Page 14 of Trial Run

She looked up to see Marty Lafferty, the bailiff from her old court. He’d gotten it worse than she had in the shooting, and she was surprised to see him here. “The question is what areyoudoing here?”

He held up a badge and grinned. “Doing the paperwork to start back at my old job. Almost. I’ll be in Judge Aguilar’s courtroom. First day is Monday next.”

She shook her head. Marty had been covering for another bailiff the day of the shooting when he dived in front of Judge Aguilar to keep her from getting shot, taking several bullets in the process. He was a goddammed hero and deserved to never have to work again, let alone at the place where he’d almost lost his life. “I can’t believe you’re coming back here.”

“What else am I going to do?” He asked. “This is the only life I’ve ever known. I’m two years away from full retirement.You think I’m going to give that up for some punk who’s not even a good shot?”

“You’re a good person, Marty.” Her gut roiled at the idea of coming back to work here. “Better than me.”

“Nah, just doing the only thing I know how to do. Not like anyone else is going to hire an old geezer like me.” He clasped her good shoulder. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. No reason for you to relive what happened every day when you get out of here and do anything you want.”

“I guess so.” Most of the people who worked at the courthouse considered it a calling and she had too. Before the shooting. But the bullet through her arm had changed her perspective. She’d floundered for a while, unsure what she wanted to do before she settled on the legal-adjacent career of private investigator. Lennox’s friend, Skye Keaton, one of the well-known PIs in the community, had promised to show her the ropes and feed her some leads, and she’d finally managed to wrap her mind around the new route her life was taking, but running into Marty brought guilt bubbling up inside. “It’s hard being back here for a lot of reasons, but there’s a part of me that will always wonder if I should’ve given it another chance.”

“You don’t owe anyone anything,” Marty said. “Try something new and if you ever decide you want to come back, I’m sure your people will find a place for you.” He paused for a moment. “The only other advice I have to give is don’t lose contact with your people. You may decide you never want to work here again, but don’t throw away the friendships you’ve made because the career isn’t for you. These people are what got me back on my feet. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

His words pierced the veneer she’d struggled to keep in place and tears started to form. The thing she missed the most was the easy camaraderie of the people who worked here—no matterwhat side they were on, with only a few exceptions, they could come together at the end of the day and celebrate wins, mourn losses, and support each other with unconditional generosity. Striking out on her own meant she’d have to be her own cheering section, grief counselor, and everything else. She could do it, but it wouldn’t be easy.

She was still deep in thought about the consequences of her career move when she walked into the parking garage a few minutes later, and it took a moment to register the angry tone of the whispered conversation that was happening near her car. When she recognized Brooke’s voice, she ducked behind a column, still determined not to run into her again today.

Only snippets of conversation were audible: “threatening,” “cryptic,” “unjustly accused.” She strained to hear more, but the voices got lower as the exchange progressed.

When the conversation abruptly ended, Reggie poked her head out from behind the column to try to get a glimpse at whoever’d been involved in the heated exchange with Brooke, but all she saw was Brooke standing beside her car. She had a choice to make. She could walk over to her car and pretend like she’d heard nothing, or she could ask her what was going on. Marty’s words echoed in her head—about the camaraderie at the courthouse, the way people came together no matter what side they were on. She might not have been able to hear the conversation, but she could tell by the expression on Brooke’s face it had upset her and she was compelled to address it head-on.

Choice made, she stepped out from behind the column and strode over to her car. As she approached, she knew she’d made the right decision because Brooke was shaking. She sped up until she was standing close. “Hey, what happened?”

“What are you doing here?”

Reggie pointed to her car. “Nothing shady, I promise. Just figured I’d leave like everyone else.” She waited a beat. “I couldn’t help but hear you talking to that guy. Was he threatening you?”

“Why would you say that?”

Reggie took note Brooke wasn’t denying the threat. “Because you look shaken up and it sounded like the conversation got a little heated.”

Brooke sagged against her car. “If I said I don’t want to talk about it, would you respect that?”

“Of course,” Reggie replied. “But if you did want to talk about it, I’d be happy to listen. Look, you don’t know me, but up until a few months ago, I was a court coordinator here. I worked directly for one of the judges and my job was to manage her docket which included working with defendants, witnesses, victims, and attorneys on both sides of a case. Not trying to brag, but I’ve got mad listening skills and there’s pretty much nothing I haven’t heard.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk outside of the courtroom.”

Reggie heard the wistful tone in Brooke’s voice and suspected she really did want to talk, but something was holding her back. “We’re not supposed to talk about the case, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about other stuff.”

“If someone’s watching, how will they know the difference?”

Reggie glanced around, but they were the only ones on this floor of the garage. Brooke was probably concerned the guy she’d been talking to earlier was still around and maybe he was. She leaned in close. “Who was the guy?”

Brooke flinched slightly, but she whispered back. “Please don’t ask.”

“I won’t, but I need something in exchange.”

Brooke’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Ice cream. I’ve been craving it all day. I have a lot of work to do tonight and I’m afraid if I don’t satisfy my craving, I’ll never be able to focus.” Reggie held up her keys and jingled them in the air. “You game?” She watched several different expressions play across Brooke’s face and braced for a no, but when Brooke finally answered she was pleasantly surprised.

“Okay, but I want to pick the place.”

* * *

Brooke looked in the rearview mirror again, not sure why she was surprised to see Reggie still following her. She told herself she’d only agreed to ice cream so she could bring some home to Ben, but the truth was she needed the comfort and company of another adult even if she wouldn’t be able to share the details of what was plaguing her.

---