By Leslie Picker

After the closing bell rings, the Financial District notoriously transforms into a ghost town. The only evidence of life is the occasional taxi honk or catcall from a construction worker. Outside lighting is a luxury and many streets are so narrow, barely a sedan can meander through.

For women who work the night shift in downtown office buildings, the neighborhood can seem particularly dangerous. Safety is always a chief concern. Almost six months after her friend and co-worker was murdered at 2 Rector Street, Luz Reyes is still on medication to cure her anxiety.

“It was like a shock at the beginning,” said the 54-year-old cleaning lady. “I was really scared. I did feel like something like that could happen to me. It could happen to anybody at night.”

Reyes worked alongside Eridania Rodriguez at 2 Rector St., just a block away from Wall Street. Rodriguez was a Washington Heights resident and mother of three who went missing in early July. Police found her body several days later, still dressed in uniform, with tape strangling her head. The medical examiner’s autopsy later found that Rodriguez died of asphyxiation.

Rodriguez’s murder reminded the dozen cleaning ladies at 2 Rector St. that the dangers of working at night could affect anyone. For women, homicide is the leading cause of workplace fatality, according to the Center for Women in Government. It is the second-most common for men.

“It makes me very nervous to work,” said Reyes. “You are afraid to die every day. I keep working because I need [the money].”

In New York City alone, there were 18 workplace homicides in 2008, according to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared with the 15 workplace homicides that took place in 2007, this was the first increase in the city in five years.

The number of workplace homicides has been found to correlate with the health of the economy. A study by Christpher A. Janicak, a professor of Safety Sciences at Indiana University of Pennsylvania showed the monthly tally of workplace homicides went up, as did unemployment rates in varying regions.

At the time Rodriguez was killed, New York’s unemployment rate was at 9.3 percent – the highest it had been since 1992.

Several local newspapers reported that prior to her death, Rodriguez had expressed concern about working in a largely empty office building late at night.

Changes in security were instituted immediately following the incident, said Reyes. Portable radios were given to the cleaning ladies five months ago, so that if there were to be an emergency, they could announce it over an office intercom within minutes for everyone to hear.

Also, Reyes said, her supervisor checks on employees more often, and if anyone shows up late, they immediately begin a search party.

The 2 Rector St. supervisor and most of the other cleaning ladies said they are still too upset about the incident to speak with the media.

At the front desk, a security guard waved employees out of the building at the end of a workday. It is mandatory for them to sign in and out, and for guests to take a picture, which is then is registered into a computer system, before they go upstairs.

The security guard refused to comment or confirm any of the changes in safety, which were instituted since Rodriguez disappeared. She said that because the investigation into the incident is still ongoing, she is not legally at liberty to speak on the issue.

Cleaning ladies in the neighborhood still go about their work, despite the murder of their colleague. Some are more scared than others. Luz Reyes, a cleaning lady at 2 Rector St who emigrated from Colombia in 1982, begins her shift at 5 p.m. and ends around midnight. Her 2-hour commute by subway, bus and car to her New Jersey home means she does not get back home until after 2 a.m.
However, the trip home does not bother her.

“I’m not scared because I don’t have to walk alone because there’s a lot of people with me. Everyone’s getting off their job then,” said Reyes, who socializes with other commuters, reads, listens to music or plays Sudoku to keep busy on the subway.

She tried to get a job closer to home to avoid traveling during such late hours, but found that office buildings in Lower Manhattan pay twice as much as she could make elsewhere.

Mary Kaw, 57, a cleaning lady at a department store near 2 Rector St., ends her work day at 8 p.m., much earlier than Reyes, but she still feels shakey about walking alone in the area at night.

“I’m scared to be here late, so I run to the nearest train stop,” said the Burmese emigrant of her nightly commute home.

But many of the security guards in office buildings and residencies say that Lower Manhattan is one of the safest areas in the whole city. New York Police Department statistics reveal that this may be true. Lower Manhattan, with 15 murders this year, has experienced less than half the number in Upper Manhattan.

“It’s a pretty secure area,” said Emmanuel Manny, 66, a concierge, doorman and security officer. “Nothing bad happens here. No robberies. Nothing.”

Reyes won’t buy his argument. She said that her friend’s murder will always be in her mind but she feels lucky to have a job – even if it is during the night shift.

“I’m still thinking about [Rodriguez],” said Reyes. “But every day’s different. And you have to live with that.”