Once Judge Harper opened the journal to a page that Nunzio had marked with a neon-yellow Post-it, her gaze lowered as she silently read the words Lindsay had confronted at the cottage herself only a day ago. She kissed me. Or maybe I kissed her. But she definitely kissed me back. Finally, after all these years, it happened. And it was good. Really, really good. Gentle at first . . .

The judge was suddenly looking directly at her. “Is this true, Counselor? You had a romantic encounter with this client within the last year?”

Lindsay’s face grew hot. In her periphery, she saw Carter Decker cover his eyes with one hand. Even he was disgusted with the prosecutor’s argument.

“This is completely improper, Your Honor. If Mr. Nunzio had concerns about my ability to provide representation in this case—or my client’s wishes with respect to her choice of counsel—he could have asked for a conference in chambers instead of dropping these salacious accusations in open court in front of the press. He’s doing this to demonize my client, deprive her of the right to counsel, and distract from the fact that he has absolutely no evidence upon which to charge Hope Miller of any crime whatsoever.”

“Your Honor, we can place the defendant inside a home where Alex Lopez’s blood was found. Hours after she left that home, she was seen on camera disposing of a rug from that same home that also contained traces of the victim’s blood. We are filing a prosecutorial information charging her with one count of felony assault today, but we anticipate additional, more serious charges once we go before a grand jury for indictment. We are also aware that she is being investigated for involvement in another homicide in a different state that we believe formed her motive to move to Suffolk County for the sole purpose of finding Alex Lopez and harming him. We are seeking to detain her pending indictment and trial because she is an extreme flight risk. She has lived for fifteen years under an alias and then disappeared for nearly two weeks since the events that gave rise to the probable cause for her arrest. She has no ties to the jurisdiction or even to New York.”