‘You’ve been a loyal supporter of the Party in the past, there’s no denying that, Mr Rosnovski,’ said Hogan, in a tone that indicated that the statutory time for small talk was over. ‘And we Democrats, not least former Congressman Osborne, have done the odd favour for you in return. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to go into any details concerning the little incident with Interstate Airways.’
‘That’s long past,’ said Abel, ‘and best forgotten.’
‘I agree,’ said Hogan. ‘But although I realize that most self-made multimillionaires wouldn’t care to have their affairs looked into too closely, you’ll appreciate that we have to be especially careful so near the election. Nixon would love a scandal to get his teeth into at this stage of the race.’
‘We understand each other clearly, Mr Hogan. Now that’s out of the way, how much were you expecting from me for the campaign?’
‘I need every penny I can lay my hands on.’ Hogan’s words were clipped and confident. ‘Nixon’s gathering a lot of support across the country, and it’s going to be a very close run thing, especially in your home state of Illinois.’
‘Well,’ said Abel, ‘I’ll support Kennedy if he supports me. It’s as simple as that.’
‘He’d be delighted to support you, Mr Rosnovski. We all know you’re a pillar of the Polish community, and Senator Kennedy is aware of the brave stand you took on behalf of your countrymen who are in labour camps behind the Iron Curtain, not to mention the service you gave in the war. I’ve been authorized to let you know that the candidate has already agreed to open your new hotel in Los Angeles on his next campaign trip to California.’
‘That’s good news,’ said Abel.
‘The senator is also fully aware of your desire to see Poland granted most favoured nation status in foreign trade with the United States.’
‘It’s no more than we deserve after our sacrifices in the war,’ said Abel. He paused briefly. ‘What about the other little matter?’
‘Senator Kennedy is canvassing Polish-American opinion on that subject, but we haven’t met with any objections so far. Naturally he can’t come to a decision before he’s elected.’
‘Naturally. Would two hundred and fifty thousand dollars help him make that decision?’
Frank Hogan smiled, but didn’t reply.
‘Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars it is then,’ said Abel. ‘The money will be in your campaign fund by the end of the week, Mr Hogan.’
The business was over, the bargain struck. Abel rose from behind his desk. ‘Please give Senator Kennedy my best wishes, and tell him I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he becomes the next President of the United States. I’ve loathed Richard Nixon since his despicable treatment of Helen Gahagan Douglas, and I have personal reasons for not wanting Henry Cabot Lodge as vice president.’
‘I’ll be delighted to pass on your message,’ said Hogan. ‘Thank you for your continued support of the Democratic Party and, in particular, of the candidate.’ He thrust out his hand, and Abel grasped it.
‘Keep in touch, Mr Hogan. I don’t part with that sort of money without expecting a return on my investment.’
‘I fully understand.’
Abel accompanied him to the elevator, and returned to his office with a smile on his face. He picked up the phone on his desk.
‘Ask Mr Novak to join me.’
George came through from his office on the other side of the corridor a few moments later.
‘If Jack Kennedy becomes President, I think it’s in the bag, George.’
‘Congratulations, Abel, I’m delighted. It will be the fulfilment of one of your greatest dreams. How proud Florentyna will be of you.’
Abel smiled when he heard his daughter’s name. ‘Do you know what the little minx has been up to?’ he said, laughing. ‘Did you see last Friday’s Los Angeles Times?’
George shook his head and Abel passed him a copy of the newspaper. A half-page photograph was circled in red ink. George read the caption aloud: ‘Florentyna Kane opens her third Floren-tyna’s shop in LA. Great photo,’ said George.
‘She’s hoping to open a fourth before the end of the year,’ said Abel. ‘Florentyna’s are fast becoming to California what Balenciaga is to Paris.’
George laughed as he handed back the paper.
‘I can’t wait for her to open a Florentyna’s in New York, probably on Fifth Avenue,’ said Abel. ‘I’ll bet she does it within five years, ten at the most. Do you want to take another bet on that, George?’
