Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Law and Order CI…yet…furthermore, I mention Goren's size constantly in my fics, it's not an insult, I have never dated a small man. So stop telling me that…and I don't have anything going on between him and Alex either…so nix on that too…
Midnight Snack Bar
Friday, March 17th
Detective Robert Goren laughed aloud as he spun Eames around and around on the dance floor, the surrounding crowd cheering them on. One more time around and the two nearly fell. They had to grab onto each other to keep from toppling over onto a table of empty shot glasses, and the action was accompanied by more roaring laughter. It was past midnight on St. Patrick's Day in New York City; a beautiful March night with a full moon and the bars were open all night to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. The NYPD's Major Case Squad had the night off and had gathered at one such bar to join in.
"Are you okay?" Eames asked. Goren was looking dizzy, using a chair to prop himself up.
"I think the whiskey's going to my head!" He yelled over the roar. "Maybe I'm a lightweight…"
"Well you've had twelve shots and you're still conscious, so 'lightweight' doesn't really fit you." Eames burped following this sentence and sat down herself.
"It's getting late, I better go home. I'll just walk." Goren said, wiping the sweat off his neck. He pulled his gloves on and buttoned his jacket.
"You shouldn't walk alone this time of night Bobby, call a cab."
"It's midnight on St. Patty's day Alex and the bars just stopped serving drinks, every cab in town will be busy, so I think I'll walk. Besides, I'm six feet tall and I have a gun, I think I can make it five blocks." Eames' eyelids were drooping. "But you should call a cab…"
Corner of 16th and Lexington
Friday, March 17th
Goren smiled up at the moon as it peeked out from behind a skyscraper at him. He only had two blocks to go before he reached his apartment. The detective was completely unperturbed by the strange characters that gave him looks from park benches and alleys that he passed. He was whistling, with one hand tucked in a pocket, fiddling with his badge, and the other hanging to his holster by a thumb: he didn't know how grateful he would be for this stance.
"Hey man, I'm gonna drop you unless you pull yo' hands outta yo' pockets and gimme yo' wallet." A young man had appeared from behind a newspaper stand and pulled a knife on Goren. But his prey remained excessively calm, too calm, causing his hands to tremble around the hilt of his blade.
"Didn't you hear me man? Gimme yo' goddamn wallet!"
"Okay, calm down." Goren said in his most soothing voice. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, the one clutching the badge, and opened it for the man.
"Oh shit! You a cop?" Apparently the man knew the routine, because he dropped the knife and placed his hands on the newspaper stand.
"Yes, I am." Goren said, picking up the knife. "But lucky for you I'm off duty and too drunk to arrest you for armed robbery and aggravated assault and a number of other things I can't remember." Goren twisted the double-edged blade around in his hands. "This is a nice knife. What's your name?"
"It's Roger man, hey you gonna bust me or what?"
"No, I'm not gonna bust you Roger. But what I am going to do is tell you to go home and reassess your life of crime. I'm also gonna keep this knife, because you're not gonna need it anymore are you…Roger?"
"No, no man I'm just gonna go home and...uh?"
"Reassess your life of crime." Goren stepped back from Roger and studied him for a moment. "Ok, get out of here." Roger did so, gladly, and Goren went on his way, dropping the knife in a trashcan as he went. The planned encounter had done more than Goren new however, because of his thoughts about Roger, and his depression about how people ended up in a 'life of crime', he failed to notice the black car from which he was being watched.
Major Case Squad Headquarters
Saturday, March 18th
"Ohhh…." Eames moaned, her head lying on her desk. "Bobby!" she called through her arms as her partner walked up to their desk. "Shoot me."
"You have a hang over?" He asked casually.
"Yes, don't you?" Eames asked, looking up at him with bloodshot eyes; eyes she shared with most of the department except her own partner.
"No, I don't get hangovers." His partner just glared at him evilly, muttering into her hands.
"Of course you don't. Did you get home okay?"
"Actually I got mugged." Eames was brought back to human-consciousness by these words.
"You got mugged? And you didn't call me? Are you hurt?" Goren laughed a little, she sounded like a mother hen.
