“I can’t imagine how stressful this line of work must be during a time like this,” Ava said. She gave a polite nod, gave her thanks, and then headed for the elevators. When she saw the group of men, bickering and arguing as they also waited, Ava opted for the stairway. She found the door to the stairs on the left side of the lobby and walked to the second floor.
Here, she found a stark difference between the Fulton and Donner offices and the offices at 40 Wall Street. Every door was closed and even without knocking on a single one, there was a tension she could feel in the air. It almost made her rethink her plan of just knocking on Albrecht’s door to see what he’dbe willing to openly offer her in the way of testimony. But she forged on, finding Room 28 and knocking on the door.
The verbal response she got was almost like a barking dog. She clearly heard the“Yeah?”from the other side but there was so much anger and irritation to it that it almost sounded like growling.
With her nerves on edge and ready for anything, she opened the door. She found a man smoking a pipe and furiously looking over a series of papers. He looked angry and tired, his graying hair in disarray. He barely even looked at Ava before responding.
“I saidyeah,” he said. “I did not saycome on in.”
Ava nearly apologized for her intrusion; that’s how unexpectedly hostile Albrecht was. Instead, she stepped inside and took out her badge. “I’m Detective Ava Gold with the NYPD,” she said. “I’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Not now,” he barked. “As you can see, I’m busy as hell and I don’t have time for questions.”
“With all due respect, I’m not asking.”
This got his attention quickly. He stopped looking at the papers on his desk and glared up at her, his eyes dark and menacing through the pipe smoke. He looked hard at the badge and then chuckled.
“Why’d they send a woman?”
She knew he was simply trying to get under her skin. So she let the comment slide right off of her back rather than exchanging verbal blows with him.
“You can just be cooperative,” she said, “and this won’t take much time at all. But if you’d rather a man come to question you, I can see to it. Only then, a lot more attention is going to be drawn to the situation and—”
“And what situation is that, exactly?” Albrecht asked. He placed both hands on his desk and leaned forward. Ava wascertain he was going to spring to his feet at any moment and start shouting.
“I’ve been tasked with looking into the death of Alfred Perkins,” she said. “And I’ve recently come into some information that links you to him.” She waited for any sort of reaction from Albrecht, but there was none. “Did you know about his death?”
“Yes. I was told yesterday. Committed suicide or so it seems. Apparently, he jumped right off the top of the Chrysler Building.”
“That’s exactly right. And I learned today that you are one of the primary investors for the building. Is that correct?”
“It is,” he said. “But if that’s the only link you have, then you’re wasting your time, little lady.”
“Well, I do also happen to know that you were there, at the building, on the night of his death.”
Albrecht did stand up this time. He stared her down, taking his pipe from his mouth and tossing it into an ashtray on his desk. “As were at least ten other people. Detective Gold, I suggest you get to your point quickly or I will indeed ask you to leave and Iwillmake this as hard as possible on you. I have a very high-stress job and there are many people relying on me to ensure that they can keep their jobs. So please…get to the point.”
Ava took the letter out of her pocket and slowly unfolded it. She turned it toward him so that the content was facing him. “Here’s my point. Do you recall writing this letter, Mr. Albrecht?”
A flicker of worry passed across his stonelike face. “And how did you get that?”
“It was in Mr. Perkins’s office. It was stashed away in a desk drawer, sort of hidden. Which makes me think he never worked with you on trying to get those investors pointed your way. Is that right?”
He shook his head, his eyes glued to the letter. “I won’t discuss such matters without my lawyer present.”
“Have it your way. But I have this letter, and it does plenty of talking without you there. I should also say that your refusal to answer my questions about your time at the Chrysler Building two nights ago is only going to make things look worse for y—”
Albrecht’s right hand came up off of his desk, arcing through the air toward her face. She was so shocked by the action that the blow nearly landed. But Albrecht was not a fast man; apparently sitting at a desk all day did little for the physique.
Instead, Ava caught his arm, twisted it, and came around the side of the desk. She did it all in one fluid motion, and when she was standing by the side of the desk she wrenched his arm down. Albrecht cried out as she planted his hand on the desk. When he tried to pivot around her, she twisted again, applying pressure to his wrist and shoulder. He yelled out this time, in both frustration and pain.
“You release me right now!” he screamed. She was quite sure she sensed some embarrassment in his voice. After all, the woman they’d sent to talk to him was about an inch of pressure away from snapping his wrist or popping his shoulder out of socket.
“You ready to talk?” she asked.
“Go to hell.”
In another quick motion, Ava stepped behind him and pulled his arm back. As Albrecht flailed around, she was able to also grab his other arm, pulling them both behind his back. He barely even had time to understand what was happening to him before she applied the handcuffs.