Blindside (Michael Bennett #12)(14)

I recognized a couple of cops in uniform. They all patted me on the back or shoulder. It wasn’t the kind of greeting I usually got. But what they were really saying was they were glad I was alive, even if it meant someone else was dead.

We took the stairs to the third floor and turned down a long corridor. We stopped at an office with a sign that said office of the mayor, communications.

I started to ask Harry why we were here.

He shut me up with just a look.

He knocked once, then opened the door.

There were three people in the large, plush office. A woman stepped up and offered her hand.

“I’m Carol Tedesco, director of communications.” She was polished and professional. She looked like she could be TV-ready at any moment.

The thin man in wire-rimmed glasses didn’t bother to stand up straight from the table he was leaning on. He just waved and said, “Clark Higson, assistant to the mayor.”

Then the other man stepped over to me and offered a pudgy paw. He said, “Alfred Hanna. Nice to meet you.”

He wasn’t quite as short as I’d thought he would be.





CHAPTER 18





ALFRED HANNA HAD slipped into the mayor’s office by the thinnest of margins. Every cop in the city used the term LFP, for little fat prick, to refer to him. I had even heard LFP used on the radio. Since his election, he had managed to piss off virtually all city workers, the Puerto Rican population, Staten Island residents, and even tourists, when he’d referred to a group from Arkansas touring City Hall as “a bunch of rednecks.” Nothing anyone else in the city wouldn’t have said. But the mayor was held to a higher standard. Barely.

In short, Alfred Hanna was a true New Yorker.

He ran a nervous hand over his slicked-back, dark hair. A long blue tie did little to cover his extended belly. He looked a little like a chipmunk in an Armani suit.

He reached up to put his arm across my shoulders. “We need to keep this meeting as quiet as possible. That’s why we’re not in my office. Is that understood?”

Both Harry and I mumbled, “Yes, sir.”

He released me and turned to face all of us. He looked at me and said, “I’m very proud of your service to the city. I’m sorry you got put in a position like you did. I know you acted well within policy and did everything you could not to shoot that young man.”

I didn’t get excited at his little speech. Anyone could tell there was a but coming. Harry gave me a really good command stare to keep me quiet.

Mayor Hanna continued. “The problem is that the Timmons family is quite popular. The fact that they brought in Reverend Caldwell means they’re not going to listen to the results of any investigation. They’re also not going to disappear. That means you returning to your regular job would not only look bad for the city, it also could be dangerous for you.”

I said, “You don’t think a cop’s job is dangerous anyway?” I hadn’t meant to put the edge in my voice.

“Okay, more dangerous than usual. Look, my grandfather on my mother’s side was a cop in Queens. I understand the hardships you guys go through.”

It surprised me the mayor had a family member who’d been a cop, but it didn’t surprise me that he actually thought he knew. Everyone thought they understood the job.

The mayor said, “I don’t want to send the wrong message to our city’s police officers. I don’t want them to step back. I don’t advocate less proactive policing. I also don’t think you should have to go back to work looking over your shoulder for a retribution attack. Not when we have an alternative.”

I said, “So what’s this alternate plan you’re talking about?”

“Like I said, anything talked about in this room stays here.” He turned his bowling-ball head to look at each of us individually. Everyone agreed.

The mayor looked right at me and said, “I’ve heard that, among your many talents, you know how to find people.”

“I’ve located a few fugitives.”

“This is a missing person.”

“Why don’t you have our Missing Persons Squad look into it?”

“Because it’s my daughter.”





CHAPTER 19





I READ THE mayor’s expression, almost like I would a homicide suspect during an interview. He was uncomfortable. I looked across the office at the only one who might understand what I was seeing.

Harry just shrugged and shifted his eyes to the door in the back of the office.

I said, “Maybe we can speak more freely in private.”

The mayor, who was clearly shaken, turned to the door that Harry had pointed out. He motioned for his aides to stay in this office, and I followed his odd gait.

The other room was a small conference room with a table big enough for about six people. A giant portrait of the late former mayor Fiorello La Guardia filled the upper half of one wall. Every mayor wanted to be like La Guardia. Except Ed Koch, who had seemed pretty happy being himself. A window looked down on the parking lot. I could just see the top of Harry’s Suburban.

The mayor and I settled into leather chairs at one corner of the table. I gave him a moment to collect himself, then said gently, “Do you want to tell me about your daughter? I thought you only had two young boys.”