Commitments (38 page)

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

command on the keyboard. ,,, Sabrina conceded. ''ll know if Ballantine voted with the five. But will we know whether his was actually the deciding vote?, '. We have no way of knowing that. All we'll know is that Ballantine voted in Greer's favor. You can hardly call it evidence, but it's a start. Particularly ...' He faltered, eyes narrowed on the screen, and his words grew distant. '... if we can find more than one case.' He took a breath. qiere we go. Got a pencil?' ' here.' Derek read the citation by volume, date and page. Sabrina wrote it down, even though it didn't appear to relaie to Greer.

"We'll note them all/ Derek explained. ' we don't need them, that's fine. On the other, hand, if we come up with zip, we may have to look more deeply into those that initially sound improbable.' And so they sat side by side, Derek manipulating the computer, Sabrina compiling a list of cases from those he read off. At one point, when they took a short break, David snagged her in the hall on her way back from the ladies'

room. fhow's it goinl?' he asked. She gave him a feeble half-smile.

"Okay, I guess. Not that anything earth-shattering has popped off the scree n yet.' Tatience, girl. Patience.' ', that's what I keep telling myself. Derek doesn't have that much, but compared to me he's loaded., 386 has learned patience the hard way. The pastime today is a drop in the bucket compared to weeks, months he spent locked up just of doing what he is now.' he's incredible.' so, do ya? I smiled. ', I do.' mighty glad to hear that, ma'am, since he thinks much the same about yo,4. But frankly' - he ore serious -'I'm surprised you're letting him him? Do you think I had a choice?' ' his wife.' t's right, his wife, not his keeper., he scratched his cheek with a single finger, e thought that after everything you've been you'd prefer a more peaceful life.' But I fell in love with Derek, and all this ow came with the package. Derek is determined it through. I can't stop him.' e you tried?

I I I have/ she said with the kind of quiet serenity had drawn Derek to her from the start, ' I gave ause I realized something else - not realized, accepted is a better Word. Derek needs to do Right now, he's haunted. There are times when push it all to a comer of his mind, but inevitably tomes forward again. He's haunted by the boy he growing up as his father's son - and he's haunted man Noel Greer would see him be. I wish there some other way, because revenge is ugly. But he to be free. We need to be free.' She paused, then sadly, ' a prison bar isn't made of steel.' avid Cottrell stood silently before her for the space ths. Then he let out a whoosh and shook Of several brea 387 his head in admiration of the woman his friend had been lucky enough to catch. By midday, Sabrina and Derek had a sizable list of those split-decision cases in which Lloyd Ballantine had voted with the majority. One of those cases concemed Noel Greer and the network he had founded and built and of which he had become chairman of the board. Citation in hand, Derek went to the volumes on the shelves of David's law library. There he learned that the case was a libel suit that had been decided in Greer's favor with Lloyd Ballantine's vote in support. While Sabrina was pleased as punch that Derek's theory was proving to have merit, Derek was more cautious. ' should be more/ he said, brooding, ', in fact, Lloyd Ballantine -committed suicide. Think about it. Barring some sudden, shocking turn in his life, a man is usually heading downhill for a while before he gets to the drastic ppint of taking his life. This case was decided four months before Ballantine died - long enough to eliminate sudden shock, not all that long for a real downhill slide. I'll bet the relationship between Ballantine and Greer goes further back.' ' the days before he was on the bench?' '.' '

first came to Washington to serve as Attorney General. He'd certainly Page 140

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

have had something to offer Greer in that capacity.' ' frowned, looked down, slowly shook his head. He raised a pained look to Sabrina.

"It's right there. I can almost taste it, but it stays on the edge of my memory. It's been that way for so long that lim not sure I didn't just dream it up to begin with.' ' what up?' 388 That's the problem. Mind spending in the library?' e not.' : turned out to be the rest of that day and J*,,.the next, but when they finally finished with Derek had what he needed. Walking with Sabrina's hand held tightly in his, he led A, he coffee shop where they were to meet the had spoken with moments earlier on the an Sable had ad been the chief of the antitrust Of the Department of justice under Attorney I. Ballantine. He confirmed what Derek and had read - that during his tenure, Noel Greer the subject of an antitrust investigation that en terminated at the intervention of the attorney The case against Greer had been strong, Sable No one had been more surprised - or angry - when it had been dropped, and he'd resigned

