I, Michael Bennett mb-5 Page 7

  The guard’s face was no longer so tan. He swallowed hard as he stared at the iPhone.

  “I’ll do whatever you want,” Doug said, his command voice not so commanding anymore. “Whatever. My God. Sharon. Please don’t hurt her.”

  “Please what?” Perrine said putting a hand to his ear.

  “Please, sir?” Doug said, his lips trembling.

  “Fuck SIR!” Perrine barked, his smile suddenly gone, his eyes like blue steel. “PLEASE WHAT!?”

  “Please … ” the bald guard said, shrugging his massive shoulders. He closed his eyes as he realized it.

  “Please, King,” he finally said in a near whisper.

  Perrine’s smile returned as he lowered the phone and started to unfold the package of coke.

  “You’re a fast learner, Doug. I appreciate that. Lovely Sharon and your two thirsty little boys appreciate that. Keep up the good work and we’re going to get on like gangbusters.”

  Perrine expertly laid out a fat line of top-shelf cocaine and even more expertly hoovered it off the scarred metal prison table before he thumbed at the door.

  “Now, leave us for thirty—and I repeat, thirty—minutes, Doug. And whatever you do, my large, helpful friend, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

  BOOK TWO

  SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

  CHAPTER 26

  ONE YEAR LATER

  IT WAS AROUND five thirty in the morning and still dark when I passed the ghostly Asian guy doing tai chi. In a misty clearing to one side of the northern Central Park jogging trail, birds were tweeting like mad as an elderly Asian man wearing a kung fu getup straight out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon went through the slow, graceful motions.

  I always saw him on my predawn Saturday morning Central Park suicide run and, as always, I wondered what his story was. Was he actually a ghost? Were the Shaolin monks opening a Harlem branch? What did he do when he wasn’t being ancient and mystical?

  Sweat dripped from my perplexed head as I kept running. A lot of questions and no answers, which was about par for the course lately.

  I’d been running a lot in the year since Hughie’s murder. I mean, a lot. Twenty-five miles a week. Sometimes thirty. Was I punishing myself? I didn’t know. I certainly was pushing the envelope on my knees, though.

  It just felt right, I guess. When I was moving, huffing and puffing and slapping my size-eleven Nikes on asphalt, I felt safe, human, okay. It was when I stopped and let the world catch up to me that the problems seemed to start.

  The sun was just coming up behind my kids’ school—Holy Name, on Ninety-Seventh Street—twenty minutes later as I dropped to its front steps, my tank completely empty. As my face dripped sweat onto the concrete, I watched a guy in a newspaper truck load the corner box. When he left, I saw Manuel Perrine’s face on the cover beneath the headline:

  S

  UN

  K

  ING’S

  N

  EW

  Y

  ORK

  T

  RIAL

  IT’S ON!

  It actually wasn’t news to me. Hughie’s cousin Tara McLellan had been assigned to the trial, as she had wanted to be, and was keeping me up to speed. There had been a lot of back-and-forth to move the trial to Arizona, but in the end, the feds decided to try him first for the murder of the waiter in the department store, maximizing the trial’s impact by holding it in the largest, most visible venue possible. The whole thing was very political. National elected officials and even the president had weighed in, everyone wanting to show how serious they were about the Mexican cartel problem and border security.

  Even with the politics, I didn’t care. I was glad he was being tried here. The son of a bitch had killed my friend, and even after I testified, I was going to go to the trial every chance I got, so that I could see justice done. I was going to do my best to have Perrine put where he belonged, namely, strapped to a lethal-injection table.

  It was a harsh way of looking at things, but it suited my recent mood just fine. I stood up from the school steps and wiped my sweaty face. It was a harsh old world we lived in, after all.

  CHAPTER 27

  I TRIED TO be as quiet as possible as I came back into the apartment with breakfast, but of course Mary Catherine was already up and at ’em in the kitchen, sewing something in her lap while a pot came to a boil. As I came in and dropped the bagels onto the kitchen’s center island, she gave me a look. An extremely Irish, skeptical look.

