Fear For Me: A Novel of the Bayou Butcher (For Me #2)(14)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He forced himself to unclench his jaw and say, “Tell the uniform to stay with her. Every single minute.” He didn’t like having her away from him. He wanted Walker back in his cage and as for Lauren…

Lauren with the lips made for sin and the eyes that, even after all she’d seen and done, still glinted with innocence.

He wanted Lauren back in his bed.

Too bad he couldn’t always get just what he wanted.

“You can stay here,” Lauren said as she turned and gave the police officer a weak smile. He’d been shadowing her the entire time she’d been in the courthouse. But she was at Hamilton’s office door now. Safe, with plenty of guards close by. And Hamilton’s message had said that the judge needed to see her—alone.

She rapped lightly on the door.

The secretary was gone from her desk again. But it was long past five now—past time for everyone to go home.

I can’t go home. I don’t want to remember Karen. I don’t want to see the image of her body.

She’d already talked to Karen’s parents twice that day. The grief in their voices had ripped through her.

Grief, rage…it had just made her guilt worse.

Hamilton didn’t answer the door.

She frowned. He’d called her less than forty-five minutes ago. Told her it was urgent. That he had to talk to her about Walker.

Her fingers curled around the doorknob. If Hamilton wasn’t there, it would be locked. Standard protocol at the courthouse.

“Ma’am?” The uniform came closer to her. Officer Shamus Riley. As far as shadows went, he was a good guy. “Is there a problem?”

She shook her head. “Just give me a minute.” She twisted the knob and it turned easily beneath her fingers, but the door ran into something as she pushed. As she leaned against it and opened a space wide enough to enter, Lauren was expecting—hoping—to see Hamilton rush toward her in his billowing black robe.

But Hamilton wasn’t there.

And his office had been wrecked.

CHAPTER THREE

Lauren stood inside the doorway of Hamilton’s office, her gaze sweeping over the overturned files, smashed computer bits, and cracked glass of photo frames. The place had been trashed. Gutted.

“Where is he?” Lauren asked as she whirled to face the cop. He’d already called for backup and, over Shamus’s shoulder, she could see a guard rushing toward them.

Shamus shook his head, worry tightening the lines near his eyes.

“We need to page Judge Hamilton, now,” Lauren told the guard. He had a radio on him that connected to the main security system. They could send a call through the courthouse. If Hamilton was there, if it was possible for him to respond, he would.

Then Hamilton rounded the corner. He came to a stop when he saw them.

“Ms. Chandler?” He hurried toward her, sending a quick frown toward the courthouse guard and Shamus. “I was hoping you’d—” He broke off, his eyes widening as he glanced toward the open door of his office and caught sight of the destruction. “What in the hell happened?”

He was okay. Alive. He’d just scared her to death. She grabbed his hands. “Judge, where have you been?”

“I had to sign a warrant for your ADA Crenshaw.” He stared over her shoulder at his office. The color drained from his face. “He came looking for me, didn’t he?”

It sure looked like he had.

The courthouse guard shifted nervously next to them.

Hamilton rounded on him. “Who came into my office? Who was here?”

The guard’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t see anyone. There was a scuffle with one of the prisoners on transfer, and I had to go help. I left the area for a few minutes…”

“Security cameras,” Lauren said, thinking quickly as she looked at the cameras discreetly perched in the corners. “There’s a system on every floor.” Had to be, thanks to a bomb threat that had emptied the courthouse a few years back.

The cameras would have captured the intruder.

At least, she sure hoped they had. Because maybe those cameras could tell them where Walker had gone—or even where he was right then. She motioned toward the courthouse guard. “Tell security to pull up the footage, now. Find out who was in this area, and where the hell he is now.”

The guard nodded quickly and started talking into his radio.

Shamus’s voice caught her attention. “Yes, sir…” He was on his phone with someone—Lauren sure hoped that someone was Paul or Anthony. “The office was trashed, sir.” The cop’s eyes rose and locked on her. “She’s right here. Yes, yes, I will.”

As he ended the call, Shamus’s hand curled around her arm. “Sorry, ma’am, but he told me to keep you by my side until he got here.”

“Who’s he?”

Hamilton tried to edge around the cop to get into his office.

Shamus moved, blocking his path. “The marshal said I had to keep her close, and he also told me not to let anyone in the room. He wants the techs in there before anyone disturbs the evidence.”

So Anthony was leading the investigation. Edging out Paul in a pissing match for jurisdiction.

She pulled her arm away. “You can let me go.”

He flushed. “Ma’am, he said I was to keep a hand on you until he got here.”

“I’m the DA, Officer Riley.” More guards hurried into the area, surrounding a still stunned-looking Judge Hamilton. “I think I’m safe now.”

Riley slowly dropped his hand. “That’s just the thing. He said you weren’t safe. That the killer could be in the building.” He made no move to back away.

She glanced at the wreckage of Hamilton’s office, then she looked at the judge’s haggard face. “Why did you call me, Hamilton?” Lauren demanded. “Why did you want me here?”

Hamilton’s gaze cut to the cops. The guards. He gave a small, negative shake of his head.

She knew he wasn’t going to tell her what she needed to know. Not with so many eyes and ears close by.

Secrets. They didn’t have time for them. Not when the killer was this close.

Anthony could barely contain his fury. The security cameras turned up jack shit. The guards didn’t remember seeing anyone enter or exit the judge’s chambers, and Hamilton’s secretary, a young woman who’d just graduated from college, had burst into tears when the cops started to question her. She’d left early, heading out to meet her boyfriend, and she hadn’t even realized that the judge’s chambers had been invaded.