A Judge's Secrets

by Danica Winters

  She ground her teeth, feeling the muscles in her jaw tense.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, giving her that same smile once more. “Again, manageable chaos. That’s all we can hope for in all of this.”

  “I should have mentioned that in my world, I don’t thrive on chaos. I like everything well-ordered and scheduled in advance, at least as much as possible.” She tapped her fingers on the wheel. “You should see my house. Everything has its place.”

  “Ah, you’re one of those.” He sounded blasé.

  “Don’t be dismissive of my system. It works for me. Has worked for years now.” She smiled, trying to pull him back from judging her too harshly for her near-compulsion. “Don’t judge.”

  “I know...that’s your job,” he joked. “But tell me, how do you keep your towels?”

  “Which ones? Hand, kitchen or bath towels?”

  He laughed. “The fact you have to ask me that question tells me most of what I need to know about you.”

  “What is that? That I’m not a dude who uses one towel for all of his needs?” She smirked. “Remind me to never take a shower at your place—I don’t want to get pregnant when I go to dry off.”

  His mouth opened into an o-shape then he started to give a deep belly laugh. “Of all the things I thought you would say, that was the last thing I imagined coming out of your mouth,” he said between bouts of laughs. “But I have to admit. I kind of like all the places your mind went right there. Most of all, you thinking about taking a shower at my place.”

  She wasn’t sure that he really meant that; most men would’ve gone the other direction with where her thoughts had gone.

  “By all means, if you want to go to my place and check it out and take a shower or whatever, feel free,” he said.

  She reached over and gave him a light cuff to the shoulder. The action was juvenile, and she recognized that, but she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t know how else to respond.

  “Thanks for the warm invitation, but if anybody is staying anywhere between the two of us, you’re going my way, not the other way around. If you only have one towel, I hate to think about your sheets situation.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows and his smile widened. “Yeah, you keep thinking about my sheets.”

  He was cute. Yet, she wasn’t going to fall for any of that kind of nonsense.

  She wanted to point out that he had been clear in his plans for a relationship. And she wasn’t about to start anything sexual with a man who didn’t want a relationship. But what was the harm in a little no-commitment flirting?

  “Do you like that?” she asked, sounding coy.

  She could see him tense, and his hands moved to his knees like he was trying to ground himself. She loved that she could have that effect on him. There was nothing like leaving a man speechless.

  “I wonder if they are made of cotton, satin, or hmm...maybe flannel. I can see you being a flannel sheet kind of guy,” she teased.

  He let out a slight chuckle. “This time of year, it’s flannel all the way. In fact, if I could have them on all year, I would.”

  “I don’t find it hard to believe.”

  The car in front of her moved a few inches. It wasn’t even worth taking her foot off the brake. At least they had stopped to eat something before they got stuck in traffic. He took out his phone and clicked on some buttons, making her wonder if he was just as annoyed with the traffic jam as she was.

  “Is this normally how you go about your surveillance?”

  He looked over at her and shook his head. “Nothing about the situation has been what I would consider normal. Yet, like Muhammad Ali said, ‘we all have a plan, until we get hit in the face.’ Seems like no matter what the objective, and the best laid plans by my team, everything goes as it needs to. Rather than the way I would like.”

  “So this is abnormally normal?” She tried to make herself feel better about what an uproar she had caused in his life.

  “Hardly.” He paused. “Normally, I’m not the guy they send in to do this kind of surveillance. I’m more of a security guy. The trigger puller, ya know?”

  That surprised her, but at the same time it didn’t. He didn’t seem comfortable in the role that he was playing right now, but she was glad they could be in this together. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re not the surveillance guy, then why didn’t you ask your team to send in someone else to help?”

  He looked at her like he was studying her. “Is that what you want? Someone else besides me working with you?”

  His offer gave her pause. She hadn’t expected his answer. What would she do without him? Without them working together to chase down their leads? They could go back to her house and she could show him her towel collection, but that would be far more uncomfortable than being in the crosshairs of a murderer’s sights.

  “Would you be more comfortable away from me?” she asked, silently praying he wouldn’t say anything to hurt her.

  “Never. Once I take a job, I finish it.” He lifted his phone to his ear and motioned that he was making a call. “Hello, Elle?”

  She could hear a woman’s voice on the other end of the line.

  He nodded a couple of times. “Yeah, we’re stuck in traffic. I’m going to send you an address. Can you guys look into it for me and see if anyone is currently in the house? Either way, can you please set up a UAV on the target to keep an eye on her?”

  Did he and his team really have the kind of resources that with a single phone call drones could be released and put on targets? The thought equally terrified and thrilled her. She had power, but she certainly didn’t have weapons on speed dial.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll text you everything you need. No biggie. Great. Thanks.” He hung up and glanced over at her. “They will let us know about Ms. Sanders.” He texted something.

