Sleepers. Part 36

We still didn't know if we had Father Bobby locked in as a witness and wouldn't know until he walked into that courtroom. We decided it would be best for him to deal directly with O'Connor and not risk being seen talking to either me or Carol. If Father Bobby were to take the stand, we wanted it to be as late into the trial as possible, allowing the impact of his testimony to stay with the jury as they headed into the deliberation room.

Father Bobby Carillo, a priest with the best outside jump shot on the West Side, remained the key to a plan that called for all involved to get away with murder.

14.

KING B BENNY STOOD in front of his club, hands folded at his back, eyes staring straight ahead. Three of his men huddled close by, stamping their feet against the cold. The door to the club remained open, the lilting sound of Doris Day singing "Que Sera, Sera" easing its way onto the street. in front of his club, hands folded at his back, eyes staring straight ahead. Three of his men huddled close by, stamping their feet against the cold. The door to the club remained open, the lilting sound of Doris Day singing "Que Sera, Sera" easing its way onto the street.

It was King Benny's favorite song.

"I see you've still got a thing for Doris Day," I said, coming up next to him.

"She's a good woman," King Benny said.

"You like her movies?" I asked.

"I don't go to movies," King Benny said. "C'mon, let's take a walk."

We crossed 11th Avenue and walked down 52nd Street. I kept my head down and my collar up, the wind blowing hard, the air now cutting sharp as ice. King Benny was, as usual, dressed in black s.h.i.+rt, slacks, and jacket. His hair was slicked back and his b.u.m leg dragged, but he walked with a slight jaunt and seemed not to notice the weather.

"This guy Addison," King Benny said. "The one works for the mayor."

"I know him," I said.

King Benny went after Henry Addison with a vengeance. It went beyond mere business. King Benny took Henry Addison and made it personal. He knew that he was part of a young, well-to-do crowd that paid lots of money for s.e.x parties with little boys. It didn't take King Benny long to find out who supplied those boys and how much their bodies were worth. The East Side pimp with the street name of Radio gave up everything-names, dates, videotapes, and photos. Enough material to cost Henry Addison a cushy city job that was handed to him by a friend in the mayor's office.

It took King Benny even less time to find out that unlike his other Mends, Henry Addison didn't have much money. So he was forced to borrow for his pleasure. This put him in debt to the kind of people who charged interest in return for their loans.

"He's gonna quit his job in two weeks," King Benny said.

"Why's that?"

"He don't want n.o.body to know the kind of guy he is," King Benny said. "Don't want n.o.body to see pictures of him they shouldn't see."

"He knows this?"

"He will," King Benny said.

"That it?" I said.

"The boys he buys for parties are expensive," King Benny said, taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping the edge of his nose. "Addison makes good money. He don't make real money."

"What's he owe?"

"Eight grand," King Benny said. "With a heavy vig."

"To who?"

"Three small-timers downtown," King Benny said. "They were letting him pay it off for a piece a week. Until this morning."

"What happened this morning?"

"They were paid off," King Benny said. "In full."

"Who paid 'em?"

"Henry Addison's chits belong to me now," King Benny said.

"You hate debts," I said.

"I hate Henry Addison," King Benny said.

We stopped at the corner of 52nd Street and 12th Avenue. I looked over at King Benny and saw in his dark eyes the dangerous void that he usually hid so carefully. It was an emptiness his enemies had good reason to fear.

It was an emptiness about to be filled with Henry Addison.

His black sedan was across the street, one of his men behind the wheel, the windows up, the engine running. We walked slowly toward the car.

"We going for a ride?" I asked him.

"I am," he said. "You're going home. To sleep, in case anybody ever asks."

"Where are you going?"

"Pick up my money," King Benny said.

"Take me with you," I said. "I want to be in on this."

"Go home," King Benny said. "We're in the dirty end of the field now. That's where I play. And I like to play alone."

King Benny watched as his driver opened the back door of the sedan. He looked over at me and nodded.

"You're a good kid," King Benny said. "You always were. Don't let this change it."

[image]

THE LIVING ROOM was dark, the only light coming from two bare windows and the glimmer of a floor lamp. All the furniture was new, two black leather couches taking up one end, a white s.h.a.g pull-out sofa shoved against the opposite wall. In the center of the room was a long butcher-block table surrounded by four black leather chairs on rollers. There was a framed wall poster of Dr. J hanging on one wall and a cardboard cutout of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe leaning against a door that led to the small kitchen. The room smelled of fresh paint and incense. was dark, the only light coming from two bare windows and the glimmer of a floor lamp. All the furniture was new, two black leather couches taking up one end, a white s.h.a.g pull-out sofa shoved against the opposite wall. In the center of the room was a long butcher-block table surrounded by four black leather chairs on rollers. There was a framed wall poster of Dr. J hanging on one wall and a cardboard cutout of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe leaning against a door that led to the small kitchen. The room smelled of fresh paint and incense.

A tall, reed-thin black man sat in one of the black leather chairs, his feet flat on the floor, his hands folded and resting on the butcher-block table. He was wearing a black turtleneck and black leather slacks. He had a Rolex on his left wrist and a diamond pinky ring on his right hand. He wore black Gucci loafers and no socks.

His mother named him Edward Goldenberg Robinson, after her favorite actor. To continue the Hollywood connection, Eddie Robinson took the street name Little Caesar as he made his way up the ranks of the lucrative drug trade. He was Brooklyn's number-one mover among black dealers and was rivaled only by the remains of the infamous Nicky Barnes's crew for power over the entire city. He earned close to $50,000 a day on cocaine, raked in another $25,000 on heroin, and skimmed a ten percent fee off any marijuana that sold on his streets.

