“Understood.”
“Do you want a curative instruction, Gino?” she asked.
“Are you crazy, Judge? Call a little more attention to it? Spare me a ‘No, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Estevez is neither a vampire nor a homicidal maniac.’”
“He’s just a pumped-up pimp,” I said, whispering to Moretti, “who uses masks and machetes to coerce young women—to scare them to death—so they turn tricks from which he profits.”
“Your choice,” the judge said.
“If you’re not going to allow me to ask anything else,” I said, “I’d like you to go a little deeper into the meaning of sex trafficking, Judge. It’s not a familiar statute to most jurors.”
The sex-trade profession may be the oldest on earth, but the crime was a very new one on the books, ramped up recently in recognition of the brutal nature of sex slavery and the inadequacy of the old “promoting prostitution” laws.
“I’ll entertain some questions from you, Alex, but keep them within reason.”
The door creaked open at the rear of the room. I didn’t bother to turn this time as I tried to suggest a punch list for Fleming to use.
Her law assistant assiduously made notes of my comments, while the judge had her eyes on whoever had entered the room.
When I did glance back, I saw a neatly turned-out twentysomething-year-old striding down the aisle, making for the first pew, a row kept empty for press and for family and friends of the accused, directly behind Gino Moretti’s seat. She looked familiar to me. I had seen her recently, in the corridor near my office.
“Keep going, Alex,” the judge said to me, chewing on the arm of her eyeglasses. “That’s not the colleague you’ve been waiting for, is it?”
“No.”
“’Cause if it was, you might want to tell her she’s sitting on the wrong side of the courtroom.”
“She’s new. She’s a paralegal in the Child Abuse Unit, I think.”
“Cute kid. She could give some cred to Mr. Estevez, sitting at his back, fluttering her eyelashes over here at Gino.”
“She’s in the right place, Your Honor,” Moretti said. “Seated on the side of the angels.”
“You must mean my side, Gino,” I said, smiling at him. “That’s why she’s working in my office. Maybe I’ll scoop her up for the Special Victims Unit.”
“You’re missing my point, Alexandra. That young woman is married to Antonio Estevez.”
“She’s what?”
Fleming was on her feet again. “Lower your voice, Alex. I don’t need a situation here.”
“I don’t think she’s been in the office a month,” I said, my jaw clenched. “I’ll bet she didn’t put that fact on her job application. I can’t imagine the hiring administrator—”
“Of course it’s not on her application,” Moretti said, one eye on me and one on the attractive young woman who was trying to get the attention of the defendant. “The wedding was at Rikers Island last weekend. I was the best man.”
I was steaming mad. “I’d like a recess, Judge. I need to find out—”
“Don’t try to stall this anymore, Alex,” Moretti said. “Shit happens. There’s nothing illegal about marrying an inmate.”
Antonio Estevez looked back and saw his bride. She mouthed words to him, but I couldn’t read her lips. He nodded. Then she blew him a kiss and got up to leave.
“Excuse me, Judge, but I’ve got to talk to her. I’ll be right back,” I said.
Most of the prospective jurors were riveted by this bit of courtroom drama. Gino and I were having a standoff in front of the judge and the young paralegal was sashaying her way out of court. The jurors were staring at us as I took off after the new Mrs. Estevez.
“You’ve got no business, Alex,” Moretti yelled after me.
“Hold it right there, Ms. Cooper,” the judge said as she banged her gavel on the bench. “Captain, don’t let the DA out of here.”
The door slammed behind the paralegal and the captain of the court officers squared himself in front of it.
“I’d like to see you both in the robing room,” Fleming said to Moretti and me. “Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the lack of decorum in my courtroom. You’re excused from service for the next six years, with the thanks of the court.”
I walked past the judge on my way to the side door next to the jury box.
“You may have been looking for a mistrial, Ms. Cooper,” Fleming said, “but you are far more likely to have me find you in contempt right now, cooling down in a jail cell next to Mr. Estevez, before I give you the chance to pull that kind of stunt on me again.”
