Pike scanned the jury box.
Witness stand.
Counsel tables.
Then his eyes reached the bench.
His expression changed.
“What are you doing there?”
Elijah looked up from the file.
“Good morning.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I’m reading.”
Pike walked closer.
“You need to get out.”
Elijah thought he had misunderstood.
“Excuse me?”
“That area is restricted.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you sitting there?”
Elijah paused.
It was the question beneath the question that caught his attention.
Not Who are you?
Not Are you authorized?
Not Can I see identification?
Why are you there?
The assumption had already been made.
Elijah leaned forward.
“Officer Pike, I suggest you confirm who I am.”
Pike looked down at his name badge.
“You reading my shirt now?”
“Yes.”
“Cute.”
Elijah waited.
Pike pointed toward the aisle.
“Out.”
That had been six minutes earlier.
Now the same man stood closer to the bench, one hand near his restraints, and counted backward.
“Five.”
Elijah remained seated.
“Four.”
Maribel stopped pretending to clean.
“Three.”
Elijah looked toward the clock.
7:42.
“Two.”
A private side door opened.
A woman stepped into the courtroom carrying four burgundy case files, a laptop, and a paper coffee cup with a plastic lid that had begun leaking around one edge.
Her name was Kathleen Monroe.
She was sixty-two, white, and had served as senior courtroom clerk for twenty-four years.
Kathleen took two steps.
Then stopped.
Her eyes moved from Pike to Elijah.
Then to Pike’s hand beside the restraints.
“Gerald?”
Pike looked over.
“Morning, Kathy.”
He gestured toward Elijah.
“Give me a second. I’ve got someone in a restricted area.”
Kathleen did not move.
“Gerald.”
“What?”
“Step away from the bench.”
Pike frowned.
“I have it handled.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Step away from the bench.”
He stared at her.
“Why?”
Kathleen put the files on the nearest counsel table.
“Because that is Judge Warren.”
Silence changed the room.
Pike looked toward Elijah.
Then Kathleen.
Then the brass plate on the bench.
Then back at Elijah.
“What?”
“Judge Elijah Warren.”
Kathleen pointed toward the nameplate.
“The new presiding judge assigned to Courtroom Four.”
Pike’s face emptied.
Confidence disappeared first.
Then disbelief.
Then a rapid search for information that might make what had happened less serious.
“You’re the new judge?”
Elijah opened the file again.
“Yes.”
“The appointment ceremony was Friday?”