Blowout (20 page)

What he’d said was so absurd that the law clerks started shaking their heads and laughing. Sonya McGivens was laughing so hard she was holding her belly. She was hiccuping when she said, “I saw you once, following her, nearly into the bathroom, and yeah, you did open the door for her.”

Bobby paused a moment, then said, frowning, “I wondered why she didn’t use her own private bathroom.”

The laughter grew louder.

Bobby looked like he wanted to hurl all of them out the front window, Sherlock thought, except it wouldn’t be possible; it looked painted shut. “You’re all laughing at me. Why the hell did all of you come over here today to drink my beer and scarf my pizza?”

“You begged us to come,” Tai Curtis said. “Look, we’ve got to straighten up here. We apologize, Bobby. Now, guys, Danny’s dead, and these agents didn’t come here to listen to us laughing about bathrooms.”

Sherlock nodded to Tai. It was time to bring things back on track. “Let’s continue, then. Now, Bobby, you spoke to Eliza, she blew you off, and you ran out. But you didn’t remind her about the Friday meeting?”

“No, I guess I didn’t,” Bobby said, looking down at his banged-up Nikes. “I was upset at her, I’ll admit it.”

“Stop being a masochist, Bobby,” Sonya said, not unkindly. “Stop asking her out. Eliza could eat you for breakfast.”

Bobby turned a dull red and chugged down some beer.

This was going nowhere fast, Ben thought. “Did you see Justice Califano after the Friday meeting in the Chief Justice’s chambers?”

“No. The Justices rarely ever hang around together when they’re not in conference.”

Callie said, “Do you know what Eliza had planned for Friday night?”

“Nah, she didn’t say. I asked her, but she gave me this look, like what’s it to you, jerk face? That’s when I left.”

“Fleurette heard you two arguing,” Savich said. “What was that about?”

“The capital punishment case coming up. Eliza said I should consider trying to let some air into my brain, a little air couldn’t hurt, and a new idea might find its way in. Can you believe she said that? Just because she didn’t agree with me?”

Sonya rolled her eyes. “Oh no, Bobby, I simply can’t imagine that.”

Bobby said suddenly, “Wait, I do remember I saw Justice Califano and Justice Wallace talking on Friday afternoon, outside the gift shop on the basement level. The Justices were seldom down there, so it surprised me a little. I was on my way to get some soda from the cafeteria for Justice Alto-Thorpe, and there they were, standing there, real close, and neither of them looked happy.”

N
OW THIS WAS
a kicker, if, that is, Bobby was telling the truth, Savich thought. “Did you hear anything they were saying to each other?”

Bobby shook his head. “No, but Justice Califano was intense. I remember he pulled some papers out of his jacket pocket, held them rolled up, and gestured with them in front of Justice Wallace’s chest, as if he were punctuating each of his words.”

“You heard nothing at all?” Sherlock said.

“I saw Justice Wallace rear back, like it was an attack and he looked surprised and indignant, but there were lots of tourists milling around, a big crowd of them, finishing up a tour in the gift shop to buy souvenirs, and I couldn’t see them any longer. I wondered what it was about, but they disagreed sometimes, all of them. I didn’t pay that much attention at the time.”

“Okay,” Sherlock said. “Let’s get back to Eliza.” From what Sherlock could tell, Eliza was well liked among the law clerks. Bobby Fisher would do well to watch his mouth. She said, “What do you think Eliza thought of Justice Califano?” She looked directly at Bobby, but the other three clerks knew the question was coming to each of them, and it set them to thinking. Too bad, but who knew what they’d say in response to another’s comments?”

Bobby said, “Justice Alto-Thorpe thought Eliza and Justice Califano didn’t get along all that well, but you know, I don’t believe that. I know she admired the old guy. She tried to protect him and his time from anything she didn’t think was important.”

Sonya McGivens agreed. “Eliza practically worshiped him. The thing is, Justice Califano treated her like an equal in a way none of the other Justices do with their law clerks. Justice Wallace sure has never treated me or Tai like that. Justice Wal—” Her voice dropped off. She turned red, seemingly embarrassed, about what she’d almost said.

Dennis Palmer nodded in agreement. “That’s true. It isn’t at all like Justice Gutierrez treats me.”

“And how does he treat you, Dennis?” Sherlock asked.

