The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [139]
“What’d yours say?” Ben asked Ober.
“I’m dead,” Ober said. He passed Ben the sheet of paper. “Mine’s addressed to my staff director. It tells her that the death threat written to Senator Stevens was written by me. And it says I did it to get myself a big promotion.”
“Which you got,” Nathan said indignantly. Looking at Ben, he continued, “You better do something, because this just got out of hand.”
“What do you want me to do?” Ben asked as the room started to spin. “I got my own letter today—in the form of a cassette tape and a bankbook.” Ben sat on the sofa and wiped his brow with his shirtsleeve. “But there’s no reason to believe that anyone else has gotten copies of any of it. What’d Eric’s letter say?”
“Eric’s was addressed to The New York Times,” Nathan explained, “but I’m sure Rick plans to send it out to everyone in the national press.”
“What’d it say?” Ben asked, putting his hands to his head.
“Eric’s letter explains the whole story start to finish. It talks about how you leaked the information about CMI, and it names you as Eric’s source for his first story. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t really have any devastating effect on Eric—”
“Except it shows that he was lying to his bosses about not knowing anything,” Ben interrupted. “Does Eric even know yet?”
“He was out on assignment when I called,” Ober said. “He’ll wander in soon.”
Letting Ben have a minute of silence to process the information, Nathan said, “So I guess this means you’re finally going to the authorities.”
“What?” Ben asked, looking up at his roommate.
“You are going to turn yourself in now, aren’t you?” Nathan asked.
“No,” Ben said coldly. “I’m not.”
“Ben, don’t get mad at me,” Nathan said. “What choice do you have?”
“We can wait for Rick to make his next move. I’m sure he hasn’t sent the letters out yet. If he wanted to get us all fired, he could’ve done that months ago.”
“Who do you think you are?” Nathan demanded. “This isn’t just your life you’re playing with anymore—this is mine, and Ober’s and Eric’s.”
“But if I go to the authorities, Rick can still mail the letters,” Ben pointed out. “Which means you’re implicated no matter what I do.”
“Not if you tell the police you’re the one at fault. If you cooperate with them, we have a better chance of getting off.”
Before Ben could respond, the front door opened and Eric walked in. Looking around the room, he asked, “What’s wrong? Who died?”
“We got some mail today,” Nathan said, as he and Ober handed Eric the letters.
When he was finished reading all three, Eric asked, “What are we going to do?”
“We don’t have to do anything,” Nathan said. “It’s up to Ben.”
“He thinks I should turn myself in and take my punishment,” Ben explained.
“No way,” Eric said. “You’ll be fired in a heartbeat.”
“Forget about being fired,” Ben interrupted. “If the bankbook gets out, I’m going to jail.”
“If that’s the case, then you should take your chances trying to catch Rick,” Eric said, finally taking off his overcoat.
“Don’t give us that macho bullshit,” Nathan interrupted. “You have the least to lose.”
“How do you figure that?” Eric asked.
“If your letter gets out, you’ll probably get credit for breaking the story,” Nathan pointed out. “Which means it’s in your best interest to egg Ben on.”
“You are unreal,” Eric said, shaking his head. “Do you really think I’m that much of a scumbag?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time your self-interest interfered with your judgment.”
“You can go fuck yourself,” Eric shot back.
Looking at Ober, Ben said, “You’ve been way too quiet. What’re you thinking?”
“I guess I lean toward Nathan,” Ober said. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s crazy—” Eric began.
“It’s ridiculous to argue,” Ben interrupted, hoping to end the conversation. “I can’t do anything until I hear from Rick.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, but that’s my decision for now,” Ben said. “All I can say is trust me. I would never do anything to put you guys at risk.”
“Do you have a plan in the works?” Nathan asked suspiciously. “Because if this is like Grinnell—”
“There’s no