The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [35]
“Of course, how stupid of me,” Ben said, wiping away the cold sweat that had suddenly formed on his forehead.
“Would you like to pay your balance today?”
“Sure. That’s fine,” Ben said. He pulled out his wallet and paid the bill.
When he reached the room of P.O. boxes, Ben was in a full-fledged panic. Looking around, he was relieved no one was watching him. He pulled the key from his pocket and opened his box, 1227. Empty. Directly under his was box 1327. Inserting his key, he opened the box. Inside was a single manila envelope. Taking out the envelope, he locked the box and walked to a small counter.
Inside the envelope was a single typed sheet of paper. “Dear Ben,” he read. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch, but, as you’ve probably guessed, I’ve been quite busy. Needless to say, all went extremely well. I realize you’re frustrated with what’s happened, but please stop trying to find me. You’re wasting your time. Tearing apart my flowers was useless, your bribery attempt at my old apartment was pathetic, and as far as your telephone bill idea—do you really believe I would make important calls on a line so easily traceable? Come on, now. Since you still haven’t gone to the authorities, I assume you understand the consequences to your own career should you reveal your story.
“At this point in time, I propose a truce. If you are interested, please meet me at Two Quail on Saturday at eight P.M. The reservation has been made under your name. If you do need to contact me, please feel free to use our P.O. box, number 1327. Yours, Rick.”
Ben stuffed the letter back into the envelope, left the store, and walked briskly back to the Court. How the hell does he know everything? he asked himself. Bounding up the Court’s steps, Ben waved his I.D. card at the guard and sidestepped the metal detector. Within a minute, he was charging through the reception area on the way to his office. Slamming the door behind him, he threw the envelope on Lisa’s desk. “You won’t believe it,” he said.
“Where did you get this?” Lisa asked as she read the letter.
“He opened a P.O. box right under mine—under my fake name,” Ben said, his voice shaking.
“How did he know you had a P.O. box?” Holding up her hand, Lisa stopped Ben from answering. “Let me finish reading this first.” Eventually looking up, she asked, “Okay, now, how did he know you had a P.O. box?”
“How did he know my fake name? How did he know what we did with the flowers? How did he know I called the phone company? How did he know we broke into his old apartment building? He knows my parents’ address, for Chrissakes! He billed me for the P.O. box at my parents’ house!”
“Calm down a second,” Lisa said, putting her reading glasses on the desk. “Let’s think about this.”
“If he goes near my family, I swear I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.”
“Relax, I’m sure he did that just to scare you.”
“Well, it’s working,” Ben said, taking off his suit jacket. “He’s obviously been following me for the last month of my life. He knows everything I do, everywhere I go. He knows where my family lives…”
“You have to calm down. Let me think for a minute.”
Pacing up and down the office, Ben remained silent.
“I can understand that he knew we broke into the apartment building, but I don’t understand how he knew about the phone bill. Both times you called the phone company, you called from his office, didn’t you?” When Ben nodded, she added, “I doubt he’s tapped the phone in here. I mean, this’s the Supreme Court.”
“There’s no way he could tap this phone—not with the security system we have here,” Ben agreed. “But how did he know what we did with the flowers? We’re the only ones that knew about that.”
Still focused on the phone bills, Lisa said, “Most likely, he didn’t change his address on purpose. Then he just waited to see what we did. The phone company probably told him you ordered a copy of the bill.” After pausing to reflect, she continued, “I just can’t believe he knew we’d do that.”
“This guy is no dummy,” Ben said, unable to