Chapter 4 - THE MAN BEHIND THE TERMINAL
By sunrise the next morning, my house had become the quiet center of a federal investigation.
Khloe knew none of that.
As far as she understood, two of “Grandma’s courthouse friends” were downstairs because someone had behaved badly the day before.
That was enough information for an eight-year-old.
Laura wanted to take her home.
Agent Reed advised against moving her until they understood who had taken the photograph.
So Laura and Khloe stayed with me.
At 6:40 A.M., Captain Ruiz returned.
She had not slept.
Neither had I.
“Mercer is missing,” she said.
I looked up from my coffee.
“Since when?”
“He failed to report for an interview at five.”
“His house?”
“Empty.”
“Vehicle?”
“Found at headquarters.”
Agent Reed entered behind her.
“His personal phone is off.”
Laura came into the kitchen.
“He knows you found the access logs.”
Reed nodded.
“Probably.”
I asked the obvious question.
“Where is Bruner?”
Ruiz answered.
“Interview room at headquarters.”
“Cooperating?”
She gave me a look.
“That depends on your definition.”
Bruner’s story had changed three times overnight.
First, he claimed the microSD card was planted.
Then he claimed Mercer had borrowed his body camera.
Then he admitted giving Mercer access to the camera two weeks earlier because Mercer wanted to “test new equipment.”
Each version created another problem.
The photograph of me at the courthouse had been taken thirteen days earlier.
The photograph of Khloe at school had been taken the previous morning.
Someone had been following us.
But investigators did not yet know whether that person was Bruner, Mercer, or someone else.
At nine o’clock, I called Chief Judge Patterson.
I told him only what I was permitted to tell him.
Then I did something that surprised Agent Reed.
I asked to be removed immediately from every matter involving the township police department.
Reed raised an eyebrow.
“You’re recusing?”
“Of course.”
“Even if this turns out to be intimidation?”
“Especially then.”
Laura stared at me.
“Why?”
“Because I am now a potential victim and witness.”
I turned toward her.
“I cannot preside over a matter involving people accused of targeting me.”
“But that means they get what they wanted.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“They wanted control.”
I handed the sealed materials to another judge through proper procedure.
“Following the rules is not surrendering control.”
Agent Reed smiled faintly.
“That answer is going in my report.”
“It had better not.”
For the first time in twenty-four hours, someone laughed.
Only for a moment.
At 10:17 A.M., Bruner requested an attorney.
At 10:46, he changed his mind about something else.
He wanted to talk to me.
Ruiz told him no.
He insisted.
She told him absolutely not.
Then he wrote a note.
Two sentences.
Ruiz brought me a photocopy.
I read it.
MERCER SAID SHE WAS DIRTY.
HE SAID IF I STOPPED HER, HE COULD PROVE IT.
Laura read over my shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Agent Reed answered.
“We don’t know.”
I read the note again.
“Did Bruner think I was under investigation?”
“That’s what he’s claiming.”
“For what?”
“Corruption.”
I almost laughed.
Not because corruption was impossible among judges.
It wasn’t.
I had seen respected careers end because someone began believing rules applied only to other people.
But if Mercer had convinced Bruner that I was corrupt, why send Bruner alone?
Why use a false shoplifting report?
Why photograph my granddaughter?
None of it fit.
“Bruner wants us to believe Mercer manipulated him,” I said.
Ruiz nodded.
“He may have.”
“Or Bruner is giving us the one explanation that reduces his responsibility.”
Agent Reed nodded.
“Exactly.”
My doorbell rang.
One of the plainclothes officers answered.
A delivery driver stood outside holding flowers.
No sender name.
Reed stopped him from bringing them inside.
Bomb technicians were called.
The arrangement was harmless.
Except for the card.
It contained six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED ON THE BENCH.
This time, nobody pretended the situation might be coincidence.
Agent Reed took the card.
“Mercer knows where you live.”
“So does half the internet.”
“But not everyone has been tracking your family.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“We need a safer location.”
I hated the idea.
Not because I believed myself invulnerable.
Because I knew what sudden relocation would do to Khloe.
She had already asked twice whether Bruner was coming back.
Still, safety outweighed comfort.
We prepared to leave.
Then Captain Ruiz received a call.
She walked into my study to take it.
When she returned, her expression had changed.
“We found Mercer.”
“Where?”
“Regional Medical Center.”
Laura frowned.
“He went to a hospital?”
“No.”
Ruiz looked at me.
“He’s been there since 3:20 this morning.”
“What happened?”
“He walked into the emergency department claiming someone was trying to frame him.”
That was strange enough.
But Ruiz was not finished.
“He was carrying a federal court envelope.”
My stomach tightened.
“What kind?”
“A sealed evidence envelope.”
My voice lowered.
“From which court?”
Ruiz said nothing for a second.
Then answered.
“Yours.”
Someone had removed sealed material from a federal courthouse.
May you like
And somehow it had ended up in the hands of the police supervisor whose name appeared inside it.
---
