Free Our Honored Dead (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 4) by Lawrence Kelter

cold it was down in the pumping station? Just then the wind picked up. “Oh Christ, I have to pee.”
    I saw Gus looking around just as the Port Authority vehicle pulled up to the curb. He was scouting for a potty. “There’s a deli across the street. Run over and use the bathroom.”
    I scoped it out and decided from its appearance that it didn’t house the kind of restroom facility I would care to use. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold it.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Completely.”
    “You can do one of your patented hover-squats.”
    “Fuhgeddaboudit!”
    The Port Authority officer got out of the car. He was an elderly, black gent with rich, dark skin and white hair. “Kevin Charles,” he said as he greeted us. “Chalice and Lido?”
    “That be us,” I said. “Thanks for the assist.”
    “So what’s going on?” Charles asked. “You’re investigating a homicide?”
    “A body was found here yesterday morning,” Gus said. “It was frozen solid.”
    “And you think it was frozen down at the pumping station? I have to tell you, that’s a real long shot. The pumping station is being renovated for the new World Trade Center complex.”
    “So it’s not operational?” I asked.
    “Oh, it’s operational, but with all the engineers and workers going in and out, I don’t see how someone could hide a body down there long enough for it to freeze and then bring it up to the street without being seen.”
    “But it’s cold enough down there to freeze a body?”
    “The river water is cold as fuck, but it’s not a refrigeration plant.” Charles scratched his head. “There’s frost on the inlet pipes all the time—I suppose it’s possible.”
    “So you don’t mind if we poke around?” I asked.
    “Hell, you got me out of the office—poke around as long as you like.” Charles locked his car. “All right, let’s take a walk.”
    “Tell us about the pumping station. I’m curious.”
    Charles squeezed in between us while we walked to the pumping station street entrance. “Originally, the entire World Trade Center complex was cooled with water from the Hudson.”
    “The water’s that cold?” Gus asked.
    “Hell yes. The water doesn’t get pulled from the surface; it gets pulled from down deep, and it’s freezing cold—well below thirty-two degrees this time of year. It doesn’t freeze because it’s always moving and because of the mineral content—if you don’t believe me, go take a dip.”
    “A dip in the Hudson? No way, it’s like one big festering sore. Everyone knows the Hudson is polluted.”
    “Uh yeah, that’s one of the reasons the pumping station is going to be modified, to have less of an environmental impact. The old system used to pull as much as a hundred and twenty thousand gallons per minute.”
    “Sounds like a shitload of water,” Gus said. “It doesn’t sound like a system like that would have much trouble freezing one little body.”
    “Probably not,” Charles replied, “but there are a hell of a lot easier ways to freeze a body. I know the meat-packing district isn’t what it used to be, but there are still some slaughterhouses in operation, and there’s tons of meat in deep freeze at all times. Easier to hide a body in with all that beef than it is to get it in and out of the pumping station.”
    “I’m surprised the pumping station wasn’t destroyed in the September 11 attack.”
    “It’s right here beneath the park, not beneath the World Trade Center site. The intake, pump station, underground piping, and discharge station are still intact and will be used to cool parts of the new complex that’s being built.”
    “But not all of it?” Gus asked.
    “No. River water will cool the Performing Arts Center, Education Center, and the Memorial Center, but the Freedom Tower will be cooled with a new state-of-the-art system.”
    We came upon the entrance to the pumping station. We entered to find a security guard dozing at his post.
    Charles produced a fake