Payback

by Lorenzo Carcaterra

  “You’re looking at him,” Carmine said.

  “They’ll expect you to invest some money with them,” Alexandra said. “Six figures at the start and build it up from there.”

  “And that they will get,” Carmine said.

  I saw Connie standing in a corner, shaking her head. “Relax,” I said, more to her than to the group. “Not a nickel of it will be Carmine’s money.”

  “Tank went and found us a money honey,” Pearl said, smiling. “One with subpoena power to boot.”

  “It seems the U.S. Attorney’s Southern District office has had their eye on the firm for quite a while,” I said. “They haven’t been able to flag them on anything as yet, so whatever we can do to speed that along would be most welcome.”

  “And they’ll front the money for Carmine?” Carl asked.

  “Dee Dee Jacobs wants these guys caught, and she has the resources. And we’re not asking for a fortune. One hundred and fifty thousand to get the ball rolling. Carmine will know how to take it from there.”

  “I’ll check in with my clients,” Alexandra said. “See if any of them have their money with this firm or if they know anyone who does.”

  “How do you do that, exactly?” Chris asked. “Won’t they get suspicious if you start asking about their accountants?”

  “I don’t ask,” Alexandra said. “I read their fortune and tell them that a place or a company where they keep their money may be doing more than just investing it. Then I sit back and let them do the talking.”

  “The U.S. Attorney is giving us something else besides money,” I said. “Or, in this case, someone else.”

  “Somebody to keep an eye on us?” Bruno asked.

  “Someone to work with us,” I said. “Someone who knows the terrain and the players and has been tracking firms like this since he joined the office.”

  “You’re bringing in a fed,” Carmine said. “That’s like walking on hot coals, Tank. Sooner or later, you’re going to get burned.”

  “I have no choice in this, Carmine,” I said. “If I want their help and their money, we need to add one of theirs to our team. And we have to trust him until he gives us reasons not to.”

  “You’ll all be doing the bulk of your work on the firm and their operation,” Pearl said. “Me and Tank will focus on the Jenkins case.”

  “To me, that seems an even tougher nut to crack,” Carl said. “The guy confessed and he got convicted. And no one has raised a hand to say he wasn’t the one that did it.”

  “And we’re going up against a thick wall of blue that we know from experience doesn’t budge in the slightest,” Pearl said. “It’s a heavy lift, I grant you.”

  “Working off the fact that Jenkins didn’t commit the murder, someone else did,” I said. “And we need to find that someone else. We work it like a cold case. Forget Jenkins. Our job is to find Rachel’s killer. That’s the way, the only way, we get Randy out of prison.”

  “The killer could be someone Randy knew,” Chris said. “Someone he hung out with in the neighborhood. Rachel and Randy were dating, right?”

  “More like friends with benefits,” Pearl said. “Depending on which day of the week it was. But Randy isn’t the only one who connects to Rachel.”

  “Eddie Kenwood was pretty tight with her, as well,” I said.

  “That ties the detective who pinned the murder rap on Randy to the victim,” Pearl said. “That doesn’t happen very often, at least not in my experience.”

  “More than half of the unsolved homicides committed against one or both people in a relationship is done by a friend or someone they see on a regular basis,” Chris said.

  “Where’d you pick up that nugget?” I asked.

  “Saw it on a rerun of a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode the other night,” Chris said.

  “Do you know the agent the U.S. Attorney is assigning to your team yet?” Connie asked.

  I looked across at her and smiled. “Yes, I do,” I said. “His name’s Bobby Gregson. He joined the feds after he passed the bar exam. Dee Dee trusts him, which means, for now at least, I trust him.”

  “A lawyer and a fed,” Carmine said. “I’m already breaking into hives.”

  “Chris can dig up some background information on him in case anyone’s curious,” I said. “Anything more than what’s on the Web, you can ask Connie. She knows him, or so I’ve been told.”

  “Connie?” Carmine said, turning to face his daughter. “How do you tie up with him?”

