The Intern(80)

Judge Conroy dropped her head into her hands, rubbing her eyes.

“I understand. I believe you, and I’m sorry that happened to you. But I still need to know whose side you’re on. Keep talking. You met with them. They asked about me, obviously. What did you say?”

“You know, not everything is about you. I was more interested in convincing them not to arrest me. Come to find out, you’re implicated in the assassination of a federal prosecutor, and because of my association with you, I am too. I had nothing to trade. No proof to give. No testimony. Because you don’t confide in me. You know that better than anyone. I’m a target, and useless to them as a witness. Because of you. They let me go. But they said they’re not done with me, and I’m sick over it.”

The judge looked genuinely upset.

“Madison, I’m sorry. I never meant for any of that to happen to you. I want you to know I had nothing to do with that murder. Brad McCarthy was my friend.”

“Yes, well. Being your friend gets people killed, apparently.”

Judge Conroy exhaled, hard and sharp, like she’d been slapped. Her eyes filled with tears. She made a valiant effort to hold them back, but a few spilled over and rolled slowly down her cheeks, sparkling in the lamplight.

“I can’t argue with you. Brad. Doug. Matthew. They died because of me. I don’t want that to happen to you. I can’t deny you’re in a horrible position. That’s why I’m concerned about a wire. I wouldn’t blame you if you flipped on me.”

“You say they died because of you. What does that mean? The feds say you killed Douglas Kessler. Is that true? You know I’m not wired. I’m asking because it matters to me. And if you’re worried that if you confess, I’d testify—”

“I can’t confess, because I didn’t kill him,” the judge said. “Completely the opposite. I tried to warn him. Charlie wanted proof that Doug was working for the feds. I was supposed to get that for him, and then they were going to kill him. I just couldn’t handle another death on my conscience. So I sent you in to warn him instead. That was the message you delivered at the reception. A warning that the feds were investigating. And that Charlie and his people thought he was snitching and wanted him dead.”

“But it didn’t work?”

“He panicked. He ran out of the party, which spooked Charlie, I guess, and then they—well.”

Madison felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. Even if the message was intended as a warning, by delivering it, she’d played a part in a man’s death. She looked at the judge with horror in her eyes.

“Brooke said you killed him. Maybe you didn’t pull the trigger—”

“Madison, I tried to save him.”

“—but you put me in the middle of a murder.”

“It was going to happen anyway. The slightest hint that someone might rat, and the order goes out. Eliminate the risk. They got to Doug. They’re coming for me next. I’ve been under their thumb since I was a kid. You can’t fight them. The feds won’t help you. They’ll turn on you if it suits them, like they turned on me. Brooke flipped you without explaining the risks. And now she’s dangling you like bait. Is there even a unit outside protecting you?”

The answer was no. Olivia said it was premature to station a unit at the town house until they’d allayed Judge Conroy’s suspicions. Monitoring too closely could blow the investigation. So they’d sent her in alone. Unprotected. The judge was right. She couldn’t trust the feds. So, where did that leave her?

“That’s what I thought,” the judge said. “They don’t care what happens to you. But I do. I don’t want you to pay for my sins, Madison. I came back here to get Lucy, knowing it was a risk. But it’s my risk. I don’t want you here when he comes for me.”

The hairs rose on the back of Madison’s neck. “Wallace is coming here?”

As if on cue, a red flash lit up the dimness of the room. Their eyes flew upward. A motion sensor mounted near the ceiling had switched on suddenly, seemingly of its own accord. Its red eye glowed. Madison’s hackles rose.

“Why did it do that?”

“Shhhh.”

The judge went to the alarm panel in the back hall and studied it, tapping in a complicated sequence of codes. As mysteriously as it turned on, the red light blinked off. They both visibly relaxed.

“I’ve always wondered—” Madison began, but the judge put her finger to her lips and shook her head.

She’d meant to ask, Do those things have cameras in them? Is somebody watching? The judge’s behavior suggested that the answer to both questions was yes. The red light was off now. A phone sitting in a charger on the kitchen island began to ring. It wasn’t the judge’s normal phone, or her normal ringtone. She could see the screen from where she sat. NANCY, it read. They exchanged glances. Judge Conroy looked gutted, terrified. She silenced the phone, but it rang again a moment later. CHARLIE, it said this time, and she switched it off. There was a pad of paper on the island next to the phone charger. She grabbed a pen and scrawled a note, putting it under Madison’s nose, at an angle the camera couldn’t see.

They know we’re here. We need to leave NOW.



Judge Conroy chased Lucy down, dragging her out from under the sofa and getting clawed in the process.