Intrigue and Resolution

By Alfred V. Cafiero

My novel, Intrigue and Resolution, includes all the elements of drama and suspense and will titillate the imagination of your readers. Within the pages of my novel are dramatic events and the romantic episodes of two brothers on their journey through life; all within the framework of murder, adventure, and the exploration of Alaska, including the battle for the island of Attu, the second most-bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater of Operation during World War II, the politics of postwar America, and debates on the most contentious issues of our time: abortion, global warming, gay marriage, and the right to vote.

I have published two novels and an autobiography: Vengeance, Electra, and The Life and Times of Albert Capo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524545154

Alfred V. Cafiero

The author’s autobiography is written in the third person as Albert Capo, and he is the author of the novel Vengeance. Alfred V. Cafiero was born on June 5, 1926, in New York City and was educated through the New York City public school system. After high school, he was inducted into military service in 1944 and served with the Thirty-Third Infantry Division in the South Pacific Theater of Operation. He helped liberate the island of Luzon in the Philippines and was part of the occupational forces in Japan. He was honorably discharged from military service in October 1946. After discharge from the army, he enrolled at Hunter College in New York City, and graduated in 1951 with a degree in chemistry and mathematics. His last employer was the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1960 to his retirement in 1988. Since his retirement, he has taught chemistry for two years at the Institute for Professional and Technical Advancement (a division of Middlesex Community College) and, from 1990 to 2000, as a substitute teacher for the Old Bridge Township School System. He has coauthored two scientific publications: “Single-Crystal Growth of Mixed Hexaborides for Thermionic Emission,” G. H. Olsen and A. V. Cafiero; Journal of Crystal Growth, 44 (1978) 287-290; and “Inorganic Synthesis,” A. G. Karipides and A. V. Cafiero; Cadmium Digallium (111) Tetrasulfide, Vol.X1, p.5. The author has been physically active all his life, cycling, swimming, and skiing. Part of his leisure activities for the past sixty years was painting pictures in oil. He also enjoys gardening and listening to classical music. He currently resides in Old Bridge Township with his wife of sixty years and has two sons and four grandchildren.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Alfred V. Cafiero.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016915769

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-4517-8

                Softcover        978-1-5245-4516-1

                eBook             978-1-5245-4515-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/23/2016

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Murder at the Golden Arms

Chapter 2: Start of a New Life

Chapter 3: Soul Budies

Chapter 4: Turmoil in Europe

Chapter 5: A New Begging

Chapter 6: Vincent’s Exploits

Chapter 7: Success With a Bad Ending

Chapter 8: Mister Baseball

Chapter 9: North to Alaska

Chapter 10: A Day of Infamy

Chapter 11: Post War Activities

Chapter 12: A Political Upheaval

Chapter 13: Governor Vincent Bruno

Chapter 14: The Machination

Chapter 15: The Sting

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

Murder at the Golden Arms

A bone chilling scream came from a woman in apartment 2B, at 3:00 AM, from the Golden Arms apartment complex, located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. The screams were heard loud and penetrating enough to awaken several residents of the adjacent apartments before dead silence resumed its eerie presence. The residents in turn called the police to investigate the source and reason for this early morning disturbance. When the police arrived they found the body of a young woman, half nude, lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds. Beside her was a one year old child standing in a crib, crying. A murder was committed, which necessitated an extensive investigation into the young woman’s past, her associates and possible motive for her murder.

After several weeks of investigation, the police department was able to piece together a history of the woman’s background and a list of possible suspects. The woman in question was a twenty year old, named Mary Ann Brooks, otherwise known as Rusty because of the color of her hair. She was five feet, five inches tall, quite attractive with blue eyes and big breasts framed on a well developed body. She was a poor student in school, lazy by nature and dropped out of high school in her junior year. She showed little interest in learning anything and at the time was cavorting with a boy named Harry Simms who dropped out of high school six months before Rusty. They seemed to be a perfect match, he too was not too smart, and lazy. The only thought that occupied Harry’s mind was getting into Rusty’s pants. Rusty’s high school lover looked for any opportunity to fornicate with Rusty, whether in the park behind the bushes, or in Rusty’s house when her parents were away working. It was bound to happen and so it did, when Rusty found herself pregnant. She decided to leave her small town and run away with Harry to Atlanta, Georgia, twenty miles to the southwest and live together, rather than confront her parents and their taunts.

