Chapter Fifty-six

Brad waved to Keith Evans as soon as he spotted the FBI agent. Brad had asked Keith to meet him in a neighborhood Greek restaurant a few blocks off Dupont Circle because he didn’t want anyone at the Court to know about the meeting.

“Thanks for coming,” Brad said as soon as Keith was seated across from him.

“I’ll do anything for a free meal,” Keith joked.

“On my salary?” Brad said. “And you’ll be buying me dinner when you hear what I have to tell you.”

The waiter appeared and Keith ordered Chicken Vasilikos with a side of Dolmathes. Brad asked for Spanakopita and a Greek Salad.

“I want to be up-front with you,” Brad said as soon as the waiter left. “I can’t prove what I’m going to tell you with evidence that would be admissible in court. I’m also going to ask you to promise to keep a few things I tell you to yourself and out of any report you write and to stop asking questions about any area I tell you I can’t go into.”

“OK.”

“You know how a state criminal case gets a hearing in my court, right?”

“I think so. When someone is convicted, they file appeals and keep filing them until they are turned down at the highest state level, usually the state supreme court. If they think there’s a federal issue, they file a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. How did I do?”

“A-plus. We’ve got a case out of Oregon that raises a very tricky federal issue. The defendant is on death row. She was convicted of murdering her boyfriend. While the case was in the state trial court, the defendant’s attorney tried to get evidence that would establish an alternative theory of the crime, that drug dealers and the CIA had reasons to kill the boyfriend. As part of her strategy, she issued subpoenas for the records of the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The feds blocked the attempts by invoking the state-secrets privilege. That’s the issue in the Court. Can the state-secrets privilege be invoked to prevent a defendant in a death-penalty case from securing exculpatory evidence? Are you with me so far?”

“Yes, Professor Miller.”

Brad leaned across the table. “I think Justice Moss was attacked because she interfered with an attempt by Justice Millard Price to deny the petition for cert.”

A look of incredulity spread across Keith’s face, and he put down his fork.

“Let me get this straight. You’re accusing a Supreme Court justice of hiring a hit man to kill another justice?”

“I think there’s a good possibility Justice Price had some involvement in the assassination attempt. And I think Dennis Masterson is behind the plot.”

Evans’s mouth dropped open. Then he laughed. “You are fucking kidding me! Masterson is one of the most powerful men in this town.”

“And he was the head of the CIA when the events in Oregon took place. Let me tell you everything we’ve found out.”

Keith listened intently as Brad laid out what he, Dana, and Ginny had learned about the China Sea incident and TA Enterprises.

“You’ve been a busy beaver,” the agent said when Brad finished.

“You’ve got to admit that I had a good reason for asking Dana to look into the Woodruff case.”

Keith was about to respond when his cell phone rang. He checked the caller.

“I have to take this,” he said. Keith got up and walked into the narrow hall that led to the restrooms.

“What’s up?” Keith asked Tyrone Bagley, his supervisor.

“Daphne Haggard, a homicide detective in Inverness, Wisconsin, called for the agent in charge of the investigation into the assassination attempt on Justice Moss. She was driving to the airport in Milwaukee to catch a flight to D.C. I’m going to give you her flight number and time of arrival. I want you to meet her at the airport in the morning.”

Keith fished out a pen and wrote down the information.

“What’s this about?”

“A receptionist took the message. She was going to wait to give it to you but she decided it might be important so she brought it to me.”

“And?” Keith asked.

“The message says that Haggard believes there is a good possibility that one of the clerks at the United States Supreme Court is an impostor.”

Chapter Fifty-seven

Justice Moss called Brad minutes after his alarm went off to tell him that she wanted him in her chambers as soon as he got in. The judge hadn’t told him why she wanted to meet, but Brad remembered that the justices were in conference later in the morning to decide the fate of petitions for writs of certiorari. He wondered if Woodruff was among the petitions that would be discussed.

When Brad arrived at the Court, Harriet was already at her desk.

“I’m off to see the Wizard,” Brad said, in case someone needed him.

Harriet grunted but didn’t look up from her monitor.

Until the attempt on her life, Felicia Moss had been one of the more spirited justices, and the energy with which she attacked her job had made Brad forget her age. This morning, she was slumped in her chair looking every bit like a woman in her seventies.

“We’re discussing the petitions for cert this morning,” the judge said as soon as Brad shut the door. “I’ve asked Millard to meet with me before the conference starts.”

“Why are you doing that?” Brad asked, worried that he knew what his boss was going to answer.

“I’m going to confront him. I want you to be here because you know everything our investigation uncovered.”

“You’re making a mistake, Judge. I don’t think it’s wise to meet with Justice Price. What if we’re right and he was involved in the plot to kill you?”

“Do you remember when Millard visited me the morning after the attack?”

Brad nodded.

“He was very upset, and I don’t think he was faking. Millard is involved in some way in the Woodruff matter; the papers your fiancée discovered prove he created the Cayman Island company, and I’m convinced his opposition to Woodruff’s cert petition has nothing to do with its merits. But I can’t believe he would be part of a plan to murder me.”

“I met with Keith last night and brought him up to speed. He knows everything I know. Let’s bring him into the meeting.”

“Millard won’t talk freely with an FBI agent in the room.”

“What makes you think he’ll talk with me here?”

“I plan on having you step out as soon as you tell Millard what you know.”

“You’re going to be alone with him? He’s a big man, Judge. He could kill you.”

“I don’t think he’ll try to hurt me, but we’ll soon know how good a judge I am of human nature.”

Air traffic control had instructed the pilot of the plane carrying Daphne Haggard to let the detective off before any other passenger. Keith’s credentials had gotten him through security, and he was waiting at the end of the gangway when the bleary-eyed redhead walked into the boarding area pulling her carry-on behind her.

“Detective Haggard, I’m Keith Evans, a special agent with the FBI. How was your flight?”

“As good as a red-eye can be.”

“Do you have any more baggage?”

“No, this is it.”

“Do you want some coffee or something to eat?”

“I don’t think you’ll want to waste time eating when you hear what I have to say. To tell the truth, I was afraid I wouldn’t be taken seriously.”

Keith smiled. “I’m the agent in charge of the investigation into the attempted murder of Justice Moss, and I can assure you that an easy way to get my attention is for a homicide detective to leave a message stating that she thinks a Supreme Court clerk is an impostor. So, what makes you think one of the clerks isn’t who they’re supposed to be?”

On the way to the parking garage, Daphne filled in Evans on the discovery of the missing thigh and how the victim was identified.