Under the Table by Stephanie Evanovich

Author:Stephanie Evanovich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Zoey refused to sit on the sidelines and watch the crisis with Ruth play itself out. She looked up all the courts in New Jersey and the judges who presided over them until she found Randolph Hollister. While Ruth was at work the following day, Zoey took the train to New Jersey and a cab to the courthouse where Randolph Hollister was officiating over Tuesday’s traffic court. She sat among the sea of scofflaws and lawyers waiting their turns to plead out on speeding tickets and running red lights. It was a huge line of the guilty and the presumed innocent. She waited, then stood with everyone else when the bailiff called the court to order.

Without the club lighting, the throbbing beats, and the frenzied dancing, the questionably Honorable Randolph Hollister cut quite the dashing figure, right down to the wedding ring he was now wearing. The robe made him look way more dignified than the goofy dude on the dance floor, trying to make the most of the two steps he knew. Before he was just another schlub in the club making moony eyes at her sister and laughing at his own pickup lines. When you take people out of their context, they appear differently, something Zoey realized she should’ve figured out by now. Lesson learned. Again.

Zoey wasn’t sure how to approach him and what she’d say when and if she got the chance. She watched as he delivered the same monologue time after time, asking what their crime was and if they willingly entered their plea, and saying what the typical sentence was for each offense. Then he’d rattle off their fine and the court costs and it would be on to the next person.

He was empathetic in his dealings with the people who stood before him, even matter-of-fact in his delivery. He didn’t go off on long tangents at the litigants. He waited as long as he could before he issued bench warrants for people who didn’t show up to answer their summonses, calling out their names with a quick look around the room, before finally handing off the paperwork to his clerk.

Zoey knew he recognized her when during one of his scans of the courtroom, his gaze rested on her and he did a double take. Then he looked directly at her and his stare turned icy. The whole encounter took less than three seconds, but it was enough to make her blood run cold through her veins.

This is a huge mistake, Zoey thought. She watched, glued to her seat near the back of the room, as the judge became less and less tolerant of the defendants that stood before him. Fines began increasing and sentences became stiffer, accompanied by stinging lectures about responsibility, and he barked orders of silence when people tried to explain themselves. All done with intermittent glares in her direction.

After one of those scowls, Judge Hollister motioned to the bailiff by crooking a finger. The bailiff bent his head toward the judge while covering the court microphone with his hand.

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