  “I don’t,” Connie said. “At least not in the way you’re thinking. We were in school at the same time, him at the law school, me taking some business courses. Sometimes we would have a coffee or a drink after class. Then he would go his way and I would go mine.”

  “I never heard him mentioned before,” Carmine said.

  Connie looked at me as she answered. “There was nothing more to it than that,” she said. “So there really wasn’t anything to mention.”

  I held her look for a moment and then rested my wineglass on a side table. “Let’s get to work,” I said to the team. “We’ve got cases to crack.”

  I turned and walked past them and out of the room.

  21

  CENTRAL PARK ZOO

  TWO DAYS LATER

  “THANKS FOR MEETING ME HERE,” Carmine said to David Randolph. Both of them watched a grizzly bear prowling along a series of makeshift rocks and stones. “I’m not big on doing a face-to-face in somebody’s office, as you can imagine.”

  “I admit, I was a bit taken aback by the choice of locale,” Randolph said. “But as I learned from my earliest days in business, you go where the client tells you.”

  “Just as long as the client has money,” Carmine said, giving Randolph a gentle tap on the arm. “Am I right?”

  “I wouldn’t be here, Mr. Tramonti, if I had any doubt about your financial situation,” Randolph said.

  “Then we’re clear why we’re here,” Carmine said. “I’ve got some money I want parked. Cash only. I might have a few friends in the same situation. We want to hold on to the money we have, watch it grow, and give as little of it away as possible. I suppose that would make you my go-to guy.”

  The day was hot and muggy, and they walked alongside mothers pushing strollers and older couples stopping to watch the polar bears and seals. “It all depends, Mr. Tramonti, on how much money you wish to invest. Dealing in cash is not as easy to accomplish in my world as I imagine it is in yours.”

  Carmine stopped and turned to face Randolph. “First, lose the Mr. Tramonti,” he said. “It’s Carmine. Second, if you’re just going to be tossing shit, the monkey section is that way. I came here to talk business. I thought you did, too. If I’m wrong, let’s end this little chat right here and now and we can both be on our way.”

  Randolph looked at Carmine for a few seconds and then nodded. “How much were you thinking of investing?” he asked.

  “Six figures at the start,” Carmine said. “Since we’re new to each other. That gives me a chance to see how you operate and how good you are at making my dough grow. It also gives you a feel for me, whether I’m someone you want around or not. Sound good to you so far?”

  “It’s a fair and balanced offer,” Randolph said. “And one I expected.”

  “All right, then,” Carmine said. “Let’s keep walking and you tell me how this works.”

  “Before I get to that part, may I ask a question?”

  “Shoot,” Carmine said.

  “Is the cop, or ex-cop, who keeps company with your daughter and is a regular in your restaurant the reason you chose my firm to invest your money in?” Randolph asked.

  “You did your homework,” Carmine said. “That scores some points with me. Now if you were thorough in your work, you would know a guy like me never tells a cop or an ex-cop nothing abou
t where he keeps his money or where he parks it. I don’t ask him where he keeps his cash and I don’t expect him to ask me where I keep mine. We clear?”

  “And why my firm?”

  “Because your firm’s dirty,” Carmine said. “Which means you won’t ask too many questions I don’t have to answer. Now can we get on with it or not? Give me the lay of the land.”

  “It’s very simple, really,” Randolph said. “You open an account with the firm, either under your name or under an LLC we can set up for you out of Delaware. Once that’s done, we select the best possible avenues in which to, as you say, park your money.”

  “What kind of profit margin are we talking about?”

  “With an initial six-figure investment, we can deliver an eight percent return in your first year,” Randolph said. “The same holds true for any other investors you point our way.”

  “How much of that goes to you and how much goes to the government?” Carmine asked.

  “The firm takes five percent of profits,” Randolph said. “And there’s no cap. We secure your investments and keep them away from prying eyes.”

  “Which means what when it comes to me paying taxes on the dough?”

