Dirty Blonde

“Where is it being produced? L.A.?”

“Yes. It’s too expensive to shoot here. We shoot exteriors in Philly next month.”

“Is it called Judges@Court?”

“Yes, just like the Law amp; Order franchise.”

“When will it air?”

“September, next.”

Cate had plenty of time for an injunction, if she could get one. “What’s the show about?”

Micah hesitated. “A woman judge.”

“Federal?”

“Yes, and three other judges on the court.”

“In Philly?”

“Yes.”

“Are the characters based on the other judges, on my court?” Cate asked, appalled. She’d been so self- centered she hadn’t even thought of that. “Have you been following my colleagues, too?”

“No. Art thought they were boring.”

They are, God bless them. “Okay, let’s talk about the woman judge. Is she married?”

“Single.”

“Describe her.” Cate folded her arms in the thick sheepskin coat. “Or should I just look in a mirror?”

“Well, yes.” Micah smiled weakly. “Only taller. Hollywood doesn’t like shorter women, like us.”

“Okay, and don’t tell me, let me guess-she sleeps around, and no one knows.”

“She has a secret sex life.”

Oh, God.

“But she’s good,” Micah rushed to say. “She’s a good person. She’s fun and cool, like you. She’s a strong heroine. She’s empowered.”

Cate mock-shuddered. “Make me anything but empowered. I hate empowered.”

Micah smiled, for the first time. “They haven’t cast her yet. Did you really want Charlize Theron?”

Cate groaned. “I was kidding.”

“She sleeps with another judge on the court, who’s crazy about her. In the first episode, they have a threesome.”

Cate’s eyes flew open. “Three judges?”

“No, two and a male law clerk.”

Cate burst into laughter. Way to miss the point. “Oh, God. I thought what I did was bad, but this’ll make it look worse. I didn’t think that was even possible!”

“It’s entertainment, Judge.”

Argh. Cate had a terrible thought and sobered immediately. Meadowbrook Lane. “Wait a minute. This judge doesn’t have a best friend, does she?”

“Well, yes. I mean, she has to, to show that-”

“Tell me about her friend.” Cate felt new anger in her chest, and Micah must have seen it, because she edged back in the chair.

“Well, to be honest, she’s a lot like your friend.”

“No!” Cate thought quickly ahead. Warren. “She doesn’t have a kid, does she?”

“He’s mildly retarded, but in the end-”

“No, you can’t do that!” Cate shot up, her body rigid as a stake in the ground. “You cannot do that. His mother didn’t ask for this. He’s a little boy. He didn’t ask for this.”

“It’s not them, it’s just characters-”

“It is them, and all their friends will know. All the people on their street, and all the kids in his preschool, when he goes next year. You think he doesn’t have it hard enough?”

“Judge, maybe it’ll help-”

“It won’t help! You didn’t do it to help! You did it to make money!”

“I didn’t do it.” Even Micah looked upset. “I’m sorry, I’m just the-”

“That boy doesn’t deserve this, to be exploited! To be put in the spotlight! His mother doesn’t deserve this! They’re just people, living their lives!”

“It’s out of my hands, Judge.” Micah was shaking her glossy head. “Art really loved the little boy, as a subplot.”

“He’s not a subplot, he’s a child!” Cate couldn’t stand still anymore. She’d learned all she needed to know. It was going to be worse than she thought. Never mind the threesome. Gina and Warren. The people she loved most in the world. She felt stunned, stricken. She couldn’t even speak. She went to the door.

“Judge, there’s nothing you can do-”

Cate hurried for the door of the office, her stomach churning. What had she done? What had she caused? She ran out of the office and down the stairs and made it to the curb, panicky and sickened. She looked right and left, found an alley, and bolted for it.

And inside the alley, with one hand on the dirty brick wall, Cate got sick to her stomach.

CHAPTER 20

Cate drove down Fifth Street in light traffic, heading back toward the courthouse, her emotions in tumult. A pack of Trident gum couldn’t overcome the taste in her mouth. She would never have dreamed that she could have caused so much harm, or set into motion a series of events that would hurt Gina and Warren. Their vulnerability upped the ante. She steered onto Market Street and, preoccupied, almost ran a red light. She had to keep that show off the air, and down-and-dirty legal research from a law clerk was only the beginning. She’d hire the best litigator in town, if not alive, and she’d wage the biggest, baddest court battle she could afford, which was plenty. Cate reached on the passenger seat for her purse and dug around for her cell phone.

Ring! Suddenly, the cell rang in her bag. She fished the phone from her purse and checked the number on the lighted display. It was a number she didn’t know, in the 215 area code. Funny. Almost nobody had her cell number. She pressed SEND to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Judge Fante?” It was a man on the line. “This is Vector Security.”

“Yes?” Cate said, surprised.

And by the end of the next sentence, she had swung the car completely around and hit the gas.

Cate pulled up to the unwelcome sight of a police cruiser in her driveway. She parked behind it, turned off the ignition, and jumped out of her car, then hurried up her front steps in the cold, readying her keys to unlock the front door, but it swung wide, having been opened by a uniformed cop standing on the threshold of her house. His blue eyes peered businesslike from under the black patent bill of his cap.

“You the judge?” he asked, his tone surprised. His build was short and stocky in a dark blue jacket, his gleaming badge worn under a black nameplate that read OFFICER THEODORE GILKENNY.

“Yes.” Cate stepped into the entrance hall, introduced herself and extended a hand, and they shook, his hand in a thick black leather glove. “How did you get in?”

“Through the gate in the back fence, then in through the back door. The way they tried to.”

Cate groaned. Vector was her burglar alarm company. They had said the alarm on the back door had gone off. “What did they take?”

“Nothing. You lucked out.” Officer Gilkenny closed the door behind them. “We figure they ran when the alarm went off.”

“Did anybody see them? Or him?”