“He’s always nice to me, don’t get me wrong, always listens politely to what I have to say. But I always feel like he’s ready to pat me on the back. I rarely feel he really wants to talk to me.”

“So you think Justice Gutierrez treats you that way because you’re black?” Sherlock asked.

He smiled at her. “No. I’ve never thought Justice Gutierrez is prejudiced. He hired me because I was law review, at the top of my class at Maryland, interviewed well, and presented him two topflight recommendations. But I really do think it made him feel warm and fuzzy to hire a black man, because he’s a minority himself, although I doubt he’s ever thought of himself in that way.”

“All right,” Savich said. “Tell me about Danny O’Malley. Bobby, when you were in Eliza’s office on Friday morning, what was Danny doing?”

“Okay. All right.” Bobby took a deep breath. “Danny was at his desk, working on something, I don’t know what. He looked up, saw me, and kind of winced. He did that whenever I came in. He never said anything nasty to me, not like Eliza did, he’d just sort of wince. Maybe he didn’t like it that I’d ask Eliza out on dates. Maybe he wanted Eliza too, sort of a dominance thing.”

“No,” Sonya said. “Danny really liked Eliza, he looked up to her. He wasn’t interested in her that way. He was going out with Annie Harper, you know, the girl he met over at the Department of the Interior.”

Sherlock asked, “Bobby, did you see Danny go into Justice Califano’s office?”

Bobby shook his head.

Tai Curtis said, “I wasn’t anywhere close that day. You guys weren’t either, were you?”

Dennis and Sonya shook their heads.

Ben said, “Bobby, did you see Danny at any other time on Friday?”

Bobby thought a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I saw him and Fleurette go out to lunch. They had their heads together, talking real low, about what, I don’t know. I didn’t see Danny again. What did he have on the murderer, Agent Savich? What could he have possibly known, found out?”

“We don’t know yet, but we will soon.”

Callie said to Sonya McGivens, “Could I come with you to the kitchen, Ms. McGivens? I need a glass of water.”

“Sure.” Sonya shrugged, tugged her lacy white top over her bare stomach, where it hovered for perhaps two seconds before slipping back up, and wandered out of the living room. She’d been here before, Callie thought. Why? Certainly not to hang out alone with Bobby.

“None of us are stupid, Detective—I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name?”

“My name’s Callie Markham.”

Sonya stopped dead in her tracks, stared up and down at Callie. “I thought you looked familiar. You’re Justice Califano’s stepdaughter. I was thinking maybe you’d given me a parking ticket or something, but that’s not it at all. You’ve visited your stepfather before in his chambers, haven’t you? And you’re not a cop, you’re a reporter—for
The Washington Post,
right?”

“Yes, I am. But I’m not here to do any story, Ms. McGivens. I’m on leave from the paper. I’m here because I think I can help with this investigation, a sort of an inside eye, someone who knows many of the players. I really want to find out who killed my stepfather. Can you tell me what you nearly said out there about Justice Wallace?”

Sonya rolled her eyes. “Please keep this quiet, Callie. Can I call you Callie?”

“Of course.”

“And call me Sonya. Okay, I’ll tell you, not that you’ll believe it—Justice Wallace tried to come on to me once, in a subtle sort of way. I must have looked so horrified, he tried to laugh it off as a joke. He looks at me sometimes, I’ll see him from the corner of my eye, looking. I have a good figure and I like to show it off, but to have a Supreme Court Justice staring at you, well, it’s enough to put you off your feed. But who really knows what old guys are thinking anyway?”

“I don’t even know what young guys are thinking most of the time,” Callie said.

“That’s easy. It’s always sex. That detective you’re with, Ben Raven, now you look in those sexy dark eyes of his, and he’s transparent as water. He might as well be wearing a neon sign:
Wanna have sex with me, Callie?
He’s a hunk. You guys dating, right?”

Ben the hunk wanted to have sex with her? Nah, he barely liked her, although he had been looking at her butt. And he liked her butt, even if it was civilian. She cleared her throat, aware that Sonya was smirking at her. “No, we’re not dating. I’m not lying, dammit. Listen, really, we’re paired up on only this investigation. Since I’m not a cop, he isn’t too pleased about me tagging along.”

“Oh boy, are you ever blind. Polish up your eyesight, Callie. He likes you, I can tell. And you know what? He didn’t look below my face once, not once. That’s fortitude. Yeah, the man wants you.”