  “Good … eh, morning?” I tried.

  “I knew it. That’s where you were. Running. Again,” she said.

  “Um … I thought exercise was good.”

  “Usually it is, Mike, but that’s all you do these days. Work and run and work some more. You have to stop pushing yourself. You’re going to run yourself into an early grave if you’re not careful. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You’re getting too thin.”

  “Too thin?” I said, handing her a latte. “C’mon, that’s impossible. Besides, let’s face it, with these kids, I’ll never be too rich, so what the heck.”

  She shook her head.

  “It’s your life, Mr. Bennett. I just work here,” she mumbled, going back to her sewing.

  Wow, I thought, carefully retreating back into the hallway. “Mr. Bennett?” I must have done something really atrocious for my nanny to be busting out a stone-cold “Mr. Bennett” on me. If only I could figure out what it was.

  The front door almost hit me in the back as Brian and Ricky came in, arms filled with dusty suitcases and bags.

  “Hey, boys. You’re up early. What’s the occasion?”

  “Just grabbing all the luggage from storage, Dad, for the really wonderful summer vacay we’re about to embark on next week,” Brian said.

  “Yeah,” Ricky said. “I can’t wait to get up to the old cabin in the woods. And for the rest of the summer instead of last year’s two weeks. People think the woods are boring, but c’mon. You have trees and branches and leaves and bark and stuff.”

  “Animals, too. Birdies and even squirrels,” Brian continued. “I mean, who needs PlayStation high-definition gaming when you have the chance to see a squirrel looking for a nut? It’s riveting.”

  I stared at my kids, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. They’d acted the same way the summer before and then ended up having the time of their lives.

  “Honestly, Dad. We don’t have to go to Hicksville again this year, do we?” Ricky said. “There’s nothing to do.”

  “He means except getting bitten by mosquitoes and getting poison ivy,” Brian added helpfully.

  I peered at them and scratched my chin for a bit.

  “Well, sons. I didn’t know you had such huge objections to the trip. Besides, you guys are a year older. Maybe we can arrange something else for you two—like we’ll head upstate, and you guys can man the fort down here.”

  Ricky and Brian looked at each other ecstatically.

  “That would be awesome!” Brian said. “The whole apartment to ourselves. You know you can trust us. We’re down, Dad!”

  They began to step past me. I let them get five feet. Maybe four.

  “Oh, wait. I just thought of something. What was it, now? Oh, yeah. I was only kidding. Start packing, knuckleheads, and don’t forget the OFF! Next stop for you two happy campers is Hicksville, USA.”

  CHAPTER 28

  WISPS OF BLUE smoke stung my eyes as I lifted the roasted chickens from their foil packets. I listened to the satisfying sizzle as I slipped them one by one onto the grill to finish smoking. The mahogany-colored birds looked awesome and smelled even better—of sweet mesquite smoke and lemon.

  “Bobby Flay, eat your heart out,” I mumbled as I closed the lid of my trusty Weber grill.

  It was my grandfather Seamus’s birthday, and I was most definitely doing some grillin’ and chillin’ for his surprise party this evening. On the table behind me, the Philly cheesesteak sliders we
re waiting with the rest of the appetizers, the chips, the fruit platter, the beer, and Cokes on ice in galvanized buckets.

  Since everything was ready to go, I decided to crack open one of the Coronas to ease my smoky throat.

  The whole setting looked as awesome as the food. Colored plastic Japanese lanterns were strung above white paper tablecloths. In the distance, over the buildings and Riverside Park treetops, the Hudson River was sparkling. My West End Avenue building really didn’t have a designated rooftop space, but I helped the super out with his traffic tickets, so he looked the other way a couple of times a year when I wanted to have a tar-beach barbecue. I couldn’t think of a better venue for tonight’s event.

  I put down my beer as my phone jangled.

  “This is Falcon One. The target is in the box. I repeat, Dumbledore is in the building.”

