Of course, I do not own the characters and if I did, I would be rich! Dick Wolf is the one who owns them and he's rich! But I do own the characters I make up (especially Amy) so you can't have them!
"In the criminal justice system, sexually-based defenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City the detectives that investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."
Silverton Diner
Fifth Avenue
Friday July 22, 2005
It was nine o' clock in the morning. A girl was running along Fifth Avenue. She almost had no breath in her left to continue. But when she saw the diner, she gave it everything she got to reach the safety of shelter and many observant eyes.
After all she was on the soccer team. She could run three miles as if it were a walk in the park.
Where she was running away from now. She was running as fast as she could, away from Central Park. Anywhere was safer than that horrible place.
It had begun there in the middle of June. She was on the soccer team for her high school and they required all members of the soccer team to come for at least three to four times a week for practice during the whole summer.
Go N.Y. District 51.
At last she made it to the diner. Many people turn heads as she walked in. She did not care. She needed to place a phone call and fast.
Her appearances looked ragged like if some beast had try to tear her apart. Some of her hair was out of the ponytail and some of it was still inside it. The white jersey had a grayish-brownish look to it. The bold, red number 84, had mud smeared across it. These were bad signs because the people could tell.
Signs of an assault, maybe rape.
She asked the bartender for the phone and he gave to her. She placed a 911 call.
"Hello? I need help. Yes, it's an emergency! I've been raped!"
Chance
SVU Squad Room
Inside the squad room, it was miserable. It was hot, humid and the twenty dollar box fans were not doing their job. They would only circulate the hot air and it made things worse than before. The radio was on and they were listening to the forecast for the day, the squad praying that there would be a break in the heat wave.
"Today will be another hot one New York City as highs reaching again near the ninety mark with a heat index of…"
"Turn it off," groaned John Munch as he loosened his tie, "If we get one more day like it has been for the past two and a half weeks, I'll strip naked."
Odafin Tutuola, or Fin, looked at him.
"That would be something to see," said Fin, knowing how Munch rarely complained of the heat.
"You mean disturbing, Fin. Don't even push the subject," said Amy Munch, who was reading the sixth book of Harry Potter.
"Why? I mean seeing him naked would be amusing. People would talk about it for years."
"Yeah and in the process, it'll scar me for life. I wanna stay sane at least until I'm sixty."
Olivia Benson laughed for the first time that day.
"Sane until your sixty when you're partnered with those two? You'll have better luck being partnered with me and El."
The phone rang and she picked it up while her three friends got up and begin to walk out of the squad room.
"Benson. Yeah…okay. Where? Got it, thanks." She hung up and called to her captain, Donald Cragen, who was in his office.
"Hey Cap! We got one on Fifth Avenue," she shouted.
He motioned his hand to the door of the squad room.
"Can you come and help me out?"
Again, he motioned with his hand. She sighed and looked at her three partners as they were leaving.
"Could you lend a body?" she asked.
Munch looked at his watch and shook his head. "Sorry, but our presence is required in court today. We are going to watch Amy testify."
Benson rolled her eyes. "I only need one person! You can always find out what happen from the other two who went!"
"Yeah, but these things are better seen in person."
She rolled her eyes as she followed them out the door.
Silverton Diner
Fifth Avenue
Benson entered the diner by herself. She had called Stabler, who was not due to come in until ten that morning because he had the kids, who said he would be there shortly. In the meantime, she would have to secure the area.
"My luck," she muttered, "I get stuck with securing the area and Elliot doesn't come in until ten. Why can't I have a nice, responsible day of leisure like him?"
She had been in a bad mood since her shift started. Her date last night was going perfect. It looked like a perfect date.
Until he asked the million dollar question.
That stupid, annoying, skeleton-in-your-closet question that plagued her when she joined SVU.
"What do you do for a living?"
Of course she had told him. She told him what she did for a living. And what did he do? He acted like a shy child for the remainder of the date which meant one or two things:
1. He would never go out with her again.
Or…
2. He would want to go out with her again, but only talk about the sick details of what she did, even when she didn't want to talk about it, especially after a long shift.
So as she walked into the café, she forced herself to abandon the horrible thoughts of the night before and to be the caring and understanding cop when she talked to the rape victim. Just like she always did.
"Hi," she said approaching her, "What's your name?"
"Tara."
Trail Part 85
July 22, 2005
Novak step out of her car. Normally she would have ridden to the courthouse by bike, but since the heat wave that hit the city she had been commuting to work by car. She was walking up the stairs when Munch, Fin, and Amy pulled up and got out as well.
"AC! I can sing!" cried Munch when they walked into the courthouse.
"Well don't," advised Novak.
"The heat has been driving us up the wall and we're like the last station house on the list to get our AC unit fixed. So let him sing, it's better than hearing him complain," said Fin.
