While Justice Sleeps(10)

If she left today, perhaps her secret employers would forgive her. Perhaps Justice Wynn would as well.

The knock on the door startled her, and she belted her robe tight. The clock told her it was nearly six in the morning.

Jamie hurried to the door, quickly smoothing her faded brown hair into a semblance of order. She peered out the keyhole and frowned at the man standing outside. Her voice croaked out, “Can I help you?”

A badge flashed in the keyhole. “Mrs. Lewis? It’s about your husband. May I come in?”

Distressed, resigned, she fumbled with the locks and chain. “What’s happened this time?” she asked wearily as she shifted to admit him. “What has he done?”

“Thomas is in trouble.” He tucked his badge away, then gestured toward the room.

    Jamie obediently moved into the living room, leaving the officer to shut the door. “Is he under arrest?”

“He’s not in custody.” The officer followed her into the barren living room, scanning an array of boxes stacked against the faux fireplace. “Planning to move?”

“Yes,” she answered, waving the question aside. She frowned. “Your badge said DC Police. If he’s not in custody, why are you here?”

“Because he is in trouble, Mrs. Lewis.” He laid a hand on a box. “Do you already have a place, Jamie?”

Fear for her husband morphed into personal terror. She abruptly recognized the voice if not the face. This was the man who’d engaged her to work for Justice Wynn. “I don’t…,” she stammered, her hand rising to her throat. “You’re not with the police.”

“No, I’m not.” He folded his hands behind him as his legs braced apart, subtly but effectively blocking her route to the front door. “You disappointed us. You had a very simple task, and you failed.”

She took a small step back. “I tried.”

“He’s still alive.”

“I panicked, sir.”

“No, Mrs. Lewis. You didn’t panic. In fact, we engaged you because you don’t panic. You were a field medic with two tours in the Gulf.” He shook his head. “No, you chose to disobey orders. Why?”

“Because it wasn’t right,” she blurted out. “He’s a good man. I couldn’t sit there and watch him die.”

“According to you, he tried to kill himself. You simply could have allowed it to happen.” Another thirty minutes without care, and Howard Wynn would have been a corpse. “He’s a threat to national security. You know that. You were with him at the graduation.”

“He’s a terrified old man who sees shadows. Now he’s a threat to no one.”

“Not your decision to make.”

“He’s in a coma and probably won’t wake up. That should be enough.”

The man watched her steadily. “Nurse Lewis, did you make a call after we spoke last night? To the Supreme Court?”

Jamie started to formulate a lie, then nodded haltingly. He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t already know the answer. “He woke up for a couple of seconds. He asked about his law clerk, Avery Keene, and I thought she should know what he said.”

    “What did he say?”

“That Avery has to save us. Look to the East and the river,” she recited. “He was adamant. And someone named Lask Bauer. It was gibberish.”

“Then why make the call?”

“Because I swore I would tell her.”

“You were hired for your discretion, not for heroics. I thought you understood this.”

“I did. I do,” she stammered. “I haven’t told anyone else about you or what you asked me to do. I doubt Avery will understand his message. There’s no harm done.”

“How can I believe you, Nurse Lewis, when you’ve just admitted you broke protocol? You called the U.S. Marshals rather than follow orders. You called his clerk.” He took a step closer, his eyes cold on hers. “I must know the truth. Did anyone else know that you’d been asked to report on Justice Wynn?”

“No!” The protest squeaked out; then she flushed in memory. “I mean—no one else, besides the judge.” When his cold blue eyes flattened, she sputtered, “You must have heard him yesterday. He figured it out; but now, with the coma, he’s the only other one who knows.” She held up her hands, pleading. “I haven’t told anyone about you, God’s truth.”

“Thank you, Nurse Lewis.” He turned away and walked over to the single stretch of windows. The blinds were closed. Good. “I believe you.”

Jamie watched him in silence. The man in her apartment looked perfectly pleasant, which failed to explain the knots tying themselves in her stomach. Her hands fluttered nervously to her throat, and, eager to have him gone, she asked, “Is there anything else?”

“Yes.” He slipped his hand into his jacket. “May I trouble you for a glass of water?”

“Of course.” She smiled in relief and turned.

The shot was silent and accurate, exploding through her brain with ruthless efficiency. The bullet lodged in the drywall.

Jamie’s body crumpled soundlessly to the ground, the yellow flowers of the carpet darkening with blood. Snapping latex onto both hands, he leaned over the body and pressed two gloved fingers to her throat. Like any good officer, he regretted the necessity of killing; but sometimes, options were limited. With her betrayal, she’d become a liability.