  Dumbledore, I thought, shaking my head. Leave it to my nutty kids to turn a surprise birthday party into a covert operation with code words.

  “Roger, Falcon One. Keep me posted.”

  I sipped my beer as I waited for the next transmission.

  “Falcon One here again. Dumbledore fell for it,” Trent reported five minutes later. “Grandpa actually thinks he needs to help Mary Catherine take clothes up to the roof to dry. He must think its 1912 instead of 2012. Anyway, we have him hook, line, and sinker. They’re taking the elevator. We’re coming up the back stairs. ETA two minutes.”

  The other kids and I were huddled together, my youngest, Chrissy, beside me, literally shaking with excitement as the roof door opened.

  “Surprise!” we all yelled.

  “What?” Seamus said, wide-eyed, dropping the laundry basket he was holding. “Oh, my goodness!”

  “He’s speechless!” Mary Catherine cried, coming up behind him. “Someone mark the date and time. I think we actually made him speechless!”

  We sat down and commenced eating. It was a delicious meal. In addition to the perfectly smoked chicken, we had smoked sausages and German potato salad and slaw. As we joked and bantered, we watched the sun go down and the lights go bright in the city to the south.

  As I sat there smiling, one of those perfect New York moods hit me. Sad and happy and serene all at the same time. I had trouble remembering the last time I felt this good. Definitely before Hughie lost his life. Thinking about him, I lifted my plastic cup to the dark silver sky.

  After we dispensed with the paper plates, I popped a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne as Mary Catherine brought over the cake she’d baked.

  “How many is it, Father?” I said, filling his glass with bubbly. “How many cases of candles are we going need to light this puppy up? Should I call LaGuardia to warn the air traffic controllers?”

  “Please, no candles—and especially no numbers. Not today,” Seamus said. “That can be my present from you, Michael. No mention of any numbers.”

  Jane cleared her throat.

  “Before we sing happy birthday, Gramps, we wanted to share with you the top ten reasons why having a priest for a grandfather is great.”

  “Oh, no. I should have known,” Seamus said, shaking his head in mock despair. “First roast chicken, now roast grandpa.”

  He wasn’t fooling anyone. The old man couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear as the kids stood with their index cards.

  “Number ten: extra-special ‘God bless yous’ when you sneeze,” Jane said.

  “Number nine: front-row pews on holidays,” said Shawna.

  “Number eight: last rites before the more treacherous amusement park rides,” Eddie chimed in.

  “Number seven: Roman collar provides excellent grip on horsie rides,” said Chrissy.

  “Number six: top-notch pet burials,” said Trent.

  “Number five: reminding Gramps that you’re an innocent child of God easily gets you out of trouble,” Fiona and Bridget said in unison.

  “Number four,” said Ricky. “Fear of excommunication is a really great incentive to floss teeth.”

  “Number three,” said Brian. “Sanctity of confessional box keeps Dad in the dark forever.”

  “Number two,” said Juliana. “Lots of chances to wear nifty YOUR GRANDPA LIVES IN FLORIDA BUT MINE CAN EXORCISE DEMONS T-shirt.”

  “And number one,” I said, standing.

  The last zinger was mine, of course. Seamus winced.

  “Nonstop sermons,” I said. “Every darn day of the week.”

  CHAPTER 29

  AFTER THE BIRTHDAY dinner, the kids took Seamus to the most recent summer blockbuster while Mary Catherine and I cleaned up. We’d wrapped up the leftovers and were breaking down the tables and chairs when I spotted something.

  “Hey, what’s this?” I said as I saw something gold at the bottom of an ice bucket. I put my hand into the freezing water and pulled out a second bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which I’d forgotten about.

  “Look, a straggler,” I said as the ice-water droplets tickled the tops of my flip-flopped feet.

  “We can’t let this go to waste,” I said, putting the music back on. My iPod was jam-packed with fifties and sixties music these days, all the doo-wop crooning and violins and melodies and sweet, soulful love songs I could download off iTunes. I had been playing the songs during the party, to Seamus’s delight.

