“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.
“Do you need help? Will she come to me?”
The cat settled into Madison’s arms.
“She hates the carrier. She thinks she’s going to the vet,” Judge Conroy said. “Come on, let’s go.”
They ran out the back door and through the courtyard. In the alley, Madison stopped.
“I’m not going with you.”
“We can get away, I promise. I’ve got a plan.”
“I’d feel safer on my own.”
“You think you can hide? Where—in your dorm? Your mother’s house? He’ll find you. The feds won’t save you. They’re doing nothing to protect you. You must see that.”
Madison hesitated. The judge reached into the pocket of her raincoat and pulled out the gun.
“I’m sorry to do this, but you’re coming with me, whether you like it or not. If I leave you behind, they’ll use you to find me. And when they’re done with you, they’ll kill you, which I could not abide. Now, move.”
The judge waved the gun. Madison headed for the white SUV.
“No. They know that car. Follow me,” Judge Conroy whispered, yanking the hood of her raincoat over her bright hair.
It was a cold night with the taste of snow in the wind. Their breath came out in clouds as they hurried down the alley, around the corner, and down a few blocks. Madison thought about making a run for it. Despite the threats, she didn’t believe that Judge Conroy would shoot. But the judge’s warning had gotten through to her. It was true—the feds weren’t protecting her. She could try to run on her own. But Wallace had found her before. He could do it again. And she couldn’t count on outsmarting him twice.