Chapter 46

“Yes, I did, and Sylvester Higgins is the judge. Why?”

“He handled the adoption,” Chris said. “Would he have to recuse himself because of that?”

“Not at all, and I should think that would ease your mind about things. By the way, how do we know that your mother was doing this?”

“Because she left a letter addressed to me, marked to be opened after her death,” Chris said.

“Ma’am and Sir, I already have a solid case, but you’ve just cast it in concrete for me—provided you feel the victim is up to testifying, Dr. Brannon.”

“I’d like to think about that for a few days,” she said. “How close are you to having a trial date?”

“Most of the men have public defenders, but two of them have hired pretty decent lawyers, so I expect to spend quite a bit of time maneuvering before we go to trial. In order to save the state some time and a lot of money, I’m going to do my best to try all of them at the same time.”