The Pelican Brief

“Make it quick,” Verheek said.

“So nice to hear your voice,” Callahan said.

“How are you, Thomas?”

“It’s ten-thirty. I’m not dressed. I’m sitting here in the French Quarter sipping coffee and watching pedestrians on Dauphine. What’re you doing?”

“What a life. Here it’s eleven-thirty, and I haven’t left the office since they found the bodies Wednesday morning.”

“I’m just sick, Gavin. He’ll nominate two Nazis.”

“Well, of course, in my position, I ca

“Suspect my ass. You’ve already seen his short list of nominees, haven’t you, Gavin? You guys are already doing back ground checks, aren’t you? Come on, Gavin, you can tell me. Who’s on the list? I’ll never tell.”

“Neither will I, Thomas. But I promise this—your name is not among the few.”

“I’m wounded.”

“How’s the girl?”

“Which one?”

“Come on, Thomas. The girl?”

“She’s beautiful and brilliant and soft and gentle—”

“Keep going.”

“Who killed them, Gavin? I have a right to know. I’m a taxpayer and I have a right to know who killed them.”

“What’s her name again?”

“Darby. Who killed them, and why?”

“You could always pick names, Thomas. I remember women you turned down because you didn’t like the names. Gorgeous, hot women, but with flat names. Darby. Has a nice erotic touch to it. What a name. When do I meet her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Has she moved in?”

“None of your damned business. Gavin, listen to me. Who did it?”

“Don’t you read the papers? We have no suspects. None. Nada.”

“Surely you have a motive.”

“Mucho motives. Lots of hatred out there, Thomas. Weird combination, wouldn’t you say? Jensen’s hard to figure. The Director has ordered us to research pending cases and recent decisions and voting patterns and all that crap.”

“That’s great, Gavin. Every con law scholar in the country is now playing detective and trying to solve the murders.”

“And you’re not?”

“No. I threw a binge when I heard the news, but I’m sober now. The girl, however, has buried herself in the same research you’re doing. She’s ignoring me.”

“Darby. What a name. Where’s she from?”

“Denver. Are we on for Monday?”

“Maybe. Voyles wants us to work around the clock until the computers tell us who did it. I plan to work you in, though.”

“Thanks. I’ll expect a full report, Gavin. Not just the gossip.”

“Thomas, Thomas. Always fishing for information. And I, as usual, have none to give you.”

“You’ll get drunk and tell all, Gavin. You always do.”

“Why don’t you bring Darby? How old is she? Nineteen?”

“Twenty-four, and she’s not invited. Maybe later.”

“Maybe. Gotta run, pal. I meet with the Director in thirty minutes. The tension is so thick around here you can smell it.” Callahan punched the number for the law school library and asked if Darby Shaw had been seen. She had not.

Darby parked in the near-empty lot of the federal building in Lafayette, and entered the clerk’s office on the first floor. It was noon Friday, court was not in session, and the hallways were deserted. She stopped at the counter and looked through an open window, and waited. A deputy clerk, late for lunch and with an attitude, walked to the window. “Can I help you?” she asked in the tone of a lowly civil servant who wanted to do anything but help.

Darby slid a strip of paper through the window. “I would like to see this file.” The clerk took a quick glance at the name of the case, and looked at Darby. “Why?” she asked.

“I don’t have to explain. It’s public record, isn’t it?”

“Semipublic.”

Darby took the strip of paper and folded it. “Are you familiar with the Freedom of Information Act?”

“Are you a lawyer?”

“I don’t have to be a lawyer to look at this file.”

The clerk opened a drawer in the counter, and took out a key ring. She nodded, pointing with her forehead. “Follow me.”

The sign on the door said JURY ROOM, but inside there were no tables or chairs, only file cabinets and boxes lining the walls. Darby looked around the room.

The clerk pointed to a wall. “That’s it, on this wall. The rest of the room is other junk. This first file cabinet has all the pleadings and correspondence. The rest is discovery, exhibits, and the trial.”

“When was the trial?”

“Last summer. It went on for two months.”

“Where’s the appeal?”

“Not perfected yet. I think the deadline is November 1. Are you a reporter or something?”

“No.”

“Good. As you obviously know, these are indeed public records. But the trial judge has placed certain restrictions. First, I must have your name and the precise hours you visited this room. Second, nothing can be taken from this room. Third, nothing in this file can be copied until the appeal is perfected. Fourth, anything you touch in here must be put back exactly where you found it. Judge’s orders.”

Darby stared at the wall of file cabinets. “Why can’t I make copies?”

“Ask His Honor, okay? Now, what’s your name?”

“Darby Shaw.”

The clerk scribbled the information on a clipboard hanging near the door. “How long will you be?”

“I don’t know. Three or four hours.”

“We close at five. Find me at the office when you leave.” She closed the door with a smirk. Darby opened a drawer full of pleadings, and began flipping through files and taking notes. The lawsuit was seven years old, with one plaintiff and thirty-eight wealthy corporate defendants who had collectively hired and fired no less than fifteen law firms from all over the country. Big firms, many with hundreds of lawyers in dozens of offices.

Seven years of expensive legal warfare, and the outcome was far from certain. Bitter litigation. The trial verdict was only a temporary victory for the defendants. The verdict had been purchased or in some other way illegally obtained, claimed the plaintiff in its motions for a new trial. Boxes of motions. Accusations and counteraccusations. Requests for sanctions and fines flowing rapidly to and from both sides. Pages and pages of affi davits detailing lies and abuses by the lawyers and their clients. One lawyer was dead.

Another had tried suicide, according to a classmate of Darby’s who had worked on the fringes of the case during the trial. Her friend had been employed in a summer clerkship with a big firm in Houston, and was kept in the dark but heard a little.

Darby unfolded a chair and stared at the file cabinets. It would take five hours just to find everything.

The publicity had not been good for the Montrose. Most of its customers wore dark sunglasses after dark, and tended to enter and exit rather quickly. And now that a U.S. Supreme Court Justice had been found in the balcony, the place was famous and the curious drove by at all hours pointing and taking pictures. Most of the regulars went elsewhere. The bravest darted in when the traffic was light.

He looked just like a regular when he darted in and paid his money inside the door without looking at the cashier. Baseball cap, black sunglasses, jeans, neat hair, leather jacket. He was well disguised, but not because he was a homosexual and ashamed to be hanging around such places.

It was midnight. He climbed the stairs to the balcony, smiling at the thought of Jensen wearing the tourniquet. The door was locked. He took a seat in the center section on the floor, away from anyone else.

He had never watched queer movies before, and after this night he had no plans to watch another one. This was his third such smut house in the past ninety minutes. He kept the sunglasses on and tried to avoid the screen. But it was difficult, and this irritated him.