Free Scream Catcher by Vincent Zandri Page B

rising.
    “Your honor,” she speaks softly. “Hector Lennox is suspected of two further counts of murder. Your releasing him on bail poses at least the possibility of placing the eyewitness and his family in reasonable jeopardy or in harm’s way.”
    “Allow me to correct you, Ms. Blanchfield,” Mann shoots back. “Hector Lennox was charged with one count of murder four years ago. Those charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence as cited by your office. Lennox has since disappeared from my town and has been reported as deceased.” Pulling the glasses back off. “From what I am made to understand according to the prosecutor’s complaint, the man we have before us is not Hector Lennox but Christian Jordan. Not only does his ID support that fact, but so does an initial fingerprint and facial analysis.”
    He pauses a moment, as though allowing his words to sink in. Squinting, he looks Lennox up and down and up again.
    “Jesus, P.J., this man doesn’t even look like Lennox.”
    Again, Mack practically pressing his lips up against Jude’s right ear.
    “Backwards county judge assumes surgical alterations are science fiction.”
    “There something you wish to add, Capt. Mack?” Mann abruptly barks.
    Startled, Mack looks up.
    “How about ordering the defendant to submit to a DNA test, Judge?”
    Mann’s face goes red. Jude can tell then that the Judge does not appreciate being told how to run his court.
    Mann says, “How about bringing me some solid proof on Friday that this man murdered that Glens Falls convenience store owner and I’ll be happy to give the go ahead for a DNA evaluation.” A sour expression painting his face, Mann sits back, stuffs both hands inside his black robe, exhales deeply. “In the meantime, tell you what I’m willing to do, P.J. In the interest of everyone’s safety. I’m going to order that the Defendant be fitted with an electronic surveillance ankle bracelet in order to ensure that his whereabouts be both monitored and restricted to his home at all times over the next seventy-two hours. You come back to me with evidence that states this man is not only the gravel pit killer but in fact the miraculous reincarnation of Hector Lennox, I’ll grant your remand to county lockup and I’ll go a step further; I’ll personally order a Grand Jury convened down in Albany as soon as humanly possible. Is that a fair compromise?”
    Jude can’t help but eye the man he now knows for certain is Hector Lennox in disguise. The former cop was pretty sure of Lennox’s real ID prior to the arraignment, but now he’s convinced of it. It’s common knowledge that people can manage to fake their deaths given they have the cash to make it happen. Now so has Lennox. Jude knows this primarily because of the way Lennox defiantly crosses arms over chest, grows a smile best described as shit-eating.
    Or perhaps it’s Jude and Mack who’ve been made to eat shit.
    Jude has seen smiles like that during his time on the cop job and it can only mean one thing: by being granted what amounts to a conditional bail, their Black Dragon boy is playing a game by pulling the steel wool over the Judge’s eyes. To make it worse, the pony-tailed Harley man himself—Wild Bill Stark—is issuing Lennox a quiet but somehow screaming thumbs up.
    When Mann stands and the gavel comes down it resonates throughout the courthouse like an exploding firework.
    “This court is adjourned until Friday, fifteen August,” he barks before stepping down from the riser, escaping into his chambers like a rat into its hole.
     
    * * *
     
    Now instead of feeling numb, Jude feels like he’s about to be sick. He can’t remove himself from the courthouse fast enough to ingest a dose of fresh air. The demon inside of him has been awakened.
    Does Judge Mann truly consider him an unreliable witness? Or is his ineffectiveness during the Burns murder/suicide still haunting him? Is he considered a coward in Mann’s eyes? A former cop