Novak reached the courtroom of Judge Siegel and went inside. Amy and the others would wait outside until it would be her time to testify.
"Nervous?" asked Fin.
"No, not really," she replied looking around the building.
"Well, we've got a fair judge so there should be no problem. Except for Kressler," added Munch.
"Kressler was the lawyer from hell when I was in homicide. I know how to handle him," said Amy, smiling slyly.
Ten minutes later, the court officer beckoned Amy to come in and sit on the stand. Munch and Fin followed and sat behind Novak.
"Detective, you received a call on the morning of June 29, 2005. Do you know who called you?" Novak began.
Amy had been the primary on the Rachel Yassit case from the month before. It was her first primary case since joining SVU and she had handled it very well. It had certainly been a lot easier than the Rosewater case even though Stabler had been the primary.
"Yes, I received a call on the morning of June 29. The victim, Rachel Yassit, reported a rape that had occurred the night before," Amy replied in a laid-back voice tone.
"Who was the person she claimed to have rape her?" Novak asked.
"Robert Fontson, the defendant over there," and Amy pointed to a young man sitting on her opposite right.
As she pointed, Munch and Fin looked at him. They had come to see her testify because of Amy's old friend from the Bronx Homicide Unit, Leena, had advised them to go. It was not to see if she screwed up on the stand, but to see how she handled the defense lawyers, especially if Kressler was going to be there.
"Let the record show that the detective has identify the defendant," said Novak before proceeding with the next question.
"Now Detective, when you had apprehended the suspect upon his arrest, what did he try to do?"
"He tried to assault me and my partners too."
"How?"
"By punching."
"So not only did you arrest him for the rape you also arrest him for attempted assault of a police officer."
Kressler, Fontson's attorney, stood up from his chair.
"Objection! Relevance?"
"I'm getting there, Your Honor," replied Novak as she turned her head toward the Judge.
"Make it quick Ms. Novak," said Judge Siegel.
Novak walked over. Now was the time to play her cards right. She faced Amy.
"After you read him his rights, what did he say?"
"He said he would…" Amy paused to collect her thoughts, "rape and torture me like he did to that little..."
She again paused and turned her head to look at the Judge. "Uhh he said the "B" word to me Judge Siegel."
"Very well," he replied. He turned to the documenter. "Let the record show that Miss Amy here said the "B" word when answering Ms. Novak's question."
Kressler had enough from the detective. "Your Honor, may we approach?"
Novak and Kressler approached the bench. While they approached, Munch and Fin grinned to each other and both gave Amy a thumbs-up sign. In return, she gave them a mysterious, twinkling look.
"Your Honor," began Kressler, "I think Miss Novak's witness is not fit to proceed with her testimony."
"On what grounds?" asked Novak, surprised what Kressler was saying.
"She thinks this is a joke."
Amy, who had over heard him, spoke.
"I do not think that this is a joke, Mr. Kressler, otherwise I wouldn't be here."
"Easy for you to say, you're not taking this seriously. I move to dismiss her testimony," he said to the judge while looking at her.
"I am too! How dare you think I'm not levelheaded enough for this case especially when I spent the entire time last month to prepare it for a grand jury! How dare you tell me that all the overtime I worked was worth nothing because you know my testimony might help convict your client! How dare you say in a courtroom that I am lousy when it comes to testimonies for a court of law even though a grand jury has allowed my testimony to be heard! How dare you…"
Novak looked from the judge to Munch and Fin, at a loss for words. When she them, both detectives were shaking their heads, resisting the urge to laugh. Judge Siegel turned to Amy.
"Now Miss Amy, I'm sure Mr. Kressler here met nothing by what he said. I will allow your testimony, so you have nothing to fear."
"But Your Honor," began Kressler.
"Now what?" interrupted Novak, "What are you going to say this time? The detective here is mentally unstable?"
It took everything in Munch and Fin's will power to not burst out laughing in the court room.
"No I was going to say…"
But Judge Siegel had enough of the two lawyers bickering. He hated lawyers bickering. He would rather have his courtroom filled with crying babies than here lawyers bicker. Lawyers always gave him the worst headaches.
"Alright that's enough from both of you! Mr. Kressler, I think that this young detective here is a creditable witness; therefore, her testimony will stay on the record. Now that is my final ruling. Back to your places!"
Novak could not help herself. She let a small smile creep across her face as she said, "Nothing further."
Kressler stood briefly. "I have no questions for this witness," he said and sat down quickly.
"You may step down Miss Amy," said the judge and Amy got down from the stand.
Fifteen minutes later, Munch, Fin, Amy, and Novak were walking down the steps of the courthouse discussing the trial.
