The gold-embossed seal of the State Supreme Court glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights of the principal’s office. Richard’s eyes darted from the heavy badge to my face, his calculated composure fracturing in real-time. Before he could speak, I pressed a button on the side of my leather wallet, stopping the high-definition voice recorder that had just captured Max’s proud confession, Richard’s bribery attempt, and the principal’s complicit silence.

“You think your golf buddy can bury this, Richard?” I asked, my voice slicing through the sudden, suffocating quiet of the room. “The Chief of Police reports to the state. And the state answers to me.”

The principal scrambled out of his chair so fast it overturned, his face the color of chalk. “Chief Judge Sterling—I—we had no idea. The incident report was still being processed—”

“The incident report was being buried,” I corrected coldly, not taking my eyes off my ex-husband.

Richard tried to laugh, but it came out as a hollow, panicked wheeze. He finally realized that the quiet woman he had bullied during our brief, youthful mistake of a marriage had spent the last twelve years climbing the highest rungs of the judiciary while he was busy playing big fish in a small pond. “Elena, come on. It’s a schoolyard scuffle. Kids will be kids. Let’s not ruin lives over a misunderstanding.”

“A broken arm and a concussion are not a misunderstanding, Richard. It is aggravated assault,” I said. I pulled out my phone and dialed a single number on speakerphone.

The line rang once. “Chief Judge Sterling,” the voice on the other end answered sharply. “We’re outside.”

“Proceed,” I commanded.

part2