The Evening News (67 page)

"We're looking for banks. Whatever information we get should lead us to
banks which at some point received those bills; maybe someone in a bank
wrote on them the names or numbers that you see. Then, if we're
exceptionally lucky, we may identify the bank that actually handled all of
this money and paid it out
.”

"I get it
,”
Mony said
.”
Paid it out to the kidnappers who used it to buy
those caskets from Mr. Godoy
.”

Kettering nodded
.”
Exactly. Of course, it's all a long shot, but if it
works we shall know the bank the kidnappers used and where they probably
had an account
.”

The business correspondent shrugged
.”
Once we have that
,
Harry, your investigation can move on from there
.”

"That's great, Don
,”
Partridge said
.”
And we've done well on long shots so
far
.”

Catching sight of the copy of Semana that had brought them here, he
remembered Uncle Arthur's words when the search of local newspapers was
begun: "A thing about long shots is that while you seldom find exactly what
you're looking for, you're likely to stumble over something else that will
help you in a different way.

In Alberto Godoy's office, tensions were easing
.
Now that the demands of his high-pressure visitors from TV news were
satisfied and the overhanging threat to himself removed, the funeral
director relaxed. After all, Godoy reminded himself, he had done nothing
illegal in selling the three caskets to Novack, or whatever his real name
was. How was he
supposed to know the goddamn caskets would be used for something criminal? Oh sure, he had suspicions about Novack both times he came in, and hadn't believed a word of his phony story about why he wanted caskets. But let anyone try to prove that. No way! They couldn't!
The two things he had been worried about when today's shindig started were
the city sales tax, which he collected for the first two caskets but hadn't
reported, and the fact that he'd cooked his books so that the ten grand
cash he took from Novack didn't appear anywhere as income. If the IRS found
out, they'd create seventeen kinds of shit from that. Well, these TV dudes
had promised not to squeal about either of those finagles and he reckoned
they'd keep their word. The way he'd heard it, making those kinds of deals
was how TV news people gathered a lot of their information. And he had to
admit, now that it was over, he'd got a charge out of watching them at
work. But he sure as hell wouldn't talk about anything that happened today
if that snooping asshole from the Sernana rag was anywhere around
.”
If you'll give me a sheet of paper
,”
Don Kettering said, pointing to the
two small piles of bills still remaining on the desk, "I'll write out a
receipt for this money we'll be taking
.”

Godoy opened a drawer behind his desk in which he kept odds and ends and
removed a pad of lined paper. As he was closing the drawer, he caught sight
of a single sheet torn from a scratch pad, bearing his own handwriting. He
had stuffed the paper in more than a week ago and forgotten it until now
.”
Hey, here's something! That second time Novack showed . .
.”

"What is it
?
”

Partridge asked sharply
.”
I told you he had a Caddy hearse, with another guy driving. They took the
casket away in it
.”

"Yes, you did
.”

Godoy held out the scratch-pad sheet
.”
This was the hearse license number
.
I wrote it down, put it in here, forgot
.”

Kettering asked, "Why did you do that
?
”

"Maybe a hunch
.”

Godoy shrugged
.”
Does it matter
?
”

"No
,”
Partridge said, "it doesn't. Anyway, thanks; we'll
check this out
.”

He folded the paper and put it in a pocket, though was not hopeful about the outcome. He remembered that the license number of the Nissan van in the White Plains explosion had been phony and led nowhere. Still, any lead had to be pursued, nothing taken for granted
.
Partridge's thoughts moved on to more specific reporting. He reasoned that
some or most of what they had uncovered, including the involvement of
Ulises Rodriguez, would have to go on air soon, almost certainly within the
next few days. There was a limit to how much information could remain
dammed up at CBA; though luck had been with them so far, it could change
at any moment. Also they were in the news business. Partridge felt his
excitement rise at the prospect of reporting progress and decided that
right now he had to think in terms of presentation
.”
Mr. Godoy
,”
Partridge said, "we may have got off on the wrong foot to
begin, but you've been pretty helpful to us. How would you feel about
making a video recording, repeating most of what you've told us here
?
”

The idea of being on TV, and a network no less, appealed to Godoy. Then he
realized the publicity would expose him to all kinds of questions
,
including those about taxes which had worried him earlier. He shook his
head
.”
No thanks
.”

As if reading his mind, Partridge said, "We needn't say who you are or show
your face. We can do what's called a silhouette interview, using
backlighting so viewers will only see a shadow. We can even disguise your
voice
.”

