by Bob Mayer
The door opened a little wider. “Wait here.” He let Kane in and then went up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Kane was surprised at the interior. The air was musty with a tinge of foul. A stack of old newspapers was toppled over near the door, barely allowing space to open it. Legal boxes lined the ground floor hallway. The sitting room to the right had curtains drawn and was so dark he couldn’t make out the interior.
Another young man, dressed the same, came down the stairs and pivoted on the landing toward the rear, completely ignoring Kane.
“Hey!” The first guy was at the top of the landing. “Come on up.”
Kane took the stairs and was ushered into a room that was combination bedroom and office. A large bed, sheets not just broken but exploded and not remade, and a desk covered with papers behind which Cohn sat. A couch covered with stuffed frogs was the only place to sit beside the bed.
Kane stood.
“Who the fuck are you?” Cohn was a small man, with a face that looked like it had been smashed in and reconstructed, although the nose was overly large. He was unnaturally tan and his voice was angry New Yorker. He was dressed in a bathrobe.
“Will Kane.”
“That supposed to mean something to me?” Cohn asked.
“No. You asked me who I am. I represent someone who would like to invest in the rail yards and participate in the construction and running of the convention center.”
“Did you hear me the first time? Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?” The phone rang but he ignored it.
“My client has three hundred thousand to start,” Kane said.
Cohn’s tongue kept darting out of his mouth as if he were a snake seeking something to bite and devour. “Who is your client?”
“They prefer to remain anonymous. That’s three hundred thousand in cash,” Kane added, exhausting his negotiating arsenal.
Cohn twirled a packed rolodex, then leaned back in his chair, the bathrobe opening partially and revealing a scrawny chest with grey hair. “What about the third thing you dropped on my boy at the door?”
“’Gentleman Bankers’?”
Cohn looked at Kane under droopy eyelids, pure hatred pulsing. He could give Matteo lessons. “Well?” He didn’t wait for answer. “Get the fuck out of here. I don’t know anything about you yet, but I will. And then I will crush you. I’ll bury you. I’ll take every dime you have. Everything you own will be mine.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit of an over-reaction?” Kane said. “Besides, I don’t own shit,” he semi-lied, but the diner was actually entirely in Thao’s name. “There’s nothing for you to come after. I learned a long time ago that those who threaten when they’re ignorant of the parameters of the situation are bluffing. It might work with the people you hang with. I rent the basement of a dump in the Village. I don’t have shit for you to come after except me. And you won’t find that easy.”
“Everyone has something or someone they care about,” Cohn said.
“Mine died years ago,” Kane said. “And yeah, I’ve heard you’re mobbed up. I don’t give a shit. If you have any connections to the Gentleman Bankers, I need to find Thomas Marcelle. ASAP. Or else there’s going to be hell to pay. And, I gave you a good faith offer from my client which is a win-win for both of us. You either want to talk or you want to have two different conversations, one on your frequency which is a bunch of bullshit lawyer threats or one on my frequency which is business.”
“Marcelle?” Cohn’s snake eyes narrowed ever further. “He’s disappeared.”
“I think the Gentleman Bankers know where,” Kane said.
“Why do you think I know anything about these Gentleman Bankers? You want to know the truth, I’ve never heard of them. You want to talk about the convention site, go to someone else.”
“Trump’s got the inside track,” Kane said. He shrugged. “I’m making an offer. Maybe I am in the wrong place.”
“I got friends who will make you hurt,” Cohn said.
“The Genovese? They’ve tried and failed,” Kane lied, but not completely since the mob had attacked him several times recently. “The offer is good. And giving me Marcelle’s location is in everyone’s interests because he’s associated with people who are going to do some bad shit in the city. Something that will hurt everyone who has anything to do with them. I just put you in the blast radius.”
“I’ll need to see the cash,” Cohn said in the same angry tone. “Not negotiable. I take a fifteen percent fee up front.”
“Ten.”
