The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

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Categories	Action & Adventure
Author	John Grisham
Publisher	Anchor; Reprint edition (April 25, 2006)
Language	English
Paperback	400 pages
Item Weight	10 ounces
Dimensions	5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches

I. Book introduction

The Pelican Brief is a legal-suspense thriller by John Grisham, published in 1992 by Doubleday. It is his third novel after A Time to Kill and The Firm. Two paperback editions were published, both by Dell Publishing in 1993. A namesake film adaptation was released in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In suburban Georgetown a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home… In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death… The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief…

To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder—a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust—an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate—to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.

Plot

The story begins with the assassinations of two ideologically divergent Supreme Court Justices. Both murders are committed by Khamel, the most wanted hitman in the world. Justice Rosenberg, a liberal, is killed at his home while Justice Jensen, a Republican-appointed swing voter, is killed inside a gay movie theater in Washington, D.C. The circumstances surrounding their deaths, as well as the deaths themselves, shock and confuse a politically divided nation.

Darby Shaw, a Tulane University law student, conducts research on Rosenberg and Jensen’s records and writes a legal brief speculating they were not killed for political reasons. She shows the brief to Thomas Callahan, her law professor and lover, who in turn shows it to his friend, an FBI lawyer, Gavin Verheek. Soon afterwards, Callahan is killed by a car bomb, while Shaw, who witnesses his death, is contacted at the scene by suspicious people. Afraid that she is the next target, Darby goes on the run. She contacts and agrees to meet Verheek, but Khamel murders Verheek and impersonates him when they meet. He is just about to kill Shaw when he is shot by an unknown person, so she manages to escape again.

Gray Grantham, a reporter for The Washington Post, is contacted by an informant calling himself “Garcia”, who believes he has seen something in his law office that is related to the assassinations. However, Garcia is reluctant to come forward. Shaw shows her findings to Grantham, believing that the assassinations were committed on behalf of Victor Mattiece, an oil tycoon who seeks to drill on Louisiana marshland which is home to an endangered species of pelican. A case that would decide whether Mattiece can gain access to the land is expected to be heard before the Supreme Court. Despite their status as ideological opposites, the two slain justices had a single characteristic in common: a history of environmentalism, causing Darby to surmise that Mattiece orchestrated their murders to make sure their replacements would be appointed by the current President, a hardline reactionary. Grantham agrees to help Shaw prove her suspicion is correct.

The President and his Chief of Staff, Fletcher Coal, try to cover up the White House’s link to Mattiece, afraid that it might endanger the President’s re-election. The President orders FBI Director F. Denton Voyles to temporarily stop working on the brief, and asks the more trusted CIA Director Bob Gminski to conduct the investigation instead. They also send an agent to Mattiece to find out whether the brief is true, but Mattiece, who has become practically insane over the past several years, has the agent killed.

Shaw and Grantham manage to track down Curtis Morgan, a.k.a. “Garcia”, an employee of the law firm representing Mattiece, only to find out that he died some days before in an apparent mugging. They manage to contact his widow, leading them to discover Morgan’s written and videotaped testimony. Morgan reveals that, some time before the assassinations, he accidentally looked at an internal correspondence and realized that some of his co-workers were involved in the murders. Afraid that he himself might be killed, Morgan decided to record his testimony. With this evidence, Grantham and Shaw approach the Post’s chief editor. Voyles appears at the newsroom and reveals that he has a tape recording of the conversation with the President ordering him to stop working on the brief, and that the CIA was investigating Mattiece and killed Khamel to save Shaw’s life. He also arranges a plane for Darby to disappear.

The story prominently appears in the Post, over the objections of the President and his staff. One of the implicated lawyers commits suicide. The President is expected to announce he will not seek re-election. Mattiece disappears. Shaw settles on an island in the Caribbean and is joined by Grantham, who agrees to stay for at least a month.

Editorial Reviews

“Gripping… a genuine page-turner. Grisham is a skillful craftsman.”—New York Times Book Review.

“Grisham has done it again!”—Chicago Tribune.

“A fast-paced thriller…it’s got the unmistakable Grisham style—conspiracy in high places, evil and innocent lawyers, assassins and a plot that will keep you reading into the small hours of the morning.”—Cincinnati Post

“Superb drama . . . page-turning escapism at its best.”—New York Law Journal

“A first-class thriller.”—Chattanooga Times Free Press

“There is a propulsiveness to [Grisham’s] narrative that keeps the pages turning briskly.”—People

About John Grisham

John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.

Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.

Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films:

• The Chamber,
• The Client,
• A Painted House,
• The Pelican Brief,
• The Rainmaker,
• The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.

II. Reviewer: The Pelican Brief

Here is a summary of the book Review “The Pelican Brief by John Grisham”. Helps you have the most overview of the book without searching through time. Please access “BookQuote.Net” regularly or save it to keep track and update the latest information.

1. CATHIE reviews for The Pelican Brief

I worked at a law firm where part of the movie was filmed. When Julia Roberts’s character goes into a law firm to ask for a particular lawyer only to find out that he no longer works there and she leaves, that is my old firm. It is an ornate marble lobby with a small stream of water in the middle of the lobby. She goes through a glass door and can either go up an escalator or up some stairs to the reception desk, which overlooks the lobby. The walls are all glass and she can see across the floor into the conference room where the receptionist goes. I had just interviewed there before I saw the movie and was having major deja vu while watching the movie.

2. PIYANGIE reviews for The Pelican Brief

This was a superb read. It is well plotted and developed. I really loved the character of Darby Shaw, a young, brave, brilliant minded law student. This was the first time I came across a female lead in a John Grisham Novel. The story is a quick page turner with heart racing action and suspense. I felt that I was with Darby Shaw every step of the way. I felt her pain, her anger, her frustration and shared her determination to bring on justice.

Being in the legal field myself, I always admired his ability to show the negative side of justice and the manipulative hand the politicians have over the justice system. To that end, the Pelican Brief is the best I have read. Grisham is a genius in creating such realistic characters in his books which make us readers so connected with them. His characters have always been felt so close to our hearts and Darby Shaw is no exception.

I really like this story and the characters. The reading was extremely pleasant, enjoyable and satisfying. Anyone who is interested in action, suspense with a legal surrounding must surely check this out.

3. ROB reviews for The Pelican Brief

A stand alone by John Grisham published in 1993

John Grisham doesn’t always get it right but on this occasion he most definitely did.

Darby Shaw, a young law student with a promising future ahead of her, was shocked, like the rest of the legal profession, to her core when she heard of the assassination of two Supreme Court judges.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the assassinations’. The local police, the FBI and the CIA are all involved in the hunt for the killer but are getting nowhere.

Darby decided to test herself by putting her considerable intellect to the task of finding an answer. What she comes up with is considered interesting but implausible. What Darby didn’t know was that she had just scratched a pimple that is now turning septic.

Darby soon realised that her brief was a lot more than a hypothetical when people she loved and cared about start dying.

What follows is a classic cat and mouse thriller. The bad guys want Darby dead and Darby, alone and friendless, is running for her life.

Not sure of whom she can trust but realising that she needs help and lots of it puts her faith in Gray Grantham, a reporter from the Washington Post, who is one of the few people who really believes that Darby is in grave danger.

Surprisingly, there’s lot of lawyers but not a courtroom in sight.

This is a by the seat of your pants thriller the tension just keeps mounting and mounting.

A great 4 star read.

4. BRIAN reviews for The Pelican Brief

I found great pleasure in this book. Grisham wove an outstanding, well researched plot. His characters move forward into the plot with three dimensions shaping with each word and act. I couldn’t put the book down. Grisham blesses me, and gives me what I need, the way S. King does, in the sense of a mini-vacation from reality. The power of this book, for me, came through the characters, and the outstanding dialogue.

If you haven’t seen the movie or read it: A Law student writes a report on the killings of two Supreme Court Justices, and when the report gets into the hands of reporters and gets passed along, she nearly dies in the explosion which kills her boyfriend, a law professor. She goes into hiding as killers seek her out, and she chooses who she can and can’t trust. The plot unfolds near the end, explaining the brief, and a rich antagonist with mob-like power, tied to government officials.

I plan to read more of Grisham, and more in this genre.

5. TEOLS2016 reviews for The Pelican Brief

This is obviously the era of Grisham’s finer works. The Pelican Brief certainly belongs in that category. Though I do wonder about a theme in the author’s books where there’s an inappropriate relationship going on (i.e. affairs, suggested affairs.) Here, it’s a law student who’s sleeping with her professor. Thankfully, she’s smart on her own, or I’d really hate this book.

