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The story begins in Memphis, Tennessee, with eleven year old Mark Sway and his younger brother Ricky sneaking out into the woods to smoke a cigarette. As they smoke, they stumble upon Jerome Clifford. He is obviously drunk, and proceeds to stick a hose from the tailpipe of his car into the back window to allow exhaust into the cab. Mark recognizes this as a suicide attempt. He crawls out, three times to remove the hose, making Jerome angrier every time he finds it unplugged. On the third and final effort by Mark, Jerome catches him and throws him into the car as well.
Jerome reveals that he is a lawyer for Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, a mafia hit man. Barry is currently a suspect in the of Senator Boyd Boyette. However, the FBI, without a body, cannot conclusively prove that Muldanno is the er, or that there was a at all. Clifford eventually reveals the location of the body, under his boat, in the concrete of his own garage, before losing consciousness. Mark bolts from the car and finds a terrified Ricky, and they both watch in horror as Jerome emerges from the car, screams in rage, and puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. They both run back to the house, where Mark places an anonymous 911 call, telling where the body is.
Ricky, meanwhile, has withdrawn into the fetal position and will not respond to Mark in any way. Mark decides to return to the scene and watch, where the police catch him hiding in the bushes. Officer Hardy takes him back home, where Mark's mother, Dianne Sway, has just returned from work. Officer Hardy recognizes that Ricky has gone into shock and calls an ambulance, at which time the entire family is taken to the hospital. Reverend Roy Foltrigg, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Louisiana at New Orleans, has personally taken the case of Senator Boyd Boyette for the publicity.
He hears of the story of Mark Sway, and how he seems to know something. Foltrigg meets with Special Agents Trumann and Mcthume, and decides that they need to know everything that Mark knows. Meanwhile, Mark decides that he needs a lawyer. He chooses Ms. Reggie Love, who will do his case pro bono. Mark tells his whole story to Reggie, and she tells Mark that she will deal with the FBI for him, and that he doesn't have to say a thing.
She decides that he shouldn't tell anyone where the body is buried, because Muldanno has mafia ties, and no one can prove that Mark knows at all. The FBI want to meet with Mark, so Reggie straps a tape recorder onto him and sends him in to talk to Mcthume and Trumann. They tell him that he doesn't need a lawyer, or his parents, present. The two agents know that they are violating the law, but believe they can get away with it. That is, until Reggie comes in fifteen minutes after Mark has gone to "go to the bathroom." She uses the tape as blackmail, to ensure that Mcthume and Trumann tell her everything she needs to know about Foltrigg and the investigation. Just afterwards, Slick Moeller, a reporter for the Memphis Press, publishes a front-page story about Jerome Clifford's suicide.
Moeller has an extensive list of informants, from the police to hoodlums, and has never revealed a source. Once he gets a tip that Mark knows a bit about Clifford's, he decides to track him down and ask him. Slick gets information about Mark's little brother, Ricky, and how he's in shock. He questions Mark briefly, and then leaves. The story on Mark runs front page the next day. A burly man with mafia ties, by the name of Paul Gone, hires Jack Nance to do some routine surveillance on Mark Sway.
Nance agrees to do it, seeing as he doesn't care about the job as long as he gets his hundred dollars an hour. Meanwhile, Muldanno sends two hit men, Bono and Pirini, down to Memphis to keep an eye on Mark and kill him if the need arises. Reggie takes Mark home to eat with her mother. All of Reggie's clients had eaten with Momma Love, and Mark was no exception.
That same night, Bono and Pirini burn the Sway's trailer down as a warning. Bobby Ord (One of Foltrigg's assistants), Fink, K. O. Lewis, and Mcthume talk to the Juvenile Court judge, Harry Roosevelt. Roosevelt is reluctant to put Mark on trial, because the FBI has no concrete evidence against him, but the threats against Mark by the mafia are too much for Harry to bear, so he orders Mark to be detained, for his own safety.
Two policemen seize Mark near Ricky's room, and he is taken to the Juvenile Detention Center, where he awaits trial. Reggie tells him he would continue to be detained if he did not talk, and then they go to trial. When Mark is called to testify, he refuses to answer any questions, and is taken back to the Detention Center. Foltrigg issues grand jury subpoenas for Mark, Dianne, and Reggie, and orders them all to appear in court. Slick Moeller, who just ran a story revealing confidential information in the Sway case, is issued a subpoena and taken to trial. He is ordered to reveal the identity of his informant, and when he fails to do so is put in jail.
Mark, after running around his cell for thirty minutes, shock. He is extremely hot and sweaty, his heartbeat is very high, and by sucking on his thumb like Ricky did, he is able to fool the doctors. They take him to the hospital where, in the confusion, he is able to escape. He calls Reggie and has her pick him up, and they make their way to New Orleans, where the body of Senator Boyd Boyette is buried. Once they get there, they discover that the mafia is trying to rescue the body as well. Three hit men are busy digging up the bottom of the garage, trying to get the body out before daybreak.
Mark throws a rock through the plate glass window next door, setting off the alarm and causing a few police to rush to the scene. The hit men flee, and Mark and Reggie confirm that the body is still there. Reggie cuts a deal with the FBI, telling them that Mark will only reveal the location of the body once he, and his family, are well under the protection of the Witness Protection Program. K. O. Lewis agrees.
Mark and his family are flown, with new identities, to a private airport, where Ricky can get better care. Reggie and Mark, however, can never see each other again.
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Research essay sample on Senator Boyd Boyette K O Lewis Mark
