Hell Gate

FIVE

“You don’t say anything at all, Alexandra. Understand that?”

I was in the backseat of the SUV with Tim Spindlis, the longtime chief assistant district attorney. Tim was more like a jellyfish to Pat McKinney’s pit bull, the yes-man that Battaglia seemed to need as his second-in-command. To the troops he was known as lazy and spineless, the latter an easy play on his name. The detective from the DA’s Squad who served as Battaglia’s bodyguard was driving, and the district attorney had a cigar clamped in the right side of his mouth as he talked to me out of the left.

“He’s going to ask me questions, Paul.”

The five-minute walk to City Hall was quicker than any car could make it through the narrow one-way streets of Lower Manhattan, but Battaglia preferred the statement of passing through the mayor’s tight security detail in his own vehicle with his own bodyguard. During the short ride, I told him everything that had happened since the moment I got to the site of the beached Golden Voyage.

“I’ll answer them. Give him nothing about Leighton, Alex. Am I right, Tim?”

“Absoutely, Boss.”

I turned my head away from Spindlis. His constant toadying to Battaglia was embarrassing.

“Vin Statler has a real hard-on for Leighton’s old man. Failed business dealings from ages ago,” Battaglia said. “You hate to see a smart young comer like Ethan fail, and fail so publicly, but I’ll bet Statler’s only too delighted with this news. You know Mayor Statler?”

“Not really. I’ve seen him at a few press conferences and shaken hands at meetings, but I’ve never spoken with him apart from that, or met him socially.” Statler, a fifty-two-year-old divorcé, had been in office for one year, and although I’d been at many functions with him, I had no personal connection to him.

“Well, he’s no Bloomberg. Made a lot of money in business but can’t seem to translate his talent to the public sector.”

The police detail at the tiny City Hall parking lot, at the very hub of the Civic Center, recognized the district attorney and let his driver pull in close to the gated entrance.

We had come to this building together more times than I could count, usually providing facts and details for Battaglia’s legislative proposals or budget arguments he made before City Council members who met within.

Battaglia was out the door and trotting up the front steps before I could unbuckle my seat belt, with Spindlis at his heels. He turned at the top of the staircase, under the portico, and yelled to me. “Hurry up, Alex. It’s getting late.”

City Hall, one of the finest architectural achievements of the early nineteenth century, looked like a miniature palace-a mix of Federal form and the detail of French Renaissance architecture, with a copper statue of Justice sitting as its crown. I knew, from meetings that Mike and I had attended together, that it was the oldest City Hall in the country that still housed its original government function.

I followed the two men through the front door, where we were ushered in around the side of the metal detector that filled half of the foyer.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Battaglia,” a mayoral assistant said, rushing toward us from the direction of Statler’s office, in the northwest corner of the first floor. “Thanks for coming over. He’d like to see you alone first, sir, if you don’t mind.”

“My chief assistant, Tim Spindlis, will be with me. It’s fine for Ms. Cooper to wait.”

“Would you mind following me upstairs? The council’s in session and the mayor is waiting for an important vote. He’s in the Governor’s Room.”

The aide led Battaglia, Spindlis, and me up one of the twin spiral staircases-all marble-to the Corinthian-columned rotunda that served as the staging area for both the City Council Chamber and the old Board of Estimate Chamber. Overhead, in sharp contrast to the public works décor of our own building, the stunning coffered dome soared above us, recalling the Roman Pantheon.

“Before you go in, your cigar, sir.”

“Can’t you see it’s not lit?” Battaglia said, walking past the young man and opening the door to the ceremonial room that fronted the building, between the two chambers. Still chewing on the Cohiba, he called out to me, “Stay put, Alex.”

Spindlis followed the district attorney in, looking back once to give me his best shit-eating grin.

I had stuffed the list of phone messages in the pocket of my ski jacket and took them out to triage the order in which I’d return them. I flipped open my cell and before I could dial, one of the uniform guards with his back to the door of the council room signaled to me. “Take it upstairs, miss. The noise carries.”