So let’s delve into Darby Shaw. She’s awesome! For starters, I like her name, “Darby”. I’ve never heard it before but it works so well. Like I said, she’s smart…exceptionally smart in fact, and that’s always a huge plus with me. The fact that she soon finds herself in peril because of what she knows or might know and is consequently in fear for her life makes her human, and that again is a plus for me. Her dialogue is also witty and worth listening to. We need more female protagonists like her out there.

The reporter, Gray Grantham, was good too, though Darby wins. He was smart for sure, but he never showed himself as being as smart as her. I’m absolutely thankful that he wasn’t made out to be her hero or knight in shining armor. These two actually work together to expose the conspiracy at hand and I enjoyed every bit of the ride.

My main problem, apart from this audio book being abridged, is the villain. I’m completely fine with there being an unseen menace for the protagonists to deal with, but this villain, Victor Mattiece, appears once and only briefly. I’d have liked it better if he never appeared in the book and was only talked about as was the case most of the time. His brief appearance without any encores was just too out-of-place for me. Also, there was a hint of romance in the book, which I could have done without.

This book serves as an exception to my dislike of conspiracies where the questions become “how high does this go? and “who can you trust?” I see way too much of that in all of today’s media. But this book was done well enough that it barely crosses into the exceptions column, despite all the government-rooted evil depicted in its pages. Go out and read it. Enjoy.

6. GENA O reviews for The Pelican Brief

I’ve read the first three Grisham books and this one is my favorite. I know it’s a small sample of books, but the plot, characters, and story line overall was better than the first two. I’ve seen the movie several times and after reading the book I slightly lean towards enjoying the book more than the movie. Grisham does an excellent job of going into detail and the suspense was great even though I knew what was going to happen due to seeing the movie. I like how the ending between the two is different. I don’t have a lot of time to read books, so for me to finish this one in less than two weeks is a big accomplishment. Lol Out of the three I’ve read so far, (A Time to Kill, The Firm, and The Pelican Brief) this one is definitely the best for me and it kept me up late at night because I couldn’t put it down. I’m already a huge fan of Grisham and about a third of the way through The Chamber.

7. THE COLONEL reviews for The Pelican Brief

I have recently begun rereading John Grisham’s novels. I had read John Grisham’s first novel “A Time to Kill” right after it came out just over 20 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went on to read many of his novels. When I learned that he had just released a sequel to “A Time to Kill,” I decided to reread that novel before reading “Sycamore Row.” After “Sycamore Row,” I was once more thoroughly hooked on his novels and decided to reread more of his early books.

I found “The Pelican Brief” to be totally engaging and a real page-turner. I have only a few minor criticisms. It was never clear to me why Grisham included the fire-bombing of the gay movie theaters after the assassinations of the two justices. I did not feel it added anything to the story. The president and his chief of staff were a bit overly caricatured. Although Grisham did tie up loose ends near the conclusion of the novel, I found the explanation of the killing of the assassin Khamel by a Brit under a CIA contract to strain credulity. Even so, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in legal thrillers.

8. DAVID LUCERO reviews for The Pelican Brief

I read this book shortly after watching the movie and was not disappointed. In fact, the film follows the book closely.

A university student writes a story on the possibility of a connection between an oil tycoon and the White House in relations to the deaths of two supreme court justices. Although her brief is for a school subject, it hits close to home and the young student soon finds herself running for her life as assassins aim to gun her down and silence her brief.

This is fast-paced and suspenseful. A definite page-turner and one of Grisham’s best!

9. TOM BARNES reviews for The Pelican Brief

Washington wakes up to the gruesome news that two members of the Supreme Court have been murdered overnight. The shocking part was in their diversity. The old, should have retired years ago, Democrat Justice Rosenberg and the younger Republican Justice Jensen. The fact that they were almost always on opposite sides of any issue left law enforcement with no clear political motive. The only clues left behind seemed to be ones of the killer’s choosing. A nylon cord used to garrote Jensen as he sat in a movie house watching a porno film. The Rosenberg affair was messy – three people dead, three 22-caliber bullets to the head of each victim Rosenberg, a guard and an aid.

Down in bayou country Tulane University law professor Thomas Callahan on hearing the news got roaring drunk to ease the pain. Rosenberg was one of his idols and he couldn’t believe the end had come.