After arriving in Atlanta, they sought out the cheapest living quarters they could find, neither had the ability nor the knowledge to earn a decent wage. They were living from hand to mouth, with little prospects of improving their lot in life. Rusty was working as a check out clerk at a grocery store, while Harry was working intermittently at odd jobs — most of the time unemployed. Within six months after arriving in Atlanta, Rusty gave birth to a baby boy, whom they named Warren. To their dismay they discovered their son’s left leg was shorter than his right leg — otherwise a seemingly healthy child. The delivery of their child was a charity case, since neither had the means to pay for a doctor or the hospital expenses. It was a rude awakening for them to realize the difficulty in supporting themselves; it almost made them wish they were back in school.

Rusty’s life took a dramatic turn one day, when by chance, she met an old high school friend of hers who was currently employed at the Yellow Canary establishment as a stripper and Go-Go dancer. She explained to Rusty that her job wasn’t difficult and the pay was very good — she could never make that kind of money working a 40 hour job. They talked a while longer before Sue asked Rusty if she was interested in meeting Frank Schmidt, the proprietor of the Yellow Canary, I’m sure he would hire you if you wanted to work there. This kind of work seemed to be ideal for her to make a living, since Rusty’s only asset was her body. So the next day Sue brought Rusty to the Yellow Canary, to meet her boss, Frank. Sue introduced Rusty to Frank who liked what he saw and took an immediate shine to Rusty. Frank explained to her that she would receive two hundred dollars a week to start, for her dancing, and additional compensation for her creative gyrations on the dance floor, also 50 % of her take for accommodating customers. All things considered you could make quite a bit of money, working a five day week. Rusty was more than satisfied with her terms of employment and accepted the job — then moved in with Sue temporarily, till she found a place of her own. During Rusty’s day time working hours she left her son at a nursery, not far from her place of employment. At night she would employ a baby sitter.

She decided that was the time to rid herself of that dead beat Harry. She had enough of his lack of ambition, and inability to keep a job. After returning to her meager dwellings she informed Harry that she was leaving him and he was now on his own. An altercation pursued for the next 10-15 minutes. Rusty packed her things, grabbed their son Warren, and left. She and Harry were never married, which made their separation much easier. He didn’t object when Rusty took their son, since Harry couldn’t support himself; a child would be too much of a burden and liability for him. Harry was definitely a suspect in the murder of Mary Ann Dusty Brooks.

Frank the proprietor was a big man, over six feet tall and of fair complexion with brown eyes, a high forehead and of stocky stature. He was forty years of age and had been married — his ex-wife did not approve of his occupation and filed for a divorce, which was granted five years ago. Frank was quite fond of Rusty and gave her preferential treatment at times. It was Frank who secured living quarters for Rusty at the Golden Arms apartments. They were often seen together and Frank was a frequent guest at Rusty’s apartment. Frank too was a definite suspect.

Another person of interest was a young and handsome man, Joe Boyd, who vied for Rusty’s love and affection. He was twenty-five years of age and built like a football player, with wavy brown hair and gray eyes. When Rusty wasn’t engaged with others, he was her companion of choice. He resented her going out with other men and was extremely jealous. They were heard quarreling on several occasions, although Joe had no serious intentions toward Rusty because of her occupation. He was very possessive of her. She tried to explain to Joe that her job required her to see other men. That was the way she made her living. Joe Boyd was a suspect.

And last was a wealthy business man forty years of age, married with three children. He sought diversion from his business activities by visits to the Yellow Canary and sharing time with Rusty. He was relatively short in stature, five feet, four inches tall and portly in built. He was by any standard, very generous with Rusty, giving her expensive gifts in addition to payment for service; but he never visited Rusty at her apartment.