"I'm fine, the guy dropped his knife when I showed him my badge. It was actually pretty funny-"
"He had a knife? Bobby why the hell didn't you call-"
"Alex, no offense, but you were in no state to even pick up your phone. I was fine, I'm still fine…really!" He added at the look on her face.
"Ok. But promise you'll call me next time something like that happens. You're not untouchable you know."
"I promise. And I do know." He assured her. She didn't bring it up again. The day's tasks were mundane, mostly made up of paperwork and making phone calls to request information for this case or that. But it was easy work, so the Saturday ended early for the two detectives (at about noon), allowing them some cherished free time.
"What are you gonna do tonight?" Goren asked as they entered the elevator
"Why? Are you trying to pick me up?" She joked. "I'm going to take a hot bath, order out for dinner, and watch the comedy channel until I pass out. Candles and bath salts could be involved." The both laughed aloud. "And you?"
"I don't want to tell you. You'll laugh." Goren replied. Eames gave him a quizzical look, to which he rolled his eyes and sighed. "I have a date with the history channel, National Geographic, and lots of hot chocolate." Goren was waiting for Eames to laugh but she looked at him very seriously.
"I'm not laughing. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do with free time…you know, if you're you."
"What's that supposed mean?"
"Nothing, I'm just saying…" Eames broke out into a smile and laughed a little through her lips.
"Oh so it's funny is it? I'll show you funny!" Goren poked her in the side, tickling her ((IN A PERFECTLY FRIENDLY, COMPLETELY NON-ROMANTIC WAY!)).
"Ah! Ahahaha! Bobby, stop it!"
"See you in the morning." Eames said as she pulled over in front of Goren's apartment building and her partner stepped out of the car. "Have fun with your National Geographics!"
"No comment!" He laughed back. The elevator was out of order…again…so Detective Goren had to take three flights of stairs to get to his apartment, where he wouldn't be quite alone.
"Bobby! You're back early!" Goren's landlord was rushing over. The hall was occupied by several other tenants, all looking at him with worried faces.
"What's-"
"We heard the screaming all over the building!" His next-door neighbor whispered. "I came out of my apartment when I heard it, and your door was open, but no one's been in yet."
"I thought it might be a burglar so I called the police." The landlord added. Goren was already drawing his gun.
"How long ago?"
"Maybe five minutes. Are you sure you should go in there alone?" He replied.
"Stay here, when the police get here, make sure you tell them I'm already inside." The landlord nodded and the detective moved toward the door, pushing it open with one hand and clutching his gun with the other. It didn't seem to be damaged in any way.
"This is the police! I'm coming in and I am armed!" Goren yelled throughout his apartment. Receiving no answer, he walked further in, his gun before him, checking each room. After confirming that the other rooms were empty, he returned to his living room. It was in a terrible state. Papers formerly on his desk littered the floor. Several books had been flung across the room and it looked like someone had set fire to the sofa cushions. But the thing that caught Goren's attention was the cat, the dead cat lying on top of his stack of National Geographics. It looked as though the animal had been gutted while it was still alive, explaining the screaming heard by the other tenants.
"Police! Detective Goren?"
"It's all clear!" Goren replied. He holstered his weapon and stood up, staring down at the cat and also pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed his partner's number as the uniforms searched the rest of the apartment over.
"Alex. You know how I promised to call if anything happened? Well, I'm sorry to spoil your bubble bath, but maybe you should get over here. Someone's just left me a message."
West Astoria Apartments
Saturday, March 18th
Detective Goren sat on the edge of his easy chair, his chin in his hands, and sighed, looking around at the ruins of his apartment. Eames was standing by a robbery detective, looking frustrated. The cat was being photographed at every angle while its blood continued to drip down the magazines. Bobby had been to a crime scene before, it wasn't like blood was new to him, but this crime truly disturbed him. But those had been far from home. This time it had happened in his apartment, the blood was dripping onto his carpet, he was no longer detached from the situation, and that loss of control tore at a deep spot in his being.
"Detective?" Eames and the other detective had just walked over.
"Sorry, what?" Bobby came back to a state of consciousness.
"You don't think anything was taken?"
"I know for sure
nothing was taken. This wasn't a robbery, it was a threat." Eames
knew it was true too, but she didn't want it to be any more than
Goren did.
