Fishtown: A Jack Regan/Izzy Ichowitz Novel

by Neal Goldstein

  Jack was bringing Kate and their daughter home. As he drove over to the Pennsylvania Hospital he thought over the recent developments in the Kastanski investigation. Were they actually going to solve the mystery of the identities of the bodies found in the Fishtown construction site and in the cellar of the butcher shop? Those crimes were decades old. And what revelation was Kastanski about to disclose about the Heilman case?

  His thoughts moved to his concerns about his and Kate’s relationship. He knew he had been dead wrong when he didn’t tell her about Flynn. Despite his belief that Kate would have overreacted, he had no right to assume she would have done anything that would have interfered with the safe return of her son. He knew she was a strong and independent woman. He hoped that she would forgive him.

  He parked in the no stopping zone in front of the hospital and put on his blinkers. He figured the District Attorney Office emblem on the front window of his car would prevent it from being towed away for the fifteen minutes it would take to bring Kate and the baby from the maternity floor.

  When he saw his wife and daughter he knew he would do whatever he had to do to make things right with Kate. “My sister Annie and O’Malley are waiting with Liam,” he said as he walked in the room.

  She was holding Brigid in her arms. The baby was sleeping secure in her mother’s embrace. “Kate we need to talk.”

  She nodded, “Later,” she whispered. “OK?”

  When they pulled up to the house, Liam rushed towards them. The look of joy and excitement on the boy’s face overwhelmed Jack. His family was safe; his wife and children were healthy. He would never allow anything to interfere with their well-being again.

  As soon as he walked in the door his sister Annabelle told him to call their father.

  “Dad, what’s up? Annie said you called.”

  “Izzy told me about the face to face between Kastanski and his mother.”

  “Yes it’s all set for later this morning, why? Is there a problem?”

  His father told him Helene Kastanski was rushed to the hospital. After the correctional officer told her about the meeting, she screamed they couldn’t force her to see her son. When they left her alone she attempted suicide by banging her head against the door to her cell. By the time they got to her she had lost a great deal of blood and was unresponsive. They aren’t sure an 82-year-old woman in such poor health will pull through. The Chaplin administered the last rites.”

  “What’s wrong?” Kate asked him.

  He told her about the information his father had just conveyed. “Can you believe a mother can hate her child so much she’d rather die than see him?”

  When Shona walked out of the rest room of the Stuckey’s on Route 19 just north of the Pinellas County line she saw him walking away from the pay phone. Levy had thrown away their cell phones when they left Fishtown. He told her the phones could be tracked even if they were turned off.

  “Who did you call?”

  He shook his head and asked, “Don’t you trust me?”

  She stared at him took a deep breath and waited.

  “I called to make sure the boat would be waiting for us when we arrive in Key West.”

  They drove in silence both of them lost in their private thoughts.

  After staring out of the window for half an hour she finally broke the silent standoff, “You asked me do I trust you. The answer is I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m capable of trusting you, or anyone.”

  He took a few moments to consider what she said before responding, “OK. So what do you want to do? Do you want to go on, or should we part ways?”

  She looked away and replied, “I don’t think that whatever this is you think we have will work out. Maybe it’s best if we go our separate ways.”

  Chapter 56

  Shona and Levy got to Key West at midnight. They checked into a motel on the outskirts of town. The last 150 or so miles of the trip were driven mostly in silence, as both of them were lost in their own private thoughts. Shona could not shake her belief that Levy would turn out to be no different than her mother and the others, including Ari Nooris, she had encountered throughout her life. Ironically, the only man who had ever kept his word was Michael Flynn who literally placed his son’s life in her hands, and was instrumental in giving her a chance to walk away from the life she had led. She wondered if she could really place her trust in this man.

  Levy had his own reservations. He was both infatuated with her beauty and attracted by the sense of danger and mystery that she conveyed. He knew the Agency wanted him to recruit her, although they never fully explained what their plans for her involved. It wasn’t until they rescued Flynn that he saw for himself how accomplished a field operative she was and figured out what the CIA likely had in mind. As their relationship developed she revealed an entirely different dimension he had not anticipated. In their private moments together he could see how emotionally damaged and very vulnerable she truly was.

  He was playing a dangerous game. The CIA was counting on him to turn her. They knew that like Shona the Mossad had used him. What they didn’t know was that he knew her as a child. He was still drawn to her; captivated by her beauty. What had started as an assignment had become something entirely different. Had he fallen in love with her? Would she ever really let him in her life?

  “We’re scheduled to meet the boat at the dock at 6 AM.”

  She looked at him but said nothing.

  She looked so sad. He took her in his arms and he kissed her. “I love you.”

  She pushed him away, “How can you say that, you don’t really know who I am?”

  “I know how I feel about you. I’ve known it since the first day I saw you.”

  In spite of all the years of indoctrination and training she had endured she could not stop the flood of emotions that overwhelmed her defenses. “Both of us have seen the toll this life we have led has had on our colleagues in the Mossad. They either end up dead by their own hand or they’re killed by the very people they work for. Do you really believe you can love someone like me?”