Rusty’s old boy friend Harry, was frequently seen loitering around the premises of the Yellow Canary in search of Rusty. He was after money and sex — he sometimes got the money, but never the sex, which put a dent in Harry’s pride, as he left no better emotionally than when he arrived. Even the money was beginning to be a hard sell, he would leave more often than not without a penny. He was a pariah in Rusty’s eyes. She wasn’t going to support a lazy bum like Harry. Rusty’s attitude toward Harry did not dissuade him from hanging out at the Yellow Canary, hopeful of Rusty’s change of heart.

The investigation of Rusty’s murder was now in the interrogative stage. The first person the police questioned was Frank Schmidt, the owner of the Yellow Canary. He sat in a room at police headquarters to answer questions pertaining to the murder of Mary Ann Brooks. Lt. Kelly asked,

How long have you known Mary Ann Brooks?

About a year and a half.

Have you had sexual relations with her?

Yes! I have sex with all my girls.

When was the last time you saw Rusty?

When she left the Yellow Canary, the night she was murdered.

How often have you been seeing her?

Maybe five times a month, during the past two months.

Have you noticed anything strange in her relationship with others?

Her ex-boyfriend keeps hanging around the Yellow Canary, trying to talk to her. It didn’t appear to me that their were on the best of terms.

How would you describe your relationship with Rusty; the night she was murdered?

Look, Lieutenant, I admit I was very fond of Rusty, and that is as far as it went, there is no woman in the world that’s worth getting so emotionally involved, that murder should be considered as a solution. There are just too many good looking women in this world, for any man to become infatuated with just one. No, Lieutenant, no woman is worth jeopardizing your life for.

OK, Mr. Schmidt, you can go now.

The authorities didn’t considered Frank Schmidt to be high on their list of suspects. He was too worldly to be involved in a crime of passion. The next person of interest to be questioned, was Joe Boyd, who was known to be on Rusty’s list of admirers. He arrived at police headquarters, walked into the interrogation room and sat down to be questioned.

Mr Boyd, how long have you known rusty?

About a month.

Could you tell us anything about Rusty that you think we should know or would be of interest to us? Such as friends she was seeing, or anything of a peculiar nature?

No! I can’t imagine who would want to kill Rusty.

The questioning of Joe Boyd continued for a while longer, before he too was dismissed as not a likely suspect.

The next person listed for questing was her co-worker, Sue Johnson, who was asked,

Miss Johnson, I understand that Rusty got her job through you. Now, I would like you to tell me everything you know about Rusty: her friends, acquaintances, admirers and enemies if any, or whatever comes into your mind, that you think would be of interest to us.

Well, we were good friends, and I’m currently taken care of her son Warren, till this dreadful murder is solved.

She talked for over forty minutes, going back to when they first met in high school and up to the present time. She mentioned that both Rusty and Harry dropped out of high school and when Rusty found out she was pregnant, they both left town and took up residency in Atlanta. They found life hard in Atlanta, Harry couldn’t hold a job for more than a week or two, and Rusty was working as a check-out clerk, until Sue got her a job at the Yellow Canary. She spoke in great detail about Rusty’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Harry Simms, and how difficult it was for her to extricate herself from his constant involvement in her life. They thanked Sue Johnson for her cooperation and insight into Rusty’s past and dismissed her. There were two remaining individuals left to be interrogated, Harry Simms and George Pennington. All the information collected so far indicated that Harry Simms, was the prim suspect. Therefore, Lieutenant Sean Kelly got a search warrant for Harry Simms apartment, and assigned two of his men to go through Harry Simms’ dwelling with a fine comb and see what they could dig up. In the meantime Lt. Kelly requested that Mr. George Pennington drop in at police headquarters for a brief questioning. Mr. Pennington too, wasn’t a prime suspect since he was getting what he wanted without violence. Therefore, Lt. Kelly was cognizant that Mr. Pennington was a married man with three children and didn’t want to cause any disruption or problems in his household.

