Blow Out

“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?”