Supreme Justice

Chapter Sixty-five

Someone knocked on Brad’s office door. When he looked up, Ginny was standing in the doorway.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” he said. “Why aren’t you in the salt mine?”

Ginny sat down. Justice Moss had not hired another clerk yet, so Brad had the office to himself.

“Remember you told me that you didn’t think I’d get in trouble at the firm because I took pictures of the TA Enterprises file?” Ginny asked.

“Sure. Masterson’s dead, and that associate…”

“Greg McKenzie.”

“Right, McKenzie. He’s not going to open his mouth. If he wants to make partner, McKenzie will want everyone at Rankin Lusk to forget how tight he was with Masterson, so he’s not going to talk about the TA Enterprises file. I think you can forget about the CIA, hashish, and ninja assassins and go back to worrying about your billable hours.”

Ginny sighed. “I sort of miss the ninjas. They’re a lot nicer to deal with than the partners.”

She was quiet for a moment, and Brad could see that something was bothering her.

“I’m thinking of leaving Rankin Lusk,” Ginny said.

“What brought this on?”

“When you said that McKenzie would try to distance himself from Dennis Masterson and keep his mouth shut about my part in exposing the TA Enterprises file, you made a fatal error in your analysis. You assumed that Rankin Lusk is a caring, moral entity, when in fact it is a collection of sociopaths who are interested in one thing and one thing only, the bottom line. Dennis Masterson was the firm’s biggest rainmaker, and his death will cut into profits. Anyone who makes any attempt to expose a rainmaker is a villain in the eyes of the firm, even if it is clear that the rainmaker is a murdering swine. Anyway, I am being treated like a leper by almost everyone, and any support I’ve received has been whispered by people who look around nervously when they talk to me.”

Brad looked the woman he loved in the eye. “Do you want to be associated with the type of people you’ve just described, regardless of the money?”

Ginny smiled ruefully. “No. I’ve pretty much decided to quit, but we’re going to be hit pretty hard financially if I leave.”

“We will be poor but honest, like characters in a Dickens novel.”

“Oliver Twist didn’t have student loans.”

Brad smiled. “We’ll be OK, kiddo. Between Justice Moss and Justice Kineer, we have enough heavyweights on our side to get work. And this time, look for something you really want to do. Don’t just think about the money. This is your second job at a huge law firm, and they’ve both left you with a sour taste in your mouth.”

“Your term on the Court is more than halfway through. Have you given any thought to what you’d like to do?”

“I guess I do have to start thinking about next year. The government doesn’t pay that well, but the work is exciting. I’m thinking the Justice Department or a job in the Congress.”

Ginny sighed. “Now that I’ve decided to leave Rankin Lusk behind, I feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. And you know what else?”

“No, what?”

“I do think we’ll be OK.”