Unintended Consequences - By Marti Green

Chapter

14





Dani felt both elated and confused. The missing piece was now in place, evidence that Angelina Calhoun had been gravely ill. That was the information she’d needed to confirm her belief in George’s innocence. She knew Tommy might still say that it got them only so far, that it was a leap from knowing she’d been sick to believing George and Sallie had abandoned her at a distant hospital. And sure, maybe they were both crazy and killed their daughter because of her illness. Listening to George tell his story, seeing the heartache written on his face almost twenty years later, Dani believed him. He didn’t seem crazy to her. Just sad. Overwhelmingly sad.

But the note left on Tommy’s car? She didn’t understand why anyone would try to stop their helping George. She’d have to think about it. Later, though. Now, she knew, she had her work cut out for her, trying to get a court to hear HIPP’s appeal.

She walked to Bruce’s and Melanie’s offices and filled them in on the news. “I’m going to do the brief,” she said to Melanie. “I need you to work on the record on appeal.”

Melanie looked at her soberly. “Do you really think it’s possible? That Angelina is alive?”

For a moment, Dani let her fantasies run wild and pictured Angelina Calhoun, now a grown woman, accompanying them to the Supreme Court and smiling beatifically as she told the nine justices, “Of course I’m alive, thanks to the enormous sacrifice of my parents. It’s horrible what they’ve had to endure. If only I’d known, I’d have come forward sooner.” The picture in her head faded and she answered Melanie, “Probably not. The doctor said her condition was grave. Even with the best care—I just don’t know. But if we can find someone who remembers a child with leukemia abandoned at the hospital, that would be a home run. And even though it’s twenty years later, it’s not something they’d likely forget.”

They finished their conversation and Dani settled in to work. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was five o’clock. Damn. She hadn’t called Katie to let her know she’d be late, and Jonah no doubt wondered where she was. At least Dani liked to think he wondered. More likely, he’d lost himself in his own world of music, playing the piano as he composed new sonatas, preparing himself for his summer at music camp. Although he hadn’t received official word on his application, the camp director had assured Dani there would be room for him.

She called Doug. “Want to stay in the city for dinner tonight?” she asked when she reached him at the law school.

“Sure. What’s the occasion?” Doug knew she usually preferred eating at home during the week.

“I thought it’d be nice for a change. Besides, I’m still here at the office. With this god-awful rain, traffic will be a mess now.”

“Well, I have about an hour’s worth of work left. Let’s meet at Cuccina’s at 6:30, okay?”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

Dani hung up and called Katie to let her know about the changed plans.

“No problem, Dani. You deserve a night out. And don’t hurry home. Whenever you get back is fine with me.”

Yes, she acknowledged to herself once again, Katie was a godsend.


Despite its being early on a Thursday evening, well before the hour fashionable New Yorkers dined, every table at Cuccina’s was full. The smell of garlic permeated the air, and the walls vibrated with the sound of conversation mixed with the bustle of the wait staff. They had to strain to hear each other at times, but the outstanding food, the reasonable prices, and the location convenient to Columbia Law School kept them coming back. When Dani and Doug found themselves staying late at work, they usually ended up at Cuccina’s.

Dani’s second glass of wine had gone straight to her head, and she felt somewhat woozy. She sat back in her chair and only half-listened to Doug’s ramblings about a trip they could take while Jonah was at summer camp. With the lines on Doug’s face blurred by her hazy vision, he still looked youthful and, with or without the lines, handsome. She’d met Doug on her first day of work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She had been staring dumbly at a photocopy machine, trying to figure out its various buttons, when Doug walked by, coffee cup in hand. He smiled at her and Dani could see the dimples in his cheeks widen, the green flecks in his eyes sparkle, and she was instantly smitten. After that, she made up excuses to seek him out until he finally invited her to a friend’s party. They’d been together ever since.

“So, what do you think?” Doug asked, bringing her back to the present.

“Um, I’m not sure.”

“You didn’t hear anything I said, did you?”

She shook her head. “It’s the wine. You know how I get.”

“It’s okay. You’ve had a hard couple of days. I asked what you thought about sailing through the Greek islands this summer.”

Instantly, Dani’s mind pictured billowing white sails surrounded by azure waters. She sat at the bow of the boat, her hair swirling around her face, her legs hanging over the side. “Sounds dreamy, but neither of us knows how to sail.”

