Conflict of Interest

Chapter Twelve

Carrie

"And can you believe that, after seven years in felonies, making myself known for my felony work - I put Colin Shaw in prison for Christ's sake - he would bother me with such a petty case?"

I'd been spouting off profanities at Jennifer for at least ten minutes, taking the opportunity of a captive audience with no other ride to work to complain about my latest existential crisis at the DA's office.

"So, just take the misdemeanor. Youre talking an hour in court, one day this week, and if all the other ADA's are plugged..."

"I don't care if all the other ADA's are plugged! I'm plugged, and do you even know who handles misdemeanors?" I said the word misdemeanor as though it were something slimy and infectous. "First years."

"He probably just figures that if anyone's going to be willing to take on an extra case, it's you."

"Well he should know that I don't get out of bed for anything less than a Class C."

She rolled her eyes and laughed, picking up her coffee. "You're such a snob."

I shrugged then, considering the word. "My parents are rich, the snob in me was bound to come out eventually."

My phone started ringing at that moment with my favorite kind of phone call - the unwarranted six in the morning kind. 

"Everett," I spat, still up in arms thinking about the shit I had to do and the nerve of DA Carter. 

"Are you with Carver?"

It was Bagley.

"Is this a trick question?"

"No," he promised. "Put me on speaker."

I did so, hestiantly. "You're making me nervous."

"Don't be," he said. "It's no big deal, but Clapp wants the two of you to know the triangulation worked. We made an ATL based on the cell towers around Grace's phone, and we have a relative location. She's not far, just about twenty miles upstate. Which is good, you know, considering."

"Okay," I said, taking it all in. "That's great. What do you need?"

"Nothing, yet," he said. "Not from you, anyway. We'll fill Carver in when she gets to work. I just thought I'd call you because there's no way she'd pick up a call from me this early in the morning."

"Correct," Jenn agreed. "You guys call just to say hi."

"We do not just--"

"See you later, Bagley," I cut him off. "Thanks for the call."

"Yeah," he said. "No problem, Carrie."

I hung up the phone, only to hear it ring once again. I wanted to answer it "What the fuck?" but I settled on a slightly-but-not-much-more-cordial "Everett."

"You took my baby to a police precinct?"

I sighed, seeing Jennifer begin to laugh uncontrollably. Apparently, Jackie had shrieked so loudly that she could be heard across the kitchen.

"I told you I was busy," was my apathetic defense. "And you didn't believe me. Now you know I mean it when I say I'm working."

"She is seven years old, Caroline!" she continued to admonish, using my full name like it scared me. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking," I exhaled coolly, "That I am working on a very sensitive case and that that was what was important in that moment. Okay, Jacqueline?"