The Client (Page 75)

"Your Honor," he said in a strong, confident voice. "I want you to understand that I’m not answering for the same reasons I gave yesterday. I’m just scared, that’s all." Harry nodded but gave no expression. He was neither angry nor pleased. "Mr. Bailiff, take Mark back to the witness room, and keep him there until we finish. He can talk to his mother before he’s transported to the detention center." Grinder’s knees were putty, but he managed to lead Mark from the courtroom.

Harry unzipped his robe. "Let’s go off the record. Madam Clerk, you and Ms. Gregg can go to lunch." It was not an offer, but a demand. Harry wanted fewer ears in the courtroom.

Ms. Gregg swung her legs toward Fink, and his heart stopped. He and Ord watched with their mouths open as she stood, took her purse, and pranced from the courtroom.

"Get the FBI, Mr. Fink," Harry instructed.

McThune and a weary K. O. Lewis were fetched and took seats behind Ord. Lewis was a busy man with a thousand important items stacked on his desk in Washington, and he’d asked himself a hundred times in the past twenty-four hours why he’d come to Memphis. Of course, Director Voyles wanted him here, which clarified his priorities immensely.

"Mr. Fink, you indicated before the hearing there is an urgent matter that I should know about." "Yes sir. Mr. Lewis would like to address it." "Mr. Lewis. Please be brief." "Yes, Your Honor. We’ve had Barry Muldanno under surveillance for several months, and yesterday we obtained by electronic means a conversation between Muldanno and Paul Gronke. It took place in a bar in the French Quarter, and I think you need to hear it." "You have the tape?" "Yes sir." "Then let it roll." Harry was suddenly unconcerned with time.

McThune quickly assembled a tape player and speaker on the desk in front of Fink, and Lewis inserted a micro-cassette. "The first voice you’ll hear is that of Muldanno," he explained like a chemist preparing a demonstration. "Then Gronke." The courtroom was still and quiet as the scratchy but very clear voices squawked from the speaker. The entire conversation was captured; the suggestion by Muldanno of hitting the kid, and Gronke’s doubts about getting to him; the idea of hitting the kid’s mother or brother, and Gronke’s protests of killing innocent people; Muldanno’s talk of killing his lawyer, and the laughter about it doing wonders for the legal profession; the boasting of Gronke about taking care of the trailer; and finally the plans to bug the lawyer’s phones that night.

It was chilling. Fink and Ord had heard it ten times already, so they were noncommittal. Reggie closed her eyes when the taking of her life was so nonchalantly bantered about. Dianne was rigid with fear. Harry stared at the speaker as if he could see their faces, and when the tape was finished and Lewis punched the button, he simply said, "Play it again." They listened to it the second time, and the shock began to wear off. Dianne was trembling. Reggie held her arm and tried to be brave, but the easy talk of Killing the kid’s lawyer made her blood run cold. Dianne’s skin broke out in goose pimples, and her eyes began to water. She thought of Ricky, who at that moment was being watched by Greenway and a nurse, and prayed he was safe.

"I’ve heard enough," Harry said when the tape stopped. Lewis took his seat, and they waited for his honor to give direction. He wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, then took a long drink of iced tea. He smiled at Dianne. "Now, Ms. Sway, do you understand why we’ve placed Mark in the detention center?" "I think so." "Two reasons. The first is that he refused to answer my questions, but at the moment, that’s not nearly as important as the second. He’s in great danger, as you’ve just heard. What would you like me to do next?" It was an unfair question posed to a scared, deeply troubled, and irrational person, and she didn’t like him asking it. She just shook her head. "I don’t know," she mumbled.

Harry spoke slowly, and there was no doubt he knew exactly what should be done next. "Reggie has told me that she’s discussed the witness protection program with you. Tell me what you think." Dianne raised her head and bit her lip. She thought for a few seconds and tried to focus on the tape recorder. "I do not want those people," she said deliberately, nodding at the recorder, "following me and my children for the rest of our lives. And I’m afraid that will happen if Mark gives you what you want." "You’ll have the protection of the FBI and every necessary agency of the U. S. government." "But no one can completely guarantee our safety.

These are my children, Your Honor, and I’m a single parent. There’s no one else. If I make a mistake, I could lose, well, I can’t even imagine it." "I think you’ll be safe, Ms. Sway. There are thousands of government witnesses now being protected." "But some have been found, haven’t they?" It was a quiet question that hit hard. Neither Mc-Thune nor Lewis could deny the fact that witnesses had been lost. There was a long silence.

"Well, Ms. Sway," Harry finally said with a great deal of compassion, "what’s the alternative?" "Why can’t you arrest these people? Lock them up somewhere. I mean, it looks as if they’re just roaming free terrorizing me and my family, and also Reggie here. What’re the damned cops doing?" "It’s my understanding, Ms. Sway, that one arrest was made last night. The police here are looking for the two men who burned your trailer, two thugs from New Orleans named Bono and Pirini, but they haven’t found them. Is that correct, Mr. Lewis?" "Yes sir. We think they’re still in the city. And I might add, Your Honor, that the U. S. attorney in New Orleans intends to indict Muldanno and Gronke early next week on charges of obstruction of justice. So they’ll be in custody’very soon." "But this is the Mafia, isn’t it?" Dianne asked.

Every idiot who could read the newspapers knew it was the Mafia. It was a Mafia killing by a Mafia gunman whose family had been Mafia hoods in New Orleans for four decades. Her question was so simple, yet it implied the obvious: The Mafia is an invisible army with plenty of soldiers.

Lewis did not wish to answer the question, so he waited for his honor, who likewise hoped it would simply go away. There was a long, awkward silence.

Dianne cleared her throat and spoke in a much. stronger voice. "Your Honor, when you guys can show me a way to completely protect my children, then I’ll help you. But not until then." "So you want him to stay in jail," Fink blurted out.

She turned and glared at Fink, less than ten feet away. "Sir, I’d rather have him in a detention center than in a grave." Fink slumped in his chair and stared at the floor. Seconds ticked away. Harry looked at his watch, and zipped his robe. "I suggest we meet again Monday at noon. Let’s take things one day at a time."

Chapter 30

PAUL GRONKE FINISHED HIS UNEXPECTED TRIP TO MINNEapolis as the Northwest 727 lifted off the runway and started for Atlanta. From Atlanta, he hoped to catch a direct flight to New Orleans, and once home he had no plans to leave for a long time. Maybe years. Regardless of his friendship with Muldanno, Gronke was tired of this mess. He could break a thumb or a leg when necessary, and he could huff and puff and scare almost anybody. But he did not particularly enjoy stalking little kids and waving switchblades at them. He made a nice living from his clubs and beer joints, and if the Blade needed help, he’d just have to lean on his family. ‘ Gronke was not family. He was not Mafia. And he was not going to kill anyone for Barry Muldanno.

He’d made two phone calls that morning as soon as his flight arrived at the Memphis airport. The first call spooked him because no one answered. He then dialed a backup number for a recorded message, and again there was no answer. He walked quickly to the Northwest ticket counter and paid cash for a one-way ticket to Minneapolis. Then he found the Delta counter and paid cash for a one-way ticket to Dallas-Fort Worth. Then he bought a ticket to Chicago, on United. He roamed the concourses for an hour, watching his back and seeing nothing, and at the last second hopped on Northwest.