Teal drank first one beer, then another.He thought of Edward Kenney, the Saint, and Renders.He pictured Mike Hurvich’s body moldering wherever Kenney had buried it, and the Saint and Renders taking turns with Mallory Norton.He knew he’d have to tell the Saint about the visit from the private investigator.He would have done so sooner, but he wanted time to think.Kenney was right: Lines had been overstepped and trusts breached.Teal and Kenney had kept to the rules while the Saint had not.It was the Saint who was most at fault.But would that count for much if he decided to hold them to account for the death of the DEA agent?And suppose the DEA traced Cotter’s abductors back to the Airbnb, rented in Edward Kenney’s name?Could Kenney be relied on not to implicate his associate?And what of Jenny Berrien?Kenney would never agree to harming her, not with all that was going on, but the Saint might.What it came down to was, Teal would have to pick aside.
He drank a third beer, brushed his teeth, and went to wake his wife.He still had needs, and if he kept his eyes closed she could be anyone he wanted, even Mallory Norton, the sameMallory Norton whom the Saint, through his selfishness, had denied his friends.
And so the side was picked.
IV
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d
In one self place, but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
—Christopher Marlowe,Doctor Faustus
Chapter 73
The morning after I followed Teal to Pittsfield, I met with Moxie Castin and Allen Atwood Alcock at Moxie’s office.But first, Alcock and I were forced to wait in the reception area while Moxie dealt with State Representative Ricky “Goody” Carmichael, whose Ecuadoran gardener had been picked up in Saco by immigration officials, after which the gardener vanished into the system.Ironically, Goody Carmichael was one of those advocating for greater collaboration between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police departments in Maine, even though businesses across the state, including home care and farming, relied on ten thousand seasonal and temporary immigrant workers simply to function.ICE arrests in Maine had already soared fifty percent in a year, sweeping up legal and illegal laborers alike, and the state was hurting.It was all about creating a climate of fear, regardless of the damage to families, towns, and the local economy.
“So who did Carmichael think they were going to come after when he started cheerleading for immigration raids?”I asked Moxie, once the representative had left the building.
“Other people’s gardeners,” said Moxie, “not his.Worse, it wasn’t ICE that lifted the gardener but Customs and Border Protection, and CBP takes the view that it doesn’t have to provide access to family or counsel, so nobody knew where the gardener was for a week.We filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court, naming CBP officials as respondents, which was when they transferred him to ICE custody, so it was ICE who informed us that he’s currently under lock and key in Massachusetts.Now we need to get him released and prepare for a hearing with an immigration judge.The man’s been here for twenty years, hischildren are citizens, and he’s been trying to get a green card since 2007.”
“Where does that leave Carmichael?”
“I think the term is ‘on the horns of a dilemma,’” said Moxie, “not to mention doing his own yard work.Goody’s paying my fees, but I’m salving my conscience by telling myself I’m working for the gardener, not him, and I’ll charge Goody a premium for being the agent of his gardener’s misfortune.”
Moxie was dressed for a felony court appearance later in the day, which meant he was wearing a tie that was less of a cry for help than usual, and had left his jacket in a closet so it wouldn’t look like he’d slept rough in it.Alcock, meanwhile, was even more hangdog than ever.I wondered if his manner was partly contrived, an effort to garner leniency from judges and juries by evoking pity for clients afflicted with such counsel.
Over coffee and bacon cheddar donuts from the Holy Donut on Commercial, I updated them both on my progress.When I was done, Alcock said: “I think we may have differing concepts of what ‘progress’ entails.”
“If it helps,” I replied, “I don’t eat much, so the subsistence payments will be low.”
“He works how he works,” Moxie informed Alcock.“You’re always free to go elsewhere.”
I coughed politely to remind them of my presence.Moxie was my lawyer, and often my client, but not my spokesman.Alcock backed down, partly if not wholly.
“I’m grateful to Mr Parker for taking on the inquiry,” he said.“I’m just curious as to why he hasn’t yet visited Spero.I would have thought that might be among his first ports of call.”
“I wanted to find out as much as I could about the school before going up there,” I said.“Then I got sidetracked.”
“By Roger Teal,” said Alcock.
“And Edward Kenney.”
“You have no proof that their meeting was precipitated by your visit to the Department of Education.”
“No,” I admitted, “but the odds favor it.What I do involves following trails that turn out to be dead ends, or picking at leadsthat come apart in my hands, but it’s never a wasted effort because I’m narrowing the focus with every step.In addition, there’s no ticking clock here.Without wishing to sound callous, Scott Theriault’s problems are over, and easing his father’s conscience may be beyond my powers.I’m still not convinced Scott’s death was anything other than accidental, but neither am I convinced that Spero is beyond reproach.”
“If Scott was killed by someone connected to Spero,” said Moxie, “it’s not because he spotted anomalies in the accounts.”
“People who are financially suspect are also, by extension, morally so,” I said.“Look, Teal acknowledged that he planned to contact Santopietro to tell him I’d been asking about the school.Shortly after I left him, Teal used a pay phone to make a call, and an hour later he was sitting in a storage lot in Pittsfield waiting for Edward Kenney to arrive.”
“Why a pay phone?”Alcock asked.“Why not a burner, or the phone in his office?I mean, who’s going to check those records?”
“Even burners leave a trace, like where they were purchased, and where and when they were subsequently used.As for an office extension, it isn’t private, so you never know who might be listening, and as you pointed out, there may be a record of its use.Teal is either very careful or very paranoid, and any distinction between them is purely a matter of perspective.What isn’t in dispute is that Teal has something to hide, and not just a fetish for pay phones.He contacted Edward Kenney immediately after I asked about Spero, which means that whatever he’s concealing involves both Spero and Kenney.And if Spero is involved, so too is Santopietro, because he runs Spero, which in turn yokes him to Kenney.”
“Maybe Kenney also snatches kids for Spero,” said Moxie.
