Chapter 10 - Epilogue
Tony leaned back and rested his head against the plaster wall of the almost empty room. He was thinking. He had plenty of time to think. At least as much as three years to think. Ralph Cummings would be arriving soon, and it would be back to work. Work on the story of his "life," if that's what you could call it. Ralph was a god-send, actually.
Tony had been wavering between despair and frustration for the past three months. Three months since the sentencing. Three months away from Nina and his family. Three months away from his new friends who had helped him so unselfishly. How would he explain it to them? He was having trouble explaining it to himself. In truth, he was bitterly disappointed in himself.
The door to the sparsely furnished room opened and a uniformed guard entered.
"Mr. Cummings is on his way."
"Thank you." At least it would be something to help him straighten out his mind. The damaged memory with little pieces still missing. The exercise of reciting his past life was a different kind of therapy, but it was a therapy.
A few seconds later, Ralph Cummings walked into the room, closing the door behind him. They were not alone. A pair of CCTV cameras watched constantly.
"Good morning, Tony. How are you today?"
"I'm OK, thanks Ralph. Good to see you again."
Cummings placed a spiral-bound notebook and a small recorder on the table in front of them and sat down.
"I can't imagine how difficult it is to get used to being here, Tony. I want to talk about that later, but not right now. I guess you can be grateful it's a minimum security institution."
"Yeah ... grateful," Tony said with a rueful smile.
"OK ... let's get going again. I've done up the notes from our last meeting and I had a couple of points I wanted to clarify.
"You said you had figured out that at least two of the partners were taking funds from some of the investor accounts. How did you latch onto the third ... Mahon I think it was?"
And so it began again, Tony recounting what he could recall from the months leading up to reporting his discovery to Stanton Mellows. It was a tedious, detail filled accounting of the fraud perpetrated by the three Vice Presidents. Then the reluctant acknowledgement by Mellows, and finally his meeting with Carter Woolman at the S.E.C. office.
This was the third meeting of the two men. It had been difficult to engineer. The Department of Justice cited the prohibition against profiting from crime. Picardo Publishing's lawyer had argued successfully that any new information about the crime could be documented and handed over to the FBI. They would have complete access to all Cummings' notes.
The monies promised in the advance had been frozen by the court, subject to a small living allowance for Nina and the children. The balance would be unavailable until the conclusion of his sentence. Ultimately, it would pay his legal fees and still leave Nina and the children enough to get by on. Then what?
The look on her face when they arrested him was haunting him constantly. The horror and fear mixed in her reaction was palpable. Worse yet, he had let her down again. She was going to suffer through his humiliation, even as she chose to stay with him.
But there was something more frustrating. He had no memory of committing the crime. He was accused of stealing something close to ten million dollars and he had no recollection of doing any such thing. The trail, according to Van Hoote, led directly to him, although he had covered his tracks cleverly, making it appear to have been the others who took the money.
His lawyer, Nolan Matthews, had gone over the evidence with another accounting expert, and had come to the conclusion that the evidence was indeed solid and that Tony's best defence was to plead guilty with mitigating circumstances. He would make full restitution, since none of the money had been spent. He couldn't prove he didn't remember the act or where the money was, but it made no difference to the court in which life Tony Milano committed the crime. The court did, however, take into account his cooperation with the FBI and his testimony on their behalf.
Nolan was Major Tom Matthews' brother, an adept criminal defense lawyer with an impressive record. Tom had stood by Tony and had prevailed upon his brother to assist his new friend. Whatever the investment broker might have been in his past life, he was something entirely different today.
His sentence, three to five years in a minimum security facility, was considered light in comparison to the heavy sentences Mahon, Blyer, and Stainsby had received. They would be the guests of the Federal Penitentiary system for at least twenty years. Blyer and Mahon were at least fortunate enough to rate medium security. Stainsby, due to his involvement in the attempted murder of Tony, was sentenced to twenty-five to life in maximum security. It was unlikely he would ever leave prison.
Stanton Mellows never faced trial. He died of a heart attack three weeks before his court date. Tony almost felt sorry for the old man. The look of him on the floor of Amnesia! after his aborted attack was enough of a memory for Tony.
But Tony could only regret that he too would have to serve his sentence. He had come to believe that he was guilty even without the recollection. The prison psychiatrist suggested it was a repressed memory as opposed to amnesia. Something Tony would rather not remember because it conflicted with his new personality and his new life. There was a certain logic to that, Tony felt.
He finished the session with Ralph Cummings and returned to his room. As prisons go, FCI Candlehurst wasn't that bad. Most of the inmates were white-collar criminals, druggies, and the odd sex offender. They were considered non-violent and likely candidates for rehabilitation. It could have been worse, Tony thought.
He had applied to work in the prison kitchen, but there were no current openings. He had made it known to Asst. Warden Kettleworth that he was a qualified cook. It made no difference. Until his number came up, he would be assigned to other work-related projects. He was currently in the laundry, one of the easier but more boring assignments. He had to once again prepare himself for the menial tasks just as he had when he began as a dishwasher at Mr. Leung's restaurant.
Nina would be coming Saturday, as she had promised. That was one thing he could look forward to. The distance prevented her from being there more than once or twice a month, but he was grateful for any time he could spend with her. Federal prisons did not permit conjugal visits. It would be a long, lonely time for both of them.
As he walked back to his room, he thought about his fate. If there was one bright spot in the whole sordid mess, it was the loyalty of his family and friends. Not a single one of them had abandoned him. They were almost unwilling to accept his guilt; even when the evidence said he surely was. Even Martin Polikoff, the supposedly hardened NYPD detective, had stuck by him.
But it was Nina that meant the most to him right now. She would be waiting for him whenever he was released. She was not going anywhere without him. When they said their vows and the part "for better or worse" was uttered, she truly meant it. Every word of it. If there was nothing else to motivate him, that would be sufficient.
Amnesia! was running well with Muriel and Erik at the helm in the kitchen. The new restaurant had been put on hold until Tony was released and could reassess the viability. The sale of the two properties in Westport and Nantucket had provided more than enough to secure the townhouse in the Bronx. Nina was sheltered from the liability of his crime. She and the children would be able to cope financially during his incarceration. It was the best he could hope for.
It seemed like an eternity until Saturday afternoon when Nina arrived. It was a five hour drive from the Bronx and she would be exhausted. Their two hours together would be the one bright spot in the next two to three weeks for both of them. Tony found himself pacing the floor in his room until her arrival was announced.
