The Heritage Paper (20 page)

Kingston returned behind his desk and addressed the group, “The reason Eddie is here, along with Mr. Mayor and Mr. Commissioner, is we’ve agreed to coordinate our safety with the city of New York when I give our victory speech tomorrow night at the Waldorf. As you know, Lieutenant Peterson has been chosen to head up the efforts of NYPD.”

Eddie was given the floor. He nervously stammered through the detailed plan they’d been working on for months. The most interesting would be the Long Range Acoustic Devices used to listen in on people’s conversations from as far away as a helicopter.

They would also use traditional tactics such as concrete barriers, while sectioning off areas around the Waldorf with barbed wire. NYPD would be stationed on horseback, bicycles, and in unmarked cars with blacked out windows. A makeshift holding cell had been set up at Pier-57 for those they apprehended.

Eddie began to get his sea-legs and his confidence rose. He skillfully detailed his coordinated efforts with the Technical Assistance Response Unit, who had been filming people in the area for the past week.

Kingston asked the group for feedback and it was negative. Not at the tactics themselves, but Eddie’s presence. A bespectacled pollster warned of plummeting Florida numbers if word got out that Ellen Peterson’s adopted grandson was involved in any way with the campaign.

The campaign manager called for Eddie’s ouster. He then turned to the police commissioner and added, “And it’s not like he earned the position because of his great résumé—he was chosen because he’s a legacy of Harold Peterson.”

Eddie bit his tongue—he could never escape his family history.

Aligor Sterling spoke up, “It was my decision to bring Eddie on because of my fondness for his brother, Carsten Peterson, who was a loyal employee of mine for years. But I must concur with the others …”

Kingston had the final word, “Eddie isn’t going anywhere. He is here for
my
security. Aligor picked him because loyalty is a family trait of the Petersons. And when someone starts shooting at me, I want a loyal man in charge of protecting me.”

Veronica remembered the last homework assignment she helped Maggie with. It was a math assignment about the lowest common denominator. She wasn’t much help—math wasn’t really her thing—but now she was starting to better understand the concept of LCD. And in this case the lowest common denominator was Aligor Sterling.

The last non-relative to visit Ellen was
Sterling
.

One of the few non family members invited to Maggie’s presentation was
Sterling
.

Carsten brought the letters between Ellen and Gus Becker to his boss …
Sterling
.

Rose Shepherd was in jail for blackmailing
Sterling
.

They sat quietly in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Maggie and Jamie were both giving her the silent treatment. Maggie’s angst was a result of being forbidden from the meeting with Rose Shepherd. But Veronica didn’t care if she didn’t speak to her for the next fifty years, she would protect the myth of her father and shield her from her family history of violence.

Jamie, on the other hand, was ticked off because he wasn’t allowed to stay and finish a video game he was playing with one of the children of the inmates. Their tactics weren’t working—Veronica was enjoying the rare quiet time.

Keeping with the theme, Youkelstein was silently reading in the backseat. Zach turned back toward him like he wanted to ask him a question and noticed his book. “Where’d you get that?”

“I carry a copy with me at all times.”

“Why on earth would you do that—you do know that book claims the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of a Jew?”

“I carry it because I never want to forget.”

He held up an aged hardcover that displayed a menacing portrait of a youthful looking Adolf Hitler. The title
Mein Kampf
—
My Struggle
—was draped diagonally over Hitler like he was wearing a pageant banner.

“It’s currently banned in France and Germany,” Youkelstein added. “I don’t agree with that. I think it should be required reading in all schools throughout the world. It’s important for children to learn that such a level of hate exists, and how dangerous it can be when mixed with elements such as opportunity and charisma.”

“And what made you suddenly need to remind yourself again?” Zach asked. “You would think our adventures today would make you unable to forget.”

“Rose Shepherd’s accommodations.”

“You mean that furnished apartment that was disguised as a jail cell?”

“Yes, it reminded me of when Hitler was arrested for the Beer Hall Putsch in 1924—when he and his cronies tried to take over the government in a coup.”

“I know what the Beer Hall Putsch is—I just don’t know what it has to do with Rose Shepherd’s room.”

“Hitler was jailed, but not in a normal prison cell. He stayed in two adjoining luxury rooms like a four-star hotel and visitors could come freely. It’s where he dictated
Mein Kampf
to Rudolph Hess. It made me wonder if there are answers within these hateful diatribes.”

Zach looked skeptical. “Any luck?”

“Even if Himmler was the most powerful force within the Apostles, Hitler was still the original architect of the plan. And unlike Himmler, who operated under the surface, Hitler always laid out his ideology for the world to see.
Mein Kampf
is a prime example of this. He wore his emotions on his swastika’d sleeve. And in doing so, left the blueprints for the Apostles.”

“Did he by any chance leave a map to the bad guys?”

Veronica could tell that Zach was losing patience with Youkelstein’s cryptic responses.

“For starters, I realized that
v^988v^
is not a code or puzzle piece in a treasure map. We were looking too deep. They didn’t need a stealth code to hide from capture. They were the only ones who knew the code—it was the most selective of clubs. It’s probably more of a rallying call, or a mission statement, than the secret code we’ve been making it out to be.”

“I was focusing on a date,” Zach said. “I thought the numbers might add up to a date of significance. That is how the military came up with the 21-gun salute—they added up the numbers from the year 1776.”

