Fairstein, Linda - Silent Mercy

“Your Honor, I’ve had this exhibit pre-marked as People’s eighteen. I have a copy for the defense and for you,” I said, passing them to the court officer to deliver to each party. “I’d like to offer it in evidence.”

“Any objection, Ms. Enright?”

“I need a minute to read it,” Sheila said, accepting the document and slumping in her chair, tilting her head to talk with her client.

“Psssst.” It was Pat McKinney, trying too hard to get my attention.

“Mr. McKinney,” Keets said. “Always nice to have you in my courtroom. Do you need Alexandra? She seems to be oblivious to you.”

“Just for a minute, Judge, while Ms. Enright examines the exhibit.”

I walked over to the wooden barrier that separated the well of the courtroom from the benches. My arms were folded against my waist and my lips pursed as I turned my back to the defense table. There could be no good news wrapped into McKinney’s appearance.

“I know you didn’t drop in for a lesson in the art of cross-examination, Pat,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Just making the rounds for Battaglia. You’re not beating up on the bishop, are you?”

“Hardly. But he is stubborn.”

“Ever gone after a rabbi, Alex?”

“Actually, I have. A guy I grew up with who led a congregation in Greenwich Village. He was drugging teenage girls and sleeping with them. That’s the thing about these cases, Pat. Equal opportunity crimes. My perps come in all shapes and sizes. You don’t think this is some kind of religious persecution, do you? I’m beginning to get the picture that Battaglia does.”

“Try and wind it up this morning, Alex. You may have some media wandering around here in the afternoon. The house press is looking for red meat.”

“Red meat — or me? As of this morning, no one knew I was involved in this case.”

“Guess you didn’t have time to fill me in on last night’s excitement. Don’t forget the chain of command, Alex. You still work for me.”

“Funny. I thought I served at the pleasure of the district attorney. You’re just his ass-wiping yes-man.”

McKinney glared.

“Ready, Your Honor,” Enright said. She wasn’t going to challenge the authenticity of her client’s handwriting or the letter itself. “No objection.”

“People’s eighteen, Ms. Cooper. You may proceed.”

“Channel that gentle, feminine charm that must be lurking somewhere within you, Alex,” McKinney said. “Deegan’s a very popular figure in my circles, you know.”

“I’m almost done with him. Meanwhile, keep your eye on that guy sitting behind my defendant. You think he’s a priest?”

We both turned our heads, but the man was gone.

“Like magic, Alex. You made him disappear just like magic,” McKinney said. “Just like that woman’s head.”

The letter captured all the anguish of the young priest. I passed it to Deegan through the court officer and let him read it.

“Have you ever seen this document before?”

“Not that I recall.”

I repeated the date and referred to the postmark of New Mexico on the envelope. I asked Deegan to read aloud from the exhibit.

The paper rattled ever so slightly in the old man’s hands. “‘Eight months have passed, Your Excellency, since I have been here at Via Coeli. I realize the serious duties to which you must attend, but I plead to you again for some word of encouragement about whether I might return to the diocese.’ ”

The bishop hesitated and lowered the paper.

“Please go on,” I said.

“‘I do feel so alone here, even though at peace with God. I am hoping to hear from you, as my spirit is heavy and my heart longs to serve the church again, in all the ways that I can be of good use.’ ” This time Bishop Deegan rested the page on his lap. “Must I continue?”

“That’s not necessary,” Keets said.

“Do you recall reading that letter shortly after the date it was posted?” I asked.

“I don’t open my own mail, Ms. Cooper. I never saw this letter. I can’t account for every piece of paper sent to me,” Deegan said, coming to a slow boil. “Father Koslawski was a fine young man. That’s what I know.”

“And your opinion wouldn’t change, sir, if you believed he had molested seven teenage boys in the rectory?”

“That never—”

“Would your opinion change if such a fact were true?”

“Of course not. I’m a man of my word,” Deegan said, almost shouting now. “Judge Keets, if I may, the district attorney himself promised me I’d be on and off the stand in fifteen minutes.”

“You have spoken with Paul Battaglia about this matter?” Keets asked, faster than I could form the words myself.

I stared at the large gold cross on Deegan’s chest.

“By chance, Your Honor. I ran into him quite by chance.”

