I smiled and called Christina Sanders. “Did you see on TV?” I asked her.
“Oh my God, yes. Yes. Thank God. Thank God. I finally feel safe.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “Was it Gerald and Judge Perez who were threatening you before?”
“You’re damn right it was them. Goddamn right. That damned judge is as dirty as the day is long. Thank God he’s getting his. And so is that damned Gerald Stone. Gerald and Judge Perez tried to force me to take the blame for my own father’s murder. They tried, but looks like they’re the ones doing the perp walk.” She laughed. “They’re the ones doing the perp walk, not me.”
I had found additional information that linked Judge Perez to Gerald Stone. Anna was able to find payments that Judge Perez was paying to Gerald, hundreds of thousands of dollars. She then hacked into Judge Perez’ computer and found thousands of child pornography images, even though the Judge thought that he had deleted them all. We then put two and two together - it seemed that Gerald was blackmailing Judge Perez, because somehow, someway, he found these child porn images as well.
Anna was able to find all sorts of things, deleted or no, so she presented me with this evidence. I suddenly knew why Judge Perez was in on the blackmailing of Judge Sanders. I had no idea why he was arrested for being a part of the Judge Sanders’ murder, though. I guessed that Gerald probably gave him up somehow.
“Yep, they’re doing the perp walk,” I said, as Judge Perez’ image flashed across the screen. He was being led out of the federal courthouse in handcuffs. “As they should.”
I hung up the phone and Abby came over to me. “Mom,” she said. “Can you take me and James to the zoo tomorrow? He wants to go and so do I.”
I tousled her hair. “Of course, Buttercup,” I said. “I love the zoo, too. Can Axel come along?”
She smiled shyly. “Sure, mom. I love Axel.”
“So do I.”
Abby and James had been hanging out together for the past few months, and James had finally asked her to “go steady.” I bought Abby a necklace that had two halves, and asked her to give him a half and told her she should take the other half. “That’s how we did it when I was in school,” I said. “A million years ago.”
Abby, for her part, went ahead and gave James half the necklace, and he wore it all the time, she said.
“What about me, mom,” Rina said. “I want to go to the zoo, too.”
“We’ll all go,” I said. “It’s going to be a lovely spring day. We’ll have fun!”
As for Axel and me…we finally were able to make love. Once I buried the past, which I was finally able to do when I saw Michael get sentenced to life in prison, I was able to finally move on.
And the love-making was truly glorious.
But not everything was glorious. Things never were for long in the life of a criminal defense attorney.
My mother called the Monday after our family zoo outing. “Harper,” she said desperately over the phone. She was sobbing, seemingly out of control. “You have to come over here right away. Right away.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why mom?” She could be so dramatic sometimes.
“It’s your Uncle Jack,” she said. “Oh, and he was doing so well, too. I just don’t know.”
“What about Uncle Jack?”
“He’s been arrested for murder.”
My heart plunged a million miles. “I’ll be right there.”
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Bad Faith - A Harper Ross Legal Thriller
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Justice Denied - A Harper Ross Legal Thriller Page 30