Judge Alden Cross had signed half the warrants in Mercer County.
He was sixty-two, polished, soft-spoken, and famous for saying that the law was only as strong as the people willing to stand behind it. His wife was Leonard Voss’s sister. His courtroom handled divorces, restraining orders, custody disputes, and civil claims that often overlapped with Covenant Domestic Services. For years, he had treated Covenant reports as useful private evidence.
Now Mara had reason to believe he had also protected them.
Cross was not on the public victim list.
That was the trick.
Vivian explained that Voss had planned to place Cross into the killer’s pattern by fabricating an affair file, luring him to a motel, and letting Jonah believe another cheating man deserved judgment. But Cross was not being targeted because he cheated. He was targeted because he found out Voss had kept copies of sealed court records and used them in blackmail packages.
Cross had planned to go to state authorities.
Voss planned to make him a moral spectacle before he could.
Mara sent units to Cross’s home and courthouse chambers.
He was missing.
His clerk said he had left early after receiving a message from his wife.
His wife said she had sent no message.
At 4:18 p.m., Cross’s car was found outside the same Cardinal Motel where Martin Hale had been lured. Room 9 was open. Inside, the bed was untouched, the television on, and a wedding ring sat in the sink.
But no judge.
No blood.
No chainsaw.
Only a note taped to the mirror:
Even judges kneel before vows.
Mara read it and felt the wrongness immediately.
It sounded like Jonah.
But Jonah was in custody.
Bell was in custody.
Vivian was in custody.
Silas was under watch.
That left Leonard Voss.
Or someone new wearing the ritual now that the original killers had been caught.
Then Ethan Cole called Mara from the sheriff’s office lobby. His voice was unsteady.
“Detective, there’s something on my truck.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Do not touch it.”
“It’s a ring.”
“What kind?”
“A judge’s ring. Big gold one.”
“Where?”
“Driver’s seat.”
Mara looked around the motel room again.
The empty sink.
The mirror note.
The open door.
The missing judge.
Someone had placed Cross’s ring inside Ethan’s truck while he was inside the sheriff’s office giving a statement.
That meant the case was no longer using Ethan as bait.
It was using him as a witness again.
And maybe as a future suspect.