The Pelican Brief

Verheek arrives late to his meeting with Callahan, who drinks alone in a bar after a tiresome day at the legal conference. When Verheek arrives, they catch up and Verheek explains the long, hard hours worked by everyone at the FBI for little progress. He also denies that the leaked names of the “radically conservative” (91) replacement Justices came from the FBI. They talk about Darby; Verheek teases his promiscuous friend for falling in love at last, though Callahan denies this. They discuss the murders again; Verheek admits that the FBI has little knowledge over who killed the Justices and why. Verheek believes that a team of assassins rather than just one man must have committed the murders. Callahan hands Darby’s research to Verheek, telling him to read it because there are so few working theories. They plan their next meeting, to which Darby is invited.

Grantham receives a mysterious late night phone call from a source who claims to have information about the murdered Justices. However, he is worried that this information could get him killed. The source gives the fake name Garcia and arranges to talk to Grantham later.

Verheek arrives at work with a terrible hangover. He lies down in his office and reads the brief written by Darby. The brief discusses a lawsuit in Louisiana and a suspect that is not on anyone’s list. Verheek finishes the brief impressed by the work. He sends Darby’s brief to Eric East.

While the President travels to Puerto Rico to view hurricane damage, Coal meets with Lewis and East. Voyles refuses to be in the same room as Coal. Lewis reveals that French authorities believe that they have spotted Khamel in an airport in Paris. However, if the killer is Khamel, then Lewis admits that he may never be caught. East has nothing else to offer except Darby’s brief, which the FBI now views as a “long shot, unworthy of serious attention” (105)—but interesting because it mentions the President. East debates whether he should show the brief to Coal, but hands Coal a copy because he enjoys making Coal sweat.

The President returns to Washington, where Coal greets him and hands a copy of Darby’s research, now referred to as the pelican brief. Coal explains the origins of its “farfetched” (106) theory and worries that Voyles may try to use it against the President. They decide to use the CIA to illegally investigate the domestic issue to get ahead of Voyles and the FBI.

Darby and Callahan wake up and drink coffee together. She reflects on her family, who scattered in the wake of her father’s untimely death in a plane crash. A bungling lawyer convinced her family to sue the people responsible and she has harbored a grudge against the man ever since. Once she passes the bar, she plans to sue him. Darby invested the settlement money, which now funds her studies. When she and Callahan got together, she compelled him to stop drinking so much, but now she wishes he would drink even less. She leaves Callahan to attend class. From a parked car, men watch her leave his apartment.

Representatives from the FBI and CIA meet on a park bench in Washington in an unofficial capacity. They discuss the pelican brief: Neither agency thinks much of it, but Coal seems terrified. The CIA reluctantly agrees to investigate, even though they suspect that the FBI is only “having a little fun” (112) at the President’s expense.

In his newspaper’s office, Grantham answers a phone call from Garcia. Garcia wants assurances that he can trust Grantham: If Grantham ever lies, their interactions will stop. Garcia promises to call back the next day. Grantham tracks the number to a payphone near the Justice Department.

At dinner, Darby and Callahan fight about his drinking and their argument spills out on to the sidewalk. He is too drunk to drive, so he gives the keys to his Porsche to Darby. She insists that she will walk and begs him not to drive. She watches him get in the car; when he revs the engine, the car explodes and knocks her to the floor. Darby screams and stumbles away, gripped by panic as people flood into the street. Fire trucks and police cars arrive as bystanders try to comfort Darby. A plain-clothes officer leads Darby to an unmarked car and grills her with questions. Inside the car, she vomits and passes out. A different police officer, who has no recollection of the plain-clothes cop, wakes her. She tells the officer everything she knows about the explosion and then breaks down in tears. The officer takes her to hospital and confirms to her that Callahan was murdered. She exits the hospital as calmly as she can while no one is watching.

Darby phones Verheek and demands answers. Verheek confirms that a number of people have read the pelican brief, including people outside of the FBI. Darby reveals that Callahan is dead. Verheek tries to convince Darby to surrender herself to the FBI, but she does not trust anyone. She agrees to call him after he has spoken to Voyles. Later, she watches a news report about the bomb that killed Callahan.