"I need to start putting you on the stand more. You'll make my job easier. A ten-minute decision from the jury, I haven't had a case this easy in a long time."
"What's the matter with the cases we give you?" asked Munch slightly offended.
"A good example would be the Rosewater case, John. Too much political crap in it. Or it has some amendment rights issues or…"
"Okay, okay we get the picture, Casey. Don't get him started," said Fin warily. He knew Munch had knack for reciting conspiracy theories when someone brought up the right words.
"Anyway, I've never seen a defense lawyer so ruffled up. Maybe I'll bring you to all my trials," Novak said.
"Ha ha," said Amy, "That case was an easy one. I don't know why Fontson went to trial. We had enough evidence to nail him on everything! He should have taken the deal," said Amy. "Besides, I think Kressler got tic off when I was answering all those questions truthfully. I don't know why though. I was under oath and I had to tell the truth or else I would be in contempt of court. Besides he shouldn't have questioned my ability as a qualified witness."
SVU Squad Room
"Well, well look what we have here. Casey is not stressed out from a trial. This is a first," said Stabler.
"I just handed Kressler's ass in court El. I couldn't be any happier," said Novak making her way to the coffee bar. She poured some in a Styrofoam cup then said goodbye to everyone. "I'll let Amy tell the story," she said as she left.
Benson and Cragen had been busying themselves on a map pinned to the board while Stabler was looking through some files. They stopped to hear the wonderful story that Amy was telling them.
"Well Novak calls me up to the stand to testify. She asks the usual questions until we get to the part where we apprehended the suspect."
"Why is it that I am getting a bad feeling about this?" asked Cragen.
"Well I told the judge what happen, what he said to me as we put him in the car, and then Kressler gets mad at me for not saying the "B" word in a courtroom. Now I'll say in front of you guys, but not in a courtroom. I've always been that way.
"Well he objects and asked the judge if they could approach. The judge allows it and Kressler is saying that I am not a creditable witness."
"On what grounds?" asked Stabler.
"Well, in my personal opinion, I think he thought I was crazy or somethin' I guess it was the tone of my voice I was answering the questions in."
Everyone laughed. Amy let everyone settle down before continuing.
"Well he argues that I think that this case is a joke and there was no need for identifying his client as the suspect we apprehended. Well, I go off on him saying that I really worked hard on this case and that he is a real piece of work to say I didn't. The judge tells me to calm down and that he didn't mean any of that."
"Well, Kressler objects again and now the judge is getting really angry. So he tells Kressler to shut up and Novak to continue with her questioning. Novak sits down and Kressler is so mad at me, he doesn't even have the guts to question me right in front of the judge. Apparently he thinks that I am so crazy that it is actually contagious and he wouldn't leave the safety of his little table. But it was like as I was telling the other three, I had to tell the truth whether he liked it or not. I was under oath. I wasn't going to lie right under a judge's nose and find myself in contempt of court."
Everyone laughed again.
"Nice, very nice," said Benson, and returned to looking at the board.
She had pretty much kept to herself since her shift started and everyone had an idea why she was acting like this. Last night's date with Mr. Perfect had gone sour.
"How was last night's date?" asked Cragen.
"It was going fine until he asked the million dollar question," she replied.
Everyone exchange quick glances, except for Amy who had no idea what Benson was talking about. She had no idea what the "Million Dollar Question" was.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking Olivia, what is this 'Million Dollar Question'?" she asked.
Benson gave her a perplexed look. So did everyone else.
"You do not know what the 'Million Dollar Question' is?" asked Stabler.
"Of course I wouldn't know El! I've only been here for three months, counting May."
"It's where Benson's date asks what she does for a living."
"Oh, I get it now."
"So what did Mr. Perfect do?" asked Munch. Seeing Amy confused, he added, "It's what I call Olivia's dates."
"Well he did the usual John, acted like a scared and frighten child and didn't talk too much for the rest of the evening."
As Benson said this, the words of a former detective, Detective Brian Cassidy, crept through her mind. "As long as you have this job, your marriage will only be an affair." Though it was a long time ago when he had said them, she remembered them like yesterday.
"Marriage," she thought. "Like that will ever happen."
"However, it's not a big loss. They're plenty of fish in the sea," Benson said, sensing that her friends were starting to feel sympathetic.
"Yes, they are plenty fish in the sea. That's the easy part. Trying to find the right one is not. I learned that a long time ago when I got married," said Munch.
Fin looked at the board Benson and Cragen had been working on before they came in while Munch rambled about one of his wife stories. The board had a zoomed in area around the perimeter of Central Park. A yellow tack was placed on a corner street and a blue line was drawn from that street to an area near red slashed lines. He knew what that meant. A case had been reported while he and his partners were at court.
"That's quite a long line," said Fin pointing to the board once Munch finished. Everyone turn to look at the board.