  “Who is Elle?” She hadn’t meant to sound jealous. She was merely wondering what role the woman he’d spoken to played in his life, but her tone was all wrong.

  Based on the look on his face, he had heard her unintentional slip, as well. “Elle is my sister. My team is a small one from within the larger STEALTH group. We are part of their Shadow Team.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yes, my entire team is made up of my siblings. There are six of us. Like I said, small team.”

  “I bet it’s great working with your family.” She wasn’t sure of what else to say.

  “Some days are better than others, but all in all I can’t complain. I’m a lucky man. I have a job and a team I love. I’m like a big kid most of the time.”

  “Did you watch a lot of Rambo when you were a kid or something? Was that how you got into this?”

  “Ha. Yeah, something like that,” he said. “Actually, it was the family business. My parents worked in this field, so it was a natural progression. After they died, it was a way for all of us to continue their legacy.”

  “How did they die?”

  “Car accident. Well, we thought it was a car accident, but it looks like we have had people gunning for our family for a while now—Rockwood. We have reason to believe they were somehow involved with my parents’ accident. But it’s hard to prove. It happened a few years ago. But dollars to donuts, they killed my parents.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She held her breath, like breathing would fill his tragedy with air again if she did.

  He merely shrugged. His face hardened, like he hated talking about it as much as she hated what had happened to him and his family, but she was also grateful that he was finally beginning to really open up to her.

  “Is that the company whose name was on the bombs’ plates?”

  “One and the same. They are corrupt and stop at nothing so long as the ends justify the means.” He sighed. “Did you hear about the shooting downtown last year? The one with the sniper?”
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br />   She nodded. “That was a rough day for me. The courthouse was placed under complete lockdown and I was forced to go into the basement and seek shelter with all the other judges and officials. I had to sit with the district attorney for two solid hours. It was...fun.”

  “I can only imagine.” He snorted. “Did you learn anything worthwhile from her?”

  She huffed. “I had only just started as a judge. But she said a few things that raised my hackles.”

  “Anything about Rockwood?” he asked, the question making her wonder what she didn’t know about them.

  “No. I hadn’t even heard mention of them until you.”

  How did the company have so many enemies? What if she and Judge Hanes hadn’t been the real targets? He had to have had those thoughts already, but he hadn’t admitted them to her. Was that why he had stuck around? Was he worried that perhaps Rockwood was coming for him and she had just stepped into the crossfire?

  No. She reminded herself that they hadn’t known the company was even tangentially involved until after the bombs had gone off and they had gotten the results back. Besides, if this company was going after the Spade family, there were a million other ways they could go about it without pulling in judges and teams from the FBI.

  If this company was as bad and as ruthless as Evan had alluded to, there was no way they would have done anything that would have drawn scrutiny and investigations from federal organizations. At least not on purpose.

  “What did the DA say that bothered you?” he asked, forcing her from her thoughts.

  “She seemed to have some kind of sense that because we were both women in a predominantly male field, that we would have some kind of quid-pro-quo deal. I had to set her straight.”

  “Had you met her before?” he asked.

  “Not at that point, but she had a case coming up on my docket.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t think that she is corrupt or crooked, but I think she thought she could find more favorable treatment.”

  “Are you absolutely sure that was what was going on? What exactly did she say?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t remember what she said verbatim, but it was something to the effect of she ‘hoped we could come to an arrangement’ on one of her upcoming trials.”

  “Don’t you think it is a little odd that she would say something like that?” He opened up his phone and she could see that he was looking up information about the DA.

  Finally, traffic started moving again. As it did, his phone rang. “What’s up?” he answered, seeming to know the caller. After a few yups and uh-huhs, he hung up.

  “All okay?”

  “Elle said they have signs that there is someone inside the house with the address we sent them. From the heat signature, they don’t know who it is, but they think we could safely head over there.”

  “That is one hell of a team to have right on hand. I can’t even imagine all of the capabilities you guys must have in tech and surveillance when it comes to getting things done.” She paused. “I just hope you are judicious with your applications.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry, Judge DeSalvo. We run a little close to the line between legal and illegal, but we are always ethical.”

  “Unlike Rockwood?” she countered as she drove down the streets leading to Ms. Sanders’s apartment.

  “Exactly. I promise we are the good guys.”

  She believed him, but she couldn’t help herself. “You know, on the bench, the bad guys are always trying to convince me that they are good guys, too.”

  “I’m sure that by now, even with only a year under your belt, you have learned to read people almost as well as I can.”

  “You do know who a murderer looks like, don’t you?” she asked, a wicked half grin on her lips.

  “Yeah, they look like everyone else.” He snorted in what she thought was disapproval. “Are you saying that you think I’m not on your side?”

  Did she think he wasn’t? Did being on her side make him a good guy?

