The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [143]
“Don’t bullshit me,” Rick warned. “I know that decision is finished.”
“I swear—” Ben began.
Rick hung up.
“Hello? Are you there?” Replacing the receiver, Ben turned around and faced Lisa and Nancy, who were staring at him.
“Is everything okay?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah. Fine,” Ben said nonchalantly. “I got disconnected.”
“Don’t worry,” Nancy said. “They’ll call back.” Walking to the door, she added, “Lisa, I’m serious about the corrections. I can tell Hollis won’t look at it until Monday.”
“Thanks,” Lisa said as Nancy left the room. As soon as the door closed, Lisa looked back at Ben. “What’d he say?”
“The son-of-a-bitch hung up on me!” Ben said. “He asked for the decision, I tried to stall, and he hung up. I don’t believe it.” Ben and Lisa waited for the phone to ring again. After a full minute, Ben said, “He’s not calling back. What the hell is going on?”
“He’s just trying to make you crazy,” Lisa said.
“It’s working,” Ben said. “What should I do?”
“Relax. I’m sure he’ll call back.”
“He’s not calling back. What the hell is going on?”
“He’s just trying to make you crazy.”
“It’s working. What should I do?”
“Relax. I’m sure he’ll call back.”
Smiling as he paced across Lungen’s office, Fisk was thrilled that the microphone was finally working. “I don’t know what they’re up to, but there’s no way this kid is innocent.”
Lungen’s eyes were focused on the small charcoal-gray speaker on his desk. “I don’t know,” he said. “Whoever this Rick is, he’s got Ben terrified. It sounds like he’s being blackmailed.”
“Blackmailed or not, he broke the law.”
“We don’t know that,” Lungen said. “I still think we’re missing half the story.”
“You must be kidding,” Fisk said as he stopped pacing. “Within the first five minutes we put this thing on, we hear them talking about leaking a decision to an outside party.”
“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
“Who needs to jump? The answer is staring us in the face. Regardless of how they got involved, these two are up to no good.”
“The microphone was just installed last night. It took us until lunch to finally get it working, and we’ve heard a total of five minutes of conversation. All I’m saying is that we should give it a bit more time. I want all the facts before we run in with guns blazing.”
“Trust me, we’ll get the facts,” Fisk said as he turned up the volume on the speaker. “The way these two are talking, by next week, Justice Hollis will be interviewing new clerks.”
“That’s it,” Rick said, slapping shut his cellular phone. “I’ve had enough of his shit.” He opened the passenger-side door and got out of the car.
Getting out of the driver’s side, Richard Claremont, American Steel’s executive vice president of marketing, asked, “What’d he say?”
Slamming the car door shut, Rick looked up the block, where he had a perfect view of the Court. “He was trying to stall.” Unfazed by the frigid wind that whipped down First Street, Rick didn’t even button his overcoat. “He sounded nervous, but he was definitely trying to stall.”
“He should be nervous. From everything you’ve said, it sounds like his life is ruined.”
“I don’t want him to be scared, though,” Rick explained, approaching the Court. “If he’s scared, he’ll go to the authorities. But if he still thinks he has a chance of catching me, we have a better chance of getting the decision.”
“So you think he may still go to the police?” Claremont asked.
“Actually, no,” Rick said, watching a busload of bundled-up tourists snap pictures of the nation’s highest tribunal. “Ben’s too concerned about his résumé to do that. That’s the reason I picked him in the first place. He’s got a great deal to lose.”
“Then why didn’t you pick Lisa? From your file on her, she’s got a similar background.”
“Ben’s a much better mark. Between the two, Lisa’s smarter. She never would’ve given up the original decision. Ben’s more anxious to please. I knew he’d bite.”
“If you say so,” Claremont said. “Though it sounds like he hasn’t been as predictable as you’d hoped.”
“He’s had his moments,” Rick said. “But this week has really worn him