The frosted glass door swung open. Out stepped Marcus Vance—the lead prosecutor for the very corruption hearing Eleanor had delayed that morning.
Vance’s eyes locked instantly on the flash drive in Eleanor’s hand. He didn’t look like a polished lawyer right now; he looked like a cornered predator. He gave a sharp nod to the two police officers still standing near the benches.
“Officers,” Vance said, his voice deadly calm. “Arrest the boy. He’s a suspect in a Baltimore homicide.”
The two cops moved forward, hands resting on their holsters. Eleanor’s mind raced, puzzle pieces violently snapping together. Vance was the man in the black car. He was the one who killed Claire. And he had the police in his pocket.
“Stand down!” Eleanor commanded, her voice cracking like a whip.
The officers hesitated, conditioned by years of fearing her authority.
Vance smiled thinly, sliding his hand inside his tailored jacket. “Eleanor, hand over the drive. It’s state’s evidence.”
“You murdered my daughter,” she whispered, stepping in front of Noah.
“She stole from the wrong people,” Vance replied, closing the distance. “Give it to me. If you don’t, I swear the boy won’t even make it to booking.”
Noah pressed his face into Eleanor’s robes, trembling.
But Eleanor didn’t back away. Instead, a cold, calculating fire lit in her eyes. She glanced up at her bench. In her haste to clear the room, the clerk hadn’t severed the master switch.
“You’re confessing to the murder of Claire Whitmore, Marcus,” Eleanor said loudly. “On a live, active judicial microphone.”
Vance froze. He looked up at the bench. The red broadcast light was blinking steadily, feeding live audio directly to the federal courthouse archives and the press room downstairs.
Panic flashed across Vance’s face as he scrambled to draw his weapon. But before his gun could clear his jacket, the heavy courtroom doors violently burst open.
A dozen federal agents flooded the center aisle, rifles raised, having heard every word.
Eleanor gripped her grandson’s shoulder, raising the flash drive high into the air.
“Court,” she declared, “is back in session.”