Commitments (30 page)

me, what happened that night. You didn't get beyond the bare facts."

"Those bare facts are the only ."facts" there are. The rest is conjecture.' ''m game for conjecture' For several minutes, the only sound was the patter of rain as it dripped from the tips of the pine needles and the squish of the wet leaves underfoot. She looked UP at Derek's face. His hair lay in damp spikes on his forehead. His features were tense, his eyes distant. ' didn't make sense/ he said out of the blue. ' months after the trial, I sat in my cell and went over and over what happened that night. I looked at things one way, then another. I looked from every angle, and only one thing was clear. The phone call was obviously a setup, because-Padilla had planned to kill me. He came from his car holding a loaded gun. If he'd been on the level, there'd have been no need for a gun. I wasn't any threat to him. I didn't know who he was.' ' he know that?' ' had to have known it. He gave me a phony name, and it was too dark that night for me to see a thing. So I asked myself why he wanted to kill me. I couldn't believe that it had anything to do with what happened between my father and him more than twenty-five years before. He was the one who did the Snitching, if anyone had wanted revenge, it would have been me. But I didn't want revenge. The thought never occurred to me. And it wasn't like I'd followed him around or threatened him. In all those years Id never made the slightest move toward him.' They reached the remains of a stone wall and sat down side by side. Sabrina had an arm wound through his, a hand in the pocket of his slacks. 304 ' first I thought it had to do with the eyewitness story I was doing. That was the most obvious thing. But I couldn't find the Padilla-link. And then there Were the other things.' ' other things?' Things related to the trial. They denied me bail. David had a hard time preparing the case. Witnesses appeared out of nowhere. I am sure, sure that Padilla and I were alone in the parking lot that night. But suddenly the prosecution produced two witnesses, two kids who were supposedly screwing in their car when we drove up.' ' must have checked them out.' ' he did, and he found that their records were clean as a whistle. We put a private investigator on the case, and he learned that the kids had been involved in an automobile accident that had maimed a traveling salesman, but the witness ' let it slip to our investigator that they'd been stoned at Page 110

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

the time of the -accident refused to testify.' ''t you force him to?' ''d only lie on the stand. Someone had gotten to him. it looked like the kids were given a clean slate in ,,.'@exchange for perjury, only we couldn't prove a thing. In fact, that was the story in a nutshell. We couldn't 4-prove a thing. We couldn't prove that the judge who denied me bail had been bought, or that the one who denied David's pretrial motions had been bought, or Ahat the one who presided at the trial and subtly favored the prosecution had been bought. We couldn't prove a thing. ' was when I began to. realize that we were dealing with someone very powerful, and there had . no one of that caliber even remotely involved in my eyewitness story. So I started looking at the rest of 305 the things I'd been working on at the time. I figured someone was threatened. Someone was threatened enough by what I was doing that he needed me out of the picture, and that someone had to have been powerful enough to carry it off without getting caught.? He fell silent, thinking, brooding. ', Derek? I Sabrina asked very softly. it was a minute before Derek answered, and then it wasn't in response to her question. He was moving chronologically, reliving each bit of frustration. ' had to dredge everything up in my mind because the studio had sealed all my files. A few people helped. A few others said they wanted to help, then suddenly lost interest. I went over every story - not only those I'd been working on at the time, but ones I'd done three months, six months, a year before. Lots of those stories had stiffed up flak, but it was the kind of flak that was good, that we wanted; and none of the people involved had the kind of power - or the balls, for that matter - to do much more than make noise. Then, though, there was the business about Lloyd Ballantine.' ' business?' Sabrina returned, in a faintly despairing tone. ' Ballantine was the kind of boring man that you figured had to have been leading a double life to keep from falling asleep on himself ... That's itiisn't it, Derek? He had a whole other side.' ' sudden excitement he saw on her face raised his spirits. ' was my theory/ he admitted. ' accident that killed him was too pat. There was no reason for it. He wasn't speeding. He wasn't drinking. He wasn't taking drugs or any kind of legitimate medication. Nor was he driving in his sleep. He got up in the middle of the night from the bed he shared with his wife, climbed into his car and drove over a cliff.' 306 - AAre you thinking it was murder?' '. The police were pretty thorough, given who he was. They found no evidence for that.' ' suicide. I saw the word mentioned ' passing in several of the articles I read, but it was always ruled out as a theory that lacked substance. Ballantine hadn't left a note. No one having to do with him would admit that he'd been depressed, and he hadn't sought psychi-help.'She hesitated.'Do you think it was suicide?' Stric ' do/

