Chapter 634

Jessica Jones had spent years under Kilgrave’s control.

During that time, she had endured things that had left scars far deeper than any visible wound. Her dignity as a woman had been stripped away, and she had been forced to commit acts she would never have chosen for herself. For years, her life had been little more than a private hell.

Only recently had she finally escaped it.

For a while, Jessica had dealt with those memories by refusing to look back. She avoided the past because confronting it hurt too much.

But suffering had not made her cruel.

When she discovered Hope, another victim trapped in the same nightmare, Jessica had reached out without hesitation.

She thought she was rescuing a hostage from Kilgrave.

She didn’t realize she was walking straight into his trap.

After Jessica delivered Hope to her parents, she watched helplessly as the elevator doors began to close. In the last seconds before they shut, Hope reached into her bag and pulled out a handgun.

Jessica saw it too late.

She sprinted downstairs.

What she found was a nightmare.

Hope’s parents lay dead in a pool of blood while the little girl stood there in a daze, repeatedly pulling the trigger of an empty gun.

Then she looked at Jessica and whispered with an eerie smile:

"Smile..."

The moment Hope regained control of herself, she broke down completely, screaming until her voice nearly tore apart.

That was when Jessica finally understood.

Every part of this had been planned by Kilgrave.

The entire incident had been designed to punish her for escaping him.

And that meant Jessica couldn’t escape the guilt.

Hope’s tragedy was partly her fault.

If Jessica hadn’t taken the case, would things have turned out differently?

If she’d paid closer attention and noticed something wrong with Hope sooner, could she have stopped this?

She couldn’t answer those questions.

So she chose to act.

Jessica threw herself into saving Hope. She used every connection she had to find the best defense attorney available. She reached out to her friend Trish and had her publicly defend Hope on her talk show.

It accomplished almost nothing.

Hope was quickly taken into custody. The district attorney’s office charged her with first-degree murder, and the court’s position became obvious almost immediately.

They intended to convict her.

It wasn’t because the justice system had failed to do its job.

The problem was that Kilgrave had made sure the evidence was nearly impossible to challenge.

Everything at the crime scene pointed directly at Hope.

There was no obvious defense.

Mind control was too absurd for most people to accept as a serious explanation, and even Hope herself couldn’t say with certainty that she hadn’t committed the murders.

She had already pleaded guilty.

There was only one way to save her.

Find Kilgrave.

Prove that he existed.

Prove that his ability was real.

Prove that Hope had genuinely been under his control.

That was the one thing Jessica wanted.

Unfortunately, it put Moira in an extremely difficult position.

Before Moira left, Evenson had given her a very clear instruction.

Information about Kilgrave could be leaked quietly.

It could not be released through official channels.

And under no circumstances could it be released in the Black Badge Division’s name.

Jessica’s demand was the exact opposite.

She wanted the Black Badge Division to arrest Kilgrave, put him before a court, and force him to confess.

There wasn’t much that could be more official than that.

"Ms. Jones, I have to admit, your request puts me in a difficult position."

Moira genuinely considered lying to Jessica. She could promise whatever was necessary for now, then have Kilgrave killed once he was captured and quietly dispose of the problem.

But the Black Badge Division was still a government agency.

Its credibility mattered.

Once word got around that the division could make promises and simply break them whenever convenient, cooperation would dry up. Informants would think twice before handing information to an organization that might turn on them without warning.

Destroying that trust over a single case would cost far more than it was worth.

"What kind of difficult position?"

Jessica folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Crack.

The backrest suddenly snapped.

Jessica toppled backward and hit the floor.

She had forgotten that she’d previously crushed the chair into a lump of twisted metal, after which Moira had forcibly bent it back into shape. Metal could be remarkably forgiving, but apparently this chair had reached the end of its career.

Jessica scrambled upright, kicked the damaged chair aside, and decided she was done trusting it.

"So which is it?" she demanded. "You think catching Kilgrave will be too difficult, or you don’t want to make this public because it would expose your involvement?"

"If your intelligence is accurate, I have complete confidence that we can catch him."

Moira glanced at Jessica’s disheveled state.

She didn’t even have the energy to laugh.

"So it’s the second one."

Jessica’s eyes narrowed as she caught the implication.

"Then I can solve that problem for you."

She leaned forward.

"When you catch Kilgrave, hand him over to me. I’ll make him confess everything, including how his powers work. I already have a personal grudge against him, so I doubt I’ll need much motivation."

A cold light entered her eyes.

"And I’ll record the whole thing."

