Chapter 11
Federal Eyes
U.S. Attorney Sara Kline begins building a case, suspecting deep-seated corruption. Her investigation runs parallel to Eleanor's and Ray's, unaware of the surprising ally she might find within the Jeffers family.
The fluorescent hum of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Hammond was a stark contrast to the grimy, echoing silence of Gary’s abandoned downtown. Sara Kline, a woman whose sharp features seemed etched by countless late nights and bitter disappointments, stared at the spreadsheets spread across her desk. The numbers blurred, a grim testament to the city’s unraveling economy, but beneath the financial ruin, a different kind of decay was taking root, a rot that smelled of fear and illicit profit. Her gaze drifted to a framed photograph on her desk: a younger, more optimistic Sara, standing beside a stern-faced Senator, a ghost of a smile on her lips. That was before she’d seen the underbelly of this region, before she’d learned that the law often ended where power began.
She tapped a pen against a report detailing a sudden surge in petty crime and a corresponding dip in business taxes downtown. Too neat, too convenient. It felt like a carefully orchestrated performance, a stage play where the actors were too eager to hit their marks. “