Derek said as he drew her up and headed back toward the house. K. Later, stretched on his side by the living-room fire, he went on. ' two years after Ballantine's death, received an anonymous letter. It suggested that if I wanted the story to beat all stories, I should look into tloyd Ballantine's life. Normally I didn't pay much heed to anonymous letters like that; people often _vrrote with suggestions for stories, and often they .@'involved personal vendettas that the police wouldn't A uch. But there was something different about this @4 . te

.-Att r. Maybe the sheer simplicity of it. It gave no -,.details, named no names but Ballantine's. Then again, .!Igallantine had been a Supreme Court justice, and I w that if I could find something startling in his life R li-or death - I would have the stor y to beat all stories.' Using his legs as a backrest, Sabrina draped an arm, F gver his hip. '

there any hints at all about who @ould have sent it?' It was postmarked New York and was handwritten, ..@,:'but the script looked as though it was purposely @Iistorted - you know, like a right-handed person writing with his left hand?' At Sabrina's nod of understand-'@ing, he went on.

"I showed it to a handwriting expett, .,but the only thing he was able to suggest was that it -had been written by a woman. Not much to go on. Page 111

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

I 307 really didn't have the time then to research Ballantine, an& I couldn't justify putting any of my people to work on something so vague. So I filed the letter for a rainy day., He stretched to reach the poker and give the burning logs a shove. ', about eight months after that, a second letter came. It was nearly identical to the first - same postmark, same handwriting, same message. Only, soon after I got it, I happened to be in a Washington bar with a well-known Washington lawyer. He'd had a little too much to drink and was making some pretty imprudent statements about a case he'd just finished trying, and just for the hell of it I tossed out Bauantine's name. I got an earful.' Sallantine did have a hidden lifev ' didn't get around to what he did when he was off the bench, but according to this lawyer, Ballantine wasn't as much of a Boy Scout as he wanted people to believe. AUegedly, he was well paid for casting the deciding vote in several critical rulings. This guy specifically referred to Ballantine's having committed suicide, and he went so far as to say that Ballantine left files detailing the corruption.' Vhy would he do thatv ' incriminate whoever else was involved., ' he could have gotten himself in lots of trouble if the files were found before his death., ' he made sure they wouldn't be found. Or maybe the risk was worth it. They were an insurance policy. A surefire shot at revenge. There are all sorts of possibilities about what was going on, including blackmail.' ' anyone ever seen the files? Derek shook his head. ' that I'd take a halfsloshed lawyer's word for gospel, but in light of the letters I'd received, I had something to consider.' 308 Sabrina breathed. ' what's most dible is that it never came out. Not one of the books I've read even suggested that he was PC @He may not have been. But from the point of view an investigative reporter, the thought was triguing.1 ".!Wouldn't something like that be the business of the ce Department?' '. I went to a friend there and asked. I figured e the Department had already investigated and nothing. But there had been no investigation. friend admitted - only by accident when I tripped up with questions - that there'd been some rs about Ballantine, but he claimed that's all they re.1 -,Had he heard about the existence of any files?' @'No.' ''t he, curious after you mentioned them?' ' you kidding? You have to understand some-about government employees, Sabrina. As a rule, don't go looking for trouble. Oh, there are excep-s. But when it comes to political corruption - or 0 *cial, in this case - they get real nervous. To point finger at a man - even if that man is as guilty as could mean the end of the pointer's career.' ' the career of an investigative reporterv Sabrina ed. gave a bitter half-laugh before returning to his ' went to see Noel Greer. My boss. Founder and airman of the board of the network.' ''ve heard of him.' @'Right. Well, I knew the man, and let me tell you, it no pleasure. We had trouble with each other from start. He didn't like me-and I didn't like him.' 309 sut he 1ired YOU-I '. The token rebel. I'd established a reputation for tackling touchy stories and asking hard questions while I was at it., His nostrils flared when he inhaled. ' is ultraconservative. But he's shrewd, and he's a master of appearances. He knew that his network had a reputation for leaning to the right in newscasts, and he wasn't about to change that. He liked it. He designed it. His team reported the news in a light that was consistent with his own ideology - which was what he wanted the American people to hear. But he knew that it was about time for an added shot of credibility, and the simplest way to get it was to hire someone like me. And I took the job. I took it knowmig exactly why I was hired, but I figured that a token rebel was better than no rebel at all.' After listening to himself, he snorted. ', who am I kidding? I took the job for me. I knew that I'd have better resources at my fingertips, better funding, better exposure. I told myself that it was the creative opportunity I wanted, but it was really Page 112

