Part 15 (1/2)
”The reporter. Weren't we just talking about that?”
”Yeah, but I just got a message from Lucy.”
No response.
”Mayburn?”
”What did she say?” His voice was quick, flat.
”She was calling me from her sister's cell phone. She wanted to check on me. She was apologizing to me.”
”Jesus.”
”I know. She's the sweetest person on the planet.”
”In the universe.”
”You miss her.”
”Yeah. But it doesn't help to talk about it. Give me the sister's cell-phone number.”
”Has she given it to you?”
”If she had, then why would I be asking you?”
”I'm not giving it to you. You need to let her have her s.p.a.ce.”
”I need to make sure Lucy is okay.”
”She's okay. You know that. You just want to call because of you, not her. You can't take being apart from her. Believe me, I understand.”
Silence.
”I'm not giving it to you for your own good. But I'll hold on to it, I promise. So, this reporter,” I said. ”How do I talk to him?”
Mayburn exhaled. ”I'll call him and conference us in.”
”d.a.m.n, you know how to make things happen,” I said. ”I appreciate this.”
”Yeah, yeah. Hold on.” There was quiet for a moment and I took a breath, staring at an old photo, cheaply framed, that hung on the dorm wall-a shot of the sun hitting the dome of a Roman church in a silvery green stream of light.
”Iz, ya there? I've got Stephen Gooden on the line. Steve, can you hear us?”
We all said our h.e.l.los. ”So, what can I help you with?” Stephen said. He had a resonant, academic-sounding voice. ”Something about the witness protection program?”
”Yeah,” I said. ”It's something to do with my father. I guess I'm just wondering exactly how the witness protection program works.”
”Well, for starters, there are a couple of different kinds of programs. The federal marshal program, the U.S. Attorney's program and the state level.”
”What's the difference between those three?”
”Well, the federal marshal's program usually involves a witness in a case with the Justice Department or the FBI. The U.S. Attorney's office has separate funding to protect people who might be witnesses in an upcoming case or something like that. And then there's the state version. Local police or almost any law enforcement can put someone into protection mode. None of these programs are much fun.”
”What do you mean?”
”They're essentially social services. They set someone up with an ident.i.ty, give them a little cash or a new job and turn them loose. After a year, no more financial a.s.sistance. Used to be they didn't even provide any papers or doc.u.mentation. Today, there's still very little follow-up.”
”So, does that mean that the person can come out of hiding at anytime?”
”It's not exactly hiding. But, yeah, it works something like that. I mean, a federal employee can't stay with someone twenty-four hours a day in order to make sure a witness doesn't get themselves into trouble after the case is over.”
”How do you know if someone is in the witness protection program?”
”You don't. That's the whole point.”
”So they just go away forever?”
”Look, do you want to tell me what drain we're circling around? I mean, is there something more specific you want to know?” He didn't say this unkindly. In fact, he sounded as though he wanted to help.
So I told him about my father's helicopter accident. I told him what the flight instructor had said. ”From what you've heard, Steve, is there any chance they faked his death and put my father in the program?”
”Doesn't sound like it to me. In every case I've heard of they take the whole family.”
”What do you mean by that-'take the whole family.”
”That's not the right way to say it. What I mean is that they'll usually put the entire family unit in the program. The point is to keep everyone safe. The whole faking of the death thing is really just a myth. In actuality, you disappear. They don't tell people you died. It's too complicated to find a body and have a funeral.”
”There was no body in this case,” Mayburn said, speaking up. ”Does that red flag anything?”
”No. Like I said, they wouldn't usually just eliminate one person. They'd make the whole family disappear.”
”The family just takes off?” I asked.
”Essentially. They say they're moving out of town to take a new job. Sometimes, the program doesn't let them talk at all-they just move 'em in the middle of the night. But faking deaths? The government doesn't do that. I mean, your father would have to have been so instrumental, so key to a ma.s.sive case or a huge federal program. Even then...I really doubt it.”
The disappointment, layered on top of the sagging sadness of what was left of Sam and me, made me take a few steps to the bed and fall back on it. I held the phone to my ear. I heard Mayburn asking the guy a bunch of other questions. I thanked Steve, thanked Mayburn, said it was late Rome time, and hung up.
A bouquet of sounds came from the room above me-music with loud ba.s.s, footsteps, sc.r.a.ping of furniture, laughing. I could almost see the group of students who were up there-I'd been one myself years ago. They were drinking Moretti beers and pulling off hunks of bread from the local market, gesturing with the bread while they talked about politics and international law and the professor who would administer their exam tomorrow.
The music got louder. More sc.r.a.ping and shouts of laughter. As much as I wanted them to shut up, I was envious of them. But then I remembered my own friend. Maggie was coming tomorrow. The thought gave me a burst of energy.
I sat up, turned the lights up brighter, put my own music on-blaring a Wilco tune-and got back on the Internet.
The Camorra, I learned from my research, became a powerful force in Naples in the 1800s, when its members acted, essentially, as law enforcement for the Bourbon monarchy. When Naples officially became a part of Italy, the Camorra was forced aside. But they were never eradicated from the city of Naples and the Campania region, and they once again became a powerful presence in the mid-1990s with control of the area's garbage disposal. Apparently, they hadn't done such a good job-no regard for the environment, much less the health of residents-and yet officials couldn't get them out, couldn't put an end to the warring clans of Camorra, who all kept fighting each other for control, making it unlike the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia or the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria. The Camorra infighting led to ma.s.sive violence in Naples, most notably drive-by shootings which often killed civilians, as well as Camorristi.
I sat back from my computer. I thought of my aunt Elena's words that morning. Dangerous, she had said about the Camorra. You must be very careful.