Читать книгу That Perfect Moment - Carmen Green - Страница 11

Judge Kimberly Thurman made being a Superior Court judge look sexy as she sat in her office on Courtland Street in Atlanta, Georgia. There was no boxy brown desk, with the obligatory picture frames of cats or kids covering the wooden space. Her desk was made of clear beveled green glass, accented with a computer that was built into the flat surface. The judge sat cozily on a sofa of Italian leather in an alcove in front of a window so she could catch the soft afternoon sunlight.

Zach was escorted in by her assistant Clark. “Your Honor? Do you mind moving over here?” Zach asked. If there was a threat against her, he wanted her to live long enough to tell him about it. Sitting by the window as she was, she was in a direct firing path should a sniper choose to access the roof of the building across the street. It didn’t matter that the building was police headquarters. Anything was possible.

“I’m glad you’re taking my concerns so seriously. Do you think someone is out there now?” The judge stood and moved.

“Having you move is just a precaution. Finding out would be my business. I don’t know if you remember me. We met at the four-day Symposium on Judges’ Safety two years ago. Hood’s position was that judges needed self-defense training and to improve safety in your travels from work and home. Your families needed to be more aware of safety issues, also.”

Loneliness lifted her lips in a soft tilt as she brushed her fingers against her cheek. “I remember you. I was opposed to judges carrying guns on the bench. My views have changed, given the events that have taken place in our city. The self-defense course you taught got all the female judges talking.”

Zach chuckled. “Did it?”

“Yes, sir, it most certainly did.” She smiled back. “That’s when I checked out Hood Investigations. Your outfit was hired because it was an impartial third party. A couple years ago, there was a big murder case, and members of our elite police units were going before several of us judges. Officers were put in jail, and Atlanta was thrust into the national spotlight.

“When the symposium came about, they decided against using our own officers for training because they didn’t want to mix our police with the judges. They didn’t want there to be even the hint of impropriety. For the record, I’ve taken concerns about my safety to the chief twice, and he’s all but patted me on the head and told me to go away. I’m not begging him to help me. Once I knew Hood was a legitimate security company and that your success rate was one hundred percent, I wanted to hire you.”

“I remember you from self-defense class. You beat the hell out of my dummy.”

Kim burst out laughing. “That’s what he was there for.”

Zach nodded, relaxing a bit, thinking back. “We met again six months ago, Judge.”

Kim thought for a moment. “I don’t recall.”

“I appeared in your courtroom.”

Her eyes clouded and disappointment crashed in like the surf. “Oh, no.”

“It’s not what you think. I wasn’t in trouble. We worked marathon court. The great Fulton County backlog.”

Kim pressed her hand to her mouth. “Oh, yes, I do remember you! What a nightmare that was. Three thousand cases. Oh, my goodness. The governor and the U.S. Attorney ordered the court system to process the cases within one month. How many fugitives did Hood bring before us?”

“We captured fifty of Atlanta’s Missing and Wanted. We didn’t sleep or eat for months before those fugitives had to appear in court. We went into hell to find those men and women.” He snapped his fingers. “I remember your hair was shorter then. You yelled at me! My fugitive was talking in court, and you thought it was me.”

They both started laughing.

Kim clasped her hands together. “I’d hoped you’d forgotten that. We were under a tremendous amount of pressure. Sorry,” she said shyly.

“No worries. You were just doing your job.”

“We all were. That’s why I called for you, Zach. If you and Hood Investigations could find fifty people who didn’t want to be found, you can find out who’s trying to kill me. Can you help me?”

His gaze met hers, and he got lost in the yearning and the question there. She wanted to live, and she needed his help.

Zach found himself looking at the judge as a woman and not a client. He focused on the carpet and realigned his thoughts. Before he did something unprofessional, he pulled out his computer. “Yes, I believe we can. Let me tell you what Hood Investigations can do for you.”

Zach pulled up the presentation that took less than ten minutes. “You would never be alone. There are four men on the team and three women. We work multiple cases, but in your case, we’d all work together due to the high priority.”