  “No,” she said. “I didn’t mean for the conversation to go here. I know you are doing what you think in your heart is right. I appreciate you putting your neck out for me. Truly. But I have to admit that I’m a little surprised that this Rockwood company would be sniffing around me when it seems to be very focused on you.”

  “I’m not sure what has happened to you has anything to do with them. If anything, I’m thinking that whoever planted those bombs...maybe they knew the Shadow Team and STEALTH would be called in. Maybe it was a message to us.”

  “Do you think my attacker is threatening you in order to make you stand down?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m beginning to think now that you and I are talking about all of this.” He nodded and looked down at his phone, staring at a picture of the district attorney. She wasn’t bad-looking. “When we approach Sanders’s place, don’t park too close. We don’t want to give ourselves away.”

  He resumed tapping away on his phone until she pulled to a stop a block ahead of their next suspect’s house.

  She could see how he was drawn to this kind of work; it was thrilling to be this close to danger all the time. Though she couldn’t say she loved being the one who was coming under attack. However, if she was like him and given the option to protect a civilian, she would have jumped at the chance, as well. There was power and a sense of glory in what they were doing...tracking down bad guys before they could hurt anyone again.

  “This okay?” she asked.

  He looked up and he appeared a bit surprised at the fact they were already there. “Yeah, this will do. I’ll take point on this.”

  “Like last time,” she said with a nod.

  “May it go so smoothly.”

  Though she had never thought of herself as superstitious, the moment the words fell from his lips it was like she could sense a curse falling over them, shrouding them in danger.

  Maybe she was just imagining things, but there was no doubt in her mind that things were about to go fifty shades of full-blown wrong.

  Chapter Twelve

  The door swung open before they even hit the threshold. Evan reached for his sidearm, careful to keep his draw out of view as Sophia Sanders stepped out and sneered at them. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  Natalie stopped walking and he carefully stepped around her, shielding her with his body.

  “I heard you were asking around about me.” Sanders was red-faced and the color seemed more vivid against the backdrop of her jet-black hair. “I don’t know why you think you need to show up on my effing doorstep like I’m some kind of criminal.”

  “Ma’am, I don’t know who you believe we are, but I can assure you that we have no intention of causing you harm.” If anything, it was more that he wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t hurt the woman he had come to care about. “We would just like to speak to you a little bit, ask a few questions.”

  “You take your lies somewhere else. I have no interest in talking. You need to leave my property, now.” She pointed in the direction of their truck, like she had been sitting there watching them the whole time. It was almost as if she knew they were coming.

  As he watched the woman, he noticed she barely glanced in Natalie’s direction. Either she didn’t want to give her bad intentions away, or she really didn’t know who Natalie was. He hoped for the latter. Yet, this was their primary suspect and if she was as smart as he thought she was, she would go out of her way to keep her secrets and her crimes from being brought out into the light. For this woman, her daughter and her future were on the line. She had all the motivation in the world to act innocent.

  “Did you hear me?” the woman asked. “You’re not welcome here. I don’t care who you are or what you think you’re doing. I have nothing further to say to you, unless you show up here with a warrant or a set of handcuffs.”

&nb
sp; Maybe she wasn’t so good at acting after all. She was guilty of something.

  There was the rev of an engine as a Dodge Charger careened around the corner of the road and then came to a skidding, tire-screeching halt in front of the house. Ms. Rencher, Mary, stepped out and hurried toward the house. “Damn it, Sophia, I told you not to make a scene.”

  Sophia let out a choking laugh and pushed past him, knocking against his elbow as he let his hand fall from his gun. Something about this didn’t feel like his life was in danger, but somebody’s ass was definitely going to get chewed.

  “You have no business being here. I told you that you weren’t to set a foot on this property ever again. You made your choices, Mary.” Sophia’s hands were balled into tight fists as she glared at her ex.

  “Whoa,” Natalie said, trying to get the women’s attention. “Let’s not let things get out of hand here. We were just hoping to come and—”

  “Ask a few questions,” Sophia said, finishing her sentence for her. “Mary told me all about you showing up at our headquarters.”

  “It’s not our headquarters anymore, Sophia,” Mary countered. “And, to be clear, the only reason I called you was to ask you about the order. If you have been using my accounts without my permission, you know I could have my lawyers on your ass so quick that it could make your head spin.”

  Evan was at a bit of a loss as to how to handle the fighting women. He wasn’t sure if he should put up ropes and just let them go full MMA or intercede in what was clearly a long-standing fight.

  “If you wanted to bring in the lawyers, you know you already would have. Which means you’re being cheap, you are afraid of what I am going to tell these people, or you wanted to see me.” Sophia sneered. “Which is it?”

  Mary strode up to Sophia, stepping so close that their noses almost touched. “We both know that if we never saw one another again, it would still be too soon.”

  Evan moved toward the women. “You guys are welcome to continue this fight when we leave, but I need to ask you both a few more questions.”