Eyes Wide Open
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This story is on an AU track.
This story is rated T for mention of rape and torture, and the entire story carries a trigger warning. Don't like it, don't read it.
This story is fourth in the series beginning with Close to Home. You don't need to have read the earlier stories to understand this one, but there may be references and spoilers.
Chapter 1: The Expert's Mind
"Brace yourselves," the officer warned Benson and Amaro. "This one's rough."
"It was called in as a rape-homicide," Benson said as they slipped under the crime scene tape. "Has that been confirmed?"
"Semen in the vaginal canal," the officer affirmed. "And there's a lot of damage. I know there have been cases where a woman had consensual sex and then was murdered, but this doesn't look like that."
"Oh." Amaro had reached the body first and he couldn't stop himself recoiling. "Rough doesn't begin to cover this."
"We got an ID on the victim?" Benson pressed, just barely suppressing her own reaction as she got her first look at the victim.
"Lisa Moore, twenty-five. My partner's already working on next of kin."
Olivia smiled a little despite the gravity of the situation, nodding at the young officer. It was always nice when they got ahead of the game. "Nice initiative."
He reddened a little. "Thanks."
"Liv, look at this." He had one of the victim's hands in his and was turning it over, examining the wrists.
Olivia examined the marks. "She was tied up."
"That's what I was thinking. And wow, someone had a lot of anger."
Olivia nodded. "Let's see what Warner has to say."
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"COD is multiple stab wounds," Warner reported, "and I'm with the officer on scene. She was raped. Brutally." The ME gently turned her head. "Single injury to the back of the head, about seven or eight hours pre-mortem, probably to incapacitate the victim."
"So he held onto her for seven or eight hours?" Amaro asked.
"Not just held onto her," Warner said grimly. "She was tortured. Most of these injuries are non-fatal, and judging by the amount of clotting, were inflicted over the course of several hours."
"Anything that might help us catch this guy?" Olivia asked.
"Other than the semen, which I already sent to the lab for DNA testing, there's just one thing. No hesitation marks, nothing to suggest he was uncertain in his use of force. Whoever your perp is, I'd be willing to bet he's killed before."
"So we run the MO through the system, maybe get a match," Amaro finished. "Thanks."
Oh, and one more thing. She was covered in Pierre LeRitz."
"In what?" Amaro asked.
"A lotion," Olivia explained, "and not one a young woman would be likely to use. Maybe it was on the killer."
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"This is one of those good-news, bad-news situations," the lab tech reported. "Good news, your guy's DNA is in the system."
"That's great news," Amaro replied. "Who is he?"
"That's the bad news," the tech said, shaking her head. "We don't know." She handed Amaro the file. "The DNA from the semen left in Lisa Moore traces back to twelve unsolved rape-homicides between 1987 and 1992."
"A serial killer," Olivia said grimly.
Amaro was scanning the file. "Matches the MO too, down to the detail. Thanks," he said to the lab tech before turning to his partner. "So that's one question answered and something like a dozen more raised. I'll call the squad room, have them pull the full file."
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"Your serial killer, the one who called himself Sebastian," Rollins reported, "he was active in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, so the FBI was handling it. I got the condensed version, but it's going to take some finagling to get the full case file from them; Murphy's working on it. In the meantime, I thought it might be worth tracking down a couple of the agents who originally worked on the case."
"Good thinking. So, what do you have?" Olivia prompted.
"Well, the lead on the case was an Agent John Kelvin; he died four years ago. But they also had a criminal profiler they called in as a consultant, a Dr. Declan Gage. From what I could gather, he worked this case nonstop, night and day."
"Where is he now?" she pressed.
Rollins winced a little. "LaGuardia Psychiatric in the secure ward. According the case file, he confessed to soliciting serial killer Nicole Wallace to kill a man and then murdering Wallace. The DA gave him a plea bargain - he agreed to life without parole in return for being allowed to serve his sentence in a secure hospital instead of a prison."
"So is he sane enough to talk to us?" Amaro asked.
"I don't know," Rollins replied, "but from what I read, he was really invested in this case - too invested, if anything. He went public with the case, without asking his FBI team."
Olivia winced. "Sounds like a bit of a loose canon. So what happened?"
"The opposite of what he intended. As near as anyone could tell, he was trying to flush Sebastian out. Instead, the additional media attention just drove Sebastian underground. He stopped killing, but they also lost pretty much any hope of catching him. Gage had a major meltdown he never fully recovered from; the consensus seems to be that that was the beginning of the end for him, even though he wouldn't actually commit murder for another sixteen years. If there's anything he's going to remember, even after losing his mind, I'd think it would be this case."
"Well," Olivia said wryly, "I guess this means Amaro and I are taking a field trip."
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"Doctor Gage, I'm Detective Benson, this is Detective Amaro."
"Detectives, huh? I trained a detective once. Good man. Too emotional, though. Trouble with objectivity."
