“The grand jury came back with indictments last night. Holder, Lester, Carlin, McSweeney, and a woman who’s a supervisor in the jury office and was the one who gave them access to the computers. We’re taking them all down simultaneously this morning. So keep it under your hat until we have everybody hooked up.”

It was nice that he trusted me enough to tell me before the arrests. I thought it might be even nicer to go down to the CCB and watch them take Holder out of there in handcuffs.

“Is it solid?” I asked. “Holder is a judge, you know. You better have it nailed down.”

“It’s solid. McSweeney gave it all up. We’ve got phone records, money transfers. He even taped her husband during some of the conversations.”

I nodded. It sounded like the typical federal package. One reason I never took on federal cases when I was practicing was that when the Big G made a case, it usually stayed made. Victories for the defense were rare. Most times you just got flattened like roadkill.

“I didn’t know Carlin was hooked up in this,” I said.

“He’s right at the center. He goes way back with the judge and she used him to approach Vincent in the first place. Vincent used him to deliver the money. Then when Vincent started getting cold feet because the FBI was sniffing around, Carlin got wind of it and told the judge. She thought the best thing to do was get rid of the weak link. She and her husband sent McSweeney to take care of Vincent.”

“Got wind of it how? Wren Williams?”

“Yeah, we think. He got close to her to keep tabs on Vincent. We don’t think she knew what was going on. She’s not smart enough.”

I nodded and thought about how all the pieces fit together.

“What about McSweeney? He just did what he was told? The judge tells him to hit a guy and he just does it?”

“First of all, McSweeney was a con man before he was a killer. So I don’t for a minute think we’re getting the whole truth out of him. But he says the judge can be very persuasive. The way she explained it to him, either Vincent went down or they all went down. There was no choice. Besides, she also promised to increase his cut after he went through with the trial and tipped the case.”

I nodded.

“So what are the indictments?”

“Conspiracy to commit murder, corruption. This is only the first wave. There will be more down the road. This wasn’t the first time. McSweeney told us he’d been on four juries in the last seven years. Two acquittals and two hangers. Three different courthouses.”

I whistled as I thought of some of the big cases that had ended in shocking acquittals or hung juries in recent years.

“Robert Blake?”