“You can see there’s nothing. There’s nowhere to hide it. Look.”
She drew within a couple of feet of the judge, tugging her underwear away from her skin and shimmying, doing the same with her bra, which was lacy and sheer anyway.
Judge Conroy slammed her hand on the table. “I’m tired of this stupid game. Where is it?”
“I don’t know what else to say to convince you.”
“You could tell the truth about where you’ve been.”
“Fine. Yes, I went to DC. I met with them. I’ll tell you exactly what happened if you’ll just let me get dressed. Please? It’s cold in here.”
Sighing, the judge sat back. “All right, go ahead.”
Now that the argument was over, Lucy strolled in and rubbed up against Madison’s legs, getting in the way as she tried to put on her jeans.
“Lucy, here. Stay away from her.”
The cat looked skeptical. Judge Conroy had to put the pet carrier aside before Lucy would agree to get on the sofa. Their negotiation gave Madison a moment to catch her breath. To be forced to disrobe at gunpoint had shaken her, but it shouldn’t have. Olivia had warned her that might happen. Wallace knows we took you from the police station. He’ll assume we met, and that you’re cooperating. If he knows, she knows. She’ll probably pat you down, so we won’t send you in wired yet. Your job is to allay her suspicions. Talk her around, win her trust back. Once she trusts you, that’s when we wire you up.
Madison sat down, a nervous flutter in her chest. She’d rehearsed what to say and how to say it. Tell enough of the truth to be credible. Don’t apologize. Let your anger show. The advice helped with the fear but not the guilt. She didn’t want to be responsible for bringing Judge Conroy down. That was foolish, even self-destructive. She needed to overcome her schoolgirl hero worship of the judge and do the right thing for herself. Or else Kathryn Conroy would walk away unscathed and leave Madison and her family to pay the price.
“Go ahead, I’m listening,” Judge Conroy said.
“You want to know why I met with them?” Madison said, the anger rising in her voice. “Because your psychotic boyfriend kidnapped me and threatened to kill me. Was I supposed to just sit back and accept that?”
“If you mean Charlie, he’s not my boyfriend.”
“I don’t care what he is to you. He’s a complete psycho. He planted drugs on me. Me, who’s never been in trouble a day in my life. Then he threatened to murder me for snitching to the feds, which I was totally innocent of. And he might’ve succeeded, if they didn’t pick me up on a transfer. That’s why I agreed to meet with them. He gave me no choice.”
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.”