Who Killed Jack McCoy?
Author's Note: This story ties in with an SVU story I did, "The Road to Hell". Hope you enjoy
It was 10 o' clock in the morning and the trial was starting again. It came time for the cross examination of the defense witness but the cross examiner was nowhere to be found. Serena Southerlyn stood up and went before the judge with her heart in her throat, not really believing what she was about to do.
"Well Miss Southerlyn," Judge Rosalyn Lenz said, "Where's your other half?"
"Your Honor," Serena said, "The people request a continuance before we can proceed any further with this trial."
"Objection," Barry Kaufer for the defense said as he stood up from his seat at the table, "If Mr. McCoy doesn't find it relevant enough to be here for his own cross examination…"
"Your Honor," Serena said, "I can assure you Mr. McCoy has a valid reason for not being present at the trial today."
"And what might that be?" Barry asked.
Serena turned around and looked at him, and for a few seconds, said nothing, as though she were fighting with herself over what the truth was. Finally she answered, for everyone in the courtroom to hear, "Jack McCoy was found last night on 55th Street, shot in the chest."
The courtroom was an uproar of gasps and hushed voices whispering amongst themselves. The judge ordered silence and granted the People's motion for a continuance and adjourned the trial for the day. Everybody got up to leave and Serena, as calmly and professionally as she could, exited through the doors and then ran down the hall to reach the street as fast as she could.
The previous night, Lennie Briscoe and John Munch, both off duty, were walking about the city after occupying two seats in a bar for several hours, talking to each other and having yet another discussion about John's ex-wife and Lennie's ex-girlfriend, Gwen.
"I can't believe she ever saw anything in you," John said, "What could she possibly see in you?"
"Well not to sound offensive, John, but maybe you should ask her that yourself," Lennie suggested.
"I will," John replied, his words a bit slurred, he'd had a lot to drink that night.
They heard the blare of a police siren and looked and saw a car come speeding down the street. It screeched to a stop at the curb outside of the bar, and the passenger door opened revealing Rey Curtis at the wheel.
"Lennie, get in," he said, "There's been a shooting."
"In progress?" Munch asked.
"No," Rey shook his head, "They found a guy in the street, shot once, the shooter's gone."
"Dead?" Lennie asked as he got in.
"I don't know."
"I'll follow you," Munch told them.
Lennie didn't argue with Munch about his condition to drive, there wasn't time for that. They went barreling down the street until they arrived at the crime scene. The entire street was lit up with blue and red siren lights from ambulances and cop cars and blinding headlights from all the vehicles. Rey stopped and they got out and went to speak to one of the officers who was already on the scene.
"What've we got?" Lennie asked.
"White male, late 40s I guess."
"You guess? He doesn't have an I.D.?" Munch asked.
"We haven't had time to check yet, the medics are trying to make sure he doesn't croak before they get him to the hospital," the officer told them.
They went over to the section of the street that was cordoned off and saw paramedics loading the victim onto a gurney. The lights from the surrounding vehicles cast a glare on the man, making it about impossible for them to actually see him. They stood the gurney up and wheeled it over to the ambulance and in passing, the detectives saw who the victim was.
"Oh my God," Lennie said, "It's Jack!"
"Gun was found next to the body," the officer told them, "We're having it shipped to the lab for testing as we speak."
"Any witnesses?" Munch asked.
"None yet that we've been able to find."
"Well who called it in?" Rey asked.
The officer pointed and they saw a young woman over by the curb. She looked to be somewhere in her late teens or early twenties. Her hair was bobbed short and she was dressed in light blue jeans and a jacket, as she stood there taking in the chilly night air, she shook slightly and shifted her weight from one foot to another as she waited. John adjusted his glasses and remarked, "Holy crap, it's Toni Keller."
"Who?" Rey and Lennie asked.
"Jack McCoy was the witness when she broke a guy's neck in the men's room at the courthouse last year," Munch said.
"What?!" Rey asked.
The three detectives went over to speak to her.
"Toni?"
She looked at Munch and said, "Do I know you?"
"John Munch, Manhattan SVU."
"Oh yeah, Elliot's friend," she said, "How is Elliot?"
