Of course, she’d have to tell eventually. She would tell. This just wasn’t the right moment.
The judge stood up and stuck her hand out for shaking. It was hanging there, becoming more awkward by the second.
“Thank you, I’m thrilled to accept,” Madison said, and shook her hand warmly.
“I’m so glad. We need you to start right away. See Nancy on the way out. She’ll give you the employment forms to complete. I’m so looking forward to working with you. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you, Judge. I won’t let you down.”
The veteran of many practice interviews and numerous real ones, Madison recited those parting words automatically. But as she walked from the office, her smile faded. The truth was, she’d already let Judge Conroy down, and not in a small way. She lied to her face about having a brother. And not just any brother—a drug defendant in the judge’s own court. Not only did she feel terrible about it, but once the judge found out, the consequences could be severe.
They’d fired the last intern. What would they do to her?
6
Nancy, the case manager, sat behind the receptionist’s desk.
“She offered you the position, didn’t she?” she asked, eyeing Madison narrowly as she exited the judge’s office.
“How did you know?”
“She likes the Harvard kids, and you were the only Harvard kid.”
Gee, thanks. This lady was not warm and fuzzy, that was for sure.
“Take a seat, there’s paperwork,” Nancy said, coming over to the waiting area, a folder in her hands.
They sat side by side on the sofa. Settling her glasses on her nose, Nancy spread the forms across the coffee table.
“Here we go: employment form and NDA. They’re quite detailed. Would you like to sit there and read all the fine print? Or I can just walk you through.”
Nancy glanced at her watch impatiently, making clear what the right answer was. A good lawyer read documents before signing. But Madison was afraid to annoy her.
“I’d appreciate that,” she said.
“Starting with the NDA—that’s a non-disclosure agreement,” she said, enunciating like she thought Madison was incapable of understanding.
“I’m familiar with those from contracts class.”
“Forget everything you think you know. This NDA goes well beyond what you’re used to, because Judge Conroy has unique security concerns. You can’t discuss anything about this internship with outsiders. And absolutely nothing about the judge. Not what she says or does, who she meets with, what she wears, the papers you see on her desk. Her friends, her pets, her home address. It’s all confidential. That may seem extreme, but it’s for her security.”
“I understand.”
Nancy flipped the form to the signature page. Madison took a deep breath and signed on the dotted line.
“Now, the employment form. We use this with our law clerks. It asks for a lot of specific information that you may not have on hand at the moment. Names, addresses, phone numbers, and so on. Of past employers, references, roommates, housemates, family members. Basically, everyone you know.”
Family members. Shit. She would have to put down Danny’s name, then. Well, of course she would—she’d been planning to tell the judge about him anyway, to clear up the misunderstanding. She just didn’t want to do it on a personnel form, with no context. This was too big a deal. She’d pretended to be an only child, with no siblings. It would look like she lied. Well, because she did lie. To a federal judge, a woman she admired and felt a meaningful connection to. The judge felt it, too. She’d surely feel betrayed. This required an explanation, and an apology. She needed to go back in there and clear things up. Now.
She got to her feet.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Nancy said.
“There’s something I need to tell Judge Conroy.”
“The interview’s over. Sit down.”
“But—”
“I said sit down.”
Nancy spoke softly, but with an edge to her tone that couldn’t be ignored. Madison obeyed.
“If you want to succeed in this office, Miss Rivera, you need to understand something from the start. The judge is a very busy woman with an extremely important job. We’re here to support her, not distract her. If you have questions, or concerns of any kind, you come to me, or ask the law clerks. You do not, under any circumstances, approach the judge. Is that clear?”
“But when we talked in the interview—”