"I know this is a stupid question to ask a cop, but I have to ask, do you have anyone that may want to harm you or any enemies?"
"Only every guy we've ever put in Rikers!" Eames answered for him.
"And Roger." Bobby added.
"Roger? Who's Roger?" Eames asked.
"The guy who mugged me, last night, but I don't think he's capable of this."
"Well it's worth checking it out. I'll have-"
"We'll do it. They threatened the life of a cop; this is Major Case Squad's. You can call our captain if you have any questions." Eames said. Rather than being offended, the robbery detective looked relieved. Now the life of a fellow police officer didn't rest solely on her shoulders.
Major Case Squad Headquarters
Saturday, March 18th
"What are you doing?" Alex asked, walking up behind her partner, who was searching the internet for something.
"Roger had a patch on his jacket, I think it was for an auto repair shop or a factory. I'll recognize it when I see it."
"Bobby!" Captain Deakins had just called Goren over to his office. He sighed and answered the call, knowing exactly what it was about, and shut the door behind him.
"What's up?"
"Bobby, I hate to do this to you, you're one of the best detectives I've got, but I can't afford to have you out on investigation with a crazy man trying to kill you. So I'm taking you off active duty, you're gonna have to work a desk." Bobby shifted uneasily in his seat at the thought of it. But if he could weasel a confession out of dozens of sociopaths, he could certainly compromise with his own captain.
"Captain, I don't mind letting go of the other cases, but I'd still like to work on mine with Eames. I'm going to have to be a part of it some time, and I can't be of any help sitting at a desk. Besides, I don't think anyone wants to kill me yet."
"Why's that?"
"Because they killed a cat. The perp didn't have to wait more than five minutes to catch me off guard and kill me right there. No, I think when it happens, he'll want me to see it coming." Deakins considered this for a moment. He didn't want to put his detective in danger, but he also didn't want to punish Bobby more than the perp had already done. With a sigh, the captain agreed.
"Fine. But I'm putting you in a hotel with a uniform in your hall 24/7 and two across the street. So don't go undressing with the shades open."
Rocky's Metal Packaging Incorporated
Saturday, March 18th
Goren had found the patch from Roger's jacket; it belonged to a metal packaging factory just south of his apartment. He and Eames were on their way there, neither of them doing much talking, the case had hit too close to home to joke about, as they normally did.
"Hey, pull over here." Bobby said.
"Where?"
"Next to the newsstand, right there." Alex pulled over, looking clueless, and her partner jumped out.
"What the hell…?" She muttered to herself. Bobby had bought a tabloid and was using it to dig through a trashcan. When he returned, something was wrapped up in the paper. "What is that?"
"It's the knife Roger mugged me with, I was wearing gloves last time I touched it, but he wasn't. I can see his prints on the blade… Just in case." Eames eyed the double-edged knife as she started the car and continued toward the shipping mill.
"So when you said he had a knife you meant he had a sword? That thing is huge! I still can't believe you didn't call."
"I still can't believe you're this worried about me." Bobby said gently. He knew the bond held between partners, he also knew Alex felt very much like his mother half of the time because of his blatant disregard for policy. "I'm glad you care." He said simply, smiling over at his partner. She didn't reply, but Bobby knew she was smiling too.
"We're here." The warehouse was relatively small, but there were stockpiles of car parts, piping, and other bits of metal all over, making movement difficult. Goren looked around at the workingmen, and it took him only seconds to find the one he wanted. He waved Eames around and ducked behind a shelf, moving around behind the man. It had been a full moon the night before, still too dark to recognize a face, but the man wore the same jacket and the same slightly ripped off factory patch. There was no denying it was him.
"Hey Roger!" Bobby said with a big smile on his face. All the blood drained from Roger's face. Then he did exactly what Bobby had predicted, he ran straight into Eames.
"Hi there Roger, howya doing?"
"Where're you going Roger? I thought we were pals?"
"Man I told you I didn't know you was no cop!" Bobby chose to ignore the comment; he pulled the newspaper off the knife and fiddled with it.
"Remember that Roger? You attacked my partner, and I can't let that slide, lets go, spread." Eames said. She pushed him forward onto the shelf and checked him for more weapons.