“Because of my status as a judge?”

“Yes.” Zach stopped the PowerPoint presentation from moving forward. “And, you called us. I know the marshals automatically provide security for you. But you have concerns for your safety, and that means you don’t trust them implicitly. Second, if a judge has a cause for concern, and you’re approaching Hood, you’ve gone through the regular channels and didn’t get the results you wanted. Are you concerned about people like the Baxters?”

“On a minor level, but my concern is that the threats against me may have been an ongoing thing, and we ignored the initial signs. I don’t want to sound paranoid.”

Her confidence wavered and she looked so unsure of herself. So like a vulnerable woman. For years he’d been teaching women to follow their instincts; the only thing that had kept some of them alive. He had no doubt the judge believed someone was after her. He wondered if it was true.

There was a double knock at the door and the judge’s assistant Clark walked in. Tall and well groomed, the thin man looked at his boss affectionately, then at Zach. “I had to eavesdrop on her, because I knew she wasn’t going to tell you everything.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Judge Thurman?”

“Clark, don’t make me look bad.” Even as she said the words, she made room for him on the spacious couch. He sat near her and she touched his hand.

“She’s going to get killed unless she’s honest. Mr. Hood, I insisted she contact you. I was trying to protect Judge Thurman when we were attacked one night after dance class.”

“Are you two a couple?” Zach asked, and couldn’t help frowning, because Clark seemed far more feminine than he did masculine.

Clark closed his eyes, smiled and shook his head. The judge didn’t look offended at all.

“No, but in my opinion, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to her.”

Judge Thurman chuckled, her smile affectionate, friendly.

“That is, until someone broke my arm and I’m leaving for three weeks to Puerto Vallarta. I can’t go on vacation until I know she’s going to be taken care of.” Clark looked at her, then Zach, with real concern in his eyes. “I may joke, but I’m very serious. Someone is trying to kill her and I’m worried.”

Zach nodded. “Start at the beginning. Tell me everything.”

“The judge only has just a few outlets of relaxation. Rocking the babies at the children’s hospital, Chicago step dance classes and going up to Lake Lanier and taking out her boat. She doesn’t have a steady anybody in her life, so last summer she took sailing lessons, but this year, I’m her dance partner.”

Zach looked at the judge, who was watching Clark with a smile on her face. “Please tell all my business, Clark.”

“He’s going to know your underwear color before too long, believe me. Really, Judge, I want you to be alive when I get back. He needs to know how I feel.”

She took a deep breath and looked at Zach, who instinctively knew Clark wasn’t her attacker. His concern was genuine. “Clark’s right, Judge,” Zach said. “I’ll be your bodyguard, your best friend—your everything—before this is over. And you, me. But your secrets will always be safe with me. Finish telling me what happened, Judge.”

“Last Friday night we finished dance class about nine forty-five and stopped at Brickstone for ice cream. The next thing you know, two men grab me, and Clark starts beating them with a tire iron.”

“Was this in the parking lot? Was it before or after you came out of the ice cream store?” Zach asked, looking at Clark’s arm, then at the judge.

“After we exited.”

“Did you notice them following you?”

“No,” Clark said, looking guilty. “But we don’t pay attention like we should. Sometimes we window-shop or get our nails done. We’re really good friends as well as coworkers. We work well professionally, and the judge is a very private person. I respect that.”

Zach looked at their nails and noticed the manicures. He nodded, then shook his head. “I understand the need for discretion, but you also have to trust someone, and that’s Clark.” She nodded. “Okay,” Zach continued, “where’d the tire iron come from?”

“I keep it beneath the back of the driver’s seat. Last year a man tried to rob me outside the gym, so I keep a weapon in my car and in the judge’s car. Anyway, Friday, I got the car door open and got the tire iron, but the bigger man got it away from me. He hit me on my arm with such force, my arm broke. Luckily, I can scream pretty loudly, and the two employees that were in the ice cream store ran out. They threw chairs at the men and blew whistles. The other man who had the judge let her go, and they drove off in a green Explorer SUV.”

