A Score to Settle (22 page)

The actions she and Daniel had taken to free Christopher Gables had opened a pretty big can of worms. It had taken a lot of explaining, a lot of interviews. Evidence was checked and cross-checked, stories compared.

In the end, the Houston police and the Harris County district attorney’s office had both grudgingly agreed they had made a mistake in sending Christopher Gables to prison. Claude Morel had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of felony assault.

Christopher Gables had been released from prison. Although Jamie hadn’t talked to him, he had sent her a polite note, through his new attorney, thanking her for her role in his exoneration.

Project Justice had received another round of praise from the media and from various government officials, from the Houston mayor to the president of the United States, and donations for the important work Project Justice did rolled in. Daniel had started coming into work at the office three days a week.

It had taken Jillian exactly forty-eight hours to realize Daniel wasn’t going to come crawling back, begging for her to resume her position as his assistant and/or his girlfriend, lover or wife. A penitent, subdued Jillian had asked Daniel for a second chance, doing whatever job he thought she would be good at. He’d offered her a couple of administrative positions at both Project Justice and Logan Oil. In the end she had surprised everyone by asking if she could be an intern at Project Justice, learning to investigate from the ground up.

Daniel had agreed to give it a try.

Jillian had also personally apologized to Jamie for her attitude. She admitted she was wrong about Jamie, and hoped they could someday be friends. Jamie, too happy with Daniel to bear a grudge, had told her all was forgiven.

Everyone in Daniel’s circle, both his household staff and his employees, had seemed thrilled by the news of Daniel’s engagement. The women, especially, had circled around Jamie, asking if she wanted help planning the wedding and in general trying to make her feel as welcome as possible. They all made it a point to say that her former—and possibly future—occupation didn’t bother them.

Now here they all were, gathered around her and Daniel to show their support.

Daniel checked his watch. “It’s about that time. Are you nervous?”

“Terrified.”

“Me, too.”

Daniel still didn’t like crowds or closed-in spaces, and she couldn’t get him inside a shopping mall. But he’d made remarkable progress since deciding to take back control of his life.

“What if they throw rotten tomatoes?” she asked.

“We’ll duck.”

At the appointed time, Daniel stepped up to the microphone. “Good morning, and thank you all for coming. I’m Daniel Logan, and this is former Assistant District Attorney Jamie McNair. We called you here to address a number of issues.

“A lot of rumors have been flying around since the arrest of Claude Morel. You’ve had to rely on often conflicting and confusing police reports as well as a lot of ‘unnamed sources close to the story’ who frankly didn’t know what they were talking about.

“So here’s the skinny. Ms. McNair and I cooperated in the investigation that led to Morel’s arrest and the overturn of Christopher Gables’s conviction. Jamie was dismissed from the district attorney’s staff as a result of philosophical differences over this case.

“Yes, Jamie and I both sustained minor injuries when we… When I made the unwise decision to confront a man who was cornered and desperate. But as you can plainly see, neither of us is in a coma on life support, neither of us has brain damage and Jamie still has both of her arms.”

The crowd laughed a bit. Daniel was making reference to a couple of tabloid stories showing badly doctored photos of Jamie with only one arm, and Daniel in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines.

“How did you figure out Claude was the murderer?” one of the reporters shouted out.

“We can’t comment on that—it’s an ongoing investigation. In fact, we’ve told you pretty much all we can on that subject. So let’s move on. Jamie has something she’d like to say.”

Jamie stepped up to the podium.

“Good morning. The events of the last few weeks have brought home to me a few truths about crime and punishment—namely, things may not always be what they appear, and sometimes there are no right answers. As an assistant district attorney I wielded a lot of power. I had the ability to save lives by putting murderers behind bars and to ruin lives if I put the wrong person in prison.

“No one is immune to mistakes. Not cops, not judges and certainly not district attorneys. As you know, Harris County District Attorney Winston Chubb has announced he will leave office in May, before his term is up. There will be a special election held to fill the vacancy. This morning, I am announcing my candidacy. If elected, what I will bring to the office is an open mind. A commitment to looking for the right answers, even when they’re not easy. A willingness to admit mistakes when they’re made, and correct them.

“I’ll have more specifics about my platform in the coming days and weeks. But right now, I’d like to change the subject one more time. Daniel?”

Daniel took the microphone again. “Rumors have been swirling for weeks now about the supposed relationship between myself and Jamie McNair. I want to be very clear about this. The rumors are absolutely…true. We are, in fact, engaged to be married.”

Jamie was ready to step down. They had agreed that they wouldn’t give out any details about their approaching nuptials.

But Daniel kept talking.

“I’m sure some of you think it’s odd, that we’re on different sides of the fence and how could that work? We’ll keep each other on our toes, that’s for sure. But I just want you to know, Jamie is the most wonderful thing to come into my life. She is passionate about her work, but she is filled with compassion, as well. I believe those qualities will serve her well—as district attorney, and as my wife.

“To you naysayers, I will add that I love this woman more than life itself. Love can overcome an awful lot. I’m living proof.”

He hugged her and she hugged him back, heedless of how mushy they looked.

“Damn it, Daniel,” she whispered in his ear, “you’re making my mascara run in front of the TV cameras.”

“You’ll thank me later,” he whispered back. “Listen to that applause. I just got you elected.”

Maybe she’d win the election, maybe she wouldn’t. It didn’t matter. With Daniel at her side, she was already a winner.

A SCORE TO SETTLE

Copyright © 2011 by Karen Leabo

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