Ashlyn felt as though she had had a good night's sleep for the first time in a long while. After a quick shower, she went straight to her office. She checked her cell phone for emails while getting a coffee from the office kitchen. Tracy Payne had written to her asking if everything had worked out with Garner and what would happen next. Ashlyn set an alarm on her phone to remind her to call the journalist back later that day. She slumped into her desk chair two minutes later and dialed Maggie's cell phone. She wanted to catch up before meeting with Dominic and see if her mother had any good ideas.
Maggie answered the call after only the second ring. "Ashlyn, I'm glad you called. I already heard from my friend that your client has been well received," the redhead got straight to the point.
"Yes, he is," Ashlyn replied, frowning a little. "And thank you again for supporting us."
"I'm happy to help. The poor guy has undoubtedly been through enough, so I'm glad I can at least help a little. How else is it going in this case?"
"To be honest, not very well. I met with Micaela Barboza. Unfortunately, she only received a little information from a colleague who worked on the case then. There was even a preliminary investigation, but it was dropped."
"Statute of limitations?" Maggie asked after a few seconds.
"Exactly."
"And, of course, there are no more files, I assume, so you have nothing in your hands," Maggie murmured.
"Nothing at all; that's exactly how it is. I was hoping you had an idea of who could help us there. I'm mainly interested in the names of those responsible back then. Someone who might have an increased interest today in keeping this from coming to light."
Maggie thought for a moment before turning back to her daughter. "I might have something. I told you about how I heard about the Granther experiment and Booker at a lecture back then. Your Aunt Kate gave that lecture. Maybe she still has some of the documents from back then, or perhaps she still has contacts with whom she can put us in touch. I could look into it."
Ashley's eyebrows shot up, and she pricked up her ears. She hadn't thought of that at all. "That's an excellent idea; you would be helping us a lot."
"I'd be happy to. But I can't promise anything. Maybe she doesn't even have time to come to Boston. Just give me a few days, and I'll get back to you."
"Absolutely, and thank you so much, Mom," Ashlyn replied, ending the call. She looked at her smartwatch. It was high time if she wanted to be on time for breakfast with Dominic.
xxx
As on every day of the week, Café Benedict, which offered excellent breakfast all day, was packed to capacity today. The walls were partially exposed, revealing the old brickwork below. The dark floorboards provided an exciting contrast to the light-colored walls decorated with plants.
To Ashlyn's surprise, Dominic was already there and had even managed to organize a table in a niche where they could talk to each other with some privacy.
Satisfied, she sat on the simple wooden chair and looked at her best friend. "Did you fall out of bed?", she greeted Dominic, who grimaced weightily and then greeted Ashlyn with his usual good humor.
"Not only that, Ash, I've already been extremely active today."
Ashlyn pricked up her ears. 'Well, let's hear about it then.'
"In a minute," Dominic replied. But first, I need a coffee and something to eat!" He waved one of the young waitresses over to their table, and they ordered two double espressos and two bacon-lettuce-tomato and gouda omelets.
"Well, get started then," the lawyer said, looking expectantly at Dominic.
"So, I've got some interesting information on the Leon case."
Ashlyn looked up in surprise. She hadn't expected that because she was focused entirely on the Tim Garner case. She felt a sudden pang of guilt that she had utterly lost sight of it but was excited to hear what Dominic had to report.
"Well, it seems that someone has a vested interest in suppressing information. No fewer than three of my BPD and the FBI contacts have told me they have nothing to say."
Ashlyn raised her eyebrows in surprise. "But that's not exactly good news, is it?"
"Well, it depends on how you look at it. Because two out of three told me why they can't say anything. The whole thing has less to do with Kim's brother than Bauman." With a broad grin, he added, "ADA Ryan Bauman, of course, I mean."
"Of course, we have time for that," Ashlyn couldn't help but remark. She didn't have a particularly high opinion of Ryan Bauman, who always placed a high value on his academic title. 'But we already knew that he was involved in the matter.'
"That's right, but it has recently taken on a new dimension."
"Why?" Ashlyn asked.