‘I didn’t take the first one, if you remember, Abel. Otherwise I’d already have been out ten dollars.’
Abel looked up, his voice quieter. ‘Do you think she’d come and see Senator Kennedy open the new Baron in Los Angeles, George?’
‘Not unless her husband is invited as well.’
‘Never,’ said Abel. ‘That boy is nothing. I read your last report. He’s left the Bank of America to work with Florentyna; couldn’t even hold down a good job.’
‘You’re becoming a very selective reader, Abel. You know that’s not the way it was. Kane’s in charge of the company finances, while Florentyna runs the shops. Don’t forget that Wells Fargo offered him a job running their acquisitions department, but Florentyna begged him to turn them down and join her. Abel, you’ll have to face the fact that their marriage is a success. I know it’s hard for you to stomach, but why don’t you climb down off your high horse and meet the boy?’
‘You’re my closest friend, George. No one else in the world would dare to speak to me like that. So no one knows better than you why I can’t climb down, not until that bastard William Kane shows he’s willing to meet me halfway. I won’t crawl again while he’s alive to revel in it.’
‘What if you were to die first, Abel? You and he are exactly the same age.’
‘Then I’d be the loser, and Florentyna would inherit everything.’
‘You told me she wasn’t going to get a thing. You were going to alter your will in favour of your grandson.’
‘I couldn’t do it, George. When the time came to sign the document, I just couldn’t do it. What the hell - that damned grandson is going to end up with both our fortunes.’
He removed a wallet from his inside pocket, shuffled through several old photos of Florentyna, took out a more recent one and passed it to George.
‘Good-looking little boy,’ said George.
‘Sure is,’ said Abel. ‘The image of his mother.’
George laughed. ‘You never give up, do you, Abel?’
‘What do you think they call him?’
‘What do you mean?’ said George. ‘You know very well what his name is.’
‘I mean, what do you think they actually call him?’
‘How should I know?’ said George.
‘Find out,’ said Abel. ‘I care.’
‘How am I supposed to do that?’ said George. ‘Have someone follow them while they’re pushing the pram around Golden Gate Park?’
‘I’m sure you’ll find a way, George,’ said Abel. ‘Now, have you heard anything recently from Peter Parfitt?’
‘Yes, he’s been showing a little more interest in parting with his two per cent of Lester’s, but I wouldn’t trust Henry with the negotiations. With those two working on the sale, everybody will be in on the deal except you, so perhaps I ought to close the transaction on your behalf?’
‘Don’t do anything for the moment,’ said Abel. ‘Much as I hate Kane, I don’t want any trouble until we know if Kennedy’s won the election. If Nixon wins, I’ll buy Parfitt’s two per cent the same day and go ahead with the plan we discussed. And don’t worry about Henry - I’ve taken him off the Kane case. From now on I’m handling it myself.’
‘I do worry,’ said George. ‘He’s in debt to half the bookmakers in Chicago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned up in New York on the scrounge any day now.’
‘Henry won’t be bothering me again. I made it crystal clear when I la
st saw him that he wasn’t going to get another dime out of me. If he does come begging, he’ll lose his seat on the board and that’s his only source of income.’
‘That’s exactly why I’m worried,’ said George. ‘What if he became so desperate that he went to Kane for money.’
‘That’s impossible, George. Henry hates Kane even more than I do.’
‘How can you be so sure of that?’
‘Kane’s mother was Henry’s second wife,’ said Abel, ‘and when Kane was only sixteen, he threw Henry out of his own home.’
‘Good God, how did you come across that piece of information?’
‘There’s nothing I don’t know about William Kane,’ said Abel, ‘or Henry Osborne, for that matter. Absolutely nothing. And I’d be willing to bet my good leg there’s nothing he doesn’t know about me. So we just have to be patient for the time being, but there’s not a chance of Henry turning stool pigeon. He’d die before he’d admit his real name is Vittorio Togna and he once served a jail sentence for fraud.’
