Twenty minutes later Fiske pushed away his empty plate and sat back. I know youre busy, so I wont waste your time. My brother and I didnt see a lot of each other. Theres an information void I need to fill if Im going to find out who did this.

I thought that was Detective Chandlers job.

Unofficially, its mine.

Your cop background? Sara asked. Fiske arched his eyebrows. Michael told me a lot about you.

Is that right?

Yes, thats right. He was very proud of you. From cop to criminal defense attorney. Michael and I had some interesting discussions about that.

Look, it bothers me that someone I dont know has been having discussions about my life.

Theres no reason to get upset. We just thought it was an interesting career change.

Fiske shrugged. When I was a cop I spent all my time getting criminals off the streets. Now I make my living defending them. To tell you the truth, I was starting to feel sorry for them.

I dont think Ive ever heard a cop admit that.

Really? How many cops have you dealt with?

I have a heavy foot. I get lots of traffic tickets. She smiled teasingly. Seriously, why did you make the switch?

He absently played with his knife for a moment. I busted a guy who was carrying a brick of coke. He was a mule for some drug runners, a real minor role; just transport the stuff from point A to point B. I had other probable cause to do a stop and search. I turn up the brick and then the guy, with the vocabulary of a first-grader, tells me he thought it was a hunk of cheese. Fiske looked directly as her. Can you believe that? He wouldve been better off claiming he didnt know how it got in there. Then his attorney couldve at least had a shot at raising reasonable doubt on the possession charge. Trying to sell a jury on the fact that somebody who looks, acts and talks like a slimeball really thought ten thousand bucks worth of misery for their kids was a chuck of Swiss, well, you got problems. He shook his head. You put ten of these guys in jail, theres a hundred more just waiting to take their place. Theyve got nowhere else to go. If they had, they would. The thing is, you dont give people hope, they dont care what they do to themselves or each other.

Sara smiled. Whats so funny? he asked.

You sound a lot like your brother.

Fiske paused and rubbed his hand across a water ring on the table. You spent a lot of time with Mike?

Yes, quite a lot.

Socially too?

We had drinks, dinner, outings. She took a sip of her drink and smiled. Ive never been deposed before.

Depositions can actually be quite painful.

Really?

Yes, like this for instance: Something tells me Mikes death didnt seem to surprise you all that much. Is that true?

Sara instantly dropped her casual manner. No. I was horrified.

Horrified, yes. But surprised?

The waitress stopped by and asked if they would like some dessert or coffee. Fiske asked for the bill. Then they were back in the car and heading toward the District. A light rain had begun to fall. October was a quirky month, weatherwise, for the area. It could be hot, cold or mild during any given stretch. Right now it was very hot and humid outside, and Sara had the AC on high. Fiske looked at her expectantly. She caught his gaze, took a troubled breath and started speaking slowly.

Recently, Michael did seem nervous, distracted.

Was that unusual?

For the last six weeks weve been cranking out bench memos. Everybodys short-fused, but Michael thrived under those conditions.

You think it was related to something at the Court?

Michael didnt have much of a life outside the Court.

Other than you?

She glanced at him sharply but said nothing.

Any big controversial cases pending? he asked.

Every case is big and controversial.

But he never mentioned specifics to you?

Sara stared ahead but again chose not to answer.

Whatever you can tell me will help, Sara.

She slowed the car slightly. Your brother was funny. Do you know that he would go down to the clerks mail room at the crack of dawn to get an early jump on any interesting cases?

Im not surprised. He never did things halfway. How are the appeals normally processed?

The clerks mail room is where the filings are opened and processed. Each filing goes to a case analyst to make sure that it complies with the requirements of the rules of the Court, and so forth. If its handwritten, like a lot of thein forma pauperisappeals are, they even make sure the handwriting is legible. Then the information goes into a database under the last name of the party filing the appeal. Lastly, the filing is copied and sent to all the justices chambers.

Mike once told me how many appeals the Court gets. The justices cant possibly read all of them.

They dont. The petitions are divided up among the justices chambers, and the clerks are assigned to do certorari pool memos on them. For example, we might get in a hundred or so appeals in a weeks time. There are nine justices, so each chamber gets roughly a dozen appeals. Of the dozen appeals sent to Justice Knights chambers, I might write a memo on three. That memo is circulated to all the chambers. Then the other justices clerks look over my memo and make a recommendation to their justice on whether the Court should grant cert or not.

You clerks have a lot of power.

In some areas, but not really with the opinions. A clerks draft of an opinion is mostly a recap of the facts of the case and then stringing together cites. The justices just use the clerks to get the grunt work done, the paper pulp. We have the greatest impact in the screening of the appeals.

Fiske looked thoughtful. So a justice may not even see the actual documents filed with the Court before deciding whether to hear the case or not? Hed just read the pool memo and the clerks recommendation.

Maybe not even the memo, perhaps just the clerks recommendation. The justices hold discussion conferences usually twice a week. Thats when all the petitions screened by the clerks are discussed and voted upon to see if there are at least four votes, the minimum you need, to hear the case.

So the first person to actually see an appeal filed with the Court would be someone in the clerks mail room?

Thats normally the case.

What do you mean, normally?

I mean theres no guarantee that things will always be done by the rules.

Fiske thought about this for a moment. Are you suggesting that my brother might have taken an appeal before the clerks mail room could process it?

Sara let out a muffled groan but quickly composed herself. I can only tell you this in confidence, John.

He shook his head. Im not going to promise you something I cant deliver.

Sara sighed and in concise sentences told Fiske about finding the papers in his brothers briefcase. I didnt really mean to snoop. But he had been acting strangely, and I was worried about him. I ran into him one morning coming from the clerks mail room. He looked really distraught. I think he had just taken the appeal I found in his briefcase.

The filing you saw, was it the original or a copy?

Original. One of the pages was handwritten, the other typewritten.

Are originals normally circulated?

No. Only copies. And the copied files certainly dont have the original envelope the filing came in.

I remember Mike telling me that clerks sometimes take home files, even originals sometimes.

Thats true.

So maybe that was the case here.

She shook her head. It wasnt set up like a normal case file. There was no return address on the envelope, and the typewritten page had no signature at the bottom. The handwritten page made me think it was anin forma pauperispetition, but there was no motion or affidavit of indigency that I could see.

Did you see any name on the papers, anything that could identify who was involved?