Fatal Judgment Read Online Free Page B

night.”
    He didn’t wait for her to reply.
    “Everything okay in there?” Spence stepped aside as he exited.
    “Yeah.” Pulling the door closed, he indicated the two cops lingering a few yards away. “Why are they still here?”
    “I cleared it for them to hang around if you want to catch some shut-eye. There’s an empty waiting room two doors down, on the right. You can probably have it to yourself for four or five hours.”
    Not a bad idea. He was already digging deep into reserve energy, and he suspected things would only heat up in the light of day. He couldn’t afford to be off his game, not with a federal judge in his charge. Liz would be well protected for the next few hours with a deputy U.S. marshal and two cops hovering close.
    “Okay. Call me if anything comes up.”
    “Will do. We’ll keep an eye on the door to the waiting room too.”
    “Thanks.”
    Two minutes later, Jake dropped onto the couch in the deserted room. After rolling his jacket into a pillow, he tucked it under his head and stretched out. Sixty seconds later, sleep was already claiming him.
    But as he drifted off, a faint, pleasing, floral scent invaded his consciousness.
    Liz’s scent.
    It clung to his jacket.
    And while he didn’t like the woman, he had to admit her scent was very, very appealing.

     
    Lying flat on her back, Liz stared at the dark ceiling. She was exhausted. But, as she’d feared, sleep wouldn’t come.
    Every time she started to drift off, an image of Stephanie slumped on the white couch, her head centered over a growing crimson stain, pulsed across her mind. And in the silence of the night, she kept hearing the echo of her own screams. They went on and on and . . .
    Stop!
    Sitting up abruptly, she shoved her hair away from her face, pressed her fingers to her temples, and tried to get her ragged breathing under control. She should have known the firm stand she’d encouraged her sister to take with her husband might backfire. That issuing an ultimatum wouldn’t work. That it could lead to violence.
    She’d tried the same approach with Doug. And it had failed just as badly.
    The pressure of tears tightened her throat. For someone lauded as one of the finest young legal minds in the judiciary, she was a big fat zero when it came to dealing with the people she loved. The insights and good judgment she brought to the bench seemed to desert her in her personal life.
    Doug and Stephanie proved that.
    The tears she’d held at bay all day spilled out of the corners of her eyes, coursing down her cheeks in silent anguish while her chest heaved and her shoulders shuddered.
    Why, Lord? Why are you letting this happen?
    No answer came in the silent darkness.
    Bowing her head, Liz continued to weep.

     
    In his sleep-drugged state, it took Jake a few moments to identify the source of the vibration against his hip.
    His phone was ringing.
    Swinging his legs to the waiting room floor, he shoved his fingers through his hair and yanked the BlackBerry off his belt. “Taylor.”
    “It’s Cole. Everything okay there?”
    “Yeah.” He stifled a yawn and checked his watch: 6:00 in the morning. Four hours of sleep wasn’t enough, but he’d take it.
    “Was that a yawn? You sleeping on the job?”
    “Two of your officers hung around to back up Spence so I could grab a couple hours of shut-eye. What’s up?”
    “The crime scene technicians will be finished inside the house by 9:00. We’d like the judge to check the place out as soon as possible after that so she can let us know if anything is missing. There’s some disturbance around her jewelry box.”
    “Okay. Any sign of her sister’s husband?”
    “No. Springfield is watching the house, but he hasn’t shown yet. Also, the Feds are nosing around.”
    “That doesn’t surprise me.” When a federal judge was involved in a crime, Jake knew the FBI would keep its finger on the pulse of the investigation—and take over if it was determined the judge was the