Lethal Legacy (3 page)

She spoke haltingly, her words caught in her
throat.

“Tina, are you having trouble breathing?”

No answer.

“We can give you oxygen, Tina. Is it the smoke? Is
there still smoke in your apartment?”

“No.”

“The man who was dressed like a fireman, did you
let him come into your apartment?”

She was crying again as she tried to speak. “No,
no, I didn’t let him in.”

“But you told the police officer that—”

“I only opened the door because he showed me a
gold badge and told me there was a fire. I could smell the smoke and then saw
it. I believed him.” Tina Barr’s words came out phrase by phrase, embedded in
sobs. “He forced his way inside. I didn’t
let
him in.”

“You can trust us, Tina. Now you know that man
wasn’t actually a fireman. His badge wasn’t real.” Mercer had already checked
that with the department and had been telling that to Barr before I got there.
“The cops think the man started the fire himself in order to break in to your
apartment.”

She was taking deep breaths on the other side of
the door.

I took one, too, and tried to get at what had so
far been un-spoken. “I work with victims of sex crimes, Tina. That’s all I do.
It’s why the police thought I might be able to help. I deal with the most
sensitive cases you can imagine,” I said, closing my eyes, which burned from
the lingering smoke. “Did this man assault you tonight?”

She coughed again.

I didn’t know how long he’d been within the
apartment before Billy Schultz saw him running from the building at
twelve-thirty in the morning.

“Did he awaken you when he knocked, Tina?”

“No.”

“Do you know what time it was when you first went
to the door?”

“Five,” she said.

“Five o’clock in the afternoon?” She must have
been confused. “Look, I’m going to have to let the police work on your door, or
the back window in your kitchen, Tina. You may be a little woozy. He couldn’t
have been inside there that long.”

There was a noise before Tina Barr spoke next, as
though she shifted her position. She had gotten to her feet, perhaps angered by
my comment. I stood up, too, as she pounded on the door. “I know exactly what
time it was when the man knocked, do you understand? It wasn’t the middle of
the night, Ms. Cooper. It was five o’clock.”

All the cops and I had assumed the events had
occurred within minutes of Schultz’s arrival home. Fast, like most break-ins,
and while the smoke bombs were steaming. We were wrong.

“I apologize, Tina. That’s even more reason for me
to know what he did to you.” I didn’t want to suggest the word
rape
to
her. I needed
her
to reveal to me what had occurred.

“I don’t want to talk to any cops, Ms. Cooper.
I’ll tell you what happened if that will make them go away.”

“I’m alone down here now. The men won’t come in.”
I paused before I spoke again. “I give you my word.”

Tina Barr sniffled, then was quiet. I heard the
dead bolt turn.

The door opened a few inches and I could see the
young woman peering out from behind it, clutching the lapels of her white
chenille robe with one hand. Her dark brown hair was disheveled, her eyes
reddened from at least an hour of crying, and what looked to be remains of
adhesive tape forming a rectangle on the skin around her mouth, where she had
probably been gagged.

I reached out a hand to her, hoping to comfort her
with a touch, but she recoiled at the movement in her direction.

“You’re mistaken if you think this was about a sex
crime, Ms. Cooper. He wanted to kill me,” Tina Barr said. “That man left me for
dead.”

TWO

“I don’t want to press charges.”

Tina Barr was seated in an armchair in the cramped
living room of her apartment, and I was opposite her on a small loveseat that
was sorely in need of reupholstering.

“That’s not even an issue right now, Tina. I’d
like to know what happened to you. We don’t have a suspect, so there’s no one
to prosecute.”

“You told me you wanted to make sure I was all
right. You see I’m not hurt, so now you can leave.”

She was unnaturally pale and rested her forehead
in her hand, as though she needed that support to keep it upright.

“A couple of minutes ago you told me a man tried
to kill you. You told me he was with you in here for more than six hours. How
can I walk away from this? You don’t look well, Tina. You must be terribly
frightened.”

“I’m nauseous. I just want to lie down.”

I tried to make eye contact with her, but she was
staring at the floor.

“Who did this to you, Tina? Do you know that?”

Her entire body trembled. “No idea. There was some
horrible black mask covering his face.”

I didn’t want to press her, to cross-examine her,
but it seemed unlikely that her attacker had had the mask on for so many hours.
“The whole time he was here? Didn’t he ever take it off?”

“I don’t know what he did. I don’t remember.”

I expected her to be a difficult interview after
the experience the cops had when they got to the building. But I hadn’t thought
she would stonewall me once she opened the door.

“You don’t remember?”

“I was unconscious the entire time that man was
here, Ms. Cooper.” Tina lifted her head and looked at me. “He pushed his way in
and threw me down. He put a cloth over my mouth and I couldn’t breathe any
longer. I just felt dizzy and watched the room turn upside down. I thought I
was going to die. I don’t have any idea what he did after that.”

Now I had even more reason to be concerned, and
greater need not to express it.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ve told you already. I’d like to go to sleep.”

“Do you know what he drugged you with?”

Tina rested her head on the back of the chair and
snapped at me. “Now how could I possibly tell you that?”

