Motherless Brooklyn

Lionel shares recollections of his time with Frank and the odd jobs they did (including dismantling a Ferris wheel). He also imparts that he never asked about two things: who Matricardi and Rockaforte were and why Frank’s brother hustled Frank out of New York back in 1982 for what turned out to be a two-year exile. 

Now Lionel stands before Rockaforte and Matricardi. The two dapper gangsters encourage Lionel to trust Tony and help Tony to find Frank’s killer, that “Tony has replaced Frank in the world of the living” (175). Lionel, uncertain, insists he will continue his investigation, with or without Tony. The gangsters accept Lionel’s decision, but they want him to locate Julia: “However strange and damaged, you’ll be our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, you’ll learn and return to us and share” (177). 

Tony, however, is waiting in Lionel’s car. Tony derides Lionel’s attempts at being a detective: “You think you’re Mike fucking Hammer. You’re like the Hardy Boys’ retarded kid brother” (179). He tells Lionel to get off the case. Tony, however, is put out when Lionel says he visited the Park Avenue address. Tony pulls a gun on Lionel demanding to know who else Lionel told about the Park Avenue address. Lionel, for his part, accuses Tony of getting the giant to kill first Frank and then Ullman. Tony laughs it off, “The problem with you, Lionel, is you don’t know anything about how the world really works” (184). 

Detective Seminole shows up and, in the course of his clumsy interrogation of the two, reveals that Julia Minna headed to Boston. Lionel is certain that she holds the key to the mystery of Frank’s murder. Kicked out of the car, Lionel heads to the subway. He calls Loomis, who knows about Fujisaki, calling it a big-time real estate management outfit. Ullman was the firm’s accountant. Puzzled, Lionel returns to the Zendo and to Kimmery. The peacefulness of the center, again, slows Lionel’s tics. A small crowd gathers for a meditation service. Lionel is stunned to see the giant he believes knifed Frank walk in. The giant is apparently benign, certainly not threatening: He is carrying a bag of juicy cumquats, his face “an expression of absolute and utter serenity” (198). 

The Roshi enters and begins the service. As he listens, Lionel suddenly realizes two things: The Roshi was the voice he heard on the wire that Frank wore into the Zendo, and that the Roshi is none other than Frank’s older brother, Gerard. Flooded with nervous energy, Lionel interrupts the calm of the service with a string of verbal nonsense. The Roshi signals to the giant to remove Lionel. The giant has no problem escorting Lionel out of the Zendo. Once outside, the giant calmly knocks Lionel out with the butt of his gun. Lionel comes to and finds Kimmery attending him. 

Kimmery calls a cab and takes the groggy Lionel to her tiny apartment on 78th Street. Lionel notices a shelf of Buddhist books and a pamphlet for a Buddhist retreat known as Yoshii’s along the southern coast of Maine. Talking with Kimmery quiets Lionel’s tics. He feels “an unprecedented calm” (211). Lionel tries to explain to Kimmery that the Roshi is a fraud, a street punk from Brooklyn, and most likely involved in the murder of his own brother. Kimmery rejects the idea, as apparently the implications of the good/bad Oreos lost on Lionel. 

Kimmery then reassures Lionel that from a Buddhist standpoint, his Tourette’s is nothing. The two begin an awkward kiss and make love, Kimmery both distressed and intrigued by the size of Lionel’s penis. Afterwards, Lionel gets Kimmery to promise that she will not go the Zendo for a day or two. When Kimmery falls asleep, Lionel steals her key to the Zendo and quietly leaves.