"V'Wition soon after. Frankly, he confessed, he was had investigated the matter sooner. -in Vermont, Derek told Justin and Ann about his Jor the Ballantine files. He'd given it much had discussed it with Sabrina. J. B. already it was one of the many things he and Derek had about when they'd been working together in the @.And as for Justin and Ann, Derek knew he could them. He wanted their feedback. had another reason for wanting Derek to

"Justin and Ann into his confidence. When she t of feedback, she thought of additional voices Derek that he was overstepping the bounds of if, indeed, it ever got to that. in short, she *-A allies. 389 She knew she had them in Justin and Ann. They hung on every word Derek said, but then, rather than yessing him, they asked questions. They played devil's advocate, and they could get away with it, since that was largely how brainstorming sessions had been back when they all worked together in New York. After hours of intermingled talk and thought, they agreed that Derek was headed in the right direction. They agreed that while there was still a possibility that Lloyd Ballantine's support of Noel Greer's causes might have been innocent, Greer had had much, much to lose without that support. They agreed that Greer's nearly violent reaction to Derek's proposed investigation of Ballantine smacked of a cover-up and that if, indeed, Ballantine had accepted a bribe, there had to be a reason. A weakness. Which was how Noel Greer worked. They agreed that the next step to finding the Ballantine files was finding that weakness - and that the first step to finding that weakness was to interview the man's family. They did not agree on who would do the interview-and Ann wanted to help. They could leave nztjuaswtiany, they said. They would be relentless but discreet. They would uncover as much about Lloyd = . in his hometown as there was to be Vered, and they could do it quickly. Their last argument was the most tempting for Derek. He had already decided to stay in Vermont for at least a week or two before heading out again. For one thing, he didn't want to alert anyone who might be watching his movements that he was hot on a trail. For another, Sabrina was tired. She argued with him on that point, but he could see it. Faint shadows had appeared under her, eyes, and she was having more trouble getting up in the morning. He worried that his 390 keeping her awake during the night, but that it was. He could only conclude that feeling the emotional strain of his quest. he wasn't about to give up on the quest, and wasn't about to let him pursue it without Since he couldn't, just couldn't let Ann and it for him.,-his only option-was to wait that or two and see that Sabrina got plenty of rest continuinghe was sorry to lose the time. No, he didn't pampering Sabrina. She was his mate, his wife. mas his Page 141

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

responsibility, and he took that very - which was easy to do, since he adored her. w that if she'd had her druthers, he wouldn't be the Ballantine files at all. He figured that the least Id do was intersperse his search with more peaceful times for them both. tried. He tried not to think about Greer, not to to televised reports about his campaign, not to the coverage in Time or Newsweek. instead, he Sabrina to Boston for two days of laziness in a hotel, then brought her home for another two of ss In and around the farmhouse, then took her to cky, which she'd been wanting to do. "Me enjoyed pampering her, and found that as long did it with a minimum of fanfare, she enjoyed it, It helped that Ann had taken command of the hen and was preparing the kind of culinary treats the tiny kitchen of her closet-of-an-apartment in York had been unsuited for. That wasn't all Ann was doing. Under Derek's tute-she and Justin had begun work on several of the stories that had interested them. They'd equipped their makeshift bam-office with desks and telephones, and 391 between time spent there and at the college library, they were on their way. Sabrina worried that J.B. was in their way. Each time she ventured to the barn, he was out of his own office and sitting in Ann's. When she asked about the status of his book, he told her to worry about her own, after which point she rarely asked again. She did as Ann - the two women had developed an easy relationship - about whether J.B. was being a pest and was told with a shy smile that he wasn't. That was more than Derek could say about Maura, who dropped by for another visit during those two weeks. Derek couldn't quite put his finger on what bothered him about Maura - whether it was the history she and Sabrina shared, or the fact that she took up large chunks of Sabrina's time or that she rarely stopped talking. She was forever asking questions, and that annoyed him. For Sabrina's sake, though, he was always polite. For his own sake, he was always happy to see Maura leave. - When Sabrina got the rest Derek had prescribed for her and still the shadows beneath her eyes didn't disappear, Derek decided that they were related to tension. Knowing the source of that tension and that the only way of relieving it was to solve the Ballantine puzzle, he went ahead and booked two seats on a flight to Chicago.

Chapter 16.

