Linda Fairstein - Lethal Legacy

They both nodded.

Mike handed one of them a card with his phone number on it and told them to call with any questions or developments.

Jill asked me what we wanted her to do.

“Let’s go up to your office,” I said. “I’d like to get a list of your trustees-names and addresses.”

“The president of the library and the board chair are in China, on a major acquisition trip,” she said, looking glum. “I’m hesitant to do anything involving our trustees until I can reach them.”

“Look, Jill, these are names I can get off your website or in your annual report. We need to talk with some of these people today. Now. Before facts and misinformation start to appear in the news. All I’m asking for is to speed this up by giving us a way to get to the folks we need. We’ll get it done with or without you.”

She pursed her lips. “Which ones do you want?”

“I’m not playing that game, Jill. We want them all.”

She started walking briskly up the long ramp that led to the elevator. Mike and I were several paces behind her.

“Stay on her ass, Coop. I’ll be back to get you. Let me slip outside and see if I can spot the hatch while the crime scene’s still taped off. See if it was disturbed recently.”

Mike separated from us in the lobby of the building, and Jill and I continued on to her office, past another uniformed cop who’d been posted at the door. She encouraged me to take a seat in the anteroom, but I insisted on following her to her desk.

Reluctantly, she opened a file drawer and removed a list of the current board members and handed it to me.

I scanned it and could see that the addresses of the names that interested me most-Jasper Hunt and Jonah Krauss-were nearby, on the East Side of Manhattan.

I asked Jill about other members whose names had not come up so far in the case, in part to educate myself and in part to let her think we’d be moving too fast, with too many trustees, for her to try to run interference.

When we finished talking, I used her phone to call Laura and let her know I’d been sidetracked by the discovery of Barr’s body.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s Friday and very quiet down here.”

“Any calls?”

“ McKinney ’s secretary. Says he wants you to check in with him by the hour if you’re not coming in today. Battaglia’s orders. I’m only the messenger.”

“Not to worry. I’m behaving like Pat’s new best friend.”

“And Moffett’s law secretary called about that familial search issue in the Griggs case,” Laura said. “Is Mr. Fine the defendant’s lawyer?”

“Yes.”

“Moffett let him go back to California ’cause he hadn’t finished writing his decision, so he won’t announce it until Wednesday, when Fine can be back in town. I’ve got you calendared to be up in court at ten a.m.”

“Thanks, Laura. We’ve waited eight years for a good lead in Kayesha’s case. One more week won’t be a deal breaker.”

“I’ll call you if anything else comes up. Tell Mike not to work you too hard.”

Ten minutes later, Mike came through the door of Jill’s office. He had been running, I guessed, from the way he was panting.

“You mind stepping out, Jill? I need a minute with Alex.”

She was almost bristling now, put out in every way possible and cut off from her staff. She left the room without answering.

“First of all, it’s like a mob scene on the street. We’ll have to try to duck out with some cover on the Fortieth Street side, unless you want your puss all over the news. The staff comes and goes by the old carriage entrance-shipping and receiving now-so maybe an RMP can pull in and take us to my car.”

“Employees?”

“Nah. Lieutenant Peterson’s playing hardball out there. He’s let a few of the curators in, in case CSU needs them as they work their way around. Everybody else has been told to take the day off and come back on Monday.”

“What then?”

“I haven’t seen so many guys in uniform since the Paddy’s Day parade. Only this time they’re sober,” Mike said. “And if you think that good-looking army of cops-and the shitload of yellow tape that’s wrapped around the entire circumference of Bryant Park-hasn’t attracted every crime reporter in town, you’d be mistaken.”

“And the hatch?”

“Couldn’t have made it easier unless somebody shot the body out of a rocket launcher.”

“How?”

“Look, Coop. Yesterday afternoon, that end of the park was teeming with workmen. Say our boy was anywhere in the ’hood and saw the staging area setting up for the ball game. Here’s his golden opportunity.”

“Well, you’re assuming he’s familiar with the library.”

“Damn right I am. This scheme wasn’t launched by some junkie looking to get high. Five o’clock last night, the whole place goes dark. Everybody scatters for home.”

“Tina’s dead?”

“Killed in the lab. What did Dr. Assif say? Maybe the evening before. No struggle. She knew the guy, I’m thinking. Trusted him. Maybe they were hanging out together for a reason. Hoist on her own petard.”

“What?”

“The weapon. I’ll bet the weapon came right off the top of her desk,” Mike said. “Now back to last night.”

“Yeah, but if the killer doesn’t work in the lab, how did he get back in to get her body?”

“He had her ID tag. Swiped it and came back. Covered her little body with a tarp, took it out of the freezer, and dollied it down the hall, down the ramp, down to the stacks.”

“It must be so sinister there at night.”

“Nobody around to get in his way. Push up the hatch and roll one more tarp among all the others,” Mike said. “Count on the fact that he’s a Red Sox fan to even think of screwing up a Yankee game like that.”

“It’s incredibly risky,” I said. “Smarter just to leave the body in the freezer. Who knows when it would have been found?”

“You’re not thinking, Blondie. My guy didn’t go there for the body. That was just pure carpe diem. Carpe corpse. My killer went back for the books.”

“What books?” I asked.

“The ones I found under the water tank. The one that had the map inside,” Mike said, doodling on a paper on Jill’s blotter. “I’m figuring he might have had them stashed in the freezer with Barr’s body, then moved them upstairs last night after he disposed of her.”

“So when did he leave the library?”

“Who says he left?”

“That’s a chilling thought.”

“You know how enormous this place is-above and below ground? That’s why nobody’s getting in until it’s swept by Scully’s finest.”

“What if he just walked out the door this morning?”

“Who?”

“Your killer. I mean, security wasn’t letting people in, but nobody said anything about letting anyone out. Especially with all the commotion outside, and the staff gathering at the entrance. What if he passed for a detective and just walked into the crowd?”

Mike’s eyebrows raised. “You think too much. That’s one of your problems.”

“So why am I wasting time with this list of trustees, Mike? Your scenario doesn’t quite fit what I’d assume would be the modus operandi of all the deep-pocketed Seconds and Thirds, the Juniors and Seniors who sit on this board. Or Minerva Hunt.”

“Partners in crime. Some grunt getting paid to do the dirty work. What did Jill Gibson tell you the other day? That map thieves steal to order. We ought to talk to that master thief, Eddy Forbes. See if his parole officer can lean on him to squeal. If he’s got anything to give, maybe you can cut him a deal. Forbes can’t be the only library rat ever running around loose in the stacks. He might know some of the other players.”