The following afternoon, Mr. Pennington walked into police headquarters, sat down and was most cooperative in detailing his relationship with Rusty. He told the Lieutenant everything about his relationship with Rusty, including the gifts he lavished on her: a pearl necklace with her name engraved in the metal clip, an expensive wrist watch and jade earrings. He told Lt. Kelly that he was sorry to hear of Rusty’s tragic death, although he was glade that their relationship had ended, he didn’t want it to end like it did, and assured the Lt. that he would not be so indiscrete in the future. After dismissing Mr. Pennington they concentrated their investigation on the most likely suspect, Rusty’s ex-boyfriend, Harry Simms.

When the two detectives returned from searching Harry Simms’ apartment, they indicated that they found a woman’s wrist watch and a pair of Jade earrings. That in itself, might not be conclusive proof that he was the murderer, but what they had in a small plastic bag might be. It was scrapings from Harry’s shoes, what appeared to be dried blood. If they could get a match between the contents of the plastic bag and that of Rusty’s blood, they would have an open and shut case against Harry Simms as the murderer of Mary Ann Brooks. When the lab. results came in, it revealed that the contents of the plastic bag was indeed dried blood, and the match between it and Mary Ann Brooks’s blood was proof positive that they were one and the same. After reading the report, Lt. Kelly immediately issued an arrest warrant for Harry Simms, who was brought into custody and charged with the murder of Mary Ann Brooks. Lt. Kelly was sure he had the right man. They brought Harry Simms into the interrogation room, sat him down, and turned on the heat, and for the next ten hours they tried to get Harry to confess to the murder of Rusty. As doggedly as they tried, they could not get Harry to confess to the murder. He insisted that Rusty gave him the wrist watch and the jade earring as a condition for him to stop annoying her and to stay clear of the Yellow Canary. Then Lt. Kelly asked,

How did you get her blood on your shoes?

Those were an old pair of shoes — at that time she cut herself trying to slice a leg of lamb. She bled profusely and some of the blood landed on the floor and on my shoes.

Harry stuck to his story, which frustrated Lt. Kelly, who told two of his men to search every pawnshop in Atlanta for the pearl neckless. They searched for two days, before finding the pearl neckless in a downtown pawnshop. The pearl neckless did indeed belong to Rusty, her name was etched on the metal clip. The detectives chatted awhile with the owner of the pawnshop, then asked if he would go to police headquarters to identify the man in a police lineup. He agreed.

The next day at 10:00 AM, Fred Fox, the pawnbroker sat in a chair, looking up at eight men standing before him, Harry Simms and seven other policemen dressed in street cloths. Fred walked up and down the line of men, looked each in the face and finally said,

No! none of those men pawned the pearl neckless.

This was bad news for Lt. Kelly, which meant he did not have a conclusive case against Harry Simms. He then took Fred aside and asked him to describe the man who sold him the neckless.

He was a tall thin man with a large thin nose, about forty years of age. Brown hair receding toward the center of his scalp and turning gray around the sides. He wore a black leather jacket and a ring on his left hand, displaying a skull and bones. I had seen him twice before, when he entered my pawnshop to sell me a gold bracelet and a gold ring, and that’s about all I can tell you about him.

Thank you, Mr. Fox, you’ve been most helpful. Here’s my card, if he should enter your pawnshop again, would you give me a ring and try to holds him there as long as possible?

Sure thing.

Lt. Kelly, then dispatched a patrol car to cruse the neighborhood of the pawnshop, in the event he received a phone call from Fred. As luck would have it, two days later the stranger walked into Fred’s shop carrying a saxophone. Fred recognized him immediately and asked his wife to call Lt. Kelly, while he attended the stranger. Within minutes after the phone call to Lt. Kelly, the police from the patrol car came flying through the door, and took the stranger into custody. At police headquarters, after preliminary questioning the man’s name was Jake Newsome. They continued to question Jake but he was uncooperative, he would not and did not, explain how he obtained the item he pawned. The police examined his cloths and found traces of what appeared to be dried blood on his pants. The pants and other items of cloths were sent to the crime lab. for testing. Subsequent lab. analysis confirmed that it was dried blood and a perfect match with Rusty’s blood. Therefore, with this new information on hand, they released Harry Simms and told him not to leave town, because he was still a suspect.

