Blowout (14 page)

“I realize you all believe Stewart was killed by someone who knew him. That it was a personal act, not a terrorist act, and that is why I've told you this. I very much want you to catch Stewart's murderer. This information is more than likely a dead end, but I knew I had to tell you anything that might help.”

Ben eyed another brioche but exercised control. “What do you think of Justice Califano's other two law clerks and his two secretaries, ma'am?”

Justice Xavier-Foxx smiled. “Stewart's law clerks, like all our law clerks, have their own beliefs, their own biases, their own core values. Sure they're young, still changing, evolving. You can hear arguments all over the Court. The lunchroom downstairs is a hotbed of controversy, argument, brutal insults. Do our law clerks sway us? Yes, sometimes. Young people are so passionate, so idealistic. It's difficult to resist them sometimes even when you know they don't have the ability to grasp the long view, the consequences of a decision.”

Callie asked, “Do you think Justice Sumner Wallace could have behaved inappropriately with my mother?”

Again, Justice Xavier-Foxx was unruffled. “It wouldn't surprise me. He was always testing. As I said, everyone knows that Sumner has always had a roving eye. He'll never see himself as too old to follow through when he sees a woman he wants.”

“Do you believe that Justice Wallace and my stepfather were best friends?”

“If Sumner did behave inappropriately with your mother and Stewart found out about it, I would certainly doubt it. However, I hope Sumner managed to hold himself in check with Margaret.” She rose, looked at one, then the other of them. “Both of you are very young. Try to enjoy this special time. Detective, find the person who did this.”

They left a few minutes later beneath a noon-high sun that shone brilliantly on the melting snow. Ben waved to the two federal marshals guarding the residence as he drove through the open gate. He said as he turned onto the highway, “Mr. Foxx stayed close throughout the interview, probably right outside the living room.”

“How do you know that?”

“I smelled his aftershave. Old Spice.”

“I wonder why he didn't come in, at least to meet us. We could have thanked him for the coffee and those marvelous brioches.”

“Good question. That was well done of you, out of the blue asking her about, well, your stepfather messing around. I confess I never even thought of that.”

“I certainly didn't get the answer I expected, that's for sure.”

45 L
AWFORD
A
VENUE
N.E.
G
EORGETOWN
, W
ASHINGTON
, D.C.
S
UNDAY MORNING

S
AVICH AND
S
HERLOCK
stood a moment on the icy front steps of Justice Lydia Alto-Thorpe's house, staring at the recently slammed door. The door was still shuddering.

Sherlock said, “Should I arrest her?”

“For rudeness? For telling us we're incompetent?”

“That's a start. Goodness, Dillon, I feel like I've been bludgeoned. Can she harangue, or what? She slammed the door right in our faces,” Sherlock said. Then she laughed. “She actually slammed the door in two FBI agents' faces. Isn't that a kick?”

“I'm still deciding what it was,” Savich said.

The Justice had opened the door herself and blocked them, even though she knew who they were since they'd called out their names through the closed front door. She stood there, arms crossed over her chest. “Well, what have we here? More reporters?”

Sherlock had given her a sweet smile, pulled out her I.D., flipped it open, and said, “As you see, Justice Alto-Thorpe, we're FBI agents. May we come in?”

Justice Alto-Thorpe had said out of a mouth so tightly seamed they could barely see it, “This is ridiculous. I've already spoken to everyone. I know nothing about any of this except that you're all incompetent idiots. A madman invaded the Supreme Court of the United States of America and murdered a Supreme Court Justice! This is ludicrous, unforgivable, and disgraceful! You allowed it to happen. All of you should be fired, beginning with the Marshal of the Supreme Court, Alice Halpern. The Attorney General should be shot. The President should resign.”

And that had been only her opening salvo.

They walked back to Savich's Porsche. Savich waved to the two federal marshals who were sitting in their car across the street. He would swear there was a look of commiseration on their faces.

As they drove away, Sherlock said, “Well, even though I feel bruised all over, and we didn't learn a single thing except the Justice is extraordinarily pissed off, there is an upside to this.”

“Yeah?”

“We have lots of time now for Eliza Vickers. She lives in McLean?”

Savich nodded, as he carefully negotiated a corner. “I guess you could say she is royally pissed.”

“Bludgeoned, we've been bludgeoned by an expert.” She sighed. “After we speak with Ms. Vickers we'll go home for lunch and see Sean and Lily. Hopefully everyone will be smiling and glad to see us. That will bolster our egos. Isn't Simon coming down from New York today to see Lily?”

