Palmer told himself to forget about Levitt and his damn phone call. It didn’t matter. Nothing was going to stop the machinery that had been unleashed to go after James Beck and his men. Too many heavyweights had signed off. Too many divisions had come on board and a ton of personnel. It would take the commissioner himself to shut it down.
And then, when Palmer was about to leave the One PP conference room, his own phone rang.
The caller ID told him it was his father. All his suppressed worry and anxiety flared up again.
“Dad.”
“John, there’s something I need to tell you. Get to a pay phone. Call me on the private number.”
“What’s going on?”
“It may be nothing. Just call me. I’m waiting.”
By the time Palmer made it out of police headquarters and found a working pay phone on Broadway and Duane Street, he was grinding his teeth.
When his father answered, he spoke without even saying hello first.
“All right, John, here’s the situation. I don’t think this should have anything to do with you, but I want you to be aware about an incident upstate. Four men were found dead outside Ellenville. There is a connection between me and one of those men. Nothing I can’t explain, but nobody wants to be connected to four men who met violent deaths. Fortunately, the initial reports seem to indicate the deaths are the result of a falling out among family members. The state police are investigating.”
“Who are they?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“No need to go into details. It’s been on the local news, and will go national by this evening. The state police are going to release their initial findings sometime later today. If anybody asks you anything, your answer will be you heard something about it on the news, but don’t know anything else about it.”
“All right. But is anything going to connect to me?”
“Very doubtful.”
“Dad, Ellenville is right near Eastern Correctional.”
“Yes, but you told me the situation with that man on parole had been covered.”
“It’s all in the works, Dad. It led to another investigation, but that’s not a problem. It’s covered.”
“John, I’m aware of what’s going on at One Police Plaza, but listen to me carefully. If anything doesn’t go according to plan, just let it go. Walk away.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the district attorney gets cold feet. If the arrests don’t go right. If complications arise, don’t push it. Don’t try to make a case. Let it go.”
Palmer knew exactly what his father was saying. It would tear his guts out to let it go, but he could do that. What he couldn’t do was stop Juju Jackson. If he double-crossed Jackson now, who knew what he would do? How the hell could he shut down Jackson and his crazy enforcer Whitey Bondurant?”
His father interrupted Palmer’s thoughts.
“You understand, right, John?”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
“Okay, son, I’ll call you in a few days.”
Palmer listened to silence on the other end of the line, replaced the receiver, and stood unmoving in front of the pay phone. Now, what?
And at that exact moment, the throwaway cell phone he told Juju Jackson to use buzzed in his suit-coat pocket.