I bounced the boat off the end of the dock like a pool ball whacking against the walls of a table. Dolly Dan wouldn’t approve of my parallel-parking technique.
Jimmy was more agile than Mercer. He jumped up on the dock and fastened the ropes to the metal cleats.
I hoisted myself up and put the key in my pocket.
We didn’t get halfway down the dock before a man started coming toward us from land. He wasn’t a ranger. He was dressed in civvies-khaki slacks and a blue sweatshirt.
“Hold it right there,” he called out to us. “Who are you with?”
“NYPD,” I said.
“Show me.”
We each took our shields from our pockets to display them.
“What’s the deal?” he said after looking at them.
“Official business.”
“Funny I didn’t get a call about it.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m in charge of the work crew.”
“If I’d have known that, or your number, I would have called you,” I said. “Instead, my boss called the park service. Head ranger. Bullwinkle or whatever his name is. Wears a big brown hat like Pharrell Williams.”
“Didn’t he tell you the island’s closed?”
“Knew that. But we’re not tourists.”
“It’s even been closed to my workmen the last two days. There’s a private event tomorrow night,” he said. “I just have a skeleton crew cleaning up for it. Then they’re pitching a tent back there for the party.”
“That’s why we’re here. I mean, the private event,” I said. “We’re doing a security sweep.”
“Really?” he said, growing more obviously annoyed. “A rap label pays three and a half million to rent this island for the night to debut a new album by Kanye and you clowns are doing a security sweep the day before? Don’t waste my time.”
“What do you mean, waste it?”
“Their security men have been all over this island. You’re a day late and a dollar short,” he said.
“Did you hear me say we’re an NYPD detail?” I said. “Do you understand that the mayor of the city of New York sent us to do this?”
“The mayor’s coming to this shindig? You serious?”
“Where there’s weed, there’s our top dog,” I said. “Go on, make his day. Call his office, do what you gotta do. But if there’s a leak to the press that he’s going to be here-maybe even with the governor of New Jersey, like a little political love-in-then I will turn the spotlight right back on you.”
I turned as though I was going to lead Mercer and Jimmy back to the boat.
“Hold up,” he said. “And you want to do what?”
“A quick walk-through,” I said. “Just need an hour or two. I’m not inspecting your rivets, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“If I catch hell from the ranger in charge-”
“Not to worry. It’s all cleared through headquarters,” I said. “If you need us to score a few tickets for your kids for the party…”
“You can do that?” he asked, lightening up for the first time since our arrival.
“Mercer Wallace can get you whatever you need. He used to bodyguard Kanye when he moonlighted, back in the day.”
“Now we’re talking, Detective,” the man said, wrapping an arm around Mercer and shaking his hand. “Welcome to Liberty Island.”
THIRTY-FIVE
“Where are the rangers?” Mercer asked as we walked toward land.
“With the island shut down to tourists, there’s only one on duty in the daytime through this fall and winter,” the man said. “He actually took a boat into Newark to help the group get a permit for fireworks tomorrow night. You’ll probably meet him later.”
“So who guards the place at night?”
“Nobody lives here, if that’s what you mean. The coasties watch over the island from the water. Otherwise it’s all fenced off, as you can see, and pretty hard to get here or get onto.”
“I saw a small building-looked sort of residential-when we rode around the place,” I said. “Right next to the commercial loading dock.”
“Used to be,” the man said, “that Lady Liberty was a lighthouse. In the early 1900s, she was electrified. There were actually nine lamps in her torch, supposedly to guide boats into the harbor. So the house was built for the lighthouse keeper.”
“I never thought of that beacon as a lighthouse,” I said.
“Well, she wasn’t much good at it. She’s actually too tall to be useful to ships trying to navigate the details of the harbor. The Lady is prettier than she is practical.”
“And that house? Is it occupied?”
“Not now,” he said, shaking his head. “There was a caretaker who lived in it for decades with his family, but it got too expensive for the government to keep up. Just last year they moved him out and shut the place down.”
We were off the dock and passed through the entrance in the heavy wire gate that encircled the island.
“I’ll get one of my men over to-”
“Don’t bother with that,” I said. “We’re totally low maintenance. Just got to stick our heads into enough nooks and crannies to satisfy the mayor. Hey, and how do we get those tickets back to you?”
The man shrugged and smiled. “Whatever’s easiest,” he said. “I’ll be here till late tonight and all day tomorrow. Just ask for Walter.”
“You got it, Walter. Four tickets, compliments of the mayor.”
Walter was whistling as he walked away. He turned around and waved at us. “Take a look inside,” he said. “The Lady’s wide-open.”
I gave Walter an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“Where are you going to get four tickets to Kanye’s show?” Jimmy asked. “Are you hallucinating?”
“You ought to be more worried about where Walter will be working next week unless we get this done quickly.”
“What first?” Mercer asked.
“The Lady herself.”
“Stay together or split up?”
“Start together. She’s huge,” I said. “Once we sweep through her we can make a plan to split the rest of the island into three parts.”
The pedestal itself was enormous. Like the statue, the proportions of her elaborate base were gigantic. Set within the walls of old Fort Wood, the granite-stepped pyramid was a formidable foundation for the iconic lady.
I picked up speed as I went up the steps to the entrance, both men at my heels. I pushed against the huge, heavy door and it opened for us.
The ground floor of the pedestal was where tourists lined up-one thousand a day-for the elevator to take them to the foot of the statue.
“You good on the stairs, Jimmy?” I asked. “It’s about twenty stories to the top of the pedestal.”
He looked at Mercer and me and laughed. “You guys aren’t that old yet, are you?”
“Start climbing.”
“What exactly am I looking for?” he said, taking in the floor around us. “Looks like it’s been swept clean for the VIPs coming tomorrow.”
“Anything. Anything and nothing,” I said.
“And he means nothing,” Mercer said. “If Alex has any way to communicate with us, she’d be trying. Could be she’d break off a fingernail or…”
“Manicured. Really pale pink.”
“Or pull out a few strands of hair. A piece of jewelry.”
“Look for writing on the wall,” I said.
“Graffiti?”
“Not that. But maybe something drawn in the dust with her fingers. Even just her initials.”
The elevator door opened. “See you on top.”
I was examining the interior of the elevator cab for the same kinds of things, or even scuff marks that might suggest a struggle.
I took out my phone.
“Checking in with the lieutenant?” Mercer asked.
“Not quite yet. He’s not looking for me and I’m not looking for him,” I said. “I just thought I’d Google the number of steps up to the crown.”