“Interesting” was all he said, taking another bite of steak.
“How long have you been connected with Sparacino?”
“More than two years.”
“Lord,” I said.
“The Bureau set it up very carefully. I was sent in as a lawyer named Paul Barker looking for work, looking to get rich quick. I went through the moves necessary to make him hook into me. Of course he checked me out, and when certain details didn’t add up, he finally confronted me. I admitted I was living under an assumed name, that I was part of the Federal Protected Witness Program. It’s convoluted and difficult to explain, but Sparacino believed I had been involved in illegal activities in a former life in Tallahassee, had gotten nailed, and that the Feds had rewarded me for my testimony by fictionalizing my identity and my past.”
“Had you been involved in illegal activities?” I asked.
“No.”
“Ethridge is of the opinion that you have been,” I said. “That you’ve also served time in prison.”
“I’m not surprised, Kay. The federal marshals tend to be very cooperative with the Bureau. On paper, the Mark James you once knew looks pretty bad. A lawyer who crossed over, was disbarred, and spent two years in the pen.”
“Am I to assume that Sparacino’s connection with Orndorff & Berger is a front?”
I asked.
“Yes.”
“For what, Mark? There must be more to it than his publicity scams.”
“We are convinced he has been laundering money for the mob, Kay. Money from narcotics trafficking. We also believed he is tied in with organized crime in the casinos. Politicians are involved, judges, other attorneys. The network is unbelievable. We’ve known it for quite a while, but it’s dangerous business when one part of the criminal justice system attacks another. We had to have admissible evidence of guilt. That’s why I was sent in. The more I uncovered, the more there was. Three months turned into six, and then it became years.”
“I don’t understand. His firm is legitimate, Mark.”
“New York is Sparacino’s own little country. He has power. Orndorff &. Berger knows very little about what he does. I’ve never worked for the firm. They don’t even know my name.”
“But Sparacino does,” I pressed him. “I heard him refer to you as Mark.”
“Yes, he knows my real name. As I’ve said, the Bureau was very careful. They did quite a good job of rewriting my life, of creating a paper trail that makes the Mark James you once knew someone you wouldn’t recognize, much less like.”
He paused, his face grim. “Sparacino and I agreed that he would refer to me as Mark in your presence. The rest of the time I was Paul. I worked for him. For a while I lived with his family. I was his loyal son, or at least this is what he thought.”
“I know Orndorff & Berger never heard of you,” I confessed. “I tried to call you in New York and Chicago, and they didn’t know who I was talking about. I called Diesner. He didn’t know who you were, either. I may not make a good fugitive, but you make an equally poor spy.”
He was silent for a moment.
Then he said, “The Bureau had to bring me in, Kay. You came on the scene, and I took a lot of chances. I got emotionally involved because you were involved. I was stupid.”
“I don’t know how I’m suppose to respond to that.”
“Drink your wine and watch the moon rise over Key West. That’s the best way to respond.”
“But, Mark,” I said, and by now I was hopelessly caught up in him, “there’s one very important point I don’t understand.”
“I’m quite sure there are any number of points you don’t understand and may never understand, Kay. We have a lot of life between us that can’t be spanned in an evening.”
“You said Sparacino sicced you on me to pick my brain. How did he know you were acquainted with me? Did you tell him?”
“He introduced you into a conversation right after we heard about Beryl’s murder. He said you were the medical examiner, the chief in Virginia. I panicked. I didn’t want him messing with you. I decided it would be better if I did it instead.”