7. Synthesis
McCall entered the lobby of Elise Cantrell's prewar apartment building after ringing the doorman. After looking at McCall through the glass door, the doorman admitted him. "My name is Robert McCall. I have come to visit Ms. Cantrell. She is expecting me."
"I'll ring her." No one answered. "I'm sorry, she doesn't appear to be in, sir."
"Perhaps she is indisposed. I'll wait a few minutes and you can ring her again."
"If you like, sir."
"She'd be disappointed with me if I left, I'm sure."
"If you say so."
"You don't know Ms. Cantrell well, do you?"
"Hardly at all, sir. Just to say hello or goodbye."
"Ever meet her boyfriend?"
"No, didn't know there was one, but that might explain the flowers the other day."
"He sent flowers?"
"Just yesterday, a crazy, over the top, giant bunch of stargazer lilies. I thought I'd die by the time I took them up to her. I'm allergic."
"What a shame to be allergic to such a beautiful flower. I bet she was thrilled, however."
"Not so much, no. By the size of it, I'd guess that the guy was apologizing for doing something really terrible by sending flowers. If so, she didn't go for it. She read the card and then shoved the whole thing down the garbage chute."
"How sad. Do you by any chance recall the florist who delivered them? I know my wife would be delighted to receive some from me. For her, the bigger the better."
"No. I could look at the book, I suppose."
"Would you mind? Then you could ring Ms. Cantrell again for me."
"Yeah, here it is. Stella Luna's." He rang the house phone again. "I'm sorry sir, still no answer. Maybe you got the time wrong."
"Perhaps you're right, or she's forgotten. In any event, I'll stop pestering you, I'll call her later to see what happened."
"No bother at all, sir. Hope your wife enjoys the flowers."
Outside, Vinny still waited. McCall entered his car and sat in the passenger seat. He made a call before he addressed Vinny. "Ginger, call this number. Tell the doorman that the telephone company is on the way to repair your phone. You are not receiving incoming calls." He turned to Vinny. "After you pretend to check out the lines in the basement, I want you to enter her apartment from the fire escape. Be extremely cautious."
"You expect a booby-trap?"
"I think it possible."
"What do you want me to do if it's all clear?"
"Look around for anything and everything that might tell us about her."
"Right."
"If you need my help, call me. I expect I shall be nearby."
McCall called information to get the location of Stella Luna. He walked the two blocks there. "A friend of mine received a gorgeous bouquet from here the other day. I'd like to order the same one for my wife."
"What were they?"
"Lilies."
"Don't recall them. What kind?"
"Stargazers."
"Do they have to be exactly the same?"
"Oh, yes. My wife will feel slighted if they are not at least the same or grander."
"I'll have to look it up. When was this and to whom?"
"Elise Cantrell in the Kasper Arms, yesterday morning, I believe it was."
The man leafed through the book. "Yeah, here it is. Lord, that was a big one. You sure you want to spend that?"
"How much?"
"Two hundred dollars worth of stargazers, more like a funeral spray than a bouquet."
"I see. Well, could you do it now?"
"You want to wait?"
"It would save me some on delivery if I did, wouldn't it?"
"It'll take me a while, if I can find enough. The original order wasn't even ours. A florist in Queens couldn't fill it from stock so they sent it to us."
"Fascinating." As the shopkeeper went to check on his supply of stargazers, McCall gently maneuvered the order book so he could read it. Along with Elise's name and address, the order said: "cash t.b.d. Vitale's, card: Imagine my surprise! Mr. Kostmayer is adorable. Best wishes on your imminent move."
"Oh my," McCall shouted out as he returned the book to its original position. "I appear to have left my wallet home. I'll call you back later, if that's all right. So sorry." McCall exited without waiting for a reply.
Outside, McCall took a deep breath before he considered the implications of what he'd read. McCall felt satisfied that he'd solved the "whodunit" part of the crime. However, something about the message puzzled him deeply.
