Mark Winegardner - The Godfather returns

“How can I talk to you about this? You didn’t even finish college. Nobody in your family ever did.”

“That’s ridiculous. Aunt Kay did, and so did Uncle Tom and Aunt Theresa.”

Billy laughed. “They’re not blood, though, are they? Other than Theresa, they’re not even Italian.”

Francesca would have let him have it-verbally, at least- if Sonny hadn’t been sitting right there. “My twin sister finished, and she’s getting her doctorate. My brother Frankie is doing great at Notre Dame, and-”

“Your brother Frankie plays football. What’s the toughest class he’s taking, Theory of Gym Class?”

“That’s low.” Frankie was in fact a phys ed major and had never been good in school. She was proud he was doing as well as he was, even in a gut major. “I’d have finished my degree, too, if you hadn’t-” Sonny was devouring his sandwich now, but Francesca didn’t want to risk saying anything in front of him. “You know.”

Billy shrugged. “Takes two to tango,” he said. “If you took exception to that, you had your chance to have it taken care of.”

A look of horror crossed his face; he immediately realized what he’d said.

“ Taken care of! ” she said.

“I’m sorry!” He reached out to her, and she pushed his arm away. He spent most of the rest of lunch apologizing. He was a talker. Eventually, he wore her down.

“It’s the job,” Billy said. “It’s gotten to the point that it’s affecting the way I am with you. I need to be making more of a difference in the world, and what it comes down to, I guess, is that I’m not going to be happy until I am. Can you understand that?”

She told him she did understand, as she’d told him before, and told him he really needed to talk to the attorney general and make his unhappiness known, as she’d been saying for weeks. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t do it. She was raised to believe that if you had a problem, you went to the man at the top. Billy had been raised with all the advantages, so she’d have thought he’d believe in that, too. All she could figure was maybe he was intimidated by Daniel Brendan Shea, though that, too, mystified her. Danny Shea, a pale and scrawny version of his brother, possessed the startled, blinking manner of a man whose eyeglasses have just been yanked from his face, though in fact his eyesight, if not his vision, was perfect.

When they finished eating, he kissed Sonny and then told Francesca that he’d do it: if it was what she wanted, he’d march straight to the attorney general’s office and see if he could talk to Danny Shea.

“I only want you to be happy,” she said, which was a lie. She was starting to want a lot of things beyond the horizons of her entitled husband’s happiness. “Like you said.”

They walked back to the Justice Department together. He carried his sleeping son in one arm and the helmet in the other, with which he hailed a taxi so Francesca wouldn’t have to carry the boy home. Billy kissed her good-bye, but with no more passion than if he were a friend of the family. He did say “Thank you,” but he never did remember what day it was.

The cab merged into the traffic on Constitution. “Happy anniversary,” she whispered.

“What’s that, ma’am?” the cabbie said.

“Nothing,” she said, pulling Sonny closer, willing herself not to cry. “Nothing at all.”

That afternoon, Billy did in fact get in to see Danny Shea. According to the notes taken shorthand by the attorney general’s secretary, what happened was this:

At 15:37, AG [Attorney General Daniel Brendan Shea] fit junior staff attorney Bill V. Airdale [ sic ] into a ten minute break in his P.M. schedule so long as BVA could accompany AG as he went for his daily run 10X up and down the building’s main stairwell. [Many books about the Sheas include accounts of her trailing behind AG as he held meetings in this manner, though her technique for managing to take shorthand this way has been lost to history.] BVA agreed.

BVA discussed his qualifications for this job and his desire to be involved more with prosecutorial matters that would result in more time in the courtroom and less in the library. BVA wondered if his Harvard degree had anything to do with his present dissatisfactory assignment, seeing as so many top officials in AG’s office were from Princeton. AG categorically denied any such bias, citing several Jews and Negroes from state-supported schools who held high office in the JKS administration, as well as the job with Senator [censored] that AG personally helped secure for Miss [censored] from the University of Miami, whom the AG referred to as BVA’s “girlfriend.” BVA apologized. AG accepted.

BVA nonetheless expressed unhappiness with his current assignment and asked about the possibility of a transfer. AG referred BVA to BVA’s own unit supervisor. BVA expressed disappointment with AG’s reluctance to act personally in the matter, especially given [several heavily censored lines follow; among the few words not blacked out are “Van Arsdale Citrus Co.,” spelled correctly, despite the earlier gaffe with Billy’s name].

AG said he did not understand.

BVA explained that his parents [two more censored lines].

AG expressed surprise, insofar as no such factors had accompanied AG’s decision to hire BVA. AG admitted that MCS [his father, former ambassador to Canada M. Corbett Shea] was the first to urge AG to hire BVA. AG’s understanding was that this had primarily to do with BVA’s excellent record at Harvard but also was aided by BVA’s fine service alongside the aforementioned Miss [censored] during the JKS election campaign.

BVA, somewhat breathless and thus difficult to understand, seemed to express skepticism that family connections hadn’t played a role and couldn’t play a role now.

AG admitted that this was true, but that those connections existed between MCS and the family of BVA’s wife, whose maiden name was [censored].

BVA asked if he’d been “foisted off” on the AG.

AG said it was more complicated than that. While reminding BVA of his sworn responsibilities, vis-à-vis confidentiality, AG said that he was in fact preparing a comprehensive plan to [prosecute] “the [censored name of BVA’s wife’s family] and people like them.”

BVA responded that he fondly hoped for the same thing, and certainly would not pass said information on to his wife or any member of her family.

AG expressed surprise and asked if that was really true.

Exercise session was completed.

BVA said he was committed to doing “anything and everything” to see to it that any crimes being committed by his wife’s family be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that otherwise his own political future would be [nonexistent]. BVA said he had firsthand knowledge of secret aspects of her family’s illegal activities that could be of use in AG’s comprehensive prosecutorial plan.

AG expressed his pleasure at this news and said he was optimistic he could work something out, vis-à-vis BVA’s proposed reassignment. He handed BVA a fresh white towel and thanked him for his time and candor. Meeting concluded at 15:47 EST.

The airport Michael Corleone used when he came to New York was nearly at the end of Long Island. It had once been a private airport but had been under government control since World War II. Several years before, Nick Geraci, who of course no longer flew, had rigged it so that various planes owned or operated by the Corleone Family could land there.

Michael taxied toward the hangar where Geraci was waiting. He stopped about fifty yards short of it. Geraci walked across the tarmac alone. Al Neri got out and searched him. Geraci took a deep breath and climbed the stairs.