Page 6 of Blind Justice

Ruth frowned. “Well, I guess I need to figure out a way to deal with him.”

"Of course you can," Melanie said smoothly as she leaned in. "But you shouldn’t have to. He’s gross."

Ruth smiled wryly and changed the subject. "So, are you bringing anyone to the end-of-the-year party?"

Melanie's lips curled into a smirk. "Actually, yeah. I started seeing this really nice guy named Luke."

Ruth looked genuinely interested. "Oh? Tell me more."

"He works private security for some bigwig,” Melanie said, seeming to watch for Ruth’s reaction.

Ruth blinked, momentarily taken aback. "Doesn’t that make you nervous? It’s like being a police officer with one big target. His job is to step in front of a bullet."

Melanie let out a low chuckle and speared another bite of pasta. "As long as he keeps buying expensive dinners and is good in the sack, nah." She winked.

Ruth laughed, shaking her head. "That’s one way to look at it. But you should be at least a little afraid.”

Melanie shifted uncomfortably. “But he’s just doing security work. It’s mostly crowd control.”

Ruth realized Melanie wasn’t getting it. She also realized she was putting her own fears on the conversation. She didn’t remember her father. He was murdered when she was two. She opened her palms then picked up her wine glass.

They settled into an easy rhythm after that, enjoying their dinner, their laughter spilling into the small space as they gossiped about people at the firm. Melanie kept steering the conversation back toward Ruth’s personal life, asking about her dating situation, her plans for the holidays, little things that seemed casual but carried a quiet persistence.

Ruth enjoyed the moment, the wine softening the edges of her long day as she let herself relax in Melanie’s company.

Three

Aday later, in the sterile office of the state’s attorney, Noah Kandor sat hunched over his desk, his eyes burning from lack of sleep. Weeks had blurred together in his mind as he chased down leads in the high-profile corruption case that had consumed his every spare moment. A small inconsistency in an accounting report, a thread he noticed, brought him to pursue Fairchild’s accountant, Robert Hilton.

Hilton came running to Noah after his favor with Fairchild took a downward turn. Noah believed, and he finally had proof, that CEO Maxim Fairchild, who had landscaping contracts across the nation through Verdant Horizons, was diverting funds from those prolific contracts to offshore accounts.

Noah’s dedication to his job was unmatched, but lately, it had started to take a toll on him. The late nights, the lack of sleep, the likely death of his informant, the sense that he wasn’t getting any closer to something powerful and ugly—it all bothered him. He could feel the pressure building, the whispers behind closed doors in the office. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The records he reviewed were supposedly Maxim Fairchild’s, but not once was his name mentioned.

Alex Marcel, his best friend and partner, walked into the room holding two cups of coffee. “You look like hell,” Alex said, placing one of the cups on Noah’s desk with a plop. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

Noah didn’t bother looking up from the mountain of papers scattered in front of him. “I’ll sleep when I figure out what’s going on,” he muttered, reaching for the coffee.

Alex leaned against the edge of Noah’s desk, crossing his arms. “You’re gonna have a heart attack if you keep this up. You’ve been chasing Fairchild’s shadow for weeks now. Do you even know how deep this rabbit hole goes?”

Noah finally looked up, exhaustion etched into the lines of his face. “I just got the report. It’s official: Robert Hilton is dead. It has to be deeper than we thought, Alex. I’ve been going through these financial records, and there are gaps. Transfers that make no sense, shell companies popping up out of nowhere. Fairchild is up to his chicken neck in this, I’m sure of it. Verdant Horizons won the bid for the Green Horizons project. It’s a three-billion-dollar money grab.

“Robert Hilton was onto something, and they chopped him up and dumped him in the Blunt landfill. Why did Hilton come to us if he didn’t think there was something going on with Verdant Horizons? From what I can see, Verdant Horizons has projects in fourteen other states and is bidding for more. Now, with Hilton gone, we have nothing but innuendo. Someone gave up his location.”

Alex frowned, his usually laidback demeanor replaced with concern. “You think it’s someone in the state’s attorney’s office? One of our own?”

Noah nodded slowly, taking a sip of the bitter coffee. “I can’t prove it yet, but, yeah, I think so. His location wasn’t found by chance. And whoever it is, they’re covering their tracks well. I keep hitting walls.”

Alex sighed, running a hand through his graying hair. “If you’re right, this is bigger than anything we’ve dealt with before. You know what Fairchild’s money makes him capable of. If he’s in bed with someone in our office, you’re not just playing with fire, you’re practically bathing in gasoline.”

Noah let out a humorless laugh. “Believe me, I know. I’ve been getting that feeling more and more lately. People are avoiding me in the hallways. Conversations stop when I walk by. Something’s going on, Alex, and it’s not just paranoia.”

Alex studied Noah for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, I trust your instincts. But you can’t do this alone. We’ll keep digging, but you need to be careful. A man in Fairchild’s place with a billion-dollar business is not the kind of guy to let people poke around in his affairs for long.”

Noah smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.” He grabbed a file off his desk. “Here’s the Douglas case statements. I finished them for presentation to the grand jury last night.”

Alex pushed off the desk and clapped a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “I’ve got the last statements scheduled with a witness in the Taylor case. We just have to wrap up the Webber case, and we meet our deadline. I’ll start going through the Hilton files with you tomorrow. We’ll figure it out.”

Before Noah could respond, Alex’s phone buzzed.U.S. Attorney Calloway.A tingle ran down his spine.

---