Easy Innocence

Chapter 34

GEORGIA REACHED Kelly Saturday morning. He sounded like he was still high from his adventures of the previous day.

"So, what did you think?"

"You said you weren't going to play Ramsey. That it could be dangerous."

"I rethought it. And hey, it worked."

"Temporarily. They're still moving ahead with the case."

"They're just trying to save face. Public opinion is swinging our way. They know it's not a slam dunk anymore."

"What about Cam Jordan?" Georgia asked.

"What about him?"

"Given Ramsey's recusal, and the fact that people are taking note of it, wouldn't this be a good time to try again to get him released on bond?"

"Already done."

"Really?"

I filed another motion for a bail reduction hearing. It's on Tuesday."

***

This time the hearing was perfunctory and short. The news had been full of stories about Jeff Ramsey and his political future over the weekend; public opinion was running high. Both newspapers ran editorials disparaging Ramsey's behavior, radio and TV commentary followed suit, and the political blogs kept the issue front and center. Reporters staked out in front of his house. There was a shot of Monica coming out the front door with her face averted—her father must have warned her about the cameras.

Despite earnest arguments by a senior assistant State's Attorney, the judge entered a decision to release Cam Jordan on bond. Georgia drove his sister over to Cook County jail. Cam Jordan emerged a few hours later, looking pale and thin. Georgia, who gave them a ride back to Ruth Jordan's house, felt optimistic. Although it wasn't over—the legal process would go forward—for the first time since taking Cam's case, something had gone right. She was serving the cause of justice.

Back in her apartment, she brewed a pot of coffee and sat in the kitchen. Afternoon sun glittered through the leaves, splashing shifting patterns of light and shadow across the table. She was staring at them, sipping her coffee, when an idea occurred to her.

She went to her computer and connected to Craig's List. Accessing the Chicago page, she clicked on "Erotic" services. A warning about adult content popped up, along with a plea for safe sex and an admonition that users must be over 18.

When she clicked again, she was taken to a succession of messages, all offering sexual services of one kind or another. Page after page, in groups of 100, contained come-ons, ads, and photos of women, many in lewd poses. Georgia scanned them, paying close attention to pictures of blondes. She didn't expect to see a picture of Sara, not really. Still, she had to check.

An hour later, she'd found nothing. No face even remotely familiar. She took that as a good sign. Then she pulled out a list of the prostitution websites she'd visited with Pete. She'd written down over thirty URLs. She went back to the computer and clicked over to WHOIS, a database of websites created by the largest domain registration service on the Net. WHOIS catalogued who owned each site, and provided both an administrative and technical contact.

One by one Georgia typed in the URLs from her list. Most were registered to corporations, which, when she cross-referenced them on Google, turned out to be hosting websites. The contacts led back to the web host's customer service department. She wasn't surprised—web hosts were as sensitive to privacy issues as everyone else and usually honored their customers' request for anonymity. If she was still on the force, she might have been able to get a subpoena to break through. Unfortunately, she wasn't.