“Well, he didn’t count on you losing his surveillance team either. Once McKenna got Justice Knight to agree to the bug, he just had to spring the trap. McKenna had already told Justice Knight that he knew her husband from Fort Plessy, so when the senator told her he had to call to get that information, she knew he was lying.”
“So Justice Knight’s quick thinking probably saved my life,” Sara commented.
Chandler nodded in agreement. “When everything went down, McKenna knew Perkins would make a run for it and would need Jordan’s help. It worked out okay. Jordan killing Perkins was not in the game plan. But I’m not going to lose any sleep over that.” Chandler looked at Rufus Harms. “I need to take you into custody, but it won’t be for long.”
“I want to see my brother.”
Chandler nodded. “I can arrange that.”
“I’ll go with you, Rufus,” Fiske said.
As they walked to the door, Elizabeth Knight met them in the hallway.
“Justice Knight, you did a very brave thing tonight. I know how painful it was for you,” Chandler said.
Elizabeth reached out her hand to Rufus Harms. “It can’t possibly be worth anything to you after all you have suffered, Mr. Harms, but I am so sorry for everything. So very, very sorry.”
He took her hand gently. “It’s worth a lot, ma’am. To me and my brother.”
As they headed out the door, Elizabeth Knight looked at them all and said with finality, “Good-bye.”
The group headed to the elevator. When the three men stepped on the elevator car, Sara hesitated. “I’ll catch up with you later,” she said. As the elevator doors closed, she raced back to the apartment. Mary opened the door.
“Where’s Justice Knight?”
“She went into the bedroom. Why — ”
Sara flew past her and burst into the bedroom. Sitting on the bed, Elizabeth Knight looked up at her former clerk. The justice’s hand was clenched in a fist; a prescription bottle lay empty next to her.
Sara walked slowly over to her, sat down and took her hand. She opened it and the pills spilled out. “Elizabeth, that’s not the way to deal with this.”
“Deal with it?” Elizabeth said hysterically. “My life just walked out that door in handcuffs.”
“Jordan Knight just walked out that door. Justice Elizabeth Knight is sitting right here next to me. The same Justice Knight who will be leading the Supreme Court into the next century.”
“Sara . . .” The tears spilled down her face.
“It’s a lifetime appointment. And you have a lot of life left.” Sara squeezed her hand. “I’d like to help you with your work, your very important work. If you’ll have me back.”
Sara put her arms around the woman’s trembling shoulders.
“I don’t know if I can do this . . . survive this.”
“I’m certain that you can. And you won’t be doing it alone. I promise.”
Elizabeth clutched at the young woman’s shoulder. “Will you stay with me tonight, Sara?”
“I’ll stay as long as you want.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
* * *
On the strength of his being the possessor of the Silver Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Medal, Josh Harms was entitled to burial with modified honors — the highest an enlisted man could attain — at Arlington National Cemetery. However, the Army representative who had come to speak to Rufus about the arrangement seemed bent on talking him out of it.
“He got shot up, saved a bunch of the men in his company, won himself a box full of medals,” Rufus said, eyeing the man’s uniform, the single row of colored metal on it. “A lot mor’n you got.”
The man twisted his lips. “His record was not the cleanest in the world either. He had a real problem with authority. From what I could gather, he didn’t like or respect one thing about the institution he was representing.”
“So you think burying him up there with all them generals and such would be disrespectful?”
“The cemetery is running out of space. I think it would be a nice gesture to reserve those spaces for soldiers who actually were proud to wear the uniform, that’s all I’m saying.”