The cantilevered staircase led up to the third floor, directly beneath the cupola. I positioned myself against the banister beneath the beautifully restored ornamental swag so that I could keep an eye on the door to the Governor’s Room, and managed to reach an adversary in a child abuse case, a doc from the Bellevue emergency room, and an anxious victim inquiring about her case status. An incoming call finally interrupted me.

“Hey, Mercer,” I said, as his number appeared on my cell screen. “Where are you?”

“Still out at the wreck. Two more bodies. Males, apparent drownings.”

“Coming in soon?” It was after five o’clock and darkness had enveloped the city.

“I hope so. Real drop in temperature. We’ve been moving folks off the beach all day. I think we’re almost done.”

“You must be running on fumes. Are you still planning to be at the ME’s office?”

“Yeah. Something weird happened, I thought you ought to know.”

“What?” It was usually this way in complex cases. Rarely was there a linear unfolding of events, with cops taking one clear turn after another.

“Salma Zunega. Know who I mean?”

“Yes, Mercer. Lem’s handling Ethan Leighton’s case. He’s already made his first hands-on appeal. This is the girlfriend, right?”

“Exactly. Well, she called nine-one-one an hour ago.”

“What for? Something happen to the baby?” That was my worst nightmare in a heated domestic.

“Not the baby. She was treated and released. You know how kids run high temps,” Mercer said. His son, Logan, was almost three years old. “I haven’t heard the tape yet but Salma was screaming that Leighton was going to kill her. Talking in Spanish, mostly.”

“Lem knew Ethan was going to be ROR’d today, after he left my office at two fifteen,” I said. A public official with no criminal history would be released on his own recognizance for anything short of murder. “But it’s not possible he got out of the courtroom, past the paparazzi, and all the way up to Ninety-first Street to get to Salma by an hour ago.”

“His behavior in the middle of the night wasn’t exactly what you’d have predicted either.”

“I’m not saying that after this performance he couldn’t be that stupid, but Lem would have corralled him for a sit-down the minute they left the building. You know how rigid he is about client control.”

“Did Howell talk to you about the woman at all?”

“Exactly this way. Says she’s high-strung and hysterical. Kelli thought Lem was just setting me up for Ethan’s defense. What happened when the cops got there?”

“Nineteenth precinct uniform responded.”

“She let them in?”

“Yeah, Alex. But she denied making the call. Said she didn’t do it. Two detectives took a ride over just to double-check that she was okay. Looked like she’d been napping, still wiped out from the night’s activity.”

“But the call came in from her phone number?”

“Definitely. Salma’s landline. That’s what shows up on the sprint report.”

“So, you’re suggesting she’s nuts too? Lem’s already laying that groundwork.”

I saw the door below open, and the aide poked his head out, probably looking for me. The guard who had shooed me away earlier pointed, and I held up a finger to ask for another minute.

“I’m only the messenger, Alex. I haven’t met her yet,” Mercer said. “I just think we’re going to have a handful with Salma. Maybe you ought to plan to meet with her pretty soon-nip this in the bud. Reach out to her before the problem officially lands in your lap. Just keeping you up to speed.”

“I’m at City Hall with Battaglia. About to meet Statler. Call you later.”

I went downstairs and the aide stepped aside so that I could enter the room.

Paul Battaglia had his back to one of the five large arched windows that overlooked City Hall Park. Tim Spindlis had tucked himself into a corner of the room, positioned to catch everything that went on. The DA lifted a hand to gesture to me, formally introducing me to Mayor Statler, who came forward to greet me.

“Want to close that?” he said, his deep voice resonating like a friendly growl as he gestured to someone behind me.

I turned to see that he was talking to Rowdy Kitts, standing behind the door, beneath the portrait of some long-forgotten politician. Not only was Rowdy back on the mayoral detail, but he was clearly welcome and trusted in the inner sanctum.

“Thanks for coming over, Alex. I know you’ve had a long, difficult day. Roland, here, told me you were out at the scene of the disaster quite early. He’s told me even more about you than your boss. You’ve done some fine work for the city, young lady. I can’t think of anything more despicable than men who abuse women and children.”