"He's fine…when did you get back to New York?"
"A couple weeks ago."
"Did you see what happened here, Miss Keller?" Lennie asked.
"Uh…I was walking by here, heading for home…I heard some noise, I don't know what…I turn around, I hear gunfire…I see Jack fall down, the guy dropped the gun and ran off…"
"Did you know it was Mr. McCoy right away?" Lennie asked.
"No, I ran over to see if I could help and I recognized him," she said, "The guy took off, and he disappeared before I could get a good look at him, I…"
"You called 911?"
"Yes, I…"
"From where?"
"There's a payphone at the corner," she answered, "I don't have a cell phone, I…"
"Did he say anything?" Rey asked.
"I thought he might've already been dead but I wasn't sure. After I made the call I tried to help him…I tried to stop the bleeding…I didn't have one damn clue what I was doing."
"At least you tried, it's more than most would've done," Lennie told her, "Which way did the shooter run?"
"That way," she pointed down the street.
"Did you get any kind of look at him?" Lennie asked, "Do you know if he was tall or short, black or white?"
"I guess he was about as tall as Jack," she explained, "He looked white, but I don't know for sure. Is Jack going to be alright?"
"We'll find out when we go to the hospital," Lennie said.
"I sure hope so, he was the only guy who would ever help me beat a murder rap, I'm sentimental about people like that."
"Miss Keller," Lennie said, "We're going to need you to come down to the station and answer a few more questions, would you mind?" He gestured over to their car.
"In the front or back?" she asked.
"Get in the one behind it," Munch said, "I'll take you down."
"Okay."
Rey looked at Munch and asked, "When did Jack work for the defense?"
"Never," Munch answered, "His statement kept her from going to jail, instead they put her in the nuthouse."
Rey and Lennie looked to each other and Lennie remarked, "Boy, have we missed a lot."
"The doctors at the hospital say that Jack got lucky," Rey told Toni when they got to the station, "The bullet went straight through and missed any major organs or arteries or any bones. In a few days he should be able to leave."
"But the bullet went in his chest and out his back," Lennie said, "Meaning there should've been a slug in the street for CSU to recover, but there wasn't. Do you know anything about that?"
Toni shrugged, "Maybe it rolled down the grate and into the sewer, I don't know, I was too busy trying to get help before Jack died."
"Are you sure that you didn't see the guy who shot him?" Rey asked.
"He took off so fast, it was mainly a blur," she said.
"Did you see anybody else around at that time?" Lennie asked.
She shook her head, "I didn't see anybody, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't."
From somewhere off in the station they heard a man calling Toni's name. They turned around and saw her father, Tony Keller, storming through the place, trying to find her.
"Daddy?"
He looked up and saw her, "Aha!" and just about stepped over six officers and three desks to get to her.
"How'd you find out I was here?" Toni asked.
"Elliot called me."
"Well who called Elliot?"
Lennie turned and saw Munch leaning against the wall looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.
"Now what's all this about?" Tony asked.
"Everything's fine," Toni tried to tell him.
"Oh sure, I always swing by the police department in the middle of the night to pick up my daughter," he sarcastically remarked, and said to the detectives, "What're you trying to charge her with? Anything you say she did, she didn't do, I know my daughter."
"Mr. Keller," Lennie stood up and remained as calm and civil as he could, "We're not accusing anybody of anything. Tonight, Jack McCoy the EADA was shot and your daughter was a witness to the shooting, we need to ask her a few more questions and then we can gladly send her home with you."
Tony was taken aback. "That's what this is about?"
Lt. Van Buren came up and got his attention. "Mr. Keller…"
Tony turned around and saw her, "Yes?"
"I'm Lieutenant Van Buren, I understand that this is all very confusing…things are a little crazy here tonight so if you could just go wait in the other room until we're done here…"
"Oh, okay, sure," he replied, "Sorry."
Tony left the room but before the detectives could ask another question, Van Buren told them, "I wanted to get him out of here before I broke the news because I know what he's like when he blows his temper."
"What's up?" Lennie asked.
"A set of prints was found on the gun that shot Jack McCoy, there was only one set of prints," she told them, "And they match with Toni Keller."