James Patterson - Judge & Jury

Andie pressed her cheek to the glass, the sight of the dreary motel, her new home for the next several weeks, drifting away.

She missed just knowing she would see Jarrod that night."I don't think Sam Greenblatt exactly signed up for it either," she finally said to herself.

I WAS BEAT, bleary-eyed. I'd barely gotten three hours' sleep the night before. I tried to push the situation with Ellen out of my mind as I sat in court that morning. Cavello was flanked closely by two security people now. One more scene in there, and he was gone.

Joel Goldenberger stepped up to the witness stand."Good morning, Mr. Denunziatta. I'd like to pick up where we left off the other day." He had papers in his hand.

"You testified that you'd been present in the general area at the time Sam Greenblatt was killed," the prosecutor started in,"and that you spotted Thomas Mussina driving around. With someone else in the car. Would you remind the jury who that other person was, Mr. Denunziatta?"

"It was Dominic Cavello," Denunziatta stated.

"Good." Goldenberger nodded and turned a page."Now, what I want to move on to are the events that took place subsequent to that. Would you say that you and your colleagues were satisfied with how the job was done?"

"I guess at first we were satisfied." Ralphie shrugged."I mean, we did the job, everyone got away, no one got hurt."

"Other than Mr. Greenblatt, of course."

"Other than Mr. Greenblatt, naturally." The witness nodded with a contrite smile."It was maybe the day after that, as I recall, that things started to fall apart."

"What kinds of things are you speaking of, Mr. Denunziatta?"

"This guy that was involved in the hit, Stevie…"

"Steven Mannarino," Joel Goldenberger explained.

"Yeah. The kid screwed up. It seemed he didn't find clean plates for the getaway car like he was instructed. So he had to scramble." He cleared his throat."Apparently he located a set in Louis Machia's yard."

"In the yard of his friend, who had just participated in the killing, right?"

"Yes." Denunziatta rolled his eyes.

"So how would you describe Stevie?" the prosecutor asked."Was he an experienced guy in this sort of stuff?"

The witness shrugged."He was a good kid from the neighborhood. I think he had asthma or something. He just wanted to be around."

"Be around?"

"He just wanted to be in the club. He wasn't the smartest kid, but Louie liked him. So we let him run errands. The kid would've done anything to get on the inside."

"And this was his chance, wasn't it? His big audition?"

"If it had gone well, who knows?"

"So what happened to Stevie, Mr. Denunziatta? After it came out how he had messed up?"

"At first, Louis wanted to handle it himself. The cops came to his house that night, after someone spotted the plates. But Louie had his own issues to worry about, and Stevie was going around making a lot of noise, like he wanted us to take care of him and get him out of the area. Away from the cops. No one had actually seen him at the scene, but he was scared."

"So what did you do for Stevie, Mr. Denunziatta?"

"I told him I would work it out. I met with Tommy Moose. And Mr. Cavello. We took a walk at the Kings County Mall. I said we needed to get this kid out of town. My uncle Richie had a place in the Poconos. He could've hid out there. Tommy agreed that it seemed like a reasonable plan."

Goldenberger nodded."So that's where Stevie went then, after the Greenblatt hit?"

"Not exactly," Denunziatta said, and cleared his throat.

"Why? You were in charge of the hit. The person you reported to agreed. No one could pin that the guy was involved, right? Why didn't Stevie end up in the Poconos?"

"Because Dominic Cavello didn't go along with that," Ralph Denunziatta said, looking down.

"He didn't go along with it?"

"No." Denunziatta shrugged."The Boss said Stevie's gotta go."

" Stevie's gotta go, " Joel Goldenberger said. He took a step or two toward the witness."He said it just like that, Mr. Denunziatta? Those words? ‘Stevie's gotta go'?"

"No, not those exact words." Ralphie shifted in his seat. He cleared his throat, twice."As I recall, his exact words were, ‘Cut the fat fuck up and stuff him in a can for all I care. The kid has got to go.'"

"‘CUT THE FAT FUCK UP and stuff him in a can for all I care. The kid has got to go.'"

The prosecutor paused to let the effect of the words fall on the jury. Everyone in the courtroom seemed stunned.

"You heard Dominic Cavello say those words? Give you a direct order to kill Steven Mannarino?"

The witness swallowed uncomfortably and shot a quick glance toward the defendant."Yes."

A heavy silence settled over the courtroom. All the while, Cavello just sat there with his elbows on the table and his fingers folded together, staring straight ahead as if he hadn't even heard a word. It was like none of this even mattered.

"And Thomas Mussina," the prosecutor prodded,"he agreed with this?"

"What could he do? The Boss had given a direct order."

"So what did you do, Mr. Denunziatta? You promised Stevie you'd take care of him, right?"

"I did." The witness reached for some water."I think he was staying at his sister's. I had someone get in touch with him and tell him to pack a bag and meet us at Vesuvio's, this place we all knew in Bay Ridge. I told him he couldn't say a word to anyone about where he was going. Even to his mother."

"Go on."

"So we met him there. I got Larry Conigliero and Louis DeMeo. Stevie got out of his car with this dumb little travel bag. He asked how long he'd have to be away, and I told him maybe a couple of weeks or so, until it all died down."

"You were lying to him, right? You had no intention of helping him get away?"

"That's correct." Ralphie nodded, taking a swig of water.

"So what happened, Mr. Denunziatta, after Mr. Mannarino got in that car?"

"They drove away. They took him to Larry's garage. They told him they wanted to pick up some tapes there or something, for the drive. Larry told me Stevie never had a clue. He turned around and shot him in the backseat. Then they had to cut him up, like Mr. Cavello said. They wanted to follow his orders just in case. Then they drove him to the Poconos. He's still there today, for all I know."

"So you reported back to Mr. Cavello," Joel Goldenberger said,"that the murder he ordered was done."

"I reported back to Tommy."

"And shortly after that, you became a captain yourself?"

"Yes." He nodded."After about two months."

"And did Mr. Cavello say anything about why you had been made a captain in such a short time?"

The witness stared across the room. Toward Cavello."He made a joke that I wouldn't be buying any property in the Poconos anytime soon."

Even now, Cavello seemed to find the line amusing.

"Thank you, Mr. Denunziatta." The prosecutor closed his notes and went to his seat."One more thing." He turned back."Did Louis Machia ever find out what became of his buddy?"

Ralphie lowered his eyes."No, Mr. Goldenberger, Louie never knew what happened to Stevie."

ANDIE TRIED TO RELAX in her motel room that night, but it wasn't happening.

She found Denunziatta's testimony that day pretty unsettling. The more she heard, the more she was developing an intense hatred for Dominic Cavello, even though she knew she was supposed to remain objective. She lay on her bed, leafing through a Vanity Fair, but her thoughts went to Stevie, the trusting wannabe, with his toothbrush and a change of shorts in his little travel bag, thinking he was going to the Poconos to lie low. Cut the fat fuck up and stuff him in a can for all I care.