“Did you get a tag number?”

“I told the police in the report just SO2. That’s it. I call them every day and they tell me they have nothing.”

Zach wrote down what was said. “No other witnesses?”

“It was very near closing time and everyone was gone. There were cars passing by on the road, but it could have looked like a lovers’ quarrel.” The judge rubbed Clark’s injured arm.

“Please don’t worry about me,” she told her loyal assistant.

He smiled, but their relationship was one that was deeper than a mere office acquaintance. His genuine care had saved her life. “The ice cream store did have cameras embedded in the exterior walls. The video arrived today.”

Clark moved to get up, but she patted his arm. She went to her desk and Zach watched her move. A black sleeveless, jewel-neckline dress hugged a shapely figure that was buxom on top, just the way he liked on a woman. Gold cuffs circled her wrists, while she wore a topaz on her right ring finger. While her hair had been in a conservative bun in court, she’d taken it down in her office, and she had freshened her lipstick, adding a shiny gloss.

In court, she hadn’t smiled once, but inside the confines of the warmly appointed room with the cocoa-colored microsuede couch, red-and-sienna-colored pillows, he could see how this would be a place where she smiled and relaxed in peace before going home. Zach accepted the DVD from the judge and put it in his bag.

“Have there been other attacks?”

The judge nodded, taking her seat. “While I was sitting in the hospital with Clark, I began to recall things. About a month ago, I got the impression someone was following me as I drove around one weekend running errands. I deviated my plans and lost the car, but I never got over that feeling. I alerted the marshals, but with budget cuts, security is an area they trimmed. Without a valid, active threat that I could prove, I was pressured into releasing the extra security detail.”

Zach took notes. “That’s crap. This just happened Friday. You were threatened in court today. There should be security posted outside your office right now. Ridiculous,” Zach told her.

Clark nodded. “I agree. I’ve contracted food poisoning three times this year, and that’s just crazy for it only being the ninth month of the year. I swear, I get poisoned every time Chef Henrietta comes here. I believe it’s her.”

The judge’s disbelieving look told Zach not to believe Clark. “Clark, what do you think this is about?” Zach asked pointedly.

“I suspect it’s jealousy or revenge. An envious colleague or a vengeful defendant or their family.”

“That’s an interesting viewpoint. No ex-employee or ex-lover?”

“No,” Clark replied, followed quickly by a no from the judge.

“If an employee has a problem, they can come to me. I’m tough, but I’m not without a heart.”

“In your opinion, Your Honor,” Zach pushed, testing her temper.

Kim didn’t take the bait. “It could be a stranger. I just wonder why?”

“It’s not a stranger,” Zach said quietly. “But we’ll find out who it is and end it. That’s what Hood does.”

“I like that,” Clark said.

“If I had to ask you for five names of suspects, who would they be?” Zach had directed the question to Clark, but Kim tried to intercept it, seeming to hate not being in control.

“That’s not fair,” Kim cut in.

“Judge, with all due respect, I’m trying to catch someone who is assaulting you. Nothing is impossible. Let him answer.”

“Trevor is the second assistant, and I think he’s rather sketchy. Lieutenant Franklin. Howard Daniels is a sheriff. The Baxters.” His eyes widened as he talked. “And Merrill O’Dell was the judge’s first conviction ten years ago, but he won an appeal recently. He skipped probation and hasn’t been seen since.”

Pleased, Zach wrote down everything Clark said, while Kim managed to look surprised and slightly annoyed.

“I believe Trevor is harmless,” she countered.

“Then where is he?” The sarcastic twist to Clark’s mouth wasn’t lost on Zach. “He’s gone longer than anyone on break, he leaves early all the time, and I’ve put him on two action plans for shoddy work. The man is a terrible assistant. He needs to be fired, yet you won’t do it.” He eyed the judge. “In my humble opinion,” he added, then rolled his eyes.

“He’s not that bad of an assistant, and he’s entitled to be absent once in a while. We all work hard and sometimes people have private lives that require some leeway. I don’t believe Trevor is a threat, but you’re going to do your own investigation.”

