James Sheehan - The Law of Second Chances

“Clothing, personal papers-anything at all?”

“No. Carl was very meticulous. He never left anything here-not even a toothbrush.”

“Did he ever receive any telephone calls here or make any telephone calls?”

“No.” Nick was about to move on when Angie interrupted him. “Wait. He did get a call here about two weeks ago, maybe three.”

“Who was it from?” Tony interrupted, his first words of the interview. Nick glared at him, a cue not to butt in.

“I don’t know. Carl was very agitated about being disturbed. I could tell, though, that it was an important call, so I put a notepad and a pen on the table in front of him.” She looked at Nick, hoping he would understand it wasn’t just about sex for her. She wants to be helpful , Nick thought as he gave her an understanding, fatherly nod. “As the conversation continued he picked up the pen and almost absentmindedly wrote something down. He inadvertently left the note behind. Now that’s the only little piece of him that I have.”

Nick hated to break the news to her that she wasn’t going to have that little piece for long.

“May I see the notepad?” he asked. Three days before, Nick had punched a 250-pound brute in the mouth while simultaneously calling him a motherfucker. Now, as he talked to Angie, he seemed like a cross between Ward Cleaver and Mother Teresa. Angie handed over the notepad.

Nick looked at the pad as Tony leaned over his shoulder. Two words were scribbled haphazardly on the sheet: Gainesville and breakthrough . Nick looked at Tony, who shrugged his shoulders. Neither of them had any idea what the words meant.

“Whaddaya think?” Nick asked Tony when they were in the car on the way back to the station.

“She’s worth maybe two hundred a pop but not ten thousand a month.”

Nick went with it. “One man’s two hundred is another man’s ten thousand.”

“I guess you’re right. If you’re a billionaire, why not pay for what you want? If I were a woman I think I’d be a hooker.”

“No you wouldn’t,” Nick replied. “We’ve both rousted enough hookers in our day to know very few make it to the big leagues.”

Tony thought about it for a second. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that, too.”

“That wasn’t my question to begin with. Whaddaya think about the notes?”

“I don’t know. They make no sense to me. Maybe he was doodling and just wrote a few random words on the notepad. Hell, it could have been his bookie.”

“Could be,” Nick replied. “We’ll have to check and see if there were any horses with the names Gainesville or Breakthrough running that day.” He gave a sideways glance at his partner just to let him know that he thought he was nuts.

“What?” Tony shrugged. “I was just thinking out loud. What do the shrinks call that-free associating? I was free associating with you, Nick.”

“Good,” Nick replied. “I hope it cures you of whatever fucking psychosis you have. In the meantime, I think I’ll check out his cellphone records and find out where the call came from. What about her? What did you think of her?”

“Nice tits,” Tony answered.

“I noticed that you noticed. She probably saw you staring at them too. My question is, do you believe her story?”

“Yeah, she seemed pretty sincere. And pretty devastated too.”

“I agree,” Nick said. “I think she cared about the guy. But there’s more to the story. She seemed uncomfortable when I asked if anyone knew about Carl bringing money that night. I’ll bet she told somebody, and I’ll bet it was recently. I’m gonna go back there tonight and talk to the doorman on duty then and see if she’s had any other visitors recently.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tony offered. “By the way, was I really staring?”

Nick just looked at his partner and smiled. “I’m just grateful you didn’t have your mouth open and your tongue hanging out.”

New York City, August 1965

Sometimes just living in the neighborhood was stressful. At least, it was for fifteen-year-old Johnny Tobin. He’d be sixteen in another month. He was sure it wasn’t the same for his best friend Mikey, who was just a year older; Mikey was liked by everybody and always got invited everywhere .

Frankie O’Connor had a poker game at his family’s apartment on Friday nights. Frankie was two years older than Johnny, and most of the guys who went were in his age group. Mikey always got an invite and he was a year younger than Frankie. So did Norman Martin, who was the same age as Johnny. They both had older brothers-maybe that was the difference. Johnny and Mikey never talked about it, but Mikey knew Johnny wanted to go. Hell, they did everything else together .

Mikey was the one who delivered the invitation .

“Why don’t you come to Frankie’s on Friday night?” he asked on Thursday afternoon, knowing that Johnny would need some time to come up with an excuse to get out of the house. His parents were real strict .

Johnny wanted to make sure the invite was legit and not just Mikey trying to squeeze him in. There would have been nothing more embarrassing for him than to show up and then be kicked out .

“Did Frankie tell you to ask me?”

“Yeah, he did. He also said he wanted to talk to you.”

Jesus, what the hell was that about? Frankie O’Connor wanted to talk to him-in front of everybody. Maybe things had been better when he wasn’t getting invited .

Frankie O’Connor lived on the “other side” of Ninety-sixth and Lexington. The painted line running down the middle of Ninety-sixth was the unofficial demarcation separating Manhattan to the south from Spanish Harlem immediately to the north and Harlem itself beyond that. So Frankie O’Connor unofficially lived in Spanish Harlem .

Frankie had a comeback whenever anybody brought it up. “Hey, Jimmy Cagney lived on my block.” The mention of the most famous Irishman to come from the neighborhood usually shut them up .

Frankie lived with his father and brother; his mother had passed years before. The apartment was much bigger than Johnny’s four-room railroad flat, all of which would fit nicely inside Frankie’s living room. The bathroom was big enough to hold two or three people, and it had a shower. Johnny could only dream about someday living in a place that had a shower .

Frankie’s father always went out on Friday night and came home Saturday morning. His boys never knew where he went and they never asked. One day about two years earlier, the old man had simply said to Frankie, “I’m going out. I won’t be back until tomorrow. Keep an eye on your brother.” The card party hadn’t started for another year after that, when Frankie was sure that his father’s overnight excursions were a permanent thing .

There were two card tables set up in the living room and the games were already under way when Johnny arrived with Mikey and his two brothers, Danny and Eddie. Johnny brought money to play, but he had decided beforehand to be inconspicuous on his first night-just hang out and watch, get people beers, that kind of stuff. As it happened, Marty Russell lost big and cashed out early, so Johnny was drafted into one of the games .

“Hey, Tobin, get me a beer and sit in here in Marty’s place. We need your money.” The voice belonged to Doug Kline, a big, burly guy two years ahead of Johnny in school .

Johnny got the beer, put his money up, and sat down. Part of being accepted was acting like you belonged .

He won his second hand and Doug Kline pushed him good-naturedly as he raked in the pot. “We’re supposed to take your money, kid, not the other way around.”