“I never looked at it that way.”

“Sure you have.”

Lila gave Andi a blank stare.

“This morning, you told me to refer the Woggum case to the feds. How did you come to that conclusion?”

“Well…I thought I saw a weakness in the case. I wanted to shore it up.”

“You were surveying a battlefield. You went through contingencies in your head, looking at moves, and countermoves. You played the case out from beginning to end and saw a flaw—so you suggested taking the fight to a more advantageous battlefield. You did well.”

Lila smiled at the compliment, although she tried not to. “Thanks, Ms. Fitch.”

“Andi.”

Again, Lila felt like a puppy—this time one getting tossed a rare treat. “So, where’s this case going…Andi?”

“When Ed gets back from meeting with Mr. Gray, he’s going to be in a lather—all insulted that we would dare to charge his client with a crime that requires a predatory offender registration. Even if I offered Gray the disorderly, he’d have to register now. Ed will argue that the tape doesn’t show enough to get a conviction for false imprisonment. He’ll thump his chest and set the case for trial.”

“You think he’ll take it to trial?”

“Not in a million years. He’ll challenge probable cause, and as we’re waiting for that hearing, he’ll tell me what a great guy his client is, and how this will ruin him. He’ll put the wife out there and accuse me of re-victimizing her. But his only real leverage is to hope that I’m afraid to go to trial—and by now he knows better.”

Andi looked at her watch, causing Lila to look at hers. They had ten minutes before court would convene, which made Lila nervous, not wanting her first hearing to begin with the judge lecturing her for tardiness. But Andi didn’t seem fazed.

“Then, just before the probable cause hearing,” Andi continued, “he’ll propose a plea to misdemeanor assault and ask me to agree to a finding of no probable cause on the false imprisonment. With that, he’ll at least have an argument against predatory registration. I’ll agree to no probable cause on the false imprisonment, but only if Gray pleads to the felony assault. Give him a stay of imposition of sentence and call it a day. Ed will piss and moan, but in the end, that’s the deal his client will take.”

The door to the conference room swung open and Ed Chappelle stepped in, red-faced, a crumpled-up copy of the complaint in his hand. “False imprisonment!” The words came out half yelled and half snarled.

A gorilla, Lila thought.

“You charged him with false imprisonment? Are you out of your mind? There’s no way in hell that’ll fly. I’ll have an acquittal before the jury can order lunch. This is bullshit and you know it.”

Andi stood. “Lila will be doing the first appearance. We’re asking that your client have no contact with the victim pending trial.”

Ed choked on whatever words were in his throat, and Lila worried he might have a full-blown conniption fit. “They’re husband and wife. They live in the same damn house.”