Chapter 4 - THE WITNESS AT THE TABLE
I read the sentence three times.
Each time, it became worse.
The child remains useful even without the mother.
My father took the phone from my hand.
He did not speak.
He simply walked into the hallway and asked Agent Monroe to come immediately.
She arrived with two other investigators.
One was a digital forensic specialist.
The other introduced himself as Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Reyes.
Reyes was in his early forties, with tired eyes and a voice that carried none of David’s theatrical confidence.
“The document does not name you directly,” he explained.
“But the initials A.B., the pregnancy reference, and the scheduled trip create a compelling connection.”
“What did he intend to do with my baby?”
“We don’t know yet.”
The honesty frightened me.
“What does ‘useful’ mean?”
Reyes glanced toward my father.
My father did not interfere.
“It may refer to leverage against Chief Justice Bennett.”
“Or control over assets created in your name.”
“Or both.”
I touched my stomach.
My son moved beneath my hand.
The small motion nearly broke me.
Reyes continued.
“The flash drive also contains payment records, internal emails, and photographs.”
“Photographs of what?”
“Judges meeting with intermediaries.”
“Cash transfers.”
“Private gatherings.”
“Several files were deleted recently.”
“Can you recover them?”
“We’re trying.”
Agent Monroe stepped closer.
“Anna, do you know a woman named Melissa Grant?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
I searched my memory.
The name meant nothing.
“Was she one of David’s clients?”
“Possibly.”
“Why?”
“She disappeared four years ago.”
“That was before I married David.”
“Only by six months.”
Monroe showed me a photograph.
A woman with dark red hair stood beside David at a charity gala.
His hand rested at the small of her back.
The gesture was intimate.
Possessive.
The same way he used to touch me in public.
“Who was she?”
“A financial analyst who worked for one of David’s clients.”
“What happened to her?”
“She reported accounting irregularities.”
“Then she withdrew the complaint.”
“Three weeks later, she vanished.”
My father’s face became rigid.
“Was David questioned?”
Reyes answered.
“He claimed they had a brief professional relationship.”
I studied the photograph.
Melissa wore a thin gold chain around her neck.
A small pendant hung from it.
I had seen that pendant before.
Inside David’s locked desk.
He had told me it belonged to his grandmother.
“I know where her necklace is.”
Every person in the room looked at me.
“David kept it.”
“Where?” Monroe asked.
“In his office at home.”
“We searched the desk.”
“There’s a hidden compartment beneath the bottom drawer.”
“How do you know?”
“I found it once.”
“What else was inside?”
“Photographs.”
“Cash.”
“A second phone.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Because I forgot.”
The answer sounded weak.
But trauma had turned my memories into scattered pieces.
Certain moments appeared with perfect clarity.
Others disappeared when I reached for them.
Monroe did not challenge me.
She left to contact the search team.
A nurse entered and checked my blood pressure.
While she adjusted the monitor, voices rose in the hallway.
Someone insisted on speaking to me.
Agent Monroe returned with Megan Cole.
Megan still wore the burgundy dress from Christmas dinner.
Her mascara had streaked beneath her eyes.
A federal agent stood behind her.
“I need to tell you what happened,” she said.
My father moved toward the door.
Megan looked at him and froze.
“Chief Justice Bennett.”
He nodded once.
“I’ll give you privacy.”
After he left, Megan approached the bed.
“I’m sorry.”
Her voice cracked.
“I should have helped you.”
“You were afraid of David.”
“Yes.”
“But that doesn’t excuse it.”
She clasped her hands together.
“When Sylvia told you to stand in the kitchen, I wanted to say something.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because David had already destroyed one attorney at the firm for challenging him.”
“Destroyed how?”
“He planted confidential files on the man’s computer.”
“The attorney was disbarred.”
Megan looked toward Reyes.
“His name was Aaron Pike.”
Reyes wrote it down.
“What did you witness tonight?”
Megan took a breath.
“I saw Sylvia follow Anna into the kitchen.”
“I heard Anna say she was in pain.”
“Then I heard the impact.”
“Did you see the push?”
“No.”
My hope weakened.
“But I heard what Sylvia said afterward.”
“What did she say?”
Megan reached into her handbag.
The agent behind her moved immediately.
“Slowly.”
She removed her phone.
“I started recording after Sylvia called Anna ‘the help.’”
She handed the device to Agent Monroe.
“I thought David might retaliate against me if I objected.”
“Did you capture the kitchen?”
“Only audio.”
Monroe played the recording.
Christmas music.
Glasses touching.
Sylvia’s voice saying, Didn’t you hear me?
Then my own frightened whisper.
Please. I don’t feel right.
A hard impact.
Utensils crashing.
My voice.
My baby.
Then David entered.
For God’s sake, Anna. Get up before someone sees you.
The room became still.
The recording continued.
Call an ambulance.
A crack as my phone struck the wall.
Then David’s cold reply.
There will be no ambulance.
Megan began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“Why did you come forward?”
“Because after they separated us, David tried to send me a message through another guest.”
“What message?”
Megan looked toward Agent Monroe.
“He told me to erase the recording.”
Reyes leaned forward.
“Who delivered the message?”
“Judge Halpern.”
The name from the ledger.
The federal prosecutor and Agent Monroe exchanged a glance.
“Judge Halpern was at the dinner?” Reyes asked.
Megan nodded.
“He was sitting two seats from David.”
No one had noticed him leave.
Agents searched the house.
His coat was gone.
His car had disappeared.
At 1:23 in the morning, a traffic camera recorded Judge Halpern’s vehicle crossing the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge.
At 1:41, police found the car abandoned near the Potomac River.
The driver’s door stood open.
May you like
Blood covered the steering wheel.
Judge Halpern was nowhere to be found.
