She looked up, startled. “Jordan, I thought you had left for your meeting.”
He came over and stood next to her, massaging the back of her neck with one hand. “I canceled it. And now it’s time to go home.”
“But I have some more work to go. We’re all behind. It’s so hard — ”
He put a hand under her arm and helped her up. “Beth, no matter how important it is, it’s not that important. Let’s go home,” he said firmly.
A few minutes later they were being driven in a government car to their apartment. After a relaxing shower, something to eat and a glass of wine, Elizabeth Knight finally started to feel halfway normal again as she lay on her bed. Her husband came in and sat down next to her, putting her feet on his lap and rubbing them.
“Sometimes I think we’re too hard on our clerks. Work them too hard. Expect too much from them,” she said after a while.
“Is that right?” Jordan Knight cupped her chin in one hand. “What, are you somehow trying to blame yourself for Michael Fiske’s death? He wasn’t working late the night he was probably killed. You told me he called in sick. His being in an alleyway in a bad part of town has nothing to do with you or the Court. Somebody, some piece of street trash, killed him. Maybe it was a robbery, or maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you had nothing to do with it.”
“The police think it was a robbery.”
“I’m sure it’s early on in the investigation, but it’ll be given the highest priority.”
“One of the clerks today asked if Michael’s death might be connected to the Court somehow.”
Jordan Knight considered this for a moment. “Look, I suppose it’s possible, but I can’t see how.” He suddenly looked worried. “If it is, though, I’m going to make sure you have added protection. I’ll make a call tomorrow and you’ll have your own Secret Service or FBI agent, round the clock.”
“Jordan, you don’t have to do that.”
“What, make sure that some nut doesn’t take you away from me? I think about that a lot, Beth. Some of the Court’s decisions are very unpopular. You all get death threats from time to time. You can’t ignore that.”
“I don’t. I just try not to think about it.”
“Fine, but don’t get upset if I do.”
She smiled, touched his face. “You take much too good care of me, you know.”
He smiled. “When you have something precious, that’s the only way to go.”
They tenderly kissed and then Jordan pulled the covers up over her, turned out the light and left to finish up some work in his study. Elizabeth Knight didn’t go to sleep right away. She stared into the darkness, a series of emotions hitting her. Right when they all threatened to overwhelm her, she thankfully drifted off.
* * *
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through, John. I know how badly I’m feeling, and I’d only known Michael for a relatively short time.”
They were in Sara’s car and had just crossed over the Potomac River and into Virginia. Fiske wondered if she was trying to impress upon him that she had little information to provide.
“So how long did you two work together?”
“A year. Michael talked me into coming back for a second year.”
“Ramsey said you and Michael were close. How close?”
She looked sharply at him. “What are you implying?”
“I just want to gather facts about my brother. I want to know who his friends were. If he was seeing anyone.” He glanced over at her to gauge her reaction. If she had one, she wasn’t showing it.
“You only lived two hours away and you know nothing about his life?”
“Is that your opinion or someone else’s?”
“I can actually make observations all by myself.”
“Well, that’s a two-way street.”
“The observations, or the two-hour drive?”
“Both.”
They pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant in northern Virginia. They went inside, got a table and ordered their drinks and food. A minute later, Fiske took a swallow of his Corona; Sara sipped on a margarita.