"Yeah, we got a call from a café where that yellow tack is. Our victim ran about half a mile to that café," said Benson.
"Our victim is a seventeen year old high school soccer player who has been attending a training camp for next year's season. Wouldn't say who raped her though," said Stabler.
"However, she has the strength to run from Point A to Point B. Could've been jumped by some enemies," said Fin.
"No she wasn't. Rape kit came back and tested positive for fluids," said Cragen.
"So she's either scared or she knows who the perp is," said Munch.
"And to make matters worse she won't say where she was raped. The red slashed lines represent where she could've been raped," said Benson pointing to the area.
"Then the perp knew what he was doing. He raped her in a secluded area, so no witnesses except for the ones who saw her walk in that café," said Amy.
"So where do we begin?" asked Fin.
"Well I was hoping you three could go to the park office and ask about this soccer program while you two go and investigate the soccer team she's on," said Cragen.
Central Park
As they got out of Amy's car (Munch yet again had to sit in the back, so he had some difficulty getting out), they went up to the recreational building. Benson and Stabler had gone to the field where the soccer team practiced.
"When will you trade in this goddamn car?" Munch asked Amy angrily. He had once again hit his head on the hood of the car and was messaging it when they were climbing up the stairs.
Amy held up her fingers as she began to pick all the things she wanted for her car. "Once I find a car that has good gas mileage, is silver, has a four-cylinder tank, good acceleration, CD-player, cassette player, sun roof…"
"Okay, okay I get picture," he replied.
"Just make sure it has four doors, so he doesn't complain," Fin whispered to her.
Inside, the place was rather quiet. There was only one secretary when they approach the front desk. She had her headphones on and was typing something when Fin hit the bell. She took off her headphones and look at them. She could only see Munch and Fin. Amy could not be seen, due to her small height.
"May I help you?" asked the lady.
"Detectives Munch and Tutuola," replied Fin.
"We would like to see the schedules for the high school soccer training camps," said Munch,
"Unfortunately I cannot give out that information. That information is protected by the school," she replied lazily.
"You mean the names of students' ma'am," said Munch, "Schedules are not protected by the school."
"And since it is listed in the parks computer that means it is also public knowledge. Now, are you going to give it to us or do we have to come back with a warrant?" asked Fin.
She eyed them angrily before getting up and going to the room behind her. They waited until she was out of sight before they gave Amy the signal. Then Amy moved from her hiding place.
Amy was a small person. Only 5,2' and weighing 115 pounds, she easily could hide behind anything. During the Rachel Yassit case, she had to knick information from a secretary's desk without being notice. Fortunately, the secretary had not seen her, so when she made an important call in the back room, Amy had went behind her desk, grabbed a suspect's schedule, then return quickly to her place beside Munch and Fin. They looked at it and as soon as they heard she was coming back, they pretended it had dropped off her desk by accident. It cleared the suspect, which left Fontson, and his alibi could not be accounted for on the night Rachel was raped.
However there was only one problem. Novak did not approve of this method of gathering evidence. "You could lose your badge! Don't do it again!" she had told Amy. So then Munch and Fin decided that they would only use this method in two cases:
1. Amy would only do this if the person did not notice her or if she was too short to be seen behind a desk.
2. If the person they were dealing with was giving them a hard time, Munch and Fin would stall for time, allowing her to grab the information needed.
Right now, it was both a case of one and two. She quickly opened the filing cabinet, being careful not to make a sound. She scanned through the folders and came to the school-related programs. She pulled it out.
"Which school?" she mouthed.
Of course with this method came a lot of lip reading. In order to get what they want they had to be discreet and silent. These were the two most important rules.
"N.Y. District 51," mouthed Fin.
In the folder, came sub folders. "Thank god they were in alphabetical order," Amy thought. She pulled out some papers until she found a list of the summer athletic programs. To her dismay, there was only one copy of the list. Sensing that she was running out of time, she memorized the names, quickly put the papers back into their slot, put the folder back into the filing cabinet, and quickly return to where Munch and Fin stood. She quickly jotted down the names
The lady came back, not knowing that within five minutes Amy Munch had got the information that they would need. Time was another important rule in this new method. She eyed them carefully as she sat down in her seat.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Fin, "Who is the coach of the N.Y. District 51 soccer team?"
"Malthus. Martin Malthus."
"And you know him because…"
"He's coaching my little cousin for next year's season."
And with that, she put on her headphones and began listening to music again.
Back outside, Munch and Fin were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who got the passenger seat while Amy opened her memo-pad and look at the names she jot down.
James Early
Alexandra Yuki
Martin Malthus
Alvin Simon
Sylvia Wallace
"Oye! I don't mean to interrupt the game of the century, but who was that person mentioned by that lady in the building?" Amy asked.