Kitts came around to stand beside the mayor, and I smiled to acknowledge him and his effort to make up with me, before I thanked Statler.

“You’ve been here before, I know,” he said, watching me take in the elegant appointments of the reception area. “It’s my favorite place in City Hall.”

The Governor’s Room, I had learned from many long waits through council testimony, had been named that because it was used almost two hundred years ago whenever New York’s governors were visiting the city from Albany. It boasted a brilliant collection of American portraiture, and had played host to everyone from the Marquis de Lafayette to Albert Einstein. It was the backdrop for both Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant when they lay in state in the adjacent rotunda, and the desk that Statler sat at had belonged to George Washington, in the days when New York was the nation’s capital.

“Easy to understand why it is.”

“I’m going to have to give a press conference tonight, Alex. There’s been an enormous amount of pressure on my staff about both of these breaking cases, and for a change, it’s national media that’s wanting to know details. It’s not just a matter of the Post making up ridiculous headlines over nothing at all.”

“I think I’ve told you everything Alex knows, Vin,” Battaglia said, walking to the center of the room. “You’re not going to have her standing next to you for this media circus. It’s simply not appropriate.”

Battaglia didn’t like his assistants talking to the press. He was a genius at manipulating reporters himself-even entire editorial boards-on issues of great significance or on petty personal gripes, but he was right to expect us to try our cases in the courtroom, and not on the steps of the courthouse or City Hall.

Statler stared at me, not responding to the district attorney. “Roland has given me a pretty good idea of what went on with all the detainees this morning. And the poor victims who died. It would be very helpful if you were available to answer questions about trafficking and, well, sort of how these women are duped and used by the perpetrators.”

“I’m not going to expose her to that kind of publicity before the investigation is even under way, Vin.”

The mayor continued to stare at me. I felt stupid not being able to answer for myself, but those had been Battaglia’s orders.

“Roland says you’re the only person who has the experience and credibility on this issue to speak for me,” Statler said.

“He’s exaggerating, of course.” I didn’t think Battaglia would mind if I politely demurred.

“Use Donny Baynes,” Battaglia said. “It’s his goddamn task force.”

“What do you think happened to that one young woman on the boat, Alex?” the mayor asked, ignoring Battaglia. “The one who might have been killed on board ship.”

“Go on, tell him what you told me,” Battaglia said, removing the cigar from his mouth and pointing it at me with eyes as sharp as a cattle prod.

“I’ll know more by tomorrow. I think it would be premature for you to say anything about that victim’s specifics until there’s been an autopsy. I’m sure Detective Kitts has explained that the ME’s preliminary observation suggests some causality other than drowning.”

“I think they’re going to want more specifics than that, Alex. This isn’t going to be covered just by local kids on the crime beat. I’m talking Brian Williams and Katie Couric and Larry King. This is a major disaster on our beach, in our city. It’s an international story.”

“Use Donny Baynes,” Battaglia said again.

Tim Spindlis nodded his support across the room. I wondered if he knew how foolish he appeared to be to the rest of us. I wondered why Battaglia had felt it necessary to cart Tim along to this meeting.

The mayor turned toward the district attorney and took his hands out of his pants pockets. “I can’t very well use Baynes and you know it, Paul.”

“Why not?”

“Because Donovan is one of Ethan Leighton’s closest friends. Weren’t you aware of that?”

I had forgotten to tell Battaglia about Baynes’s relationship with Leighton. It hadn’t seemed important as we rode to City Hall. The district attorney looked at me and scowled. Tim Spindlis mimicked his expression.

“I put Baynes next to me on the podium and when these reporters move on to story number two, the congressman who mistook his penis for a brain-excuse me, Alex-they’ll jump all over Donny. ‘Did you know about the love nest? Ever meet Leighton’s girlfriend? Donny, did he tell you about the baby?’ ” Statler was shaking his head. “Baynes is a good guy. I can’t hang him out that way.”

“That’s why you want Alex? Hang her out for press potshots? It’s not happening, Vin,” Battaglia said. “Sit down. Alex’ll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about human trafficking right now. Then we’ll get out of your hair.”