"I'm sure," Olivia interrupted, sensing she would be subject to an extended monologue if she didn't cut Gage off at the pass. "But that's not why we're here. We want to talk to you about a case you worked. A serial killer called Sebastian."
Just like that, they had Gage's instant and total attention. "Sebastian? Has he resurfaced?"
The detectives shared a look, silently agreeing to go ahead and tell him. "We think so," Amaro replied.
"You're sure it's not a copycat? Some of them can get pretty damned clever. One of them fooled even me..."
"We have a DNA match," Benson said, interrupting him again. "If this is a copycat, he or she is doing a hell of a job."
But Gage didn't appear to be listening anymore. "If only that case had been real. Bobby would have redeemed me, I know he would have. But it was only Joe. And such a good copy it was, right down to the Pierre LaRitz. Joe tricked me and Bobby - Bobby figured it out. If it had been Sebastian, he would have solved it and redeemed me..."
The detectives shared another glance. We're getting nowhere with this guy. Olivia stood. "Thank you for your time, Dr. Gage."
Amaro stood too and followed her out, waiting until they were out of the building before voicing his own opinion. "Well, that was a massive waste of time."
Olivia bit her lip, thinking. "Maybe not. Let's assume for a moment that Gage knows what he's talking about, even if we don't and even if he's all over the place trying to explain." She paused for a moment. "You know those copycat cases Gage mentioned? We need to look over all of those files." She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the squad number.
"Special Victims, Detective Rollins."
"It's Olivia," she told the other detective. "I need you to pull the files on any Sebastian copycats you can find, and you and Fin start going through them. Start with closed cases."
"Sure. What are we looking for?"
"A file involving a perp who goes by the name Joe. Once you find any matching files, go through them and find anyone connected to one of the cases named Bobby, or anything that could logically be shortened to Bobby. Amaro and I will join you when we get back, and I'll explain everything."
"Copy that. I'm on it."
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"Any luck?" Amaro asked as they walked into the bullpen.
Fin shook his head. "We've got two Josephs who committed Sebastian copycat crimes - you wouldn't believe how many of those there are - but no Bobby connected to either case. I called the detectives on both crimes, but none of them remember a Bobby having anything to do with those cases. Rollins is still going through the files."
The blonde looked up from her computer. "So, what's this all about?"
"Gage remembers the case, but he started rambling off on a tangent and wasn't listening to our questions," Olivia explained. "But he did mention a copycat case committed by a 'Joe' and a 'Bobby' who was involved in solving it. He said that if it had been Sebastian, Bobby would've solved it, which makes me think that whoever Bobby is, Gage might've told him more about Sebastian than he told the general public. He might be able to give us what we were trying to get from Gage."
Rollins, who had gone back to scanning her computer screen as she listened, suddenly sat up straight. "This Joe - did Gage say it was a man?"
"I don't think so," Amaro said, and Olivia shook her head in agreement. "Why?"
"Because I think I have something. There was a Sebastian copycat case here in New York City 2006 that was traced back to a Jo Gage."
"Related to Dr. Gage?" Fin asked.
"If I had to guess. It doesn't say. But there's more," Rollins added. "The officers who filed the report? Captain Daniel Ross andDetective First Grade Robert Goren."
"That could be Gage's Bobby," Olivia said half to herself. "If he's NYPD, we should be able to reach him."
"Hang on a second." Rollins quickly ran another search. "Okay, Detective Goren retired in 2011, so he's not in the active database. But he is drawing a pension."
"Meaning someone in personnel will have his address," Olivia finished. "Good work. I'll make the call."
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Olivia couldn't help rubbing her eyes as she and Amaro stepped off the elevator. There had been no one home at the address personnel had provided, and so she had left a business card in his door with a note for him to contact her as soon as possible.
They'd been detoured on their way back by a call from Barba regarding a recently-closed case that was about to go to trial, and since they didn't have anything they could chase down on the Sebastian case, they'd agreed to head down to his office and go over their respective testimonies. As a result, it was almost three hours later than when they had left.
Rollins came hurrying down the hallway to intercept them. "Hey, Liv. There's, um, a rather large man here who specifically wants to talk to you. He's sitting at your desk. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
Olivia's eyes were drawn to the man sitting at her desk as soon as he was within her line of sight. Rollins hadn't been exaggerating to call him a 'rather large man'. He wasn't especially heavyset; he was just big. Even sitting down, she could tell he was well over six feet tall and large-framed.
He seemed to sense her gaze and looked up as she approached. She smiled at him, trying to be reassuring. "I'm Sergeant Benson, can I help you?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you." He stood, extending a large, long-fingered hand, and Olivia realized she hadn't been overestimating his height at all. "Bobby Goren. You left me your card?"
Yes, this is a crossover. I loved Eames' guest appearances on SVU Season 14 and although I brought her in briefly in Within Me, Without You, I wanted to do more, namely, create a situation for both her and Goren to interact with the SVU team within the context of a case.
Sebastian comes from the Law and Order: CI episode Blind Spot, as does Dr. Declan Gage. Gage's crimes come from the episode Frame.
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