“I have no further questions,” I said, sitting and pushing Barry Donner away as he leaned in to talk to me.

“Then we thank you for your testimony,” Keets said, standing to excuse the bishop as he stepped out of the witness box and signaling to Enright at the same time to hold her comments.

The court officer led Deegan out of the room as Sheila Enright got to her feet.

“Judge, I want to know what kind of contact the district attorney had with my witness. What have we got here — tampering?”

“Deegan wasn’t even on the witness list you turned over at the start of the case, Ms. Enright,” I said, hoping my shock showed slightly less than hers. “I wouldn’t get too carried away with accusations yet. Ask the bishop which one of them initiated the encounter.”

“I intend to.”

“And you, Ms. Cooper,” Keets said. “You’ll inquire the same of Mr. Battaglia, won’t you?”

He banged his gavel on the bench and frowned at all of us. “Two o’clock. We’ll resume at two o’clock sharp.”

NINE

“WHO’S with him, Rose?” I asked, skipping the niceties.

“Pat came down from court twenty minutes ago, and he called in Brenda Whitney,” she said, referring to the head of Battaglia’s public relations office. “They’re working on a press release for later today.”

“It’s urgent. May I go in? You don’t need to buzz him.”

I had passed her desk and was opening Battaglia’s door, startling the threesome as they huddled over the conference table at the far end of the room.

“You finish with the good bishop?” Battaglia asked, grinning broadly as he sucked on what was likely his third cigar of the day.

“I figured he’d stop by to tell you himself. Maybe take you to lunch.”

My old friend Brenda realized immediately that she was caught in the crossfire. I was trying to keep my tone appropriate but finding it difficult.

“Skipping lunch. Too much to get done.”

“That’s not my point, Paul. Sounds like Deegan was calling the shots.”

“You’re mistaken, Alexandra. Badly mistaken.”

“I didn’t know you had a dog in this fight. Are you on Koslawski’s team?”

Brenda picked up her pad and started away from the table. “I’ll come back later, Boss.”

“Don’t leave, Brenda. I’ve got no secrets from you. We’ll need Alexandra for this, too.”

He usually had secrets from everyone. This time, he didn’t want to be alone in the room with me. He didn’t want to have a private conversation or a chance for me to question him.

“I gather you know Deegan?” I asked.

Pat McKinney walked over to the bookshelf and busied himself in the first volume of the Penal Law. He liked nothing better than an argument that might distance me from the district attorney’s favor.

“We’ve met many times, but fortunately never in the confessional,” he said, laughing at what he must have thought was a joke. “Cool down and sit down, Alexandra. You here about last night?”

“I’m here because a key defense witness just told the court that he’d been talking to you about the case. Judge Keets asked me to get the details on that.”

That comment erased Battaglia’s smile. He removed the cigar from his lips. “You tell the judge to invite me to court if he wants to ask me questions. I don’t need an interpreter, even if it’s you, young lady. I’ve got ten thousand cases pending in the office at any given time. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry in town wants a favor. I can’t remember each person I talk to. Goes in one ear and out the other. Where’s Chapman?”

“At the morgue, I expect. I haven’t been back to my office yet. I came straight here from the courtroom.”

McKinney turned on a dime. “You haven’t spoken with Mike?”

“In the middle of my cross, Pat? You saw what I’ve been doing this morning.”

“Then maybe you haven’t heard. The victim on the church steps has been ID’d,” he said.

“They’ve found her head?” I asked, adrenaline kicking in to override annoyance.

“Turns out the fingertips were all they needed.” Battaglia took the reins, glad to be in charge of breaking news. “Naomi Gersh. Thirty-four years old. Have I got that right, Brenda?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“What am I missing?” I asked. “DNA? Something in the databank that identified her?”

“Simpler than that, Alexandra. Seems Ms. Gersh had an arrest record.”

“Here?” I asked, and Brenda nodded. “What for?”

“Two collars,” Pat McKinney said, holding up the first volume of the Penal Law. “Both times for OGA.”

Obstructing governmental administration — usually an action that interfered with a law enforcement function and made the arrestee unpopular with the cops.

“We’re pulling up the court papers for you,” Battaglia said. “Get to work on this, pronto. Leave the Koslawski business to Mr. Donner. You’re off that case.”

