Wow. That was a first.
I paused for a moment, trying to decide. What was properprocedure in a situation like this? I didn’t have personal experience contending with high state officials.
Then I caught the defendant, Ray Wagner, rolling his head back, like he was bored.
This was my courtroom. Where justice was served. And I was dealing with the specific crime and punishment of a man standing before me.
“Luna, tell the governor I’m on the bench,” I said. I sat up straight. Adjusted the gavel so that the handle was within easy reach, as it should be.
I looked over my shoulder at my administrative clerk. She was pretty flipped out. She’d recover. The governor would recover, too.
“He can leave a number. I’ll call him back.”
CHAPTER
26
After I wrapped up the guilty plea and left the bench, I was breathing hard. Like I’d just run up two flights of stairs. Or had stepped on a copperhead in the barn.
I charged into chambers, with Luna at my heels. She said, “Oh, Judge—thank the Lord, you got here in time. The governor’s office is calling back in just a few minutes.”
“Already?” I’d never spoken to the man before, now he was calling me every ten minutes. I closed the door and checked my face in the office mirror, to make sure I didn’t look a sight. “Is it a Zoom call?”
“No, a conference call. On the landline. With you and the governor and the Alabama attorney general.”
The state attorney general?Shit.It was getting worse and worse.
I unzipped the robe. No need to stay in uniform for an old-fashioned conference call, where no one could see me. “What’s the number, the ID info?”
“His secretary is setting it up. Very old-school. We don’t dial. They call us.”
“Wow.” It had been a while since I’d had a meeting that way. “Okay, then. I’ll wait.”
Luna left my office and was back at her desk before I had the presence of mind to ask. I called out, “Luna, what’s the governor calling about?”
She didn’t shout out the answer. She stepped back to my doorway and whispered, “State v. Bria Gaines.”
I tipped back in the big chair and closed my eyes. I wanted to take a moment to center myself, but I didn’t have that luxury. My desk phone rang. I hit the speaker and Luna’s voice came through. “Governor’s office on line two.”
I pushed the line and said, “This is Circuit Judge Mary Stone.”
A female voice responded. “I’ll connect you.”
A moment later, I heard two men laughing. About what, I had no clue. I coughed, to give them a heads-up, before I said, “Judge Stone here.”
“Judge! This is Governor Bert Lamar, up in Montgomery. We’ve got General Dick Winston on the call—he’s on the road, driving to Nashville for a meeting. You still with us, General?”
The dude wasn’t a general. Never even served in the military. That was a phony courtesy title that some people used to buddy up to the state AG. I wasn’t one of them. Dick Winston and I had some history. Of the bad variety.
“I’m here. How you doing, Mary?” Winston asked.
“Fine.”
I didn’t elaborate. There was an uncomfortable silence. The governor broke it off pretty swiftly.
“Judge Stone—may I call you Mary? I feel like I already know you. Because I’ve heard so many excellent things about you.”
Really?Privately, I was skeptical. But I behaved myself, answered politely. “Thank you, Governor, that’s very gratifying. Sure, you can call me Mary.”