"Because Bauman is said to play a significant role in the shadow cabinet of Cantu, who is likely to have the best prospects of being elected governing mayor after the next parliamentary elections."
"Bauman? Our Ryan Bauman?" Ashlyn said a little too loudly, so Dominic quickly raised his index finger to his lips to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to their conversation. "Exactly. It seems he is being considered the next senator for internal affairs."
Ashlyn shook her head in disbelief. If Bauman had taken over the police force, it wouldn't have boded well. The self-centered investigator, more concerned about his reputation and prestige than law and order, needed a better reputation among Boston's defense attorneys. He repeatedly managed to turn the court cases in which he represented the DA's office into highly publicized media events. In Ashlyn's opinion, he focused less on the cases at hand and more on the importance of himself as a tough prosecutor. "And how does that affect the case of Kim's brother?"
Dominic looked at her intently for a long time, frowning. "Someone wants to protect Bauman and keep the investigation within a tiny circle."
"And what does that mean exactly?"
"That nothing will happen here for the time being. But as soon as things pick up again, my contacts will let me know."
She poured some sugar into her cup and slowly stirred it with the small spoon. She was unsure what to make of the new information, but now she could understand why Kevin Roth of the FBI, who had first brought the investigation of Leon Shae to her attention, didn't want to say a word about the investigation from one day to the next. Cantu, who was currently determining the fate of the police and, as Senator of the Interior, could also indirectly influence the work of the DA's office, which was under the control of the Senator of Justice, had put his foot down. There was no question that he wanted to protect Bauman as his successor. And that also put a stop to the investigation of Kim's brother Leon for the time being. Oh well, thought Ashlyn. It is what it is.
Dominic seemed able to read her thoughts because the next moment, he said, "Listen, it's not worth pursuing at the moment. Let's just put that aside for a moment. We have a more urgent case to work on with the Garner matter."
Something in Ashlyn resisted it. After all, it was about her girlfriend's brother. But in the end, she had to agree with Dominic. Kim's brother had yet to be summoned for questioning. Consequently, the preliminary proceedings must be in their very early stages. And Garner had presumably been the subject of an assassination attempt. This mandate had to be given priority.
"All right," she agreed. 'Let's go with Garner then.' Over the next five minutes, she told Dominic about her conversation with Maggie and their idea of getting more information from the former case worker.
"Good idea. Not a bad idea, your body-cutting mother," Dominic grinned. "Then let's have her follow up on that lead, and I'll take care of my source."
"And what did you have in mind?"
"This case dates back to when the police and the DA's office still worked almost exclusively with paper files. And even if the authorities have officially recorded the files as destroyed, it certainly doesn't mean everything has been destroyed."
"You mean that there might still be copies or something somewhere?"
"Copies, faxes, notes," Dominic continued. "And then, of course, there are the youth welfare offices, right? They probably still have files, or maybe even one or the other case worker who worked on the case back then."
Ashlyn's initial skepticism turned into confidence with every word Dominic said. He was right. There were so many leads they still needed to follow up on, and Dominic was an expert at picking up even the smallest of trails and following them back to their source. With his characteristic optimism and a persistence that some would call pushiness, he regularly found everything there was to see. Once Dominic was set on a goal, he pursued it until he had achieved it.
As Ashlyn was about to say something, the waitress brought their food.
"Well, that looks good," Dominic thanked her and reached for his knife and fork. He shoved a large piece of omelet into his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed slowly, smiling with relish.
After eating silently for a few minutes, Ashlyn spoke up. "So, let's take stock of what we have. Garner is safe with Mom's buddy for now. That's the most important thing and gives us the time to follow up on all the other leads in peace."
Dominic nodded slowly. "Exactly. We should also take another look at Garner, though. He must know more. Then there's Maggie, trying to get some information through the consultant. Then we have Tracy Payne, who must have researched much material. And, of course, Micaela Barboza, who is officially investigating Justin Booker in the matter."
Ashlyn took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. "That's right. And we also have you and your unerring instinct."
He nodded and said slightly cynically, "Which is undoubtedly our best asset."
"Well then," Ashlyn replied after she had taken over the bill, "let's get started."