The cold room

TWENTY-FIVE

I was up and out at seven a.m., riding the L Train cross-town, then the A north to 72nd Street. Both trains were packed on the first day of the new week, even at that early hour. I rocked along, alone with my thoughts despite the crush of bodies and the commingled odors, fair and foul. I’d spoken to Hansen just before leaving my apartment. Though I didn’t ask, I simply assumed that at some point he’d explained the facts of life to Aslan, then suggested deportation in lieu of prison. If so, Aslan had refused.

‘We don’t have enough to hold him,’ Linde told me. ‘Come noon, he’ll walk out the door.’

I liked the sound of that.

The A Train came to a stop in the tunnel between Penn Station and Times Square, remaining motionless for several long moments. Rush-hour delays are common enough, and I wasn’t particularly concerned, but I found myself looking down at my watch, shifting my weight from foot to foot, as if the Portola household would simply vanish should I arrive at eight o’clock. In fact, the household was entirely unsuspecting and it wouldn’t matter if I got there tomorrow. All the question marks concerned their maid; assuming they still had a maid, assuming that Aslan was still supplying that maid, assuming all of Aslan’s little maids weren’t on route to some distant land.

The train began to move, a sharp jerk, first, then the hiss of the air brakes, then a slow steady roll into the station. Automatically, I gauged the number of passengers about to get off, the number coming on, the many directions from which they would go and come, finally adjusting my position to impede as few as possible. I thought of Adele, then, very briefly. Raised in the New Jersey suburbs, Adele hated the subways. Her objections were perfectly reasonable. The subways did stink, and they were always filthy, and the scream of steel on steel when the trains rounded a curve was, indeed, loud enough to cause hearing damage. Myself, I wasn’t bothered. I’d been riding the subways all my life and knew that subways were very private places. No one spoke to you, or even looked at you, and the tendency was to withdraw into yourself, as I did on that morning, my focus gradually narrowing. Adele was gone before I climbed to the surface at 72nd Street.

As it turned out, the Portolas lived in a splendid townhouse across the street from Riverside Park, making them far easier to identify and track than if I’d found them living in one of the many high-rise warrens to the east. And then there was Riverside Park itself, the perfect location for a long-term surveillance. In addition to the pedestrians on its winding paths and the traffic flowing north-south along the West Side Highway, there were groves of trees, dense shrubbery and a huge outcropping of bedrock set far enough away from the townhouse to make it unlikely that I would be spotted.

I settled down on a small ledge about halfway to the top of a jagged boulder, sliding out of my backpack, then fishing inside for the container of coffee, fried-egg sandwich and bottle of water I’d purchased at a deli on Broadway. Finally, I removed a small pair of binoculars, settling the strap around my neck.

The atmosphere around me was gray with haze, even at seven thirty in the morning, the air humid enough to virtually guarantee rainfall later in the day. Still, the park was busy, not with strollers who would come later, but with serious joggers, bikers, skateboarders and power walkers. I watched a young woman pass by. She pushed a three-wheeled stroller with extra long handles and sweat dripped from every pore in her body. A border collie trotted alongside the stroller, its tongue hanging out of its mouth, its breath coming in short pants. The dog’s head swung in my direction as it passed, looking not at me, or even at my sandwich, but at the bottle of water at my feet.

I pressed the binoculars to my eyes and made a quick sweep of the Portola townhouse. The four-story building, with its limestone facade, attic dormer and mansard roof, was typical of the row houses on Riverside Drive. The front was bowed, from the second through the fourth floors, and the main entrance, a narrow archway leading to an elaborate, wrought-iron storm door, was set almost at street level. At minimum, the house, even if the interior had been trashed, was worth a cool five million. And if it had been decently preserved or lovingly restored, the price might be fifty percent higher. I left the binoculars to dangle at the end of their strap and went to work on my sandwich. The Portola family wealth was not something I could ignore. Should one or more be arrested, their dream team would be top-notch and my every move would be carefully examined by attorneys who could recite the Constitution backwards in Sanskrit. Over the past twenty years, the Supreme Court has given cops a lot of room to maneuver, but the line was still invisible. If I crossed it, I was likely to find myself on the losing side at an evidence suppression hearing.

I finished the sandwich, chased it with the last of the coffee, and deposited the trash in a nearby trash basket. Of course, I had no idea when Domestic Solutions’ workers were due at their jobs. According to Giselle and Dimitri, a van carrying five or six women left the warehouse around seven thirty on Monday mornings. When any of them might arrive at a given address was far from certain. Still, as time passed, and eight became nine, then ten, I began to get antsy. I told myself that if nobody showed, it would be the priest’s fault, not mine. And if Sister Kassia had a beef, she could take it to Father Stan, maybe hear his confession. Arresting Mynka’s killer was my first priority. If the fate of these women was taken out of my hands, so much the better. My conscience was clean.

