Waiting for the three Detectives at the 2-7 was Connie Rubirosa, who clearly was very sleepy when the Detectives got there at what was around 5:30 on a Saturday morning, with Connie seeing Nina still wearing the dress (now with a sweater) and hairband/headwrap she was from the night before and saying to her when Nina got there, "I guess you had something interrupted when you caught this", as they walked over to the interrogation room, with Connie yawning and Nina then responding to her by saying, "And we clearly dragged you out of bed", referring to Connie being half-asleep and having thrown on a suit jacket over a simple, full-skirted shirtdress and black, sequined slippers and her short hair being a bit frizzed, looking a bit bigger than usual.
"You guys did drag me out of bed", then said Connie as she yawned again, clearly still very sleepy at this point.
"I see, and yes, I did have a date last night, one that didn't go particularly well", then said Nina, referring to how she was dressed, then saying, "In fact, that's why I wound up at the crime scene so quickly. I happened to be walking on University Place towards the subway at Union Square when I saw the line for the GameSet being around the block, and my looking at that caused the heel of my shoe to get stuck in the subway grating", with Connie then looking down at the flats Nina was wearing and Nina quickly realizing what Connie was looking at and her saying, "Not these shoes. I had 4" heels on earlier, the left one got stuck, I was about to try and get it out and that's when I heard the shots and saw the stampede that followed, just leaving it there. It was like someone was trying to commit mass murder or so it seemed at the time, and that panic I think is the only reason one of the uniformed officers found the shoes. Good thing too, because I nearly had my foot stepped on after that a couple of times before he did."
There was nothing any of the Detectives or Connie could do at that point because the Fuscos had already said they would not talk until their attorney showed. When their attorney did, Nina spotted him first and did an eye-roll, saying to Connie, "Oh, this is wonderful!"
"What do you...", then said Connie until her voice trailed seeing it was Jason Whittaker, then asking Nina, "That was your date last night?", with Nina then nodding and Connie then saying, "Damn! I wished I knew. I could've warned you how much of a jerk he is, as I found out a month and a half ago when I did go on a date with him."
"Did you walk out on him as I did, doing so right after dinner?", asked Nina, with Connie holding off on answering because Jason was walking towards them.
"Oh, what is this? Conference of the scorned?", asked Jason, his realizing there were two women who both had bad dates with him giving him a "death stare" before he went in to talk to his clients. Once inside, Connie replied to Nina, "I did, so teed-off that I walked from where we had dinner at the South Street Seaport all the way back to my apartment on 50th and 9th."
"Ouch! That's something like a good hour-90 minute walk at least. That had to hurt", then said Nina.
"My legs did hurt some from that long a walk, though I was wearing these so it wasn't too bad. I just skipped my normal running the next day", then said Connie, having pointed to the slippers she was wearing before saying, "Unless it's for something specific, I almost never wear heels on a date because of men like him, usually either these, UGGS or western boots", pointing at Jason, still conferencing with the Fuscos.
"Seriously?", then asked Nina.
"Seriously!", replied Connie, who then said, "That started with one guy who drove me nuts to where I not only ran out, but then my proceeding to walk for something like 3-4 hours, forgetting I had heels on before realizing how sore my feet were and stopping. My grandmother, god rest her soul was still living then and saw how much trouble I had walking for a couple of days after that date asked me why I made myself suffer like that."
"So you lived with your grandmother at the time?", then asked Nina.
"From when I first went to law school right up to when she died a year and a half ago. Didn't mind at all, my grandfather had just died when I moved in with her and it first helped her get through that pain and then I think helped her live longer than she would've otherwise", then said Connie.
"And I assume that was her apartment?", then asked Nina.
"It was. Actually, someone in the family has lived in it for something like 75 years, my grandmother for about 50 of those. It's a turn-of-the-century walkup", then said Connie, referring to a building built at the beginning of the 20th century that actually was for many years across the street from the "old" Madison Square Garden (that ran from 8th-9th avenues and 49th-50th streets and closed in 1968, replaced by the still-current Garden and at the site by a high-rise that is part of the Worldwide Plaza complex that opened in 1988-'89).
"So, I assume it's not only rent controlled, but you pay very little for it?", then asked Nina.
