26

Piper drove on the quiet roads to Judge Dawson’s house, her stomach filled with butterflies. She’d never had to wake a judge in the middle of the night before.

The house was shaped like a circle and had a view of the valley.

After parking her car in the driveway, Piper took a moment to lean against her car and admire the sparkling cityscape in the distance.

“It’s a marvel, isn’t it?”

She flicked her head around and saw Judge Dawson approaching her. Silk robe with silk pajamas on underneath. Slippers and her hair pulled back. No makeup. And yet she still made Piper feel like she was the one that was underdressed.

“It started as a railroad town until Bugsy Siegel dreamed of a glittering city in the desert. The day after his dream, Nevada legalized gambling. They were going to postpone the vote until the next session. If they had, Bugsy might not have remembered his dream, and the city wouldn’t exist. How much of life, do you think, hinges on pure chance, Counselor?”

“Probably more than we care to admit.”

“I would agree. Come around back.”

When they got to the patio at the back of the house, the judge gestured to a chair and table with a view of the city. Piper took her seat. The house was surrounded by a balcony overlooking the cliff, a sheer drop on the other side. She hoped the judge hadn’t noticed her brief glance at the precipice.

“I’m sorry for waking you,” Piper said.

“I was up reading anyway. What do you have for me?”

Piper retrieved a copy of the warrant she had prepared, along with the affidavit Lazarus had sent her, from her satchel. She placed them on the table. Though she couldn’t make out the writing clearly in the dim light, Judge Dawson read it in a few seconds, extracted a gold pen from her robe’s pocket, and signed the document. “Rather interesting he’d be doing a routine patrol at that hour in that area, isn’t it?”

“He’s an interesting man.”

“He is that.” She pushed the search warrant toward her on the table. “Has he told you we briefly dated?”

She almost blurted out You’re freaking kidding? but held herself back and just said, “No, he hasn’t mentioned it.”

“We saw each other in court, and after the case was over, he asked me to have a drink with him. I probably should’ve said no, but there was something that made me say yes. Curiosity, perhaps.”

“What happened?”

She thought a moment. “I believe he’s the type of man that enjoys the comfort of misery. It’s difficult to be in a relationship with someone like that.”

Piper looked down at her signature. She couldn’t see it clearly, but the swooping D dwarfed all the other letters.

“Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“No, thank you, Judge. I’m going to check on Sophie in the morning, and then I have to finish the interview with her therapist. I better get home.”

“Has she opened up about remembering anything new?”

“Only a little, but we’re getting there.”

“Is Detective Holloway still trying to get you to allow an interrogation?”

“He is.”

The judge leaned back in the chair, placing her arms on the armrests like some Victorian aristocrat. “We have enough time in this life to become exceptional at one thing. So we have to choose our one thing carefully. Lazarus didn’t choose his carefully. Now, he sees the whole world as a puzzle to be solved rather than something to be experienced. Don’t make the same mistake.”

Before Piper could reply, the judge had already stood up. She tucked her hands into the pockets of her robe and made her way back to the house.