"Please man, I got a wife, I didn't know you was a cop!" Roger pleaded. Bobby set the knife down in front of him on the shelf and gave him a long, hard look in the face.
"Did you follow me home last night?" Roger shook his head vigorously.
"No way man, I went home jus' like you said."
"Oh really, will your wife back you up on that?" Roger banged his head against the shelf.
"Man why you hasslin' me? I didn't do nothing." Eames stepped back up from her fruitless search.
"Oh really, so it wasn't you that killed a cat and burned up his apartment? That's breaking and entering-"
"Vandalism-"
"Animal abuse-"
"Harassment of a police officer. You think we could even get-"
"Attempted murder?" Goren finished, delighting at the devastated look on Roger's face.
"No way man! I swear, I wasn't nowhere near yo' place last night!" That was it. Goren nodded to Eames and she let Roger up. He had said 'last night', not 'today', when the crime had actually occurred.
"Who's your alibi Roger? How are you going to prove it wasn't you? You know the courts feel very strongly about endangering their police officers." Eames said.
"Look man, I'll tell you what happened, I wasn't nowhere near yo' place because I was trying to get paid."
"Paid for what?" Bobby asked, intrigued.
"Paid to mug you man! This white guy pulls up in this car and told me you was coming, he paid me to take yo' wallet, he didn't say you was no cop." Goren raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "But then you pulled that 'go home a reassess my life of crime' stuff, so I couldn't get yo' wallet and they wouldn't pay me. And I didn't see their faces so don't be bringin' me in for a lineup or none of that."
"How much did 'they' offer you?" Alex asked.
"5 large man, in cash. Did I mention I didn't know you was a cop?" Goren smiled and picked up the knife.
"Yeah you mentioned it. Go on…I'll sort this out with your boss." He added, noticing all the eyes pointing their direction.
"Five Thousand dollars? I would mug somebody for that kind of cash." Eames commented as they walked back to the car.
"I must be popular."
"But it's kind of a dead end isn't it? There's no way to trace these guys without arresting every loaded man in New York." Bobby shrugged.
"Then we start with old case files. Anyone that's gotten out of Rikers in the last few months connected to me." Eames agreed.
"With an emphasis on the expensive ones."
Major Case Squad Headquarters
Monday, March 20th
"This looks promising. Gerard Helms, arrested by you and charged with aggravated assault, three years in Sing Sing, oh, wait, he got hit by a car and he's in a coma, never mind…" It seemed there were endless files to look through, endless criminals let out of prison, any number of which could have been Bobby's aggressor.
"I can't believe how fast these guys got out, didn't we just put them there?" Alex asked. Bobby wasn't listening, he had also found a promising file, but his file also noted that the man had died from lung cancer shortly after going on parole.
"I don't-" Goren's eyes had just flicked over to a file whose name was just barely visible under the mountainous stack. He reached out for this file, knocking several others down in the process. "Here, David Behlzer."
"Isn't that the guy who chopped up his wife and their unborn child for spilling soup on his shirt?" Eames asked, rolling her chair over to read the file in her partner's hands.
"Yeah, it was before you and I became partners, but Carver didn't have enough evidence to get him for murder, just obstruction of justice, perjury, that stuff."
"But Behlzer was living in that rat hole apartment and didn't even have the money for a shirt without his wife's blood on it." Eames said, disappointed.
"Then he must have inherited something, he's living uptown."
"How far uptown?" Bobby pointed to the address listed by the parole officer.
"Manhattan."
Manhattan Island High Rise
Monday, March 20th
"Mr. Behlzer will be with you in a moment." An old, overworked butler had escorted the two detectives into a parlor in the new Behlzer flat.
"Looks like David's aging gracefully." Eames said, pointing out a portrait of their suspect. He looked cool and respectable in the picture, like any modern-day, rich sociopath, Bobby thought.
"Detectives…" The voice sounded sick, as though Behlzer had been yelling at a football game for hours. He wasn't quite as respectable-looking in tennis slacks and a badly matched polo shirt, but he still had the same arrogance; only now it had been inflated by…
"Two million dollars?" Behlzer nodded in reply.
"And I have all the legal documents proving that I was the beneficiary if we had no living children."