Zach nodded. “That’s right.”

Clark hugged the judge, then stood, holding his healing arm as he walked to the office door. “I’m going on three weeks of vacation far away from here, and when I get back I expect things to be different.” He smiled and leaned toward Zach. “Puh-lease. I don’t want to die.”

Zach chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re not going to die, and not a hair will be harmed on the judge’s head, either. You remind me of Daniel, my administrative assistant. Nothing but drama.”

Clark’s eyes brightened. “Daniel? Well, I’d better cut your office a check. I’ll drop it off to Daniel on my way out of town.”

Zach looked at the judge, who seemed totally relaxed. Her legs were crossed and she was resting her face on her finger and thumb. “We haven’t decided to do business yet,” Zach told him, his gaze shifting back to the judge.

Clark held the doorknob. “Judge?” he asked softly.

She looked at the Hood Inc. logo that spun in a circle on Zach’s computer. “Notify me when I am able to sign the contract, then cut a check for twenty thousand dollars to Hood Investigations. Also, prepare a dossier on all the marshals who’ve worked the security detail for the past twelve months.”

“I’m going to need one on the staff, including you, Clark.”

“Yes, sir.”

Zach focused on the judge.

“Thank you and enjoy your holiday,” the judge told Clark.

“Mr. Hood, everything is already compiled. I’ll have it in a few minutes, then I’m leaving, okay, Judge?”

The judge waved and the door closed softly. She exhaled a deep breath. “I’m going to miss him.”

“You’ll be down an assistant for a few weeks. Can you manage?”

She looked confident. “I haven’t forgotten how to type. It’s not that we as judges can’t do those forms, we just have so much other work to do. If I get swamped, I can get Trevor to step up.”

“So you do have confidence in him.” Zach appreciated that she seemed to be taking everything in stride, but he wondered how many sleepless nights she’d had wondering when her predator would strike again.

“I do, but I understand Clark’s trepidations. Trevor came in and tried to take his job. There’s been some bad blood between the two of them.”

“What’s Trevor’s last name?”

“Mason.”

He studied her. “Otherwise, how are you holding up?”

There was a silence that he realized was her way of choosing her words. “I’m relieved to know this is under way. But I don’t think it’s a staff member.” She looked unsure again.

“If you had to guess, who do you think it is?”

Her hand caressed from her thigh to her knee. “One of my security detail.”

“Why?”

“They know my schedule. Professional and personal.”

“Have you ever been romantically involved with anyone on the staff or in the court system? Anyone on your detail?”

She was shaking her head before he finished the question. “Never.”

Her quick answer made him think she was lying or that she at least had something to hide. She was gorgeous and she had to know it. The judge was the kind of fine that gave drunk men hope that they could approach her and come up a winner. Regardless of her position or theirs, he knew she had broken a few hearts in the hallowed halls of Georgia Justice.

“How long have you been in the justice system, Judge?”

She seemed eager to debunk his questions about any preconceived notion he might have about her private life. “I’ve been here long enough to know every step I take is being watched by my subordinates, peers and the powers that be. I’m always professional. Period, the end. It’s saved me a lot of grief and heartache that other colleagues haven’t been so fortunate to avoid. I’ve sacrificed,” she said, and the word echoed through his body. “But I made a choice to do that. There is no one, Mr. Hood.”

She was too beautiful to be alone, but there were a lot of women in Atlanta like her. He suddenly felt very protective of her. Zach checked himself, putting distance between them. He busied himself by stowing his computer in his bag. “Okay. It is possible that you could have a jealous relative?”

She shook her head. “There’s no one left but me.”

He swung back to not believing her. How was it that he and his brothers were always meeting and falling in love with women who had no one in the world?

The saliva dried in his mouth and he saw the judge’s eyes narrow. “What are you thinking? You’re squinting at me,” she said directly. Her gaze didn’t waver as she read him as quickly as he’d read her. No woman had ever done that to him before.

Zach sidestepped the quick observation. “We may have to temporarily suspend your extracurricular activities until we neutralize whoever is after you.”

