TWO POLICE OFFICERS SHAVED MY HEAD—THEN DISCOVERED I WAS THE JUDGE ASSIGNED TO THEIR CASE.

His name was Warren Baxter. He wore careful ties, remembered birthdays, and helped new attorneys find the right counter. I had trusted him with scheduling requests, never with my private password.

He was escorted from the courthouse for questioning.

I wanted to ask him why he had done it. Leah told me not to.

“Your anger is understandable,” she said. “But right now, we need facts. We need a system audit, not a confrontation.”

Investigators found that Baxter had used a backup administrative token to access the docket queue. He had created the fake continuance notice and sent the misleading video to a public-relations consultant associated with Pike.

Baxter claimed he believed he was helping delay a hearing that had become unsafe.

He did not explain why he had prepared the notice before I was hurt.

Judge Carter Ames, now responsible for the original case, ordered the immediate preservation of relevant recordings and files. The replacement judge did not abandon the disputed evidence simply because the first judge had been attacked.

That evening a court spokesperson announced that I had been assaulted, that another judge had taken over, and that an independent investigation was underway.

It was the first official statement that did not treat my absence as a medical problem.

When I saw it, I cried with anger, not relief.

Later, Tessa visited with a box from my office. Inside were condolence cards, a spare cardigan, and a little drawing a schoolchild had made of a woman behind a judge’s bench.

On top sat a plain envelope I did not recognize.

It held an old photograph of my mother outside the courthouse with three janitors. A red circle had been drawn around Gloria’s face.

On the back, someone had written:

ASK HER ABOUT THE EAST STAIRWELL.