Thank you, Erik Thread, for your excellent editing and helpful suggestions. I am grateful for your patience and skill. Any errors are, of course, mine.
The celebration was brief. Tony had no sooner gotten off the phone from hearing Martin tell him that the arrest had gone down as planned when two well-dressed men arrived at Amnesia!
"Anthony Marino?" a tall, middle-aged man asked.
"Yes."
"I'm agent Thorson and this is agent Pellegrino ... F.B.I." he said succinctly, both showing their I.D.
"I've been expecting you," Tony said with a grimace.
"Is there someplace we can have some privacy?" Thorson asked.
"Not really ... it's a tavern," Tony shrugged.
Thorson sighed and then, "Would you mind coming downtown with us? We need to talk to you."
Tony nodded. "Fine. I want to get this over with and get on with my life. I'd like to phone my wife and let her know what's happening. As far as she knows, someone is still out there that may want to harm us."
"Of course. Why don't you make that call and we'll wait here. We'll give you a ride to the office and back again," Thorson suggested.
Tony turned to the bar. "Carl, would you get these gentlemen some coffee, please."
He pulled out his cell phone, thumbing in the pre-set number as he walked back into the kitchen.
"Nina ... it's over," he said when she answered the phone. "They've arrested the man that tried to kill me."
"Oh, thank god, Tony. I was so worried. Now we can be together again. Can I tell the children?"
"Yes ... you can tell everyone. In fact, I wish you would. I'm heading down to F.B.I. headquarters to make a statement. I don't know how long I'll be, but if you can take care of letting our family and friends know I'm back among the living, I'd be grateful."
"Of course. I can't wait. The children will be so excited. I'm excited," she gasped.
They talked for several minutes before Tony interrupted, "Babe, I've got to go. The F.B.I. guys are here and I have to go downtown with them. I'll call you as soon as I can."
"Take care, Tony. I'll have lots to do calling everyone. I'm so happy that it's over."
Tony signed off and headed out of the kitchen to the table where the two agents were finishing their coffee.
"Thanks for being patient, guys. I appreciate it. We can go anytime now."
"Not a problem. Beside, this is the best coffee I've had in a long time. I hated to rush it," Pellegrino grinned.
They left through the front after Tony let Carl know he would be gone for the day and Eric would be in charge of the kitchen. Martin's son, David, would be in after school to give Eric a hand with the dinner crowd. Earlier, they had prepared a number of heat-and-serve items to keep the lunch crowd under control.
The interview took place in a pleasant, air conditioned room with comfortable chairs and a large table. The two agents that had picked him up remained in the room until two more joined them.
"Mr. Marino, this is agent Bilecki and agent Van Hoote," Thorson said in introduction. "They are from our forensic accounting office."
Tony stood and shook hands with a very attractive blonde woman and a bookish, shy man. The woman, in her early thirties, had a firm handshake, while the younger man, Van Hoote, offered a limp, damp hand.
"Nice to meet you," Tony greeted them.
Agent Bilecki took the lead.
"Nice to meet you too. You've uncovered a major crime and luckily gave the information to someone in authority before you were attacked. That made a big difference in our investigation. Your contact at the S.E.C. came to us when he learned of your disappearance. He told us what you told him and we went from there.
"Your notes were very comprehensive. You've handed us exactly what we need to charge and convict at least the three men you have named in your files. You've been very thorough and it's made our work so much easier. We are confident we will get convictions for fraud and a number of other financial statute violations."
Tony acknowledged the compliment with a nod and a smile. "When will you be charging them?" he asked.
"I think the indictments will be handed down in a week or so," Bilecki offered.
Tony nodded.
"Can you tell us what led you to suspect these men?" she asked. Her partner was furiously scribbling notes despite the fact that there was a recorder on the table.
Tony admitted he hadn't recovered all of his memory, but indicated he had noticed a number of odd transactions that raised his interest. When, on a hunch, he followed the trail of one transaction, he saw a number of irregularities and that opened what he described as "a whole can of worms."
He spent over two hours with the forensic pair, going over anything else that he might remember. Their concern apparently centered around whether they had identified all of the improper transactions, or were there more. Tony told them he didn't know.
When they finished, the two special agents rose, and once again Bilecki thanked him for his efforts and assistance before leaving the room.
Tony sank back in the comfortable chair and let out a sigh.
"I know what you mean," laughed Pellegrino. "That stuff can wear you out."
"I've got some lunch coming, Mr. Marino," Thorson said amiably. "We'll take a break and then we can get back at it. In this case, I think we might have some information for you as well."
The chatted quietly over the lunch after it arrived. Someone had gone to the trouble of ordering some very nice smoked meat sandwiches on rye with dill pickles, coleslaw, and, ironically, Pellegrino water.
Thorson was interested in his amnesia and the affect it had on him. Tony noted that his case was unusual in that it had been over a year before he regained any significant part of his memory. Still, there were frustrating gaps, but he had adapted and accepted that perhaps he would never completely recover everything.
"Do you remember anything at all about the day you disappeared?" the agent asked.
"No ... nothing," Tony said, shaking his head.
"Well, we do have some information that you don't have. Apparently, you brought in some work clothes and changed in your office. You were going down to the basement file storage to look for something, according to your secretary."
"Huh! Joanna remembers that, eh. I guess those were the clothes I was found in."
"Yeah ... she remembers what you were wearing and it matches what the N.Y.P.D. noted when you were found. When she told us that, she let us into your office and we found your suit and shirt hung up in the closet. Your wallet and security pass were in it, so no one had disturbed it. We have it here, and we can return it now. We've gone over it carefully, but can't find anything of use to the case."
"I guess the credit cards are useless. I'm sure my wife would have cancelled them by now," Tony mused.
"Yeah, when we checked them, there hadn't been any activity on any of them from the day you vanished. We figured something had happened to you based on how much use you made of those cards. When you didn't reappear over the next months, we were pretty sure you were dead. Someone had twigged to your uncovering the fraud and tried to take you out. Lucky for you, they were amateurs," Pellegrino jumped in.
"Listen guys, there's a cop ... a detective ... that helped me out a lot. He was the one who let you guys know I was still alive. He kept me safe and put a lot of his own time in on trying to find out who I was."
"What's his name?" Thorson asked.
"Are you sure he won't get in trouble?" Tony asked warily.
"No ... not from us. If he catches any flack it'll be from his own people. But I do have a question. How long has he known who you are?"
"His name is Martin Polikoff. I told him right away, as soon as my memory came back. So he's known for ... a few days," Tony hesitated, shrinking the time. In fact, Martin had known for weeks.
