Page 20 of Witness 8

Sykes and Kovax were officially declared suicides. They ate their own guns. At their homes. On the same night. And their wives collected their pensions. But Gray and other cops in the organization knew better. Buchanan was terrified Sykes or Kovax would make a deal with the FBI and get a new life in witness protection in exchange for testifying against Buchanan and bringing down the whole house of cards. So he made sure they kept their mouths shut.

‘I don’t like liabilities, you know? You’re not feeling depressed, are you?’

‘No way. Look, it wasn’t just about me. Flynn could have evidence on every one of us who get kickbacks from towing. He was tight with the other tow companies, brought a driver from each one of them to court.’

‘Shit. I fuckin’ hate defense attorneys,’ continued Buchanan. ‘This guy, he used to be a conman. That’s the word on the street. Eddie Fly they used to call him. I don’t want no defense attorneywalking around with evidence that could expose our business. The towing don’t pay as much as the girls, or the coke, but hey, it don’t matter. They got Al Capone on tax fraud. We’ll cool the tow trucks, eat a couple of hundred grand in losses. That don’t matter to me. I just don’t want this fuckin’ guy poppin’ up in court threatening my cops. When cops are feeling vulnerable, they dostupidthings. They talk to the wrong people. Then they get . . . depressed.’

He held Gray in his gaze for a long time. Staring him out. Making sure Gray was solid. Gray felt like he was going to throw up, but he held firm. He had no choice.

‘We’re not just losing money on the tow trucks now. There’s not going to be any girls shipping in any time soon. You heard what happened to Grady Banks?’

‘He got arrested for kidnapping upstate. I heard some bitch put Butch in the hospital.’

‘Do you know what bitch? Her name’s Bloch. Sheworksfor Flynn.’

‘No way?’

‘Grady was a Nazi fuck, but he kept those girls coming in. We made a hundred thousand on every skirt. This is costing too much money.’

‘Flynn threatened us. In open court. We should do something about this guy,’ said Gray.

‘He’s an attorney,’ said Buchanan.

‘He’s dirty. Didn’t you say he used to be a conman? There could be all kinds of people he’s pissed off. I don’t want this asshole coming after us. We should get the bitch, Bloch, too.’

‘If you’re going to kill a snake, you don’t chop it up from the tail – you take the head off first. Job done.’

Buchanan slapped Gray on the back, friendly, but with force.

‘I think it’s time we sent a message. You come after one of us? We come after you. I’m putting the word out. We can’t takechances these days. And I want you to be there, personally, to make sure the message is delivered. You understand?’

6

Eddie

A week after John Jackson left my office, I was standing outside the Manhattan Criminal Court building, waiting for a hot dog at Akash’s stand, when I got the call from Al Parish. The call I had been waiting for.

‘I just got word from the DA. The gun they took from Jackson’s house gives us a big problem. Ballistic testing confirms the slugs found in Mrs. Blakemore’s chest and skull were fired from that weapon.’

‘That’s not good,’ I said.

‘It gets worse. There’s DNA on the pistol grip – it’s John’s.’

‘Didn’t he tell the police he’d never seen that gun before?’

‘He told them twice. Once when they showed him the gun they found in his closet and again during questioning, even after I’d told him to keep his damn mouth shut.’

‘Hold on a second,’ I said. ‘Extra onions, please, Akash.’

I took my hot dog and soda and sat on the low wall on the east side of the courthouse. I put the phone to my ear and said, ‘In a way, this is good news.’

Parish said nothing for a moment. He was looking for my angle, decided he couldn’t find it and asked for directions.

‘In what possible way is this good news?’

‘Oh, it’s bad news for John, no doubt. But in my mind either he’s the dumbest killer to ever walk the earth, or he’s telling the truth. Who shoots a neighbor dead in a wealthy neighborhoodand hides the murder weapon in their closet? One thing we know for sure is Jackson isn’t dumb. This confirms what I felt all along. John is innocent and he’s on the level. If your client tells you the truth, that’s half the battle.’

‘But the other side of that battle is unwinnable. This just became a rock-solid case for the DA. There’s going to be a press conference at four.’ Up until now Jackson hadn’t made the news. ‘District Attorney Castro is about to make the front page and Jackson’s life is going to implode.’