"It was Martin Malthus," said Munch, not taking his eyes of Fin's playing hand.
"Rock, paper, scissors!" they both shouted. Amy shook her head and sighed at the fact that two grown men could not act like their age and just take turns on who got the passenger seat.
"Ha! Rock beats Scissors Fin! I get the passenger seat! Bwa ha ha ha!" said Munch eagerly opening the door and moving the seat forward.
Fin eyed him for a moment and then said two words. Munch just smiled.
Benson and Stabler arrived at the field. The soccer team from the victim's school were no where to be found. The field was desolate in the noon, hot sun.
"What time is it?" asked Benson.
"Almost noon. They probably went home for the day," said Stabler.
The pair looked around at their surroundings. Standing in the center of the field there was a small hill behind them, a small street was on their left, and a dense area of trees and shrubs on their right. They looked at each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Stabler.
Benson nodded and they both went to the woody area. As they approached it, they could hear cars coming from Fifth Avenue.
"Definitely our crime scene," said Benson and she stopped.
"We should call CSU," said Stabler.
"Why?"
"These mosquitoes are tearing me up. Let's let some poor CSU guy get bitten by these suckers."
He began swatting them with his hand. It almost looked comical to Benson, but she held back her laugh. Her cell phone rang and she answered it.
"Benson. Yeah…yeah…you did what! Okay, we'll meet you for lunch in a little bit." She turned off her cell phone. "That was Fin. You won't believe what our friends just did."
"What did they do?" asked Stabler, walking back to the car to radio for a Crime Scene Unit.
"They stole a few names from the park's recreation filing cabinet. Well they didn't actually steal them; they saw a paper with some names on it. The lady they were talking to mentioned one of the names from the paper."
"Well that's great isn't it? Unless they got it by the method Amy used in her last case."
"That's what they did."
"So the question is should we be happy or we should be mad at them?"
Strawberry Diner
1049 Lexington Ave
Upper East Side
"What took you?" asked Munch when Benson and Stabler sat at their table.
"We were waiting for a CSU guy to come and secure our crime scene," replied Stabler.
"Well I took the liberty of ordering your favorites," said Amy.
"Thanks,"
"So you've found it then?" asked Munch.
"Well hopefully we did. It looked like the right spot, but the bugs were bad and El here didn't want to get bitten," said Benson.
"It's summer, get use to it Elliot," said Amy.
He ignored her and looked at Munch and Fin.
"So you've found some names. Are any of them our guy?" he asked them.
"We were going to check once we got back to the squad room. Seems one of our guys is teaching our victim's team," said Fin.
A waitress put down some sandwiches for all of them at their booth table and drinks. She left the bill too and went about her business.
"I got it," said Amy making a reach for it.
"No, I do. You need to save your money so you can buy that car," said Munch.
"Well, I'll gladly accept donations," she replied sarcastically.
"My ass," he said.
Benson and Stabler exchanged glances with Fin. He ignored their looks and began eating his sandwich.
"You still looking for a car?" asked Stabler.
"Of course, El! Finding one to their preference" (She pointed to Munch and Fin) "is easy, but for mine? No, of course not! Anything I want means I usually have to go on a fishing expedition for it!"
She sighed and began to eat her sandwich and French fries.
"Fries not salty enough," she muttered and grab the salt shaker.
Central park
Benson and Stabler returned to the crime only to find the head CSU guy shaking their heads at them.
"Sorry guys nothing here yet. However this was your crime scene."
"There's nothing here, but this area is our crime scene?" asked Stabler skeptically.
"Foot prints and they belong to an athlete. See the pattern of indentation?"
"Cleats?" asked Benson looking at them.
"Probably," he replied, "And I also found another set. A bigger size than your victim's. Possibly a male. And there is a sign that a struggle took place here."
"So that's all we got then, footprints and signs of a struggle. He'd have tossed his shoes by now in the East River and signs of a struggle can mean anything!"
"We're still scanning the area so anything can turn up," he said.
"Like what, fibers from a shoe lace?" asked Stabler.
SVU Squad Room
"Damn this piece of junk!" growled Munch.
For the third time he had tried to enter a name from the list Amy had written them on and the computer had froze on him again. He tried to enter it again when it became unfrozen. It froze again.
"Piece of…"
"Move over John," said Amy as she leaned over his keyboard and began to hit certain keys to unfreeze his computer.
"There, see? Nothing to it," she said.
"Still doesn't mean you're getting a donation from me to buy your car," he said.
"I didn't ask now did I?"
"Now children," said Fin, not looking up from his computer.
Amy rolled her eyes and went back to her desk. Munch and Fin were researching the people she had copied down from the list while she was looking for her car on the Internet. So far nobody had any records and she had not found the car she wanted.