"It'll sound like it's coming through a coffee grinder
,”
Kettering added
.”
Your own wife won't recognize it. Come on, Godoy, what have you got to
lose? We've a cameraman sitting outside who's a real expert, and you'll be
helping us get those kidnapped people back
.”

"Well . .
.”

The undertaker hesitated
.”
Would you guys promise to keep it
confidential, not to tell anybody else
?
”

"I promise that
,”
Partridge said
.”
Me too
,”
Kettering agreed
.
Mony added, "Count me in
.”

Kettering and Partridge glanced at each other, aware that
t
he promise they had made and would keep-the way honest journalists did, no matter what the consequences---could cause them problems later. The FBI and others might object to the secrecy, demanding to know who the silhouette subject was. Well, the network's lawyers would have to handle that; there had been brouhahas of the same kind before
.
Partridge remembered when NBC in 1986 had secured a much-sought-after but
controversial interview with the Palestinian terrorist Mohammed Abul Abbas
.
Afterward, a bevy of critics denounced NBC, not only for holding the
inter-view but for a prior agreement-which the network honored-not to
disclose its location. Even a few media people joined in, though clearly
some professional jealousy was involved. While argument thrived, a U.S
.
State Department spokesman hu
ffed and puffed and the Justice Department
threatened subpoenas and interrogation of an on-the-scene TV crew, but
eventually nothing happened. (The then Secretary of State, George Shultz
,
only said when questioned, "I believe in freedom of the press
.”

)
The fact was, and everyone knew it, broadcast networks were in many ways
a law unto themselves. For one thing, few government departments or
politicians wanted to tangle with them legally. Also, free-world
journalism, on the whole, stood for disclosure, freedom and integrity
.
Sure, it wasn't totally that way; standards fell short more often than they
should because journalism's practitioners were human too. But if you became
an inexorable opponent of what journalism stood for, the chances were you
belonged on the side of "dirty
”
instead of "clean
.”

While Harry Partridge considered those fundamentals of his craft, Minh Van
Canh was setting up for the videotape interview of Alberto Godoy which Don
Kettering would conduct
.
Partridge had suggested that Kettering do the interview, in part because
the business correspondent clearly wanted to continue his involvement with
the Sloane kidnapping-it was, after all, a subject close to the hearts and
minds of the entire News Division. Also, there were other aspects of the
subject that Partridge intended to handle himself.
He had already decided that he would leave for Bogot
a
, Colombia, as soon as
lie could get away. Despite sharing the opinion of his Colombian radio
reporter friend that Ulises Rodriguez was not in that country, Partridge
believed the time had come to begin his own search of Latin America, and
Colombia was the obvious place to start
.
Minh Van Canh announced he was ready to begin
.
A few minutes earlier, on being called in from outside and looking around
the funeral establishment, Minh had decided to set up the interview in the
basement where caskets were exhibited. Because of the special backlighting
,
not much of the display room would be seen; only the wall behind where
Godoy was seated was floodlit, with the interviewee in gloom. However
,
alongside the silhouette of Godoy was now another of a casket, an
ingeniously macabre effect. The disguising of the undertaker's voice would
be done later at CBA News headquarters
.
Today there was no sound man present and Minh was using one-man equipment
,
a Betacam with half-inch tape incorporating picture and sound. He had also
brought along a small viewing monitor and placed it so that Godoy, now
seated, could observe exactly what the ca
mera was seeing-a technique cal
culated to make the subject, in such special circumstances, more relaxed
.
Godoy was not only relaxed, but amused
.”
Hey
,”
he told Kettering, seated
nearby, off camera, "you cats are smart
.”

Kettering, who had his own ideas about the way this interview should go
,
gave only a thin smile as he looked up from notes scribbled a few minutes
earlier. At a nod from Minh, he began, having allowed for an introduction
to be written later, which would precede the on-air showing
.”
The first time you saw the man whom you now know to have been the
terrorist Ulises Rodriguez, what was your impression
?
”

"Nothing special. Seemed ordinary to me
.”

Even under this concealment
,
Godoy decided, he wasn't going to admit being suspicious of
Novack-alias-Rodriguez.

"So it didn't trouble you at all when you sold him two caskets initially
,
then one more later on
?
”

The silhouette shrugged
.”
Why should it? That's the business I'm in
.”

“
'Why should itT you say
.”

Repeating Godoy's words, Kettering managed to
convey skepticism
.”
But isn't that kind of sale exceedingly unusual
?
”

“
Maybe . . . sort of
.”

"And as a funeral director, don't you normally arrange, or sell, what's
called a package-a complete funeral
?
”