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.As much as I wanted tothink Flo was the mastermind of it all, she seemed a little too& unstable.Then again, when we dworked together, she d managed to convince me that she was normal.I chewed on the end of my pen, finally pulling out my phone and typing in the judge s name.As I dsuspected, there was a sea of results - from elections, news blurbs, and everything else under the sun.It was an impressive array of information - everything about his family, his background, his votingrecord from when he was in congress - which I m sure would have been vastly helpful, if only I couldfigure out if it meant anything.Just when my eyes were starting to glaze over, something jumped out at me.I d probably glossedover it a hundred times, but for some reason, this time it stuck.Member of the University of Dartwood Alumni AssociationDaniel had gone to Dartwood.And so, by extension, had the plaintiffs in the old lawsuit.It was probably a coincidence.It almost had to be, but for some reason, I couldn t shake thefeeling that it mattered.If the judge had some prior connection with the other plaintiffs, or even someprior knowledge of the case, it could be enough to sour him on Daniel forever.I didn t know enough about the legal precedents to be sure if this was enough to prove a seriousbreach of judicial ethics, but I figured it must be enough to at least get us reassigned with a new judge,if nothing else.That was, if I could demonstrate any more meaningful connection than all of themsimply having gone to the same college.Daniel finally shuffled out of bed a few hours later, raking his hand through his hair and thumbingblearily through his collection of takeout menus.I realized my stomach was growling."Any requests?" he wanted to know."Anything." I waited until he d gotten off the phone with the Greek place up the street, thengestured for him to come sit down.He did, glancing at me sidelong. "Look," I said."There s this thing about the judge.I know you didn t want to pursue it, but& "He sighed."All right, all right.What?""He went to Dartwood.Did you know that?"Daniel rested his elbows on the island, turning to look at me with an expression of measuredpatience."Lots of people go to Dartwood, Maddy.""Yeah, well, not that many.He s active in the alumni association.It s not outside of the realm ofpossibility that he might have met those guys who tried to sue you, about the prototype."We hadn t discussed this yet, in so many words.It had come up at the police station, and his facenow looked the same as it had then, and on our honeymoon when Brewer had brought it up.Somethingclosed off in his eyes.He wasn t going to discuss it.The matter simply wasn t on the table."I m just saying," I went on."We don t have to talk about that situation at all if you don t want to,but I think we probably shouldn t just& dismiss this whole thing.The way he acted with you& I justdon t think it was a coincidence, is all."He was playing with an empty wrapper from something.I had no idea where he d gotten it from."Why don t you consult with your detective?" he asked."You never needed my permission before."I looked at him carefully, but I couldn t quite detect the bitterness that I expected."Maybe I will."We sat there for a moment, in silence.He hadn t yet asked me how I managed to pay Kelly.Maybehe didn t care.Or maybe he already knew.***Just a few hours after I d put her on the case, Kelly called me back about the judge."The bad news is, I couldn t find anything personally.Yet." I heard the unmistakable sound ofliquid being poured into a glass."The good news is, there is an avenue that you can pursue.ButDaniel would probably have to approach it himself.Maybe with law enforcement involved - ormaybe not.Depends on what he thinks.I m getting ahead of myself.Here s what I m trying to say - ifany of the plaintiffs had any communication with the judge through their Dartwood email accounts, thecollege should still have it on file somewhere.Everything is always archived at those schools.Younever know when there s going to be some kind of academic dispute and they need to pull up emailsfrom ten years ago.The trick will be convincing them to look it up for you.That s where I thinkDaniel s alumni connection might help out.""He doesn t really& I mean, I don t think she s set foot on campus or even talked to anyone theresince he graduated.""Well, considering what happened there, I can t really blame him," said Kelly, sensibly."But thatmight not matter.Especially if he walks in with his checkbook open."I hesitated for a moment."Thanks for not thinking I m crazy," I said, at last."Hey, no problem," Kelly replied."You re keeping me in good scotch.I d go to the ends of theearth for you."I hung up laughing.As it turned out, Daniel wasn t quite as resistant as I feared he might be.He even made the phonecall to one of his contacts at Dartwood in front of me, rather than sequestering himself behind closeddoors.Once he d promised to sponsor a fundraising dinner, it was amazing how quickly theyacquiesced.He was promised a call back with information within a few hours, and it came in thirtyminutes. As he scribbled furiously on a piece of paper, I idly wondered if any Dartwood students actuallyread the agreements carefully enough to realize that they had absolutely no privacy in their emailaccounts whatsoever.I highly doubted it."Well," said Daniel, once he d hung up.The expression on his face spoke volumes."What? What is it?" I jumped up and ran over to look at what he d written."Nothing too damning," he said."But enough to prove they had contact.The judge and& one ofthem." He was chewing on the edge of his fingernail
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