Judgment

10

In the elevator down to the ninth floor, she could feel her heart thudding in her ears. She was still numb from her encounter with Sam Giannopoulos. Her blood tingled.

The man had spoken to her in a way he never had before. He was a member of the court administration; he had no right to tell her what to do. He wasn’t her boss. But now he seemed to be warning her: Just see it through. It’s better this way.

She felt queasy, her stomach tight.

Sam was frightened himself; that was clear. They’d gotten to him. They’d threatened him somehow.

Whoever they were.

Shakily, she returned to her lobby, and keyed open the door. Kaitlyn, her law clerk, had picked up lunch from the Middle Eastern place on Cambridge Street. Juliana was touched: she hadn’t asked for it. Kaitlyn was thoughtful that way.

She glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes till the afternoon session started. She wasn’t hungry but knew she had to eat. She unwrapped the salad and forked some chicken into her mouth, chewing pensively. She barely tasted the food.

She gave up trying to concentrate on the document that was on her monitor, her mind flitting from the videotape she’d seen at the Bostonia Club to Sam Giannopoulos’s blanched face.

Her life was on the verge of being ruined. One wrong move, one mistake, and it was over. She was petrified and couldn’t think clearly.

Suddenly her cell phone rang. Not many people had that number. Duncan, Jake, a few other people. The caller ID read PRIVATE CALLER. Apprehensively, she picked it up.

“Listen to the man,” the caller said.

“Who is—”

“You are not to recuse yourself. That would be a serious mistake. Do it, and the video goes public, and thousands, maybe millions will watch it. Your life as you know it will be over.”

She heard the accent and was pretty sure it was Matías.

“Who is this?” she said, but the line had gone dead.

A knock on the door. “Judge?”

She looked up. Kaitlyn.

“You okay?”

Juliana didn’t reply.

“You’re late for oral arguments,” Kaitlyn said. “Do you need me to postpone?”