“Hey! You!”
Several attorneys turned.
Josephine stopped.
She looked behind her.
Hale approached quickly.
“Courtroom 4B is the other way.”
Josephine glanced toward the sign.
“I don’t have business in Courtroom 4B.”
Hale gave her an impatient smile.
“Sure.”
She studied him.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Josephine checked the time on her phone.
Ten twenty-two.
Her hearing started at ten thirty.
“I genuinely don’t.”
Hale stepped directly into her path.
“You’re Maya.”
Josephine looked at him for several seconds.
“No.”
“Maya Turner.”
“No.”
“You missed your check-in.”
Josephine’s expression changed.
Not dramatically.
A slight narrowing of the eyes.
“I am not Maya Turner.”
Hale scoffed.
“Of course not.”
Josephine shifted her briefcase from her right hand to her left.
“My name is Josephine Caldwell.”
“Great.”
“I’m a judge in this courthouse.”
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
Two defense attorneys standing near the wall went silent.
One of them recognized Josephine immediately.
Before he could speak, Hale pointed down the corridor.
“Courtroom 4B.”
Josephine remained where she was.
“Officer, I recommend that you verify your information before this becomes something significantly more serious than a mistaken identity.”
The language made him angry.
Not because she raised her voice.
Because she sounded like someone accustomed to being obeyed.
“You think fancy clothes are going to change what’s happening?”
Josephine stared.
“I think facts should.”
“Identification.”
She set her briefcase beside her leg.
“Am I being detained?”
Hale’s jaw flexed.
“Show me ID.”
“That was not my question.”
“Identification.”
Josephine looked at the badge on his chest.
Then his name.
Officer Marcus Hale.
She knew it.
Not his face.
The name.
Her eyes changed.
Hale noticed.
“What?”
Josephine reached slowly toward her handbag.
Then stopped.
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“No?”
“I know exactly who you are now.”
Hale stared.
“You’ve got quite an attitude for somebody who just lied about being a judge.”
Josephine’s voice became colder.
“I did not lie.”
“Then prove it.”
“I’m not obligated to prove my professional title before you establish lawful grounds for detaining me.”
Hale stepped closer.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The attitude.”
One of the nearby attorneys finally moved forward.
“Officer Hale—”
Hale turned.
“Back up.”