“What are you talking about?”
“We have reason to suspect that Michael Fiske took that appeal for his own purposes, and that somehow you’re involved in all of that,” Chandler informed her.
“If he did and you knew about it but remained silent, that is a very serious ethical offense, Ms. Evans,” said Ramsey.
“You’re doing all of this running around, asking questions, because John Fiske put you up to it, didn’t he?”
“This may come as quite a shock to you, but I can think and act all by myself, Agent McKenna,” she said hotly.
“You know that Michael Fiske had a half-million-dollar insurance policy naming his brother as beneficiary?”
“Yes, John told me.”
“And do you also know that Fiske has no alibi for the time of his brother’s death?”
Sara shook her head and smiled tightly. “You’re wasting valuable time trying to pin Michael’s murder on his brother. He had nothing to do with it, and he’s trying as hard as he can to find out who did murder Michael.”
McKenna put his hands in his pockets and studied her for a moment, changing his tactic. “Would you say the Fiske brothers were close?”
“What do you mean by ‘close’?”
McKenna rolled his eyes. “Just the ordinary meaning of the word, that’s all.”
“No, I don’t think they were particularly close. So?”
“We found the life insurance policy at Michael Fiske’s apartment. Tell me why he insured his life for all that money and made his not-so-close older brother the beneficiary. Why not his parents? From what I’ve found out, they can certainly use the money.”
“I don’t know what Michael was thinking when he did that. I guess we’ll never know.”
“Maybe it wasn’t Michael Fiske who did it at all.”
Sara was momentarily stunned. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know how easy it is to take out a life insurance policy on somebody else? There’s no photo identification necessary. A nurse comes to your house, takes some measurements and fluid samples. You forge a few signatures, pay the premiums through a dummy account.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “Are you suggesting that John impersonated his brother in order to take out the life insurance policy on him?”
“Why not? It would make it a lot clearer why two estranged brothers would have such a big financial pact.”
“You obviously do not know John Fiske.” McKenna gazed at her in a way that she found unnerving. “The point is, Ms. Evans, neither do you.”
McKenna’s next words almost put her on the floor.
“Did you also know that Michael Fiske was killed by a slug fired from a nine-millimeter?” He paused for effect. “And that John Fiske has a nine-millimeter registered to his name? And this appeal, I’m sure he’s telling you it’s connected to his brother’s murder, isn’t he?”
Sara looked at Chandler. “I can’t believe this.”
“Well, none of it’s been proven yet,” Chandler said.
Perkins nodded thoughtfully, his arms crossed. “We received a phone call from the Office of Special Military Operations, Ms. Evans. A Master Sergeant Dillard. He said you had called about Rufus Harms, that you said an appeal had been filed by Rufus Harms with the Court and you were checking into his background.”
“There’s no law that says I can’t make a phone call to clarify something, is there?”
“So you admit having called him,” Perkins said triumphantly, looking first at Ramsey and then at Knight. “That means you admit to having used Court facilities and Court time on some personal investigation into some escaped convict. And you happened to have lied to the military, since no such appeal is on file here, as you pointed out.”
“Your offenses are quickly adding up,” added McKenna.
“I admit to no such thing. As far as I’m concerned, it was Court business and I had a perfect right to do it.”
“Ms. Evans, are you going to tell us who exactly had that appeal?” Ramsey was staring at her just as he had peered down at the lawyers during oral argument that morning. “If someone at this Court stole an appeal before it was filed — the very idea is unthinkable — and if you know who it was, you have a duty to this institution to tell us who it was.”