"I don't hear the pitter-patter of little feet." Eames said coldly.
"You took care of that though didn't you David? You did such a sloppy job cutting up your wife because you knew she was pregnant and all those nice benefits would go out the window." Bobby said. He delighted in being the stronger of what he considered two powerful wills for control. Behlzer shifted uneasily on the leather sofa cushions.
"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to call my lawyer now. I did my three years and I'm tired of the police harassing me for a crime I didn't-"
"Oh cut the crap Behlzer!" Bobby said, raising his voice slightly. "You're a murderer, you killed your wife and your own child inside of her. But that's not why we're here, so there's no need to call your precious lawyer."
"Why are you here?" He asked indignantly.
"Where were you at midnight on Saint Patrick's day?" Eames asked. Goren and Behlzer looked ready to kill each other.
"I was here, having a party with about fifty other people." He replied, keeping his eyes locked with Goren's.
"They'll say you were here the whole time?" He nodded. "What about Saturday morning between eleven and one?"
"I was getting my next payment from my wife's life insurance." Behlzer added a little emphasis on the word 'wife', aggravating Bobby even more. But the detective kept his cool better than Behlzer, and the latter was the first to break their eye-lock.
"Who can corroborate that?" Eames asked.
"My insurance agent, a judge, and the girl who delivers the coffee. I came straight back here and haven't been out since. Now I'll kindly ask you to show yourselves out." Behlzer said with extra tinge to his voice. He began to walk out, but Bobby called after him.
"Hey Behlzer!" The man turned around. Bobby lifted a finger and shook it at him as he spoke. "You know, technology has advanced a lot since you were in prison. And I am going to prove that it was you that murdered your wife and the innocent child inside her."
"Well, we can check out his alibi, but I honestly don't think he's involved." Eames said as they walked back to the car.
"No, I know for sure he's involved. I just don't know how yet." Eames looked uncertain.
"Bobby, I hope this isn't just wishful thinking because you couldn't convict him the first time." Goren shook his head.
"No, it's not." He assured her. "You didn't ask him if he came straight home from his insurance agent. But he made sure he told you that he did it and that he didn't stop anywhere on the way."
"So you're saying why should he make such a point of it unless he thought we were going to ask." Bobby nodded, barely, becoming consumed in his own ponderings.
"That's what he did the first time. It's how I know he killed his wife."
Marriott Inn
Monday, March 20th
Bobby sat staring at the blank wall of his hotel room, trying to piece together the few bits of puzzle he had. But the one thing he couldn't grasp was why Behlzer, who had never even been charged for his wife's murder, would be so desperate as to spend $5000 to have a detective mugged that he hadn't contacted for three years. It was perplexing; perplexing enough to give Bobby a headache. It was nearly midnight, so he chose to take two sleeping pills along with the aspirin. But before he had even opened the bottles, his cell phone had vibrated off the table.
"Detective Goren…Hello?" There were sounds on the other end, but no answer. He was about to hang up, thinking that perhaps someone had called him by mistake, but then he heard Eames' muffled voice.
"Help, Bobby-"
"Alex? Alex!" The phone cut out. Goren was out of the door and flying down the stairs by the time he called the police set across the street to watch him. They piled into the car and radioed for more help, but they would be the first to arrive at Alex's apartment; Bobby only hoped they wouldn't be too late.
"One, two, three!" Goren and the three officers with him collectively kicked open the door. Bobby went in first, his gun drawn, and called out for his partner. There was no answer. He moved further through the hall, closing on the bedroom, and heard on of the other officers yell out an all clear.
"Alex! Oh god…" Bobby was about to holster his weapon and bend to help his partner, who was unconscious and bleeding from her forehead, but he heard something out the window.
"The fire escape!" He yelled to the officer behind him. Bobby dove forward, out onto the metal platform, and stopped. The attacker was already off of the fire escape and running full-speed into the darkness; there was no catching him at that point. But the assailant was extinguished from Bobby's mind as he heard a quite moaning from the room behind him.
"No, don't move Alex. It's gonna be okay, help's coming." He wasn't lying. He could already hear ambulance sirens, hastened by the fact that a police officer was to be their load, and the usual five alarm rush of every cop within ten miles coming to protect one of their own.
