The Titanic Plan (42 page)

“
That’s yours, Butt, to remind you of your duty. He signed several. Standard procedure on important cases. Have a good meeting with the President.”

“
Archie, welcome back,” Taft said, struggling to lift his enormous body from his chair. “You don’t know how much I missed you. Please, have a seat.” Archie was shocked by what he saw. Taft’s face was waxen, his lips looked lifeless and thin. Huge black bags sagged under his eyes. To Taft, Archie didn’t appear much better. “You look tired, Archie.”

“
I’m still recovering from a bad flu, Mr. President.”

“
Yes,” Taft mumbled, then plopped back into his oversized chair. “I’ve been putting you through the ringer, haven’t I? I know how you’re torn over the rift between Theodore and me.”

The one thing Archie wanted to avoid his first day back was Taft’s obsession with Roosevelt. “I hold you both dear to my heart,” Archie said. “But you are my President and commander and I wish to make it clear, sir, that my loyalty is undivided. It is to you and no other.”

“
I appreciate that, Archie. I really do. I can’t say enough about what your service and friendship has meant to me. I just wanted you to know that I understand the strain you’re under.”

“
No more strain than you, sir.”

“
Hmmm, perhaps not. In any event, your illness has led me to believe that you need a break from the pressure cooker. A little vacation.”

“
I just came back to work,” Archie said, surprised at the suggestion. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

“
First, you need to recover your health completely. Maybe we can combine a little work with pleasure. What do you say to that?”

“
I say that I’m fairly puzzled at the moment.”

“
Then let me clear it up for you, Archie. I just had a meeting with the head of our federal investigative unit. Director Finch. I believe you know him.”

“
I do,” Archie said hesitantly.

“
A rather intense little man, but I believe he’s very dedicated to his job.”

“
If I might speak frankly, Mr. President,” Archie said carefully. “I have my reservations about him.”

“
Really? Well, he has no reservations about you, Archie. Speaks very highly of you.”

“
He does?!”

“
Oh, yes. He filled me in on the work you did for him. Said you were a great asset. You should have told me you were on a secret spy mission.”

“
I was led to believe that my dealings with Mr. Finch had the knowledge and approval of the Executive branch.”

“
Yes…well, yes…I suppose they did,” Taft hemmed. “In any case, Director Finch brought to my attention a delicate matter that you appear to have some knowledge of.”

“
Oh?” Archie stiffened, readying himself for questions about Henry.

“
Yes,” Taft said. “It involves a group of prominent capitalists. It appears they’re planning some sort of grand business venture.”

“
Oh, right…” Archie sighed, relieved, “They were interested in having me act as a liaison to you and others in the government. But I told them ‘No,’ that I would not leave my White House post.”

“
Did you tell them in no uncertain terms that you were not interested in the project?”

“
I wasn’t so forthright, Mr. President. John Astor was involved and if you remember, you encouraged me to follow up his entreaties.”

“
I do remember me prodding you about your financial future, yes,” Taft said, then put his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. “The Director has heard it’s a rather significant project and believes the government should have more information about it. He suggested that because you have been approached by these men, you would be the perfect person to find out the details.”

“
No,” Archie shook his head. “Despite what Mr. Finch has said about me, I’m really not cut out for spy work.”

“
Finch told me they have scheduled an important meeting in Rome.” Taft leaned back in his chair again. “Do you know anything about that?”

“
Yes,” Archie said hesitantly. “I was invited to attend. But I said that was impossible.”

“
Now it is possible. In fact, it’s perfect! You take a vacation in Italy and in your spare time, find out what these gentlemen are up to.”

“
I’d rather not, Mr. President,” Archie insisted. “I know you’re going through a very difficult period. I don’t wish to abandon you.”

“
You would not be abandoning me. You’d be on an important mission. And I need some diplomatic fence mending done with the Vatican as well. You could take care of it all. Have you ever been to Italy?”

“
No, sir, I haven’t.”

“
The food is…” Taft smacked his lips together. “And the Italian women are the most gorgeous on earth. I’ll have our State Department make the arrangements.”

“
But…” Archie tried to protest again but Taft cut him off.

“
No ‘buts,’ Major,” Taft smiled. “There’s nothing like a long sea cruise to get your health back. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to do battle for our reelection. Don’t fight me on this, Archie. It will be good for you.”

“
If this is an order, sir, I will obey it,” Archie answered, surrendering to the fact that fate seemed to be directing him to Rome.

CHAPTER 46

"H
enry!” Archie shouted as he stepped into his townhouse.

“
In here, Captain,” Henry shouted back from the kitchen. Archie pushed through the kitchen door to see Henry on his tiptoes at the stove. He was engulfed in an apron that was several sizes too large for him. “Have a seat, Captain. I cooked the most dee-licious lamb you’re ever gonna taste,” Henry said, setting out several juicy chops on plates that were already steaming with mounds of mash potatoes and green beans.

