Chapter 21: Hands Where I Can See Them

"Stop there, Deputy," the judge said.

She hadn't raised her voice.

She had put on her glasses and was looking at the paper in his hand from across three tables.

"Bring that to me."

"Your Honor, this is a lawful order--"

"Bring it to me."

He walked it over.

She read it standing, in her evening gown, with Rafe's phone in the other hand.

The ballroom waited.

"I signed no such order," she said.

The deputy's face went slack.

"This is dated tonight," she said. "It has my name typed under a signature that isn't mine. Deputy, where did you get it?"

"It was handed to me."

"By whom?"

He didn't answer.

His eyes slid across the room to the stage.

Every head in the ballroom followed them.

Dorian was backing toward the service door behind the orchestra, one step at a time, with his hands slightly raised.

"This is absurd," he said. "I wasn't aware of any of this. The doctor was hired by the family. The deputy is a family friend."

"I never met you," the deputy said hoarsely.

"Don't be a fool."

"You gave me an envelope behind the church. You said her father's board would thank me."

The doctor sank into a chair and put his face in his hands.

Two men in plain dark suits stepped away from the back wall, where they had stood so still that I had taken them for waiters.

One of them showed the room a gold shield.

"Dorian Halsey," he said. "Special agents with the district attorney's office. We'd like you to come with us."

"You can't--"

"We have the file from the streaming company," the agent said, "and we have the doctor's statement, and we have the deputy's."

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