"I'm not hurt, just a little dizzy. We have to go back to your apartment Bobby; he called someone before he left. They weren't just sending you a warning, they were looking for something but they couldn't find it, now we have a chance to get to it first."
West Astoria Apartments
Tuesday, March 21st
"You're sure you're okay to do this? Maybe you should take the day off, I can get Deakins-"
"Bobby, it's a concussion, the guy didn't break my legs too." But Bobby remained unconvinced, so he insisted on driving. They were just parking next to his apartment when Eames came to a conclusion.
"You think this is your fault." Her partner didn't reply. "Bobby, you've put some dangerous people away in Riker's, sooner or later one of them was going to pull something like this. You can't control what other people do." Goren sighed.
"I know. But they came after you. How can I protect-"
"That's not your job. I can look out for myself. You just worry about keeping yourself out of trouble until we figure this thing out." Eames said, lifting the yellow tape so they could enter Bobby's apartment. As with any crime scene, nothing had been removed, apart from the dead cat and it's bloodstained alter of magazines.
"So where do we start?" Eames asked, glaring down at the mess.
"I thought you knew. This was your idea." Goren reminded her.
"Ok, well the guy said he looked through papers, not that we couldn't tell from this disaster, so we figure out which files he was looking through." Her partner agreed and the two settled in for a long search.
"I don't see any pattern to the files that were pulled out. It looks completely random. This one has driving insurance; this is your police academy diploma, we've got your discharge papers, health insurance, there're some medical records here… You've broken the same arm twice?"
"Yeah, let me see that one, I'll trade you for my elementary school report cards. My mom, she kept every one of-" Goren flipped forward through the medical file and back again, then forward once more, searching for something.
"What's up?"
"This file didn't just have my medical profile, my mother's records were in here too, check the floor where you found it." He demanded, somewhat frantically.
"No, nothing here, why-"
"The records of her treatment are here, but the papers for her rest home are gone, they had the address and room number -- hand me the phone will you?" Bobby called the home, he had the number memorized, and told the nurse (quite rudely) to make sure his mother was all right.
"She's fine, she's alone, the nurse said she hasn't had any visitors." Bobby said, sounding relieved.
"Do you think that's where he'll go next?"
"He came after you."
"Then this is our chance to corner him. Let's go!"
South Astoria Assisted Living
Tuesday, March 21st
No one noticed the dark figure slip past the nurses' desk at the front of the rest home. He was confident in his stealth and pulled the piece of folded paper from the pocket of his sweater, checking it for a room number: ground floor 14B. The assailant moved toward the open door, double-checking the room number to the brass letters on the door. Inside, he would find Detective Goren's mother, plagued by schizophrenia, and completely helpless to stop him when he came. There she was, sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching a pillow and rocking slightly side to side, humming some melody. He moved up behind her without making a sound and reached an arm out to keep her from crying out. But she turned around at the last minute to see the masked attacker, and scream at the top of her lungs.
"Police! Don't move!" But the words might as well have meant nothing, for the assailant dove toward the open ground-floor window, tearing through the screen, and ran full-speed around the side of the building, straight into Detective Goren's heavy arm. The same arm pulled him from the ground and slammed him up against the building, knocking the wind out of him.
"You son-of-a-bitch! You were too much of a coward to come for me so you come after my partner and my mother! She can't even defend herself you sick son-of-a-bitch! What were you gonna do?"
"Bobby!" Eames was calling from somewhere behind him. "Let him go, you're gonna kill him Bobby!" It wasn't a lie. Goren had his hand around the person's throat, slowly choking the life out of him, and his victim's hands were wrestling futilely to push him off. It took every bit of will Bobby had to unclench his hand and step back from the masked man. He didn't stay to see who it was as Alex cuffed him.
"Mom…" Goren's mother was lying against the wall, sobbing into her pillow. He reached out to her, but she recoiled and just kept crying. "Mom, it's okay, it's me, it's your son."
"Bobby? I heard screaming and people were here…they had guns, they tried to kill me!" she sang desperately. Goren edged slowly closer to her.
