Harper looked toward the staircase.
“Malik Dawson served eight months.”
Maya’s expression changed.
“Elena Ruiz lost a scholarship.”
“Harper.”
“Terrence Cole has a felony record.”
“You do not know whether they were innocent.”
“No.”
Harper’s voice softened.
“That’s the problem.”
Maya stared at her.
Harper continued.
“I don’t know whether they were innocent. I know the evidence used against them has the same irregularities mine did. That means somebody should find out.”
“And that somebody has to be you?”
“No.”
Harper thought of Judge Cross.
Suspicion is not evidence.
“No,” she repeated. “It doesn’t have to be me.”
The next morning, Harper did something the reporters did not expect.
She disappeared.
No interviews.
No television appearances.
No viral livestream.
She turned down invitations from three national networks.
She ignored offers from podcasts, newspapers, and organizations wanting her to become the public face of everything from youth advocacy to criminal justice reform.
Instead, at eight-thirty Monday morning, Harper entered a small legal office above a laundromat on East Jefferson Street.
The sign on the door read:
MORRIS & VALE
CRIMINAL DEFENSE — CIVIL RIGHTS
Inside, an elderly receptionist looked over her glasses.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Charles Morris.”
“Appointment?”
“No.”
“Mr. Morris doesn’t take walk-ins.”
Harper placed a folder on the desk.
“Tell him Harper Freeman wants to discuss Malik Dawson.”
The receptionist froze.
Three minutes later, Harper was sitting across from Charles Morris.
He was sixty-eight, broad-shouldered, gray-bearded, and unimpressed by fame.
“I saw your hearing.”
Harper nodded.
“You were reckless.”
That was not what she expected.
“In what way?”
“You knew enough law to know when to speak.”
Morris leaned back.
“You did not know enough courtroom politics to understand when silence would have been more dangerous for the other side.”
Harper considered that.
“I got the case dismissed.”
“Yes.”
“And now every prosecutor in the building knows exactly what you found.”
Harper stopped.
Morris tapped the desk.
“If Hensley had continued without realizing the extent of your evidence, he might have made more mistakes.”
Harper thought about the missing file.
“You think I showed my hand too early.”
“I think winning one hearing and uncovering misconduct are different objectives.”