“Ah, how long was he out of work?”
“A little less than a week.”
“That’s not enough recovery time if someone really did have a heart attack.”
“I know, that’s why I never believed it.The time he was out screamed vacation time to me, not recovering from a heart attack.Anyway, I don’t want to say the man had different personalities, but after he returned his entire demeanor changed.”
“How so?”
“Before the attack, that’s what I’m going to reference it going forward, he was jovial with people off the bench.Always had a kind word, or asked about your family or life.”
“A man who cared?”Petra asked quietly.
“Correct, but once he got on the bench, he turned into a stoic man with no expression, he listened, and passed his judgment.He wasn’t a trial judge.”
“What’s that mean?”Paul asked in confusion.
“He’s the judge you went before when you were arrested.An arraignment judge.”
“Ah, he’s the one that accepted the plea, set bail, or not, and passed it over to the trial judge.”
“Correct.Like I said, before the attack, he had the moniker of the hanging judge.No one hardly ever was granted bail.I’ve seen him sentence a first offender to ten thousand dollars bail.”
“Damn, that is harsh.”
“Correct, however, when he returned from the attack, he was still stoic, but he didn’t talk with his friends off the bench.He never asked after anyone, and he was always in his chambers.Oh, and he never went out to lunch with anyone from the courthouse again.I saw him sometimes, and he still ran, still went to the gym, and still ate healthy.”
“But his entire personality changed?”
“Correct.”
“How did it change in the courtroom?”
Warren sighed heavily, set his coffee cup down, and scrubbed his face.“After the attack was like a switch had flipped.If people like Eddie, or any of the one percenters went before him, they were issued a bail between one and five grand.”
“That’s it?”Petra asked in shock.“What if they were repeat offenders?”
“Didn’t matter.He set the bail so low, that before the ink even had time to dry, they posted their ten percent, and was walking out of the courtroom.However, on the other spectrum, people that weren’t like Eddie or the one percenters, if they were granted bail, it was tens of thousands of dollars.That isifthey were granted bail.Nine times out of ten, they weren’t.”
“Shit, do you recall when this started?”
“Around the time that Eddie started getting his wrist slapped.Around the time those felony charges were buried.Not dropped, but buried.I believe, but don’t quote me, but it might have been around the time Eddie turned eighteen or nineteen.”
“Where he could be tried as an adult,” Petra said with a nod.“Do you believe someone got to Hoag?”
“I do, I tried to talk to him once, because I considered us friends before the attack, but he wouldn’t even give me the time of day after he returned.”
“I wonder,” Paul said as he tossed his pen on the desk and leaned back in his chair.
“What?”both Petra and Warren asked to encourage him to continue when he remained silent for several moments.
“What if it wasn’t a heart attack, but a physical attack?What if someone got to him physically, or mentally.”
“Mentally, how?”
“Blackmail, threaten his family if he didn’t take care of Eddie and the one percenters.I haven’t researched deep enough yet, but do you know if he’s married, or has any children?”
“Damn, I don’t know that, but what you’re saying isn’t beneath Dawson to pull something like that.I can see him, Dawson, throwing his weight as the Commissioner of the State Police, to get what he wants.Especially, if it was to protect his own child.”
