The Pelican Brief

Verheek is exhausted after two nights of trawling through student bars to find Darby. Finally, she phones his hotel room, and he tries again to convince her to allow the FBI to protect her. He also admits that they “may be in the midst of a cover-up” (181), which explains why the FBI has not acted on any of the information in the pelican brief. Darby explains again that she is being followed.

In a hotel room in New Orleans, Khamel practices his American accent. Later, a team of professionals breaks into Grantham’s car to fit a transmitter to his car phone. They also plan to bug his house.

Darby wakes up in a nondescript bed and breakfast. She thinks about Callahan and how much they loved one another. The grieving process she learned following her father’s death does not seem to work now. Her thoughts turn to the men trying to locate her. She has cut and dyed her hair again, hoping that she is unrecognizable as she slips out the back door in search of food. However, a man watches her walk down the street. She spots him and tries to escape through a crowd of busy sports fans. She begs three drunk young men for help, claiming that the pursuing man is trying to attack her. The three young men attack the pursuer and knock him down, beating him to a pulp. Darby hides in a dark bar and watches the football game, trying to blend in.

As the football game finishes, Khamel is told Darby’s location. He is also warned about Verheek, who has been asking questions about Darby. Verheek may know where Darby is. An hour later, Khamel exits his hotel and breaks into Verheek’s hotel room. The room is empty. Khamel taps the phone and waits to listen to Verheek’s calls.

Verheek gives up on visiting bars. He plans to leave New Orleans and accepts that he has failed to find Darby. Returning to his hotel room, he lies on his bed. Darby calls him again and he tries to convince her to return to Washington with him. She offers to meet him the next day at noon and tells him exactly what to wear so that she will recognize him. Once she finds him, she will leave the city with him. He agrees and then she hangs up. After Verheek showers, he finds Khamel waiting for him in the hotel room. Khamel murders Verheek quickly before arranging the body to appear as though Verheek shot himself in the head. He clears the room of any evidence of his presence and leaves.

Grantham’s attempts to find out more about the pelican brief prove fruitless. When Darby calls him again, he insists that he is still searching. She gives Grantham her real name and announces that she wants to leave New Orleans. Before she arrives in Washington, she wants Grantham to get a list of Presidential donors. After the call, Grantham rushes to his editor, who greenlights the story.

On Grantham’s orders, private investigator Croft lingers near the spot where he photographed Garcia and tries to find him again. This seems impossible, but Croft needs the money.

In the Oval Office, Coal angrily tells the President that Grantham has been asking about the pelican brief. They speculate whether anyone leaked the pelican brief but they cannot be sure how much Grantham knows about the brief’s contents. They agree that the brief is harmless nonsense, unless the contents are true and “our friend actually did these dirty deeds” (203). If true, the brief could destroy both their political careers because the suspect named in the brief donated millions of dollars to the President’s campaign, both legally and illegally. Coal seems unfazed, so the President relaxes. He calls Gminski and arranges a game of golf for the afternoon. Gminski assures him that the pelican brief is a “fine work of fiction” (204) but mentions that the CIA are still checking it out.

Darby waits for Verheek in a busy shopping district. She has spent the previous night meticulously planning the meeting. Verheek seems to be her only means of escape. Finally, she spots a man dressed in the outfit she told Verheek to wear. She watches him carefully as he follows her instructions.

Khamel, who has “been trained to welcome death” (206), is never tense. Now, he feigns nervousness to lure Darby toward him. She approaches and leads him out of the store and into a crowd. Khamel mimics Verheek’s voice, repeating the previous night’s pleas for Darby to hand herself over to the FBI. They walk to the dock and prepare to board a paddle wheeler boat. As Khamel thinks about the best place to murder Darby, a man with a gun runs through the crowd and shoots the assassin. Darby screams and edges backward through the panicking crowd. The gunman vanishes as Khamel dies. Darby disguises herself again and takes a cab from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. During the journey, she realizes this Verheek did not match Callahan’s description of his friend and tries to remember whether she has seen the mysterious gunman before.

Voyles and Lewis discuss the death of Verheek, whose body was found in the hotel room. An autopsy shows that he did not die of suicide. They assume Darby is dead too, and the number of bodies makes them wonder whether they should begin to take the pelican brief seriously. Voyles has an audio recording of the President requesting him to stop investigating the pelican brief and he knows the recording could ruin the President’s reelection chances. They assign more agents to investigate Mattiece and the other elements of the pelican brief.

Coal and Barr sit in the back of a limo to discuss “really dirty business” (214). They discuss Grantham’s investigations into the pelican brief. Coal wants even more surveillance on the reporter, including his phone in the newspaper offices. Barr does not think this will be possible but Coal insists.

An FBI agent named Trope, an assistant to Voyles, waits to meet with Booker from the CIA on a park bench. When Booker arrives, they discuss Verheek’s murder, Darby’s disappearance, and Voyles’s plan to investigate the pelican brief thoroughly. They also mention Mattiece, the mysterious businessman named in the pelican brief. The more murders linked to Mattiece, the more credible the brief becomes. The CIA and the FBI agree to work together: The CIA will find Mattiece and the FBI will find Darby.

Grantham researches Darby. She calls him in his office and explains what happened to Verheek. She is now in New York, so Grantham offers to meet her. She will tell him everything but wants to remain anonymous. Grantham agrees.

The President and Coal ride in a limo and discuss the shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees. Coal wants to nominate hardline conservatives from minority backgrounds with a view to reelection, while the President wants to nominate “young white men” (222) because that is the demographic that elected him. They discuss Grantham and his tendency to uncover awkward truths but they are sure that they will be safe.