Free The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer

pick at his french fries.
    “I’m fine. There’s just something I have to tell you.”
    “Wait a minute. If you’re about to tell me you’re in love with me, I may vomit.”
    “It’s not that,” Ben said. “You wish it was that.” Wiping his hands with a napkin, he asked, “Remember Rick? Hollis’s old clerk?” Lisa nodded. “About three weeks ago I casually told Rick the outcome of the
CMI
case. A few days later, you know what happened—Maxwell risked all his money on a legal victory. When I tried to find Rick, he’d disappeared.” Lisa’s mouth dropped open. “Rick Fagen was never a clerk for the Supreme Court. The number he gave me is disconnected; he’s moved out of his apartment building; he’s gone.”
    “Are you fucking kidding me?” Lisa said, her sandwich still in her hand. “Why the hell did you tell him the decision?”
    “We were just bullshitting about it one day,” Ben said defensively. “He said he was curious about it and I told him. Every time we needed advice he helped us. I couldn’t say no.”
    “But you’re never supposed to let out a decision,” Lisa said, raising her voice.
    “Listen, I screwed up. I know it,” Ben said. “But he totally suckered me in. Believe me, you would’ve done the same thing. It was a perfect setup.”
    “I can’t believe this.”
    “Lisa, calm down. I told you this because I trust you. You won’t say anything, will you?”
    Lisa put down her sandwich and looked at her co-clerk. “This is serious stuff, Ben. We can’t just sit on this.”
    “I know. But until I can prove it was Rick, I want to keep this low profile. Nathan is having the State Department run a search on him, and Eric is asking his newspaper contacts for info about the apartment building where Rick lived.”
    “We should tell Hollis.”
    “I’m not telling Hollis,” Ben insisted. He leaned toward Lisa. “Believe me, I was up all night about this. If I go to Hollis, I’m fired. Even if I meant no harm, I violated the ethics code. If I’m fired, my whole life is over.”
    After a long pause, Lisa asked, “Why did you tell me this?”
    “Because I didn’t want to see you get hurt, too. I don’t know if Rick’s targeting every clerk or if I’m his one and only Sucker of the Year. I don’t expect you to lie for me, and I never want to get you into trouble. I wanted you to know because you’re my friend.”
    Lisa was silent for a minute. “So those flowers you got yesterday—they weren’t from your mom, were they?”
    “They were from Rick. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I just…”
    “Did you check the basket for bugs?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You know—bugs, listening devices.”
    “You don’t think—”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Lisa said, pushing her chair away from the table and grabbing her bag.
    The two clerks ran up the escalator and dashed out of Union Station. Watching them from the opposite corner of the food court, Rick leaned back in his chair. “Where are they going?” he asked.
    “I couldn’t hear,” Rick’s associate said as he approached the table. “But did you see the panic on their faces? They don’t know where to run.”
    Rick smiled. “The funny thing is, it’s only going to get worse.”
    Racing down First Street, Ben and Lisa didn’t say a word until they returned to the Court. “Hey, guys,” Nancy said as they marched past her desk. “How was lunch?”
    “Good,” Ben said.
    “Fine,” Lisa said.
    They darted into their office and slammed the door behind them. They headed straight for the file cabinet, where Ben grabbed the large wicker basket. When he put it on the sofa, they rolled up their sleeves and methodically ripped the enormous bouquet apart. Flower by flower, they crushed every corolla and scrutinized every stem. Twenty-two roses, fourteen irises, eleven lilies, and four stems of freesias later, the sofa, as well as half of the office floor, was covered with the picked-apart remains of a