  “Your balance sheet will show a loss,” Randolph said. “A minimal one, but enough that you wouldn’t be required to pay any amount beyond our fee.”

  “And how do you make that happen?” Carmine asked.

  “That’s our business,” Randolph said, his voice taking on a harsher tone. “And it stays our business.”

  Carmine glanced at him and smiled. “It may be your business, Randolph, but it’s my money. Now, I’m not looking for a step-by-step on how you duck the government. Just knowing some of the logistics will make me a happier man.”

  Randolph paused and then said, “Your money will be invested in overseas companies and placed in banks that will know you only by a number, never by a name. We spread the money around and it is constantly on the move. Think of it as an assembly line. Makes it difficult to trace and even more difficult to track. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  “For now,” Carmine said. “Let me ask you this. Let’s say for one reason or another I get caught in a jam and need to get my hands on the cash fast. How quick can you turn it back to me? And does it come back to me clean or does it set off a few loud bells and whistles?”

  “You can have your money back the day you ask for it,” Randolph said with calm assurance. “It can be done one of two ways. If you wish to leave your cash in the investments we’ve selected, we can pay you out of our discretionary fund. There will be no interest charged if you return it to us within three months. Otherwise, there is a slight fee but one so negligible you’d barely notice.”

  “Trust me, Randolph,” Carmine said, “unless the fee is zero, I’ll notice it. What’s the second way?”

  “We pull the money out of the investments and hand it back over to you,” Randolph replied. “We liquidate the LLC, and both the company and the money disappear, as if neither were ever there.”

  “You make it sound as easy as me making a veal Milanese,” Carmine said. “Hope it plays out that way. How soon can you get me set up?”

  “From the time you hand over the money,” Randolph said, “a little less than a week.”

  “And how does that work, exactly?” Carmine asked. “Me handing over the cash. Don’t expect me to waltz into your firm and drop a few large envelopes stuffed with money on your desk.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Randolph said. “Once you’ve made your final decision and have the money in hand, you send a text to this number.” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed Carmine a folded sheet of paper. “Don’t use your cell phone or one belonging to anyone connected to you. Get a burner. You will then receive a return text with a location. Someone will be waiting there to receive the money. It would be wise if you were not the one delivering the cash. Choose an employee or, better yet, a courier, one you’ve never used before and don’t plan on using again.”

  “In other words, I stay under the radar,” Carmine said.

  “Exactly,” Randolph said. “You and I will never meet again. At the zoo or anywhere else.”

  “If that’s your way of keeping my money safe and sound, I’ll play along,” Carmine said. “But there would be one circumstance where you and I would need to meet again. Face-to-face.”

  Randolph stopped and turned to Carmine. “And what would that be?”

  Carmine slid his hands into his pockets and stepped in closer. “If anything were to happen to my money,” Carmine said in a low voice. “If it were to suddenly go into the wind or I find out all those profits you promised me turned out to be Bernie Madoff bullshit. That’s when that would be.”

  “I assure you such a meeting won’t ever be necessary,” Randolph said, his calm veneer fading away, a nervous inflection in his words. “Your money will be safe, and you will be pleased with the profits you earn and the lack of exposure you encounter.”

  “I hope that’s the case,” Carmine said. “Otherwise, it’s back to the zoo you and I go. Only this time, only one of us will be standing outside the grizzly bear’s den looking in.”

  Carmine nodded at Randolph, turned, and began to walk slowly toward the Fifth Avenue exit.

  22.

  TRAMONTI’S

  THAT SAME DAY

  I SAT ACROSS FROM CONNIE, WATCHING her pick at a half-eaten Caesar salad. I was content nursing a glass of Averna on the rocks. The restaurant staff was busy setting up tables for the soon-to-arrive lunch crowd.

  I checked my watch and glanced at Connie. I couldn’t help but notice the concerned look on her face. “I know you’re not happy about me asking for your dad’s help,” I said. “But he’s not just the only one I could trust, he’s the only one I knew with the know-how to pull it off.”