"Bingo!" cried Munch, after a long silence.
"What now?" Amy asked.
"That guy that lady told us who coached soccer team, Martin Malthus, had a previous charge for aggravated assault and illegal possession of a handheld weapon. He's been a soccer coach and a P.E. teacher for…"
He had stopped in mid-sentence. He couldn't believe the number on the screen.
"What?" Fin and Amy asked.
"Call Elliot and Olivia and tell the Captain while you're at it. I think we've got a bigger problem on our hands."
Stabler and Benson walked into the squad room, puzzled. What was so important that couldn't be told over the phone?
"What the hell is going on? What is so important that could not be told over the phone?" asked Benson.
"See for yourself," said Amy and pointed to Munch's computer screen.
She looked at it and a few minutes later began to swear loudly.
"Twenty years! Twenty years!" she repeated, "I don't believe it. Statue of rape only covers five years."
"He's the best guy we've got. He was near the girl all the time this program started," said Fin.
"And not to mention that CSU found foot prints the size of a male's foot," said Stabler.
"So unless our rape victim comes forward and tells us who raped her, all we have is circumstantial evidence," said Cragen.
"She wouldn't say. I tried to get her to come forward, but she just wouldn't do it," said Benson.
"Tell her we have an idea who did it," said Amy.
"I don't think she'll come forward that easily though, Amy. She's still trying overcome the shock."
"So now what do we do?" asked Munch.
"I'll go and talk to her again, but I doubt she'll come forward," said Benson as she grabbed her keys and left.
Bellevue Hospital
Benson walked back into the hospital and to Tara's room. However when she got there, it was empty. She raced to the front desk and asked where Tara was.
"She checked herself out today, around one," said the receptionist.
"She checked herself out?" asked Benson puzzled.
"Yes, she was eighteen."
"Damn," Benson thought. "Well, did she leave an address?"
The receptionist typed in Tara's name and an address pop up.
"Yes…well actually no."
"What now?"
"She left an address of a former apartment building that I used to live in. They moved everybody there to a new one because the building had problems," said the receptionist.
"Thanks," said Benson.
Benson began to call the others back at the squad room. So far their case was going down hill and it was just the first day too. Without Tara, they couldn't do anything except wait until Malthus struck again.
SVU Squad Room
"Personally, I hate the idea of waiting," said Benson, "God only knows how long he's been getting away with this."
"But without Tara to confirm her statement, there is no case," said Cragen.
"Could we bring her in for filing a false report then? If she doesn't want to confirm what she said to Liv then the rape doesn't exist," said Fin.
"You weren't there, Fin. You didn't see how messed up this kid was," said Benson, "The rape did happen. Her rape kit tested positive for fluids."
"Doesn't mean anything. She could have just had sex with someone and then cry rape to cover it up. We've had many cases like that before."
"Yeah and we've also had cases where the victim runs away before she can confirm her statement because she's terrified!"
"Hey now. Relax everyone. We're gonna get this guy," said Cragen warily. He noticed the clock and saw that it was five. "Perhaps it was best that they went home early," he thought.
"Go home everyone. I'll take it from here," he said to everyone.
Everyone looked at him.
"Did he just said what I think he just said?" asked Munch.
"Maybe he had too much coffee," said Benson.
"I think he's sick otherwise he wouldn't have told us that," said Stabler.
"Perhaps he had too much sugar and it's making his head spin," suggested Fin.
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Amy.
"Or maybe he's feeling nice. Now get out of here before I change my mind," he replied sarcastically.
Everyone grab their things and left the squad room, wondering what Cragen was up to.
Chauncey's Bar
"Is it me or was Cragen acting strangely?" asked Munch, sipping his beer.
"Oh no, I smell a conspiracy theory. Where's Amy when you need her?" asked Fin, looking for her.
Benson laughed as the bartender put her beer on the bar. Stabler had gone to shoot some pool with Amy while they waited on a plate they had order for themselves. At last, she saw Amy leading the way back to where the threesome sat.
"Amy, John's going to start ranting again!" cried Fin, jokingly.
"John, shut up or I won't buy that car," she said sitting beside them.
"Why?" Munch asked.
"Because I just won one hundred dollars off of Elliot."
"She kicked your ass in pool?" asked Benson to Stabler.
"Yeah. I was never good at it though," Stabler said as he ordered his drink.
"I was never good at pool either, Elliot! I just got lucky," said Amy ordering a soda.
"Why don't you ever drink?" asked Fin. Since she had joined, he or anyone else for that matter, never saw her drink in front of them.
"Well, someone's gotta be the designated driver," she told him, sipping her soda.
He shook his head.
"So, John what were you going to say about the Captain?"
"How peculiar he was acting today when he dismissed us from work early," said Munch.