“I didn’t think you’d be able to. That’s my point.
All the more reason to let the doctors examine you, have them test your blood.
You’ve undoubtedly still got something in your system.”

“I don’t want anyone else coming in here—can you
understand that?”

“I’d like to take you to the emergency room.
There’s an excellent hospital less than ten blocks away.”

Tina Barr started to cry again. There was a box of
tissues on a desk behind her chair. I crossed the room to get a handful of
them, glancing around for any obvious signs of a disturbance. Bookcases lined
the walls. End tables, like the desk, were cluttered with a messy array of
papers and journals.

“Why don’t you take a minute to compose yourself?”

I handed her the tissues and reached out to stand
the waste-basket upright. There was a large rag in it, and as I leaned over, it
smelled sickeningly sweet. I used a tissue to remove the cloth from the basket
and put it in the pocket of my jeans.

“Would you like some water, Tina?”

“I’m too nauseous to drink. I’m very thirsty, but
I doubt I can hold anything down.”

I retraced my steps to the loveseat. I could get
more facts later. I wanted to talk to her about medical treatment. “I just have
a couple more questions, okay? When you regained consciousness, were you still
here, on the floor?”

She searched out another spot in the dark pattern
of the cheap Oriental rug and stared at it. “I was on my bed, Ms. Cooper. I was
naked. Completely naked. There was some kind of tape over my mouth, and my
hands were tied to the headboard with a pair of my stockings. Loose knots, they
were. I was able to work them off easily.”

“While the man was still here?”

“No,” she said, breathing deeply. “I came around
just a few minutes before he left. I could hear him in this room, so I just
played dead and didn’t move till the door shut.”

“Tina, you’ve got to see a doctor.” I was on the
edge of the seat cushion, pleading with her to let me take her to Mount Sinai
Hospital. “They’ve got a wonderful advocacy program for victims of violence. I
just have to call ahead and someone knowledgeable about the process will be
with you through the entire exam.”

“I told you before I wasn’t raped.” Tina got to
her feet and steadied herself before she started walking toward the back of the
apartment. “I’m going to be sick.”

I stood up to follow her. “Let me—”

“Please don’t come inside. I’d like some privacy.”

A door slammed and I couldn’t hear anything until
the toilet flushed and water ran in the sink. The dozens of questions I had
would be answered, I knew, when she was made comfortable and felt safe. I
needed to get her to the ER as fast as possible. Once crime scene investigators
had access to her bedroom, the trace evidence on the linens and clothing might
tell us more about what occurred than Tina Barr could.

About ten minutes later, Tina emerged from what
must have been her bedroom and bath area. She was dressed in khaki slacks and a
cable-knit sweater.

“If I go with you to the hospital, does it mean
I’m pressing charges?”

“Not at all. You have weeks to make that decision,
if we catch the guy. This is all about your health, about trying to figure out
what he did to you. If you aren’t examined now, the tests will never yield the
same results in two or three days, when you might have second thoughts about
all this.” I knew that if she had been penetrated by her assailant, the natural
forces of gravity would eliminate any fluids that could be tested for DNA.
Whatever she had been drugged with would be gone from her bloodstream, too.
“It’s your own best protection.”

“I’d prefer to take a cab, Ms. Cooper. I can do
this myself.”

“There’s an ambulance waiting near the building. We
were all so worried about you. I can cut through a lot of administrative red
tape if I’m along.”

She hesitated again, then went back inside and
returned with a small tote. “I’ll go with you. Just don’t ask me any more
questions, okay?”

“Let me call the detectives, so the ambulance is
right in front.” I pressed Mercer’s speed dial on my cell.

“You need me?”

“Ms. Barr and I are coming out. I’m going to ride
to Sinai with her in the bus. Maybe you can meet us at the ER. And get rid of
the guys with the heavy equipment.”

“Done, Alex. Will she let crime scene in to
process the apartment?”

I turned to ask her. I wanted the bed linens and
bathrobe, the tape and the pantyhose, as soon as possible. I wanted to know if
there were any more rags inside, whether he had applied the substance to her
face more than once. “Tina, would you mind if the detectives got to work on
looking for evidence in your bedroom? Fingerprints, possible DNA sources—”

“Nobody comes in here while I’m gone,” she said.
“I don’t want any other strangers inside my home tonight. Do you understand?”

“Of course I do.” I knew Mercer had heard it, too.
I shut off the phone.

Tina walked behind me on the staircase, bracing
her hands against the wall. When we reached the stoop, I was relieved to see
the police cars and trucks were all gone, and that two EMTs were standing at
the rear door of the ambulance, with the gurney between them.

I offered her my arm and she accepted it for the
short walk. I introduced us to the EMTs, and they asked Tina to sit down so
they could lift her inside after I climbed up and wedged myself into a jump
seat.

“How you doin’?” the medic asked Tina as his
partner got into the driver’s seat. “You okay?”

“I’m sick to my stomach, actually.”

“Take it slow, Howie. Don’t bounce in any potholes,”
he called out to the driver. “My name is Jorge Vasquez. I’m just gonna get your
vitals, miss. Gotta do that.”

Tina reclined on the gurney and pushed up her
sleeve for the blood pressure cuff.

“How old are you, Ms. Barr?”

“Thirty-three.”