The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [103]
“You’re a liar,” Lisa said.
“What do you mean, I’m a liar?”
“I’m not a moron. I know when you’re lying, and I know what you’re thinking. But if you think I’m the one who’s leaking information to Rick, you’re crazy. I’d never do that to you.”
“I don’t think you’d—”
“Just do me one favor.” Lisa walked over and sat on the corner of Ben’s desk. “Look me straight in the eyes and tell me you trust me.”
“But you’re not going to believe—”
“If you tell me the truth, I’ll believe you.”
“Lisa, I swear I trust you,” Ben said, looking directly at his co-clerk. “If I had anything to tell you, I would.”
“One last question. What were you working on when I walked in?”
“What?”
“On your computer,” Lisa pointed. “What were you working on?”
“I was reading The Wall Street Journal on-line. Is that okay?”
“Then how come you’re reading a week-old paper?” Lisa asked.
Ben looked at the top of his computer screen and saw that the on-screen article listed the previous week’s date.
“It sucks to be caught in a lie, doesn’t it?” Lisa challenged. “I bet you wish you could take those words back.”
“I don’t believe it,” Ben said. “You didn’t care what I said to you. You sat on my desk just to see what I was reading.”
“I definitely did,” Lisa said, hopping off Ben’s desk. “And now I finally have my answer.”
“But—”
“Don’t bother. It’d be a waste of both your breath and my intelligence. And when you see Rick, tell him I hope he kicks your ass.”
An hour later, Ben and Lisa were silent, each of them reading a third version of Osterman’s Grinnell opinion. Ben’s phone rang, startling them both. “Hello?” Ben answered. “Justice Hollis’s chambers.”
“Hello, Ben. How’s your day been?”
Recognizing Rick’s voice, Ben tightened his fist around the receiver. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to talk about our meeting on Saturday,” Rick said.
“Then I’m glad you called,” Ben said. “Because I don’t like the airport. I want to—”
“I really don’t care what you want,” Rick interrupted. “I just wanted to tell you that our meeting is canceled. I no longer need what you have to offer.”
“But I thought—”
“Like most of your theories, you thought wrong,” Rick said smugly. “So have fun searching through your little yearbooks, and good luck on your lie detector test. I don’t believe we’ll be speaking again—although I’m sure I’ll hear about all the results.”
“Wait, I—” Before Ben could even get the words out, Rick was gone.
“Who was that?” Lisa asked, noticing Ben’s panicked look.
Ben said nothing. He pushed himself away from his desk, stormed toward the door, grabbed his jacket from the closet, and left the office. He walked down the main steps of the Court, down First Street, and approached the nearest pay phone. Picking up the receiver, he inserted a few coins and dialed Nathan’s phone number.
“Andrew Lukens. Can I help you?”
“I’m sorry,” Ben said, recognizing neither the voice nor the name. “I was trying to reach Nathan.”
“Nathan’s been promoted to another office. Can I help you instead?”
“This is his roommate, Ben. Do you know his new extension?”
“Hey, Ben,” Andrew’s voice warmed up. “I’ve heard a lot about you. How’s everything at the Supreme Court? Change any laws today?”
“No, nothing today,” Ben said. “We only change laws on Wednesdays. On Mondays we just try to speak to our roommates.”
“Yeah, Nathan said you had a sarcastic sense of humor,” Andrew said, showing no sign that he intended to transfer Ben’s call. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask Nathan—how’d that prank go with your other roommate?”
“Which one?”
“You know, the one you needed the microphones and cameras for. Nathan said you guys were trying to catch your roommate doing the deed.”
“Oh, yeah,” Ben said, quickly remembering how Nathan had swindled the high-tech equipment out of the State Department. “It went fantastic. I’ll have to remind Nathan to bring you some of the pictures. They were a bit blurry, but they’re pretty funny.”
“Well, if the pictures suck, tell him to bring in the audio. I’m sure the briefcase