“Give me the basics, will you? Tell me the relevant laws while you’re at it.”

I knew how smart Statler was, and spent the next fifteen minutes trying to educate him about this difficult subject. The questions that would most interest the media-who the snakeheads were, where the Ukrainians would have been sent if they’d landed, and what would become of them now-were things that no one could answer tonight.

Battaglia folded his arms and listened as I told the mayor what information I thought he’d need for the press conference. Watching over us-hanging on the walls of the stately room-were all the major politicians from the time of the Revolution, heroes of the War of 1812, and luminaries from every walk of the city’s history.

When I paused to think of what other legislative issues might be raised, the mayor took another direction.

“What do you know about Leighton and his lady friend?” the mayor asked. “There must be some details you can tell me.”

“Not her case,” Battaglia snapped.

“But I understand one of the detectives who’s involved in the investigation also met with Alex on the beach. Someone from the task force.”

“Don’t let the press go there,” Battaglia said. I’d filled him in on what Mercer had told me. “They’ll have all they need from the criminal court arraignment. That’s been finished by now. Public hearing. More facts than we’ve got to give you.”

“Ethan’s a sick kid, don’t you think, Paul? Terrific wife and family, throws it all away for some little-who, who is she? What do you know about the girlfriend?”

“We don’t know anything yet,” the district attorney said. “Do we, Alex?”

I didn’t want to lie to the mayor, but I didn’t want to lose my job either.

“Don’t put Alex on the spot, Mr. Mayor,” Rowdy said. “We can have all that from the department. I’ll get a call into DCPI for those facts.”

The NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information, Guido Lentini, would give the mayor’s aides anything they needed.

“The girl’s Hispanic, isn’t that right, Alex?” Battaglia said, realizing there was no need to stonewall Statler completely. He didn’t want to look like he didn’t have as much info as DCPI.

“She’s from Mexico,” I said. “Her name is Salma Zunega.”

“And there’s really a kid?”

“Yes, a baby girl.”

“This Ms. Zunega, is she here legally?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said.

“Where was Ethan coming from when he had the accident. Spanish Harlem?”

Battaglia laughed. “Don’t let your constituents hear you, Vin. Bad ethnic profiling. She lives across the street from you.”

“From me?”

Like Bloomberg and Koch before him, Statler kept his own apartment, a lavish co-op on Fifth Avenue, rather than live in the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion.

“Well, spitting distance from the mansion. That fancy new condo on East End, just below Eighty-ninth Street.”

“Moses Leighton always thought his kid was going to be the first Jewish president,” Statler said. “Poured his heart, the last fifteen years of his life, and about thirty million dollars into trying to make that happen. For what? For this?”

“Are you looking for facts about Ethan’s case,” Battaglia asked, “or just ways to shove it down his father’s throat? Lots of politicians have had second acts after a sexual indiscretion or two.”

The door opened and Statler’s assistant stuck his head in. “The speaker would like a word with you, sir.”

“Hold her off a minute, okay?” Statler said. He was standing practically nose to nose with Battaglia now. “Anything else I ought to know?”

“Tell me who you want Alex to keep in contact with. You’ll get whatever we get.”

“Very good, Paul. I’ll have my office set up a liaison. In the meantime, Alex,” the mayor said as he put his arm around my shoulder to escort us out of the Governor’s Room, “let me know what you find out about the nine-one-one call this Zunega woman made earlier this afternoon, will you?”

Battaglia snapped his head to look at me. “What call?”

“What did you tell me, Roland?” the mayor said, turning to Rowdy Kitts, whose pipeline to case information was proving far better than mine. “Something about Ethan Leighton threatening to kill his paramour.”

“Today? He threatened her today?” Battaglia said, talking to Statler but looking me in the eye, skewering me as though I’d neglected to tell him another important fact.

“I just got word from the nineteenth squad myself, Mr. Battaglia. Right before you walked in here,” Kitts said. “Wasn’t any way Alex could have known about it. They’re probably trying to reach out for some advice from her right now.”