The Evening News (65 page)

A week and a half had passed since the sixty temporary recruits had been turned loose by CBA News to make a study of the region's local newspapers, searching for a headquarters that the Sloane family's kidnappers might have used. However, no progress had been made, nor had there been developments in other areas
.
The FBI, while not saying specifically it had reached a dead end, had
nothing new to report. The CIA, now rumored to be involved, would make no
statement
.
What everyone was waiting for, it seemed, was some word
from the kidnappers, presumably accompanied by demands. So far it hadn't happened
.
The kidnap story was still very much in the news, though on TV newscasts
it had ceased to be the lead item, and in newspapers was usually on an
inside page
.
Despite the apparent waning of the public interest, there was no shortage
of speculation. Among the news media there appeared a growing belief that
the kidnap victims had somehow been spirited from the country and were
overseas. As to precisely where, most hypotheses centered on the Middle
Fast
.
Only at CBA News were there contrary indications. Because of the special
task force identification of a Colombian terrorist, Ulises Rodriguez, as
a kidnap gang participant and perhaps the gang's leader, Latin America
had become the focus of attention. Unfortunately, no particular country
had been determined as the kidnappers' base
.
To the surprise of everyone involved, knowledge of the Rodriguez
connection remained exclusively with CBA News. It had been expected that
the discovery would quickly be duplicated by other networks and
newspapers and thus become public information, but while that could still
occur at any time, it hadn't yet. There was even some unease at CBA about
the News Division's continuing to withhold its knowledge concerning
Rodriguez from the FBI
.
Meanwhile CBA, more than other networks, kept the kidnap story
aggressively alive, using a technique borrowed from rival CBS. During the
1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, Walter Cronkite, then CBS Evening News
anchorman, concluded each broadcast with the words, "And that's the way
it is [the date], the _th day of captivity for the American hostages in
Iran
.”

(The number of days eventually totaled 444)
.
As Barbara Matusow, broadcasting's historian and conscience, recorded in
her book The Evening Stars, Cronkite made "a decision that the hostages
. . . were so important that the spotlight of national attention should
not stray from them, even for a single night
.”

Similarly, Harry Partridge, still acting as second anchor for any item
concerning the Sloane kidnap, now began, "On this
the [numbered] day since the brutal kidnapping of the wife, son and father of CBA News anchorman Crawford Sloane The item itself then followed
.
As a matter of policy, approved by Les
Chippingham
and agreed to by
executive producer Chuck Insen, there was always a Sloane kidnap reference
in every National Evening News, even if only to record the absence of any
new development
.
But on a Wednesday morning, ten days after the search of local newspapers
began, an event occurred which put everything at CBA News in high gear once
more. It also ended the inactivity that had frustrated all members of the
special task force
.
At the time Harry Partridge was in his private office. He looked up to see
Teddy Cooper in the doorway and, behind him, Jonathan Mony, the young black
man who had made so strong an impression earlier when the temporary
researchers were assembling
.”
We may have something, Harry
,”
Cooper said
.
Partridge waved the two in
.”
Jonathan will tell you
.”

Cooper motioned to Mony
.”
Go ahead
.”

"Yesterday I went to a local newspaper in Astoria, Mr. Partridge
,”
Mony
began confidently
.”
That's in Queens, near Jackson Heights. Did all the
things you said, found nothing. Then, coming out, I saw the office of a
Spanish-language weekly called Sernana. It wasn't on the list, but I went
in
.”

"You speak Spanish
?
”

Mony nodded
.”
Pretty well. Anyway, I asked to check their issues for those
dates we've been watching and they let me. Nothing there either, but as I
was leaving they gave me their latest issue. I took it home, looked through
it last night
.”

"And brought it to me this morning
,”
Cooper said. He produced a
tabloid-style newspaper which he spread on Partridge's desk
.”
Here's a
column we think will interest you, and a translation Jonathan has written
.”

Partridge glanced at the paper, then read the translation, typed on a
single sheet.
Hello, You wouldn't think, would you, that some people buy funeral
caskets the way you and me pick up cheese at the grocery. Happens
,
though; ask Alberto Godoy of Godoy's Funeral Home
.
Seems this guy came in from the street and bought two caskets just like
that off the shelf
-one regular, one small, Said he wanted to take them
to his old Mom and Dad, the tiny one for Morn. Hey, how's that for a hint to the old folks? "Time to beat it, Mom and Dad, the party's
over
!”

Don't go away, there's more. Last week, that's six weeks later, this
same guy comes back, he wants another casket like before, regular size
.
He took it away, paid cash, same as he did for the other two. Didn't
say who this one was for. Wonder if his wife's been cheating
.
Tell you who doesn't care, that's Albert Godoy. Says he's ready and
eager
for more business of the same kind

"There's something else, Harry
,”
Cooper said
.”
A few minutes ago we
phoned the Semana office. Jonathan talked and we got lucky. The bloke who
wrote the column was there
.”

