“Are you saying she had something to do with the campaign?” he asked.

“I’m trying to find that out,” Ballard said. “Did you know all the volunteers?”

“Back then, I did, yes. I recruited them. But there were not very many and I don’t remember any Laura Wilson.”

“Let me show you something.”

She opened the file on the table and proffered the 8 x 10 headshot of Laura Wilson. Kramer leaned in to look at it without touching it.

“No, don’t recognize her,” Kramer said.

“Is it possible she could have been a volunteer?” Ballard pressed.

“A Black girl, I would remember. We could’ve used one but we didn’t have any.”

“You’re sure.”

Kramer pointed emphatically at the photo.

“She was not part of the campaign,” he said. “I recruited all the volunteers. She wasn’t one of them.”

“Okay,” Ballard said. “Take a look at this photo.”

She slid an 8 x 10 copy of the photo of Laura’s junk drawer across the table to Kramer.

“You see the campaign button there?” she asked.

“Yep, right there,” Kramer said. “It’s a beauty.”

“Did you have those made?”

“Of course. They were the deluxe—with the freedom ribbons attached. I remember we debated the extra spend but Jake liked the ribbons. Made the button stand out.”

“Who got them?”

“Well, we had them at the office for walk-ins. And we also went door-to-door in the district. We didn’t give everybody a button, but we did give them to people who expressed support for Jake.”

“How many did you have made, do you remember?”

“I think it was a thousand, but we didn’t give them all out. I remember after it was all over, I had a couple bags left and just dumped them. In fact, I think the last time I talked to Nelson was when he called me up and asked for the buttons because Jake was going to make another run at it. I told him I dumped them years ago and he just hung up on me. Great guy, that Nelly.”

“Back in ’05, do you remember if the campaign sent people door-to-door in the Franklin Village area? More specifically, Tamarind Avenue—that neighborhood?”

“If it was in the district, I am sure we did. We went out every night. The whole staff and all the volunteers we could get. We’d meet at that deli on Sunset … I can’t remember the name. It was like a hundred years old, but they closed for good during the pandemic.”

“Greenblatt’s.”