Ballantine lived in a beautiful

Tudor ho@ne in go suburb of Lake Forest. If her late husband wanting for money, there was no evidence of held left behind. The widow Ballantine was fide member of upper-class society. her from their hotel soon after he and had arrived, Derek set up a meeting for the day. gave her your real name/ Sabrina said after he'd up. ''t that be a tip-off?' @d given that earlier thought, knew it would be a problem during the course of his search, but ci edagainst use of an ahas. ' of the things d over the years was that the average person ittipped off so quickly. He she, in this case - isn't from where you and I are. She doesn't know's in our minds. Unless Greer has already gotten er, which I doubt he has

-or she'd never have ed for this meeting, Mrs. Ballantine assumes but what I told her - that we're doing an P, F-n d P n t story on her late husband and want to ask some questions - which is, in fact, the truth. The we he, the less we risk stumbling over our own Sabrina considered that for a minute, then broke ' a dazzling smile. ' put/ she said. added ess nobly, ' choice did I S, ve? She'd probably have recognized me anyway.' 393 Bernice Ballantine did recognize him. She commented that she'd watched him many a time, and that she was glad to see him back at work. He did nothing to correct -that misperception which was only indirectly a misperception. He was back at work. He was Page 142

Barbara Delinsky - Commitments

an investigative journalist interviewing a source, in search of information that would send him farther down the road. This was what he'd always done and he did it well. Even aside from the personal stake he had in this particular subject, he felt the thrill of the chase lighten his blood. Unfortunately, Bernice Ballantine was of little help. She confirmed the standard biographical facts that Sabrina and Derek broached merely for the sake of their cover. She painted a picture of a family man, a devoted husband and father whose primary weakness was a lack of aptitude for mechanical things. Under Derek's questioning, she said that she'd been proud of her husband, and that though he hadn't been on the bench long enough to make so great an impact as some of the others, he'd taken his job with due gravity. Under Sabrina's questionin& she admitted that she'd never felt completely comfortable living in Washington, which was why she'd returned to Lake Forest as often as she had. Ye she felt that the justices were underpaid, but s he . s essed that she was thinking of some of the others 7 since, of course, she and her husband had been financially secure. No, she had no knowledge of corruption in the Court. Yes, her husband had on occasion been burdened by the emotional pressures of his work. No, there were no other papers beyond those already bequeathed to the University of Chicago Library left behind when he died. At the conclusion of the m'terview, she commented 394' -wished Derek was back at the network. resist, Derek asked what she thought of Greer's bid for a Senate seat, to which she that even if she were a resident of New York, ' vote for Greer because he was a womanshe couldn't abide infidelity. sounds like the Girl Scout to match her late's Boy Scout/ Sabrina remarked when they'd to the privacy of their rental car. terribly inspmng, Derek agreed. ', it wasn't '. Either I'm a poor judge of character, or that was telling the truth. I do believe that she had ledge of any misconduct on Ballantine's part.' ch doesn't mean that there wasn't any. She said spent a good deal of time in Lake Forest while band was in Washington. That opens the door kinds of possibilities., say the wife is always the last to know - ihe first. But not in this case., her daughter is more enlightened.' ela Stanger was more enlightened about mis-on the part of her father, she was not about it. Married, she lived in a high-rise on Chicashoreline, but she refused to meet with Derek and there, choosing instead the impersonal conferroom of the firm for which she worked as an tect. er formal, though civil, Pamela was a wornan of '. She answered questions as succinctly as d le, volunteering little by way of insightful infor-Sabrina found her arrogant; Derek found her ive. They came away from the meeting, though, an awareness of two things. The first was that la Ballantine did not enjoy talking about her r. The second was that her names, embossed in 395 gold among those of her partners at the entrance to the firm, read ' E. Stanger.' There was no B for Ballantine, which was odd. Most women whose father had made it to the Supreme Court would be proud as punch of the name. Apparently, this one wasn't. Peter Ballantine, the late justice's only son, was less tight-lipped than his sister. Though he chose his words with care, a certain cynicism came through. Twice married and twice divorced, he clearly had an ax to grind. Why he had chosen to share his feelings with Sabrina and Derek, they didn't know, but they weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Quite bluntly he said that while his father had been attentive when he'd been with them, that hadn't been often. Lloyd Ballantine had liked his freedom. By the time his children reached the age of fifteen, they had been enrolled in exclusive boarding schools. As a lawyer practicing out of Chicago, Ballantine had traveled often leaving his wife behind. As attorney general, he had insisted on kteping the Lake Forest house, and he'd done the same when he was appointed to the Bench, though, theoretically, that appointment was for life. The separation didn't bother Peter, who had always found his father too much of a goody two-shoes - which was ironic, Peter said, but declined to Page 143