Deadly Sins by Kylie Brant

Hedgelin could hope for. “We have to follow up on everyone who might have had . . . disagreements with the justice in the past.”
    “Damn right I disagreed with him. He was a left-wing activist judge on the circuit with no respect for the Bible or the constitution, and I did my damnedest to point that out in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.”
    “In fact,” Jaid consulted her notes, “during your questioning you called him a liar a half-dozen times, compared him to a Marxist, and suggested his confirmation would result in anarchy breaking out in our country.”
    The senator bared his teeth. “That’s right. Check your notes, missy. Do you also have down there that I use every opinion he writes in my campaign ads to underscore the need to put only strict interpreters of the constitution on the highest court?”
    Missy. She smiled with as much sweetness as she could summon. “No, sir. But it does say that you have a poster in your campaign headquarters with a gun sight superimposed over Reinbeck’s photo. That you’ve used the visual to emphasize remarks you’ve made about removing various menaces to conservative values.” The atmosphere in the room went charged.
    Newell leaned across his desk, his hands not so much clasped before him as clenched. “Young lady, I can assure you that you’ve taken my remarks, my meaning, out of context. Reinbeck isn’t alone on that poster. Are you accusing me of taking out hits on my Democrat opponents and our esteemed speaker of the house, as well?”
    “It’s Special Agent Marlowe,” she said evenly. “And we are making absolutely no accusations, just informing you of the reason for our visit. Since his confirmation hearing, have you had occasion to speak to Justice Reinbeck in person?”
    Apparently getting himself under control, the senator sat back. Straightened his tie. “Not that I recall. We exchange greetings if our paths cross. We would have little to say to each other, at any rate.”
    Jaid refused to look away from the senator’s glare. If she met the man at a social function after some of the things he’d said about the judge, she’d be tempted to spit in his eye. Or at the very least, say something exceeding tactless.
    A decade ago she would have done just that. But she’d learned a lot of hard lessons in the last several years. Selfcontrol was only one of them.
    “I understand that your oldest grandson, Joseph, volunteers on your reelection campaign.”
    At Adam’s words, the senator’s shoulders went tense. “I’m afraid I’m out of time here. I have another appointment.”
    But Raiker went on. “Is it true that Joseph was arrested at fifteen for setting fire to his algebra teacher’s home?”
    Rising, Newell said, “If you’ll show yourselves out?”
    None of them moved. Jaid scarcely dared to breathe. She didn’t know where Adam had gotten that information. It certainly wasn’t in the notes she’d seen. But he had infinite outside resources, and given Newell’s reaction, she didn’t doubt the truth of his findings. Could guess where this was headed.
    Adam’s voice was inexorable. “Joseph didn’t get the probation his lawyer was asking for, did he? In fact, he was proclaimed a habitual offender, a delinquent, and spent sixteen months in a juvenile correctional institution.”
    “Those records were sealed!” The congressman was leaning across his desk as if he’d like nothing more than to leap across it, his weight braced on his fists. “You couldn’t have used legal means to access them.”
    “The legal records are sealed but people’s memories can’t be, can they?” Adam rose. Silently, the agents did the same. “The fact remains that Byron Reinbeck was the judge who sentenced your grandson. It was early in the judge’s career, when he worked the juvenile court. How much of your antipathy for the man arises from his politics and how much from his actions resulting in your grandson being locked up?”
    “Reinbeck