It didn’t take long for Jessie’s hunch to bear fruit.
Luckily, what she learned made up for the bad news they got when they returned to the research department of HSS. As soon as they walked through the door, Beth shared what they’d learned in the last hour.
"We finished reviewing the status of all the remaining Traditional Citizenry members," she said. "While some had criminal records, none were for violent crimes. And even for those folks, they were able to be identified at the protest on Friday. And all the remaining members were located at either the protest that night or the rally the next day. So unless these crimes were committed by different people on different nights, we've hit a brick wall."
Jessie would have been more upset at that news if not for her suspicions about Richard Paulson. She had Jamil do what she should have asked of him in the first place: run a background check on the lawyer. Information started coming in fast.
“It looks like he’s had several complaints filed against him,” Jamil said. “That doesn’t include an investigation by the state bar.”
“For what?” Sam asked.
“Potential fraud—representing to clients that he could get them residency when their circumstances made that unlikely,” Jamil said. “But it looks like the case was closed for lack of evidence.”
“And what about the complaints?” Jessie wondered.
“All were filed anonymously,” Beth answered. “The only identifying information was that two were from other attorneys and one from a court clerk. All reference the same issue. Paulson made repeated comments that he suspected that some of hisclients were only interested in marriage to get green cards. The concern was that he wasn't advocating for them zealously because of his personal views. One of the anonymous attorneys is quoted as saying 'he seems to have become increasingly cynical over the years, to the point that it may be impacting his ability to effectively represent clients."
“That’s pretty damning,” Sam noted. “I’m wondering how he got all these wealthy clients in the first place.”
“I can answer that one,” Jamil said. “It looks like soon after Paulson set up his practice, a law school buddy of his wanted to marry a girl he met while on vacation in Bali. The guy was filthy rich. Once Paulson helped him, the buddy appears to have referred multiple other wealthy friends to him. He coasted on those connections for years. But more recently, whether because those connections dried up or his attitude soured, he’s gotten far fewer clients. A decade ago, he was handling over thirty cases a year. Last year, he had less than a dozen.”
“That doesn’t look great,” Sam mused, “but I’m not sure it constitutes enough to make him a credible suspect.”
“I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “He represented both victims so he knows a lot about them, maybe even had access to their homes. And it’s clear that his perspective on what he does has curdled in recent years. I agree it’s not enough to bring him in, but I think it’s more than enough to put a squad car on him and see where he goes tonight. Frankly, that’s probably something we should have done the second we left his place.”
“While that’s going on, I can request a warrant for his phone and vehicle location data,” Jamil suggested. “Then we can see where he’s gone the last two nights.”
“That’s a good idea,” Sam said. “But we shouldn’t count on getting it soon. Judges tend to be cautious about approving those kinds of orders when attorneys are involved. We may haveto jump through a few extra hoops, which means extra time. To be safe, we should emphasize the surveillance.”
“We could see if Devery’s available,” Jessie suggested. “He loves any chance to work with HSS.”
"I'm sure that he'd jump at the chance," Beth agreed, "but he got off duty an hour ago, and there's no way that Captain Parker would approve the overtime if there are other officers available."
“Well, let’s make sure that whoever we choose has the same level of enthusiasm for the job,” Sam said. “If Paulson is our guy, the last thing we need is for him to slip away while he’s under police surveillance.”
“We’ll come up with a list for you to approve,” Beth said.
“Great,” Sam said, turning to Jessie, “so what now?”
Jessie checked the time. It was almost 6 P.M. She knew whatshehad planned next but wanted to be diplomatic about it.
“I’m not sure what else we can do tonight,” she said. “All of our most credible suspects have alibied out, save for Paulson. And unless you want the two of us to do the surveillance instead of sending a squad car, I think we’re out of options for now.”
“Agreed,” Sam said. “I guess we start fresh in the morning?”
“Sounds good,” Jessie agreed.
“I’ll stick around to approve the officers who will watch Paulson,” he said before asking, “What’s your plan for the rest of the night?”
“Exciting stuff,” she said with a sarcastic smile as she stood up. “I have two patients to check on at home.”
“Right,” Sam said, walking her to the door. “How is Ryan doing, by the way?”
“Better every day,” Jessie lied before quickly changing topics, “what areyougoing to do with this small window of free time?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Go home. Maybe veg out on the couch while watching a game.”
“I have a better idea,” Jessie said. “Why don’t you give that Claire gal a call, see if she’d like to get a drink. With the kind of work she does, she could probably use one.”
