“I told him to remain outside.”
Ethan nodded. “He said you wanted him available as courthouse liaison.”
Kline stared at the floor.
On screen, officers spread across the room.
One technician photographed the desk.
Ethan opened the drawer.
Empty.
Naturally.
Courthouse security had already removed the first pouch.
Kline remained near the doorway.
Watching.
Then someone called Captain Pierce into the hall.
One evidence technician followed him to clarify the search sequence.
Ethan moved toward the filing cabinet.
For seven seconds, Kline stood alone beside Mariah’s desk.
Seven seconds.
He looked toward the hallway.
Then bent down.
His right hand reached into the open leather briefcase beside Mariah’s chair.
The hand disappeared.
Then came back out.
Empty.
He stepped away.
Eleven seconds later, Ethan returned.
He searched the briefcase.
And found cocaine.
Noah stopped the video.
Nobody spoke.
Detective Shaw stared at Kline.
“You son of a bitch.”
Kline moved immediately.
Fast.
Ethan reached him first.
Kline shoved toward the door, but the internal-affairs investigator stepped in front of it. Captain Pierce caught Kline’s wrist while Ethan secured the other arm.
“Get off me!”
“Travis.”
“I said get off me!”
This time Owen did not stop the handcuffs.
The ratcheting clicks filled the judge’s chambers.
Once.
Twice.
Kline twisted against them.
“You’re arresting me because of a camera nobody told me existed?”
Owen stared at him.
“No.”
Then he looked toward the briefcase.
“I am detaining you because I just watched you put something into a judge’s personal bag moments before cocaine was recovered from that same bag.”
“You don’t know what I put in there.”
Ethan gave a short, humorless laugh.
“Good.”
Kline looked at him.
“Then we’ll test everything.”
For the first time, genuine fear crossed Kline’s face.
Not fear of being restrained.
Fear of testing.
Mariah noticed it.
That reaction suggested the camera had exposed only the beginning.
The device above Mariah’s bookcase had been installed eleven months earlier after sealed exhibits disappeared from another judge’s office. Courthouse administrators authorized the system, prohibited audio recording, and limited activation to nights and security alerts. Judges were notified that chambers contained monitored zones, though police officers were never told the precise device locations.
Kline apparently knew judges had some security.
He assumed he knew where.
He never looked closely at the smoke detector.
That arrogance had protected Mariah.
Still, she understood the camera could not become the entire case.
One video could establish behavior.
It could not answer motive, conspiracy, evidence origin, or the integrity of the warrant.
Mariah looked toward Captain Pierce.
“Do not let this become a story about one rogue officer until you know whether one rogue officer is actually what happened.”
Kline laughed from beside Ethan.
“You giving investigative orders now, Judge?”