Jessica’s imagination had apparently already reached the part where Kilgrave was tied down and being subjected to considerably less pleasant treatment than he had given her.

"That doesn’t solve anything."

Moira shook her head.

"Kilgrave’s abilities are highly unusual. What exactly is a videotape supposed to prove? The evidence would have no legal standing."

"And unless Kilgrave voluntarily appears in court, confesses to everything, and demonstrates his abilities in front of everyone, evidence obtained through methods like that won’t be admissible, even if every word on the tape is true."

The basic principle existed for a reason.

Courts refused illegally obtained evidence in order to prevent law enforcement from abusing its authority through coercion and torture. The rule could certainly create frustrating situations, but without it, the system would invite even more wrongful convictions.

There was another problem.

If Jessica actually brought the tape into court, the judge and prosecutors wouldn’t simply dismiss it.

They would ask where it came from.

They would ask how Jessica had captured Kilgrave.

They would ask where he was now.

Follow those questions far enough, and someone might eventually trace the trail back to the Black Badge Division.

That was precisely what Moira was trying to avoid.

"Wait..."

Jessica blinked.

"There are rules about that?"

Moira pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Good God. I’ve never met anyone who has this many criminal records and somehow still knows this little about the law."

Jessica spread her hands awkwardly.

"Then if you’re such an expert, come up with a solution."

She pointed at Moira.

"Because this is my condition. If you can’t agree to it, then we don’t have a deal."

"Hmm..."

Moira clenched her teeth.

For one dark moment, she considered a simpler solution.

Promise Jessica whatever she wanted.

Kill Kilgrave after capturing him.

Then kill Jessica too and eliminate the only witness.

Task completed. No broken promises. No damage to the Black Badge Division’s reputation.

Then another thought occurred to her.

Hope’s prosecutor.

She knew who it was.

Moira suddenly relaxed.

"Give me a moment. I need to make a phone call."

One phone call became several.

First, Moira arranged for two people to come over.

Then she made a series of calls to confirm various details.

Finally, she had several files sent to her phone.

About an hour later, the people she had summoned arrived together.

The first was Jerry, the current legal counsel for the Umbrella Corporation and one of New York’s most formidable defense attorneys.

She was also Jessica’s friend.

More importantly, she was Hope’s defense attorney.

Moira knew who Jerry was.

For reasons neither of them needed explained, Jerry did not know who Moira was.

The second arrival was a woman in her forties with tightly curled blond hair and a darker complexion. She appeared to be Latina and wore a blue uniform that identified her as a district prosecutor.

The moment Jerry saw her, their eyes met.

The atmosphere between them seemed to crackle.

They clearly had history.

This woman was Samantha Reyes, the star prosecutor of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Or, more accurately, its ace.

She had earned a reputation as the general who slaughtered defense attorneys.

And she happened to be Hope’s prosecutor.

So naturally, she and Jerry were not exactly on friendly terms.

"The Black Badge Division actually called me in?"

Samantha stepped inside, looking distinctly unhappy.

It was late.

Nobody enjoyed being dragged back to work at this hour.

"I thought you people didn’t need the district attorney’s office for anything."

"Don’t take it that way," Moira replied casually. "We’re a government agency. We operate within the law."

She gestured toward the broken chair.

"Unfortunately, that chair was damaged earlier. I’m afraid you’ll have to stand for a while."

Samantha looked past her and finally noticed Jessica.

Her expression immediately brightened.

"That’s Jessica Jones, isn’t it?"

She smiled.

"Her file takes up a respectable amount of space in my office. Are you planning to send her to prison tonight? Because if that’s why you called me out this late, I’m suddenly much happier about the overtime."

"Not a chance."

Jerry stepped forward before Jessica could answer.

"As long as I’m her lawyer, Jessica isn’t going to prison."

"Oh?"

Samantha met her stare.

"Then I suppose we’ll find out which of us wins this time."

The tension between the two women flared again.

"Can you two stop?"

Moira cut through their staring contest.

"I didn’t bring Ms. Jones here because of her own case. I simply wanted to discuss a situation."

Both women froze.

Then understanding dawned almost simultaneously.

Samantha’s expression shifted to disbelief.

"Don’t tell me you actually believe that mind-control story."

Jerry’s eyes narrowed as well.

Both women had spent years inside courtrooms. Their minds moved faster than most people’s, especially when there were unresolved cases and hidden motives involved.

If Jessica wasn’t the focus of this meeting, there was only one case connecting all of them.

And considering the Black Badge Division’s jurisdiction and responsibilities, there could only be one reason they had been brought together.

Hope’s case.