Page 88 of Dirty Judge

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Twelve whole mortgages. A whole jury’s worth.”

Silence.

My entire world stopped, and recent words between Liam and me floated through my mind.

“Until someone paid them all seventy-five thousand apparently.”

“I thought only two were paid off.”

“I’m sure there were more…”

“If I knew how much judges got paid…” Max was still smiling. “I would’ve suffered through law school a lot longer.”

“Do you have the receipts of these mortgage payments?” I could barely hear my voice.

“Yeah, I printed those for your folder.” He shrugged. “He paid them off via an offshore account, but that’s typical when you’re dropping that much money.”

“Yes…very typical.”

“You alright?” He tilted his head to the side. “You look sick all of a sudden.”

“I’m fine.” I forced a smile. “Thank you so much for looking into everything for me.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiled back. “Glad I could prove he’s not a dirty judge.”

He totally is…

OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT (N.):

IMPROPER AND/OR ILLEGAL ACTS BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL WHICH VIOLATE HIS/HER DUTY TO FOLLOW THE LAW AND ACT ON BEHALF OF THE PUBLIC GOOD.

OLIVIA

Liam

Is there a reason you requested to work from home today? (Mara said you sounded ill.)

Yes, I am feeling VERY ill.

I’m caught up on all my work, though.

I’ll give you a raincheck on tonight’s dinner then.

You can take tomorrow off, too.

Pick up when I call you later.

Okay.

I will…

Iset down my phone and tried to ignore the constant pain in my chest, but it was useless. The ice pack I was holding against it did nothing to cool the raging heat.

Every time I looked at the evidence in front of me, my skin felt aflame all over again.

Somehow, for a reason that would never make any fucking sense, this man—this “judge”—had paid for a verdict.

And I had a feeling that he’d long planned for two of the jurors to get caught down the line, but I couldn’t figure out why.