  We took the bottle over to the southwest corner of the roof, where we could look out over the West Side and the Hudson River. As we arrived, “Up on the Roof” by the Drifters soon started floating through the warm summer night air.

  Millions of tiny lights sparkled in the dark water as the Drifters sang about being up above the bustling crowd and having all your cares sail away. I peeled away the foil on the Veuve Clicquot and untwisted the wire. When the cork popped, it ricocheted off the terra-cotta rim of the building and went spinning out into the night.

  “That’s a long way down. You think we hit anyone?” Mary Catherine said, looking over the railing.

  I stared at her blue eyes and fine-lined face, uplit in the soft glow of the city lights.

  “No chance,” I said, smiling, as I looked down. “But even so, I’d certainly take a Champagne cork over your usual New York City ‘airmail’—the kind delivered by pigeons, high-rise construction sites, and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.”

  When I passed her the bottle, she gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

  “What’s that for?” I said.

  “For celebrating Seamus, Mike. It was really wonderful. The kids love you so much. They love seeing you happy. They’ve been worried about you. So have I. I know how hard it’s been for you since losing your buddy Hughie.”

  I looked down at the tar paper between my flip-flops.

  “I’ve been pretty pensive lately, haven’t I?”

  “‘Pensive’ is a word,” she said. “‘Silent’ is another one.”

  Unable to deal with where the conversation was headed, I cha-cha’d her around a rusty AC unit as “Up on the Roof” was replaced by Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem.”

  It seemed like music from a different world. It was as though the tune came from a different planet—a simple, happy one, where young people longed for adulthood and love.

  I knew that getting older meant being skeptical about the music of a new generation, but what I heard on the radio these days was truly new territory. How in fifty years had the human race gone from popular music in which young men sang about things like buying their girl a ring and getting married to popular music in which young women boastfully sang about how much they enjoyed hard-core, dirty sex?

  “Ding-dong,” Mary Catherine sang. “I’m right here. Penny for your thoughts.”

  “They’re not worth that much,” I said, twirling her around.

  It was maybe another thirty seconds before we heard footsteps behind us.

  “Hello? Anyone up here?” a voice said.

  We turned as Petey Armijo, the pudgy super of my building, stepped over, swinging a set of keys.

  “Hey, Mr. Bennett, if
you guys are … eh … done here, I’d like to lock the roof door.”

  “We just finished, Petey,” Mary said, walking over and turning off Ben in mid-croon before hitting the stairs.

  “Exactly, Petey. All done,” I said, grabbing a couple of folding chairs. “Your timing is impeccable.”

  CHAPTER 30

  BY THE TIME I made it back downstairs into the apartment, I heard the dishwasher and the washing machine going. Mary Catherine was in full cleaning mode, which by now I knew meant that she was feeling anxious and emotional, and we’d probably shared our last dance of the evening.

  My relationship with Mary Catherine was obviously complicated. So complicated, in fact, that even I didn’t know what was going on half the time. There was something deep and special between us, but every time it seemed like we were about to make a solid connection, something—life, the world, one of New York City’s unending supply of murderous maniacs, or, most often, my big mouth—would get in the way.

  Thankfully, I noticed we’d run out of milk and eggs and bacon for Sunday breakfast, so I grabbed my keys and went out for a breath of what passes for fresh air in New York. Outside my building, I immediately walked over to the NYPD cruiser on the near corner.

  “Don’t shoot,” I said, with hands raised, to the stocky young black cop behind the wheel as he rolled down the window.

  The department had assigned nonstop protection to me and my family ever since I’d collared Perrine. And with good reason. In Mexico, during his reign of terror, Perrine had had dozens of cops, Federales, and prosecutors killed.

  “I’m hitting the deli, Officer Williams. You need anything?”

  “No, I’m fine, Detective,” the soft-spoken, affable Afghan war vet said as if he were coming to attention.

  “At ease, Private Williams,” I said, smiling. “Half-and-half, one sugar, right?”