Easy Innocence

Chapter 30

GEORGIA WASN'T surprised to see Robby Parker in court on Thursday, but she was to see O'Malley and Jeff Ramsey. Neither needed to be there—the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Knowing Robby, she would have predicted he'd show up. Anything to get out of real work. But O'Malley? Dan never liked coming down to the courthouse. He'd said—more than once—it was just for show and usually a waste of time. And surely the first assistant State's Attorney of Cook County had better things to do than appear at a bail reduction hearing. Unless he was there to make a statement. Which, if he did have political aspirations, would make his presence understandable.

Georgia nodded to O'Malley and Parker. O'Malley dipped his head, but Parker refused to make eye contact. She shrugged, making sure O'Malley caught it, and made her way over to Paul Kelly.

To his credit, Kelly didn't seem to be bothered by Ramsey's presence. Seated on a bench outside the courtroom, the older lawyer, in a spiffy suit and tie, looked unusually crisp. With his bald head gleaming in the fluorescent lights, he seemed vigorous and happy. In fact, he couldn't keep from chuckling as they waited. Ruth Jordan, wearing a gray skirt and white blouse, sat next to him on the bench.

Georgia told him what she'd found out about Derek Janowitz. Kelly rubbed his hands together gleefully when she finished. "Good work, Davis! Now we're getting somewhere. You gonna find his partner?"

"I'm on it. But so are the cops. I heard they're zeroing in on his roommates. The Eastern Europeans."

"Which could mean it's a large, organized ring."

"Exactly," Georgia said. "But I'm not real excited about tangling with the Russian mafia, or the Serbian mob, or whatever gang is running hookers on the North Shore."

"You think it's a turf war and the Long girl was caught in the middle?"

"I don't know. Depends on the connection between Janowitz and Sara."

"But you suspect."

Georgia frowned. "The girl was killed in the Forest Preserve."

"So?"

"You'd think if she was a hooker and her murder was related to prostitution, she would have been killed at a job, coming or going. But she was with her high school friends. A universe away from her other life. If she had one."

"Maybe the killers were counting on that." The door to the courtroom opened and several people came out. Kelly stood up, held the door open, and motioned for Ruth to enter.

Georgia followed them. "Well, at least things are pointing away from Cam Jordan."

"It won't make any difference today," he said. "And you know in your heart Sara did."

Georgia cocked her head.

"Have another life."

***

When the judge entered the room, the clerk ordered everyone to rise. The judge arranged himself behind the bench. Georgia sat next to Ruth behind the defense table. She'd never had an occasion to sit with the "people" before. She'd always been at the cops' section on the dais. For the first time she noticed how much the Skokie courtroom looked like a church; pews for the congregants, the seal of Cook County above the altar, and the judge's bench the priest's lectern.

Parker and O'Malley positioned themselves on the cops' dais. Parker wore a flashy suit—it probably cost hundreds—and his shield was prominently pinned to his pocket. When detectives were promoted, at least on the North Shore, they got a shield and a clothing allowance and not much more. Promotion to detective was considered a lateral transfer. But Robby seemed to be milking it. He still pretended not to see her.