Chapter 5: The Day Richard Appeared to Win
The state investigator arrived before dawn.
Mara Ellis placed a sealed evidence bag on the table while Richard and Paul Voss waited across from us.
“The deletion came from a laptop registered to Mr.
Voss’s firm,” Mara said.
Voss did not blink.
“My firm has forty-seven laptops.”
“This one connected through the hospital guest network.”
Richard leaned back.
“Anyone could have copied the device identification.”
Mara turned to me.
“Judge Elena, I need you to surrender your phone while we review your call to the district technician.”
“Of course.”
Richard smiled.
“At last, someone is investigating the right person.”
By noon, the Judicial Conduct Panel had called an emergency meeting.
Sophie remained with Nurse Morgan while I sat before three panel members.
The chairwoman slid a printed email toward me.
“Did you send this to Principal Ward?”
The message appeared to come from my judicial account.
EXPEL MAX STERLING TODAY OR I WILL DESTROY EVERYONE WHO PROTECTS HIM.
“No.”
Richard’s attorney rose.
“The school received it six minutes after Judge Elena displayed her credentials.”
“I never sent it.”
Principal Ward sat behind him with both hands folded.
Voss faced her.
“Did Judge Elena threaten you?”
Ward glanced at Richard.
“Yes.”
The word landed more painfully than shouting would have.
I leaned forward.
“You know that is false.”
“You put your badge on my desk,” Ward said.
“You demanded that I obey you.”
“Nora Bell was in the room.”
“Nora was dismissed for taking confidential records.”
Richard stood.
“My son made a foolish remark, but Elena turned a school matter into personal revenge.”
“You offered money to silence Nora.”
“A donation was misunderstood.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Prove it.”
The panel chairwoman raised her hand.
“Until the email is authenticated, Judge Elena will take administrative leave.”
Richard buttoned his coat.
“You wanted consequences,” he said as he passed me.
“Now you have them.”
Outside, reporters crowded the courthouse steps.
One called Sophie a troubled child, and another asked whether I had threatened a principal.
Chief Grant opened the rear door of his car.
“Get in.”
“You cannot be seen helping me.”
“My daughter showed me the messages Max sent her.
I should have believed her the first time.”
He drove me back to the hospital and stopped beneath the emergency entrance.
“I told Richard things during our golf games,” he said.
“Small things about schedules and department problems.
He may have used them.”
“That is why the state took over.”
“I know.” He looked down at his hands.
“I also know helping now does not erase failing Emily.”
“No, it does not.”
He nodded once.
“Thank you for saying it out loud.”
Inside Sophie’s room, my phone had been returned in a sealed pouch.
Mara cut it open and passed it to me.
“The threatening email was routed through your account,” she said.
“Until we find the access point, Richard has what he wants.”
My screen lit up with a message from an unfamiliar gaming profile.
It included a photograph of Max holding his handheld device beneath a blanket.
MY DAD DOESN’T KNOW THIS RECORDS EVERYTHING.
May you like
A second message appeared.
MEET ME BEFORE HE FINDS IT.
