Still. Execution style. At their house. That didn’t seem random.
It was chilling.
5
Walking into the soaring lobby of the federal courthouse the next afternoon made Madison’s heart race. There were lawyers everywhere, male and female, all ages and races, united mainly by the soberness of their attire and their urgency as they hurried to court. Clients of every description filled the hallways, as well as law clerks, cops, security guards, a television crew setting up to film with a reporter whose face she knew from the nightly news. As far as Madison was concerned, this was the center of the universe. Where she belonged. Her destiny.
She passed through a metal detector and took the elevator to Judge Conroy’s chambers, where she was buzzed into a tastefully decorated reception area with spectacular views over the harbor to the skyline. The receptionist told her to take a seat. The judge was stuck in court, and it might be a while. Court. The very word thrilled her. She’d never been in a real courtroom before, only the mock trial room at school, and correcting that oversight was just one reason that she wanted this internship so badly. Losing the chance because of Danny’s legal problems would be a terrible blow. And yet, last night, she’d nearly decided to withdraw the application. Lying awake in the dark, she struggled—apply or don’t apply, tell or keep quiet? If she didn’t say anything, would Judge Conroy find out on her own that Danny was her brother? Hard to say. Rivera was a common enough last name. Maybe the connection would escape notice if Madison didn’t bring it up herself. What harm would it do to keep quiet, as long as she didn’t try to influence Danny’s case? The temptation to say nothing was powerful. And yet, after hours of mental struggle in the dark, she came down on the side that it just wouldn’t be right to withhold the information. Madison was an honest person. She knew in her heart that she should come clean about Danny, so the judge could have all the facts when she made the hiring decision. Who knows, maybe she’d be impressed with Madison’s honesty and hire her anyway.
She decided to go ahead with the interview but tell Judge Conroy about Danny. It was the right thing to do.
When morning came, though, reality hit, and her resolution faltered. She got dressed and took the T into Boston, in a panic over how to broach the delicate subject. At what point in the interview should she mention it? What exactly should she say? She rehearsed scenarios in her head, but they never went well. As she took her seat in the waiting area, she was feeling shaky and unprepared. Not because of her credentials. Those, she was confident of. But because of the Danny problem.
A young man and woman were already seated, both wearing conservative dark suits. She didn’t recognize either of them. She murmured a greeting.
“You’re here for the internship?” she asked, and they nodded.
No sign of Ty? Was it possible he hadn’t applied?
“Do you know if there are other applicants, or is it just us?” she asked.
They shrugged, not meeting her eyes. A tense silence fell. They were each other’s competition, after all. Madison sized them up, running through the calculations in her mind. They weren’t Harvard Law, or she would recognize them. BU, then? Or BC, Northeastern, Suffolk? There were many good law schools in the city, but none with Harvard’s cachet. It was just a fact. Harvard hooked you up. Judge Conroy—an alum—hired exclusively Harvard grads as her law clerks, like Ty’s friend Sean. That said, the judge wouldn’t hire someone based on their Harvard pedigree alone. They had to have the grades, the credentials, and the personality to ace the interview. Fresh off law-firm recruiting season, Madison knew she could do it all. Her interview pitch had been honed on a dozen corporate law partners. She went over it now, in her head. Top grades, law review, internship at the legal clinic last summer, hands-on experience, a people person, organized, a hard worker, rose from humble roots, yada yada yada. It worked before. She had the offers to prove it, the pick of the top Boston firms. Besides, Judge Conroy knew her and had personally invited her to apply. This internship should be hers for the taking. And it would have been, if not for Danny.
Ugh. She wished she could just ignore the problem. But she had to tell the truth. It was the right thing to do. Integrity mattered. Judge Conroy would expect nothing less.
As if Madison’s thoughts had conjured her, the judge swept through the reception area in a swoosh of black robes, trailed by two young law clerks and an older woman with gray hair. The group disappeared through a door at the opposite end of the reception area without so much as glancing at the applicants. Judge Conroy wore business attire to teach. Madison had never seen her in robes before. Impressive. The vision lingered, along with the fragrance of the judge’s perfume, a velvety whisper of rose petals that she recognized from the classroom and breathed in now. How amazing to be part of Kathryn Conroy’s team, sitting in the courtroom during trial, coming back to the office to talk through the thorny legal issues. The judge asking her opinion, praising her legal analysis. Yet it could all slip through her fingers if she revealed the truth about Danny.