Callie smiled, since this notion clearly astounded Sonya McGivens. “I’m curious, Sonya. You’re not going to show off your body when you’re out in the real world, are you?”

“Probably not, but it would be a temptation. Some guys on the jury wouldn’t hear a single word out of the other lawyer’s mouth. They’d be looking at me and agreeing with whatever I said.” She sighed. “But professionalism has its place. I do wish guys and their libidos would remember that. Hey, since you’re a reporter, you must have problems with men who think because you’ve got different equipment you shouldn’t be allowed to play in their sandbox.”

Callie grinned. “Tell you what. Let’s go for drinks some evening and try to solve that problem. Right now, we’ve got to focus on this. Do you know if Justice Wallace may have behaved inappropriately with any other female law clerks?”

“There are only ten of us, but I think I’m the only one he ever tried anything with. I’ve heard some stories, everyone has, about Court secretaries that go back years. His poor wife. She seems nice, but downtrodden, like she knows too much and has no intention of doing anything about it. It’s like her generation is hard-wired to protect their husbands even when they know the men have been unfaithful. Me, I can’t stand women who let their husbands walk all over them, but I guess that’s the way things were for them.”

“So he never hit on Eliza?”

Sonya laughed, really laughed, and Callie saw her navel ring dance. She gasped out, “Justice Sumner Wallace hit on Eliza Vickers? Oh, that’s a hilarious image. Oh no, he knew Eliza would have produced a spit right there, skewered him on it, and barbecued him. She’d have turned him into leather. No, he wasn’t suicidal.”

Callie liked Sonya and was tempted to ask if she thought Eliza had slept with her stepfather, but she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. She had a feeling that Sonya would have told her if she’d seen or heard anything.

Callie said, “Sonya, would you really be surprised if it turns out Danny O’Malley tried to blackmail whoever killed my stepfather?”

Sonya got a glass down from the cupboard, turned on the water at the sink, slid her fingers through it to make sure it was cold, and filled the glass, all without saying anything. When she handed the glass to Callie, she said, “Oh yes. You see, Danny always looked out for
numero uno.
He was a good law clerk, don’t get me wrong, he worked hard, and he was smart, but he was after big money, wanted to make gobs of it, and unlike most of us, that’s why he came to the Supreme Court. He believed it was his ticket to New York. He wanted to make his mark there, nowhere else, not like Bobby Fisher who obsesses about going to L.A. and defending the stars.”

“Was Danny bright enough to succeed in the big time in New York, do you think?”

“The truth is we all have a ticket to just about anywhere, Callie. I don’t know about Danny’s future. He was really bright, but sometimes he’d talk and talk, and you’d know he hadn’t read enough or thought enough about the topic to even give an opinion. He trusted his ability to bullshit. Maybe that’s what he did here, only this time it didn’t turn out well for him.”

Sonya slammed her fist down on the counter. “Why the hell would he be so stupid as to get involved with a murderer? Didn’t he care about Justice Califano’s death? Did he really believe the guy who had the balls to kill a Supreme Court Justice in the Supreme Court library was going to pay him money because of any threat he made?” She shook her head, and paused. “Poor Eliza. She liked to think of Danny as an Irish lad filled with ideals. She was really wrong.”

Callie took a drink of the water, placed the glass back on the kitchen counter. “What do you think about Dennis Palmer?”

“Dennis is okay. I just wish he’d get over this black thing. He likes to think of himself as Justice Gutierrez’s token black boy, although he’d never admit it. I think he’d do better with one of the white Justices—conservative, liberal—it wouldn’t matter. I swear none of them would give a damn if you were pink or black or green. Female, now, that’s another matter. Isn’t it ironic that you have sex discrimination in the Supreme Court?”

“Yes, it is. And Tai?”

“He works hard, puts in his two cents, but keeps his head down. He expends a lot of energy being careful about what he says and how he looks because he’s gay, and hasn’t advertised it outside our chambers. I have no clue if Justice Wallace has picked up on that.”

“What does Tai think of Eliza Vickers?”

“He admitted to me once, after three beers on a Friday night at George’s Pub, that he thought she was too smart for her own good, that it would get her into real trouble some day. She saw things she shouldn’t see, he said, and she didn’t know enough to look the other way.”

Callie finally decided to ask. “Did he ever say anything about Eliza and my stepfather?”