The cold room

TWELVE

At one time in the not too distant past, I was good-old Harry Corbin, friend to all. My favorite hang-out was a cop bar in Brooklyn where my drink was waiting before I took off my coat, where no one had a bad thing to say about me. That all stopped when I busted Dante Russo and his cronies. Now it was just Adele Bentibi and Conrad Stehle, and Conrad was somewhere off the coast of Alaska with his girlfriend.

Any port in a storm. When I finally arrived home at eight thirty, the first thing I did was pick up the phone and call Adele. I was riding a high which had yet to crest and the urge to blow off steam was too great to resist.

‘Corbin, I’m glad you called. I thought you’d forgotten me.’

Adele sounded weary, almost resigned, the effect so pronounced I came close to asking her what was wrong. But I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t want any distractions.

‘I caught a break, Adele. I’m gonna nail the case.’

‘You did? Wait, wait a second. I want to take this in my room.’ A moment later, she said, ‘Okay, I’m alone. Let’s hear the story.’

It was as if she’d become another person, engaged now, interested, and I realized, suddenly, that engagement was what I had to offer. Life on the street, where it mattered.

I laid it out for her, taking my time. Sister Kassia, Father Stan, Aslan and the women, Domestic Solutions, the Eagle Street Roofing warehouse. Adele didn’t comment until I finished. Then she said, ‘You know, Corbin, your victim wasn’t killed in that warehouse.’

‘No refrigerator, right?’

‘Ah, you’re already there.’

‘Look, starting tomorrow morning, I’m gonna put Domestic Solutions under surveillance. There’s an abandoned building across the street. I’ll set up shop inside and see what develops. Remember, without the man Clyde Kelly saw at the disposal site, there’s no case. So, if he doesn’t live in the building or come there to do business, I’ve still got a long road ahead of me. Sister Kassia told me that she hasn’t seen the man in two weeks, which was when he tried to put Jane’s body in the water. Did he take off? He had plenty of reason.’

Adele laughed. ‘You wouldn’t be telling yourself to slow down, would you?’

‘It’s that obvious?’

‘Corbin, you’re stoned out of your mind. But don’t worry. I’m not putting you down. In some ways, you’re at your best when you smell blood in the water.’

‘And you? When you were still a detective? How did you feel when you finally got a break?’

‘High as a kite.’

‘Do you miss it? That high?’

‘More than I can say.’ She hesitated, her voice dropping off at the end of the sentence. ‘But I know I can’t get it back. I can’t be a cop again. I put that behind me when I left the job.’ Another hesitation, then, ‘What the nun said about the women. Where are you going with that?’

‘Women and children, Adele.’

‘What?’

‘I looked in the van they were driving. There were a pair of car seats in the back.’

‘That only makes the question more urgent.’

Something in her voice warned me to tread softly, but I was too revved up to listen. ‘I don’t wish those women any harm,’ I said, ‘but I don’t speak for them. I don’t represent them. Besides, how do I know one of them didn’t kill her? Or play a part in what happened to her after she was killed? And even if you eliminate them as suspects, they might still be witnesses. Down the line, I’ll probably ask the DA to detain them as flight risks.’

‘You understand, they’ll be deported once the case is resolved.’

‘I didn’t tell them to come here in the first place.’

‘And the children? What happens to the children? Do they end up in foster care?’

‘I’m just a common detective, Adele, who gets paid to arrest common criminals. I don’t have the power to right all wrongs, much less solve the world’s problems.’ I hesitated a moment. According to Dominick Capra, immigrants from Eastern Europe were adept at gaming the system. This was something I could use.

‘Look, if the women are detained as material witnesses, two things will happen. First, they and their children will be safe. Second, they’ll have plenty of time to find immigration lawyers. Cutting a deal, testimony for refugee status, is a logical next step. Maybe things’ll work out for the best.’

‘But you can’t guarantee it?’

‘Adele, you saw the photographs I took at the crime scene. You know what was done to Jane Doe #4805. Where would your priorities be if it was your case?’

‘There was a time when I could have answered that question without hesitating. But now, I don’t know. Your victim is dead. Nothing you do can change that. But those women and their children are alive. And they’re victims, too.’