I was still fortifying my argument when a Ford Explorer double-parked in front of the Portola townhouse shortly before eleven. I raised the binoculars to my eyes. They were self-focusing and took several seconds to compensate for the soft edges generated by the fog. By the time I had a clear image, a woman had already exited the vehicle. I caught a glimpse of her red hair, contained beneath a white hairnet, and of a blue skirt and a white blouse. Then she was gone and the door closed behind her.

I shifted quickly to the Ford’s driver and found her sitting with her head turned away from me. But I didn’t need to see her face to know that we’d met before. The fire-red hair was a dead giveaway. Welcome to the conspiracy. As the SUV pulled away, I wrote down the license plate number. Then I closed my eyes and said a little prayer. Not to the God who lay in the Jerusalem dust, nearly broken by his own cross, but to the God who rained fire and brimstone on those wicked kingdoms, Sodom and Gomorrah. I could put the red-headed woman in the warehouse when Barsakov was killed. She was the key to pinning the murder on Aslan.

At eleven thirty, I moved a hundred yards closer to the Portola home. By chance, the door to the Portola residence swung out twenty minutes later and three people emerged: a middle-aged woman, a man in his twenties and a teenaged boy.

I slid the backpack over my shoulders and headed for the nearest exit, fifty yards to the north. Again, I got lucky. The trio also headed north, until they reached 86th street where they turned east. By that time, I’d exited the park. Tails are easily maintained in Manhattan. There are always pedestrians about and people generally mind their own business. The Portolas, for example, never looked back, not once. They didn’t speak to each other, either, content to maintain a steady pace until they reached the doors of a well-known French restaurant, L’Heures, on the east side of Columbus Avenue. I watched them go inside, then headed for a Turkish restaurant called Ishtan on the other side of the street. Ishtan had an outdoor cafe with a perfect view of L’Heures.

I was just finishing my second cup of espresso when the Portolas emerged, followed closely by a man wearing a cummerbund, a starched white shirt and a thin black tie. Obviously a restaurant employee, he engaged the woman in conversation for several minutes, his manner clearly apologetic.

As I brought the binoculars to my eyes, taking advantage of the family’s preoccupation, I felt my heart turn to stone and my world shrink down to these three people. The women of Domestic Solutions, Bill Sarney, Hansen Linde, Drew Millard, even Adele — banished one and all to some anonymous patch of neurons in the recesses of my brain.

The woman was taller than either of her sons. Too blond to be natural, her hair curled in a tight line almost to her shoulders where it hung stiffly, every strand in place. Her cheekbones were very high, her nose short and straight, and while her mouth was naturally full, she’d thickened her lips with a heavy layer of pink lipstick. The make-up on her cheeks was just a bit too thick as well, though it failed to conceal a narrow line of acne-pitted skin beneath her cheekbones.

The older boy’s expression was more bemused than annoyed. He stood to one side with both hands in the pockets of his off-white linen trousers. Although his features were much softer, his resemblance to the woman was evident in his fleshy mouth and his heart-shaped face. Perhaps in an effort to blur that resemblance, he’d grown a skimpy beard and a mustache, neither of which was thick enough to conceal the pale flesh beneath. As I watched, his hand fluttered up to play with an earring, an enamel rainbow, which hung from his left ear.

The teenager had drawn the shortest straw from the gene pool. All three had weak chins, but his was concealed beneath a lower lip that he thrust forward as though in a permanent state of petulance. Meanwhile, his eyes were small and overhung by a heavy brow that only emphasized his receding jaw. The boy seemed uninterested in the ritual humiliation of the restaurant employee. He’d wandered a few yards away and was staring south at the oncoming traffic, his expression sullen, the tension in his cheeks, mouth and neck obvious at a glance. But I couldn’t find even a hint of cruelty in his look and it occurred to me that I was probably staring at the father of Mynka’s child. Not only was he closer to Mynka’s age than the man in his mid-twenties, he wasn’t gay.

‘Sir, will there be anything else?’

I yanked the binoculars away from my eyes and put them back in the case. The waitress was a twenty-something brunette with her midriff exposed from her waist to below her navel. She was holding an espresso pot in one hand and my check in the other, her professional smile exposing a set of the whitest teeth I’d ever seen.

‘Are you, like, a private eye?’ she asked.

I watched the Portolas cross Columbus Avenue, then disappear along 86th Street. I might have followed, but I had a better use for my time.

