"Feeling that Kevin Little seemed to show the most remorse for the crime," Karp said, "and might want to help us out, our Ms. Repass and Detective Torrisi escorted him to the pier at Coney Island. Although some of the evidence had already been washed away by the tide, there was still a large pool of blood beneath the pier. According to the affidavits of our two friends here, Mr. Little was heard to mutter, and I quote, 'Damn, damn, that's a lot of blood. I knew she was bleeding, but I didn't know how bad she was. It was pretty dark under the pier. I couldn't see how much blood there was.'"
Shortly after that, he said, Kevin Little had agreed to testify against the others. "I should note that he did not ask for a deal." A few days later, however, Kwasama Jones called the home of codefendant Kevin Little from Rikers Island and talked to Little's sister, fourteen-year-old Hannah. "He was passing on a message from Sykes, who was in solitary for assaulting another inmate, that there'd be dire consequences for Kevin if he didn't keep his mouth shut. During the conversation, Hannah asked Jones how he could have committed such a vicious crime and, she would later testify, he denied raping Ms. Tyler and said, 'I only held her shoulders. It was Jayshon and Desmond, and some other dude, who fucked her.'
"Detective Torrisi escorted Desmond Davis to the pier," Karp said while Torrisi looked out the window. "And according to the detective's report, Mr. Davis laughed as they walked beneath the pier and said, 'Yes, yes, this is where we got her. This is where we fucked the bitch. Man, she was tight.'"
"I wanted to kill him," Torrisi said.
"When I read that, I did, too," Karp said. "But we can hope that what goes around comes around for these guys."
When he read through the files, Karp had wished that he was not defending the city and the three defendants in the room, trying to prevent paying the cretins who stole Liz Tyler's life, but that he was prosecuting them instead. Repass and Russell had done as good a job as anyone could have. They and the police had gone by the book, and, as they'd told his wife, won a fair and just conviction. But he would have liked to have struck a blow himself in this case.
Karp paused and looked into the eyes of each person in the room. "Lest anyone doubt the assailants' character and cruelty on that night at Coney Island, I want to read to you from Detective Torrisi's memo book an entry of a statement given to him by Jayshon Sykes. 'I hit her with that piece of steel. She went down and I hit her again. Then I fucked her. Then Desmond fucked her. To me it was just something to do. It was fun.'"
The silence in the room was broken by sniffling. Russell looked up through teary eyes and wiped at her nose with a tissue. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've never really gotten over this one. And to hear it all again, to remember their faces-those bastards laughed and giggled throughout the trial, too-brought it all back. Then to have them walk out and demand money…I don't sleep too well these days."
Repass reached over and patted the arm of her friend. The others murmured their support. "I think we all feel the same," Karp said gently. "My job now is to make sure these pieces of crap don't profit from what they did to Liz Tyler. But we've still got a lot to do and not much time to do it."
"Are you going to ask for a continuance after your official appointment to the case?" Newbury asked.
"Haven't completely decided," Karp replied, "but I'm leaning toward going ahead with the late-January trial date. Louis thinks Lindahl is going to settle this one-at least that's what Denton believes. So I'm betting that he's not doing much to prepare, at least if the lack of action in the file is any indication. They're definitely not girding for war. So I'm thinking maybe we keep the date, only we get out ahead of the game before my appointment is officially announced and Louis realizes he's got a fight on his hands."
Karp handed out the assignments. He asked Fulton to assign a team of detectives from the DA's team to find Hannah Little. To Repass, Russell, and Guma he gave the task of going through the remaining boxes looking at "every slip of paper, every video. I don't want any surprises, unless they're on Louis… And, ladies, I'm sure I don't have to tell you this as you used to work in this office and know full well that Mr. Guma is not to be trusted around good-looking women."
"Hey, hey, that was a cheap shot out of left field," Guma complained but leered at the two women who stuck out their tongues.
"Keep those in your mouths unless you intend to use them," he warned.
"On that note, I believe we can go on about our other business," Karp said.
"Oh, wait, speaking of notes," Guma said, refocusing on the subject at hand. "I wanted to mention a note-on one of those sticky pad pages-I found in one box. It had evidently fallen off of some other envelope or sheet. It doesn't say much, just 'Kaminsky letter…To Breman…re: Villalobos…FWD: Klinger.' I don't know what it means and a cursory search of all the boxes didn't turn up a letter from anyone named Kaminsky to Breman, so I'm assuming FWD means it got forwarded to Klinger. But if so, why wasn't a copy left in the file and why hasn't the Corporation Counsel been given a copy as the rules of evidence demand?"
"Have you called Breman or Klinger and inquired about it?" Russell asked.
Guma shook his head. "Nope. Of course that would be the logical step at some point, but at this point neither knows that Butch is involved with this case."
"And right now I'd rather keep it that way," Karp interjected.
"Are you suggesting some sort of hanky-panky between Breman and the judge?" Karp asked.
Guma shrugged. "Can't say. However, I also can't think of a reason why a letter from someone to the Brooklyn DA regarding Villalobos would be sent to the judge and then no one hears about it again. It would seem to be exculpatory."
"Well, as I said, we have a lot of work ahead of us," Karp said. "Let's get busy."
After everyone else had left, Kipman and Murrow remained seated. "Yes?" Karp asked.
It was Murrow who took the floor first. "I know I'll come off as the insensitive lout here, but I wouldn't be doing my job-at least not the part of my job that has to do with getting you elected-if I didn't voice my concerns about the ramifications of getting involved in this case." He took a quick glance at Kipman, who was studying his fingernails, before continuing. "I know you hate hearing this stuff but it's a political reality that race is going to be a hot button if you pursue this. I can hear Louis, and all the other race baiters, now whining about how the white establishment is defending a grave injustice by calling in its heavy hitter-in a role that's not even his to take-to persecute young black men. And the press will gladly go along with that ride for the fiery quotes if nothing else."
Kipman knitted his brow and appeared about to speak, so Murrow quickly went on. "I'm also sure your political opponent, whoever he turns out to be, will make a big deal about the Manhattan district attorney, who instead of getting criminals off the streets of Gotham apparently had enough time on his hands to take on a civil case in another jurisdiction."
"What about the police vote and the law and order types?" Kipman asked.
"He might pick something up there," Murrow conceded. "But the rank and file will be influenced by what the union bosses say, and I think it's pretty obvious to everyone here that the bosses are willing to let a few cops swing in the wind."
"Doesn't make it right," Kipman said.
"Look, it's not that I think this case shouldn't be fought tooth and nail," Murrow said, facing Karp. "And if you ask me, it seems like a slam dunk for the city defendants and all once Lindahl is out of there. All I'm asking is does it have to be you? The new mayor is going to have to pick a new Corporation Counsel, and he'll have a lot of qualified lawyers to choose from including-and I mean no disrespect here-some better qualified to take on a civil case than you."