The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [122]
“Wow,” Lisa said. “Why don’t you say what’s on your mind? The catharsis will do you good.”
“Rick was, how shall I say, concerned, but otherwise thoughtful,” Ben said, struggling to catch his breath. “And he sends his love to everyone.”
“Just tell me what the hell is happening,” Ober demanded, shaking Ben by the shoulders. “I thought you said Grinnell was supposed to win.”
Ben sat down in his seat. “He was.”
“Are you saying that you knew the decision was going to come out the other way?”
“Of course I knew,” Ben said. “Lisa and I wrote the opinion.”
“But I thought you wrote the dissent,” Ober said, scratching his head. “I’m completely confused.”
“Here’s the deal,” Ben explained. “When the justices first voted on the decision, it came down four to four. Justice Veidt was undecided. Then Osterman convinced Veidt that if he voted for Grinnell, the decision, when it was written, would barely limit future government regulation. At that point, Veidt sided with Osterman, who now had enough votes to form a majority. Since Hollis was in the minority, Lisa and I started writing the dissent.”
“And at that point, Grinnell was supposed to win.” Ober leaned on the corner of Ben’s desk.
“Exactly,” Ben said. “Now, when the majority opinions are finally written, they’re passed around to all the justices, so they can all see what it is they’re actually voting for.”
“And that’s when Veidt switched sides,” Ober said.
“Exactly,” Ben said.
“Omigod, I think he’s actually learning,” Lisa said, patting Ober on the back.
Ben couldn’t contain his smile. “When Veidt saw Osterman’s opinion, he realized that the decision was taking a bigger step than he had signed on for. Osterman had basically written a ranting condemnation against government regulation. So Veidt told him that if he didn’t rewrite it, he was going to jump ship. Eventually, Veidt realized that there would be no way to take a small step, so he came over to our side. With that extra vote, our dissent became the majority opinion.”
“It happens all the time,” Lisa interrupted. “Justices say one thing in Conference, but when it comes down to putting it on paper, they don’t agree, so they switch sides.”
“So wait a minute. What does this do to Rick?”
Ben put his feet up on his desk. “Let’s put it this way—he just paid a great deal of money for a crappy piece of property.”
“Is the property worthless?”
“It’s not worthless, but the only thing that pushed the price up so high was the possibility that the owners could turn it into a giant, revenue-creating mall. And as you could see from my conversation with Mr. Scumbag, that possibility is totally shot.”
“There’s still one thing I don’t understand,” Ober said. “How did Rick get the wrong decision?”
“Eric took it from my briefcase,” Ben said.
“Eric?”
“The one and only,” Lisa said.
“I don’t believe it,” Ober said. “So since you knew the decision was going to be stolen, you planted the wrong decision in your briefcase.”
“Exactly,” Ben said, as someone knocked on the door. “I just left it in the old dissent form.”
“Come in!” Lisa yelled.
Nancy walked in. “I have someone here who says he has an appointment with you.” Stepping aside, she let Eric enter the room.
Ben rose from his seat. “Yes, I know him,” Ben said to Nancy. “Thanks for bringing him up.”
When Nancy left