James Patterson - Judge & Jury

She was feeling so alone. Some detective show was playing low in the background on the TV. She reached for the phone and dialed Jarrod at her sister's.

"Hey, hon," Andie said, brightening already.

"Hey, Mom!" Jarrod answered. It was great just to hear his voice. Talking to Jarrod always cheered her up. They were buddies.

"How's it going, guy? Auntie Rita treating you okay? She feeding you?"

"Yeah. Everyone's real nice here. The food is great."

"So it's not so bad after all, staying with your cousins?"

"I guess. It's just that…" Jarrod's voice grew soft."Why do you have to be there, Mom?"

"Because they're making us stay out here so we can really concentrate on the case. So no one will interrupt us."

"People at school are saying it's so this Mafia guy doesn't come after us. Try to hurt us."

Andie sat up and flicked the TV off."Well the people at school are wrong, Jarrod. No one's coming after us." It was one thing if she had to be out here, totally separated and alone. It was another thing for her nine-year-old to be sucked into this.

She tried to lift his spirits."Anyway, how many kids get to ride in a police car with a real FBI honcho?"

"Yeah, I guess. That was cool."

There was silence between them for a few seconds.

"Guess what?" she said."I spoke with the powers that be. They said you can come down here for the night next Tuesday-for your birthday. I hear there's some pretty good Italian food out here in Jersey."

That did the trick. Jarrod was over the moon."Can I stay over?"

"Yep, Jar, I cleared that, too. They even said they'd ride you back to school in a police car in the morning."

"That sounds great! I miss you, Mom."

"Me too, Jarrod. I miss you more." Andie moved the phone away a little and covered her mouth. She knew her voice was about to crack, and she didn't want Jarrod to hear that.

I miss you more than you'll ever know.

WE BROUGHT IN three more strong witnesses on Friday and Monday. Each built up the case against Dominic Cavello; each dug the blade in deeper and deeper.

One was Thomas Mussina, the famous Tommy Moose, Ralphie D.'s boss. He was currently in the Witness Protection Program.

Mussina backed up everything that Machia and Ralphie had previously testified: that Cavello had given the direct order to murder Sam Greenblatt; that Tommy was actually driving him around, in his gray Lincoln, just blocks from the scene; that after they heard the shots and saw their guys speeding away, all Cavello did was wipe his hands and say,"So that's done. How 'bout some eggs?"

Mussina also corroborated Denunziatta's story about what happened to Stevie. He used the exact same words:"Stevie's gotta go."

Then he told the jury about a dancer, Gloria, who worked at a fancy strip club Cavello owned in Rockland County, New York. Gloria bragged to one of the other girls that she had squirreled away thirty thousand dollars in cash. Her"I-70 fund," she called it. One day she was going to take her daughter and just drive west, start a new life.

Tommy Mussina told the jury,"When Mr. Cavello heard this he got mad as hell. He thought this chick was stealing from him. So he sent a couple of guys to her apartment. They screwed her, strangled her, and tossed the body in a Dumpster. Luckily the kid was at school."

"They found the money?" Goldenberger asked.

"Yeah." Mussina nodded."Stuffed inside a suitcase in a closet. Thirty grand, just like Gloria had said. They brought it back to Mr. Cavello."

"Why?"

"He wanted it." Mussina shrugged."He laughed, said, ‘What was once Caesar's belongs to Caesar.' I was there."

Vintage Cavello. Coldhearted and unnecessary. Over-the-top cruel.

"So in the end," the prosecutor said, shaking his head sadly,"did the money turn out to be stolen after all?"

"Nah. She saved it up just like she'd said. Mr. Cavello ended up giving it back to the family as a fund for Gloria's kid. He got a good laugh out of that one. It was the girl's own dough."

AFTER MUSSINA'S TESTIMONY, the jury members filed into the jury room for lunch. No one seemed particularly hungry."You see that asshole sitting there?" Hector shook his head angrily."He barely moves a muscle. Like he's got the world under control. Even us. "

"Well, he won't have it under control much longer if I have anything to do with it." Rosella crossed herself."God rest his soul. In hell. "

Andie sat down. She glanced at Marc. The writer was just leaning on the windowsill, staring out at lower Manhattan.

"That poor dancer. Some getaway fund, huh? I have a little boy. That could've been me at another time in my life," Andie said.

Marc nodded sympathetically." Which club was it you said you danced at?"

"Very funny." Andie scrunched up her face. But at least the joke broke the tension. One by one, people began to smile and sit down. They passed out plates.

"After this is over we should all meet. I know this farm in the Poconos," John O'Flynn said, piling cold cuts onto his bread.

Winston, the mechanic, laughed."Yeah, just watch out for all the large mounds of dirt."

Lorraine let one of her loud, high-pitched giggles go. That set everybody off. It was amazing that after all the grisly testimony they could just kick back and laugh.

" Lorraine," Andie said,"I have a dare for you. We all put ten bucks into a kitty, and the next time the Eyebrow makes one of those ridiculous statements about Cavello being a good citizen, you let rip one of your laughs."

"That would be priceless." O'Flynn cackled."I'm in. I think even Judge Seiderman would get a charge out of it."

Lorraine must've liked the image, because she let another one loose. Shrill and penetrating. Everybody laughed even louder than the first time.

Andie had to admit that over the past week she had gotten close to these people. Maybe it was the nature of what they were doing. Sharing the same room, hearing the same sick, unsettling testimony.

She looked around the room."Listen, it's my kid's birthday tomorrow. I arranged for him to come back with us and spend the night. What do you guys say about soda and cake in my room after dinner?"

"Hey, a party," O'Flynn said, nodding for all of them.

"We'll get party hats and noisemakers!" Rosella exclaimed."Like New Year's Eve. Be a birthday he'll never forget."

"Courtesy of the United States government," Marc said."They owe us something after all this, right? What's the little guy's name?"

"Jarrod." Andie smiled."That's great. Thank you, guys. There's just one other thing. I kinda promised you'd all bring presents."

I WATCHED THE JURY file back in for the afternoon session. Minutes later, another star witness was on the stand. He was an ex-mobster named Joseph Zaro, a former union official in the Local 407. The 407 was the contracting union Cavello controlled in New Jersey.

Zaro explained how for years contractors were squeezed for payoffs to get building contracts. How it literally took a hundred thousand dollars in a suitcase dropped at union headquarters if you even wanted workers to show up for the job. Or, if a contractor wanted a mix of union and nonunion labor to save money, that cost you 20 percent of the savings up front.

For years, we knew it was the biggest racket going in New Jersey, and that Cavello was literally skimming millions off the top. We just couldn't catch him.

"How many contracts did you rig for Mr. Cavello?" Joel Goldenberger asked Zaro.

"Dozens. Hundreds?" The witness shrugged."And there were two other guys like me doing the exact same job."

"The exact same job? Meaning extortion?" Joel Goldenberger pressed him.