Motherless Brooklyn

It is weeks later. Gilbert has been released with all charges dropped. The three remaining Minna Men now work the office. L&L is now officially a detective agency, although they have no clients yet. 

Days after Lionel returned to Brooklyn, Gerard mysteriously disappeared. Although losing its Roshi, the Zendo remained open even as its clientele dwindled. Lionel acknowledges that the operators behind all the mayhem—the shadowy Fujisaki Corporation and the Brooklyn wiseguys—will never face charges. Haunted by memories of her cryptic half-smile, Lionel arranges to me Kimmery at a coffee shop: “I suppose I still had the faint notion that could be together” (308). However, Kimmery tells Lionel that she has returned to an ex-lover: “So that thing that happened with us, it was just, you know—a thing” (309). Under his breath, Lionel says, “Okayokayokayokayokay,” the repetition as much a manifestation of his Tourette’s tics as his affirmation that she will never be his. 

In the end, Lionel never contacts Julia. He is at peace, beyond guilt for his part in the deaths of Ullman, Tony, and Gerard. He remains alone, yet strong.