Eddie's Boy by Thomas Perry

Author:Thomas Perry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2020-11-11T15:44:46+00:00

19

The second half of the meeting with Deputy Assistant Holstra stretched past its allotted time the next day, as Elizabeth had known it would. Important people were always overscheduled. They had assistants who looked for ways to cut things short, pull the boss out early, and keep people waiting in case an opening appeared.

Elizabeth decided to get to the serious decisions before Holstra got called to his next appointment. “I believe he’ll try to get in touch with me again. I think he’ll want current information about an organized crime figure or two, and that he’ll offer up an important gangster for prosecution, almost certainly for murder. I’d like a consensus on how far to play him.”

She glanced at the others, taking the least time with her eyes on Delia. She was aware that Delia was the enemy. It was too bad, but Delia had already staked out the strict ethical position and could hardly relinquish it now.

Holstra said, “Would his information be good?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “He knows that practically nothing can be prosecuted this far out except murder. He only worked for the most important mobsters, so it will be somebody important. And he knows he’d have to supply evidence.”

“Okay,” Holstra said. “Let the opinions fly.”

Bill said, “As much as I like the idea of this kind of informant, his fate is a side issue. If we can get him to talk, fine. But we can’t forget Carlo Balacontano is the main issue. We’ve already got him. He’s one of the old men, the bosses, and he’s in prison, where he belongs. I haven’t heard any evidence that he doesn’t still belong there. He’s never shown remorse, never provided testimony against anyone, and never met any of the other criteria for parole.”

Delia had been waiting. “But you just heard that he was framed with at least the tacit connivance of our predecessors in Justice.”

John’s voice was bored. “Connivance isn’t ‘tacit.’ It has to be active.”

“You know what I mean,” Delia said. “Some people must have been active if they convicted him in a federal court. Everybody who worked here then must have known.”

“I’m sure they acted in good faith,” said John. “Bala’s innocence seems to have been a minority opinion. If there was real evidence of innocence, it’s not for a parole hearing anyway. In order to do this right, we would have to move for a new trial of Carlo Balacontano, and that’s the last thing we want.”

Bill shook his head. “Elizabeth, is this even a practical question? Is there any way that this killer could be brought to swear that Balacontano is innocent because this man did the killing himself?”

“I haven’t thought of a way,” said Elizabeth. “Why would he? It might be possible to get him into an incriminating conversation. But he’s smart, and very wary. And I’m not sure that getting a parole or a pardon for Balacontano would be anything more than correcting a procedural error. To make anything the hit man says even admissible, it would have to be firsthand, not hearsay.

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