“That is a myth—the salute was instituted long before 1776. A petty point, I know, but one that reinforces the point that what is accepted as historically accurate is often untrue. This makes
Kampf
an important guide for us, since the words come right from Hitler’s mouth, and can’t be diluted by storytellers. In it, he writes of ‘
A Thousand Years of Reich
.’ He served from 1933 to 1945, twelve years, so
988
is likely referring to the remainder of the thousand years they are trying to recapture. And if you re-hook the horizontal lightning bolts that surround the number, you will have recreated the Nazi symbol of a swastika.” He scribbled it on the inside cover of the book, connecting the lines of the swastika. “That is what this is all about, returning the Reich to its position of power, as promised by Hitler himself.”

Veronica had stopped listening. She doubted that Zach and Youkelstein were on the path to the right answers, mainly because they were taking the wrong classes. They were studying literature, history, and symbology, when they really needed to be taking math.

She continued to drive toward Manhattan, to have a discussion with the lowest common denominator.

As they pulled up in front of the glimmering skyscraper on Park Avenue, Zach felt an old familiar rush. He’d been lost at sea, wallowing in self-pity, but now felt as if he were rowing ashore once again.

He thought back to when he interviewed Aligor Sterling in the same building on the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. Little did he know that there might be a modern-day story of danger and intrigue inside those walls.

As he’d told Maggie, Zach had his doubts that this was a big story, at least in the way Ellen and Youkelstein thought it was. But nevertheless, Sterling was still a huge player in this election—many believed him to be
Kingston
’s “voice”—and there was no denying he was his biggest financial supporter. At the very least, his conduct was suspicious.

Veronica had been a rock all day, but Zach noticed that her emotions were starting to fray. And when she spotted Sterling’s limo pulling up to the sidewalk, she looked like she was going to erupt. She got out of the vehicle and headed right for him, machine-gun-wielding security be damned.

Sterling looked surprised by the crazed woman rapidly walking toward them, as he was being helped from the limo. But when he realized it was Veronica, he told his men to stand down, and offered a friendly greeting. He took Veronica’s hand and said, “Twice in one day—what do I owe such an honor?”

“We have a few questions concerning Ellen Peterson,” Zach said, right behind her.

He looked at his watch. “Very well, we can meet in my office. I’m just returning from a security meeting for tomorrow’s victory.”

He smiled pleasantly like he was running for office himself, but his smile suddenly sank into the sea.

He saw Youkelstein.

“I must be dead,” Sterling snipped, “because I know Ben Youkelstein only chases ghosts.”

Youkelstein looked ready for a fight. “I find it much more honorable to chase ghosts than to whore myself to television cameras and the publicity machine.”

For a moment, it looked like the former friends were going to have a physical altercation. Yoda on Yoda violence. But Sterling was savvy enough to know that Theodore Baer’s people would love to get a shot of him coming unglued on Election Eve. So he backed down.

Youkelstein retook his vow to never again step foot in Sterling House. He limped away, rhythmically pounding his umbrella cane into the cement sidewalk.

Sterling ignored the tantrum as he ushered his guests toward the entrance. But Zach realized Veronica was stuck in a quandary. She wanted to shield Maggie and Jamie from any discussions involving their father’s death, but also needed to keep them close.

Sterling offered his security detail to watch them. But with her trust level of Sterling at zero, that wasn’t happening. Maggie initially fought for inclusion, the first words she’d spoken since leaving Bedford Hills, but she was no match for her protective mother. Seeing that it wasn’t going her way, Maggie offered up a potential solution—to catch up with Youkelstein and stay with him. She probably saw an opportunity to pick his brain.

Veronica didn’t trust anybody at this point, but she seemed resigned to the fact that this was the best possible solution.

Sterling took money out of the pocket of his suit-jacket and handed it to the children. “There is a great ice cream shop down the street, why don’t you take Ben and get something you like.”

The mention of ice cream sealed the deal, and the kids were racing toward Youkelstein before the adults could change their minds.

Veronica’s face reeked of apprehension as she watched her children run away from her.

Whenever Veronica couldn’t make a decision, whether it be one with life-changing implications or as simple as what dress to wear to a party, Carsten would always tell her to trust her gut. And when she did, the right answer always seemed to present itself.

All day the gut was very clear—keep Maggie and Jamie as close to her as possible—but for some unknown reason she didn’t listen this time.

Maybe it was because of Zach’s presence. He had a way of making her feel like everything would be all right. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel like she was totally on her own. Maybe it distracted her from the inner voice.

They followed Sterling and his guards into the open plaza that led into Sterling House. The granite park was normally a quaint place, but tonight a small rally was taking place in support of Kingston, filled with energized college kids handing out pamphlets.

Sterling was proud of the plaza. It was created back in 1950 with the intention of it being a gathering place, especially for displaced European Jews and Holocaust survivors who ended up in this new crazy world called New York. His face lit up when he described letters he’d received from married couples who had met there. Including one couple who’d just celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

He was equally proud of Sterling House. He said it was important for the building to symbolize the Jewish people as strong and resilient, as they healed the wounds of their battered self-esteem following the war. But also a reminder of the past, as it included a black marble scroll with the names of Holocaust victims engraved on the side of the building.

Despite his claim of being short on time, Sterling took a few moments to talk to the Kingston supporters. Veronica was getting jumpier by the second, needing to get to her kids.

They eventually moved inside the lower level of the building. Sterling bragged that over five million pounds of bronze was used during construction, as they rode an elevator to the top floor. Veronica hadn’t been in the building since she’d picked up Carsten’s belongings after his death, and felt a similar discomfort. When they exited the elevator, they followed Sterling into a lavish office that overlooked Manhattan Island, the guards remaining outside.