by Peter Murphy
I looked at Harry. ‘If they laid a hand on you…’
‘No, they didn’t lay a hand on me. I explained the rules of discovery, and offered them a receipt, just like you said. That didn’t seem to impress them. They started shouting and screaming about the theft of Treasury documents, and did I realise that was a felony, and did I know how long I would get for that, and how they would go the bar ethics committee and have me disbarred, and God only knows what else. And all the time, Roberto was standing there, smirking.’
‘How did it end?’ I asked.
‘Eventually, I called their bluff. I asked them whether I was under arrest. They said no. So I wrote out a receipt for the documents and left…’ Her voice trailed away and there were tears in her eyes. ‘I was shaking like a leaf when I walked past them. They had me so scared, Dave, I actually had visions of them taking me and making me disappear. I know that’s stupid, but…’
‘It’s not stupid at all,’ I replied. I turned to Harry. ‘We have to do something about these people.’
He nodded. ‘I’m sorry, Dave. I feel I owe you an apology. You told me what was going on, and I was too preoccupied at the Archives to listen.’
I held up a hand. ‘No apology needed. I almost didn’t believe it myself until today. The whole thing is so bizarre.’
‘Well, I’ve arranged to see the Attorney with Maggie tomorrow morning. I’m calling off the search for tomorrow, to give him time to contact the Secretary of the Treasury and lay down the law before we go back. And, Ellen, I’ll transfer you to the National Archives search and send one of the criminal guys over to Treasury.’
Ellen sat up. ‘Thank you, Harry, but that’s not necessary. I’m not going to let these assholes stop me doing my job.’
‘Harry,’ I said, ‘I understand why you want to call off the search for a day, but what worries me is that you’re giving them time to make their own search of that room, and if there are any more documents there in the same series, I wouldn’t give much for their chances.’
‘I’m pretty sure the Attorney will send a clear message to the Secretary about keeping Treasury’s hands off our search,’ he replied. ‘But if you’re worried about it, I’ll ask Criminal Division to send an FBI agent over there to keep an eye on things.’
‘That would be good. Actually, what about sending an agent in right now, to keep a lookout overnight?’
‘Consider it done. And now, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind telling me what in God’s name you’ve done with the documents?’
I smiled. ‘They’re safe. I took them to Judge Morrow and deposited them with the court for safekeeping.’ I stood, retrieved my briefcase and emptied it on to my table. ‘The judge has read the documents, as has Maisie, and she made some copies. We should make more copies from these before we leave tonight.’
Harry stopped pacing, picked up the copies and read them, shaking his head. Ellen padded over to join him at the table.
‘Wow,’ Harry said. ‘We have a whole new ballgame, don’t we?’
I nodded. ‘We sure do, and we can’t rule out finding more documents in the same series.’
‘So what’s the plan now?’
‘I’m going to get a copy to Kiah first thing tomorrow morning, and then we’ll carry on searching.’
Harry was silent, nodding, for some time.
‘Good move,’ he said eventually, ‘taking them to the court. Good thinking.’
56
They made their entrance just as Ellen was bringing the new copies from the copy room. We were all ready to go home for some much needed food and rest. But we had left it a few minutes too late and there they were, wearing their stereotypical ill-fitting grey suits, ties tied in tight untidy knots, hanging down slightly, and short-cropped hair. They held up badges, far too quickly to allow us to see what they were. Ellen seemed to hold her breath. She walked very quickly over to the sofa, and I stepped in front of her.
‘Agents Johnson and Farmer, Treasury Internal Investigations Unit,’ Johnson, the older of the two announced. ‘Which of you is Mr Welsh?’
‘I’m Harry Welsh.’
‘Mr Welsh, I’m sure you know why we’re here.’
‘Not being a mind-reader,’ Harry replied, ‘I have no idea why you’re here. But I’m sure you’ll enlighten us.’
I looked at him in fascination. Something had suddenly changed. Harry was… different. The pacing had stopped the moment they walked in, and he was standing motionless with his arms at his sides. He had an expression on his face I’d never seen on him before – one of anger and determination – and his voice was ice-cold.
‘We’re here because two of your attorneys removed some documents from the Treasury building today without authorisation. We’re here to retrieve the documents and return them to proper custody.’
Harry looked at Johnson for several seconds.
‘Could I see those badges again?’
Reluctantly the two men produced them and held them up in front of Harry’s face.
‘Treasury Internal Investigations Unit,’ Harry said. ‘I’m not familiar with that. Are you guys law enforcement officers?’
They hesitated.
‘We are authorised to make investigations on behalf of the Treasury,’ Johnson replied.
‘I’ll take that as a “no”,’ Harry said.
‘We are authorised to make investigations.’
‘Internal investigations,’ Harry pointed out. ‘You’re a bit far from home, aren’t you? A bit too far along the street? Treasury is a few blocks back the way you came.’
‘We’re here to recover Treasury documents,’ Johnson insisted, ‘documents that were removed from the Treasury building. That is an internal matter.’
