The Fall on the Courthouse Steps
Chapter 01 - The Fall on the Courthouse Steps
The courthouse steps were crowded with reporters when Rachel Monroe arrived for the hearing that could destroy the most powerful man in the city.
Eight months pregnant and dressed in navy blue, she held one hand over her stomach as she climbed toward the entrance. Beside her walked Julia Kane, the attorney assigned to protect her. Julia had spent weeks promising that Rachel would be safe if she testified against Senator Thomas Vale.
Rachel had evidence that Vale had used public money to buy silence, destroy records, and threaten witnesses. Her testimony was supposed to begin in less than twenty minutes.
Halfway up the steps, Julia leaned close.
“You still have time to change your mind,” she whispered.
Rachel looked at her. “People were hurt because everyone kept changing their minds.”
Julia’s expression hardened.
A sudden shove struck Rachel between the shoulders.
She lost her balance.
Her heel slipped from the stone edge, and she fell forward, landing hard on the steps. Pain tore through her side. The crowd gasped. Cameras flashed as she curled around her stomach.
“Rachel!” shouted Judge William Hart, a retired federal judge who had come to escort her inside.
He dropped his briefcase and rushed to her.
Julia stood several steps above them, frozen for a moment before pretending to panic.
“She slipped,” Julia called. “Someone call an ambulance!”
Rachel looked up through tears. She had felt Julia’s hand.
Before she could speak, another sharp pain tightened across her belly.
William knelt beside her, trying to keep her conscious.
“Stay with me,” he said. “Your baby needs you to stay awake.”
Rachel grabbed his sleeve.
“She pushed me.”
William looked toward Julia.
The attorney’s face remained calm, but her eyes moved toward a security camera mounted near the courthouse door.
A tiny red light blinked.
Julia saw it too.
Then she turned and hurried inside.
William understood immediately.
May you like
The fall had not been an accident.
And whoever had ordered it believed the camera was the only witness they needed to erase.
