The Tenth Justice - Brad Meltzer [72]
“Ben?” she answered anxiously.
“Relax, I’m fine,” he said, looking under his desk for anything that resembled a microphone.
“What happened? Are you okay? Did he proposition you?”
“He definitely wants info,” Ben said. After a full explanation of the last few hours, he continued, “So all we have left are the pictures that you and Nathan snapped as we drove away. Hopefully, those’ll be enough.”
“When will they be done?”
“They’ll be ready tomorrow morning,” Ben said, searching under every piece of his memorabilia collection. “Nathan gave them to some place around the corner. But if those don’t come out, we’re back where we started.”
“They’ll come out,” Lisa said. “Once Nathan runs the photos and the license plates through the State Department, we’ll have everything we need.”
“I guess,” Ben said.
“So you’re calm? You’re not crazy?”
“I’m completely calm,” he said, crawling on the floor and searching under his bed. “Lisa, by the way, thanks for hanging in the dumpster. We would’ve been lost without you.”
“Don’t sweat it. That’s what I’m here for.”
“I know, but I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Any time,” Lisa said, hanging up the phone.
Later that evening, Nathan walked into Ben’s room. Ben was sitting at his desk, slumped in his chair and staring at the wall. “How’re you doing?” Nathan asked.
“I’m okay. Just trying to figure this whole thing out.”
“Any ideas?”
Ben slowly shook his head. “Not really.”
“You don’t really need to stay involved with this bullshit,” Nathan said as he sat on Ben’s bed. “I mean, you can just walk away. The only thing hurt is your pride.”
“It’s not about pride,” Ben said, still slumped over. “Rick will always have information that can damage my career. If I walk away, I’ll never know when he’ll be back to dangle it in front of my face. At least if we get something on him, we can counteract whatever blackmail he might think of in the future.” Ben opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a pencil. “Besides, I want this guy.”
“Not to be a pessimist, but have you thought about turning yourself in and explaining the situation to the police? I mean, it’s not like you leaked the information on purpose. Rick tricked you out of it.”
“I’ve definitely thought about that,” Ben said. “But it doesn’t matter how Rick got the information from me. If they found out I released a decision, they’d have to kick me off the Court.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like you’d go to jail—there was no criminal intent on your part.”
“If a clerk got fired from the Supreme Court, it’d make every paper in the country. The media eats up Court scandals faster than my family eats dessert. And if that happened, my entire career would be finished. I’d be disbarred and I’d never be able to practice law again.”
“I think you’re just worried that you’d lose your Golden Boy status.”
“You’re probably right. I’ve busted my ass to get where I am. The last thing I want to do is throw it all away by confessing. No offense, but that doesn’t sound like the optimal solution.”
“I’m just exploring all your options,” Nathan said. “You know I’ll support you no matter what you decide to do.”
Early the next morning, Ben knocked on Nathan’s door. “Do you have the receipt for the pictures? I want to go pick them up.”
“Hold on a second,” Nathan said, bent over as he tied the laces on his sneakers. “I’ll go down with you.”
Nathan untied his laces and retied them again. “C’mon,” Ben said. “How many times have you tied them already? Four? Five? Six? You have a sickness, y’know that?”
“I just like the perfect knot,” Nathan said, still bent over. “Excuse me for being a perfectionist.”
“You’re not a perfectionist. You’re the poster boy for next year’s obsessive-compulsive calendar.”
“There. Done.”
“Now that’s a beautiful bow,” Ben said, staring at his roommate’s shoes. “Wonderful job.”
“Jealous,” Nathan said as they headed downstairs to get their coats. “By the way, my mother’s been