Mitch flew into Washington on the firm's private jet. DeVasher didn't
want him to go. Chicago had given orders that McDeere was not to
leave Memphis on firm business except with at least two partners.
But the firm had arranged months ago for Mitch to go to this
Mitch followed his instructions. The driver of the taxi spoke to others
constantly on his radio. When he was certain that no one was
following them he stopped acting like a tour guide and took Mitch
directly to his meeting with Voyles in another hotel. Tarrance was
waiting in the hotel room.
After a few minutes Voyles walked in with another agent. Voyles
offered his hand and Mitch stood up to shake it.
'Thank you for coming,' Voyles said. 'This is very important
to us.'
Mitch breathed deeply. 'Sir, do you have any idea how confused
and frightened I am? I really need an explanation. What's happening?'
'Mitch, what I'm about to tell you will certainly shock you. You
won't want to believe it. But it's all true, and with your help we can
save your life.'
Mitch waited.
'No lawyer has ever left your firm alive,' Voyles went on. 'Three
have tried, and they were killed. Two others were about to leave, and
they died last summer. When a lawyer joins Bendini, Lambert &
Locke, he never leaves, unless he retires and keeps his mouth shut.
And by the time they retire they are part of it all and cannot talk. The
firm has a major surveillance operation on the fifth floor. Your house,
car and phones are bugged. Your desk and office are bugged. Almost
every word you speak is heard and recorded on the fifth floor. They
follow you, and sometimes your wife. You see, Mitch, the firm is not
what it seems. It is not owned by the partners. It is part of a very large
and very illegal business. The firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke is
owned by the Morolto crime family in Chicago. The Mafia.'
'I don't believe it,' Mitch said, frozen with fear. His voice was
weak.
31
Voyles smiled. 'Yes, you do, Mitch. You've suspected something
for some time. That's why you talked to Abanks in the Caymans.
That's why you hired that investigator and got him killed by those
boys on the fifth floor. You know the firm is rotten, Mitch.'
Mitch rested his head in his hands and stared at the floor.
'As far as we can see,' Voyles said, 'about a quarter of the firm's
clients and businesses are legal. There are some very good lawyers in
the firm, doing tax work for rich clients. It's a very good cover. Most
of the files you've worked on so far are OK. That's how they operate.
They bring in a new man, throw money at him, buy the car and house,
take him to the Caymans and put him to work on their legal clients.
Then after five or six years, when the money is really good, when you
and your family have become completely used to this rich way of
living, they tell the truth. By then you can't get out even if you want
to. They'll kill your wife, or one of your children; they don't care. So
you stay. You can't leave. If you stay, you make a million dollars and
retire young with your family safe. If you try to leave, your picture
will hang in the first-floor library.'
'You mean that every partner . . .?' Mitch couldn't finish.
'Yes, they all know and they all do what they're told. We suspect
that most of the associates know as well. We don't think the wives do.
We really want these people. We could destroy the Morolto family.
We could arrest hundreds of them.'
'How do they help the Moroltos?' Mitch asked.
'To be honest,' Voyles said, 'we don't know everything. We've only
been watching them for about seven years, and very little information
gets out. But here's an example. A partner takes several million
dollars in "dirty" money to the Caymans on the firm's private jet.'
Mitch thought of all the journeys the partners kept making to the
Caymans. Voyles continued his story.
32
'Then the same partner, or one of the others, forms a legal
company back in the States, to buy some land perhaps. The money
is wired through from the Caymans to . . . what's the name of that
bank in St Louis with whom the firm does a lot of business?'
'Commercial Guaranty?'
'That's the one. The Mafia own it. So the money arrives back in the
States and is used legally. Suddenly, "dirty" money is "clean". That's
why Bendini was sent down there in 1944. Locke grew up working
for the Moroltos. He's a criminal first and a lawyer second. Lambert
is the perfect cover for the firm. He looks and sounds like everyone's
idea of a lawyer. But the next time you see him in the office, Mitch,
remember that he's a killer.'
'What about the secretaries and support staff?'
'Good question. We think some of them are part of it too. But some
of them don't know anything. That's how they operate as two firms at
once: a lot of the people there really are doing legal business. But
Hodge told Tarrance that there's a group of support staff who work
only for the main partners of the firm. They probably do all their legal
work, so that the partners are free to do the Moroltos' dirty business.'
'If you know so much, why don't you just go in there and arrest
them all?' asked Mitch.
'We need evidence,' Voyles said. 'That's where you come in. We
want you to photocopy files, bank records, all those documents which
we can't reach from the outside but you can. We need the names of all
the staff; we need to know who works on which files; we need all the
information you can give us, about every part of Bendini, Lambert &
Locke. And then eventually we'll want you to appear in court and be a
witness — our most important witness. You must decide whether or
not you'll co-operate, Mitch. Tell us soon. If you decide not to help
us,
33
we'll find someone else who will, sooner or later, and we'll put you in
prison along with the rest of them. If you choose to help us, we can
negotiate a price. And then we'll look after you, send you and your
wife anywhere in the world you want to go.'
'But the Mafia never forgets,' Mitch said. 'I've heard stories of
witnesses hidden by the FBI whose car suddenly explodes. You
people are capable of mistakes; one day, in ten years' time, one of you
will talk to the wrong person. If I help you I'll always live in fear. I'll
never be able to practise law again; Abby and I will have to change
our faces and become Mr and Mrs Ordinary in Nowheretown.'
'It's true, Mitch,' Voyles said. 'They never forget. But I promise
you, we will look after you and your wife. We have about two
thousand witnesses living all over the country under new names, with
new homes and new jobs. Now you had better get back to your hotel.
Tarrance will make contact with you soon.'