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

the position. I'd have more power and respect - not within the network, but outside it - and I wanted those.' The fire crackled softly. The shadows it made danced on the hearth, and were made macabre only by the thoughts of the two people watching. ' can understand why those two things would be important to you/ Sabrina said - and she could, given what held said about his childhood. Sut wasn't it also true that you would have more creative freedom in a position like that? Or did Greer set the limits? I ' wasn't too bad at first. He made it clear that he wanted all my plans approved by the network before a penny was spent, but that approval was usually forthcoming. I had more trouble - and increasingly so - 310 e stories themselves. I don't know if Greer I'd pick provocative subjects and then treat them like milquetoast, but we had some pretty heated ,,wguments over what should or should not survive the room.' ' worked directly with Greer?) ' officially, but when it became obvious that the under him did little without his say-so, I got V--k f wasting time, so I went straight to the top., 11, @Vc 0 W"

"You went to him on the Ballantine case? Though the comers of Derek's mouth turned down, ..R4t was clear that his answer was yes. ' I had were o letters and the hearsay of a sound D.C. lawyer, but "-@;Jwanted to put a researcher on it just to see what he'd nd. i ' did Greer say?' ' hit the roof. He was furious that Id even thought question the integrity of a justice of the Supreme '' ourt of the United States of America. His reaction --sn't surprising given his political stance, but what s surprising was the strength of it. In the past, I'd me close to stepping on some political toes and he'd ed me off, but not like that. He overreacted. And that made me all the more curious. I assumed he knew ething that he either didn't want me to know or dn't want the world to know, afid I had just enough the rebel in me to go after it. Unfortunately, I didn't "1et very far. I had barely started researching - on my time, because I wasn't about to commit a breach of contract, not at that point, at least - when I was sted for murder. Since bail was denie4, my research ped cold.' He grew v ery still as he lay there, propped on his staring at the flames. His profile was Sahrina% 0 Study, which she did with growing discomfort. The 311 angry set of his features reminded her of the earliest visits she'd made to Parkersville, when she'd wondered if the anger had left any warmth. She knew now that it had, that it did, and she knew that the warmth was precious to her, which made his anger all the more painful to see. '

there a link between Greer and Ballantine?' she asked, deciding that the sooner it was out, the sooner his anger would ease. , don, t know., '

you think there is.' '.' She waited, but he didn't elaborate. '

kind of link?' she asked gently. ' swing votes he cast. One or more have to be tied to Greer.' ' Greer paid him off V '. Not necessarily in greenbacks, but somehow.' He sniffed in a Iong, loud breath, then released it along with the worst of his tensi6n. His determination remained. ''m going to find out, Sabrina. If it's the last thing I do, I am.' Sabrina asked no more questions, because the answers were making her uneasy. That evening, though, he offered answers. They were sharing wine, sitting cross-legged opposite each other on the floor of the glass-enclosed room that, when painted and furnished, would be a second-floor solarium, when he caught in a sudden breath and picked up as though there had been no break at all. ''re probably thinking that I'm nuts, that I have no proof of any connection between Ballantine and Greer, but, believe me, Sabrina, I know. There was something about Greer's expression when I mentioned Ballantine's name. It's common knowledge that Greer 312 a pretty big interest in some antitrust cases that de it to the Supreme Court a while back. And Noel is one of the few men who wields the kind of that could have put me behind bars so quickly firmly. His arm is long and has incredible Page 113