In the office the next day, Lacy contacts Sadelle, the only member of the BJC who has been around longer than Lacy. She asks Sadelle whether there is a way for someone to file an anonymous complaint against the judge. Sadelle, who has forgotten more about the BJC than most people ever knew, replies almost immediately that she can think of only three such cases in the last 40 years.

The narrative now jumps back to a Friday in the previous October. A house painter named Lanny Verno is working alone and waiting for his boss to bring him a paycheck. A man comes to the house claiming to be a county inspector. He knocks over the ladder on which Lanny is standing. The “inspector” pulls a telescoping rod from his pocket and hits Lenny in the back of the head. He then pulls a length of nylon rope from his pocket, wraps it around Lanny’s back, and pulls, asphyxiating Lanny. He ties off the rope with a double clove hitch. He takes Lanny’s phone.

The killer is surveying the scene when Lanny’s supervisor Dunwoody pulls up in the driveway. The supervisor enters the house and sees Lanny on the floor.