“Get the fuck out.”
“All right,” Kane said, not his money. “Fifteen. Marcelle?”
Cohn nodded at the rolodex. “I’ll ask around.”
Kane stared into those snake eyes and felt nothing coming from them but cold contempt. “Right.”
“You’ll owe me.”
“The money—” Kane began, but Cohn was shaking his head.
“Money is easy. You’re asking me for a favor which means a favor will be due one day.”
“He wants to see the cash and he takes fifteen percent.”
“You negotiated?” Sofia asked as Kane settled into the back seat, feeling Matteo’s elbow in his side.
“I said ten. He insisted on fifteen. He doesn’t negotiate.” Kane passed across the phone number Cohn’s assistant had given him on the way out. “We call that and arrange the drop off.”
“Think we can trust him?” Sofia asked.
“I wouldn’t trust him,” Kane said, “but it’s not my money or my deal.” He checked his watch.
Sofia amended the question. “Think he’ll give me the slice?”
“Sure,” Kane said, “as long as he gets his. He says I owe him a favor. I don’t like that.”
“It’s the way the world works,” Sofia said. “Where can I drop you off?”
15
Monday Afternoon,
8 August 1977
BUILDING ONE, WORLD TRADE CENTER
Tucker and Shaw were sitting in the reception area as Kane entered. Mrs. Ruiz wasn’t making small talk with them, which Kane appreciated since she never made small talk with him and he’d hate to think that FBI received better treatment. Then again, she’d been awfully chummy with Yazzie.
Both popped to their feet. Tucker spoke for them: “Kane, we don’t like—”
“Shut up,” Kane said. He didn’t slow, entering Toni’s office and trusting Mrs. Ruiz to keep them out until they were summoned.
“Why did you have them come here?” Toni demanded as soon as the door shut behind him. “Last thing I need is the FBI around the office.” She was wearing a grey business suit and looking considerably more professional than when he’d put her in the cab this morning.
“Calm down,” Kane said. “I thought I needed to tell them about the missiles and someone smart suggested I have them come to me rather than me go to them. It might be good to have my lawyer at my side.”
“Who told you that?”
“Sofia Cappucci.”
Toni blinked. “When did you see her?”
“Just now. But she told me that on the phone. Just now, in person, she recommended I tell them nothing. That it won’t do me any good. What do you think?”
Toni shifted gears, becoming the person who could bill high three figures an hour. “I agree with her recommendation. Technically, if you’re not under a Miranda warning they can act on what you tell them but not use it against you. However, anything you say will give them more angles they can come at you from. They start digging and we both know they’ll find something. You haven’t been an angel lately, Will.”
“But they’re the ones who came to me with the information about this Swords of Saint Patrick thing. They involved me.” Kane walked to the window. “I tried warning the CIA this morning and got blown off.”
Toni was startled. “What did you tell the CIA?”
“The threat,” Kane said. “He said it was the FBI’s problem.”
“That’
s correct.”
“I know that,” Kane snapped, harsher than he intended. “But aren’t we all on the same side?” He turned to face her. “I fucked up, didn’t I? Getting involved. Going after Damon. I should have walked away.”
Toni walked up to him, slightly inside his personal space armor. “Then Damon would still be doing what he did. And this thing these guys are planning would still be happening.”
“Your father wouldn’t be on the run,” Kane said.
“That’s his fault,” Toni said. She put a hand on Kane’s forearm and he fought not to flinch. “Do what you think is right, Will. I’ll do everything I can to protect you, legally and otherwise.”
Kane wasn’t so sure once he told her about other matters. “I got some things we need to talk about reference your father, but let’s deal with these two idiots first.”
Toni nodded toward the door. “We’ll do it in the conference room. I don’t want them in here again.”
Kane paused. “I assume you can record what goes on in your conference room?”
“I can.”
“We need this on tape.”
“Remember something,” Toni said. “The fact they came here so quickly means they don’t feel very secure in their position.”
