CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The first of the three agents grabbedTeddy by his coat lapel and threw him into the chair behind the table. The interrogation room was tiny, on purpose,because they wanted their suspects to feel closed-in. Trapped. But Teddy wasn’t going along. “Iwant to call my lawyer,” he said.
“Tough,” said the second agent. He sat on the edge of the table beside Teddy,so close to him that Teddy could smell the onions on his breath. ATF was lead on the interrogation, but theFBI special agent in charge was still in charge. He stood back, against the wall, watchingTeddy more than he was watching his colleagues.
“When somebody says they want to seetheir lawyer, you’re supposed to stop the questioning and let me see mylawyer,” Teddy said. “That’s my right asa citizen of the USA!”
The two ATF agents laughed. “You gangsters know all about your rights,don’t you?” the second agent said. “Don’t give a fuck about anybody else’s rights, but you know yourrights.” Then he stopped smiling andgrabbed Teddy by his coat lapel again. “I don’t give a fuck what you want, Sinatra. It’s what I want that matters in thisbitch. And I want answers.”
Teddy looked him dead in the eye witha look almost as cold and menacing as his father’s. “You know who I am, right?” he asked him.
The agent, seeing that look andrealizing who he was actually dealing with, released his suit coat and satup. The first agent, sensing Teddy’sintimidation was working, stepped in. “We know who your ass is,” he said, “and we don’t give a shit. We need answers. You aren’t leaving this room, or seeing anylawyers, until we get those answers.”
Teddy looked over at the firstagent. “What kind of answers?”
“Like you said,” the first agentsaid, “we know who you are. You’re hisnumber two. You’re his underboss. You’re the heir to the throne. But on this day, in this time of life, that’snot a good thing anymore. You’re in asmuch hot water as your old man is in.”
Teddy stared at him. But he was nobody’s fool. The first two agents were just the frontmen. He looked, instead, at the man whowas actually in charge. “What do youwant from me?” he asked him.
The special agent pushed away fromthe wall, walked over to the table, and sat in the chair across fromTeddy. “It’s a simple proposition, Mr.Sinatra. Your life and your father’slife, or your father’s life alone. That,in essence, is what it comes down to. Ifyou testify against your father, we won’t come after you. Because we do know who you are. You were there while your father ran thelargest arms dealership in the world. You were there while your father took out anybody who stood in hisway. They weren’t good people. They were trying to take him out most timesI’m sure. But that doesn’t excuse hisbehavior. And you were right there, Mr.Sinatra. We also know you were therewhen the DiGenovas were murdered. Weknow that too. Oh, your old man tried tomake it look like a murder-suicide, but we know better.”
Then the agent in charge leanedforward. His voice was as calm as his wordswere deadly. “You can either go downwith your father,” he said, “and your father is going down. There’s no question about that. No matter what you do, your father is goingdown. You can go down with him, or youcan save yourself. That’s the choice youhave. The only choice you have. There are no other option on the face of thisearth.”
Teddy stared into that agent’seyes. But unlike with that agent’scolleagues, Teddy was the one who blinked.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
They walked across the grounds oftheir vast estate arm in arm. Securitywas at an all-time high, so they weren’t alone, but nobody was in earshot. And the music that blared over the estatesound system, some random, comforting elevator music, helped too. For most couples it would be an ordinarything, walking across the grounds of your estate with your wife. But for Mick, at that time in his life, itwas everything.
“Deuce is back in Philly,” Roz said.
“How is he?” Mick asked.
“He’s fine. That old man takes a licking and keeps onticking.”
Mick smiled. “That’s why, when I first met you, I took himoff of my security detail, and put him on yours. We’ll go see him when this all dies down. If it all dies down.”
“It will,” Roz said with confidence.
Mick looked at her with a side eyethat made his sleepy eye look closed. “You make it sound as if I don’t deserve punishment.”
“Your ass deserve plenty ofpunishment,” Roz said. “But that’s notthe point. You don’t deserve thispunishment. That’s the point.”
Mick grinned. “Your logic escapes me.”
“Me too,” Roz said with a smile, “butit’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Mick laughed.
Just as he was leaning his head backin laughter as he walked, arm in arm, with his wife, Charles came out from aside door looking for the pair. When hesaw them, and saw Mick actually laughing despite the circumstances, he smiledtoo. And went back into the house, intothe equipment room, where the stereo systems were housed.
“But you know what’s funny?” Mickasked Roz.
“What?” she asked him.
“Those four counts of murder they’vebrought me up on?”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t do it. DiGenova’s wife killed him and theirchildren, then she turned the gun on herself. Now I did shit in my time. Idid. But I didn’t do that shit.”
“That’s what I was talking about!”Roz said, although she had no clue Mick hadn’t committed those crimes. Then she looked serious. “But really, Mick? You didn’t do it?”
“It was a murder-suicide. Now, mind you, I planned to handle whateverbusiness I had to handle when I got there, yes, I did. But the wife took it out of my hands. That’s the truth.”
Roz was pleased. “If you beat the murder rap,” she said, “thenyou could be home free.”
Mick smiled. “I don’t know about that. Money laundering and racketeering aren’texactly misdemeanors. But I get yourpoint. It will most definitely help.”
Roz leaned against him. “I’m liking you more and more, Mister,” shesaid, and Mick smiled.
And when they made it up to the manmadelake on
