Bronx Requiem(115)

Beck said, “I’m confident they’ll find them.”

Walter asked, “What about Bondurant?”

“Don’t worry about him, right now. First things first. Right now, you simply have to point the NYPD and the Feds away from us and in the right direction.”

Walter wanted to press Beck for more answers, but Phineas said, “Walter, you and I should go over all this before we meet with all these law enforcement people. We have to present this carefully and we don’t have much time.”

“Yes, I know. But…”

“But what?”

The moment of truth had arrived. Despite Beck’s denials, his bruised face told Walter he must have had something to do with the deaths of Oswald Remsen and the other three men upstate. Nor did Walter believe Beck had obtained all his evidence without resorting to violent means.

But he also knew Beck was right. And that the terrible exploitation of women and girls had to be stopped, and the murderer of Paco Johnson brought to justice.

Beck watched a good man, Walter Ferguson, struggling with the eternal dilemma: Did the end justify the means?

Beck leaned toward Walter and spoke softly.

“Walter, I promised you I would give you everything I discovered. I’ve done that. You said you wanted the chance to work this through the legal system. I’m giving you that chance. I’m asking you to take everything to the police, the Bronx DA’s office, and the FBI. What more can I do? Please help me stop people who have caused unimaginable misery, who have raped and beaten and prostituted women and girls barely in their teens. Who have murdered people. I wish we had more time to talk it over, my friend, weigh the pros and cons, address your concerns, but I don’t.”

Walter nodded. He sat silent, thinking. Beck and Dunleavy waited. Finally, Walter said, “I understand. Let me keep trying to contact Levitt. I expect you two have more to talk about.”

With Walter gone, Phineas Dunleavy turned to Beck and said, “James, I believe we can move this where it has to go. And I think I’ll even be able to discredit that murderous cop’s testimony against Ciro.”

“Good.”

“But, James, you realize the NYPD and the Bronx DA will never make a case against John Palmer for murdering your friend, Paco Johnson. I agree Palmer had motives and opportunity. But it all hinges on the gun you say he planted and as sure as I sit here, lad, we both know Palmer will lie and deny, and never stop lying. He’ll say he found the gun under a bed, in a drawer, someplace in that apartment. You won’t be able to prove he planted that gun.”

“I know that, Phin. At this point, I’m only asking you to throw enough sand in the gears to stop them from arresting us, and make Palmer a plausible suspect.”

Phineas knew Beck was trying to steer him away from the bitter reality facing Beck, but the wily old lawyer wouldn’t be dissuaded.

“James, you can’t go where I think you’re going. You can’t. We can get Palmer for perjury, suborning witnesses, whatever. But you’re going to have to live with the fact that a bent, corrupt, murderous bastard is going to get away with killing Paco Johnson. Tell me you can live with that, James. Can you do that, lad?”

Beck stared at Phineas, pleased and grateful that his friend and protector knew the ultimate danger underlying everything, and was trying to protect him from it.

“I’ll do whatever I have to, Phineas.”

Dunleavy knew a non-answer when he heard one. He dropped his voice and leaned toward Beck. “James, you can’t take out a cop, not even a rotten cop like this one who murdered your friend and tried to put you and the boys back in jail. You can’t.”

“Phin, put that out of your mind. Concentrate on what we need to do now. You’re going to have to persuade these law enforcement people to stop what they’re doing and change course. You have to make sure Ciro, Manny, and Demarco are protected from prosecution. The rest is going to take time. I know I’m asking a lot. But you have to do this.”

Phineas struggled with his implacable drive to fight and argue and debate until he won his point. He wanted to make Beck promise something he knew Beck never would.

Beck said to him, “Phin, please. Don’t get sidetracked.”

“All right, all right, lad. I’ll buy you time and make sure nothing will happen to the boys. I promise you.”

Beck shook hands with Phineas. He thanked him for his promise to keep his men safe, struggling with the bitter irony that he was going to ask every one of them to risk death come morning.





69

As soon as he left Phineas and Walter, Beck sat with Alex Liebowitz.

“Where are you on the property search?”

Alex handed him printouts. “I looked at variations of that name for properties in all five boroughs and Westchester County. Didn’t find anything beyond the stuff on the hard drive. Two houses, one apartment building with eighteen units, and a commercial building on Southern Boulevard. All in the Bronx. Owned by Queen-Esther Goodwin, Karen Goodwin, Karen Esther Goodwin, and Esther Goodwin.”

“You think Jackson owns more?”

“Probably. But do we have time to do a nationwide search?”

“No. What’s the ballpark value of them?”

“Based on a few quick online comparisons, the two houses, say about a half million. I don’t know the rent roll on the apartment building, but it’s got to be worth at least four or five million. The commercial building is pretty small; I’d say maybe a million. So, somewhere between five and six million.”