CHAPTER TWO

Jose Juarez had the dubious pleasure of waking the disgruntled jurors the next morning and announcing that lunch would be served at twelve noon.  Several had been up earlier and had eaten breakfast but a few were still dawdling in their rooms.  Room 14C didn’t respond so he went back after rapping on the rest of the doors and knocked again.  

Jose waited and then used his key to wake the heavy sleeper.  He switched on the light and almost fainted at the sight of the blood splattered room.  He had to check his list to see if the victim was a man or a woman the knife wounds were so extensive. 

Jose had worked for Judge Able for years so he got on his radio and called her chambers immediately.  When her clerk answered Jose asked for the Judge personally.  It was an unusual request from a trained bailiff and the clerk looked over at the Judge.

“Well, what is it?” she asked.

“It’s the bailiff, Jose, and he says that it’s an emergency.”

For some reason the Judge decided to take the call and deal with Jose later if it proved to be unimportant. 

“What is it Jose?” the Judge asked impatiently.

“Judge, I’m in J-6’s room and there is blood everywhere and a corpse in the bed.  I can’t tell if it’s the juror or not.”

“What?”

He repeated himself and asked her who he should call first. 

“You haven’t told anyone yet?” she asked.

“No mam, it’s your trial.”

“Stay there and don’t let anyone in the room and don’t call anyone until I get there,” she ordered.

The tough ex-cop called the D.A. and the Chief of Police and met them in the parking garage and they rode up to the fourteenth floor.  They approached room C with caution and when they knocked Jose wouldn’t let them in until he heard the Judge’s voice.

He opened the door and stood aside allowing them to enter and then stepped outside to guard the door.

The Judge took over and told the Chief, “Get the crime lab on this quickly and quietly,” she ordered.

“It’s a change of venue case?” the D.A. asked Judge Able.

“Yes, and it’s related to the use of embryonic material from aborted fetuses so you never know whose going to lose it in this kind of case.”

The D. A. was having a hard time holding his breakfast down and decided to cancel his lunch appointment. 

“Absolutely no press until we know who the victim is for sure and then I’ll decide what we release.”

The Judge carefully examined the room and bath with her experienced eye and said, “Let’s keep the message on the wall to ourselves or this trial and our careers are over.”

She went out and told Jose, “Thank you, Jose, you did exactly the right thing.  Can you stay here until I have you relieved?”

“Yes, mam,” he responded.

“I’ll call and tell you who is taking over for you and in the interim I’ll want you on personal detail to me and this case,” she told him.

“Yes, mam.”

“And Jose, no leaks to the news, do you understand?”

Jose nodded and stood straight and tall at the door.  The Judge had given Jose a break when he was a very young man and an illegal and now Jose was her loyal supported for life.

She called the bailiff’s office and had Jose and two others she trusted detailed to her for the duration of the trial without telling the head bailiff what was going on.  He was a political appointee and she didn’t trust him.

Soon uniformed police were placed at each door on the fourteenth floor and Jose was relieved by another bailiff who was told to keep a log of everyone coming and going from the room for the Judge’s eyes only.

The head bailiff questioned Jose when he came in to time out but Jose just said that he was on personal assignment to Judge Able and had received his orders from her in person. 

The Judge cancelled the afternoon court session and waited in her chambers to find out the ID on the victim.  According to the records it was one Grace Devaney a grammar school teacher with no record of any kind.  It looked like a rage killing but that could very well be a cover the Judge decided.

Reporters’ were asking for a report on jury activity but told there was no unusual jury activity to report, but they were on to something and may have seen the D.A. or police chief arrive at the hotel.

As soon as confirmation reached the Judge that the victim was indeed Grace Devaney she called some federal people she knew and asked for assistance in analyzing the case and all the jurors.  When the assigned agent called her back she told him that the bloody note on the wall had read, “One down and fourteen to go.”  It could be connected to the trial itself as the note on the wall indicated, or it could be a personal motive using the trial as a cover.  Or the tough old veteran thought to herself it could be a crazy on the staff of the hotel or among the jury itself. She told the agent that the case involved the use of fetal material from aborted fetuses so he should check that angle. 

On a hunch she called the chief and asked him to place snipers on surrounding buildings and if anyone was spotted near the fourteenth floor to shoot the bastard. 

The attorney’s called to find out if something was going on and she told them that she had to replace juror J-6 and that she would fill them in the next day.

Out of her robes Judge Able was a slender pleasant looking woman even though she was a scarred veteran of the homicide squad before going on to law school and it was many years later that she was appointed to the bench.  She was sitting at her desk in chambers sipping Jameson neat when she heard a tapping on the door. 

“Come,” she called.

A smile crossed her face when she saw the scarred face of her ex-partner from homicide. She pulled out another shot glass and poured another Jameson’s as the lanky man took the chair across from her.

“Hear you got problems Beth,” he commented.

“You still got my back, Matt?”

“Cop’s last longer than marriage,” Matt laughed.

“You need someone to nose around?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t hurt, Matt, I’ll get you a temporary assignment,” she smiled at her old bud.

“Thanks, Beth.  Word on the street is that it’s a crazy.”

She described the crime scene and told him what the message said. 

He pursed his lips, “Contradictory,” he said.

“I thought so, too,” she said, “Killer’s showing off already, taunting us with what he’s done and is going to do.”

“Has he contacted the press yet?” Matt asked.

“I’m waiting for that shoe to fall, it will tell us a lot more,” she said, “Meanwhile we have to keep the rest of the jurors alive.”

“Even if you cut them lose he could keep killing them,” Matt said.

“Yes, but I’d hate to have to convince the jurors of that,” she said , “And to complicate it even more it’s a change of venue case involving the use of fetal material from aborted fetuses.”

The phone rang and the Judge listened for a few minutes and hung up. 

“No sexual assault, no prints unaccounted for, surveillance cameras didn’t catch anything,” she told Matt.

“Have the rooms checked before the jurors go in for the night,” Matt said.

“Buy you a steak?” he asked.

She grinned, “Sounds good but my treat,” she said.

“Kelly’s Place?” he asked.

“Kelly’s Place,” she replied.

(C) August 2013 Karen MacEanruig