THREE
“So what’s the story, Alex?” the judge asked. She parked herself behind the bare wooden desk and invited Moretti and me to sit opposite her. “You started this afternoon’s session by saying that you were waiting for someone from your office to come up with information. Was Señora Estevez your courier? You knew this whole charade was about to happen? Showtime for the prospective jurors?”
“Absolutely not, Judge.”
“What, then?”
I hesitated. “May we go ex parte on this for a few minutes? Would you mind stepping out, Gino, while I explain the problem?”
“You bet I’d mind. I’m as curious as the judge.”
“That’s a new legal standard?” Fleming asked. “Curiosity? There’d be a lot of dead cats in this courthouse.”
“I’d rather answer the question you asked out of the presence of counsel, Your Honor. It’s a confidential matter,” I said.
“What news were you waiting for, Alex?” the judge pressed.
“Just so you understand, there’s an internal investigation in progress. When it was launched,” I said, looking at my adversary, “it had nothing to do with your client. And I assure you that work will go on.”
“See, Judge?” Moretti said. “Another threat.”
“It’s not a threat, Gino. It’s a fact. When I got into my office this morning, I was notified by the head of the IT team that someone outside my unit had tried to hack into my computer file on this case.”
“Oh, the drama in your world is—”
Judge Fleming silenced Moretti with one slam of her hand on the desk. “From outside the office, you mean?”
“No, no. Someone unauthorized to see my trial documents, but with access to the DANY system, logged in and tried to get through the firewall that was set up for my staff only.”
“Nice touch, Gino,” Janet Fleming said, nodding as she stared straight through Moretti’s blank face. “The virgin bride, perhaps?”
“Hold on, Judge. No pointing fingers at me,” he said, bracing both hands on his chest.
“And just a minute ago you were best man. Short honeymoon, Gino,” Fleming said with a sneer. “Go on, Alex.”
“When I came up to court this afternoon, Your Honor, we had no suspect and no reason to think anyone in the office had a connection to Mr. Estevez. Maybe someone was surfing and accidentally punched the wrong docket number into the database. I was hoping to get an answer to stop the spread of some sensitive information—hopefully find some virtual fingerprints of an inexperienced colleague before you impaneled a jury. That’s why I was so anxious and, frankly, trying to stall you.”
“Nothing yet?”
“I’d say I can tell my team to narrow the list of suspects to just one young woman, don’t you think?” There are five hundred prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a support staff twice that size. “Would you mind if I called the investigators with the wedding news?”
Fleming dug her cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to me.
“What’s her name, Gino?” I asked him as I dialed.
“She’s Mrs. Estevez now.” He shrugged his shoulders. “How the hell should I know what it was two weeks ago?”
Fleming slammed her hand down again. “Do better than that, Gino.”
“Her first name is Josie. It’s Josie.”
&
nbsp; “Laura?” I said when my secretary answered the phone. “As fast as you can move, okay? Call the squad and tell whoever is closest to the door to come down and grab on to—”
“No!” Moretti shouted.
“Step into the hallway, Gino,” Fleming said. “Now you’re out of order.”
“They need to grab that new kid down the corridor. Josie is her name and—”
“Bring her right up to me,” Fleming said, talking over me.
“Laura? Still there? That’s the judge speaking. I don’t know who Josie works for exactly, but they can cuff her if necessary and bring her up to Part 53. We’re in the robing room.”
“Cuff her?” Moretti said. “You two are going overboard. There’s an innocent view of this that you haven’t even considered. My client isn’t—”
“Move faster, Gino.”
“But, Judge—?”
I put one hand over my ear while Fleming laced into my adversary.
“You know, when I was in your shoes and stood up in court for a client,” she said, “I was the client. I thought for him, I talked for him, I bled for him if necessary. I was going to be cleaner than a hound’s tooth so no one could hold any of my conduct against a guy who was already behind the eight ball. But you? You’re just gaming me. You’re gaming the system. And that’s the lowest type of animal life in my courtroom.”