“No problem. We hire a captain and we serve as his crew. He’ll show us what we need to do.”

“Can we afford it?”

“I’ve already checked out a few places. I think we can handle it. What do you think?”

Dani hesitated. She knew how Doug would respond but said it anyway. “We’d be so far from Jonah. It’s his first time away from us. What if he gets homesick? What if he gets hurt? How would the camp even reach us on a boat?”

Doug put down his fork and reached for Dani’s hand. “You worry too much. It’s the twenty-first century. We can get calls on the boat. Besides, your parents will be around to take him for the few days it might take us to get back if an emergency comes up.”

Dani pulled her hand away. “Maybe you worry too little. We’re both lawyers, remember. We’re trained to think of all the things that can go wrong and cover every contingency.”

“Just consider it, okay?”

“I will, I promise.”

Doug looked at her silently for a moment. “Is there something troubling you tonight? You’ve seemed far away even before you had any wine.”

Dani told him about the note Tommy found on his car. “I keep running it through my head and trying to figure out who would want us to stop our work. I can only think of two possibilities: Either someone knows George killed his daughter and wants to make sure he doesn’t escape punishment, or someone knows George didn’t kill his daughter and is afraid we’ll find out.”

“Have you notified the police about the note?”

“Tommy called in the local police in Pennsylvania. They’re checking to see if they can get a fingerprint match from the note.”

“Now this is something you should worry about. Not that you should stop what you’re doing. Just be careful.”

“So, what do you think? Why would someone try to stop us?”

Doug pondered a moment. “I think you should make a list of everyone who knows you’re investigating Calhoun’s case.”

Dani reached for her pocketbook and pulled out a small notepad and a pen. “Let’s see. Well, of course, everyone at HIPP, but they can’t count.”

“Probably not, but for this exercise write down everyone’s name.”

She began writing on the notepad. “The wardens at both prisons know, George’s attorney and his secretary, the detective in Illinois—I think his name is Cannon. Those are the people who know we may try to stop the execution. But they could have told anyone. And those people could have told others.” She put her pen down. “This is pointless. There’s no way I can figure out everyone who might know that we represent Calhoun.”

“Okay. Let’s try this. Who would be harmed most if Calhoun is exonerated?”

Dani thought for a moment and picked up her pen again. “The person who actually murdered the girl found in the woods.”

“Then that’s your answer.”

She grimaced. “It’s not an answer. I have no idea who killed the girl if it wasn’t George.”

They retreated into silence as the waiter brought over coffee. As he walked away, it hit her. “We have to find out the identity of that little girl. Then we might know who’s threatening us.”

“I think you’re right.”

Dani scribbled a reminder in her notepad: Exhume body of dead girl.


The next morning Bruce, Melanie, Tommy and Dani gathered in HIPP’s conference room.

“Okay, what’s the strategy?” Bruce asked.

“I think we need to attack it on two fronts,” Dani said. “First, we go to the superior court in La Grange—that’s the closest court to where the body is buried—and try to get an order of exhumation.”

“Hasn’t Calhoun exhausted his state court appeals?”

“He has. I wouldn’t fashion the request for exhumation as an appeal, though. Before now, no one has questioned the identity of the girl found in the woods. They convicted George of killing that girl. The appeals have all been based on an assumption that it was Angelina. If we get an order of exhumation and it turns out to be someone else, then going back into state court with that information might be too late, or maybe not—I’m not certain. But that’s not where we’d go. That brings me to the second front. He hasn’t exhausted his habeas corpus appeals, so we can go into federal court and try to show that the conviction or sentence violated his constitutional rights.”

“What’s your timing?”

“Ideally, I’d go first with the state case, get an order exhuming the body, then be able to bring those results to the federal case. But we don’t have time for that so we may have to file the second case before we get a ruling on the first.”

Bruce turned to Tommy. “How about your investigation? Are you finished with that?”

“I’m going to try to see if Calhoun’s story about the Mayo Clinic holds water. I’ve already got a few calls in and I’m waiting for callbacks.”

“Okay,” Bruce said. “Sounds good. You need anything from me, just let me know.”

Dani sighed. “A miracle. That’s what I need.”