“You bet. He's trying to talk my sister into marrying him sooner rather than later. What do you think?”

“I guess we'll see,” Sherlock said, and settled back for the drive to McLean. “Simon's a pretty good talker.”

E
LIZA
V
ICKERS OPENED
the front door of her condo as soon as Savich's Porsche pulled into the driveway. The condo complex—The Oaks—looked lovely under a pristine blanket of snow. The individual condos were good-sized, modern, and well maintained. The grounds were nicely kept, the sidewalks well shoveled. The complex backed up against a maple and oak forest. Sherlock heard Dillon say, “Remind me to review the financials on her later. Nice buildings, nice setting. I wonder how much law clerks at the Supreme Court make?”

“Probably not all that much. It's such a prestige thing, I imagine. Sort of like being a Rhodes scholar.”

Eliza Vickers was a surprise. She was tall, about five-foot-ten, full-figured, big-breasted, with long, straight dark brown hair. She wore white socks, jeans, and a huge creamy knit sweater. Big glasses distorted her eyes a bit, then she gave them a smile, and Sherlock saw a wealth of beauty on her face. The smile was brief, though, and it was clear she'd been crying. She rubbed her fists over her cheeks, trying to keep control, and whispered, “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Come in, let me get myself together.”

The living room was good-sized, filled with light from a dozen windows that looked onto the woods, a modern fireplace, and a white sofa and chairs with a dozen accent pillows scattered artfully about. The carpet was white. Sherlock automatically took off her shoes, Savich followed suit.

“Yes, I know—why ever did I choose white? I guess it was during my off-guys phase, you know, back to virginal for a while. It's a pain now. Please come in. Can I get you coffee or tea?”

“Tea would be marvelous,” Sherlock said. “Straight.” That made Eliza smile a bit, that beautiful smile, and her eyes cleared behind those big glasses. “I'll be back in a moment.”

“I smell him,” Sherlock said.

“Who?”

“Justice Califano. I smell him. The same smell in his inner office at the Supreme Court Building.”

“So it was an affair, then, not just Eliza Vickers worshiping Justice Califano from afar. He came here.”

“Yes. And it was recent.”

When Eliza Vickers walked back into the living room, she was carrying two mugs that each said UVA. “A good school,” Savich said. “With one of the best law schools in the country, I understand. I thought you went to Harvard Law.”

“I did. My younger brother goes to UVA.” She gave them each a mug. “It's plain old Lipton. I hope you don't mind.”

“It's excellent,” Sherlock said, taking a sip.

Eliza wasn't a lightweight, nor was she fat. She was simply solid, statuesque. She took off her glasses a moment, and wiped them on the hem of her big sweater. Savich looked at her eyes. There was grief there, and confusion, but obvious intelligence as well. He felt immediate respect for her.

He said matter-of-factly, “Everyone tells us you're a real ballbuster, Ms. Vickers.”

“Call me Eliza, please, Agent Savich. Goodness, yes, I suppose I am. Someone has to do it, or things don't get done quickly enough, and believe me, speed is of the essence. So much
paperwork comes into a Justice's chambers, and all of it has to be reviewed, responded to. I keep things going, have from the day I walked into Stew—Justice Califano's chambers. I don't think anyone particularly dislikes me for it, but who knows? Who cares? We accomplish what needs to be accomplished.”

“We understand that Justice Califano didn't want to lose you when your second year comes to a close in July, either as his law clerk or his lover.” Savich paused a fraction of a second. “He was your lover, wasn't he, Eliza?”

Her mouth opened, shut, and then she sighed. “I don't know why I'm surprised you found out. It's just that I didn't think anyone knew. Actually I'm not certain that Stewart believed me as good a lover as a law clerk.” She tried to smile, but this time she couldn't. “I didn't want to leave him and he certainly didn't want me to leave, but I was leaving, in July. I'd made up my mind. I would very much appreciate it if you wouldn't say anything about my relationship with Stewart to anyone, particularly to Margaret.”

Sherlock said, “How long had you been lovers?”

“Four months now. Please, I don't want Margaret to know. Why hurt her needlessly? It would be cruel.”

Sherlock said, “She'll have to know if it turns out your affair had anything to do with Justice Califano's murder.”

That knocked her back against the colorful pillows that lined the back of the white sofa. “How could I have anything to do with Stewart's murder? He was the finest man I've ever known in my life. He was brilliant, he was kind, he was gentle, he was unfailingly thoughtful. He loved being a Supreme Court Justice, and best of all, he was very good at it. We all needed him; the country needed him; justice needed him.”