‘The documents in question were removed after they were found during an authorised search,’ Harry replied, ‘and your people were given a receipt for them. My staff followed the proper procedure.’
‘That’s not the point, sir,’ Farmer interjected. ‘Those documents are in the custody of the Treasury, and they need to stay in the custody of the Treasury.’
‘Actually, Agent Farmer,’ Harry replied, ‘they’re not ”Treasury documents”. In fact, there’s no such thing as a “Treasury document”. The Treasury is a department of the United States government, and any documents in its custody are government documents.’
‘Be that as it may, Mr Welsh,’ Johnson said. ‘Our instructions are to recover the documents, and I would appreciate it if you would hand them over to us now.’
Harry took a deep breath.
‘I’m going to explain this to you once,’ he replied, ‘and once only. The United States is a defendant in litigation brought by a number of individuals in the United States Claims Court. The Justice Department represents the United States in that litigation; we are the government’s lawyers. We were ordered by the court to engage in discovery, which in this case means searching government records to find certain documents. If we find any relevant documents, we are obliged to retain them pending the trial of the action, and to provide the court and the plaintiffs with copies. That’s exactly what my attorneys did, and they acted exactly as they should have.’
‘But –’
‘Treasury is entitled to a receipt for the documents, which Miss Matthews provided to your people, but that’s all you’re entitled to. However, just to show there are no hard feelings, I will throw in a copy of the documents. Ellen…’
Ellen stretched out an arm and gave Harry a copy of each document, which he passed on to Johnson.
‘But that’s it,’ Harry concluded. ‘The original documents stay in the custody of Justice until the litigation is concluded. If there’s anything I’ve said that you haven’t understood, I suggest you speak to one of the lawyers in your department. They’ll explain it all you.’
‘So, you’re refus
ing to hand over the originals?’ Johnson asked.
‘Exactly,’ Harry replied with the ghost of a smile. ‘And since I have you here, let me make one or two other things clear to you. I’m meeting with the Attorney General tomorrow morning, and he will be talking with your Secretary to ensure that our search of the Treasury building continues without further interference. I’m sure the message will be passed down to you and your colleagues later tomorrow. But just in case, be aware of this. I’m going to have FBI agents in the building to protect my attorneys and paralegals from now on, and if there is any further harassment of them, those responsible will be arrested and charged with obstruction of justice. Now, my staff and I have had a long day and we’re ready to go home, so I’ll thank you to leave.’
Johnson was shaking his head.
‘I want to know where the documents are. I think we’ll just take a look around before we go.’
He advanced in the direction of my briefcase. In a flash, Harry was standing in front of him, blocking his path.
‘If you are law enforcement officers, and if you have a warrant to search these offices,’ he replied, ‘show me the warrant. Otherwise, either you get the hell out of my building now, or I’ll call my Criminal Division and have them send over a couple of real agents to show you out.’
They left.
Ellen and I looked at Harry in admiration.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘No, nothing,’ I said. ‘Just that you were great.’
‘You made my day,’ Ellen added.
‘What?’ Harry asked. ‘You don’t think I can be tough when I need to be?’
‘We never doubted it,’ I replied.
‘Not once,’ Ellen added.
57
By the time I got in to the office the following morning it was far later than I had planned. When I arrived home the previous evening, I’d never been so desperate to crawl into bed, but I couldn’t do that until I’d had supper with Maria and the children, who naturally wanted to know why I was so late home, and were enthralled by the story I had to tell. I was still also pretty wired, and it was after midnight when I finally crashed. The office, it seemed, was even more enthralled.
There was a real buzz of excitement in the air. Rumours had spread – via security, in all likelihood, as they were the source of most of the gossip running around the building – about the events of the night before. Everyone was talking about Harry, Ellen and myself as if we were a reincarnation of the Three Musketeers, who had valiantly crossed swords with the Treasury villains, and delivered Justice from a terrible fate against all the odds. I’d also received some sarcastic but good-natured emails from colleagues, some asking me whether I would now be applying to join the Criminal Division, or the CIA, or better still, opening my own private detective agency; one informing me that my new nickname in the office was to be Sam Spade.
The laughter the emails brought me was a real tonic. In fact, the whole morning felt good after the trauma of the previous day, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I played my transient fame as a musketeer for all it was worth. I was pleased to see that Ellen was also basking in the sunshine. As we were leaving the office the previous evening, I’d insisted on putting her in a cab to go home, over her half-hearted protests – her bicycle was her preferred mode of transport and she rode almost every day, come rain or shine. But I wouldn’t have been happy with her on the roads; she was exhausted. She didn’t fight me too hard, and now she looked as if a good night’s rest had done her a power of good. She was back on top and acting like her usual self again.
The first item on my agenda was to talk to Kiah, but just as I was about to place the call, my phone rang.
‘Dave,’ Maisie said after wishing me a good morning, ‘Judge Morrow asked me to bring you up to date on something that happened here at the courthouse late last night.’
