Ben drank the entire glass of water.

“What else did they say?”

Ben ignored Eric’s question. “Where’s Nathan?”

“He drove back to Boston. Ober’s funeral is tomorrow.”

Slowly rotating his shoulder, Ben felt a heavy ache setting in. “Did he say anything?”

“He told me the story about Rick, packed up his stuff, and left.”

“Was he still mad?”

“I wouldn’t call him until we get to Boston. He’s pretty pissed off.”

“I understand,” Ben said. Pulling a small vial from his pants pocket, he read the directions for his pain medication. Ben poured some more water and took one of the tiny pink pills.

“So tell me what happened,” Eric demanded. “I just saw the story on the news.”

“Great,” Ben said sarcastically. “Did they mention my name?”

“No. It was just a short clip. They said someone named-”

“Mark Wexler,” Ben said as Eric struggled to remember the name.

“That’s it. Mark Wexler,” Eric repeated. “They said he was arrested for insider trading using confidential Supreme Court decisions. They didn’t have much information, so I wasn’t sure-”

“Mark Wexler is Rick’s real name,” Ben explained, turning back to the living room. “Apparently, he used to work in a high-powered Seattle law firm that did high-tech legal work for CMI and Charles Maxwell. About a year ago, he was fired for ethics violations-they thought he was buying stock in one of the cases he was working on.”

“So he has a criminal record,” Eric said as he sat on the small couch.

“No, he’s clean,” Ben explained. “The law firm could never prove anything. Whatever Rick was doing, he was good about keeping it secret. Even though they couldn’t find proof, the firm asked him to leave. It looks like he moved to New York after that, and he’s been living there ever since. When he needed to do business in D.C., he was only a shuttle away.”

“Amazing,” Eric said.

“I really don’t want to talk about him anymore,” Ben said. “He’s been the topic of conversation all afternoon.”

“Well, at least tell me what happened with Hollis.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Since the story was going to be announced to the public, they couldn’t just turn their backs on the whole thing. And if they let me stay, I’d be a stigma on the Court. I violated the Code of Ethics. If I wasn’t asked to step down, no one would take it seriously.”

“But you weren’t fired,” Eric clarified. “They asked you to step down.”

“There’s no difference,” Ben said.

“Was Hollis at least nice about it?”

“He couldn’t have been nicer. He told me how much he appreciated my work for him, and how he hoped we’d stay in touch. He said he’d write me a recommendation for my next job. He even said he was impressed with how we caught Rick. But it didn’t change his decision.”

“What’s going to happen to Lisa?”

“Nothing,” Ben said. “I made sure she was left out of it. As far as anyone’s concerned, she’s the co-clerk who designed the plan and helped me through the hard times. Otherwise, she had nothing to do with the original leak.” Ben rested his arm on one of the couch’s pillows and wondered how long it would be before the pain medication kicked in.

“What did Osterman say?” Eric asked.

“He was a typical jackass. He gave me a big lecture about the aims and ideals of the Court and how they could never be compromised. I really wanted to reach over and mess up his pathetic comb-over. I don’t know why they brought me to see him. Hollis had already fired me.”

“You should’ve grabbed the comb-over,” Eric said. “What’s the worst thing he could’ve done? Fired you again?”

“I guess,” Ben said, distracted.

“One last question?” Eric said, unable to shake his reporter’s instincts. “How did Burke convince Rick that he was Claremont?”

“After Grinnell, Lisa and I knew that Rick was going to try to get his money back. So we isolated all the cases on the Court’s docket that he could potentially make money on.”

“How many cases were there?” Eric asked, intrigued.

“There were only four involving major dollars.”

“So how’d Burke find Rick?”

“He didn’t,” Ben said. “Rick picks his own partners, so we had to figure out a way to make Rick find Burke. We staked out-”

“You staked out?” Eric asked.

“Actually, the marshals did all of the legwork, but Lisa came up with the idea,” Ben explained. “The Marshals Office watched the top executives at all four corporations-”

“But there are hundreds of executives at each one,” Eric pointed out.

“Not when you’re only looking at the ones with criminal records,” Ben said. “We figured that if Rick was going to look at a hundred executives and pick one, he’d probably go for the one who was most likely to break the law.”

“So they watched every executive until Rick made his move?” Eric asked.

“Better,” Ben said. “The marshals replaced every executive until Rick made his move. Burke stood in for Richard Claremont, American Steel’s executive vice president of marketing, who was previously convicted of tax evasion.”

“How many executives did they replace?”

“They couldn’t afford to do everyone,” Ben explained. “Especially if they wanted to keep it quiet. So we picked the twenty most likely candidates and we waited.”

“Wasn’t the real Claremont’s life disrupted?”

“All they did was take over his phone line. The real Claremont didn’t even change offices. The only difference was that his calls were routed to Burke. If it was a real client, he passed the call back to Claremont. If it was Rick, he kept it.”

“And you weren’t sure any of this was going on?” Eric asked.

“We didn’t know a thing,” Ben said, distracted by the throbbing pain that ran down his arm. “Lisa and I gave DeRosa the plan and the list of corporate suspects, but we never knew if it was implemented. I didn’t know how it played out until the car ride over here.”

“Unreal,” Eric said, leaning back on the couch. Noticing the vacant look on Ben’s face, he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m just feeling a little out of it. Between the pain and the medication…”

“You look like hell. Maybe you should get some sleep.”

“I feel like hell,” Ben said, rising from the couch.

“Cheer up. You had a huge victory today.”

Ben slowly made his way to the stairs. “Doesn’t feel like it.”

Eric pulled his notepad from his back pocket. “Ben, can I ask you one last favor? I don’t mean to be inconsiderate or obnoxious, but would you care if I wrote the story on this?” He looked at his watch and added, “I can probably make page one if I hurry.”

“Eric, go fuck yourself,” Ben said, climbing the stairs. “And you can quote me on that.”

Epilogue

TWO WEEKS LATER, ON SATURDAY NIGHT, BEN walked into Lisa’s building. “Nice to see you,” the doorman said enthusiastically.

“You, too,” Ben said, trying not to make eye contact.

“Nice job with that whole thing,” the doorman added. “You’ve become quite the celebrity.”

“Thanks,” Ben said, stepping inside a waiting elevator. Getting out at the fourth floor, Ben went down the hallway to Lisa’s apartment and rang her doorbell.

“Who is it?” Lisa asked, peeking through the eyehole.

“It’s me,” Ben said.

“Wait a minute. Aren’t you that guy I saw on the news? That genius legal clerk who redeemed himself by catching the criminal mastermind?”

“Just open the door,” Ben pleaded.

When Lisa opened the door, Ben saw that most of the cuts on Lisa’s face and hands had fully healed. All that remained were a few thin, pink scars in the places where the glass cut deepest.

“Nice to see you,” she said. As Lisa leaned in to give Ben a kiss, she was surprised when he turned his cheek. “That’s what I get? A peck on the cheek?”

Ben walked inside and sat on Lisa’s couch. “Please don’t start,” he begged.