‘Does Henry realize you know all this?’
‘No. I’ve kept it to myself for years. If you think a man might threaten you in the future, George, be sure you know everything about his past. I’ve never trusted Henry since the day he suggested swindling Great Western Casualty while he was still employed by them, although I’d be the first to admit he’s been very useful to me over the years. But I’m also confident he isn’t going to cause me any trouble in the future. So let’s forget Henry and be a little more positive. What’s the expected date for the completion of the Los Angeles Baron?’
‘Middle of September.’
‘Perfect. Just a few weeks before the election. When Kennedy opens the hotel, it will be on every front page in America.’
When William returned to New York after a bankers’ conference in Washington, he found a message on his desk, requesting that he contact Thaddeus Cohen immediately. The name always made him feel apprehensive, because Cohen was rarely the bearer of good news.
William hadn’t spoken to him for some time, because Abel Rosnovski had caused no problems since the abortive telephone conversation on the eve of Richard and Florentyna’s marriage, over four years ago. The successive quarterly reports had merely confirmed that Rosnovski wasn’t trying to buy or to sell any of the bank’s stock. Nevertheless, William rang Cohen on his private line. The lawyer informed him that he had stumbled across a piece of information he did not wish to discuss over the phone. William invited him to come to the bank as soon as it was convenient.
Cohen arrived in William’s office forty minutes later. William heard him out in attentive silence.
When Cohen had finished, William said, ‘Your father would never have approved of such methods.’
‘Neither would yours,’ responded Cohen, ‘but then they didn’t have to deal with the likes of Abel Rosnovski.’
‘What makes you think your plan will work?’
‘Consider the Sherman Adams case. Only one thousand six hundred and forty-two dollars in hotel bills and a vicun a coat, but it sure embarrassed the hell out of the administration, because Adams was a Presidential assistant. We know Rosnovski is aiming a lot higher than that. So it should be even easier to bring him down.’
‘How much is this going to cost me?’
‘Twenty-five thousand at the outside, but I may be able to pull it off for less.’
‘How will you make sure Rosnovski doesn’t realize I’m involved?’
‘I’ll use a third person as an intermediary, and he won’t even know your name.’
‘And if your information turns out to be accurate, what would you recommend we do with it?’
‘We send all the details to Senator Kennedy’s office, then leak it to the press. That should finish off Rosnovski’s ambitions once and for all. The moment his credibility has been shattered, he’ll be a spent force, and find it impossible to invoke Article Seven of Lester’s bylaws, even if he did control eight per cent of the stock.’
‘Possibly, but only if Kennedy becomes President,’ said William. ‘So what happens if Nixon wins? He’s way ahead in the opinion polls. And can you really imagine America putting a Roman Catholic in the White House?’
‘Who knows?’ said Cohen. ‘But if they do, for an investment of twenty-five thousand, you’d have a real chance of finishing off Rosnovski once and for all.’
‘But only if Kennedy becomes President …’
Cohen nodded, but said nothing.
William opened the drawer of his desk, took out a large cheque book marked ‘Private Account’ and wrote out the figures two, five, zero, zero, zero. It was the first time he’d wanted a Democrat to live in the White House.
Abel’s prediction that when Kennedy opened the Los Angeles Baron it would be on every front page in America turned out to be a little optimistic, as the candidate had dozens of other events in Los Angeles that day before going head to head with Nixon in a televised debate the following evening. Nevertheless, the opening of the hotel gained wide coverage, and Frank Hogan assured Abel privately that Kennedy had not forgotten the other little matter.
While Kennedy made his speech, heaping praise on the Chicago Baron, Abel’s eyes searched the packed audience for his daughter, but he didn’t see her.