Such fine, idealistic words, Savich thought, and they came out of her so easily. Was she that good an actress? Or was she sincere? Fact was, she was a lawyer, a good one. Best not to forget that. He saw tears swimming in her eyes again and changed his direction for the moment. “Tell us about your law clerks, Eliza. What are their names?”

Sherlock didn't bat an eyelash. Of course Dillon knew everything about both the other clerks, how much they drank at parties, what sports they liked, but his look was very open and straightforward. She would have believed it instantly if she hadn't known better.

“There's Danny Boy, that's what we call him. Daniel O'Malley. I kid him about seeing him standing on the shores of Ireland, a bugle under his arm, ready to transport to France and join the Brits in the ditches. Daniel O'Malley, he's got that idealistic look, the burning fervor sort of thing. Fact is, though, that idealistic look isn't real. There isn't an idealistic bone in Danny's body. He doesn't come from money and he's grown up wanting it, desperately, and to him that means working for a big law firm in New York City. Danny is twenty-six, younger than his years should make him, eager to get his work done well because he wanted a glowing recommendation from Stewart to fire him off to the big time.” She paused a moment, twisted the hem of her sweater. “I don't suppose he'll get one now.” She cleared her throat. “I remember one time when I had to swat him down.”

Savich said, “May I ask how you slapped him down?”

“I told him his grandmother, God rest her beloved soul, would turn over in her grave if she heard him advocate that ‘under God' violates the separation of church and state in the Pledge of
Allegiance. He tried to tell me she was Irish, not American, and she didn't really understand. I told him his grandmother was likely cheering when they added it in 1954, long before he was even born. Then I picked up the St. Christopher medal he always wears around his neck, pulled it tight, watched his face turn red, and laughed at him. He folded. End of story.”

Since Savich agreed with her about that argument, he nodded. “Did Danny have a girlfriend?”

“Yes, only recently. He's very shy with women. She's a clerk over at the Department of the Interior, a computer geek, to tell you the truth, but it seems they are getting along, and that's good. Don't get the wrong idea here, Agents. Danny is law review, graduated Loyola with superior grades, and has a recommendation from a professor who was a former clerk, and still plugged into the clerk network. Naturally, this is true of just about every one of the thirty-six law clerks here. Danny never had enough money, which was par for the course with most of the law clerks, but he managed.” She paused a moment, and this time she did manage to smile. “Do you know that in 1922 Congress first appropriated money for Justices to hire one law clerk each? Their salary was thirty-six hundred dollars a year. That's about a tenth of what the salaries are today. Given inflation, I don't think we've made much progress.” She smiled again, looked around her lovely living room. “My uncle owns a law firm in Boston. I worked for him before I came here.”

Savich smiled back at her. “Thank you. And the other clerk?”

“Stewart elected to have only three law clerks this year instead of the typical four. Why, I don't know. I didn't ask him. So the other clerk is Elaine LaFleurette. A ridiculous name, and she hates it. She was considering changing it, but she said her father would
have a conniption fit and disown her, so she's sticking with it. But since she hates to be called Elaine, we all call her Fleurette. She went to Tulane, a big party school that she aced without really even trying, then went to Stanford where she found what she needed—more focus and less beer—and she did very well. She's not strong enough yet to take on the world, but she'll get there. She's a good woman, very good. She also admired Stew—Justice Califano. Actually, she worshiped the ground he walked on, like a substitute for her father, who is evidently something of a controlling son of a bitch. Stewart always listened to her, always showed her respect, even when he wanted to put duct tape over her mouth. She came running into his office once when she heard us yelling at each other. She thought she needed to protect him from me. It was a close call.”

She'd brought it back to her relationship with Justice Califano without them having to push her. Savich said, “What do you mean close?”

“Well, if she hadn't come bursting in, I'm afraid that Stewart and I might have been tearing each other's clothes off in the next five minutes. We liked arguing, it stimulated us, made us a little wild. We never made love in his office, but that time it would have been close, I'll admit it.

“And Stewart could argue, believe me. He could execute a 360 on the head of a pin just for fun, and argue the opposite side. He was that good. He had this ability to see both sides of an issue very clearly, and he could argue either side so well, he could talk nearly anyone over. It was a gift he had. But he was willing to change his mind as well. The good Lord knows even I made him change it sometimes. Don't get me wrong. He wouldn't change his mind about an issue or a case because he loved me, it was always about his sense of justice and the best way to achieve it without
stomping on the Constitution. He believed our Constitution should serve our world today, but he always tried to get into the Old Ones' heads—that's what he called them.