Silent Mercy ac-13 Page 7

“How fortunate for the children of New York,” Enright said with obvious sarcasm.

  I couldn’t think of the legal term of art for the word “bullshit.” “That’s absurd and you know it. It’s totally artificial.”

  “Ladies, ladies. Let’s not have a catfight,” Keets said. “What reason would you offer for that, Alexandra?”

  “Two things, Your Honor. First is that our numbers are ridiculously low because we have the most restrictive statute of limitations of any state. There are many, many more reports, but they aren’t legally viable because the complaints came in too late.”

  “You mean that in most jurisdictions, the reporting can be done for a period of time after the youths have attained majority?”

  “Yes, sir. That’s so very logical. Most minors don’t have the knowledge or wherewithal to take on the church at such a young age. So the statutes have been extended. And secondly, we’re the only city in which prosecutors have been denied access to the chancery’s records.”

  “There are no chancery records here,” Enright said. “Didn’t you listen to the bishop?”

  “Isn’t it lucky that Deegan hasn’t been hit by a bus, Sheila? Or lost his head?” I said, thinking of the body I had seen just hours earlier. “Fifty years of unholy acts right out the window, ’cause the only place they were tracked in the entire archdiocese is in the bishop’s eighty-year-old cranium. That’s what the secret archives are about.”

  Barry and I had piqued Lyle Keets’s interest. “Step back, ladies. I’ll let you run with this a bit, Alexandra.”

  Enright was practically frothing at the mouth as she continued to object. “But — but Ms. Cooper is going way beyond—”

  “I’ve heard enough, Ms. Enright,” Keets said, pointing a finger at her. “Will you resume your seat, Your Grace?”

  I waited until the bishop arranged himself in the wooden chair and looked at me. “Would you explain to the court, sir, what the secret archives are?”

  Deegan frowned and paused for an objection, but none followed.

  “Am I correct that this diocese has such archives?”

  “Yes, Ms. Cooper. It’s a canonical requirement that every diocese has them,” Deegan said, now turning his body toward the judge. “The ‘secretive’ designation really means only that certain documents are set aside, Your Honor. Historical papers, if you will, that relate to the founding of the diocese and such things. It’s not as mystical as it sounds.”

  “If one of your colleagues were to receive a complaint about a priest’s misbehavior?…”

  “What kind of misbehavior, madam?”

  “Any kind. Liturgical or theological,” I said. “Even sexual. Anything deleterious to a priest’s reputation or career. Would that complaint be written up for the secret archives, in addition to being stored in your memory bank?”

  Whatever these archives held, it was obvious that Deegan thought I was prying open Pandora’s box. He didn’t want to answer any questions.

  “Sorry?” he said, leaning forward to better hear me, I thought.

  But he was drawn to the opening of the courtroom door behind me, so I turned to look as well. A man entered alone, his dark hair slicked back, disappearing behind his long neck into the scarf he wore. It looked as though he had on a clerical collar beneath his winter coat. He was wearing sunglasses, which made it difficult to discern his features, but his skin was such a ghostly shade of white that it seemed he hadn’t been exposed to daylight in ages.

  I repeated my question, shifting position so that I could follow the spectator’s movement. He seated himself in the next to the last row behind Denys Koslawski — the groom’s side of the aisle, as Mike liked to call it. It seemed as though Bishop Deegan nodded at him, almost imperceptibly.

  “No, Ms. Cooper. Nothing like that exists in the secret archives of this diocese.” Each word was delivered with emphatic confidence.

  “Would it be possible, sir, for me to examine those—”

  “Objection, Your Honor. Did I say this was a fishing expedition, or what?”

  “Sustained, Ms. Enright.”

  What I couldn’t get one way I would try to do another. I would be permitted to continue my cross if the candor of the witness himself were at issue, as I believed it to be. “Are you aware, Bishop Deegan, of how many claims of sexual abuse in this diocese were settled out of court?”

  “I’m afraid I cannot say.”

  “Because that information is not ‘up here’?” I asked, mimicking his motion of tapping the side of his head.