While the whole country pondered the reason behind the killings Darby Shaw, a bright law student and bed partner of professor Callahan turns sleuth. Ms. Shaw pores over the current Supreme Court docket and eventually comes up with a promising case. And for the next four days she shuffles through pages of affidavits detailing lies and abuses by lawyers and their clients.

In the end Darby Shaw writes an eight-page draft of what will later be called the Pelican Brief. Shaw is only half convinced that she is on to something, however, in spite of her skepticism she turns the pages over to Callahan.

Callahan attends the Rosenberg funeral in Washington and passes the brief along to a colleague. And once copies of those pages get into the wrong hands Darby Shaw becomes the hunted.

John Grisham takes us through a fast paced cat and mouse investigation, and in the end solves the puzzle to everyone’s satisfaction.

10. NENETTE reviews for The Pelican Brief

Such an exciting read. I’ve never watched the movie, but now I must see it.

The story is a testament to the adage “small but incredible”. The package may be small, but it could be a bomb inside. Who’d have thought that a brief written by one gorgeous law student would be the downfall of many powerful men?

Grisham did a good job on playing out the whole story. Nothing was missed and cut; I didn’t have unanswered questions. This is one of his best.

III. The Pelican Brief Quotes

The best book quotes from The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

“What kind of name is Siler-Spence? I mean, what’s wrong with these women who use hyphens? What if her name was Skowinski and she married a guy named Levondowski? Would her little liberated soul insist she go through life as F.Gwendolin Skowinski- Levondowski?”

“He was neutral on prayer, skeptical of free speech, sympathetic to tax protestors, indifferent to Indians, afraid of blacks, tough on pornographers, soft on criminals, and fairly consistent in his protection of the environment”

“Government over business, the individual over government, the environment over everything.”

Excerpted from The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

Chapter 1 – The Pelican Brief

HE SEEMED INCAPABLE of creating such chaos, but much of what he saw below could be blamed on him. And that was fine. He was ninety-one, paralyzed, strapped in a wheelchair and hooked to oxygen. His second stroke seven years ago had almost finished him off, but Abraham Rosenberg was still alive and even with tubes in his nose his legal stick was bigger than the other eight. He was the only legend remaining on the Court, and the fact that he was still breathing irritated most of the mob below.

He sat in a small wheelchair in an office on the main floor of the Supreme Court Building. His feet touched the edge of the window, and he strained forward as the noise increased. He hated cops, but the sight of them standing in thick, neat lines was somewhat comforting. They stood straight and held ground as the mob of at least fifty thousand screamed for blood.

“Biggest crowd ever!” Rosenberg yelled at the window. He was almost deaf. Jason Kline, his senior law clerk, stood behind him. It was the first Monday in October, the opening day of the new term, and this had become a traditional celebration of the First Amendment. A glorious celebration. Rosenberg was thrilled. To him, freedom of speech meant freedom to riot.

“Are the Indians out there?” he asked loudly.

Jason Kline leaned closer to his right ear. “Yes!”

“With war paint?”

“Yes! In full battle dress.”

“Are they dancing?”

“Yes!”

The Indians, the blacks, whites, browns, women, gays, tree lovers, Christians, abortion activists, Aryans, Nazis, atheists, hunters, animal lovers, white supremacists, black supremacists, tax protestors, loggers, farmers–it was a massive sea of protest. And the riot police gripped their black sticks.

“The Indians should love me!”

“I’m sure they do.” Kline nodded and smiled at the frail little man with clenched fists. His ideology was simple; government over business, the individual over government, the environment over everything. And the Indians, give them whatever they want.

The heckling, praying, singing, chanting, and screaming grew louder, and the riot police inched closer together. The crowd was larger and rowdier than in recent years. Things were more tense. Violence had become common. Abortion clinics had been bombed. Doctors had been attacked and beaten. One was killed in Pensacola, gagged and bound into the fetal position and burned with acid. Street fights were weekly events. Churches and priests had been abused by militant gays. White supremacists operated from a dozen known, shadowy, paramilitary organizations, and had become bolder in their attacks on blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Hatred was now America’s favorite pastime.

And the Court, of course, was an easy target. Threats, serious ones, against the justices had increased tenfold since 1990. The Supreme Court police had tripled in size. At least two FBI agents were assigned to guard each justice, and another fifty were kept busy investigating threats.

“They hate me, don’t they?” he said loudly, staring out the window.