“I’m not gaming anybody. I had no idea.” Moretti couldn’t bring himself to walk out. “Like it’s okay for a prosecutor and a cop to hook up, right, but not for anybody else? For a paralegal or even the accused, who is still presumed innocent even though you’re the one presiding, Judge Fleming. At least that’s my guess. You don’t think that kind of incestuous relationship between Cooper and her homicide hotshot compromises how an investigation gets worked?”
“Don’t go there, Gino,” I said.
“Close the door behind you,” Fleming added, waving the back of her hand at him.
I was still on the phone. “Yes, Laura. I’m here. Now call IT and tell them it’s this Josie kid who’s most likely trying to break into the database. They need to stop whatever else they’re looking at and get on her computer. Find out what’s on it and lock it down. Then call me back once you make contact. I’m on the judge’s cell,” I said, asking Fleming for her number and repeating it to Laura.
“What’s there to get from your files, Alex?” the judge asked.
I bit my lip. “More than you need to know at this point.”
“Give it up. I’m not going to be able to try this case. Ex parte, ex schmarte. Whatever adjournment you get, this one is already too messy for me to handle. I’ll be reassigning it today. Is it the women?”
“Yeah. And I’d have to say girls, not women. Estevez likes them young. Names, addresses, aliases. Every which way we have to find them.”
“Your victim?”
“Tiffany’s safe. I spent most of yesterday with her and she was good when she went home. Mercer had officers pick her up this morning when we learned this attempt was being made to gain access to my files and they’re babysitting her in a hotel.”
“So Estevez is smart enough, desperate enough, to actually plant a mole in your office?”
“Apparently so. That idea never occurred to me.”
“And Gino?” the judge asked. “Do you think he’s capable of—?”
“No way,” I said, walking to the window to look down at the street behind the courthouse. “I can’t imagine he’s involved.”
“Very gracious of you, Alex,” Fleming said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t be quite so certain. These other girls, are they in danger?”
“I suppose it depends on whether Josie was successful in breaking and entering into my computer system. It’s a big ring this guy runs. He’s got a posse out there who stand to lose a lot of money if Estevez goes down.”
The first few distinctive notes of the theme song from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly played out on Fleming’s phone. She looked at the incoming number and passed it to me.
“Two guys from the squad have been dispatched to look for Josie. Josie Aponte. She’s a brand-new paralegal assigned to Child Abuse,” Laura said. “And the IT crew is headed straight for her computer.”
“Make sure the techies hold back until the detectives are hands-on, so we don’t tip off that we’re onto her if she doesn’t know yet. That should be done within five minutes, right?” The District Attorney’s Office Squad, an elite branch of the NYPD with officers handpicked to work complex investigations, had its own version of a mini precinct just one flight upstairs from my wing. “Keep me posted.”
Judge Fleming reached for her phone and started for the door. “Let’s move this to the courtroom. I want to put this whole thing on the record. The Bar Association can make Gino sweat out his role in this. Let’s see if I can get Josie’s prenup out of her. I haven’t had my chance to do a tough cross since I graduated to my judicial robes.”
“I think we’ve met our match,” I said, following her out. “Can you imagine what balls it takes to go through all the security clearance for this job, then walk in ready to commit a felony, smiling at me every time she passed me in the hallway? Josie’s made of tough stuff.”
“Estevez says he’s got a kid. It’s hers?”
“I don’t think so. There’s a baby mama, but he keeps her away from all his business.”
The court officers and reporter were caught by surprise when Fleming and I walked back in. Moretti was on the phone but hung up when he saw us.
The judge stepped onto the bench and everyone resumed his or her position.
“You want Mr. Estevez in here?” the captain asked.
“No. Not now. Not ever again,” Fleming said. “Tell him I hope his parole officer hasn’t been born yet.”
