By the time I made it back to the office it was somewhere between six thirty and seven o’clock. I felt exhausted, but at the same time the adrenalin was pumping, and I was wired. Ellen and Harry were waiting for me in my office. I’d been expecting them. I was sure they wanted to hear what had happened to the documents, Harry particularly. It was the kind of situation that would set his blood pressure soaring until I put his mind at rest.
‘We were wondering when we might have the pleasure of your company,’ Harry began, needlessly checking his watch. ‘We thought you might have gone home.’ He was pacing up and down, arms folded across his chest.
‘No, Harry,’ I replied, ‘I hadn’t thought about going home yet. I wanted to make sure I talked to you first.’
I walked over to Ellen, who was lying on my sofa, shoes off, looking white and shaken. I sat on the arm of the sofa by her feet and squeezed her toes for a moment or two.
‘You don’t look so great. Are you OK?’
‘I’m OK now,’ she replied.
‘Those Treasury assholes gave her the third degree,’ Harry said.
‘What?’
‘They seem to have an exaggerated sense of their own importance over there.’
‘What happened, Ellen?’ I asked.
‘I went to the ladies’, as you suggested, and I stayed there for at least ten minutes, until I assumed you were clear of the building. Then I went back to 484B. I was hoping Pam would be back by then, but it turns out that Angie and Sally needed her for something on the other side of the building and she’d gone to work with them for the rest of the afternoon. So I was alone when they came. There were two of them, guys in suits, plus Roberto, of course. They wanted to know where the documents were. I told them you’d taken them, and I didn’t know where you’d gone. They weren’t too happy about that. Actually, they got very aggressive.’
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.’