"I have to agree with John here guys," said Stabler, "Since when does the Captain dismiss us early from work?"
"Never," came all their replies.
The bartender sat down their plate of food and everyone jumped to it.
"Move out of the way that's mine!" cried Amy. If there was one thing they had learned about her was that she loved food and would clean the appetizer plate before anyone could get a bite.
"Oh no you don't!" came everyone's voices except hers.
John Munch's Apt.
The act was dropped when Amy and Munch got out of her car. At work they were partners, but at his place they were a niece and uncle. They were family and Amy had insisted on keeping it a secret. She couldn't bear what her friends would think if she, of all people, be related to her uncle.
Of course it had not always been this way. There was a ten year gap between them. His brother and sister-in-law had died in a car crash and he did not take custody of her because he was still in Baltimore, in homicide. However, in three years Amy would be a cop for the NYPD and find herself in the Bronx Homicide Unit, a detective like her uncle.
She transferred to SVU in May of this year and to her surprise her uncle was there. The reunion had been bitter sweet, but somehow she had manage to forgive him and they had both forced Cragen to keep his mouth shut since he was the only one who knew the reason between their loving banter at the office and he had saw on her file that she was related to him because of her last name.
So that night Amy sat on the couch, reading her book as usual by the living room lamp. Munch was waiting for the tea warm up. Both had not said a word to each other all evening.
But this was the way some evenings were and that's the way they liked it. He would climb in his chair, read the paper, and when he felt tired he would go to bed. Amy was the same way only she would sometimes fall asleep with the book in her hand, and he had become accustomed to this habit of hers. Munch accidentally made the mistake of waking her up once, and he had got whacked on the head by her book. This reflex of whacking people on the head came from the days when Amy was still in the orphanage and the local kids and teens would try to steal her stuff.
"Sounds like your case made it to the paper today," he said.
Amy marked her place. "Your powers of observation would put Sherlock Holmes to shame," she said.
Munch did not push it further. He was still trying to figure out what she said was either an insult or comment. Amy just smiled and opened her book at the place she left off, and Munch went back to reading his paper. Soon they would go to bed, but for now, they would enjoy the quietness in the tiny apartment.
Early the next morning, while sleeping, Amy's cell phone started ringing. It was 5:00 in the morning. She stirred from her sleep.
"What the hell? Couldn't the others take the call? I wanna enjoy my weekend off," she grumbled as she grabbed her cell phone.
"Hello…oh it's you," Cragen was on the other end of the line. "Okay, when? Eight, got it. So that's what you were up to. Bring what? You're kidding! Alright alright, I'll see you there then."
She wrote down the address and then it finally hit her what Cragen had just said.
"Damn!" she said to herself, "Uncle John is not going to like this."
She got up and got dressed then left her room to wake up her uncle. As usual, his door was closed. She knocked on it a couple of times. She stopped and put her ear to the door. No movement. So she began to kick the door. When she heard a moan, that meant he was alive and was getting ready.
Inside his room, Munch grumbled as he got dressed. He opened the door to his room. He was putting his watch on when he saw that it was Saturday.
"What the hell?" he asked, infuriated at the fact he was awake on his day off, "I don't work weekends! You can handle this call on your own or with one of the others…"
"Quit complaining," Amy said, "Cragen called me fifteen minutes ago. Said we needed to meet him at this place." She tossed a piece of paper at him.
He read it, then said, "Really then, you could have at least knocked on the door instead of kicking it to wake me up then."
"And how many times have I told you that it doesn't seem to work? I could shout, but then the neighbors will complain."
"So why does he want us to meet him at the far side of Queens?" Munch asked looking at the piece of paper again.
"Because he's our boss."
"Ha ha, very funny."
"And we also have to pack at least a week's worth of clothes and what we can't live without."
"What is this, an undercover ops!"
"Keep your voice down! It smells like one. He didn't say over the phone," she said grabbing her duffle bag from the closet.
"I wonder how many strings did he have to pull just to get us over to the far side of Queens," he grumbled as he went back into his room to pack.
His cell phone rang and he answered it. It was Fin.
"Hey, Captain says he wants us to bring only three cars. You want me to bring mine?"
"Sure, that would be great. So he woke you up too?"
"Yeah. So much for a peaceful weekend. I'll see you in thirty," and Fin hung up.
"Who was that?" shouted Amy.
"Fin. He said he would pick us up," replied Munch as he put a couple of shirts in a suitcase.
Amy eyes grew big with fright. In what seemed in thirty seconds, she rushed to his room and looked at him with utmost surprise.
"You mean Fin is going to pick us up here! US!" she shouted in alarm.
Munch slapped his forehead and sighed. He had just realized what he said to his partner. "I'm sorry Amy, I forgot. Well they were going to find out that you were related to me sooner or later? Might as well make it sooner."
