DO I LOOK LIKE A TURNIP?" THE DA ASKED. "IF THIS WERE Brad Pitt, maybe you could get the National Enquirer to run with it. You want me to convene a grand jury on a US senator?"
Casey glanced at Jose, who sat with her across from Dustin Cruz's desk.
"We're not looking for an indictment yet," Jose said. "We just think that if you investigate, that's where this is going."
Cruz looked at Jose and blinked, as if noticing him for the first time.
"Did she tell you about the last conversation we had in this office?" Cruz asked Jose.
Jose looked at him and cocked his head.
"Last time," Cruz said, "she sat there telling me about how the press was going to react to me prosecuting a young woman for murder. Forget that I've got a confession. She's going to make the killer look like the victim with a bunch of talk about old rape cases, and stink me up for women voters.
"Remember that conversation?" Cruz asked, turning to Casey. "Rosalita Suarez?"
"She's an innocent woman," Casey said with a shrug, "and my client."
"So that means you can fight dirty?" Cruz said. "Go to the media?"
"We're not here about that," Jose said, spreading his fingers and raising his hand. "This is different."
"This is a US senator," Cruz said, his thick eyebrows arching.
"Exactly," Jose said. "Your office could investigate this thing and get people to talk. They've got a hundred or so Mexicans out there, people in the house, on the grounds, the ranch-you could get in there with some subpoenas and get things going. Hell, the undertaker, the police chief, the wife even, get them on record, build a case."
Cruz huffed through his nose. "You think that makes me hungry to stick my neck out? Let's say you can prove the dead guy was banging the wife, which you can't. You got headlines, but not much else. Let's say you get a DNA match with the blood on the shotgun slug, so what? They already said he shot the guy. They said it was an accident."
"With a deer slug?" Jose said. "They were hunting turkeys."
Cruz made a face. "That's what? Maybe fifty-fifty that a jury will even follow you?"
"What about cremating the body like that?" Jose said. "Destroying the evidence?"
"The wife signed off," Cruz said.
"She had no idea what she even signed," Casey said.
"Look," Cruz said with a grim smile, "Chase's no Sunday-school teacher, but you go to kill the king, you better damn well make sure you do it. That's advice for you two. I have no interest in this. None."
"Looking for a spot on the federal bench?" Casey said, blurting out her words.
Cruz forced a smile and said, "Nice thought. Wrong party. I'm not a fan of Chase. All those white-toothed television commercials with a bunch of happy kids around him don't fool me for a second.
"I'm just not stupid," he continued, narrowing his eyes at Casey, "and maybe the enemy of my enemy is my friend? You ever heard that one?"