Devil's Bridge Read Online Free PDF Page A

to—”
    “No!” Moretti shouted.
    “Step into the hallway, Gino,” Fleming said. “Now you’re out of order.”
    “They need to grab that new kid down the corridor. Josie is her name and—”
    “Bring her right up to me,” Fleming said, talking over me.
    “Laura? Still there? That’s the judge speaking. I don’t know who Josie works for exactly, but they can cuff her if necessary and bring her up to Part 53. We’re in the robing room.”
    “Cuff her?” Moretti said. “You two are going overboard. There’s an innocent view of this that you haven’t even considered. My client isn’t—”
    “Move faster, Gino.”
    “But, Judge—?”
    I put one hand over my ear while Fleming laced into my adversary.
    “You know, when I was in your shoes and stood up in court for a client,” she said, “I
was
the client. I thought for him, I talked for him, I bled for him if necessary. I was going to be cleaner than a hound’s tooth so no one could hold any of my conduct against a guy who was already behind the eight ball. But you? You’re just gaming me. You’re gaming the system. And that’s the lowest type of animal life in my courtroom.”
    “I’m not gaming anybody. I had no idea.” Moretti couldn’t bring himself to walk out. “Like it’s okay for a prosecutor and a cop to hook up, right, but not for anybody else? For a paralegal or even the accused, who is still presumed innocent even though you’re the one presiding, Judge Fleming. At least that’s my guess. You don’t think that kind of incestuous relationship between Cooper and her homicide hotshot compromises how an investigation gets worked?”
    “Don’t go there, Gino,” I said.
    “Close the door behind you,” Fleming added, waving the back of her hand at him.
    I was still on the phone. “Yes, Laura. I’m here. Now call IT and tell them it’s this Josie kid who’s most likely trying to break into the database. They need to stop whatever else they’re looking at and get on her computer. Find out what’s on it and lock it down. Then call me back once you make contact. I’m on the judge’s cell,” I said, asking Fleming for her number and repeating it to Laura.
    “What’s there to get from your files, Alex?” the judge asked.
    I bit my lip. “More than you need to know at this point.”
    “Give it up. I’m not going to be able to try this case. Ex parte, ex schmarte. Whatever adjournment you get, this one is already too messy for me to handle. I’ll be reassigning it today. Is it the women?”
    “Yeah. And I’d have to say girls, not women. Estevez likes them young. Names, addresses, aliases. Every which way we have to find them.”
    “Your victim?”
    “Tiffany’s safe. I spent most of yesterday with her and she was good when she went home. Mercer had officers pick her up this morning when we learned this attempt was being made to gain access to my files and they’re babysitting her in a hotel.”
    “So Estevez is smart enough, desperate enough, to actually plant a mole in your office?”
    “Apparently so. That idea never occurred to me.”
    “And Gino?” the judge asked. “Do you think he’s capable of—?”
    “No way,” I said, walking to the window to look down at the street behind the courthouse. “I can’t imagine he’s involved.”
    “Very gracious of you, Alex,” Fleming said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t be quite so certain. These other girls, are they in danger?”
    “I suppose it depends on whether Josie was successful in breaking and entering into my computer system. It’s a big ring this guy runs. He’s got a posse out there who stand to lose a lot of money if Estevez goes down.”
    The first few distinctive notes of the theme song from
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
played out on Fleming’s phone. She looked at the incoming number and passed it to me.
    “Two guys from the squad have been dispatched to look for Josie. Josie Aponte. She’s a brand-new paralegal assigned to Child Abuse,”