But this was the wrong thing to tell her.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FORGOT! YOU DUMB ASS, I HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH YOU FOR TWO MONTHS AND YOU FORGOT THAT I LIVED HERE WITH YOU!"
"Keep your voice down," he muttered sheepishly.
"THE LAST THING I NEED IS EVERYONE TO RIDICULE AND BANTER ABOUT ME BEING RELATED TO YOU! I TOLD YOU, IT WOULD BE ME WHO BREAK IT TO THEM THAT I LIVED WITH YOU, NOT THEM FINDING OUT BY SOME MISHAP OF YOURS OR CRAGEN'S! IT WILL BE LATER THAN SOONER BEFORE THEY FIND OUT THAT I'M RELATED TO YOU! NOW CALL FIN BACK AND TELL HIM I'M TAKING YOU!"
"I wish I could, but the Captain is only allowing us to take three cars," he replied.
"ARRRRGH! JUST GET OUT! GET OUT! OUT!" she roared in fury.
He finished packing the last of his things and got out of the apartment. Amy needed to cool down for a little bit and so he decided to give her plenty of space. He opened the door of his apartment complex building and stepped outside onto the sidewalk.
He could tell it would be another hot day. Already it was 5:30 a.m. and it was already muggy. "Great," he thought, "It's going to be hot, I already pist off Amy, and Fin is going to find out that she is related to me. And the worse part is I'm working on a Saturday in an undercover operation. What more could happen to make this day any worse?"
As if some mystical being was hearing him, a person ran right into him. He lost his balance and fell, his glasses falling off his face.
"Ow! Watch where the hell you're going!" he shouted to the person.
He felt around for his glasses, but couldn't find them. The person gently grabbed him and held them out in the palm of their hand.
"I'm so sorry," said the person, "I wasn't paying attention. Thank goodness your glasses aren't broken."
Munch turned several shades of red. It was a woman's voice and to make matters worse, he was impolite to her. He took his glasses and put them on. To make matters even more worse, she was a very pretty thing.
"I…uh…um…it's okay. They're not broken and no harm came to me," he said embarrassed.
"But you're bleeding on your hand! Look," she said, worried.
He looked at it and it was bleeding a little bit.
"It's okay, nothing I can't patch up."
"Well then, if you insist you are okay…"
"I will be. Don't worry about me."
"Okay, well then have a good day...um…what's your name sir?"
"John. John Munch."
She looked at him for a minute with a puzzled look on her face, then turned and continued walking. Munch thought Amy had cool down enough and so he went back to his apartment.
Amy paid no attention to him as he walked backed in. When she did look up, she saw his hand and gasped.
"What the hell happen to you!" she cried.
"I fell," came Munch's reply.
She gave him a skeptical look. "You fell?"
"Well someone ran into me and made me lose my balance."
She sighed and stopped packing. "Let me see it."
She examined his hand. The palm had bits of gravel in it and blood.
"We're gonna have to clean this up otherwise it'll get infected," she said.
She went to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of things and set them on the dining table. Then she grabbed a small, clean towel and filled a bowl of hot water.
"Now sit still while I'll clean this. It might sting a little."
She submerged thetowel in the bowl and began to pat it on his hand.
"OUCH!" he yelled as she pressed it on him.
"Don't move around now! I told you it was going to sting!"
Munch sat still as she repeated the process until the water was dirty.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Uncle John. I just lost it and wasn't…"
"It's okay. Forget it," he said.
Sometimes they did argue over small stuff, but they would get over it, like a brother and sister fighting over who was better than the other one.
"Now this is gonna sting a little bit," and she poured a liquid onto a cotton ball.
"What does it have on it?" he asked.
"Hydrogen peroxide," she replied.
His eyes narrowed. "I thought you said you weren't mad at me any more!"
"Yes, but this stuff will help clean it up."
"Did you know that hydrogen peroxide kills red blood cells?"
"Not even your conspiracy theories will save you now, Uncle John. Besides, it only kills a little amount, an amount surely your body can replace within a couple hours."
She placed the cotton ball on the wound.
"OUCH! THATHURT, DAMN IT!" he cried out in pain.
"Shouldn't had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk now, should you? Now, tell me about this person who ran into you."
He sighed then tried to recall certain aspects of the woman who ran into him.
"Well, she…"
"A she?"
"Yeah, a she. She was a little shorter than me, looked about five years younger than me, had a bushy set of auburn hair with a crinkle look to it, slight tint to her skin, brown eyes, and a nice figure."
Amy gave him a look and then went back to dressing his wound up.
"What!" he exclaimed, "You asked me how she looked!"
So what do you think? Please R&R. I would really appreciate it!