  He snapped back a reply. “Because there are things called confidentiality agreements in such lawsuits, Ms. Cooper.”

  “Yes, of course, Bishop Deegan. So then you are aware of the claims?”

  “Objection!”

  “Sustained. Ms. Cooper,” Lyle Keets said, clearly growing annoyed with my line of questioning.

  “For what reason, Bishop, did Denys Koslawski leave the diocese?”

  His trembling hand reached for another sip of water. The lone spectator stood up and moved a few rows closer to the front of the room. The dark glasses hid his expression from me and blocked his features, but his skin seemed rough with angry red blisters on one cheek.

  “Do you recall?”

  The bishop’s voice was softer now. “It was a medical dismissal.”

  “Medical?” I asked, trying not to show my surprise. I liked to prep my cases with a nod to the axiom that advised not asking a question to which one didn’t know the answer. I wasn’t expecting this one.

  “Entirely that,” the bishop said, picking up his head with renewed satisfaction and smiling at Koslawski — or the man who had come in to observe.

  “And what condition might that be?” I asked as the Mike Chapman voice that often played in my brain despite my best efforts to keep it at arm’s length was laughing and repeating the word “priapism”—the persistent, painful erection of the penis.

  “Objection. Mr. Koslawski’s health condition is privileged.”

  “Hardly, Judge. The bishop was not his physician.”

  “I’ll allow it. Go ahead and answer, Your Grace.”

  “Hepatitis. Denys suffered from hepatitis, which required a lengthy period of hospitalization and recovery.”

  “And did you ever hear, Bishop Deegan, that Father Koslawski — before suffering this medical setback — had invited a teenage boy to his room in the rectory and engaged him in oral sex?”

  “No, I certainly did not.”

  “And would you agree with me, sir, that such conduct would not only be ‘improvident,’ to borrow a phrase from you, but that it would also be illegal?”

  He closed his eyes and answered, “Yes.”

  “Are you aware of where Mr. Koslawski went when he left this diocese?”

  “In hospital, as I recall. Out of state.”

  “Isn’t it a fact that he was transferred first to another diocese in the Midwest?”

  Deegan seemed to look for the answer in the light fixture high above his head. “I don’t remember that.”

  “Do you recall that one of your colleagues asked him to sign a document requesting laicization?”

  “No.”

  “But if that were a fact — if such a document existed — it would be in the secret archives of the New York diocese, would it not?”

  “Slow down, Ms. Cooper,” Judge Keets interjected, lifting his fountain pen from his notebook to refill it. “For the record, Your Grace, why don’t you tell us what laicization is?”

  “Certainly. It is the act of reducing a priest to the lay state, Your Honor. Relieving him of his duties.”

  “And that would be within your power to do?” Keets asked.

  “Indeed it would. There are certain authorities in the Catholic faith that a priest has — to preach, to minister the sacraments, to say Mass, and so on. I’m able to suspend him from those acts.”

  “And are you aware that one of your colleagues performed that suspension in regard to Denys
Koslawski?” I asked.

  “I… was. . not.” Deegan shifted in his chair as he spoke a firm answer.

  “Did you ever correspond with Father Koslawski while he was in New Mexico?”

  “I did not.”

  “Did you know he stayed for a period of time at the Via Coeli in that state?”

  “I don’t recall.”

  I fingered a piece of paper — a copy of a letter Koslawski had written to the bishop many years ago.

  “What is Via Coeli?” Keets asked. “Do you mind letting me in on this?”

  “A church-run facility,” the bishop answered, responding more politely to the judge than to me.

  “I see,” Keets went on. “For medical treatment, for his hepatitis?”

  “No, Your Honor,” Deegan had lowered his head. “It’s a monastery.”

  “A monastery of sorts, wouldn’t you say?” I asked. “Bishop Deegan, is it more accurate to describe Via Coeli as a facility to which priests accused of sexual abuse — priests whose deeds were recorded in secret archives, or in the deep recesses of your brain — were sent?”

  “Yes.” The bishop gave me another quiet yes. “They were transferred there for a good reason, Ms. Cooper. For rehabilitation.”

