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that a judge or two over there is up for sale.”
    â€œWhich ones?”
    â€œI don’t know. It’s just a rumor, but I think it’s probably true. It’s one of those things you hear a lot. You know the old wheeze, where there’s smoke there’s fire.”
    â€œThere’s always that kind of rumor floating around, no matter what court it is. You know that, Mickey.”
    â€œWhat about Judge Newark in Recorder’s Court? Would you call that a rumor?”
    I laughed. “No matter what they may say about him he’s still on the bench. I understand the grand jury came close a few times, but they couldn’t nail him.”
    Mickey looked around to make sure no one could hear what he was about to say. Then he spoke in a near whisper. “I know how he does it.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œRemember Sid Williams?”
    A memory flashed in my mind, a picture of a sleazy littlelawyer with bulging eyes and the world’s worst toupee. Sid was a fixture in Recorder’s Court. He had no law office but practiced out of a bondsman’s storefront. “I remember Sid.”
    â€œHe’s Judge Newark’s partner.”
    â€œC’mon! Newark wouldn’t have anything to do with a slime like Sid.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t think it, would you? Maybe that’s why it works so well.” Monk sipped his drink. “Sure you won’t have one of these, Charley?”
    â€œNo. Go on. Tell me about Sid and the judge.”
    He flashed that boyish grin, then chuckled. “Suppose you got a criminal case in front of Judge Newark. Say, for instance, you got a client charged with sale and possession of narcotics. He’s got a record, and they got a good case on him. He’s looking at twenty years. The prosecutor won’t go for a lesser plea and your man is desperate. What do you do?”
    â€œTry it.”
    Monk nodded. “You do, but you waive a jury so that Newark will make the ultimate decision. But before you try it, you quick find Sid Williams. Only you don’t discuss that case, not a word, nothing. But you hire Sid to be your cocounsel on another case. It doesn’t matter what case, civil, criminal, whatever. You pay Sid maybe four thousand dollars, then you go to trial before Newark.”
    â€œAnd you win.”
    â€œNo. You lose. That’s the neat part. You lose, but the judge finds your man guilty of a lesser offense. And he does some time too, but not much, maybe six months. Nobody complains. The prosecutor and the police aren’t happy, maybe, but they’re satisfied. The fucking dope dealer is ecstatic. You get the four grand from him, plus a bonus. You’re a hero, the judge looks good, and there’s no way to trace anything. Even if you were trying to make a case and were wearing a wire it wouldn’t do any good. Youand Sid never talk about the matter up before Newark.”
    â€œSlick.”
    Monk nodded. “Like sheet ice. From what I understand Sid gets maybe a third and the rest goes to the judge. Cash, of course. I don’t know how they arrange the money transfer between them, Sid and the judge, but it’s probably just as neat as the fix itself.”
    â€œIf you know about it, Mickey, you can bet other people do, and then it’s no secret. That’s the danger in those kinds of arrangements.”
    â€œHey, it’s not common knowledge, I just happened to stumble onto the thing. I had a burglar in front of Newark for B & E nighttime. A lawyer, one of the regulars over in Recorder’s, tipped me. I paid Sid the fee, just like he said, and my man got found guilty of daytime. Got three months. Jesus, he had a record that would stretch from here to Florida. I never seen anybody so happy as him when he got sentenced.”
    â€œThat’s something I wouldn’t talk about, Mickey, or do, for that matter.”
    â€œGet real. It’s all part of life. Anyway, like it or