Moretti was seething.
“I’m thinking of who the toughest judge on the block is, and that’s where this case will be tried. I’ll adjourn this for a month,” she said, tossing the case folder to the captain to hand to the clerk. “Let Eddie Torres have a crack at Mr. Estevez.”
The Honorable Edwin Torres was as formidable as he was smart and solid. The fact that he packed heat was known to every inmate, and none had dared any tricks in his courtroom.
“Your call, Mr. Moretti. Do you want to testify before or after Ms. Aponte?”
“Testify about what, Your Honor?”
Fleming was trying to come up with a reason to get Gino on the witness stand. “People’s lives are at risk here, sir. Do you understand that? What did you know about this harebrained scheme to get into Ms. Cooper’s files?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Is Aponte Josie’s surname? I didn’t even know that.”
“You better hope she says the same thing. She’ll be up here in—what?” Fleming asked, looking at me.
“Probably another few minutes.”
“Ladies first, Your Honor,” Moretti said.
“Cute, Moretti,” Fleming said. “This just happens to be the wrong time and place for cute.”
“You want me to question her, Judge?” I asked.
“Not a chance. She’s all mine.” The young woman had flaunted her relationship with Estevez in open court, and Fleming would try to hold her toes to the fire, on the record, before the police met with a refusal to answer questions. She opened her notebook and started to write in it. “Just give me some background, Ms. Cooper. Was Josie Aponte one of the women in the defendant’s stable? Did she work for him?”
“I don’t believe so. I never heard her name before today.”
“What’s his MO?”
I didn’t answer.
“Stand up and start talking, Ms. Cooper.”
I didn’t want to give away my whole case to Moretti, but I was getting the feeling that it wouldn’t matter much at this point.
“On your feet. That’s good. How did Estevez meet his girls?”
“He’s got a couple of young men on the payroll who scout for him.”
“You know their names?”
“I do, but—”
“Don’t worry. If I need them when I’m questioning Señora Estevez, you’ll give them to me. Scouted where?”
“The usual places, Your Honor. One went inside the Port Authority terminal, trolling for runaways who get off the bus from some godforsaken town a thousand miles away, twenty-four/seven. No shortage of hungry young girls in that hellhole. The second guy waits outside, in the Slade.”
“Not so fast,” Fleming said, scribbling in her book. “What’s a Slade?”
“Sorry. Street name for a Cadillac Escalade. It’s the Estevez pimpmobile of choice. The sweet-talker who was inside the terminal opens the back of the SUV. Shows off the goods—”
“Goods?”
“Whatever he’s promised to the kid he’s trying to hook. If she’s seventeen and likes sequins and high-heel shoes, he’s got some glitzy clothes to show her. If she’s fourteen and wants designer makeup and bubble gum, there’s plenty of that.”
“Then it’s into the Slade and off to meet the wizard. That’s how it goes?”
“On a good night, yes, Your Honor.”
“Pay close attention, Moretti. Pretend like you’re hearing this for the first time. Where’s the meet, Ms. Cooper?”
“Mr. Estevez keeps a separate apartment, just for the purpose of breaking in the young women. Not the address on the court papers, which is his home.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“Detectives executed the search warrant I drafted, Judge. Lots of photographs for the jury. Three bedrooms—one for him, another for a female assistant who hangs out there to chill with the girls and prep them for Estevez, and the third for his intended victim.”
“Judge, I don’t even know how to begin to object to what’s going on here,” Moretti said.
“It’s easy. You say ‘objection’ and tell me it’s meant to cover everything that’s being asked and answered for the next hour or so, and I’ll say ‘overruled.’ I’ll say it just once, and you’ll understand I mean it for every time you would have flapped your mouth or even rolled your eyes at me. You don’t represent Josie Aponte, and this hearing is about her conduct. You’re extraneous to this whole proceeding, Mr. Moretti. I’m just waiting to see whether your conscience makes an appearance today.”
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