  “Are you aware, Bishop Deegan, that most professionals in the therapeutic community don’t believe that there is any kind of rehabilitation that is effective for sexual predators, most especially for child molesters?”

  “Objection,” Sheila Enright said. “Your Honor, this is a hearing. It’s not a bully pulpit for Ms. Cooper’s views on sex offenders.”

  “Sustained. That objection is sustained. Move on, Ms. Cooper. I’ve given you plenty of latitude.”

  “Yes, sir. Well, if you didn’t correspond with Denys, Bishop Deegan, do you recall receiving any mail from him?” I said, raising my copy of the old letter.

  The heavy doors creaked open again. I leaned against the railing at the jury box and looked back to see Pat McKinney, the chief of the trial division and my archnemesis in the bureaucratic structure of the office. Although he wasn’t one of my regular supporters, he made his way to the front of the room and seated himself behind me, on the bride’s side.

  “No, I don’t.” Deegan’s eyes narrowed and he glanced from the first visitor, dragging his line of sight like the cursor on a computer across the aisle to McKinney.

  “Your Honor, I’ve had this exhibit pre-marked as People’s eighteen. I have a copy for the defense and for you,” I said, passing them to the court officer to deliver to each party. “I’d like to offer it in evidence.”

  “Any objection, Ms. Enright?”

  “I need a minute to read it,” Sheila said, accepting the document and slumping in her chair, tilting her head to talk with her client.

  “Psssst.” It was Pat McKinney, trying too hard to get my attention.

  “Mr. McKinney,” Keets said. “Always nice to have you in my courtroom. Do you need Alexandra? She seems to be oblivious to you.”

  “Just for a minute, Judge, while Ms. Enright examines the exhibit.”

  I walked over to the wooden barrier that separated the well of the courtroom from the benches. My arms were folded against my waist and my lips pursed as I turned my back to the defense table. There could be no good news wrapped into McKinney’s appearance.

  “I know you didn’t drop in for a lesson in the art of cross-examination, Pat,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “Just making the rounds for Battaglia. You’re not beating up on the bishop, are you?”

  “Hardly. But he is stubborn.”

  “Ever gone after a rabbi, Alex?”

  “Actually, I have. A guy I grew up with who led a congregation in Greenwich Village. He was drugging teenage girls and sleeping with them. That’s the thing about these cases, Pat. Equal opportunity crimes. My perps come in all shapes and sizes. You don’t think this is some kind of religious persecution, do you? I’m beginning to get the picture that Battaglia does.”

  “Try and wind it up this morning, Alex. You may have some media wandering around here in the afternoon. The house press is looking for red meat.”

  “Red meat — or me? As of this morning, no one knew I was involved in this case.”

  “Guess you didn’t have time to fill me in on last night’s excitement. Don’t forget the chain of command, Alex. You still work for me.”

  “Funny. I thought I served at the pleasure of the district attorney. You’re just his ass-wiping yes-man.”

  McKinney glared.

  “Ready, Your Honor,” Enright said. She wasn’t going to challenge the authenticity of her client’s handwriting or the letter itself. “No objection.”

  “People’s eighteen, Ms. Cooper. You may proceed.”

  “Channel that gentle, feminine charm that must be lurking somewhere within you, Alex,” McKinney said. “Deegan’s a very popular figure in my circles, you know.”

  “I’m almost done with him. Meanwhile, keep your eye on that guy sitting behind my defendant. You think he’s a priest?”

  We both turned our heads, but the man was gone.

  “Like magic, Alex. You made him disappear just like magic,” McKinney said. “Just like that woman’s head.”

  The letter captured all the anguish of the young priest. I passed it to Deegan through the court officer and let him read it.

  “Have you ever seen this document before?”

  “Not that I recall.”

  I repeated the date and referred to the postmark of New Mexico on the envelope. I asked Deegan to read aloud from the exhibit.