Lt. Kelly, now believed he had the right man, but had to convince Jake Newsome to confess to the murder of Mary Ann Brooks, to avoid a long and expensive trail with a questionable outcome. They escorted Jake into the interrogation room, sat him down under bright lights, and subjected him to intensive and continuous questioning. They continued their interrogation for fifteen hours straight, till Jake was exhausted and near delirium. They now thought the time was right to change tactics and gave Jake a ten minute break, before another interrogator walked in. He wasn’t like the others, he was friendly and spoke in a soft tone of voice — offering Jake a cold glass of water and a cigarette, then said,

Look, Jake, I realized you’ve been under a terrific strain, and would like nothing better than to get a little peace and quiet, and I’m here to help you. Let’s be practical Jake, the evidence against you is formidable: Rusty’s blood was found on your pants, the pawnbroker identified you as the man who pawned Rusty’s neckless, none of which could be explained to a jury with credence. And with your record as a recidivist, a conviction is assured and a death sentence a certainty. However, if you plead guilty to murder in the second degree, you can avoid the death penalty and receive a forty year sentence, with the possibility of a parole after twenty years for good behavior. What do you say Jake? Shall I call the stenographer to take your confession.?

Jake was weakening, he couldn’t take much more of this interrogation, all he wanted was to get some sleep and rest, and replied in a low voice, OK. After fifteen hours of interrogation the stenographer was call in to take down Jake’s statement.

I had seen Rusty at the Yellow Canary on several occasion and had become infatuated with her. Every time I saw her I became overwhelmed with passion. She had so many classy admirers that it was impossible for me to compete, besides I didn’t have that kind of money. So I decided to rape her, I had no intention of killing her, it happened in a state of hysteria, I swear it.

Go on, go on, continue!

I followed her around for a few days and knew she lived at the Golden Arms. She seldom has men visitors at her apartment. I’m very good at picking locks, which I have been doing all my life and I always carry at least ten types of keys with me at all times — that could unlock any house lock. I used one of these keys to enter her apartment. While I was waiting for her to return from work, I went through her draws and found the pearl neckless, which I put in my pocket. I then went out on the balcony to await her arrival. She walked in about 3:00 AM, with her child in her arms and placed him in the crib, she probably picked him up at her neighbor’s apartment who was baby sitting for her. I watched her undress through the balcony window and became sexually aroused. I should have waited till she was in bed but I couldn’t control myself and rushed in with my knife flashing. I started to say, ‘be quite and you wont get hurt,’ but before I got two words out of my mouth, she let out a scream, and another, panic struck me and I stabbed her repeatedly to try to silence her. When I saw her lying on the floor in a pool of blood, I left through the balcony. I climbed over the metal fence and hung down before dropping to the ground, which was only a five foot drop. That’s it, there is no more, I didn’t mean to kill her, I didn’t mean to kill her.

He muttered as his voice faded to a whisper. After signing his confession, Lt. Kelly said,

OK, boys, take him away.

While the investigation of Rusty’s murder was in progress, Sue assumed the responsibility of caring for Rusty’s son. She was slowly becoming attached to the boy and looked forward to picking him up after work each day from a neighbor, who cared for the child while Sue was at work. In time, Sue decided to adopt Rusty’s child, she couldn’t put him in a foundling home. Harry, the boy’s father didn’t want the child, he would be too much of a burden for him to care fore. Sue realized that her employment at the Yellow Canary would only last for ten years the most, before she became to old to compete with the younger girls and be replaced. Therefore, she had to save as much money as possible, before being turned out to pasture. When her time came, she would move to another city and get a respectable job to support herself and Warren.