“Yes, some of them do,” Kline answered with amusement.

Rosenberg liked to hear that. He smiled and inhaled deeply. Eighty percent of the death threats were aimed at him.

“See any of those signs?” he asked. He was nearly blind.

“Quite a few.”

“What do they say?”

“The usual. Death to Rosenberg. Retire Rosenberg. Cut Off the Oxygen.”

“They’ve been waving those same damned signs for years. Why don’t they get some new ones?”

The clerk did not answer. Abe should’ve retired years ago, but they would carry him out one day on a stretcher. His three law clerks did most of the research, but Rosenberg insisted on writing his own opinions. He did so with a heavy felt-tip marker and his words were scrawled across a white legal pad, much like a first-grader learning to write. Slow work, but with a lifetime appointment, who cared about time? The clerks proofed his opinions, and rarely found mistakes.

Rosenberg chuckled. “We oughta feed Runyan to the Indians.” The Chief Justice was John Runyan, a tough conservative appointed by a Republican and hated by the Indians and most other minorities. Seven of the nine had been appointed by Republican Presidents. For fifteen years Rosenberg had been waiting for a Democrat in the White House. He wanted to quit, needed to quit, but he could not stomach the idea of a right-wing Runyan type taking his beloved seat.

He could wait. He could sit here in his wheelchair and breathe oxygen and protect the Indians, the blacks, the women, the poor, the handicapped, and the environment until he was a hundred and five. And not a single person in the world could do a damned thing about it, unless they killed him. And that wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.

The great man’s head nodded, then wobbled and rested on his shoulder. He was asleep again. Kline quietly stepped away, and returned to his research in the library. He would return in half an hour to check the oxygen and give Abe his pills.

——–

THE OFFICE of the Chief Justice is on the main floor, and is larger and more ornate than the other eight. The outer office is used for small receptions and formal gatherings, and the inner office is where the Chief works.

The door to the inner office was closed, and the room was filled with the Chief, his three law clerks, the captain of the Supreme Court police, three FBI agents, and K. O. Lewis, deputy director, FBI. The mood was serious, and a serious effort was under way to ignore the noise from the streets below. It was difficult. The Chief and Lewis discussed the latest series of death threats, and everyone else just listened. The clerks took notes.

In the past sixty days, the Bureau had logged over two hundred threats, a new record. There was the usual assortment of “Bomb the Court!” threats, but many came with specifics–like names, cases, and issues.

Runyan made no effort to hide his anxiety. Working from a confidential FBI summary, he read the names of individuals and groups suspected of threats. The Klan, the Aryans, the Nazis, the Palestinians, the black separatists, the pro-lifers, the homophobics. Even the IRA. Everyone, it seemed, but the Rotarians and the Boy Scouts. A Middle East group backed by the Iranians had threatened blood on American soil in retaliation for the deaths of two justice ministers in Tehran. There was absolutely no evidence the murders were linked to the U.S. A new domestic terrorist unit of recent fame known as the Underground Army had killed a federal trial judge in Texas with a car bomb. No arrests had been made, but the UA claimed responsibility. It was also the prime suspect in a dozen bombings of ACLU offices, but its work was very clean.

“What about these Puerto Rican terrorists?” Runyan asked without looking up.

“Lightweights. We’re not worried,” K. O. Lewis answered casually. “They’ve been threatening for twenty years.”

“Well, maybe it’s time they did something. The climate is right, don’t you think?”

“Forget the Puerto Ricans, Chief.” Runyan liked to be called Chief. Not Chief Justice, nor Mr. Chief Justice. Just Chief. “They’re just threatening because everyone else is.”

“Very funny,” the Chief said without smiling. “Very funny. I’d hate for some group to be left out.” Runyan threw the summary on his desk and rubbed his temples. “Let’s talk about security.” He closed his eyes.

K. O. Lewis laid his copy of the summary on the Chief’s desk. “Well, the Director thinks we should place four agents with each Justice, at least for the next ninety days. We’ll use limousines with escorts to and from work, and the Supreme Court police will provide backup and secure this building.”

“What about travel?”

“It’s not a good idea, at least for now. The Director thinks the justices should remain in the D.C. area until the end of the year.”

“Are you crazy? Is he crazy? If I asked my brethren to follow that request they would all leave town tonight and travel for the next month. That’s absurd.” Runyan frowned at his law clerks, who shook their heads in disgust. Truly absurd.

