Ridge smiled back. Sort of. “What did you find out about the accident itself?”
Terry lowered his coffee cup to the table. “Dan called his buddy at the Sheriff’s office. Got us into the compound to look at Kate’s Subaru. Like the Sheriff’s investigators, we found no denting or paint scrapes consistent with impact from another vehicle. Just the wide, rounded dents from the rollover.”
Ridge shifted in his seat. “Afraid of that. Single-vehicle crash, right?”
Terry looked at Ridge. “Seems so. But with no witnesses, we just don’t know. Could have been someone cut her off. That orange-cone thrasher in the Supra, a couple of weeks ago, comes to mind. Or maybe she had to swerve—to miss a dog or cat in the road. Hell, it was Palos Verdes. Steep hills. And they have peacocks running around loose up there.”
Jayne, sipping her cocoa, said, “What about Kate? What does she remember?”
Terry shook his head. “With the head injury, almost nothing. She was going to the office, then she woke up in the hospital.”
Ridge frowned and rubbed his forehead. “Well, thank goodness, she was in a Subaru. Former ship builders. They still manufacture with the high-tensile steel used in big boats. Strongest on the market.”
“Yeah. Almost no roof crush.” Terry glanced at his watch. “Time to go in.”
Jayne placed her cup on the table. “Wait a minute. Let’s get flowers first. There’s a shop, right off the lobby.”
When they entered Kate’s room, Ridge’s eyes riveted on her left arm. A white cast. And her left leg. In traction. Kate was looking the other way, toward a young woman sitting next to her bed. The woman, in her early 20’s, had long dark hair, and wore a brown sweater. Looked a lot like Kate. Kate stopped talking, turned toward the door and smiled. “Hey guys, meet Minnie-Me. She goes by the name Annie Gonzales, a.k.a. my niece.”
Annie got up but looked down at her aunt. “Kate, you’re a crack-up.”
“No. I was in one. Believe me.”
Ridge walked toward Kate’s bed. “Wow. Still with the wisecracks. Now I know you’re OK.”
After introductions all around, Jayne put the glass vase and flowers on Kate’s nightstand and hugged her. “Are you OK?”
Kate pointed at her left leg. “Will be as soon as they get me out of this contraption. Doctors say a month or two though until I’m back to 100 percent. Which is exactly what Annie, and I were talking about when you all came in.”
“Yes?” said Ridge.
Kate pointed at him with her right hand. “You’re going to need help while I’m recuperating.”
Ridge raised his eyebrows. “You know, actually, I always need help.”
“Exactly.” Kate laughed. “And that’s why Annie here is going to fill in for me. She’s going to El Camino College at night. Learning to be a paralegal. And she’s agreed to cover the office, during the day, while I’m gone. Whatta you think?”
Jayne moved to the foot of Kate’s bed and wrapped an arm around Eric’s waist. “God knows, he really does need help.”
Annie laughed. “And Kate tells me I can call her anytime—in the hospital, in rehab, at home—when I have any questions.”
Ridge clapped his hands. “That’s it then. When can you start?”
Annie looked to Kate who nodded at her. “As soon as you give me the go ahead.”
“I’m no Kate,” Terry said, “but I can show you the ropes around the office this afternoon.”
Ridge and Jayne got back to the apartment around eleven. Ridge strolled out to the north balcony to check on the hummingbirds, then hurried back inside, whispering. “Jayne…come here. Wait til you see this.”
Peering into the geranium pot, they found two perfectly-round eggs, each the size of a small jellybean, sitting in the tiny nest. Ridge looked around. “But where’s mama? Where’s papa?”
“Fill up the feeder. We’ll find out,” said Jayne.
Sure enough, after Ridge topped the feeder with nectar and went inside, the two tiny birds were back. And after feeding, the female settled into the nest. Ridge turned to Jayne. “I could watch ’em all day. Really. But gotta get to the office. With Kate out, things will be different.”
A few minutes later, as Ridge said goodbye and pulled the door open to leave, Jayne’s phone began buzzing like crazy.
At noon, Ridge arrived at work. A note on his desk said Elliot Green had telephoned earlier. Ridge dialed. “Elliot, how you doing?”
“Good. Heading to court. Look—really quick—I found out this morning Judge Stevens in San Francisco died last week. Unexpectedly.”
“Sorry to hear that. But I didn’t know him.”
“Eric, remember our talk at the Millsberg funeral? This makes the fourth judicial death we know of in just over two weeks. All unexpected. And all, so-called, accidental. A Judge Sayor in Phoenix died of a snake bite—of all things—about a week and a half ago. My friends there told me, at the time, he was walking alone in the desert. Which was beaucoup strange. Sayor was a purebred city boy. They don’t remember him ever taking a hike in the desert, let alone by himself.”
Ridge didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but a sick feeling had taken up residence in his gut. “I knew Sayor. Judge on one of my aviation cases. But didn’t know he was a city boy. Maybe that’s why he got bit by a snake. Out of his element?”
“Eric. My gut tells me its more than that. Stevens allegedly fell into a moving subway train last Thursday night. But my friends in San Francisco tell me he drove everywhere. Never took the train. Makes no sense. Look, I’ve been doing this stuff a long time. Never heard of anything like it. Four deaths of area judges in only two weeks? It’s beyond suspicious. Anyway, knowing you represent Judge Millsberg, I thought you should know.”
“I appreciate it. Does anything else connect the four deaths?”
“Nothing that I know of. But look, one more thing.”
