Free The Man She Once Knew by Jean Brashear Page A

profile for a while yet.”
    “Low profile?”
    “You know, research, behind-the-scenes investigation. Just for a little while.”
    Grunt work, he meant. She’d paid her dues already. So her choices were to stay away or warm the bench for some undetermined stretch?
    Her once-bright future looked murky. She couldn’t settle for that. She should return immediately, stake her claim, defend her turf. She was the best; they’d better not forget it.
    But if the D.A. was serious about this trip to Siberia, then what? What was her plan? She had a plan, always.
    She could start at the bottom again, of course. She’d survive that. She’d screwed up, and she couldn’t expect there to be no repercussions.
    Okay, she could eat crow. That was better than nothing, right? At least she’d be at the heart of things. If she stayed in Oak Hollow, she couldn’t protect herself from those lower on the ladder who were itching to replace her.
    Get real, Callie. Grunt work was the province ofneophytes and washed-up burnout cases, not shining stars. Not Lady Justice, even a tarnished one.
    “What’s really going on, Ted?”
    “Cal…” He hesitated. “There are people who are urging the boss to ditch you. The campaign’s heating up.”
    Ah. Now she understood. She was an embarrassment. A liability to his aspirations. He said he was behind me one hundred percent! she wanted to yell at Ted.
    And wasn’t that just naive of her? Hadn’t she learned long ago that a politician’s promise was as substantial as a dandelion’s wispy crown?
    “I get it.”
    “Cal, I’m sorry…” Ted sounded honestly remorseful, but he wasn’t the problem. Well, he was, since his fortunes rose or fell with his boss’s. “If you’ll just stay out of sight a while longer…”
    “Don’t sweat it, Ted. You know me, right? Tough as nails, the scourge of the courtroom. I’ll come out of this just fine, you’ll see.” She reversed course, chatted breezily about this intern and that assistant, all the office gossip that suddenly seemed so pointless, managing to get off the phone with her poise intact.
    Oh, God. Hand still clutching the phone, she stared out the window. I’ve fought so hard. If I’m not Lady Justice, who am I? If I lose that, I lose everything.
    Jessie Lee came around the corner of the house, casting a glance toward where Callie stood.
    The D.A. had made a promise he might not keep. She’d made a promise, too, regarding David. Was she no better?
    And then there were the thirty days Miss Margarethad asked of her. Many people will suffer if you don’t accept this.
    Callie wheeled away from the window without acknowledging Jessie Lee’s presence. She prowled through the small house, feeling Miss Margaret in every room.
    He did stuff for her, too. Miss Margaret would want you to help him.
    The welcome mat had been yanked away in Philly, at least for the time being. A fix for her situation there was out of her hands. Meanwhile there were people here in Oak Hollow who did need her, whose futures depended upon her actions. She could serve out her thirty days, working hard and, at the end of it, be closer to fulfilling her duty to Miss Margaret. Her great-aunt had actually given Callie a break with her bequest; Callie wouldn’t get rich off the rents and mortgage payments in this out-of-the-way burg, but the income, managed right, could buy her some options. Of course she would still return and fight for her job—
    But she would have a cushion while she tackled it.
    Then there was David. Doing right by him was something positive, something to sink her teeth into, and she was all about action, not standing around.
    She had indeed played the pivotal role in wrecking his carefully laid plans for his life, and she owed him. She couldn’t change the past, but she could free him now and make a sizable down payment on her debt to him. Whatever he’d been guilty of in the past, he wasn’t guilty this time, she was almost certain. She’d need