"It's okay mom, it was just a bad dream, come and get back into bed, everything's okay now, it was just a dream." He lied. His eyes were welling up at the sight of his mother, unable to distinguish reality from the pictures in her mind. "Come on…" he reached out a hand to help her up.
"Bobby? Where's my Robert? Where's my son?" she asked her son; the grown man before her wasn't the ten-year old child her mind would let her remember.
"I'm right here mom, come back to bed-"
"Your not him! Where's my son? Bobby!" she yelled. A nurse came up and put a hand on Goren's shoulder.
"Sir, we'll take care of her, but she's getting agitated, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now…" Bobby's mother was still crying out for her son as he walked out of the room. He had had second, third, and fourth thoughts about using his mother as bait to catch the people that were stalking him. At least she was safe now that they had caught the perp, he reassured himself. But at what cost?
Major Case Squad Headquarters
Wednesday, March 22nd
Bobby hadn't done much speaking since the encounter with his mother, and none of the other officers were eager to test his temper. So at least he was alone for the time being. He kept picturing his mother's face, hearing her voice calling out for someone that no longer existed, except perhaps in her mind.
"Jimmy Uric." Bobby was awakened by a case file falling onto the desk in front of him.
"Jimmy Uric? Last time I checked, it was Maria Uric." Goren said, opening the file. It was indeed the rap sheet for Maria Uric, a woman he and his first partner had sent to prison less than a year ago for kidnapping a Judge's infant daughter. The baby had come out fine, and Maria had confessed to reckless endangerment and kidnapping. But Goren knew then that she was just covering for her son. He had almost lost his badge when he fought the D.A. over the charges.
"She shouldn't even be out yet, her parole wasn't due to come up until next August."
"No, this kid says he's Uric's son. Little Jimmy hasn't even got a speeding ticket to his name. And mom Maria is dead. She was killed in prison by her roommate, who was a friend of the Judge. Tell me that was an accident." Bobby remembered the case clearly; Maria had confessed to the crime and was given only two years in prison since the judge's daughter was unharmed but also because she was pregnant with her own child at the time.
"Why would this kid want to come after you?" Captain Deakins had just walked up to read the file over Goren's shoulder.
"I put his mother in prison and she was killed there. In Jimmy's mind it's my fault she's dead."
"You know, you really screwed up Jimmy." Eames said two hours into the interrogation. Bobby was glaring at the boy across the table from him. He was still furious that the boy had threatened his mother and attacked his partner, but now he could look Jimmy in the face, in the interrogation room where he was in a state of absolute control. Jimmy still hadn't looked up.
"You took that paper from Detective Goren's apartment, linking yourself to that crime scene, then you attacked me, leaving your own blood at that crime scene, and then you led us-"
"Murdered her."
"What?" Eames asked. Jimmy was looking directly a Goren.
"You asked me what I would have done if you hadn't got there. I would have murdered her like-" Bobby pounded a fist on the table and slid backward in his chair. Eames dissolved into the walls and out of their minds as a new staring contest had begun.
"Like your mother?" Bobby asked, his face turning to a sort of cold pity. "You see, we're one in the same Jimmy. We both had our mothers taken from us at a young age. We both have someone to blame-"
"I was gonna kill her! I was gonna kill her like you killed my mother!" Jimmy was standing now, Bobby had mimicked this stance, but his height proved to be an intimidating advantage.
"We both know your mother was guilty, she deserved it, she almost killed that baby and she got what was coming to her."
"No! She was innocent! My mother didn't hurt anybody!"
"Neither did mine Jimmy. You know, when she got sick, I blamed myself. I was too loud or I wasn't giving her enough space, I think you know what I mean Jimmy." Jimmy was about to break. Goren could feel his tension, and this time around he couldn't afford to lose him to an attorney walking in at the last minute. He had almost gotten a confession out of him the first time, but his mother took the fall instead.
"I…" Jimmy couldn't form the words.
"You're mother was going to get an abortion…because the baby had a genetic disease. It was going to die anyway. But she didn't want you to know-" Bobby coaxed him.
"She told me after that it would have hurt me too much."
"And that's why you kidnapped that baby girl."
"I wanted her to have a normal baby. She was so sad when she thought she was gonna have to kill my baby sister."
"You tried to fill that hole with another daughter."