“
We have to talk, Henry.” Archie said, injecting a deep sense of gravity in his voice.

“
Can’t it wait till after dinner?”

“
No. We have to talk now.”

“
Okay, if we hafta, we hafta,” Henry said, placing the plates of food on the kitchen table. “Jus’ let me say grace and we can talk while we’re munchin’ the chops.” Henry took his place at the end of the kitchen table and folded his small hands, preparing for a prayer. “Com’on, Captain, sit down and let’s get to the food.”

Archie reluctantly pulled out his chair and sat, watching the joyful boy. “Let us thank you, Lord, for the food you have provided. And I would like to add a real big thanks for havin’ you guide me to the Captain’s house here ‘cause...”

“
Henry,” Archie interrupted. “You’re not making this easy.”

“
What?”

“
All this prayer and thanking the lord for guiding you here.”

“
Well, I’m just bein’ truthful.”

“
You haven’t been truthful with me since you arrived, Henry,” Archie said. “You’ve just given me one big lie after another.”

The happy sparkle that shone from Henry’s face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a look of disbelief. “No…no…I ain’t lied to you.”

“
You’re very convincing, Henry. And I believed what a poor, lost boy you were, especially when you used one of my dearest friends as a shield for your lies.”

“
Captain, I dunno what you’re talkin’ about. I ain’t never lied to you,” Henry repeated.

“
Then what’s this?” Archie said, pulling out the typed confession and tossing it on the table in front of Henry.

“
I dunno, what is it?” Henry answered, genuinely confused by Archie’s dramatics.

Archie pointed at the page. “Look at it, Henry. You don’t recognize it?”

Henry glanced down, his eyes scrutinized the paper. “Yeah. It’s somethin’ I signed when I was in jail.”

“
And you signed it willingly?”

“
Yeah, sure. This guy was askin’ all these questions over and over about Mick’s murder and knockin’ me around a bit, so I told him everythin’ I knew ‘cause I had nothin’ to lose, tellin’ the truth and all, and he wrote it out in good language and I wrote my name at the bottom there. I don’t get the problem.”

“
The problem is, Henry, this is a confession that you murdered Mick. It’s here in black and white.” Archie picked up the page and started reading. “I, Henry Kosinski, do knowingly and truthfully confess to having committed the murder of Michael Shaughnessy…”

Henry began shaking his head. “No, I didn’t tell him that. I told him everythin’ I told you.”

“
Is this your signature?”

Henry looked at the scrawl on the bottom of the page. “Yeah, but that’s not what I told him,” Henry said, now with a desperate edge in his voice.

“
Didn’t you read it before signing it?”

Henry squirmed in his chair. “Well…no, he said it was exactly what I told him.”

“
I find it very hard to believe that you wouldn’t read your confession.”

Henry paused and looked down at his plate. “What makes you think I can read, Captain?” Henry said softly. “Mick was helpin’ me to learn, but…”

“
Then why did you sign this?”

“
The guy told me what was in it and he said if I signed it, I would get outta jail.”

“
Who told you that, Henry?”

“
The big scary guy who was askin’ me all the questions. He didn’t exactly introduce himself.”

“
What did he look like?”

“
Like I said, big and scary.”

“
Do you remember anything more about him? Did he have a scar? A twitch? Anything?”

“
I kinda don’t remember. It wasn’t much fun, if y’know what I mean?”

“
You don’t remember anything about him.”

“
He was big and scary and, oh yeah, his ears stuck out.”

“
What?”

“
He had real big ears and they stuck out. Like this.” Henry put his hands behind his ears and pushed them forward.

“
Are you sure, Henry?”

“
About his ears stickin’ out? It was kinda hard to miss. At first I thought he was funny lookin’, but then, ‘cause the guy was so nasty, they became all evil, like they was devil ears.”

Archie leaned back in his chair. “That’s good, Henry. Very good. One more thing, and I need you to be truthful about this.”

“
I will,” Henry said solemnly.

“
You told me that you dropped Mick off at Cooper Union Square the day he was killed and then you drove to Brooklyn. Is that right?”

“
Yes, Captain.”

“
And you saw Mick meet a man in the square, then he ran away and disappeared.”

“
Yes, Captain, that was the last time I ever saw Mick.”

Archie smacked his hands on the table, startling Henry. “You’re lying again!”

“
No. I told you, Captain, I’ve never lied to you.”

“
You just did!”

“
No, Captain,” Henry insisted. “It’s all true. Everythin’ I’ve been tellin’ you is true…”

Archie cut him off. “Henry, I was the man Mick met at Cooper Union Square. And I know what happened there. You dropped him off, like you said, but you didn’t watch him disappear. You followed him.”

Henry didn’t answer; his eyes angled nervously about the room.

“
I know that because I saw someone run after Mick,” Archie continued. “And it could have only been you.” A low moan squeaked from Henry. “And it could have been only you who left the gas on at the room in Hell’s Kitchen.”