“I think their position is made of toilet paper,” Kane said. He opened the door and let her lead. They trooped into the conference room, Toni taking possession of the head of the table, Tucker and Walsh sitting on one side, Kane on the other.
“This better be worth us coming—” Tucker began.
“You going to talk or you going to listen?” Kane asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ve got my lawyer as witness. I went to Kelly’s Bar as you suggested, Agent Tucker.”
Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but Kane shushed him. “No speak. Here’s the bottom line. That Sword team you told me about got its hands on three TOW missiles, explosives, small arms and a fifty-caliber heavy machinegun. I don’t know how many tracking systems for the TOWs, but all they need is one.”
Kane sat back.
“How do you know that?” Tucker asked.
“I talked to Walsh. You met him, didn’t you, when you went to Kelly’s the other night? White-haired fellow? Runs the place and everyone in it.”
“We tried to talk to him,” Tucker said. “He didn’t say anything to us.”
“I’ve got a friendlier face,” Kane said.
“What else did he tell you?” Shaw asked.
“Nothing, Agent Shaw,” Kane said. “You now know what I know. Go do your duty.”
“Bullshit, Kane,” Tucker said. “You want us to take your word on this?”
Kane shrugged. “I’ve done my civic duty warning you of a grave threat to the city. I’ve got a witness to that. What you do with this information is up to you. You two are the ones who involved me in this.”
Toni stood. “You may leave now.”
“Bullshit,” Tucker said. “You just can’t dump this on us and kick us out.”
“Why not?” Toni asked. “You dumped it on my client, who, by the way, went with you willingly when he didn’t have to. I understand you also entered his premises without a warrant, weapons drawn?”
“We had probably cause,” Tucker said, but Shaw was shaking his head.
“Where is this probable cause?” Toni asked. “Was it logged in at headquarters as evidence?”
Kane walked to the conference room door and opened it. “You guys better hurry. You’ve got a lot to do.”
“You taped this,” Shaw said. “Didn’t you?”
“It’s my office,” Toni said.
The two FBI agents exchanged glances. Shaw walked out. Tucker reluctantly followed. Once they were gone, Kane and Toni returned to her office.
“What do you think they’re going to do?” Toni asked as she went to the wet bar. She didn’t bother to ask Kane if he wanted any. She brought the glass to the four-person table.
“I have no idea,” Kane said. “They thought they were running Damon but he was actually running them. I don’t think Damon was a true asset in that they never built an official file or else the CIA would have known about it, especially after I told Trent. They wanted people to think they were coming up with whatever Damon gave them on their own. The fact they didn’t get promoted says he fed them shit. Even if they do send what I just told them up the chain of command, I know how that kind of bureaucracy works. I don’t expect much by Wednesday night. The FBI is built to go after bank robbers, not terrorists.”
“What are you going to do?” Toni asked.
“I’ve got a couple of leads I’m following,” Kane vagued.
“Anything on my father?”
“Charles Edward Clark.”
Toni frowned. “What about him? He’s an old family friend.”
Kane thought her reaction could give Truvey and Morticia a lesson or two in acting. “It’s strange the things we don’t focus on at the time.” Kane put his hands flat on the table. “I missed it when it happened, but afterwards I was running it through my mind. As you’ve pointed out, Toni, I’m a little slow, but I get there eventually.”
“What are you talking about?” Toni asked.
“When Yazzie was in here the other morning and asking about the trip, you said you had no idea who was going to be on the boat. Just that Selkis had arranged it. But just before that, when you and I were sitting at the bar in Windows on the World, and I was telling you what happened, I said the ‘Actress’ and you told me her name, Truvey. How did you know her name if you didn’t know who was going to be on the boat?”
Toni’s face was still and she didn’t respond.
Kane pressed on. “Your film. The one Damon made.”
“You told me you didn’t watch that,” Toni said.