"But when she got to that…that place, the docs there said her baby would be fine."
"And she was murdered two weeks later…her and the unborn child." Jimmy nodded, he was crying into his hands.
"If you blamed yourself, then why did you come after Detective Goren?"
"Because he put her there! You knew it was me, but you let them take her anyway!" Eames looked over at Goren, who was hunched over with his face in shadow.
"You wanted revenge for your sister, so you attacked Eames, because she's my partner, even closer than a sister." Alex would have welled up with tears if she was alone. "You wanted revenge for your mother, so you found out where my mother was and went after her too."
"I wanted you to suffer like I did… I wanted you to live with it, knowing that they died because of you. And when that happened, you were next."
"Tell us about David Behlzer." Eames intruded. "We know he was involved, there's no way you could pay for the resources to pull this off."
"Go to hell! He's just one of the other innocent people you locked up!"
"Innocent? Do you even know what he was in prison for?" Eames asked exasperatedly.
"Yeah, perjury and some other stupid stuff." Goren shook his head; he knew with this next truth, Jimmy was going to tell him everything he ever wanted to know.
Manhattan Island High Rise
Thursday, March 23rd
"Oh don't be ridiculous Fran, he was just joking. And the buyout wasn't premeditated either, I think-" Behlzer was saying to one of his guests as their wine glasses chinked together.
"You would know all about premeditation wouldn't you David?" A voice said from behind him. Behlzer whirled around to meet Detective Goren directly in the chest.
"What are you doing here? My lawyer has three restraining orders against you!"
"Restraining orders won't hold up over a murder charge." Eames said, sipping a glass of ginger ale the waiter handed her.
"Oh, you're not still on about my wife… Jimmy? What the-"
"I told them everything David. I told them how you were looking for evidence from your wife's case and how you paid that guy to pull a knife on the Detective."
"You blew it Behlzer, I didn't even know I had the evidence to prove that you killed your wife and your unborn child. I would have never known if you hadn't come looking for it, if Jimmy hadn't-"
"You little prick, I-" Behlzer was launching himself at Jimmy.
"You killed your wife, killed your own baby! You said you were innocent, you lied to me David!" Jimmy yelled back.
"That bitch got what was coming to her! It wasn't even my kid! She was sleeping around and her insurance was gonna go to that bastard child inside her!" A. D. A. Carver nodded and rubbed his chin.
"That sounds like a confession to me, Detectives?" Goren was already handcuffing Behlzer, and before he read him his rights, he leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
"I told you I was gonna bring you down for this Behlzer. Now that baby and its mother are going to see some justice, and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day for the job."
"David Behlzer, you are under arrest for the murder of Suzanne Behlzer and her child, you have the right to remain silent, if you give up this right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court law, you have the right to an attorney…" Eames read as she and another officer walked him out of his last party. A.D.A. Carver walked over and clinked his wine glass against Bobby's.
"Congratulations Detective. Now, what is this piece of evidence Behlzer was looking for?" Bobby smiled and laughed somewhat.
"There was no evidence, I was banking completely on Behlzer's arrogance, on getting his confession."
NYC Courthouse #7
Monday, May 1st
Bobby took a giant's bite out of his relish-drenched hotdog. He was sitting, cross-legged, on a white stone bench outside of the county courthouse on the beautiful spring morning of David Behlzer's sentencing. Goren knew he would get a needle in the arm, so he had decided to spend the day outside, enjoying the peace. (In whatever way 'peace' applied to the angry honks of cars and screeching tires of taxicabs in the city).
"You win, he's scheduled to be executed within the next two months." Alex said, taking a seat next to her partner. Bobby just nodded and shoved the rest of his hotdog into his mouth.
"You know what I still don't get?" Alex said. "Why did Jimmy hook up with Behlzer even though he knew what he'd done to his wife?"
"Behlzer told him he was innocent. His own mother was innocent so he was inclined to believe him." A.D.A. Carver said as he walked up to join the pair. Bobby shook his head.
"You don't agree?"
"Jimmy had an idea that Behlzer was guilty as soon as he found out he was looking for evidence from the murder. No, he was going off one of the most basic principles of crime as we know it."
"What's that?"
"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend…'"