Blowout

Ollie. Eliza was solid. Listen to me, it’s true I only met Eliza Vickers twice, then spoke to her briefly at Justice Califano’s funeral, but I felt I knew her in all the important ways. I even admired her. Eliza couldn’t have had Justice Califano killed, she was devoted to him, loved and respected him as both a man and as a Justice. Did she have him killed out of jealousy? No way. She knew there was no future for them. That isn’t it, Ollie. It’s got to be something else.
    “Say you did believe she was responsible, then the logical follow-up would be that Günter then killed her because she was cracking under the pressure. It doesn’t fly. No, this hesitation Ben and Callie saw, it was about something else entirely.”
    “Okay, Sherlock, if it wasn’t about this, then what do you think she hesitated about?”
    Dillon’s calm voice always cooled her down. She said, the emotional edge gone from her voice, “Maybe she wanted to say something about Danny O’Malley, or she was worried about Fleurette, thinking maybe Fleurette could be a target too.”
    Agent Foley said, “All right, let’s go with that. So if Eliza was thinking about Danny O’Malley or worrying about Fleurette, then why wouldn’t she say something to Detective Raven? Why wouldn’t she warn him that Fleurette might be in danger, and why would she think that? Why?”
    Ben said, “The thing is, the place was a madhouse. She was the only one there. The phone rang, and she waved us out. That’s what happened. What was she thinking?” Ben shrugged, then turned to Callie. “You got any thoughts on this? You were there, you saw exactly what I saw.”
    Callie said, “Yes, she hesitated. I saw it. Wondered about it, but just for a moment. Unfortunately, I was focused on finding Fleurette, we both were.”
    Ben said, “I’m thinking that maybe Eliza wondered if Fleurette knew something, but then again, why wouldn’t she tell us?” Ben saw that Sherlock was ready to break in, gave her a half-smile, and added, “No, I don’t think Eliza herself knew anything about Justice Califano’s murder. And I don’t think she’d want Justice Califano dead, for any reason. I think Eliza could have walked in and found Justice Califano making out with Sonya McGivens or Fleurette or Tai Curtis on his big mahogany desk, and still not have reacted with violence. Like Sherlock said, she was too together and on-track with herself. She was too accepting of who and what Justice Califano was.”
    Ollie Hamish said, “All right, I’m hearing you guys. So her hesitation has got to mean that she found out something, or heard something, but she wasn’t quite sure what it meant, maybe didn’t want to say anything to Ben until she was sure, one way or the other—”
    Ben said, “So whatever she heard was from someone she trusted or liked or simply couldn’t conceive of having anything to do with Justice Califano’s murder.”
    Jimmy Maitland spoke for the first time. “Let’s say Eliza Vickers did find out something. In any case, it was the real deal. It got her murdered. And that means, people, that we’re back to tracing her movements. We need to know where she went, who she saw, or talked to, everything, since Justice Califano’s murder. And as far back as we can. Jagger, you and Brewer put your teams on it.”
    Savich said, “We already checked her phone records, no go there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she actually visited whoever it was. Maybe she asked too many questions, made this person nervous, and that signed her death warrant.”
    Jimmy Maitland said, “The person knew she wasn’t going to let it go, knew she was smart, knew she’d gnaw on it until she figured it out, so the person called Günter. Like you said, Savich, it signed her death warrant.”
    Frank Halley said, “But what did she hear? And where was she? In Justice Califano’s office? Or maybe someone called her, warned her, but she wouldn’t believe it. Maybe there’s someone else here, someone else in the Supreme Court Building, another law clerk.”
    Savich nodded. “Good. Keep going.”
    Another FBI agent said, “But why wouldn’t this other law clerk, or whoever it was, tell us? We’ve been all over them, at least three, four interviews of everyone who works there. And why Fleurette?”
    Savich said, “Okay, we’ve got some good solid ideas on Eliza, but still nothing definitive. Why Fleurette? I’m thinking now the reason Günter wants Fleurette dead is