The Judge's List

The narrative now jumps back to a Friday in the previous October. A house painter named Lanny Verno is working alone and waiting for his boss to bring him a paycheck. A man comes to the house claiming to be a county inspector. He knocks over the ladder on which Lanny is standing. The “inspector” pulls a telescoping rod from his pocket and hits Lenny in the back of the head. He then pulls a length of nylon rope from his pocket, wraps it around Lanny’s back, and pulls, asphyxiating Lanny. He ties off the rope with a double clove hitch. He takes Lanny’s phone.

The killer is surveying the scene when Lanny’s supervisor Dunwoody pulls up in the driveway. The supervisor enters the house and sees Lanny on the floor. The killer hits him on the back of the head with his club, killing him, and takes his phone. He leaves the scene, taking the phones with him. The killer feels a dim sense of pity for Dunwoody’s wife, who is trying to call her dead husband, but he simply is not capable of much empathy.

The killer puts the phones in an envelope and drops them in a post office box. Afterwards, he feels compelled to return to the scene. He has never done this before. He drives past all the squad cars with their flashing lights and gives a nod to one of the officers on the perimeter. He drives away telling himself that he did not get a thrill out of it.

Dale Black, the sheriff of Harrison County, is called to the murder scene. After studying the scene, he tracks the two cell phones to the drop box. When he opens the box, he finds the envelope is addressed to his own daughter. When he checks, his daughter is fine, but he does not understand why the killer would have addressed the envelope to her.

The narrative returns to the present. Lacy presents Jeri’s case to her supervisor, Charlotte, nicknamed “Cleopatra” or “Cleo.” Cleo is a climber always angling for a bigger, better job. She does not like competent, hard-working women like Lacy, seeing them as a threat to her own career. Cleo is always focused on the men who do most of the actual hiring.

Lacy fills Cleo in on the details of the case to date. She does not yet know whether Jeri will file the complaint or not, but Cleo says that if the complaint is filed, the BJC will immediately refer it to the police. They are absolutely not going to investigate murder.

Reluctantly, albeit with a sense of relief, Lacy reports her supervisor’s decision to Jeri.

Lacy spends the weekend with Allie. They are trying to decide where their relationship is going. They have been together two years; neither one wants to end the relationship, but they cannot seem to make up their minds where they want it to go. Lacy adores Allie, but she is afraid she will never truly love him the way she thinks she should.

On the way to their hotel, they talk about Lacy’s case. She has come to believe that Jeri is right about the judge. Lacy and Allie go over possible options for dealing with the case. Cleo has already said she would turn it over to the police, but Lacy suspects the police will not take it seriously without more evidence. Allie suggests taking the problem to the FBI, but she is not sure what the FBI could do without concrete evidence.

At the hotel, Lacy and Allie talk over their relationship and their plans for the future. Allie is feeling increasingly frustrated with his career at the FBI. He loves his job, but the 70-hour weeks are wearing him down, and he wishes he could spend more time with Lacy. He admits that he is starting to feel too old to chase bad guys, and his bosses are hinting that they may transfer him to another locale. Lacy is stunned. She cannot imagine life without him. On impulse, Lacy suggests that they both quit and have a midlife crisis together, throwing caution to the wind.

Allie confesses to Lacy that he has been saving money to buy her a ring, but he never said anything because he did not know she would say yes. In the end, they finish their weekend together with nothing resolved.

On Sunday night, Jeri receives a message from an investigator who has been tracking murders with a similar MO to that of the judge. The investigator has found a reference to Lanny Verno’s murder.

Monday morning, Lacy is back in the office when she receives a call from Jeri about the double homicide of Lanny and his boss. Lacy reiterates that there is nothing she can do about it. Her boss already said that the BJC will not investigate the case; it will go directly to the police. Jeri asks whether Lacy, if she were in charge of the department, would get the BJC involved in the case. Lacy refuses to answer, and Jeri points out that the murders are coming closer together, suggesting that the judge is becoming more confident and is likely to start making mistakes.

Getting off the phone with Jeri, Lacy receives a summons to the Florida Supreme Court building to meet with the board of the BJC. They tell her that Cleo has resigned from the department and will be gone by the end of the day. The board members offer Lacy the position of interim director until they can find someone permanent. Lacy immediately turns down the offer, but they continue to press, offering her complete authority and better financing for the department.

Lacy suddenly thinks of Jeri and her suspicions about the judge. As the director, Lacy would have the authority to investigate Bannick. She would not mind the pay raise, and this would be an opportunity for her to set the department in order. It looks like nothing is going to change between her and Allie for the near future. She accepts the job.

Jeri continues her investigation, looking for information linking Lanny to Bannick. She finds a digitized record of an arrest of Lanny in 2001 for attempted assault. He was acquitted two months later. Bannick had been practicing law in the area at the time.

Jeri hires a private investigator, who goes to the police department in Pensacola. In the evidence warehouse, Sergeant Faldo helps him locate the arrest report on Lanny Verno. The incident report was filled out by Officer N. Ozment. The name of the victim in the alleged assault has been blacked out with a marker. The court abstract page of the file is blank where it should contain a summary of what happened in court. Obviously, the file has been altered. The detective reports back to Jeri. She now has another link: Officer Ozment.

Jeri skims through several newspapers and comes across a summary of local government news, including the announcement that Lacy has been appointed interim director of the BJC.