Lewis was unmoved. This was expected. “As you wish. Just a suggestion.”

“A foolish suggestion.”

“The Director did not expect your cooperation on that one. He would, however, expect to be notified in advance of all travel plans so that we can arrange security.”

“You mean, you plan to escort each Justice each time he leaves the city?”

“Yes, Chief. That’s our plan.”

“Won’t work. These people are not accustomed to being baby-sat.”

“Yes sir. And they’re not accustomed to being stalked either. We’re just trying to protect you and your honorable brethren, sir. Of course, no one says we have to do anything. I think, sir, that you called us. We can leave, if you wish.”

Runyan rocked forward in his chair and attacked a paper clip, prying the curves out of it and trying to make it perfectly straight. “What about around here?”

Lewis sighed and almost smiled. “We’re not worried about this building, Chief. It’s an easy place to secure. We don’t expect trouble here.”

“Then where?”

Lewis nodded at a window. The noise was louder. “Out there somewhere. The streets are full of idiots and maniacs and zealots.”

“And they all hate us.”

“Evidently. Listen, Chief, we’re very concerned about Justice Rosenberg. He still refuses to allow our men inside his home; makes them sit in a car in the street all night. He will allow his favorite Supreme Court officer–what’s his name? Ferguson–to sit by the back door, outside, but only from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M. No one gets in the house but Justice Rosenberg and his male nurse. The place is not secure.”

——–

Runyan picked his fingernails with the paper clip and smiled slightly to himself. Rosenberg’s death, by any means or method, would be a relief. No, it would be a glorious occasion. The Chief would have to wear black and give a eulogy, but behind locked doors he would chuckle with his law clerks. Runyan liked this thought.

“What do you suggest?” he asked.

“Can you talk to him?”

“I’ve tried. I’ve explained to him that he is probably the most hated man in America, that millions of people curse him every day, that most folks would like to see him dead, that he receives four times the hate mail as the rest of us combined, and that he would be a perfect and easy target for assassination.”

Lewis waited. “And?”

“Told me to kiss his ass, then fell asleep.”

The law clerks giggled properly, then the FBI agents realized humor was permitted and joined in for a quick laugh.

“So what do we do?” asked Lewis, unamused.

“You protect him as best you can, put it in writing, and don’t worry about it. He fears nothing, including death, and if he’s not sweating it, why should you?”

“The Director is sweating, so I’m sweating, Chief. It’s very simple. If one of you guys gets hurt, the Bureau looks bad.”

The Chief rocked quickly in his chair. The racket from outside was unnerving. This meeting had dragged on long enough. “Forget Rosenberg. Maybe he’ll die in his sleep. I’m more concerned over Jensen.”

“Jensen’s a problem,” Lewis said, flipping pages.

“I know he’s a problem,” Runyan said slowly. “He’s an embarrassment. Now he thinks he’s a liberal. Votes like Rosenberg half the time. Next month, he’ll be a white supremacist and support segregated schools. Then he’ll fall in love with the Indians and want to give them Montana. It’s like having a retarded child.”

“He’s being treated for depression, you know.”

“I know, I know. He tells me about it. I’m his father figure. What drug?”

“Prozac.”

The Chief dug under his fingernails. “What about that aerobics instructor he was seeing? She still around?”

“Not really, Chief. I don’t think he cares for women.” Lewis was smug. He knew more. He glanced at one of his agents and confirmed this juicy little tidbit.

Runyan ignored it, didn’t want to hear it. “Is he cooperating?”

“Of course not. In many ways he’s worse than Rosenberg. He allows us to escort him to his apartment building, then makes us sit in the parking lot all night. He’s seven floors up, remember. We can’t even sit in the lobby. Might upset his neighbors, he says. So we sit in the car. There are ten ways in and out of the building, and it’s impossible to protect him. He likes to play hide-and-seek with us. He sneaks around all the time, so we never know if he’s in the building or not. At least with Rosenberg we know where he is all night. Jensen’s impossible.”

“Great. If you can’t follow him, how could an assassin?”

Lewis hadn’t thought of this. He missed the humor. “The Director is very concerned with Justice Jensen’s safety.”

“He doesn’t receive that many threats.”

“Number six on the list, just a few less than you, your honor.”

“Oh. So I’m in fifth place.”

“Yes. Just behind Justice Manning. He’s cooperating, by the way. Fully.”

