Blowout

“I don’t even know what young guys are thinking most of the time,” Callie said.

“That’s easy. It’s always sex. That detective you’re with, Ben Raven, now you look in those sexy dark eyes of his, and he’s transparent as water. He might as well be wearing a neon sign: Wanna have sex with me, Callie? He’s a hunk. You guys dating, right?”

Ben the hunk wanted to have sex with her? Nah, he barely liked her, although he had been looking at her butt. And he liked her butt, even if it was civilian. She cleared her throat, aware that Sonya was smirking at her. “No, we’re not dating. I’m not lying, dammit. Listen, really, we’re paired up on only this investigation. Since I’m not a cop, he isn’t too pleased about me tagging along.”

“Oh boy, are you ever blind. Polish up your eyesight, Callie. He likes you, I can tell. And you know what? He didn’t look below my face once, not once. That’s fortitude. Yeah, the man wants you.”

Callie smiled, since this notion clearly astounded Sonya McGivens. “I’m curious, Sonya. You’re not going to show off your body when you’re out in the real world, are you?”

“Probably not, but it would be a temptation. Some guys on the jury wouldn’t hear a single word out of the other lawyer’s mouth. They’d be looking at me and agreeing with whatever I said.” She sighed. “But professionalism has its place. I do wish guys and their libidos would remember that. Hey, since you’re a reporter, you must have problems with men who think because you’ve got different equipment you shouldn’t be allowed to play in their sandbox.”

Callie grinned. “Tell you what. Let’s go for drinks some evening and try to solve that problem. Right now, we’ve got to focus on this. Do you know if Justice Wallace may have behaved inappropriately with any other female law clerks?”

“There are only ten of us, but I think I’m the only one he ever tried anything with. I’ve heard some stories, everyone has, about Court secretaries that go back years. His poor wife. She seems nice, but downtrodden, like she knows too much and has no intention of doing anything about it. It’s like her generation is hard-wired to protect their husbands even when they know the men have been unfaithful. Me, I can’t stand women who let their husbands walk all over them, but I guess that’s the way things were for them.”

“So he never hit on Eliza?”

Sonya laughed, really laughed, and Callie saw her navel ring dance. She gasped out, “Justice Sumner Wallace hit on Eliza Vickers? Oh, that’s a hilarious image. Oh no, he knew Eliza would have produced a spit right there, skewered him on it, and barbecued him. She’d have turned him into leather. No, he wasn’t suicidal.”

Callie liked Sonya and was tempted to ask if she thought Eliza had slept with her stepfather, but she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. She had a feeling that Sonya would have told her if she’d seen or heard anything.

Callie said, “Sonya, would you really be surprised if it turns out Danny O’Malley tried to blackmail whoever killed my stepfather?”

Sonya got a glass down from the cupboard, turned on the water at the sink, slid her fingers through it to make sure it was cold, and filled the glass, all without saying anything. When she handed the glass to Callie, she said, “Oh yes. You see, Danny always looked out for numero uno. He was a good law clerk, don’t get me wrong, he worked hard, and he was smart, but he was after big money, wanted to make gobs of it, and unlike most of us, that’s why he came to the Supreme Court. He believed it was his ticket to New York. He wanted to make his mark there, nowhere else, not like Bobby Fisher who obsesses about going to L.A. and defending the stars.”

“Was Danny bright enough to succeed in the big time in New York, do you think?”

“The truth is we all have a ticket to just about anywhere, Callie. I don’t know about Danny’s future. He was really bright, but sometimes he’d talk and talk, and you’d know he hadn’t read enough or thought enough about the topic to even give an opinion. He trusted his ability to bullshit. Maybe that’s what he did here, only this time it didn’t turn out well for him.”

Sonya slammed her fist down on the counter. “Why the hell would he be so stupid as to get involved with a murderer? Didn’t he care about Justice Califano’s death? Did he really believe the guy who had the balls to kill a Supreme Court Justice in the Supreme Court library was going to pay him money because of any threat he made?” She shook her head, and paused. “Poor Eliza. She liked to think of Danny as an Irish lad filled with ideals. She was really wrong.”

Callie took a drink of the water, placed the glass back on the kitchen counter. “What do you think about Dennis Palmer?”

“Dennis is okay. I just wish he’d get over this black thing. He likes to think of himself as Justice Gutierrez’s token black boy, although he’d never admit it. I think he’d do better with one of the white Justices—conservative, liberal—it wouldn’t matter. I swear none of them would give a damn if you were pink or black or green. Female, now, that’s another matter. Isn’t it ironic that you have sex discrimination in the Supreme Court?”

“Yes, it is. And Tai?”

“He works hard, puts in his two cents, but keeps his head down. He expends a lot of energy being careful about what he says and how he looks because he’s gay, and hasn’t advertised it outside our chambers. I have no clue if Justice Wallace has picked up on that.”

“What does Tai think of Eliza Vickers?”

“He admitted to me once, after three beers on a Friday night at George’s Pub, that he thought she was too smart for her own good, that it would get her into real trouble some day. She saw things she shouldn’t see, he said, and she didn’t know enough to look the other way.”

Callie finally decided to ask. “Did he ever say anything about Eliza and my stepfather?”

Sonya looked genuinely surprised. “No, never. As I said, Tai keeps his head down, except around me and Justice Wallace’s other law clerks. Then he’ll mouth off, particularly if he thinks someone is attacking gays.

“As you can imagine, rumors abound in the Court. We’re always in each other’s chambers, gossiping, telling each other where our Justices stand on this or that issue and what we’re working on.” She paused a moment. “I’m really sorry about Danny. I’ll tell you, Callie, if I had him here in the kitchen with me, I’d punch his lights out for being so damned stupid.” She stood there, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Oh, poor Danny. It’s scary. This is just too close to home, you know?”

CHAPTER

20

THE KETTERING HOME

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA

SUNDAY EVENING

BEN STOPPED OFF in Georgetown to let Savich get his Porsche, then led the way to the Kettering home in Fairfax. They pulled into the driveway just after seven o’clock that evening.

There weren’t any reporters or TV vans hanging around. The media hadn’t yet learned where the widow was stashed.

But there were four cars parked along the curb, two Mercedes, a Lexus, and a BMW. Callie said to Ben, “It looks like Mom’s friends are here.”

Ben wasn’t listening. He was staring at the display of automotive affluence, and grunted. He wasn’t a snob, dammit, but couldn’t any of them drive a plain old Ford? A truck, something useful, something that didn’t smack you in the face with dollar signs and twelve cylinders, something like his? The Crown Vic had plenty of muscle, but that was different.

He realized Callie was staring at him, and grunted again. “I drive a Beemer too,” she said, and gave him a shameless grin. “All right, so it’s one of the cheaper models. You’re a truck guy, right? Maybe you’ve got a dog hanging out the window?”

Savich and Sherlock joined them at that moment.

“I know it’s late, Callie,” Sherlock said, taking her arm, “but we’d like to see how your mom’s holding up, see if she’s remembered anything more. We won’t keep her long. Looks like she’s got lots of company in any