53
ONCE THE Illinois returns had been verified, John F. Kennedy looked certain to be the thirty-fifth President of the United States. Abel raised his glass to Mayor Daley when he celebrated at the Democratic National Headquarters in Times Square. He didn’t get home until nearly five in the morning.
‘Hell, I have a lot to celebrate,’ he told George. ‘I’m going to be the next…’ He fell asleep before he finished the sentence. George smiled and put him to bed.
William watched the election results in the peace of his study on East Sixty-Eighth Street. After the Illinois returns, Walter Cronkite declared it was all over bar the shouting. William picked up his phone and dialled Thaddeus Cohen’s home number.
All he said was, ‘It looks as if the twenty-five thousand dollars has turned out to be a wise investment, Thaddeus. Now let’s be sure there’s no honeymoon period for Rosnovski. The best time to make our move would be when he takes his trip to Turkey.’
William placed the phone back on the hook and went to bed. He was disappointed that Nixon had failed to beat Kennedy, and that his cousin Henry Cabot Lodge would not be the vice president. But, he thought, it’s an ill wind …
When Abel received an invitation to be a guest at one of President Kennedy’s inaugural balls in Washington, DC, there was only one person he wanted to share the honour with. But after he had talked the idea over with George, he had to accept that Florentyna would never accompany him unless his feud with Richard’s father was over. So he would have to go alone.
Abel postponed his trip to Europe and the Middle East. He could not afford to miss the Inauguration, but he could always reschedule the opening of the Istanbul Baron.
He had a new, rather conservative dark blue suit made specially for the occasion, and he took over the Davis Leroy Suite at the Washington Baron for the day of the ceremony. He watched the young President deliver his inaugural speech, full of hope and promise for the future.
‘A new generation of Americans, born in this century‘ - Abel only just qualified - ‘tempered by war‘ - Abel certainly qualified - ‘disciplined by a hard and bitter peace‘ - Abel was over-qualified. ‘Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.’
The crowd rose to a man, ignoring the snow that had failed to dampen the impact of the new President’s brilliant oratory.
Abel returned to the hotel exhilarated. He showered before changing into white tie and tails, also made specially for the occasion. When he studied his ample frame in the mirror, he had to admit that he was not the last word in sartorial elegance. His tailor had done the best he could (he’d made three new and ever expanding evening suits for Abel in the past five years). Florenty
na would have castigated him for the extra inches, and for her he would have done something about it. Why did his thoughts always return to Florentyna? He checked his medals. First, the Polish Veterans’ Medal, next the decorations for his service in the desert and in Europe, and then his cutlery medals, as he called them, for distinguished service with knives and forks.
In all, seven inaugural balls were held in Washington that evening, and Abel’s invitation directed him to the DC Armory. He sat in a corner reserved for Polish Democrats from New York and Chicago. They had a lot to celebrate. Edmund Muskie was in the Senate, and ten more Polish Democrats had been elected to Congress. No one mentioned the two newly elected Polish Republicans. Abel reminisced happily with some old friends who were among his co-founder members of the Polish-American Congress. They all asked after Florentyna.
Suddenly, everyone in the room leapt to their feet and began cheering and shouting. Abel stood up to find out what all the commotion was about, and saw John F. Kennedy and his glamorous wife enter the ballroom. They stayed for about fifteen minutes, chatted with a few carefully selected guests, and then moved on. Although Abel didn’t speak with the President, even though he had left his table and placed himself strategically in his path, he did manage to attract the attention of Frank Hogan as he was leaving with the Kennedy entourage.
‘Mr Rosnovski. What a fortuitous meeting.’
Abel would have liked to explain to the boy that with him nothing was fortuitous, but now was neither the time nor the place. Hogan took his arm and guided him quickly behind a large marble pillar.
‘I can’t say too much at the moment, Mr Rosnovski, as I must stick with the President, but I think you can expect a call from us in the near future. Naturally, the President has rather a lot of appointments to deal with at the moment.’
Kane and Abel Page 49