Florentyna smiled. “Do you think my father is there?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“So now we sit and wait for the appointment.”
George wrote the next day to confirm that Abel had been in Washington for the celebrations. He ended on the words: “Your father seems confident about going to Warsaw, and I am equally sure that if he’s offered the position, it will be easier to get him to meet Richard.”
“What a friend George has turned out to be,” said Florentyna.
“To Abel as well as to us,” said Richard thoughtfully.
Each day Florentyna checked the new appointments as they were released by Pierre Salinger, the White House press secretary, but no announcement concerning the Polish ambassador was forthcoming.
Chapter
Seventeen
When Florentyna did see her father’s name in the paper, she could hardly miss it: the banner headline was all across the front page:
THE CHICAGO BARON ARRESTED
Florentyna read the story in disbelief.
NEW YORK—Abel Rosnovski, the international hotelier known as the Chicago Baron, was arrested at 8:30 this morning at an apartment on East Fifty-seventh Street by agents of the FBI. The arrest took place after his return the previous night from a business trip to Turkey, where he had opened the Istanbul Baron, the latest in his chain of hotels. Rosnovski was charged by the FBI with bribery and corruption of government officials in fourteen different states. The FBI also wants to question ex-Congressman Henry Osborne, who has not been seen in Chicago for the past two weeks.
Rosnovski’s defense attorney, H. Trafford Jilks, made a statement denying the charges and added that his client had a full explanation which would exonerate him completely. Rosnovski was granted bail in his own recognizance of $10,000.
The news story went on to report that rumors had been circulating in Washington for some time that the White House had been considering Mr. Rosnovski for the post of the next U.S. ambassador to Poland.
That night Florentyna lay awake wondering how it could have all happened and what her father must be going through. She assumed Henry was involved in some way and determined to follow every scrap of information that was reported in the papers. Richard tried to comfort her by saying there were very few businessmen alive who had not at some stage in their careers been involved in a little bribery.
Three days before the trial was due to begin, the Justice Department found Henry Osborne in New Orleans. He was arrested, charged and immediately turned State’s evidence. The FBI asked Judge Prescott for a postponement to discuss with ex-Congressman Osborne the contents of a dossier on Rosnovski that had recently come into their possession. Judge Prescott granted the FBI a further four weeks to prepare their case.
The press soon discovered that Osborne, in order to clear his considerable debts, had originally sold the file that he had compiled over ten years while serving as a director of the Baron Group to a firm of private investigators in Chicago. How the file had then come into the hands of the FBI remained a mystery.
Florentyna was fearful that with Henry Osborne as star witness for the prosecution her father might have to serve a long jail sentence. After another sleepless night, Richard suggested she ought to contact her father. She concurred and wrote him a letter assuring him of her support and her belief in his innocence. She was about to lick the envelope when she walked over to her desk, took out her favorite picture of her son and sent it to his grandfather.
Four hours before the trial was due to begin, Henry Osborne was found hanging in his cell by a guard bringing in his breakfast. He had used a Harvard tie.
“Why did Henry commit suicide?” Florentyna asked her mother on the phone later that morning.
“Oh, that’s easy to explain,” replied Zaphia. “Henry thought the private investigator who cleared his debts wanted the file for the sole purpose of blackmailing your father.”
“And what was the real reason?” asked Florentyna.
“The file had been purchased anonymously in Chicago on behalf of William Kane, who then passed it on to the FBI.”
Florentyna felt such hatred whenever she thought about William Kane, she couldn’t stop herself from taking it out on Richard. But it was obvious that Richard was every bit as angry about his father’s behavior, which Florentyna discovered when she overheard a phone conversation between him and his mother.
“That was pretty tough,” said Florentyna when he finally put the phone down.
“Yes, it was. My poor mother’s getting it from both sides.”
“We haven’t reached the last act of this tragedy,” said Florentyna. “Papa has wanted to return to Warsaw for as long as I can remember. Now he will never forgive your father.”
Once the trial began, Florentyna followed the proceedings each day by phoning her mother in the evening after Zaphia had returned from the courtroom. When she listened to her mother’s view on the day’s happenings she wasn’t always convinced they both wanted the same outcome.
“The trial is beginning to go in your father’s favor,” she said in the middle of the second week.
“How can you be so sure?” asked Florentyna.
“Since the FBI has lost its star witness, their case hasn’t stood up to much cross-examination. H. Trafford Jilks is making Henry Osborne sound like Pinocchio with a nose that was four feet long.”
“Does that mean Papa will be proved innocent?”
“I wouldn’t think so. But the courtroom officials are predicting that the FBI will have to make a deal.”
“What sort of deal?”
“Well, if your father pleads guilty to some minor offenses, they will drop the main charges.”
“Will he get away with a fine?” asked Florentyna anxiously.
“If he’s lucky. But Judge Prescott is tough, so he may still end up in jail.”
“Let’s hope it’s just a fine.”
Zaphia made no comment.
“Six-month suspended sentence for the Chicago Baron,” Florentyna heard the newscaster say on her car radio as she was driving to pick up Richard from the bank. She nearly collided with the Buick in front of her and pulled over into a “No Parking” zone so that she could concentrate on what the newscaster had to say.
“The FBI has dropped all the main indictments of bribery against Abel Rosnovski—known as the Chicago Baron—and the defendant pleaded guilty to misdemeanors on two minor cou
nts of attempting to influence a public official improperly. The jury was dismissed. In his summing up Judge Prescott said: The right to do business does not include the right to suborn public officials. Bribery is a crime and a worse crime when condoned by an intelligent and competent man, who should not need to stoop to such levels.
“‘In other countries,’ the judge added, ‘bribery might be an accepted way of life, but that is not the case in the United States.’ Judge Prescott gave Rosnovski a six-month suspended sentence and a twenty-five-thousand-dollar fine.
“In other news, President Kennedy…”
Florentyna turned off the radio and heard someone tapping on the side window. She wound it down.
“Do you know you’re in a restricted area, ma’am?”
“Yes,” replied Florentyna.
“I’m afraid it’s going to cost you ten dollars.”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars and a six-month suspended sentence. It could have been worse,” said George in the car on the way back to the Baron.
“Don’t forget that I lost Poland,” said Abel, “but that’s all history now. Purchase those two percent of Lester’s shares we need from Parfitt even if it costs a million. That will make up the eight percent of Lester’s that I need to invoke Article Seven of their bylaws and then I can slaughter William Kane in his own boardroom.”
George nodded sadly.
A few days later the State Department announced that the next American ambassador to Warsaw would be John Moors Cabot.
Chapter
Eighteen
The morning after Judge Prescott had given his verdict on Florentyna’s father, the second event occurred. The extension of the apartment phone rang in the shop and because Nancy was removing the summer clothes from the window, replacing them with the new autumn collection, Florentyna answered it.