The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [136]
“Tell me why Eric was in the Court that day.”
“He’s the reporter who’s assigned to the Court! What do you think he was doing here?”
“Why did he use Nathan’s name?”
“To be honest, because I told him that if you guys found out we’d made up, you’d be all over our asses. What a surprise—I was right.”
“That still doesn’t—”
“Listen, I’m done with this conversation. No matter what I say, you’re still going to suspect me. I’ve done nothing wrong, and I have nothing to hide. If you don’t believe that, I’m sorry. But if you’re committed to interfering with my life, you’d better get proof or go away. Because I swear, if this doesn’t stop, I’ll slap your office with a workplace harassment suit faster than you can say, ‘Forced retirement and bye-bye pension.’ Now if you don’t mind, I have to go do some work. I hope I won’t hear from you soon.” Before Lungen could respond, Ben slammed down the phone. When he noticed Lisa staring at him, Ben asked, “What?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just admiring your ambassadorial abilities—always calm and level-headed; never once losing your temper.”
“What the hell was I supposed to do?”
“Take it easy,” Lisa said. “Forget about the marshals. They don’t have anything on you.”
“Of course they don’t. If they did, I’d be out of here by now.” Ben grabbed the manila envelope from his desk and threw it to Lisa. “Now, back to the original crisis.”
Dumping the envelope’s contents on her desk, Lisa saw a miniature cassette tape and a small stack of photocopies. She picked up the copies and looked at the first page, which resembled the first page of a bankbook. There was a single entry for $150,000, and the words “City of Bern” were in fine print at the bottom of the page.
“As far as I can tell, it’s a Swiss bankbook,” Ben said.
“Is this Rick’s account?”
“In truth, it is,” Ben explained. “But take a look at the last page.”
Lisa reached the final page in the stack, titled “Registration of Account,” and saw that the account holder’s name was Ben Addison.
“I know,” Ben said, noticing Lisa’s distressed reaction. “He took out all the vital information like the bank’s name and the account number, but he made damn sure we saw my name in there.”
“November seventeenth?” Lisa looked at the date of the first and only deposit. “What happened then?”
“I wanted to check that,” Ben said, grabbing his desktop calendar. He flipped back toward November. “It’s what I thought. That’s the day the CMI decision came down.”
“Any idea what’s on the cassette?” Lisa asked, putting down the papers.
“None,” Ben said. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out his Dictaphone. “But I bet it’s not James Taylor’s Greatest Hits.” Ben put the tape in the small recorder.
“What’s happening with the CMI merger? Doesn’t that come down next week?”
“Actually, it probably won’t come down for another few weeks. Blake and Osterman asked for more time to write their opinions. You know how it is—merger cases always wind up confusing everyone. It takes forever to sort through all the regulatory nonsense.”
“So who wins?”
“It was actually pretty amazing. When the justices were voting in Conference, it was five to four against CMI. At the last minute—”
“Shit,” Ben said, stopping the tape. “He taped the whole conversation.”
“Was that when you first told him the decision?”
“No, it was when we were exchanging recipes. Of course it was the time.”
“Don’t—”
“Damn!” Ben said, slamming his desk with his fist. “How could I be so stupid?”
“Listen, there’s no way you could’ve known,” Lisa said. “You thought Rick was a friend.”
“But if I never said anything—”
“You probably wouldn’t be in this mess. You’re right—you wouldn’t. We’ve been through this before. The point is, for the first time you’re finally in a position to get out of it.”
“I don’t even know if that’s true anymore. What if the marshals didn’t set everything up in time?”
“I’m sure they did,” Lisa said. “I’m sure they