When Harry got wind of Sue’s intention to adopt Warren, a light bulb went on in his head. Maybe he could extort money from Sue, by pretending to want to adopt Warren himself. So Harry decided to pay Sue a visit. He went to her apartment one afternoon — when she opened the door, Harry said,

Sue, I have to talk to you.

OK, come in.

She was a little surprised, as to why Harry should want to call on her, but her curiosity was quickly quenched, as soon as Harry opened his mouth.

Sue, I understand you want to adopt my son Warren — I’m his father and have a rightful claim to him, not you, I intend to exercise my right as his father, for him to remain with me.

Now Sue knew, that this son-of-a-bitch was only after money, and had no interest in caring for his son, he would gladly step aside and allow Sue to adopt Warren, if she offered him money. She decided to play along with his deception and pretend she wasn’t really interested in adopting Warren.

I don’t disagree with you Harry, I think you have a perfect right to claim Warren as your son. If you do so, I won’t contest your claim. I only pretended to want to adopt Warren to prevent him from winding up in a foundling home, while I found a suitable family to adopt him. Now that I know you want him, I’ll care for the boy till you find yourself a regular forty hour week job, which will enable you to support your son in the same manner that other father’s support their children.

This came as a shock to Harry, he didn’t know what to say. He paused for a few seconds, then said,

Sue, I know you grew attached to Warren, and he needs a mother more than he needs a father like me. Maybe we could come to some kind of an agreement, whereby you could adopt Warren.

Oh, what did you have in mind?

Sue, I hate to mention money, but I need five hundred dollars to pay off some of my debts and to get a new start in life. I would like to leave Atlanta and relocate to another part of the state. Of course you wouldn’t have to give me the five hundred dollars in one sump sum, you could give me one hundred dollars a month, for five months, that shouldn’t be to much of a burden for you.

Well, that’s mighty considerate of you Harry. She paused for a second or two, then said, You’re really low life Harry, they don’t come any worse than you, I wouldn’t give you a red cent if your life depended on it. If you want to adopt Warren go ahead, I wont try and stop you, the boy needs a father, someone to care for him, NOW GET OUT, YOU BUM!

Harry was shocked, and left extremely disappointed, and that was the last anyone saw or heard of Harry Simms.

Two weeks later, Sue initiated adoption proceeding for Warren, and in time Warren became Sue’s legal son. Warren was a good looking child, with curly brown hair, brown eyes and a delightful smile. Sue was a real mother to Warren and gave him love and affection as if she was his birth mother. Whenever Sue wasn’t working, she took Warren everywhere: to the zoo, entertainment centers, parks and playgrounds; she enjoyed herself as much as Warren did. It was difficult for Warren to walk, without having special shoes made to compensate for his shorted left leg, and when he was old enough to talk, Sue noticed a lisp in his speech. These two physical impediments, made Warren a little different from other children his age, but these defects did not diminish Sue’s love for the child.

The years flew by as quickly as a wink for Sue and Warren. They were growing older together. Warren had started school and within a few years it became obvious to Sue that Warren was a brilliant child. He not only got A’s in all his subject, but asked Sue some penetrating questions, that revealed his thought process, some of which she could not answer. One afternoon, while sitting on a park bench Warren asked,

Why is the sky blue? and What are clouds made of?

I don’t know why the sky is blue, Warren, but I can tell you that the clouds are made of water vapor, and when to much water vapor is concentrated in one spot it comes down as rain.

"Why does the rain come down and not up.? Asked Warren.

Because of gravity. replies Sue,

What is gravity? Mom.

Sue was beginning to get in a little over her head, and said,

Warren, there are things that even I don’t completely understands. Later in your education, your science teacher will explain it to you much better than I could — then you can explain it to me. Every day Warren asked different questions, some of which Sue could answer, others she could not. The questions Warren asked, and how his little mind was working, always amazed Sue.

The months on the calender wall, kept falling by the wayside, each month seemed to pass more rapidly than the one it replaced. Sue was now twenty nine years of age and was becoming