of determining methods that the item was rendered hazardous and the FBI was called in to take a closer look. The FBI always took lead because delivering a threat, either materially or by unlawful communication, through the U.S. Postal Service was a federal crime and one her office would prosecute once the FBI made the case.

“I don’t have time right now, sir,” Ashlyn said, managing to look pointedly at her silver watch without spilling her latte. “I’m due in court. I told Gina to contact your office. I should be back around five o’clock.”

“We need to talk,” Jarod advised in a concerned tone that made Ashlyn even more on edge than she already was. His usual air of confidence seemed slightly rattled, but he gave nothing away. His navy blue suit didn’t have a bit of lint on the fabric and there wasn’t a strand out of place of his black hair that was peppered with grey. It was something in his mannerisms that told her he was tense. “Five o’clock. No later. And you don’t leave for any reason beforehand.”

Ashlyn almost called Jarod back into her office, but then decided against it. Had there been an immediate threat of life and death, he wouldn’t be waiting until later this afternoon to talk to her. She started toward the door before being held up once more.

“Morning, Ms. Ellis,” Paul acknowledged, a small black bag of tools in his hand. He was one of the better IT technicians who came calling whenever there was an issue with the network and tended to stay too long at Gina’s desk. “Victor sent me down to take a look at your computer. He wants—”

“It’s okay, Paul,” Ashlyn answered, trying not to sound too abrupt. She figured she had less than fifty minutes now, where she would then be en route for the Federal Courts via the secure shuttle service. She still needed time to address her team and meet with her witness. “Please give Parker the report on whatever you find, so that he can forward it on to Special Agent Coulter.”

“Of course,” Paul replied as he stepped aside to let her pass by. Gina stayed behind to talk to him, giving Ashlyn the distraction she needed to finally escape the magnetic pull of her office. “I need…”

Ashlyn finally made it to the front entrance of the cubicles. Her team consisted of four paralegals; all of whom she’d handpicked herself. The talent standing before her—Mia Hernandez, Parker Davis, Aiden Younger, and Reed Foster—was astounding. Now she had to give them an update and also a briefing on what today held for them.

“Parker, I hate to do this to you again,” Ashlyn said honestly, but having no other choice but to leave him behind. “I need you to stay here.”

Ashlyn took five minutes she didn’t have and gave additional details of what had transpired over the course of yesterday. Gina would keep them apprised, but Parker needed to understand why she requested he stay behind. It wasn’t long before Mia and Aiden fell into step with her as they proceeded to the lobby. Reed stayed behind to plow through some preceding case law that had similar attributes and might provide some precedence that might be able to help during closing arguments, if not provide her with a motion for the case to force the court’s hand.

“Do you need to switch shoes?” Mia asked once they were inside the elevator.

“Is it that obvious?” Ashlyn asked, raising an eyebrow in question. She leaned back against the laminate wood to catch her breath. This was the chaotic atmosphere she usually thrived in and all she could think of was that she would love to be back in her office with the door shut to keep away everything and everyone. She didn’t have that luxury, just as she couldn’t afford for anyone to see a weakness. She exhaled and then straightened away from the wall right before the doors slid open. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine. Let’s get this day started.”