“I watched the beginning,” Kane said. “Enough to get an idea what happened. You had to know I did that. You’d told Damon to back off. To leave you and your father alone. You went to meet him at the Gramercy Park apartment.”
As Kane spoke, Toni turned her head, no longer looking at him, staring at the vista of Manhattan spread out on this sunny, afternoon. The city was shimmering in the August heat.
“In your recording, Damon asked if you’d seen the films he sent,” Kane said. “Of your father and your husband. There was only one film case for your father. From 1966. I’ve got it. I watched it this morning. Which brings me back to the Honorable Charles Edward Clark, Chief Judge for the Second United States District. You know Clark is more than just a family friend with your father because you saw the same film.”
Kane gave it a few seconds but there was no response.
“That’s two lies. Truvey and Clark,” he pressed.
Toni was still staring out the tall windows. She lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip. Put it on the table. Let go of it and placed her folded hands in her lap, as if sitting in mass.
Kane waited.
“How far into my film did you watch?” Toni finally asked.
“Until the Unholy Trinity came in and you got sucker-punched by Haggerty. Your nose busted. That was it. You might feel better knowing that Haggerty died hard. I broke his knee first, then I destroyed his eye with the toe of my boot. I finished him with a shot through the head with his own gun.”
Toni held up her hand, as if to silence Kane. “You assumed the rest of what happened to me?”
“Yes.”
“It was worse than you assumed. I can assure you that. Do you still have my film? You told me it was destroyed in the fire.”
“It was. I was out of it when I left that place the night of the Blackout. I grabbed what I thought might be important in my fucked-up state. Your film was not part of that.”
“You thought my father’s film was important?”
“Apparently I did. You don’t?”
She didn’t immediately answer.
Toni shifted in her seat and looked Kane in the eye. One hand was on the table and her forefinger began to tap, very li
ghtly. “Do you think what happened to me that day ended when the film ended? Is that what you also assumed? That, like all the men, it was just what was on the film that was the key?”
“Tell me.”
“I was pregnant when I went in there,” Toni said.
Kane sagged back in the seat as if punched in the chest.
Toni continued. “No one knew except my doctor. It was early and I wasn’t showing. I hadn’t told Robert yet. Hadn’t told anyone. Not my father. Not my mother. I had my reasons. You weren’t around to tell. And before you ask, yes, I wanted that baby. More than anything. I was surprised by the feeling. I’d been pretty ambivalent about kids to that point. I think that’s part of the reason I made a mistake and called Damon, asking him to back off. I wanted a clean life, or some sort of one. Whatever. I certainly wasn’t thinking straight. It was a stupid move.”
Toni closed her eyes. The sounds of the city were distant this high.
Toni continued in a low voice. “After what they did to me, after they threw me in the trunk of Damon’s car and then dumped me, like so much trash, underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, I had a miscarriage. At first, I thought the blood was from the rape, because they were anything but gentle. I managed to get to my doctor that night. He confirmed I’d lost the baby lying there in the gutter.
“He took care of me as best he could, but given the circumstances, late at night, the rush, the secrecy, and the fact he’d already had a few drinks in him when I called, he made a mistake. After that, not only had I lost my baby, I could never have any more. Can never.” Her finger was doing a steady, slow beat. “I’ve never told anyone that either. Not Robert, for certain. Not my mother. Not my father. Not my priest. No one. Ever.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Toni.” Kane felt the futility. “That’s fucked up and horrible. It was the only thing someone said to me after Lil’ Joe died that made any sense at all. There’s nothing that can change it and it’s fucked.”
Toni gave a brief nod of acknowledgement at the shared grief. “I think about it,” she said. “Sometimes, after talking to you or seeing you, I wonder if losing that baby compared in any way to what happened with Taryn and you and Joseph. You had the joy of him for the time he was alive, then the tragedy of his death. Was the joy worth it? Or would it have been better if he’d never existed, like the child I didn’t give birth to?” She looked at him. “So yeah, it’s fucked up.”