“I’m what?”

The district attorney ignored me, and Pat McKinney simply smirked. I bit my lip to stop the venom from spurting out and left the inner sanctum as abruptly as I had entered.

“Mike called,” Laura Wilkie said as I stormed into my office. “I’ll get him on the line while you take some deep breaths. You look wild.”

“I’ll get over it.”

“The other messages can wait,” she said. I heard her talking to someone before she told me to pick up my second line.

“We got a vic,” Mike said.

“I know. Naomi Gersh. Battaglia had a call from the commissioner. I should have all the court papers shortly. Where are you?”

“The autopsy’s over. I’m on my way to notify her younger brother, Daniel. Pick him up at his job — moves scenery at a small theater off-Broadway. He’s next of kin.”

“If you want company, I’m available.”

“I assumed you were a full-time trial dog this week.”

“Battaglia thought I was getting too rowdy in the courtroom. He just booted me off the Koslawski case and told me to work with you on the murder.”

“Let me start with Daniel. If I get lonely by dinnertime, I’ll give you a shout. Battaglia tell you anything about the obstructing arrests?”

“He didn’t know facts. Brenda’s digging up the old files.”

“What’s your bet?” Mike asked. “Antiwar? Pro-choice? Fur coats?”

“Be serious.”

“I’m very serious. For one of those causes, she was willing to go to the mats. Pushing the envelope to get something she believed in.”

Laura stood in my doorway, her arm blocking the eager young woman who wanted to enter. “Emily is from IT — with court papers for you.”

I waved the girl in, took the blue-backed misdemeanor cases from her hand, and cupped the receiver against my neck.

“Here’s your answer,” I said, folding the disposition sheets over so that I could see the date and place of occurrence on each of the complaints. “Both arrests occurred at the same place. Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. One last December and another in January.”

The small, tranquil city park on the entire south side of the block between First and Second Avenues on East Forty-Seventh Street had been named for the Swedish diplomat and Nobel peace prize winner who had been Secretary-General of the United Nations.

“Right opposite the U.N.”

“Exactly. But it’s not about war,” I said. “Naomi was leading a protest, a day of international solidarity for an Israeli feminist group that has been denied the right to pray, like men do, at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.”

“Well, Coop. Maybe we’ve got a holy war on our hands after all.”

TEN

MIKE extended a hand to help me out of the yellow cab in front of a recently renovated tenement building on Avenue B at four the same afternoon.

“What happened to Daniel?” I asked.

“Strike one. Manhattan South sent a team to his old job, ’cause the commish was afraid he’d hear about Naomi on the news. But he hasn’t worked there lately.”

“Someone told him?”

“Yeah. Yeah. One of the guys he used to hang with told him. Good way to piss me off.”

“So he’s crushed. Give him a break. And let’s get out of the drizzle,” I said, pushing open the vestibule door.

“Not so broken up as you’d think. He hasn’t seen much of Naomi in almost six years. His buddies at the theater didn’t even know he had a sister.”

“But this is her apartment.” I knew the address from the court papers. “How did Daniel get in? If he didn’t have much of a relationship, you wouldn’t think he’d have a key.”

“Nope. The super opened up for him. Now he’s stonewalling me.”

Mike pressed the buzzer with the paper marker labeled Gersh next to the mailbox for 2D. It took almost three minutes for a voice to respond through the intercom.

“Yes?”

“I’m still here, Daniel. I’d like to talk to you.”

“What about that warrant, Detective?”

“I got one right here. A living, breathing warrant. Meet Assistant DA Alex Cooper. Open up, Daniel. This is a condolence call, not a strip search.”

There was another short hesitation before the buzzer sounded. Mike entered, climbing the steps in front of me. When we reached 2D, the door was ajar and the chain was bolted across the opening.

“Let me see your papers.”

“I realize this is a difficult day,” I said, “but we don’t need a warrant. You have no legal standing to keep us out of your sister’s apartment. We’re simply here to talk to you.”

“Me, I’m the battering-ram type, Daniel. Works every time and it gets the neighbors’ attention. Coop here favors the more polite approach.” Mike pressed his arm against the door to test its give.

Daniel pushed it closed and removed the chain.

“May we come in?” I asked.

He shrugged and stepped back to let us enter.