usattorney | devil you know, part 5

devil you know, part 5;
While Brennan is giving Michael his version of a pep talk, Luke is getting search warrants signed and executed. The former is easy enough; the latter requires a call to Mark Wallace's cell phone company that turns into an argument with their subpoena compliance department. "I don't care how you get it done," he says tersely, "but you're going to get me those records. If those cell phone records aren't here tomorrow morning, there's a fair chance I don't find a killer, and you can personally explain to your boss, the U.S. Attorney and every major media outlet why you obstructed a murder investigation."

He'd have no problem filing obstruction of justice charges either, though he'd likely find a way to screw them without having to prosecute. But the person on the other end of the phone doesn't know that. Luke extracts a promise to prioritize his request before he ends the call, finally glancing up to see Tayshia Grant and Adam Lydon having unintentionally heard the whole thing. "What?" he says. "Someone's in a mood today," Adam quips sarcastically. "I'm in a mood every day," Luke retorts. "I just usually keep it to myself."

He passes Brennan on his way back into the office, where Michael is still lost in thought. "I've got your warrants," he says, holding up the paperwork he pulled from the printer. "Cell records are going to take a few hours but we can hit the apartment now." As he's saying it, he's already grabbing his jacket off the back of Janet's chair and fixing his tie. If he's going to be seen in public then he has an image to uphold. Especially when the media or someone connected to Melissa Wallace may be watching. He still wants to know how she found out about her ex-husband's death so fast.

"I'll get Brennan." Michael agrees. "Finish your thought from earlier. You think this is a new suspect?"

"I think the timing of it is suspect." Luke replies as he picks up his briefcase. "If it was a retributive killing for what he did nine years ago, someone could have done that the night he got out of prison. Or later that week. I'm not saying it isn't someone he already knows—I'm saying he could have done something new to piss them off." A humorless smirk. "That's something I know a lot about."

"You're an asshole with a conscience," the other man replies. "Don't compare the two of you."

Luke recognizes the compliment for what it is. He's always been aware that he can be a difficult person, and sometimes he's done it on purpose. However, he just as often hasn't, and he knows Michael is saying he sees both sides. It's something that stays in his mind as he goes with the FBI agents to search Mark Wallace's apartment, which is a far cry from his former mansion. In fact, it's hardly been furnished. "This must have fucked with his head," he comments dryly as he moves through the living room, looking for anything incriminating.

"Remember that he still got elected to Congress," Brennan points out. "He had plenty of enablers until he got caught."

He had put his faith in Michael and Janet, two relatively untested agents, to be able to break down that defense. Wallace had all the power and a circle of equally powerful friends, so it was a terribly unbalanced case, but Brennan believed that Janet and Michael's talent and their determination would make the difference. That was exactly what had happened. Anyone who knew him back then has to know what's coming for them now—moreso since Michael is older, wiser and no longer scared of making high-profile enemies. He's not even listening, going into Wallace's bedroom to see what he can uncover. What he finds still manages to surprise him. "This may answer your question," he tells Luke, emerging with the composition book in hand. "Wallace was compiling material on everyone he'd worked with."

"He had a black book?" Luke says with an equal incredulity, walking over to take a look at it and seeing what Michael just saw: the pages upon pages of what appears to be possible blackmail material. "Son of a bitch. There really wasn't anything he wouldn't do."

"Maybe that's why no one killed him immediately. They didn't know about the book, or they did and had to find it."

"But they didn't find it," Brennan interjects. "If they wanted to get their hands on it, they would have gotten him to bring it to the crime scene. His car is here, so somebody drove him to someone else's random lawn and killed him."

"Which lends credence to the first idea. Wallace is exactly the kind of guy who'd go to someone for help and then threaten to turn them in if he didn't get it."

"And then that person stabs him to death in a fit of rage?" Luke comments. It's not out of character, but it still doesn't explain the location of the crime scene. His political instincts, fairly honed by years of being Bryan Alexander's involuntary guest at any number of parties or functions, are telling him there's something else they're missing. "I don't know if it's that simple, but this might explain why his ex-wife wants to talk to us. Maybe she knows about it and she's trying to protect herself. Benton got her to plead to a lesser, but that doesn't cover any different allegations."

"Read it and find out," Brennan says flippantly as he bags the book and then hands it right back to Luke, who realizes the ex-high school teacher has just given him homework. He's not even going to try to argue. Instead, he looks at Michael. "We need to cross-check the names in here versus the cell phone records and the original case file." Which is exactly what he'll be doing, sitting at his kitchen table with a highlighter and a six-pack of Coke until some late hour of the evening.

Michael nods. "And then find out which of those names has any connection to the people who live at that house," he adds. "I fully believe them when they say they had no clue, but that doesn't mean they don't know the suspect. Truth be told, the fact that they were gone makes it a pretty good place to dump a body." His eyes flick to his boss. "How much can we afford to keep from the press?"

"As much as we can," Brennan says. "Even the rumor of this thing existing will be all over the news. Then we'll have rampant speculation being tossed around and an even bigger pool of reasonable doubt."

Luke has stayed quiet in all this because he knows that's the paramount truth. Wallace had plenty of enemies and there could be even more in the pages of that book. Adding more suspects to the list they hadn't even managed to narrow down could create the kind of reasonable doubt he'd warned Bryan about. In that moment he makes a risky decision, but the only one he can see. "We don't need to say anything about it. We can talk about the murder in relation to the old case," he tells them. "This stays between us."

Luke and Michael share a look between themselves. Neither of them are comfortable with lying about a key piece of evidence, but this is a secret that may have killed one person and could endanger several others. If they weren't on the same page before, they have no choice but to completely trust each other now. Michael can't help but wish again that it was Janet standing next to him; Luke is thinking about Bryan. He's never lied to his boss, but it's entirely possible some of Bryan's friends or acquaintances are in that book. In that moment he puts his loyalty to Michael and to justice above his friendship with Bryan and maybe even his chances at making U.S. Attorney someday. What does he want to stand for?

"We could fucking blow up Washington," he adds as that sinks in. Michael shakes his head. "The only thing I care about is catching this killer. That's my job, and the rest of this is bullshit."