Judge & Jury

"In the area…?" Goldenberger cocked his head.

"I was in a car driving around the neighborhood, maybe two blocks away. I heard the shots. I saw Louis and Jimmy C. speed by. Louie's friend Stevie Ma

"Was anyoneelse driving around the neighborhood, Mr. Denunziatta? At the time Mr. Greenblatt was murdered?"

"Yes, sir." The gangster nodded."Tommy Moose was driving around. In a gray Lincoln."

"Okay, Thomas Mussina was there. In a Lincoln. Was there anyone else in this car with Mr. Mussina?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes, there was." Ralphie sucked in a breath."Dominic Cavello was in the car."

"How could you be so sure, Mr. Denunziatta, that it was Mr. Cavello in the car with Thomas Mussina?"

"Because they stopped and waved to me. A few blocks from the hit."

"But it didn't surprise you, did it, Mr. Denunziatta? To see him, the Electrician, there?"

"No, sir," the witness said.

"And can you tell the jury why?"

"Because Tommy told me they were going to be there the night before. He and Mr. Cavello. He said Mr. Cavello wanted to make sure everything was done just right."

Denunziatta looked up, as if drawn almost magnetically toward the defendant.

Cavello met his gaze with the most chilling, mirthless smile. It had finality to it. Everybody saw it. It was as if the temperature in the courtroom had dropped twenty degrees in a few seconds.

Go ahead, Ralphie, Cavello's smile seemed to say.Do what you have to do. When this has all played out, I'll find you.

Dead man walking, Ralphie.

The prosecutor brought the witness back."So to the best of your knowledge, Mr. Denunziatta, Mr. Cavello knew about Mr. Greenblatt's murder before it took place?"

"'Course he knew about the murder, Mr. Goldenberger. Jimmy wouldn't tie his shoelaces without the Boss's say-so. Everybody knew that.Cavello ordered the hit."

Chapter 22

MIRIAM SEIDERMAN HAD SEEN the monstrous look, too. It almost brought the proceedings to a halt, as all eyes went to Cavello.

Up to now the mob boss had been on his best behavior, but she knew he was tethered by a slender thread. The first two witnesses had been damaging. She could read the jury on that. Only a complete fool would think Cavello had nothing to do with Greenblatt's murder.

Yet he just sat there, like he had it all pla

After trial that day, she met her husband for di

But inside, she was scared. She kept reliving the trial. It kept reverberating through her. Something about that man. That he couldn't be controlled by any system.

She and Ben got home around ten. The alarm was on. The housekeeper had gone for the night. She double-bolted the front door and went upstairs.

She knew she should tell Ben about today. But it was silly, and she wasn't a silly person. She'd been on a hundred trials. She'd seen plenty of brazen criminals who thought they were bigger than life itself. Why was this one different?He wasn't! To hell with him.

She watched Ben disappear into his walk-in closet to get undressed, then into the bathroom. She heard him brushing his teeth. She went over to their bed. She pulled off the pillows one by one. Then she stripped down the duvet.

Miriam Seiderman felt her heart slam to a stop.

"Ben! Ben, come out here, quick!Ben! "

Her husband ran into the room, his toothbrush in hand."What is it?"

Under the covers there was a newspaper, folded open to page two. The headline read, GANGSTER STOPS TRIAL DEAD.

She was staring at Dominic Cavello. An artist's sketch. The very moment in the courtroom that had stayed with her all evening.

That look.

She turned to Ben."Did you put that here?"

Her husband shook his head and picked up theDaily News."Of course not, no."

A chill started to creep down Miriam Seiderman's spine. The house had been locked, the alarms set. Her housekeeper, Edith, had left at four.

What the hell was going on? This was this evening's paper.

Someone had gotten in here tonight!

Chapter 23

AROUND THAT TIME, in a dimly lit Albanian café in Astoria, Queens, Nordeshenko sat reading a newspaper of his own.

A few customers were at the bar. A soccer game was playing on the satellite, piped in from the home country, and the local boys were drinking and cheering, occasionally shouting in dialect at the screen.

The café door opened. Two men stepped in. One was tall, with ice-blue eyes and long blond locks flowing over his black leather jacket. The other was short and dark, Middle Eastern-looking, wearing a green military jacket over camouflage trousers. The two men took a seat at the table next to Nordeshenko's. The Israeli never even looked up.

"It's good to see you, Remi."

Nordeshenko smiled. Remi was his Russian nickname. From back in the army, in Chechnya. A version of Remlikov, his real name. Nordeshenko hadn't used it in fifteen years.

"So look what the wind dragged in." The Israeli finally folded down his newspaper."Or maybe the sanitation trucks."

"Always the compliments, Remi."

Reichardt, the blond with the scar under his right eye, was South African. Nordeshenko had worked with him many times. He had been a mercenary in Western Africa for fifteen years and had learned his trade well. He had been taught how to inflict terrible pain when most boys were learning grammar and mathematics.

Nezzi, the Syrian, he had gotten to know while on duty in Chechnya. Nezzi had once participated in a terror raid against the Russians in which a lot of schoolchildren got killed. Nezzi had blown up buildings, shot Russian emissaries, whatever it took. He could construct a bomb from materials one could easily find in a hardware store. Nezzi had no qualms about anything, no ideologies. In this age of fanatics, it made him a dying breed. Refreshing in a way.

"So tell us, Remi"-the South African shifted in his chair-“you didn't bring us out here to watch Albanian football, did you?"

"No." Nordeshenko tossed the newspaper over on their table. Facing them was the courtroom sketch of Dominic Cavello-the same one he had left in the judge's bed just a few hours before.

"Cavello." Nezzi wrinkled his brow."He's on trial, no? You want us to do a job on him while he's in jail? We could do that, I suppose."

"Have a drink," Nordeshenko said, signaling the waiter.

"I'll have oneafter, " the South African said."And as you know, our Muslim pal here lives the rigorous life of the Koran."

Nordeshenko smiled."All right." He lifted the newspaper one more time. On the other side was another courtroom sketch, one Nordeshenko had cut out of the paper from the trial's very first day.

Both killers stared at it. Slowly the message started to sink in.

"You want that drink now?" Nordeshenko asked.

Reichardt's look said,Lunacy."This is America, Remi, not Chechnya."

"What better place to break new ground?"

"Ouzo," Reichardt called to the waiter.

"Three," said Nezzi, shrugging.

The drinks came, and over the shouts for the football game, the men slugged them down, wiping their chins.

The South African finally started to laugh."You know it's true what they say about you, Remi: you'd be fucking dangerous if you ever got mad."