Deadly Sins Read Online Free PDF

finished. In case he needed some research done to be referenced in the opinion. We never lack for something to work on, so it was no hardship.”
    “No hardship?” Jaid queried. “What if you’d had plans?”
    Dempsey shook his head. “You don’t apply for a clerkship because you want to check out the DC nightlife. It’s for the experience. Part of the job is putting in the same or more hours than the justices do.”
    “And all of you share that view?”
    The man didn’t hesitate at Shepherd’s question. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here.”
    “What about threats? Did you ever hear Justice Reinbeck mention any he’d received since joining the court?”
    “That’d be the jurisdiction of the marshals, but no.” Sadness flickered across Dempsey’s face. “Judge Reinbeck never said anything about that.”
    “Would he?” Jaid interjected. She waited for the man’s attention to shift to her. “Was he the type of person who would have shared that with those who worked most closely with him?”
    The clerk hesitated. “He may not have,” he finally said with some reluctance. “He was great to work for. Not just because he was brilliant, but also because he genuinely cared about people. He was always asking after our families or giving advice about our futures. He might not have wanted to worry us, although if he thought any of us were in danger, we would have been alerted.” He shook his head then. “But I think we would have noticed something different in his demeanor if something like that were bothering him. I don’t think he could have hidden it from everyone. And no one has mentioned anything about him seeming off.” His jaw quivered a moment before he deliberately set it. “Believe me, I would have heard about it if someone had.”
    The second interview was almost a duplication of the first, although the clerk this time was female. Krista Temple was a diminutive blonde. Articulate, with a rapid-fire manner of speaking, her intellect was obvious. So was her fascination with Raiker. She appeared unable to tear her gaze away from him, and Jaid suspected her enthrallment was only partially due to the fact that he was leading this interview.
    “Flowers?” The woman was shaking her head. “I didn’t know anything about that. I’m not surprised to hear that Justice Reinbeck regularly stopped for roses for his wife though. He was pretty thoughtful. But very private. That wasn’t something he would have shared with his staff. He was interested in our lives and our opinions, but he didn’t reveal much about his own family.”
    “So no one working with him knew that he occasionally stopped at the same vendor on the way home to pick up flowers?”
    Temple’s shoulder-length hair swung when she shook her head. “I didn’t know. And if one of his own clerks didn’t realize it, it’s doubtful the knowledge was widespread around here. We’re sort of a close-knit group, even though there are nearly forty clerks working for the various justices.”
    “How close-knit?” Jaid inserted.
    The woman flicked a quick glance at her before addressing her answer to Adam. “We tend to socialize together. We share common interests, after all. That’s what brought us here. It’s not uncommon for a group of us to head downtown after work once or twice a week.”
    “So.” The slight smile Adam graced Temple with had the woman’s eyes widening a little. “Close-knit bunch. Frequent get-togethers. I imagine the topic often revolves around work. Like you said, it’s what you all have in common.”
    “I . . . yes . . . I mean . . . mostly of course.” The woman seemed to regain her composure by tearing her gaze away from Adam’s face and focusing on Shepherd. “But we talked about other things, too. National politics, family, our career plans.”
    “And office gossip?”
    The woman bristled at Jaid’s question. “We’re professionals in highly sensitive positions. We don’t sit around like old