Brown, Sandra-Friction

to do was to give her formal statement, and then the ordeal would be over.
In the coming days, Greg Sanders would be watching to see how she responded to the crisis
situation and how quickly she recovered from the trauma of it. If she showed any signs of cowardice
or weakness, he would gleefully expose it.
Following Crawford Hunt out of the interrogation room, Matt Nugent and Neal Lester made their
way down the hallway toward her. They had interviewed her in the Family Court immediately
following the shooting, but to record her formal statement, they had asked that she come downstairs to
the ground floor where, like the SO, the city police department was also headquartered.
She stood up. “My turn?”
“I’m afraid not, Judge Spencer,” Neal Lester said. “We’re only taking a break. We’ve got a lot
more to cover with Mr. Hunt.”
“I see.”
“I know this is a hardship after what happened today. We’ll get you out of here as soon as
possible.”
“I understand.”
“One question, though. The suspect’s name hasn’t been released because we’re having trouble
locating next of kin, but his driver’s license identifies him as Jorge Rodriguez. Ring a bell?”
“No.”
“Not surprising,” Nugent said, looking happy to have something to contribute. “He had a Texas
driver’s license, but it’s a fake. Fairly good one, but still phony.”
“He was an illegal?”
“We’re looking into it,” Lester replied. “But even if he was, that doesn’t mean he hadn’t wound up
in your court sometime before today.”
“It’s a possibility. I’ve only been on the bench for ten months, you know. But the docket has been
full. I’ve presided over a lot of trials and hearings since my appointment.”
“Maybe Rodriguez was a holdover from Judge Waters,” Lester suggested. “Held a grudge of some
kind.”
When her mentor, the Honorable Clifton Waters, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he had
enticed her to resign from a law firm where she had practiced for several years, relocate to Prentiss,
and apply for the bench he would be vacating.
It had been a chancy career move, but she’d taken a leap of faith, and it had paid off. Acting on
Waters’s recommendation, Governor Hutchins had appointed her. Judge Waters had lived long
enough to see her sworn in. It had been a proud day for both of them.
Nugent said, “We’ll send somebody over to your office tomorrow to look through court records,
see if Rodriguez turns up.”
“I’ll make sure Mrs. Briggs knows you’re coming and has everything ready.”
“What about before you came here?”
“I was with a law firm in Dallas.”
Lester jotted the name down in a small spiral notebook he took from his shirt pocket. “We’ll ask
them to run Rodriguez’s name through their files, too.”
She gave him a contact name. “The firm will help any way they can, I’m sure.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Crawford Hunt emerge from the men’s room. His hair was
damp and had been pushed straight back off his forehead, as though he’d washed his face and then had