"What he told me
,”
Mony said, "was that the day he wrote the piece you
read was a week ago last Friday. He'd just seen Godoy in a bar and Godoy
had sold the third casket that same day.,
,
"Which also
,”
Cooper added, "happened to be right after the snatch, the
very next day
.”

"Wait
,”
Partridge said
.”
Don't talk. Let me think
.”

While the others were silent, he considered
.
Stay calm, he told himself. Don't get carried away! But the possibilities
were unmistakable: The first two caskets, purchased six weeks before the
kidnap, only slightly ahead of the estimated one-month surveillance of
the Sloane family, and within the three-months' maximum operation time
also estimated by the task force. Then the size of the two caskets: one
regular, one small, the second said to be for an old woman, but it could
also be for an eleven-year-old boy
.
Next, the third casket-according to the newspaper, a regular size
.
Established fact: Crawf's father, the old man, Angus,
had arrived at the Sloane house virtually unexpected, having phoned only the day before. So if the family hadn't expected him, neither had the kidnappers. Yet they captured him and took him with Jessica and the boy. Three captives instead of two
.
Questions: Did the kidnappers already have two caskets? Did the old man
cause them to acquire a third? Was it for -him the extra one was bought
from Godoy's Funeral Home the next day after the kidnap?
Or was the whole thing merely an incredible coincidence? It might be. Or
might not
.
Partridge raised his eyes to the other two who were regarding him intently
.
Cooper said, "Raise a fe
w questions, don't it
?
”

"Do you think . -
.”

"What I think is, we may have found how Mrs. Sloane and the others could
have been taken out of the country
.”

"In caskets? Do you believe they were dead
?
”

Cooper shook his head
.”
Doped. It's been done before
.”

The statement confirmed what Partridge was already thinking
.”
What happens next, Mr. Partridge
?
”

The question was from Mony
.”
As soon as we can, we'll interview that funeral man Partridge glanced at the typed translation to which had been added the funeral home's address
.”
Godoy. I'll do it myself
"I'd like to come with you
.”

"I think he earned it, Harry
,”
Cooper urged
.
”
So do I
”
Partridge smiled at Mony
.”
Nice going, Jonathan
.”

The young researcher beamed
.
They would leave immediately and take a cameraman, Partridge decided. He
instructed Cooper, "Minh Van Canh is in the conference room, I think. Tell
him to grab his gear and join US
.”

As Cooper left, Partridge picked up a telephone and ordered a network car
.
On the way out, passing through the main newsroom, he
and Mony encountered Don Kettering, CBA's business correspondent. When news of the Sloane kidnap broke, it had been Kettering who was assigned to the flash studio "hot seat
”
and became first to go on the air with a special bulletin
.
Now he asked, "Anything new, Harry
?
”

Impeccably dressed in a brown tailored
suit, his thin mustache neatly trimmed, Kettering, as always, looked like
a prosperous businessman himself
.
About to make a perfunctory answer and hurry by, Partridge hesitated. He
respected Kettering not only as a specialist, but as a first class
reporter. With his background, Kettering might be more at home than
Partridge with the subject they were about to tackle
.”
Something has come up, Don. What are you doing now
?
”

"Not much. Wall Street's quiet today. Need some help
?
”

"Could be. Come with us. I'll explain as we go
.”

"Let me tell the Horseshoe
.”

Kettering picked up a phone on the nearest
desk
.”
Be right behind you
.”

A network Jeep Wagoneer reached the main entrance of CBA News headquarters
less than a minute after Partridge, Mony and Minh Van Canh emerged onto the
street. The cameraman climbed into the rear seat with his equipment, Mony
helping. Partridge took the front seat beside the driver. As the front door
slammed, Don Kettering arrived and squeezed into the rear
.”
We're going to Queens
,”
Partridge told the driver. He had brought the
Semana newspaper and Mony's translation with him and read out the Godoy's
Funeral Home address
.
Making a fast U-turn and facing east, the driver headed for the Queensboro
Bridge
.”
Don
,”
Partridge said, swiveling around in his seat
.”
Here's what we know
and what we're wondering . .
.”

Twenty minutes later, in Alberto Godoy's cluttered, smoky office, Harry
Partridge, Don Kettering and Jonathan Mony faced the obese, bald funeral
home proprietor across his desk. The trio had simply walked in after
resisting questions from a woman receptionist.
On Partridge's instructions, Minh Van Canh remained outside in the Jeep
Wagoneer. If any pictures were needed, he would be called in later
.
Meanwhile, from the vehicle, Van Canh was discreetly videotaping the Godoy
building
.
From behind his usual lighted cigarette, the undertaker regarded the
visitors suspiciously. For their part, they had already taken in the shabby
establishment, Godoy's bloated features which suggested heavy drinking, and
the food stains on his black coat and gray-striped pants. This was not a
quality establishment and probably not a scrupulously run one either
.”
Mr. Godoy
,”
Partridge said, "as I told your lady outside, we're all from
CBA News
.”