I hope I can state a theory based on what little evidence we have thus far, as it relates to the comment about the sheriff saying "they are trying to take my wife and daughter." I am wondering if there is a chance that the judge was having an affair with the wife of the sheriff. Or maybe even more innocently, perhaps there was trouble in the family and the judge was intervening as a friend. Sometimes, when 2 families are close and something goes awry, perhaps the mom and daughter may reach out to the "uncle" to help out in the situation. I guess I am just trying to say there are a LOT of reasons outside of what many are hinting at that could have been why the judge had the daughters phone number.
We know that the sheriff was having some type of issue in the months prior to the shooting. He didn't plan to seek reelection and it's been said he was going to retire. We know he had this deposition on that Monday before the shooting.
So I think it's possible something was going on with him that caused his family to reach out to Judge Mullins to try to help him or to make him aware of how bad it was. Maybe they were working with him to try to get the sheriff some help for something?? Losing weight and not sleeping along with paranoia could be drugs or some other addiction? That could lead someone to not run again and to retire. Maybe the family was reaching out to Mullins and not the other way around?