Stephen Carter - Emperor of Ocean Park

“I have no intention of answering your questions.” The wind is still whipping outside, and we hear a sharp snap as a tree loses a branch somewhere near the house. Rain continues its steady assault on the windows. In the hallway, Justice Wainwright frowns, stepping slightly to the side, as though unable to stand still. He considers what I have just said, still worried about whether he has somehow exposed himself. Then he shakes his head. “No. No, that wouldn’t have been enough. You wouldn’t jump to that conclusion just because Cassie clerked for me.” The gun centers on my chest. I back toward the sink. He follows, just out of range of any kick or punch I might throw, even if I knew how. As for the bear, Wainwright has not asked for it and I have not offered it. “Why were you not surprised to see me? How did you even know that there was anybody else? You clearly thought your Uncle Jack was keeping tabs on you. Maybe his partners were, too. But why did there have to be a third party?”

“You’re right. The fact that Meadows clerked for you wasn’t enough.” My palms and the small of my back are moist with perspiration. I still have a faint hope of escape. The storm that was supposed to keep me safe can still rescue me, if only I can keep Wainwright talking a little longer. “But I knew there had to be… like you said, a third party… because I knew that there was somebody out there who was unaware of Jack Ziegler’s edict.”

Genuine puzzlement. “What edict?”

“That I wasn’t to be touched. The other people who were after me, they all knew the rules. I couldn’t be hurt, and nobody in my family could be hurt. Jack Ziegler had made a deal with… well, whoever one makes such deals with. The word went out. I would not be harmed, and I would find what my father hid. So everybody just watched me and waited. Then, once I started to get hurt, it was clear that either the rules had changed or a third party was involved. I was… reassured that the rules were not any different. So it had to be an outsider. Someone without contacts in Jack Ziegler’s circles.”

“You’d be surprised where I have contacts, Msha.”

I know what he means, but I shake my head. “It isn’t enough that Jack Ziegler can reach you. You would have to be able to reach him.”

Wainwright doesn’t like this at all; I can see it in his face, which has morphed from sardonic to furious. Maybe he does not like remembering that he was never as close to Jack Ziegler as my father was. A new variation on the Stockholm Syndrome: the bribee wants to be the favorite of the briber. I remind myself not to try scoring points off an armed man.

“So Jack Ziegler put out an edict,” he says finally, letting out a long breath. “He said nobody could harm you.”

“Yes. And you didn’t know about that, so you sent a couple of thugs after me. And there was one other thing.” I have backed completely around the butcher-block table. Now Wainwright is in front of the sink. George Jackson, his leg just about ripped off, is still a shield between us.

“What thing?”

“Meadows. She started calling me Misha. Who could she have heard it from? Not Uncle Mal, he calls me Talcott. She could have heard Kimmer say it, but I doubt she would have been forward enough to pick a nickname only my wife used. I could only think of one person Meadows would know in D.C. who also called me Misha. You.”

Justice Wainwright nods, smiling distantly. “That’s very good. Yes. I will have to be more careful in the future.” He sighs. “So, it’s over, Misha. Give me the disk, and I’ll be on my way.” I glance at the kitchen door behind him. He sees me do it. “There’s nobody else, I’m afraid. Nobody is coming to rescue you. It’s just the two of us. So give me the disk. Please don’t make me ask again.”

Still I play for time. “What’s so important about the disk? What’s on it?”

“What’s on it? I’ll tell you what’s on it. Protection.”

“What kind of protection?”

“Oh, come, Misha, you have surely figured it out by now. You’re not the dunce you pretend to be. Names. Names of the people with interests in all those corporations, all those years. Cabinet secretaries. Yes. Senators. A governor or two. Some CEOs and prominent lawyers. A man who has such a disk in his possession can buy a good deal of protection.”

And then I see it. “Oh. Oh, no. You mean protection from Jack Ziegler. He still has his hooks in you, doesn’t he? Or his partners do? And they won’t let you stop, will they?”

“They won’t even let me retire from the Court. They’re so very demanding.” I say nothing. Even though I had nearly figured it out, the implicit confession has rocked me. “But your father was no better. When I asked him to share his hidden information, he just looked at me and told me I was a part of his arrangements. And if I didn’t stay away from him, everybody would know.”

“A year before he died,” I murmur, finally getting the point.

“What was that?”

“I, uh, was wondering what your cover story is for being on the Island.” A lie, but I suspect that any call upon his vanity will lead to a disquisition. He has to show me how smart he is. Before he kills me, that is.

“Really, Misha. Everybody wants me as a houseguest. Yes. Well. You made a few mistakes of your own. You were too deliberate, Misha; it was clear you were preparing to do something. I heard about the hurricane, and that you were coming up here anyway. Well. I realized what you were up to. I accepted a long-standing invitation. This afternoon, when the storm came, I went for a walk.” That crooked smile again. “I told my hosts I like storms. I am out walking at this very moment.” The wind blows the back door open, then snaps it closed again. And Wainwright no longer wants to reminisce. “All right, Misha, enough talk. Now, give me the disk.”

“No.”

“Don’t be silly, Misha.”

I find a surprising stubbornness. “My father didn’t leave it for you. He left it for me. I want to see what’s on it, and then I’ll decide what to do with it.”

Justice Wainwright fires a shot. There is no warning and his hand barely flickers. The bullet zips past my head as I duck, too late of course, and buries itself in the kitchen wall.

“I was a Marine, Misha. I know how to use this gun. Now, give me the disk.”

“It won’t do you any good. It’s useless. It’s been up in the heat too long. It’s all warped.”

“All the more reason for you to give it to me.” I shake my head. The Justice sighs. “Misha, look at it from my point of view. I can’t do this any more. I have been in bed with these people too long. I need to get out. I need that disk.” His eyes harden. “Your father refused to tell me where it was, but I can certainly get it from you.”

“My father refused,” I repeat. “Two years ago this October, right? That’s when you asked him to tell you where it was hidden?”

“Possibly. So? Have I made another mistake?”

“No, but…” But that’s what spooked the Judge, I am thinking. It was Wallace Wainwright-not Jack Ziegler, as I have assumed-who scared him so badly that he went to the Colonel to borrow a gun. And joined a shooting club to learn how to use it. Wainwright, tired and wanting to retire from the Court, went to see him, a year before he died, and tried to make him share the information he had hidden to protect himself from Jack Ziegler and his partners. The Judge refused, and Wainwright threatened him with exposure, which sent my father scurrying hat in hand to Mles Madison. A few months passed, nothing further happened, and my father put the gun away. Then, last September, a desperate Wainwright reappeared, and my desperate father went back to his gun club. I try to imagine these two judicial icons, one on the right and one on the left, jousting over the materials that now rest in this bear; battling because each wanted frantically to escape payment for a lifetime of corruption on the bench. “The gun,” I whisper. “Now I see.”