‘Private ass is more like it.’ I motioned her to leave the check as I retrieved my cell phone and dialed Bill Sarney’s office number.

Shaved and showered, I met Inspector Bill Sarney at five o’clock in a bar on Lispenard Street. Although the bar had a neon shamrock in the window, it appeared not to have a name. Maybe that was because it had no character. The men at the bar huddled protectively over their drinks, mostly drafts and shots. They didn’t turn their heads when I came in, as if somewhere on the downhill side, they’d renounced curiosity itself.

Sarney was standing at the end of the bar, leaning back against the wall, grinning. Message sent, message received. This was one joint his boyos from the Puzzle Palace were very unlikely to enter. I walked the length of the bar, my mood so elevated I found myself admiring Sarney’s unabashed theatricality. Playful was as much a part of his charisma as inscrutable. After a quick shake, I ordered a bottle of Bud. The bartender fetched it, popped the cap, then laid it on the bar without offering a glass.

‘So, what’s up, Harry?’

‘I didn’t report to the Nine-Two this afternoon,’ I told him, ‘and I don’t expect to report for at least a week. I want you to fix it.’

‘And what’s my motive?’

‘There was someone else in the warehouse when Barsakov was killed, another adult. Do you remember?’

He thought about it for a moment, then said, ‘The woman with the red hair.’

Credit where credit is due. Inspector Bill had studied the case file. ‘I’ve seen her again, just this morning. Give me a week and I’ll turn her. When she implicates Aslan, as I guarantee she will, you’ll have enough ammunition to arrest him if he refuses deportation. After a few days in Rikers, he’ll likely change his mind.’

Behind me, I heard raised voices. The bartender was evicting one of his patrons.

‘Go on, Vinnie’ he said, ‘go on home. I don’t want your psycho sister comin’ in here to drag your ass out. She’s got a dirty mouth.’

Vinnie slid away from the bar. ‘Don’t I know it,’ he muttered as he stumbled toward the door. ‘Don’t I fuckin’ know it.’

Sarney was smiling when I turned back to him. ‘What are we talking about here?’ he asked. ‘Harry and Hansen? Or just Harry?’

‘Forget Hansen.’

‘Why?’

‘Because neither you, nor the First Dep, wants to be associated with what I’m gonna do. Because if I’m caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, you won’t be able to claim ignorance if Hansen’s with me.’

Silence is a tool interrogators use to get under a suspect’s skin. Sarney and I both knew this. But rank does have its privileges and some tools are definitely bigger than others. I was first to speak.

‘This squad you’re running, does it have a name?’

Now Sarney was grinning again. ‘Not officially.’

‘How about unofficially?’

‘Unofficially, we call ourselves the Conditions Squad.’

I nodded in appreciation. At one time, there was a conditions squad in every high-crime precinct. The squad was designed to handle acute, short-term problems, from an open-air drug bazaar, to a ring of chop shops, to a crew on a robbery spree, to a serial rapist. Given wide latitude to conduct investigations, each of these squads maintained its own network of informants and was generally made up of the most talented cops in the precinct.

Conditions squads were already disappearing when I graduated from the Academy, replaced with specialized units subject to central control. But the concept had apparently remained alive at the highest levels. Sarney’s squad would respond whenever conditions demanded that the commissioner have an ear to the ground.

Sarney sipped at his drink, bourbon or scotch by the look of it, then smacked his lips in mock appreciation. ‘So, what did you think of Theobold and my little hideout in Far Rockaway?’

‘I was impressed. As I was supposed to be.’

‘Well, you’re nothing if not dutiful.’ Another little chuckle, followed by a searching look. ‘Power and the privileges that come with it, Harry. We can reach into any bureau. We can bend Chiefs to our will. I was wondering if that appealed to you.’

I thought it over for a moment, then said, ‘Are you trying to recruit me?’

‘With a bump to Detective First Grade. That would make your pay equal to a lieutenant’s. With overtime, you’ll knock down one hundred grand a year.’

The bartender took that moment to wander over. He looked at our glasses, then at Sarney. Finally, he walked away.

‘Why me?’ I asked. ‘Why recruit a man who’s been breaking your balls for years?’

‘Because I need a talented interrogator to complete the team and Harry Corbin is the best interrogator I know. You’ve got a gift, Harry. If you’d only use it to benefit yourself.?.?.’ Sarney’s expression hardened as he shoved his hands into the pocket of his nicely-tailored suit. ‘I’m gonna fix it for you. I’m gonna put you out there on your own. But one thing you need to consider: the bosses don’t trust you because they think you’re a boss-hater at heart. Are you? Do you even know? This is your last chance, Harry. You fuck it up and you’ll be lookin’ for a new career.’