“I can sacrifice dancing, but not the other two. No.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I can’t bend on those. Judges live by a code of conduct that restricts our behavior. This code basically controls our lives. I’ve given up a lot of things,” she said, scooting forward on the couch until she could stand. “I’m not causing harm to anyone or anything. I’ll do everything else you say. I’ll be totally under your control as long as I can rock the babies and go out on my boat.”

“Judge—”

“When we’re alone, it’s Kim, please.”

Was she tired of what she was?

The judge went to a mirrored wall, inserted a key and opened a door Zach had no idea was there. From inside she removed a large briefcase and a tailored white purse that was as sleek as it was expensive. “Mr. Hood—”

“Zach,” he said, standing.

Opening the classy white bag, she pulled out a black band that she wound around her hair until it was in a professional bun again. She dipped into the bag once again and came out with a shiny black case. Opening it, she slid black sunglasses into her hand. Leaning over her desk, she electronically signed the contract before stowing her iPad in her bag.

“Zach, you have to make those two things happen or I’ll find another security detail. I heard that Hood Investigations was the best. You not only get your man, but you make them pay without killing them. Between you, me and the wall, that’s my brand of justice. If I go into hiding and they kill me, they win. Can you do the job?”

Zach didn’t try to conceal his smile. She had become the judge again. Her logic was impeccable and refreshing. Women just didn’t think like her. “We do whatever it takes to get our man.”

She handed him her pashmina to drape over her shoulders, and when she turned, she was just beneath him. Kim’s sensuality was as effortless as her beauty.

“Let me make this clear,” Zach continued, denying himself the opportunity to be lulled by her feminine appeal. “If he gets too close, if anyone in your circle is endangered, you do it my way.”

Her face was expressionless, and then he saw it. Respect sparkled like a firecracker on a hot July night. She covered her eyes in black sunglasses and her lips eased into a sexy smile. “You’re the boss.”

The words had never sounded sexier. Never sounded more provocative than they did right then.

“First, we’re going to do background checks. Shake the trees and see what falls out.”

Zach decided right then that he loved her eyebrows because they arched over her dark glasses and told him what her eyes would not. He got her safely into his SUV and they were under way quickly.

He made sure they weren’t being followed, driving through the streets of Atlanta that he knew so well. Kim crossed her legs and he averted his gaze, vowing not to look again. If he was going to get the job done right, the last thing he needed was to want her. “You haven’t told me something,” Zach said. Her body language was different since they’d left the courthouse.

“I didn’t want to mention this while Clark was still in the office. He would never have gone on vacation. This was on the gate when I drove to work this morning.” She handed him a note.

Zach didn’t want to pull over, but he had no choice. He broke protocol and stopped at a well-known restaurant parking lot and shifted the gears into Park, the car facing the street. He needed an easy escape route, if that became necessary. He pulled latex gloves from the glove box, a staple in his profession. “You should have told me earlier. I could have had this scanned and analyzed by now.”

The note was simple. You will feel my pain.

It was impossible to tell whether the writer was male or female, black or white, young or old. The one thing he could say was that they were smart. No unnecessary words. No clues, no hints at their next method of attack. Only the promise. These were the worst. Zach hated these perpetrators. Catching this one would take skill rather than strength. “On the gate of your house?” he asked.

“Yes. They couldn’t get in,” she assured him.

He nodded. They weren’t professional. Not yet. “Don’t keep anything else from me. We’ll catch him that much sooner if I know everything. I hate surprises. They put us at a disadvantage.”

She’d already pulled off her glasses.

Her gaze cut across the traffic, then back at him. “Get used to them. That’s what law is all about. Managing the bad and evil surprises.”

“I don’t get used to anything. That’s why I always get my man,” he assured her. “Or woman.” She crossed her left leg, then folded her arms. He knew what that meant. Off-limits. Women only clouded men’s judgment, and he was there to work, only.

The judge had nothing to worry about. If her work ethic was as strong as she’d stated, his was made of carbonized steel.