Page 119 of The 1 Lawyer

When the courtroom door shut behind me, I said, “Hey! Gordon-James! What’s all the excitement?”

He didn’t respond. I approached the counsel table where he was setting up his laptop. I stood close enough for him to see my phone as I pulled it out. I said, “I wonder if all that hubbub is related to the e-mail attachments I received this morning.”

He still wouldn’t look at me. In a chilly voice he said, “Step away from my counsel table, defendant.”

I hit Play on the video. The image of Aurora Gates appeared. “Have you seen this?”

He wouldn’t acknowledge it, wouldn’t even look. “Remove your phone from the prosecution’s space or I’ll notify the bailiff.”

So that’s how it was going to be.

“The judge is waiting for us,” I said as I pocketed the phone. “She wants to see us in chambers.”

That got his attention. His head jerked up; his eyes met mine. I could swear I saw the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure it out.

I headed to chambers. Behind me, Gordon-James demanded, “What’s going on? What are you up to?”

I decided it was my turn to be closemouthed, so I didn’t answer. But if I’d been inclined to speak, I might have said a single word to the DA before I knocked on the judge’s door:

Surprise!

CHAPTER 95

IN CHAMBERS, Judge Ostrov-Ronai looked flustered. Her black robe was unzipped, and her face was flushed. The DA and I had barely stepped into the room before she said, “What the heck is going on out there?”

I settled into my seat and glanced over at Gordon-James, inviting him to weigh in first. His expression was stony. He said nothing.

So I said, “Judge, I’d say there’s been a new development.”

Ostrov-Ronai straightened her eyeglasses. “Well, I wish someone would enlighten me. The press mobbed me on the way in, and I didn’t have any idea what they were ranting about. I’m telling you, they jumped me. Is this how judges get treated down here? There’s more decorum in Jackson, thank God.”

I was gripping my phone hard enough to crack the screen. I needed to chill out or I’d give myself away. There was too much at stake; I couldn’t blow this. In a measured voice, I said, “I think I have the answer. I opened an e-mail this morning. It contained some shocking attachments.”

I leaned forward and set the phone on the judge’s desk. I flipped through the selfies first, giving her a chance to look them over.

Gordon-James scooted his chair closer to the desk. As the selfies of Joey Roman and the murder victims swept across the screen, Judge Ostrov-Ronai shrugged. “I don’t see anything very shocking.”

I pulled up the video of Aurora in the boat. Hit the arrow to play it. Joey Roman’s voice could be heard, taunting her. The judge grimaced. Gordon-James reared back as if he couldn’t bear to look at it. A sheen of perspiration broke out on his forehead. In different circumstances, I’d have been sympathetic. After all, Aurora was his niece.

But I was fighting for freedom. Mine and Rue’s. If I faltered, we wouldn’t have another chance.

When the judge looked up from my phone, she appeared genuinely baffled. “That’s terrible, a horrific thing to see. But the woman in that boat, she’s not the victim in this case.”

“No, Your Honor,” I said.

“These other pictures, they’re just regular cell phone shots; they don’t show criminal activity of any kind. What’s the connection to this case, the one we’re trying in court?”

“All of these women were murdered, Judge.” I refreshed the screen and flipped through the selfies again for her benefit—and the DA’s. “To my knowledge—as I understand it, there was a similar MO in those cases.”

Ostrov-Ronai shook her head. “I don’t know the background of those cases. Were the perpetrators convicted?”

I looked at Gordon-James. Waited to see how he would respond.

He didn’t mince words. “No. Cold cases, mostly.”

“That’s dreadful. Appalling.” Ostrov-Ronai tipped back in her chair, digesting the information. “Are the cases local? Sounds like you’d want to get to the bottom of it, Mr. Gordon-James.”

I grabbed the lead-in. “The DA told me yesterday that he’s got an investigative team looking into those cold cases right now.”

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