The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [10]
“She doesn’t know where he is,” Lisa said, hanging up her phone as Ben explained the situation to the Marshals Service.
“Uh-huh. Okay. Yes, definitely,” Ben said.
Lisa smacked Ben on the arm. “What’re they saying?”
“They know where he is,” Ben said, hanging up. “They won’t give us the number, but they’re contacting him, and they’ll have him call us.”
“Did you tell them it’s an emergency?” Lisa asked. Noticing the do-you-think-I’m-a-moron look on Ben’s face, she said, “Sorry, just making sure.”
Ten minutes later, the phone rang. Pulling it from its cradle, Ben calmly said, “Justice Hollis’s chambers…Hello, Justice Hollis. How’s Norway? Yes, I hear it’s beautiful this time of year. No. Yes, the office is great. Lisa’s been terrific. We just had a little emergency. A death penalty appeal just came through, and they want to execute the defendant tomorrow morning. So, uh, what should we do?” After scribbling some notes to himself, Ben finally said, “We’ll call you there later this afternoon.”
“What the hell did he say?” Lisa yelled as soon as Ben put down the phone.
“Here’s what has to happen,” Ben said, flipping the page on his pad to make a list. “First, we have to let every justice know that their votes are due by eight tomorrow morning. We need five votes to get a stay of execution. If only four vote for the stay, this guy dies tomorrow. Then after we notify all the chambers, we have to write a memo recommending whether Hollis should vote to grant the stay.”
“All the relevant case history will be in the lower federal court papers,” Lisa said.
“Exactly. And he told me how to get those. He said we probably won’t be done until early tomorrow morning, but he said he wants the completed memo by six A.M. tomorrow. I have his fax number.” Flipping on his computer, Ben said, “I’ll write the official request so we can get the court papers.”
“I’ll let all the other chambers know what’s happening.”
“After you tell them, make sure you put the whole story in a memo so they all have official notification,” Ben said as Lisa darted for the door. “Then none of them can say they didn’t know about it.”
Lisa nodded and ran out.
An hour later, nine boxes of official court papers were delivered to the office. “We’re dead,” Ben said when he saw the boxes being wheeled in.
“There’s no way we’ll be able to read through all this by tonight,” Lisa said.
Ben read the sides of the boxes, which were labeled by year. “How about I start with the oldest stuff, and you take the newest? I figure we’ll hit the middle together sometime this winter.”
Lisa agreed and the two began to plow through the mountain of papers.
At two P.M., Ben’s phone rang. “Justice Hollis’s chambers. This is Ben,” he said.
“Hi Ben, this is Rick Fagen. I was a clerk for Justice Hollis three years ago. I was just calling to see how things were going. It’s a tradition for the older clerks to give you a call every once in a while. I know things can seem imposing in the first few weeks.”
“It’s a hell of a time, all right,” Ben said.
“Who is it?” Lisa asked.
Covering the phone, Ben whispered, “It’s one of Hollis’s old clerks.”
“Perfect,” Lisa said. “I got a call from a clerk last month. They totally know how to deal with this crap. Ask him what we should do.”
“Rick, can I ask you a question?” Ben said. “We just got a death penalty case—”
“Unbelievable,” Rick said. “They always do this early in the term. I assume Hollis is away?”
“Sunning and funning in Norway,” Ben said. “And we have to read a truckload of documents to recommend whether he should grant a stay.”
“Okay, here’s what to do,” Rick said, with a reassuring confidence in his voice. “If this case has been floating around for a few years, chances are you’ll never be able to read all the supporting documents. You should concentrate on the legal issue this final appeal is based on. All the other issues are unimportant. What I’d do is go on to one of the legal databases and key your search to the single legal issue