Chapter 14: The FBI

“Mr. Henderson?”

I looked up from my newspaper and tea. “Yes,” I replied questioningly. A tall, attractive brunette stood before me wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase.

“Do you mind if I join you?” How do you say no to an attractive woman who wants to eat lunch with you? Even if I don’t remember ever seeing her in my life. She sat without waiting for my invitation. “I’m Jessica Ferraro, Mr. Henderson. I’m with the FBI.” She actually pulled out identification and showed it to me.

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Ferraro. Uh, why...” I started to say, quite perplexed, when the waiter appeared and asked if he could take her order.

She smiled at him, a wonderful, dimpled smile. “Just coffee please.” When he left she looked at me. “Mr. Henderson your government would like to ask you for a favor.”

Perplexed I replied, “A favor? What kind of a favor?” This didn’t sound good. “What could the government possibly need my help with?”

“Mr. Henderson, it’s about your new neighbor.”

“You mean Tony Monassario?”

“Yes, his friends call him Big Tony.”

“What is this? Some kind of joke?”

“I wish it were Mr. Henderson, but your new neighbor is a member of organized crime.”

“Organized crime? You mean like the Mafia?”

“Well, we don’t know if there are still any formal ties to the East Coast, but Frank’s uncle was there before the family moved to this area from New Jersey in the fifties. We do know that the family is involved in prostitution, loan sharking, illegal drugs, and money laundering; just to name a few things.”

“And you’re saying that my neighbor Tony is involved in all of this?”

“Your neighbor Tony is what you might call a captain in his uncle’s organization.”

“I just took over his accounting,” I said weakly.

“We know.” she smiled. “We would be very interested in seeing his books.”

“I, I can’t do that. Not without a subpoena.”

“Of course, I understand.”

My head was spinning. “I still don’t see how I can help you.”

“Occasionally we’ve seen you and your wife socializing with Tony. We would like you to report anything that you hear that you find suspicious to us.” She looked at me waiting for a reaction and I just looked back at her. “Did you see anything unusual when you and your wife stayed overnight awhile back?

“How did you know...”

“We place his house under surveillance from time to time. So, did you see any weapons or drugs?”

“Drugs, no I didn’t see anything like that,” I lied through my teeth. I wasn’t going to admit to taking illegal drugs. I did want to be helpful. “He does have an interesting security camera system.” Whoops, with pictures of me and my wife swapping with him and his girlfriend.

“What about it?”

“Oh, nothing really. It’s just sophisticated.”

“Hmm. Well thank you for your help Mr. Henderson. Here’s my card. Please let me know if you see or hear anything helpful.”

A week passed. During the week I was surprised to come home a couple of nights and the dishes were in the sink. How unlike Marissa. But what the hell; she’d become a tiger in bed, and I was sleeping soundly every night.

But that Friday, who should show up at my lunch counter again but Agent Ferraro. “Hello Mr. Henderson.”