I suddenly felt a shiver going up my spine.
‘Late last night?’ I asked.
‘Yes. It all worked out OK, but it was somewhat disturbing. Our night security guard reported that two men in suits, who identified themselves as federal agents, tried to gain access to the building. They produced badges and suchlike, and were acting like they were entitled to be admitted.’
‘What did they say exactly?’ I asked.
‘They told the guard they were here to collect some papers that had been delivered to the court by mistake earlier in the day. Fortunately, the guard kept his head and did the right thing. He called our night emergency number for back-up and told the so-called agents what he was doing, at which point they left.’
‘And they didn’t try to force their way in?’
‘No, I guess they knew better than that. Dave, Judge Morrow said to ask you whether this might have something to do with the papers you brought us yesterday. No one at the court knows about that except us, but the Chief Judge has been asking whether anyone can explain the incident. Is there any reason why we can’t tell him?’
‘No,’ I replied, ‘no reason at all. Apparently, it’s not exactly a secret any more. And yes, I would say that this incident is definitely related to the documents I brought yesterday. We had something similar happen at our offices.’
‘I’ll tell him,’ Maisie said. She sounded relieved. ‘The judge would like to get a federal marshal assigned to look after things in his chambers at night until this case ends and the documents are gone, and he thinks that will be a lot easier with the Chief’s support.’
‘If it helps,’ I replied, ‘tell him I think that would be a very good idea.’
I hung up feeling disturbed, and my first thought was to tell Harry, until I realised that he would still be in his meeting with the Attorney General. Instead, I called Kiah as planned. When she answered the phone, Arlene was abrupt with me, but that wasn’t exactly unusual, so I thought nothing of it, and had no inkling that anything was wrong until she put me on to Kiah.
‘What do you want, Dave?’ she asked when I greeted her. ‘Do you want me to describe the mess to you?’ She sounded incredibly angry.
‘Kiah, what’s up?’ I asked. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Or perhaps you want to come and see for yourself?’
She hung up. I left immediately, drove as fast as I dared, and was at her office just over half an hour later. The awfulness of the scene hit me immediately. Arlene and Samantha van Eyck were sitting together at Arlene’s desk looking gutted. Kiah was standing just outside her office, leaning on the doorframe. The door was open. I saw a man walking slowly around inside, picking his way carefully through piles of debris. The place had been ransacked. Files, papers, books, pens, scissors, staplers, and every other piece of office equipment you could think of, were lying in heaps on the floor. They were heavily stained with large quantities of what looked like black ink. Every piece of furniture had been overturned and destroyed. The computers and printer had been smashed to pieces, perhaps with a large hammer, certainly a very heavy blunt object. The walls had been stained with huge blotches of the same ink, or whatever it was, that had been poured on top of the piles of debris. Someone had deliberately trashed the office, or someone had been looking for something. As I continued to stare, I began to put two and two together, and it was getting depressingly close to four. My heart sank. Kiah turned towards me. Her face was ashen. She was shaking.
‘Kiah, I’m so sorry…’ I began. I didn’t know what else to say.
‘Y’all damn well should be,’ Arlene answered. ‘Y’all should be ashamed. It was y’all’s people did this.’
‘They’re not my people,’ I replied quietly.
Kiah turned towards me, walked the short distance and touched my hand.
‘No, they’re not,’ she said. ‘I know that. ‘But do you know whose people they are?’
I looked down to the floor and breathed out heavily.
‘Are you sure it c
ouldn’t have been kids, just messing around, causing as much damage as they could?’
I was snatching at straws, of course. She took a step towards the office door.
‘Powalski,’ she called out. ‘Got a minute?’
A tall man dressed in a navy blue suit and light blue tie made his way carefully to the door. I put him at late thirties to mid-forties, difficult to say, good-looking in a rugged kind of way, but with a reserved air about him, as if he felt no need to speak without being asked – or perhaps his mind was still on whatever he had been doing in the office.
‘I don’t think you guys have met,’ Kiah said. ‘Our investigator, Powalski. And this is Dave Petrosian, who’s handling the case at Justice.’
We shook hands briefly.
‘Powalsaki, please tell Dave why this isn’t a bunch of kids messing around,’ Kiah said.
‘This building is alarmed at night,’ Powalski began. ‘There’s no guard, but the alarm goes right into the nearest police precinct and into a private security company. One or the other would be here in ten minutes or less, and all you have to do to set the alarm off is open any door or window. Whoever did this had a device that neutralised the alarm before it could even react. I don’t know how much you know about electronic code-breakers, Mr Petrosian, but the speed and precision of the device they had was top of the range. Typically, when you find this kind of equipment, it indicates government involvement. I know this because of some work I did for the government during an earlier time in my career. It’s conceivable that we could be dealing with a very well-funded organised crime syndicate, a drug cartel or the like, but Kiah’s never been involved with cases like that, whereas she’s very involved with a case against the government.’
He took three small items from the side pocket of his jacket.
