Chapter 15 - The Judge's Empty OfficePike's chambers were open, his car sat at home, and no one could reach him. He had missed a scheduled hearing, which was unlike him. Investigators couldn't assume why. Perhaps he was hiding. Perhaps he was frightened. Perhaps something had happened.
Garrett's arrest dominated the news. His attorney insisted the charges were false. Evelyn released a statement saying she cared deeply for Chloe and wanted privacy for the family.
I read it twice, then threw the paper away.
“Don't let her words become your weather,” Lisa told me. “Your daughter needs a steady place to land.”
At the hospital, Chloe asked for water through a communication board. She couldn't yet swallow freely without medical assessment, so a nurse helped her safely. We celebrated the request as though it were a birthday.
“Can you hear the rain?” I asked.
A blink.
“You used to love storms. You said the sky sounded like it was moving furniture.”
The corner of her mouth shifted. Maybe it was a smile. I chose to remember it that way, without asking the doctors to call it one.
Nora arrived with a more troubling discovery. Financial records suggested the Harringtons' charitable foundation had been used to route transactions benefiting private businesses. Chloe had been listed as an officer without evidence that she understood or approved key actions.
“Can her name be cleared?” I asked.
“If the records support it, yes. We still have work to do.”
“And Pike?”
“We're looking.”
As she spoke, her phone rang. She listened for a long time.
When she hung up, she looked stunned.
“Pike just contacted investigators through an attorney. He says he left because someone threatened his family.”
“Will he testify?”
“He says he has one condition.”
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“What condition?”
“He wants to speak to you first.”
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