McCall decided to call Frank Woodham again. He had news to share with him, and also hoped Frank could provide some clarification. He was disappointed to get Frank Woodham's answering machine. McCall asked Frank to call as soon as possible. Moments later, his phone rang.
"Good call to avoid the front door. It's safe now," Vinny said.
"I shall join you shortly," McCall said as he neared the Kasper Arms. The doorman admitted McCall after receiving a call on the house phone from "Elise Cantrell," who in fact was Ginger patched through the intercom by Vinny.
"Find anything of interest?" McCall asked Vinny.
"Only that, rigged to blow on the door opening." Vinny pointed to a small explosive package -- a modest device designed to badly maim at the least, but one that wouldn't do serious damage to the building structure. "Otherwise, not a damn thing so far. Of course, someone's been here before us."
"Whoever was here obviously wasn't looking for anything. This place is too neat."
"You think the lady rigged her own door?"
McCall considered the possibility as he examined the device. "No, I think this was left for her. It's shoddy work. To all reports she's very methodical and careful. Look at this place. Can you see her slapping on duct tape like that?"
"No, I suppose. Nor did I find any duct tape. So, give me a hint what I should be looking for."
"I honestly don't know. Anything written that isn't generic."
"I'll finish the living room. You take the bedroom -- just in case there's anything of Mickey's here. I think he'd prefer you checking his shorts to me," Vinny laughed.
Each of them worked quietly for several minutes. Vinny called about a find. "Yo, McCall. Got a business card here. One of yours. There's some writing on the back. It looks like gibberish."
McCall stared at it. "No, it's a simple cipher. Take this back to Mickey. Tell him I'll be in touch soon."
"Anything else?"
"Not now. Thank you, Vinny."
McCall searched a few more minutes with little expectation of finding anything except the card he knew she'd left on purpose. Elise Cantrell was careful. He knew of only one major mistake she'd made since she'd returned to New York. "You can't go home again," McCall said aloud with sympathy. "Ms. Cantrell must care for you very much, Mickey, to have indulged your desire to visit Little Italy."
McCall left determined to talk to Frank Woodham once more before he approached Barbara Bonnano. After he again reached Woodham's answering machine, he called the main desk of the center where Woodham lived. Frank Woodham had been taken to the hospital with heart failure. McCall immediately drove to the hospital in Jersey. Woodham, plugged into machines, breathed shallowly as he lay in ICU. McCall explained that Woodham had no family left and obtained admission as a dear friend.
"The priest is on call to administer last rites. It could be minutes or hours. Comfort is all we can give him now. Sit with him as long as you like," the ICU nurse said.
McCall felt for Frank Woodham. Dying alone might be life's worst revenge. Frank acknowledged McCall's presence.
"You have news?" Woodham said softly.
"Frank, I must tell you how I regret the circumstances of our meeting. I hope it did not contribute to this."
Frank Woodham shook his head "no" gently.
"Is there no one I could summon for you? Your ex-wife, a former coworker, someone else?"
"My time is over. I've just been marking days." His voice was thready and weak.
"I believe I have discovered why my friend was injured, or at least who was behind it, but there are things I cannot understand without knowing more."
"I told you all I know."
"Elise Cantrell has disappeared. An explosive device was left in her apartment."
"Is she, do you think . . ."
"That she is dead? No. Do I think it probable soon? Again, I don't know enough to say. Maybe you can tell me based on what I tell you."
"I'd do anything to help her. She's all I have left."
"I'm sure she would be here with you now if she could be."
Frank nodded.
"Shortly before the attack on Mr. Kostmayer, Elise was observed dining with him at a restaurant in Little Italy. The observer was Mrs. Joseph Bonnano."
Frank sighed upon hearing it.
"No, don't talk yet. I know that she is Elise's, or Lisa's, mother. I am confident that she was behind the attack, or revealed information to her husband's organization that led to it. She sent Elise flowers after the attack on Mr. Kostmayer. The card noted my friend by proper name and essentially told Lisa to leave town immediately."
