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Then we didn’t go right to sleep.
Chapter22
I WAS UPand out of the house quickly the next day. I was going to visit one of my least favorite places: NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan almost at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. No working detective enjoys time at One Police Plaza.
Today I had two people to talk to inside the building: Gary Avram, my main contact in the Missing Persons Squad, and Gary’s wife, Kathy Figler, a sergeant in the juvenile unit. Kathy was used to dealing with kids who caused problems. I was hoping to get her opinion on how I should deal with the bullies bothering my boys near Holy Name.
I greeted half a dozen people as I walked through the lobby. But the place definitely lacks the camaraderie found in a regular precinct. In a neighborhood precinct, there is no question you are all in this together. Here, everyone is looking out for themselves or trying to climb the ladder.
I took the elevator to the seventh floor, then found the small squad bay that held the Missing Persons unit. Most people have no idea how many missing persons there are in the United States. And when I saymost people,I’m including the police. There are so many ways a person might disappear. Most of the time there’s very little to go on with a missing person.
I found Gary Avram at his standing desk, a real anomaly inside the old-fashioned NYPD. A serious power lifter, Gary was the kind of guy who told anyone who would listen that sitting was the new smoking.
He was in his usual monogrammed, long-sleeved white shirt with a blue tie, and nodded as I approached his desk. I waited in silence while he finished whatever he was working on.
After thirty seconds, he looked up at me. “This damn crossword gets harder every week.”
Gary had a prankster streak, and I swear I didn’t know if he was joking now or not. Then he put on a serious face and said, “Sorry to hear that your daughter’s friend was found in New Rochelle. But that explains why we had zero good leads on her disappearance.”
“That’s why I’m here. I have an idea. She’s the third college student found murdered in the last two months. We considered her a missing person. Do you think there might be similar victims we’ve listed as missing persons?”
Gary didn’t hesitate to reach across his absurdly tall desk and grab three file folders. He let them drop in front of me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“I’m big, not dense. I saw the reports from your and Hernandez’s homicides. I usually look through ECMS to see if I can clear any missing persons. I saw that both of your victims were similar. Just like Suzanne Morton. College students, beautiful, bright. These are the only three in the past two years that fully match your victims.” He added, “We haven’t done much with any of these cases. The reports are all in the files.”
“Gary, this is great. I’m impressed.”
“That means something coming from a homicide detective. I know you guys think you’ve got the toughest assignment.”
I knew some homicide detectives could be openly dismissive of other units. I just thanked him and said, “Guess who I’m visiting next?”
“You must mean my wife. But if you came to our house, you’d be visiting us. If you come to the office, you’rebotheringus,” Gary teased. “Kathy and I have a strict rule never to discuss work at home. We think it would adversely affect the boys.”
“Smart.”
“Even here, during the workday, she’sSergeantFigler and I’mDetectiveAvram.”
“Then I won’t tell you where I’m going from here.”
“You can mention how I’m on top of things. That would be okay.”
I laughed. Most men want to impress their spouses. I’d probably say the same thing.
Chapter23
I TOOK THEstairs down three floors from Missing Persons to the juvenile unit. There was less risk of running into command staff on the dingy stairs that few people used. The juvenile unit was housed with a few other specialty units. They didn’t even have their own squad bay.
The juvenile unit worked at containing crime by people under eighteen. Even if some of the crimes were as horrendous as adult crimes, there were rules in place to protect the young suspects. No one really disagreed, but it made working in the unit more complicated.
I’ve always believed the best juvenile crime detectives alsolikedworking with young people. They viewed their encounters with young offenders as opportunities for them to turn their lives around. This approach became much more important to me after my son Brian was arrested for drug dealing.
I considered Kathy Figler to be one of the best cops I knew. I was glad the NYPD was putting her talents to use in something as important as the juvenile unit.
I said hello to a couple of other detectives I knew in the unit as I navigated to the sergeant’s office in the back. You could see the turnaround for the Brooklyn Bridge and a hint of the East River from Kathy Figler’s window—a prize status symbol among the inhabitants of One Police Plaza.
The petite blond woman smiled when she saw me and got up to give me a hug.
