Robert Knightly: Bodies in Winter

I let my eyes close for a moment, envisioning David Lodge jumping that fence. He must have known his fate because the little yard dead-ended against a brick wall. But he hadn’t accepted it. Even at the very end, he’d turned his head away from the bullet. Was that last bit of resistance an act of defiance? Fuck you, I’ll never surrender? Or no more than animal instinct, a worm wriggling at the end of a hook?

‘Yo, Harry, you with us?’

I looked up at Sarney. ‘Right here, lou.’

Sarney smiled. I, too, had my foibles, and daydreaming was one of them. ‘Your partner and I were discussing where you want to go next. We thought it’d be nice to hear your opinion.’

‘Well,’ I told him, ‘as soon as I get back to work, I’m going to call up the Legal Bureau, have them draw up a subpoena for Ellen Lodge’s phone records. She says her husband got a phone call just before he walked out the door. Be nice to know where it came from.’

‘That’s admirable, Harry, but could you try to think a little more long-term?’

‘How ’bout tomorrow?’

‘That’d be fine.’

‘David Lodge spent the last six and a half years in prison, right? So if we want to know what was on his mind yesterday, when they opened the gates, we have to go up to Attica, talk to the staff, talk to his old buddy from the Eight-Three, Peter Jarazelsky.’

‘Attica,’ Sarney reminded, ‘is north of Buffalo. That’s an eight-hour drive. Each way.’

‘That’s how come we have to fly. But don’t fret, boss, we’ll pick up Lodge’s old case file and study it on the flight. We’d have to do that anyway.’

Sarney thought about it for a minute. He was going to have to get approval for the expense, an annoyance to be sure, but the trip couldn’t be avoided.

‘You really think Jarazelsky will talk to you?’ Sarney finally asked.

‘Lieutenant, I’d bet my life savings against a quarter that once you call up to Attica and make the request, Pete Jarazelsky’s gonna welcome us with open arms.’

It was after ten by the time we finished up the last of the paperwork. The re-canvas had gone better — and slower — than we expected. Altogether, we’d spoken to nineteen honest citizens, each of whom had walked along Palmetto between eight-thirty and nine. None recalled seeing two or more individuals, black or otherwise, sitting inside a red Toyota.

By now, Sarney had obtained authorization for a trip to Attica. That was the good news. The bad news was that I was flying off to Buffalo alone. David Lodge’s autopsy was scheduled for nine o’clock the following morning and Sarney wanted Adele to be there. Myself, I was more than pleased with my end of the deal, but it was strictly Bill Sarney’s call. He’d nominated Adele to witness the autopsy, then arranged for her to interview a sergeant named Merkovich who worked out of the Gang Unit at OCCB. Spott’s crew, it seemed, was still in action, led by his brother, DuWayne.

I didn’t quibble with Sarney’s decision. By this time, David Lodge was the talk of the town and Sarney wasn’t the type to leave himself uncovered. But the scheduling of the autopsy did catch my attention. Typically, homicides were autopsied several days after the event. Somebody down at One Police Plaza had given the ME’s office a nudge. The question was why, if the big dogs were in such a hurry, they hadn’t offered any help to the lowly squad detectives who’d caught the case — or taken the case away altogether.

The phone began to ring as I was buttoning my coat. I watched Adele answer, then signal me to pick up the extension.

‘Would you repeat that, Sergeant Schniederman?’ she asked.

‘I said, “You’re not gonna believe this, but we’re temporarily unable to locate your file.”’

‘The Lodge file?’

‘Yeah, that one.’

‘Could it still be at the Eight-Three?’

‘Nope, we swept out the Precinct’s closed files two years ago.’

‘How many files would that be?’

‘I didn’t count ’em, detective.’

Adele took a deep breath. ‘What I’m trying to get at, sarge, is whether the Lodge file was the only file missing.’

‘If you’ll excuse me, detective, missing was not a word I used. Unable to locate was what I actually said.’

‘Then are you unable to locate all of the Eighty-Third Precinct’s files?’

‘Not at this time.’

That was as far as we got. Efforts were being made to recover the requested file, but results could not be guaranteed. So sorry, and good night.

‘Do you know how files get swept out?’ I asked Adele once she’d hung up. ‘You ever watch the process?’ When she shook her head, I continued. ‘Four guys arrive in a van during the late tour. They empty the filing cabinets into boxes, then transport the boxes to the archives.’

‘And?’

‘And nobody checks to be sure that every file is actually there. When the files are removed, the Property Clerk gets a list of the case files that are supposed to be in the drawers, a list compiled as each case is closed, not when the files are transported.’ I shrugged into my coat, already cold. At the time, I was driving an eight-year-old Nissan with a pronounced intolerance for temperatures below ten degrees. The Sentra would take forever to warm up, assuming it started in the first place.

‘How do you know this?’ Adele asked.

‘My second year on the job, I sprained my back so bad I had trouble sitting in a patrol car for more than an hour. The lieutenant was a merciful type. He let me work in the house for a couple of months, which was how I came to supervise one of these transfers. But the point is that Lodge’s file could have been yanked while it was still at the Eight-Three.’

‘Well, I don’t see how that’s a problem.’

I buttoned my coat, taking my time about it. ‘It’s not gonna be a problem, not for us, anyway. It’s gonna be a problem for Sarney when we inform him tomorrow morning.’

‘Don’t be so hasty, Corbin.’ Adele was still seated behind her desk. ‘The prosecutors are also holding a copy of the case file. They would have gotten it when the case was being prepared for the grand jury. I have a friend in the DA’s office, somebody I know from my group. What I’ll do is call her tomorrow and ask her to speak to her supervisor. Maybe we can drop in, get a quick look-see off the record.’

‘You wanna do this before you speak to Sarney?’

Adele rose from her chair and stretched before winding a silk scarf around her neck. The flaming-red scarf matched the red of her blazer almost exactly. ‘Of course.’

‘Sarney’s worried, Adele. I can hear it in his voice.’ I pulled on my gloves. ‘That’s why he asked us not to play any games.’

Adele folded her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowing as she gauged my resolve. For good detectives, bending the rules is a matter of instinct, and Adele’s suggestion was no big deal — certainly, we had every right to the file. But procedure required that we make a formal request through the NYPD’s Legal Bureau, then wait for the DA to comply, which might take days, or even weeks.

‘Look, partner,’ I finally said, ‘the simple truth is that Bill Sarney’s holding my marker. I owe the man.’

‘For a promotion to detective, second grade, that has yet to come through?’

I shook my head, taking care to keep my language simple. ‘I’ve been a guest in Sarney’s home. I attended the wedding of his daughter and the christening of his son. That’s why I can’t think of him as just another boss. And that’s why I’m going to honor my pledge to keep him informed.’

Adele didn’t respond right away, probably because my position caught her by surprise. ‘Alright,’ she finally said as she slid into her coat, ‘we’ll do it your way, Corbin. But time isn’t on our side here. If we don’t move quickly, the case is going to get away from us. Ellen Lodge has an agenda, and we both know it.’