Blow Out

“Let’s sit down, Eliza,” Sherlock said. Together, they led her into the living room. Sherlock got her a glass of water. Eliza didn’t seem to notice the glass at her mouth, but when she took a drink, it seemed to help.

It was several more minutes before Eliza raised her ravaged face. Her eyes were shocked, uncomprehending. “Has everyone gone mad? For God’s sake, why would anyone want to kill Danny?”

“We’re not certain yet,” Sherlock said, “but Danny’s apartment had been torn apart.”

Eliza looked baffled. “But why? That doesn’t make any sense. Danny didn’t have any valuables hidden away.”

Sherlock said, “It’s possible Daniel O’Malley was trying his hand at blackmail and that’s why his apartment was torn up. The killer was looking for whatever it was that Danny was holding over his head. If Danny was attempting blackmail, it cost him his life.

“We’re dealing with someone utterly ruthless, someone who doesn’t hesitate when he sees something has to be done to save himself. And very possibly save the person who hired him to kill Justice Califano.”

“You believe there are two people?”

“Yes. Someone hired the killer. He’s very professional, Eliza, except for the risks he chooses to take, and I get the feeling that’s how he likes it. He’s an adrenaline junkie. The bigger the risk the better.”

Eliza looked perfectly blank. “No, I can’t believe Danny would do that. Besides, what could he have known? What? He was so sweet, but he worked hard because he saw this year as the servitude that would eventually land him the big bucks. He wasn’t stupid. A blackmailer? Danny? I swear to you I never saw such a side to him—you know, actually making the decision to use what he knew to blackmail a killer? Why didn’t he come to me? Why didn’t he call you? I know money was important to him, but this? I just don’t understand it.” Her voice dropped off. “It’s got to be another reason, it’s got to be.”

Sherlock said, “We’re looking into everything, Eliza, but there aren’t all that many ways to interpret this. It’s possible that someone wants to kill everyone in Justice Califano’s chambers. In case that’s the goal, there’ll be an agent here to guard you.”

Eliza couldn’t get her mind around this, they both saw it, and waited. “That’s crazy.”

“Yes, it is,” Sherlock said.

Eliza sighed, paced from one end of her living room and back again. “Maybe the killer believed that Danny knew something, that Danny didn’t try to blackmail him at all.”

“That’s possible,” Sherlock said, “but not all that likely. Look, we’re hoping that Danny’s girlfriend will have information for us, but until then, let’s assume Danny tried his hand at blackmail.”

“It’s tough, really tough. All right. If Danny was a blackmailer, then I was obviously wrong about him. Money was an obsession with him, and I never realized it. I wonder how long it takes to really know what’s going on inside a person.”

Sherlock said, “Do you know if Danny was in trouble financially?”

She shook her head. “Not that I know of. We’re not paid princely wages at the Court, as you know, but he had his own apartment, though it was pretty spartan. I always got the impression that he was pretty careful with his money. He was just out of law school. And you know, he wanted desperately to have a year at the Supreme Court because he knew it would open doors for him. He told me he danced his mother around the room when he found out Justice Califano selected him.”

“No gambling, nothing he was obsessed about having—cars, a boat, whatever? No expensive hobbies? Not a big clotheshorse?”

She shook her head.

“Then why would he do this, Eliza?” Sherlock asked.

“It doesn’t say much for his morals, does it?” Eliza jumped up, began pacing, then whirled about. “Oh, Danny, you little pecker-head.” And her eyes filmed with tears again. She began rubbing her face, not looking at either of them, probably looking inward to a young man she’d liked, a young man she’d believed she’d known, a young man she’d like to punch out, if only he wasn’t already dead. She would never see him again to yell at him.

Sherlock said, “He was killed within twenty-four hours of Justice Califano. That means that when he heard about the murder Saturday morning, he realized that what he knew was worth a lot of money. And he managed to notify the person who hired the killer. What could he have known, Eliza?”