“Your favorite. Beef tenderloin.”
Jordan smiled. “I think we’re going to have a late dinner. Tonight the missus and I are going to relax completely. No interruptions.” He looked at his wife. “Anything wrong?” He noted the paper in her hand.
“No. Court business. It never ends.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” he said dryly. “Well, I’m for a hot shower.” He went down the hallway. “You’re welcome to join me,” he called over his shoulder.
Mary went off to the kitchen, a smile on her lips at the senator’s remark.
Elizabeth took the opportunity to slip into the study and dialed the number on the message.
“I’m returning your call,” she said into the phone.
“We need to talk, Justice Knight. How’s right now?”
“What is this about?”
“What I’m about to tell you will come as quite a shock. Are you prepared for that?”
For some reason, Elizabeth Knight sensed that the man was enjoying this. “I really don’t have time for the cloak-and-dagger rhetoric that obviously amuses you.”
“Well, I’m going to give you a crash course in it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just listen.”
And she did. Twenty minutes later she threw the phone down, raced out of the room and almost knocked down Mary, who was coming down the hallway. Elizabeth raced into the powder room, where she splashed water on her face. She gripped the edges of the sink, composed herself, opened the door and moved slowly down the hallway.
She could still hear Jordan in the shower. She looked at her watch. She went out into the lobby and down the elevator to the reception area of the building and waited over by the main entrance. Time seemed to pass slowly. Actually only ten minutes had gone by since her phone call. Finally, a man she didn’t recognize, but who clearly knew her by sight, appeared and handed her something. She looked down at it. When she looked back up, he had already disappeared. She put what he had given her into her pocket and hurried back up to her apartment.
“Where’s Jordan?” she asked Mary.
“I believe he’s in the bedroom getting dressed. Are you all right, Ms. Knight?”
“Yes, I. . . . my stomach was just a little upset, but I’m fine now. I decided to stretch my legs and do some window shopping downstairs, get some fresh air. Would you mix up some cocktails and put them out on the terrace?”
“It’s starting to rain.”
“But the awning’s up. And I feel very claustrophobic all of a sudden. I need the air. It’s been so hot and humid lately, and the rain has made things so cool. So very cool,” she said wistfully. “Make Jordan’s favorite, will you?”
“Beefeater Martini with a twist, yes, ma’am.”
“And the dinner, Mary . . . please make sure it’s absolutely wonderful. Just perfect.”
“I will, ma’am.” Mary headed to the bar with a puzzled look on her face.
Elizabeth Knight squeezed her hands together to fight the waves of panic. She just had to stop thinking about it. If she was going to make it through this, she had to merely act, not think. Please, God, help me, she prayed.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
* * *
Fiske stared moodily out the car window at the dark clouds. He and Sara were halfway to Washington, and neither one had said much on the drive up.
Sara turned on the wipers as the rain started to fall. She looked over at him and frowned. “John, we’ve got a lot of information to work with. We might want to use the next hour making some sense of it all.”
Fiske glanced at her. “I guess you’re right. Do you have pen and paper anywhere?”
“Don’t you have that in your briefcase?”
He undid his seat belt, pulled his briefcase from the back seat and popped it open. He pushed through the stack of mail until his hands closed around a bulky package. “Christ, that was fast.”
“What?”
“I think this is Harms’s service record.” Fiske tore it open and started reading. Ten minutes later, he looked at her. “It’s in two different parts. His service record, portions of the record of court-martial, and the personnel list from Fort Plessy during the time Harms was stationed there.” Fiske pulled out a section marked MEDICAL RECORDS. He studied the pages and then stopped. “Would you like to guess why Rufus Harms was so insubordinate, wouldn’t take orders, was always in trouble?”