Eddie Robinson was thirty-six years old and had already fathered six kids with three different women. His oldest child, a son, was twelve years old and attended a private school in upstate New York, where he lived with his mother. Little Caesar named his son Rizzo after his youngest brother, who died while in the custody of the Wilkinson Home for Boys.

"You alone?" Eddie Robinson asked King Benny, who was sitting on the other side of the butcher-block table.

"Got a guy downstairs," King Benny said. "In the car. Your guy shoulda told you before you let me in."

Eddie Robinson smiled and turned toward the thick-muscled black man in a sweatsuit standing in a corner by the window.

"Bip can't talk," Eddie Robinson said.

"Smart move," King Benny said.

"I'm not looking for partners," Eddie said, thick mustache highlighting his thin face. "If that's your reason for the meet."

"I don't want a partner," King Benny said.

"Then what?" Eddie Robinson said.

"I want you to give me some money," King Benny said.

"How much money?"

"Eight thousand dollars," King Benny said.

"I'll play along," Eddie Robinson said with a smile. "Say I give you the eight grand. How long before you pay it back?"

"I'm not paying it back," King Benny said, reaching a hand into his jacket pocket and taking out a folded piece of paper. "Somebody else is."

"This somebody somebody I know?" Eddie Robinson said, taking the paper from King Benny and placing it in his own pocket.

"Your little brother knew him," King Benny said.

"Rizzo?" Eddie Robinson asked, a sudden deadness to his voice. "How did he know Rizzo?"

"The man was a guard at an upstate home," King Benny said. "Was there the same time as Rizzo. Before and after he died."

"Bip," Eddie Robinson said, not moving his eyes from King Benny. "Count out eight thousand and put it in an envelope."

King Benny and Eddie Robinson stared at each other in silence, waiting for Bip to walk into the kitchen and come back out with a white envelope. Bip handed the envelope to Eddie Robinson.

"You go back a long time, old man," Eddie Robinson said as he pa.s.sed it on to King Benny.

"Old men always do," King Benny said.

"Ran with the guineas back when the guineas were tough," Eddie Robinson said.

"Ran when I could run," King Benny said.

"Maybe you and me can do some business," Eddie Robinson said. "Close us a deal."

"We just did," King Benny said, putting the envelope in the side pocket of his jacket and turning to leave the room.

"I'll look up our Mend soon," Eddie Robinson said as King Benny walked away. "And collect the money he owes me."

"He owes you somethin' more than money," King Benny said, standing in the entryway, his face in the shadows. "Something worth more."

Eddie Robinson stood up from his chair, hands spread out before him. "Ain't nothin' worth more than the green."

"This is," King Benny said.

"What, old man?" Eddie Robinson said. "What's this guy owe means more to me than dollars?"

"He owes you Rizzo," King Benny said. "He's the man that killed your brother."

King Benny walked past the light, opened the apartment door, and disappeared.

15.

"YOU HAVE A witness for us, counselor?" Judge Weisman asked Michael. witness for us, counselor?" Judge Weisman asked Michael.

"Yes, your honor," Michael said.

"Let's get to it, then," Judge Weisman said.

"Your honor," Michael said. "The prosecution would like to call Ralph Ferguson to the stand."

I took a deep breath and turned to my right, looking at Ferguson as he walked down the center aisle of the courtroom. Twelve years had pa.s.sed, but I still recognized the sound of his walk and the slight feminine manner in which he moved his shoulders. He had gained some weight and lost some hair and appeared uncomfortable in his baggy blue blazer.

The last time I saw Ralph Ferguson I was tied up in my cell, my mouth taped shut, Sean Nokes holding me down, watching him rape and beat one of my friends. It was a night of terror that Ferguson probably dismissed soon after it happened. It is a night that for me has never ended.

Michael kept his head down as Ferguson walked past, heading for the stand to be sworn in by the bailiff. Michael and Ferguson had not yet met. He had another attorney in his office handle Ferguson's deposition and the initial Q & A, not wanting to tip his hand before he and O'Connor were to question the former guard in open court.

Ralph Ferguson and Sean Nokes had remained friends beyond their years at Wilkinson. They spent vacations together hunting deer in upstate woods and long weekends in a rented cabin by a lake fis.h.i.+ng for ba.s.s. They drank beer and whiskey, talked about old times, and made plans for the future. They hoped one day to go in as partners on a bait and tackle shop in central New Hamps.h.i.+re.

The unhappily married Nokes often visited the happily married Ferguson and his wife, Sally, staying in the spare room in the small tract house they owned in the Long Island town of Freeport. Ferguson had been best man at Nokes's first wedding, a union that had lasted less than a year. Nokes was G.o.dfather to Ferguson's only child, his four-year-old daughter, Sh.e.l.ley Marie.

On the surface, Ralph Ferguson was a model citizen. Pee-Wee soccer coach. A dedicated employee who never missed a day and helped organize company parties. He even handled the Sunday collections at his church.

A perfect character witness.

Ferguson fidgeted on the stand, too nervous to focus his attention on Michael, gazing instead at the faces of the jury and the spectators.

John and Tommy sat quietly, staring at him with open contempt.

"Doesn't look so tough up there, does he?" I whispered to Carol. "n.o.body does," she said.