  “I get that, Tank,” she said, her voice low and barely audible. “And if he didn’t want to get involved, he wouldn’t have done it. And, to be honest, helping you out on your cases this past year has brought more energy back to his life. I didn’t realize how much Dad missed being around the action. It was all he’d known since he was a kid running numbers for the local bookies.”

  “There’s a ‘but’ coming my way,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “I can feel it, rushing in at any minute.”

  “The ‘but’ is he can get hurt,” Connie said. “He was beaten up pretty badly earlier this year when he helped you chase down that drug dealer. Now he’s going up against a firm that seems to play as rough as any dealer or mob crew, if not rougher. If in fact they had your brother and his wife killed, that means they will do anything to protect what they have. That scares me, Tank. Scares me for my dad. Scares me for Chris, Pearl, and the others on the team. And it scares me for you.”

  “It’s not a case I ever envisioned working,” I said. “But there’s no stepping back from it for me. I’m aware of the risks going up against these guys’ posses. Your dad is, too. But he’s been moving around large amounts of money all his life. He understands the ins and outs of that business a lot better than me. He’ll know how to keep them on the hook. Trust me, I would rather be out banging heads with a high-end dealer or taking you on a nice vacation. But Chris laid this on my lap, and I can’t ignore it.”

  Connie reached out a hand and placed it on top of mine. “I never expect to talk you or my father out of doing anything you set your minds to,” she said. “I learned that lesson a long time ago.”

  I sat back and nodded, letting the brief silence give us both a chance to take a deep breath. “Let’s not forget, on this one, it’s not just my team working the case. We got the U.S. Attorney in on it, as well. We have her full support. She’s assigning your old pal Bobby Gregson to work with us. Under the table, so no one but us knows about it.”

  “Have you met him yet?” Connie ask
ed.

  I shook my head. “Maybe you can tell me a little about him.”

  Connie’s face flushed a bit, and she moved her hand away from mine. “It’s been years since I’ve seen him,” she said. “Didn’t know he was a fed. Last I saw him he was planning on practicing law.”

  “You downplayed it when I first brought up his name,” I said. “But there was more to the two of you than an occasional cup of coffee and glass of wine.”

  “I got caught off guard,” Connie said. “Plus, you saw the way my dad reacted. Thought it best to keep it simple. Which, in fact, it was.”

  “So, you did date him,” I said.

  “We were friends, Tank,” Connie said. “Nothing more. Bobby was working for a cable company, helping to pay his way through law school. I was taking classes during the day and helping out here at night. There wasn’t much time for serious dating. Though I don’t see how any of that will help you work this case.”

  “Just trying to get a better picture of the guy, seeing as how we’re going to be working together,” I said.

  Connie brushed a few strands of hair away from her face and smiled. “There’s more to it than that, Tank,” she said. “You’re not worried about working alongside a fed you’ve never met. You’re worried about working next to an old boyfriend of mine.”

  “You don’t want to go there, we won’t,” I said. “But he’ll be part of my team, on this case at any rate. And odds are better than even you two will be seeing each other. So I need to make sure you’re okay with that.”

  “There’s no reason not to be okay with it,” Connie said. “We never got to the point where it was considered a real relationship. We were friends for a period of time. Then he went his way and I went mine.”

  “What brought it to an end?” I said.

  “It kind of faded away,” Connie said. “One day he was too busy to meet up. Another day, it was me who couldn’t get away. I suppose if we wanted to be together, we would have figured a way to work all that out.”

  “Any regrets?”

  Connie reached for my hand. “I love the fact you’re jealous, Tank,” she said, a wide smile on her beautiful face. “It’s a side of you I’ve never seen. But there was never anything serious between me and Bobby. We were two friends with busy schedules who met now and then to relax and forget about work. And it ended because, well, that’s how it was meant to go. There’s no bad blood, no regrets, and no what-ifs.”