For a moment, she considered whether she should proceed with her scheduled responsibilities.
Then she looked at the papers still lying across the marble floor.
The documents had been gathered from different places in the hallway, but their order was no longer clear. Some pages had slipped beneath a bench, and others had landed near the wall where people had been standing.
The disruption was minor compared with the assault itself, yet it served as a reminder of how suddenly the encounter had changed the entire morning.
Claire had entered the courthouse expecting to review a case.
Instead, she was now the central witness in an incident involving the misuse of police authority.
She turned back toward Margaret.
JUDGE CLAIRE BENNETT: "Please inform the court administrator that I may need to adjust my schedule while the incident is documented. I don't want the hearings delayed unnecessarily, but I also don't want this matter handled informally simply because I am a judge."
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "I'll communicate that immediately."
Victor looked up at her last statement.
OFFICER VICTOR HAYES: "You don't have to make a formal complaint, Judge Bennett. We could explain that there was a misunderstanding."
Claire's expression hardened.
JUDGE CLAIRE BENNETT: "A misunderstanding is something that can be clarified through conversation. You struck me after I repeatedly asked you to explain your actions. That is not something we can resolve by choosing a more comfortable description."
OFFICER VICTOR HAYES: "I'm asking you to consider that I was working under pressure."
JUDGE CLAIRE BENNETT: "Pressure does not remove accountability. The evidence will show what happened, and the appropriate people can determine what follows."
Victor appeared ready to argue, but Margaret interrupted.
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "Officer Hayes, do not attempt to persuade the witness about how this incident should be reported. Your account can be submitted through the proper process."
Victor fell silent.
The instruction seemed to make him even more aware of how much control he had lost. He could no longer direct the conversation by raising his voice or issuing commands. Every statement was being recorded, every witness was being identified, and every relevant piece of evidence was being preserved.
Claire did not take satisfaction in watching his discomfort.
She had no interest in humiliating him for the sake of revenge. What mattered was that the truth could be established without interference and that the incident would not disappear into an informal conversation between people who preferred to avoid inconvenience.
She had seen too many disputes in which the person with the most confidence was mistaken for the person with the strongest evidence.
The courthouse was supposed to guard against that very problem.
A clerk returned with an update from the records office. The courthouse had identified the cameras covering the corridor, and a request had been submitted to preserve the recordings from the relevant time period.
Margaret thanked the clerk and confirmed that the request had been logged.
Then she turned back to Victor.
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "We also need to establish when you received the information about Maya Reynolds. You mentioned a message. Was it a text message, an email, or a dispatch notification?"
OFFICER VICTOR HAYES: "A message on my work phone."
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "Do you still have it?"
OFFICER VICTOR HAYES: "Yes."
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "Then please do not delete or alter it. The relevant records will need to be reviewed through the appropriate procedure."
Victor nodded, though his expression remained strained.
OFFICER VICTOR HAYES: "It wasn't a detailed message."
SECURITY SUPERVISOR MARGARET ELLIS: "We can determine that after it has been reviewed."
Claire listened without interrupting.
The reference to the message had introduced a new element into the incident. Until then, Victor had relied mainly on a vague description and his own belief that Claire was the woman he had been sent to find. Now there was a specific communication that might explain how that belief had developed.
The message could prove to be nothing more than a routine, poorly worded notification. It might contain an innocent mistake. It might also reveal that Victor had received information that did not justify the confidence he displayed in the hallway.
Claire was not prepared to draw a conclusion before seeing the evidence.
She only knew that the message existed, that Victor had relied on it, and that he had not verified his assumptions before striking her.
Henry approached her quietly.
BAILIFF HENRY COLLINS: "Your Honor, the court administrator would like to speak with you as soon as you're ready. They are arranging the incident review and want to make sure the records are preserved."
JUDGE CLAIRE BENNETT: "Tell them I will speak with them after the initial documentation is complete."