"She'll be dead soon then."
"What I want to know from you, Frank, is whether Barbara Scarletti knew her daughter was still alive? The note was very strangely worded."
Frank shook his head "no."
"No, she didn't know her daughter survived?"
"No. She came to the funeral."
"As did you, but you knew. Could she have had a suspicion that her daughter was not really dead?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Could the informant inside the Bureau have told her, then or later?"
"No. Less than a handful of senior people knew the truth. Every piece of paperwork connected with the case showed she was dead."
"I see."
"Does that clear anything up for you?"
"It tells me that Barbara Bonnano is one cool customer if the phrase she used to describe seeing her daughter after believing her dead was simply one of 'surprise'."
"Barbara Bonnano is a purebred in the world of mobsters, entrenched from birth."
"Which leads me to other questions. You said that after everyone at Lisa's house was dead, she called you from her father's house."
"I assumed she was still there, or had just left there. I never knew where the call originated, if you want the truth of it. Does it matter?"
"I am puzzled by how she got into her father's house that night, given he knew of her treachery by then."
"Johnny took her and two of his men from the house; he probably let his guard down."
"Perhaps. What was Barbara Scarletti's relationship with Lisa like?"
"Lisa never said much about her. I know her mother was the one who encouraged her to get a good education instead of marrying and pumping out babies. Her father wasn't happy about that."
"Do you think it is possible that Barbara Scarletti was aware that Lisa was investigating her father for the Bureau?"
"Absolutely not. Make no mistake, McCall," Frank Woodham said with agitation, "Lisa's mother had a great deal to lose if anything happened to John Scarletti. Lisa knew that better than anyone. She would never have brought her mother in on it. The risk of discovery was too high."
"Yes, I suppose so. That's enough then. I don't want to aggravate your condition."
"It won't change anything at this point. It's better for me to focus on something."
"Just a couple more questions, then. Was Barbara Scarletti home when her husband was killed?"
"She found the body and called the police."
"That doesn't answer the question."
"It wasn't even a matter of interest to us. We knew who killed him. Where Lisa's mother was at the time made no difference."
"No, I suppose not," McCall said, although he had other ideas. Unfortunately, McCall knew that Frank Woodham could not provide the answers to McCall's remaining questions.
"I have a favor to ask you," Frank Woodham strained to say.
"If I can be of help, certainly."
"Save her." Woodham's breath slackened off. His blood pressure and heart rate sank visibly on the monitor. McCall arose, spoke to the nurse, and slipped away.
Back in his car, McCall called Mickey's house. No answer meant that Mickey was back at work. He wondered if Mickey had received the card yet. Then he wondered how he could explain the situation to Mickey without breaking his promise to Frank Woodham.
McCall decided to catch up with Mickey later rather than interrupt him by cell phone. He had a more immediate goal: figuring the best way to meet and talk to Barbara Bonnano. McCall felt there must be more to the story.
When McCall arrived home, he put aside the entire matter for a few minutes. He stopped to call his children, Scott and Yvette, just to touch base. Seeing Frank Woodham dying alone impacted him hard. Afterward, he spent some quiet time showering, puttering around the apartment, and waiting for inspiration or information. Mickey's phone call caught him in deep thought and close to napping.
"Yes, Mickey."
"We've got seed money out all over Chinatown. No one's talking."
"It may take time. Did Vinny catch up with you?"
"Yes."
"Do you still want to continue to pursue this considering her message?"
"The message was defensive bullshit. She hasn't gone anywhere. We're just two steps behind her."
"Your meaning?"
"She'd covered Chinatown before we got here. Probably made more progress since she's been studying Mandarin for three years."
"Oh. Well, that's good news, I suppose. Rest up tonight. I've got some irons in the fire."
"Can you give me anything?"
"Very soon, I promise."