Quinn stared at his brother. “If she had no idea, if she had no intent to traffic, there’s no crime, right?”
Jake slowly nodded.
Juliet shook her head. “Seriously? I’m Dom Spazzoli’s stepdaughter and Freddy Spazzoli’s stepsister. No way would a federal prosecutor or jury believe I was unaware of the drug transfer. Period.”
“She has a point,” Jake said.
“Besides”—she picked at a sequin on her dress, wanting to get it all out there—“I didn’t call the cops once I found out. I called Freddy and yelled at him. He had me look at a building across the street that had a camera pointed right at me. I was on camera for six months. Freddy believes in insurance policies.”
“Did the cameras ever catch you looking in the trunk?” Jake asked, scribbling on his notepad.
“Not until the day I discovered what was going on,” she said quietly. Crap, she really needed to tell the whole story. “So, I got out of town. I mean, I acquired false identification and got out of town.”
Jake held up a hand. “I believe what my client means is a friend of hers supplied her with false identification. She neither purchased it, nor has she used it since.”
Juliet frowned. “No, I—”
“Good enough,” Quinn growled. “We can revisit the false-identification issue later. For now, I want you to tell me everything you learned about Freddy’s drug business.”
The door opened, and Reese pushed a rickety cart holding an older television on top of a DVD player. “Freddy was very cooperative and supplied me with a video that is quite intriguing.” He plugged in the electronics and grabbed a rusty remote.
Jake slammed his pen down. “We’re in the middle of something.”
Reese flashed a dangerous smile. “I understand what you’re doing. However, why don’t we watch this video? Afterward, I’ll leave so you can confer with your client on how she wants to plead this out.”
Ice-cold fingers traced Juliet’s spine. This was so not going to be good. Her shoulders straightened, and she flashed Quinn an apologetic grimace. “Push play, Agent Johnson.”
Reese engaged the television and player before starting the video. Several minutes went by that showed several wrapped white packages put into her trunk in front of her apartment in New York and then taken out of her trunk in New Jersey. The men involved were Freddy’s lackeys, but not once did Freddy make an appearance.
Quinn wandered to lean against the far wall.
Jake stretched his neck. “First, there’s no proof those are drugs. Second, not once has Juliet been on screen with the trunk open. You’ve got nothing, Agent.”
Reese pressed a button. “Let’s fast-forward to the end, shall we?”
Juliet briefly closed her eyes. “Good idea.”
The tape scrolled forward until it showed the events of the day that changed her life forever. The camera captured her leaving the art clinic just in time to see a man slam her trunk closed. She stilled, and he ran away. A frown marring her face, she’d hustled forward and opened the trunk.
Cash. Tons of wrapped and stacked cash lined her entire trunk.
The interrogation room went deadly still.
Even with the grainy camera, there was no question that a lot of money sat in her trunk.
She’d whipped out her cell phone and called Freddy, who’d laughed his head off when explaining the cameras. She’d turned to look directly at the camera while still on the phone. Slowly, she’d ended the call, torn her cell phone apart, and left the shattered pieces on the pavement. After slamming the trunk shut, she’d gotten in the car and driven off.
The recording went fuzzy and then black.
Reese turned off the television. “As you can see, counselor, your client drove off with full knowledge her trunk was full of cash. She had enough knowledge of her family to know that it was probably drug money. She neither called the police nor the DEA. What she did do is disappear from town with the money. That’s theft at the very least, and more than likely, accessory after the fact on the drug charges.”
Juliet opened her mouth, and Jake shook his head. “Don’t speak.”
She nodded. Her driving away with all of the cash looked horrible for her.
Reese continued, “I think I can get her on trafficking drugs, however. A jury is unlikely to believe the ‘I-didn’t-know’ defense. They rarely do.” He slammed the remote down on the table.
Juliet jumped.
Reese leaned in. “I understand why you ran. Stealing so much money from Freddy and his cronies certainly put a hit out on you. I’m going to leave now, and you and your attorney are going to figure out how to turn the money over to the DEA and what type of evidence you can come up with to send your brother to jail. It’s your only hope.”
“I have no evidence against Freddy.” She ignored the warning flashing in Jake’s eyes. “Besides, the money is gone. Every last dollar.”
Jake motioned Reese to back up. “Okay, we’re going to talk in hypotheticals now. Does everyone understand?”
Slowly, both Quinn and Reese nodded.
“Good.” Jake peered at her. “Hypothetically, even though you have no knowledge of any money, what would a woman in the situation like the one you just saw on the tape have done with all of that money?”
The moment seemed a bit late for hypotheticals, but what the heck. Juliet lifted her chin. “Hypothetically? I suppose the woman would’ve had some fun giving all the money away. Maybe some to the Art Clinic, some to the First Baptist Church on Delaney Street that needed a new roof, some to the Catholic Church around the corner, some to the boy’s baseball club in southern New York for new backstops. I suppose then the woman would give money to charities and churches as she drove west to safety. Until it was all gone.”
Reese staggered back. “All gone?”
Jake chuckled. “I don’t suppose the woman would’ve kept track of where all the money went?”
She plastered on her sweetest smile. “I would assume a woman like that would’ve kept track. Definitely.”
Reese shook his head. “You had start-up money for the gallery. That was drug money.”
She clasped her hands together. “If you check my bank records, you’ll see I emptied out my savings as I left town. I used my own money to start the gallery.” All of her money, in fact. She hadn’t used one cent of Freddy’s drug cash.
Jake pushed back from the table and stood. “My client and I are leaving.”
Reese held up a hand. “Wait a minute.”
“No.” Jake skirted the table and assisted Juliet up. “She has cooperated fully with you. All you have is a mistaken statement made to her current lover when she was under extreme duress. While the video of her finding something in her trunk is interesting, it has neither been authenticated nor truly examined. We’re not even sure that’s Juliet, much less money in the trunk. Even if you do somehow prove that was cash, nobody has reported cash being stolen. Therefore, you can’t prove whose cash it was. Hypothetically, of course.”
Wow. Juliet stumbled along with Jake to the door. He really was an amazing lawyer.
Jake paused. “While I have no doubt you’ll be meeting with the federal prosecutor soon, Agent Johnson, you don’t have probable cause for an arrest. You know it.”
Quinn cleared his throat. “She’s in danger, Jake. We don’t know who’s in town with Freddy, and we don’t have anything to hold him on.”
Juliet tried to catch Quinn’s eye, but he kept his focus on his brother. Hurt cut into her heart. In trying to keep him, she’d lost him.
Jake nodded. “She’s staying with Sophie and me. We’ll keep her safe, and we’ll bring her to the Jacoby’s funeral tomorrow.”