Even though the Supreme Court crisis is good for his election hopes, the President is sick of dealing with it. He is sick of everyone involved, including the workaholic Coal. Coal and the President discuss the seemingly harmless pelican brief. Voyles arrives for a meeting and Coal leaves to watch through three secret CCTV cameras. Voyles knows that the cameras exist as he briefs the President on the pelican brief. Voyles gives the impression that the theory is being taken seriously, enjoying the fear and worry he detects in the White House staff even though he believes that the pelican brief is a “dead end” (130). The President tells Voyles to drop the investigation in case the press finds out. Voyles agrees to forget the pelican brief if the President tells Coal to stop blaming the FBI for the Justices’ deaths. The President accepts the deal. Meanwhile, Coal decides to write a memo outlining Khamel’s involvement and blaming terrorist organizations. He knows that it will inevitably be leaked.

Verheek meets with Lewis about Callahan’s murder. Lewis dismisses the murder and states that Voyles has told him to drop the pelican brief investigation. Verheek is frustrated by Lewis’s attitude and insists that he will return.

Darby buys new clothes using her credit card. She phones her neighbor and then Verheek. Once again, she refuses to give her location. Verheek asks for her patience but, as they talk on the phone, she spots an eerily recognizable face, hangs up, and hides in a public restroom for an hour.

A disgraced freelance photographer named Croft now works as a private investigator. On Grantham’s instructions, he waits in an illegally parked car with his camera pointed at a phone booth. He waits until a man in a suit enters the booth and nervously dials a number. Croft photographs the man as Grantham sends a message, confirming that this is their target. The man hangs up and disappears back into the crowd.

As he waits for Sarge, Grantham reflects on his conversation with Garcia, who still seems reluctant to give him any information about the murdered Justices. Grantham does not push him. He looks at Croft’s pictures of Garcia and puts together a profile: under 30, lawyer, expensive clothes, possibly working in the nearby Justice Department. Grantham decides that Garcia’s clothes are too nice for a government salary. Sarge’s son arrives with a message containing the White House memo about Khamel, leaking it just as Coal predicted.

Grantham calls his editor from his car phone and tells him about the Khamel memo. He remains suspicious about its origins, especially as Sarge rarely takes documents from the White House. He wonders whether Coal is purposefully orchestrating a leak but finishes the story for the morning edition anyway.

Darby sits in her hotel room with the door bolted and a large can of mace beside her. She has cut her hair and dyed it black. Her increasing paranoia convinces her that she is seeing the same faces everywhere and she does not know how to travel without leaving a trace or raising suspicion. Instead, she stays in New Orleans and formulates a plan.

In New Orleans, CIA Director Gminski and a team storm into a hotel at 2am and head straight for a room where another team of agents is already waiting. The agents point to the hotel across the road and claim that Darby is inside. The CIA has been tracking her credit cards, as have Darby’s pursuers; she could be dead within days. The fact that someone wants Darby dead suggests that the pelican brief may be right. The CIA plans how best to apprehend Darby for her own protection.

After drinking a bottle of wine, Darby sleeps until the phone rings. She panics, certain that no one knows her location. When she finally picks up, Verheek is on the line. He warns her not to use credit cards and tries to convince her to meet him. Verheek admits that the FBI has ceased investigating the pelican brief, even though it probably motivated Callahan’s murder. Darby takes her possessions and leaves the hotel.

The next day, Darby calls Verheek, who has arrived in New Orleans. She reads Grantham’s story about Khamel and a local story about Callahan in the newspaper.

Everyone in Washington, particularly the FBI, speculates about the source for Grantham’s Khamel story. Voyles tells the President that Coal is to blame. Voyles agrees to trail Grantham.

L. Matthew Barr works in the small, scruffy, Georgetown office—the secret headquarters of the Committee to Reelect the President. Barr is the only man in the city that Coal fears. Barr oversees the small team of highly trained thugs who do dirty work on the President’s behalf. Coal orders Barr to trail Grantham and they discuss Khamel’s legendary career. Before he leaves, Coal also tells Barr to trail Sarge.