  “You’re not that person now. You’ve changed. I can see it in your eyes, when you watched the families who came into the Cup. How gentle you were with the children and how they reacted to you. I saw it when you could not stop looking at Michael Flynn and Courtney Wells when he reached for her hand and how she reacted to his touch. And I saw your concern for the safety of the boy when you helped Flynn save his son. People can change.”

  She shook her head and replied, “No you see what you want to see…”

  “No you’re the one who refuses to see what you’ve become. I know you’re afraid to admit it but it’s true,” he said and held her face in his hands. “I know, please trust me.”

  Despite her deep-seated doubts, the improbable hope for the opportunity to live a life of peace and, yes happiness, was too compelling for her to walk away. “Do you really believe we can pull this off?”

  “We have to try,” he replied.

  She could see the sincerity of his response as he relaxed and released the tension in his face and body.

  “So, what should we do?”

  “We’ll leave here at 6 AM tomorrow as we planned.”

  “Can we trust the captain?”

  As he considered the question, she could see the muscles in his face tighten and she realized whatever their plans they could never truly evade their past. “I don’t think we can really trust anyone, at least not for now.”

  She nodded in acceptance of the resignation of their new reality.

  Michael Flynn stared out of the window of his flat at the comings and goings on Shaftsbury Square. The streets were crowded with people out to have good time. He used to enjoy the nightlife, the camaraderie of the pubs, and of the women who were attracted to him. Since his return from Philadelphia, it all seemed so superficial. He missed his
son. He didn’t realize the depth of his feelings for Liam. He knew the boy was better off with his mother and he also was confident that Regan would look after him. But the sense of loss that engulfed him because he could not be near him and watch him grow made him feel hollow and lonely.

  But he also knew Liam was not the only one he missed. Courtney Wells turned out to be something other than the spoiled dilettante he had expected. She was incredibly beautiful and sexy for sure, but there was so much more to the woman. Ach! They not only lived an ocean apart, they truly lived in different worlds. Not that they were ever meant to be anything more than a momentary fling. And yet he could not quite get her out of his mind.

  He heard from Duffy that Shona Cohen and Moshe Levy had given the CIA the slip when they left Fishtown. Duffy had his doubts about the woman, but as far as Flynn was concerned she had held up her end of the deal when he asked her to help him rescue Liam. Although he never anticipated that Nooris and his accomplice would end up being murdered by the Muslim fanatics, he had been prepared to deal with them himself in retribution for kidnapping his son. He wondered what happened to Ben-Ali and his men when they were taken to Guantanamo Bay and if Amet and his family had gotten away safely.

  He laughed at himself realizing that being melancholy was the lot of the Irish. He should just go to the pub and have a pint or two, maybe hook up with one of his old girlfriends. Maybe some other time, but for now he just didn’t feel up to the pretense.

  Flynn turned on his laptop. He checked his accounts and noted that he had paid his family in full for the money he had appropriated and had left in Mike O’Malley’s keeping for the welfare of his son. When he told his Uncle Seamus what he had done the old man nodded approvingly, “We take care of our own.” Yes the Flynns always stood by one another.

  He smiled when he saw the $100,000.00 order that had just been entered on the books for equipment that had been placed with his company by the Barnes Foundation. He figured Harlan Johnson realized it was time for an upgrade, just in case Flynn returned to his former profession and decided to steal the museum’s masterpieces again.

  He poured himself a generous shot of Tullamore Dew and felt the warmth of the whiskey take the edge off his emotions. He put aside his feelings of loss and loneliness. He had a business to run, and commitments to his family to fulfill. There’d be time enough for the other things. But try as he might, his thoughts always returned to his son and the woman.

  Chapter 57

  Jerry answered the door expecting to see Heilman, instead he was shocked to find his mother standing there. “Ma, what are you…”

  He stopped in mid-sentence in response to her look of pure hatred. “Who are you hiding here?” she said as she stepped around him. When she saw the women she turned to him, “You’re no better than that rotten son of a bitch who fathered you! Consorting with whores!”

  “Ma, please. I’m only trying to help them. To keep them away from Brother Aron.”

  She laughed, “Only trying to help them. Keep them away,” she repeated mocking him.

  “You don’t understand, he tortured them.”

  She turned back to the women, “They got what they deserved,” she said. The tone of her voice and the look of disgust on her face revealed her complete lack of empathy.

  “I want these sluts out of here.”

  “But Ma, she’s sick,” he said pointing to Bayani Sukarto who was lying on the sofa shivering even though she was wrapped in blankets.

  “Well, isn’t that a shame. The poor girl,” sarcasm etched in every syllable. The very essence of her being projected her complete lack of compassion. “Let her die in the gutter where she belongs!”

  Jack told Ichowitz about Helene Kastanski. “Can you believe that woman? What a screwed up family. I’ve encountered sociopaths before but it’s still hard for me to imagine a mother hating her son so much she’d rather die than spend a few minutes with him. Do you think he’ll go ahead and deal if he doesn’t get to speak with her?”

