The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [60]
“Certainly,” the doorman said, flustered. Turning to Nathan and Ober, he added, “And I apologize for any misunderstanding.”
“I accept your apology,” Ober said as the friends walked into the elevator.
“Was that really necessary?” Ben asked.
“That was fantastic!” Ober yelled.
“He pisses me off,” Lisa said. “You give guys like him a tiny bit of authority, and they think they’re dictators.”
“Yeah, but I think you made him wet his pants,” Ben said.
“I was impressed with the clarity of your argument,” Nathan said, looking at Lisa with new respect.
“Thank you,” Lisa said, as the elevator door opened.
Walking into the apartment, Lisa flipped on the lights and put her briefcase on her desk. “What’s that smell?” Ben asked as he headed toward the living room.
Sniffing the air, Ober said, “It smells so…feminine.”
“It’s potpourri,” Lisa said. “I just put it out. Do you like it?”
“I’m enchanted,” Ober said.
“I guess you guys aren’t used to a home that doesn’t smell like feet.” As Lisa turned toward her bedroom, she added, “I’ll be right back.” Minutes later, she returned to the living room wearing sweatpants and her favorite Stanford T-shirt. “Ready to start?” she asked, sitting down next to Ben on the sofa.
“Here’s the story.” Ben opened his briefcase and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a pen. “Rick and I are meeting tomorrow. The only reason I can think of for the meeting is that Rick still wants something, and the only thing he can want is information.”
“But you don’t know this for sure,” Lisa said.
“It’s the only logical reason. I mean, I don’t think he wants to talk politics.”
“Maybe he just wants to torture you over how big a sucker you were last time,” Ober said.
“I don’t think that’s it,” Ben said, shooting a scowl at Ober.
“But why would he want more information if he already made a million dollars from the CMI decision?” Nathan asked. He sat on the sofa and placed a small blue duffel bag on the floor.
“We have no idea how much he made on CMI. He may’ve made ten million or he may’ve made ten thousand. The problem is, we don’t know his background. If he isn’t wealthy already, then he probably didn’t have a great deal of money to invest in the CMI stock before it shot up. All of his winnings might’ve come from a fee Maxwell gave him.”
“But I’m sure that’s a tidy sum,” Nathan said.
“It probably is,” Ben said, “but I wouldn’t underestimate the power of greed. If Rick made a million his first time out, I’m sure he’d love to make ten million the next. Now, we don’t know that he’s going to ask me for more information, but if he does, I think our best option is to follow Lisa’s original plan and try to get it all on tape.”
“If he does proposition you, he’s sure to offer you some money for the information. Obviously, he’s not going to be able to trick you out of the information again.”
“You never know, though,” Ober said. “Ben can be pretty naive when he wants to be.”
Ignoring his roommate, Ben said, “And if he does offer me money, we’ll get the bribe on tape. Then we’ll at least be able to prove that he bribed a government official.”
“I don’t understand one thing,” Nathan said. “If you do get Rick on tape, how are you going to use it against him? By turning it over to the authorities, you’ll reveal your own involvement as well as his.”
“I know,” Ben said. “But at this point, I’m more concerned with the fact that he’ll always have my involvement to dangle over my head. If I get something on him, he can’t use that information