“He’s afraid of his shadow,” the Chief said, then hesitated. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

Lewis ignored it. “In fact, the cooperation has been reasonably good, except for Rosenberg and Jensen. Justice Stone bitches a lot, but he listens to us.”

“He bitches at everyone, so don’t take it personally. Where do you suppose Jensen sneaks off to?”

Lewis glanced at one of his agents. “We have no idea.”

A large section of the mob suddenly came together in one unrestrained chorus, and everyone on the streets seemed to join in. The Chief could not ignore it. The windows vibrated. He stood and called an end to this meeting.

——–

JUSTICE GLENN JENSEN’S OFFICE was on the second floor, away from the streets and the noise. It was a spacious room, yet the smallest of the nine. Jensen was the youngest of the nine, and he was lucky to have an office. When nominated six years earlier at the age of forty-two, he was thought to be a strict constructionist with deep conservative beliefs, much like the man who nominated him. His Senate confirmation had been a slugfest. Before the Judiciary Committee, Jensen performed poorly. On sensitive issues he straddled the fence, and got kicked from both sides. The Republicans were embarrassed. The Democrats smelled blood. The President twisted arms until they broke, and Jensen was confirmed by one very reluctant vote.

But he made it, for life. In his six years, he had pleased no one. Hurt deeply by his confirmation hearings, he vowed to find compassion and rule with it. This had angered Republicans. They felt betrayed, especially when he discovered a latent passion for the rights of criminals. With scarce ideological strain, he quickly left the right, moved to the center, then to the left. Then, with legal scholars scratching their little goatees, Jensen would bolt back to the right and join Justice Sloan in one of his obnoxious antiwomen dissents. Jensen was not fond of women. He was neutral on prayer, skeptical of free speech, sympathetic to tax protestors, indifferent to Indians, afraid of blacks, tough on pornographers, soft on criminals, and fairly consistent in his protection of the environment. And, to the further dismay of the Republicans who shed blood to get him confirmed, Jensen had shown a troubling sympathy for the rights of homosexuals.

At his request, a nasty case called Dumond had been assigned to him. Ronald Dumond had lived with his male lover for eight years. They were a happy couple, totally devoted to each other, and quite content to share life’s experiences. They wanted to marry, but Ohio laws prohibited such a union. Then the lover caught AIDS, and died a horrible death. Ronald knew exactly how to bury him, but then the lover’s family intervened and excluded Ronald from the funeral and burial. Distraught, Ronald sued the family, claiming emotional and psychological damage. The case had bounced around the lower courts for six years, and now had suddenly found itself sitting on Jensen’s desk.

At issue was the rights of “spouses” of gays. Dumond had become a battle cry for gay activists. The mere mention of Dumond had caused street fights.

And Jensen had the case. The door to his smaller office was closed. Jensen and his three clerks sat around the conference table. They had spent two hours on Dumond, and gone nowhere. They were tired of arguing. One clerk, a liberal from Cornell, wanted a broad pronouncement granting sweeping rights to gay partners. Jensen wanted this too, but was not ready to admit it. The other two clerks were skeptical. They knew, as did Jensen, that a majority of five would be impossible.

Talk turned to other matters.

“The Chief’s ticked off at you, Glenn,” said the clerk from Duke. They called him by his first name in chambers. “Justice” was such an awkward title.

Glenn rubbed his eyes. “What else is new?”

“One of his clerks wanted me to know that the Chief and the FBI are worried about your safety. Says you’re not cooperating, and the Chief’s rather disturbed. He wanted me to pass it along.” Everything was passed along through the clerks’ network. Everything.

“He’s supposed to be worried. That’s his job.”

“He wants to assign two more Fibbies as bodyguards, and they want access to your apartment. And the FBI wants to drive you to and from work. And they want to restrict your travel.”

“I’ve already heard this.”

“Yeah, we know. But the Chief’s clerk said the Chief wants us to prevail upon you to cooperate with the FBI so that they can save your life.”

“I see.”

“And so we’re just prevailing upon you.”

“Thanks. Go back to the network and tell the Chief’s clerk that you not only prevailed upon me but you raised all sorts of hell with me and that I appreciated all of your prevailing and hell-raising, but it went in one ear and out the other. Tell them Glenn considers himself a big boy.”

“Sure, Glenn. You’re not afraid, are you?”

“Not in the least.”

….

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