I started to respond, but Sarney was already headed for the door. A moment later, I followed.

My workday far from over, I went from Bill Sarney to the Sixth Precinct where I approached a sergeant named Callahan. I was determined not to make the same mistake twice. I had until the end of the week, when Aslan returned to collect his workers. By then, I would be well prepared.

I flashed my shield. ‘Busy night?’ Behind me, the squad room was deserted.

‘The worst.’ Callahan ran his finger along a mustache thick enough to pass for a broom. ‘What could I do for ya?’

‘I was hoping to borrow your computer, Sarge. I only live a few blocks away, in Rensselaer Village, and I’m on foot.’

Cops like to grant each other favors, especially when those favors entail no costs. Callahan gestured to a far corner of the squad room. ‘Knock yourself out.’

I began at the Department of Motor Vehicles, limiting my initial search to the Portolas’ street address on Riverside Drive. Within seconds, I had three hits. Margaret Portola, age 45, who owned a 2003 Jaguar, in addition to holding a New York State driver’s license. Ronald Portola, age 24, who owned a 2004 Saab convertible and who also had a driver’s license. David Portola, age 17, who possessed a learner’s permit.

I printed the information, then checked each of the Portolas for a rap sheet. David came up clean. Not so Margaret and Ronnie. Margaret had been arrested twice, both times for assault. Her first brush with the law, a misdemeanor, was dismissed on the following day. Her second arrest, in 1995 for second-degree assault, was more serious. A charge of second-degree assault requires extensive physical injury. Not a black eye or a split lip, but injuries sufficient to require immediate medical treatment. Nevertheless, though it took nine months, this charge, too, was dismissed. But dismissals seemed to run in the Portola family. Ronald Portola had also been arrested twice, both times at a gay bar called Montana, both times for soliciting a male prostitute, and both times the charges had been tossed out. Now closed, Montana was a bar notorious for rough trade.

I printed Margaret’s and Ronald’s rap sheets, then turned away from the computer to spread out the Portola family photos as they appeared on their drivers’ licenses. At some point, I’d be taking a shot at one of them. But which one? I couldn’t answer the question, not then, and I didn’t try. Still, it was the essential question. Mynka’s death had occurred nearly a month before and no cop had come calling. More than likely, they knew nothing of Barsakov’s failures, or of the Russian’s subsequent demise. More than likely, they were starting to relax, to believe they’d gotten away with it. My sudden appearance would come as a complete shock, and that was all to my advantage, but I wouldn’t get a second bite at the apple. If I blew it, the Portola family would lawyer up and that would be that.

Again, I looked from Margaret to Ronald to David. Margaret was staring straight ahead, eyebrows slightly raised, lips and nostrils compressed. Ronald’s eyes were fixed on a point slightly below the camera’s lens. His soft smile appeared almost regretful and his lips were very red. His brother’s mouth, by contrast, was hanging slightly open. David seemed almost bewildered.

I glanced at the issuing date on David’s learner’s permit: June 17 of this year. According to Father Stan, David and Mynka were in love and I wondered, as I searched David’s features, if he’d still been looking ahead on the day the photo was taken, if his hopes and dreams were of happily ever after. Mynka was pregnant by then. Maybe the threats had already started. Abort, or else.

A moment later, I turned back to the computer where I ran the plate number of the Ford Explorer I’d seen on Riverside Drive. The vehicle was registered to Zashka Ochirov, living at 121 North Third Street in the borough of Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a big place, but I didn’t need a map to pin down a more exact location. Barely a mile long, North Third Street begins and ends in Williamsburg, home of the Nine-Two.

I pulled up Ochirov’s driver’s license next. The woman who looked up at me was blond at the time her photo was taken, but I recognized her easily enough. I’d seen her twice before, at the Domestic Solutions’ warehouse when I confronted Barsakov, and just that morning when she double-parked in front of the Portola townhouse. Zashka’s rap sheet came last, a long record of non-violent offenses, including larceny, forgery and welfare fraud. This was all to the good. Now I wouldn’t have to do a lot of talking when I explained that Aslan was tied to the tracks and there was a train coming down the line. Better for her, much better, if she was on it, because that train wasn’t-

‘Say, you gonna be long?’

Startled, I jerked around to find two detectives, a man and a woman, standing behind me. Intensely focused, I hadn’t heard them approach.

‘Long day?’ the woman asked.

I glanced at my watch. It was eight o’clock and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I was going to have to slow down. I logged out of the computer and gathered the printouts.

‘Long and fruitful,’ I said. ‘In fact, I haven’t had a better day in the last nine months.’