  The paper rattled ever so slightly in the old man’s hands. “‘Eight months have passed, Your Excellency, since I have been here at Via Coeli. I realize the serious duties to which you must attend, but I plead to you again for some word of encouragement about whether I might return to the diocese.’ ”

  The bishop hesitated and lowered the paper.

  “Please go on,” I said.

  “‘I do feel so alone here, even though at peace with God. I am hoping to hear from you, as my spirit is heavy and my heart longs to serve the church again, in all the ways that I can be of good use.’ ” This time Bishop Deegan rested the page on his lap. “Must I continue?”

  “That’s not necessary,” Keets said.

  “Do you recall reading that letter shortly after the date it was posted?” I asked.

  “I don’t open my own mail, Ms. Cooper. I never saw this letter. I can’t account for every piece of paper sent to me,” Deegan said, coming to a slow boil. “Father Koslawski was a fine young man. That’s what I know.”

  “And your opinion wouldn’t change, sir, if you believed he had molested seven teenage boys in the rectory?”

  “That never—”

  “Would your opinion change if such a fact were true?”

  “Of course not. I’m a man of my word,” Deegan said, almost shouting now. “Judge Keets, if I may, the district attorney himself promised me I’d be on and off the stand in fifteen minutes.”

  “You have spoken with Paul Battaglia about this matter?” Keets asked, faster than I could form the words myself.

  I stared at the large gold cross on Deegan’s chest.

  “By chance, Your Honor. I ran into him quite by chance.”

  “I have no further questions,” I said, sitting and pushing Barry Donner away as he leaned in to talk to me.

  “Then we thank you for your testimony,” Keets said, standing to excuse the bishop as he stepped out of the witness box and signaling to Enright at the same time to hold her comments.

  The court officer led Deegan out of the room as Sheila Enright got to her feet.

  “Judge, I want to know what kind of contact the district attorney had with my witness. What have we got here — tampering?”

  “Deegan wasn’t even on the witness list you turned over at the start of the case, Ms. Enright,” I said, hoping my shock showed slightly less than hers. “I wouldn’t get too carried away w
ith accusations yet. Ask the bishop which one of them initiated the encounter.”

  “I intend to.”

  “And you, Ms. Cooper,” Keets said. “You’ll inquire the same of Mr. Battaglia, won’t you?”

  He banged his gavel on the bench and frowned at all of us. “Two o’clock. We’ll resume at two o’clock sharp.”

  NINE

  “WHO’S with him, Rose?” I asked, skipping the niceties.

  “Pat came down from court twenty minutes ago, and he called in Brenda Whitney,” she said, referring to the head of Battaglia’s public relations office. “They’re working on a press release for later today.”

  “It’s urgent. May I go in? You don’t need to buzz him.”

  I had passed her desk and was opening Battaglia’s door, startling the threesome as they huddled over the conference table at the far end of the room.

  “You finish with the good bishop?” Battaglia asked, grinning broadly as he sucked on what was likely his third cigar of the day.

  “I figured he’d stop by to tell you himself. Maybe take you to lunch.”

  My old friend Brenda realized immediately that she was caught in the crossfire. I was trying to keep my tone appropriate but finding it difficult.

  “Skipping lunch. Too much to get done.”

  “That’s not my point, Paul. Sounds like Deegan was calling the shots.”

  “You’re mistaken, Alexandra. Badly mistaken.”

  “I didn’t know you had a dog in this fight. Are you on Koslawski’s team?”

  Brenda picked up her pad and started away from the table. “I’ll come back later, Boss.”

  “Don’t leave, Brenda. I’ve got no secrets from you. We’ll need Alexandra for this, too.”

  He usually had secrets from everyone. This time, he didn’t want to be alone in the room with me. He didn’t want to have a private conversation or a chance for me to question him.

  “I gather you know Deegan?” I asked.

  Pat McKinney walked over to the bookshelf and busied himself in the first volume of the Penal Law. He liked nothing better than an argument that might distance me from the district attorney’s favor.

  “We’ve met many times, but fortunately never in the confessional,” he said, laughing at what he must have thought was a joke. “Cool down and sit down, Alexandra. You here about last night?”