  Ichowitz tried to digest this latest development and its probable impact on the investigation. He had been hopeful that Kastanski would provide them with conclusive evidence that disclosed the identities of the Jane Does found in the Fishtown crime scenes. He was more than a little curious about Jerry Kastanski’s claim that he could also give them information they didn’t already know about the Heilman case.

  “I guess we’ll find out soon if Jerry is still willing to go through with the deal. “

  Jack Regan and Dave McElroy were waiting for them when Izzy arrived at the Detention Center. “How’d it go with Kastanski when you told him about his mother?” Ichowitz asked.

  Regan shook his head, “About how we thought. I almost feel sorry for him.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s in one of the interview rooms with his attorney.”

  Ichowitz made a face.

  “You should have seen DiSantini’s reaction. He thinks he might actually have to try a case if his client refuses to cop to a deal,” McElroy commented.

  They watched through the one-way mirror as DiSantini spoke with his client. The conversation appeared to become heated. The attorney stood up and walked out.

  Regan approached him and asked what happened.

  “He fired me.”

  Chapter 58

  “You’re not going to put us out on the street, are you?” Jinjing’s tears fell on his back as she held him, stopping him from following the woman.

  “Please let us stay until B can get well,” she begged.

  He turned to her and looked at the other woman, “No, no. I’ll let you stay for a little while longer. I have to go now. I have to talk to my mother…I’ll make her understand.”

  When he left, Jinjing went over to her friend, “B you alright?”

  Sukarto opened her eyes, “Jin, I need to get well. You hear me? If I don’t I’m gonna die.”

  Heilman watched as the Kastanski woman walked away from the apartment building. He drove along side and said, “I’ll give you a lift to your house.”

  She gave him a dismissive look.

  “I’ve got a proposition…something I think you’ll find appealing.”

  Helene Kastanski stopped and was about to tell him to fuck off, but the evil in his eyes intrigued her,

  “Guard would you please remove the handcuffs and leg shackles from Mr. Kastanski,” Ichowitz asked as they were escorted into the interview room. Izzy, Jack and Dave McElroy sat down on the opposite side of the table from him.

  “Mr. Kastanski, we understand that you’ve discharged your attorney. Do you want us to contact the Public Defender?” Regan asked.

  “No, that won’t be necessary. I want to tell you what you want to know about the bodies you found in Fishtown,”

  “Before you say anything, I want to remind you that you have the right to counsel,” Jack began to advise Kastanski of his Miranda rights.

  “You’ve already informed me of my rights. I understand,” Kastanski cut him off. “Funny thing, when I told the guys on the cellblock I had retained Amato DiSantini they told me I’d be better off on my own.”

  “I understand, but for the record are you waiving your right to counsel?”

  “Yes.”

  “OK then, can you tell us what you know about the bodies found buried at the construction site at Delaware Avenue and Shackamaxon and in the cellar of the butcher shop on Frankford Avenue?”

  Kastanski told them about the argument between his mother and his uncle the night he had followed his uncle from his house and watched him bury the girl. He heard them mention the first names of the girls. Later, when he became an altar boy at St. Laurentius, he found out who they were. He provided them with the names of the girls buried in the cellar of the butcher shop and at the slaughterhouse yard. All of the girls died following their abortions.

 
Regan was struck by Kastanski’s calm demeanor and the detailed account he provided of the events that had taken place so many years ago. It was as if in the telling he was freeing himself from the demons that he had carried for all these years. A burden that had obviously taken a significant toll on him both as a child and as he grew to adulthood.

  “Mr. Kastanski, do you know why the girls buried at the slaughterhouse yard were holding hands?” McElroy asked.

  “Yes. I asked my Uncle Paul the night he buried Kathleen. He told me it was so that the girls would have each other’s company throughout eternity.”

  The detectives turned to Regan signaling that they were ready to move to a different line of inquiry.

  “Mr. Kastanski, before we move on I want to remind you of your right to counsel,” Regan said.

  “I understand.”

  “You’ve been charged as an accessory to the murders of Jinjing Lee and Bayani Sukarto. Your former attorney told us you were willing to tell us about your involvement in that matter. Are you still prepared to do so?”

  “Yes.” And he told them how he rescued Jinjing Lee and Bayani Sukarto from Heilman’s church and what happened thereafter.

  I left the girls to try to find my mother and convince her that it would be a sin to throw them out on the street. I looked everywhere but couldn’t find her. When I went back to the apartment I found my mother there. Heilman was there with her.

  Jinjing was dead. She was lying in a pool of blood, with a butcher knife sticking out of her back. Bayani was dead on the sofa with a hypodermic needle in her arm.

  “Ma what happened? What did you do?”

  “They got what they deserved,” she said and smiled with a look of pure evil.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You tell him,” she said and turned her hate-filled look of joy to Brother Aron.