"Very, relatively speaking of course", then said Connie.
"That's good. I still live with my parents in Queens, but that's partially the rents and partially my wanting to save to buy a house. Plus, my family is full of cops, and totally understand what that's like", then said Nina, with Jason then coming out.
"My clients won't talk at all until they're arraigned, other than to say they feel in the end they will get what they think is justice for their daughter", then said Jason.
With that, after finishing on some minor paperwork everyone calls it a night (even if it now was around 7:00 on a Saturday morning).
At arraignment first thing Monday morning, the Fuscos plead Not Guilty by reason of extreme emotional distress, which surprised Connie as she was expecting a straight Not Guilty plea. Bail was set at $350,000 for each defendant and both were ordered to psych exams. James would see George Huang (who normally works with the SVU), while Nancy would see Elizabeth Olivet.
In both cases, the Fuscos would tell George and Elizabeth respectively about the horrors they had been going through since the massacre, including all the nightmares of what happened that fateful day in 1997 that many nights for nearly a decade had kept them awake more often than not. After completing such, George and Elizabeth would reveal their discoveries to Jack and Connie.
Elizabeth would go first: "These are very troubled people. Losing a daughter is one thing, seeing her murdered like she was by Vorgitch is quite another. I'm amazed Mrs. Fusco could hold it together at all for that long. They both had to have snapped when they heard about Robert Purcell being convicted for murdering Vorgitch, and the fact that Dena Carter would not allow the jury to consider the lesser charge of Manslaughter 2. They had to have felt, at least in my opinion that Ms. Carter went too far in her representation and had to suffer the way they had.
George would follow by saying: "That's why I got as well talking with Mr. Fusco. They somehow have managed to function and be able to work and so forth, but what I think happened in that trial set off a rage that made them feel Dena Carter had to suffer for what happened."
"So, they did this in the name of Robert Purcell?", then asked Jack.
Elizabeth then said, "I would say that's what happened. I know he got a reduced sentence for agreeing to testify against Ms. Carter, but to the Fuscos, that was not enough. They had to think the conviction should have been thrown out entirely."
"But we couldn't do that, or we'd have copycats use what Robert Purcell did to justify doing similar kinds of revenge murders. It's unfortunate how he was used in that case, but the law said we had to go through with that", then said Jack.
The conversation continued along those lines for several more minutes before Jack and Connie went to see Arthur.
"It's strange we haven't heard from Dena Carter at all on her daughter being murdered", said Arthur to Jack and Connie as they walked in.
"Not really. Given she was about to stand trial for giving Robert Purcell the weapon that was used in the murder of Leon Vorgitch, she's not going to do anything that would cause her to possibly incriminate herself on that, though her trial I'm sure is likely to now get postponed for quite a while", then said Jack.
"If it ever gets to trial. In light of her daughter being murdered as a direct result of her actions with Robert Purcell and Leon Vorgitch, we may have no choice but to drop those charges", then said Arthur.
"She should still have to stand trial, but given what she's suffered, you're probably right", then said Jack, who was resigned to that possibility, though to that point there had been no word yet from her attorney about demanding such.
At this point, walking in to everyone's surprise was Abbie Carmichael.
"What are you doing here?", asked Jack to his former assistant, with Connie also very happy to see her as during the last of three years Abbie was Jack's assistant, Connie was Abbie's assistant and after that was Alex Cabot's main assistant before Alex C. went into witness protection for two years, then was in the Homicide Bureau as assistant to now-Bureau Chief Susanne Chambliss-Gorton before Jack asked her to replace Susanne's late best friend Lexi as his assistant.
Both Jack and Connie realized quickly this wasn't a social call, which Abbie then revealed, "I'm taking over as council for the Fuscos. They remembered I used to be a prosecutor in this office."
"And one who'd probably be in the same job Alex has by now if you hadn't left five years ago", then said Jack.
"I know. 9/11 changed too much in the US Attorney's Office for my tastes. That's why I left there after a year", then said Abbie.
"Though you have done very well for yourself", then said Jack.
"I can say I have", then said Abbie, who then gave Jack her notice of appearence, saying, "The Fuscos felt I would do better on this particular case, not that they felt Jason was a bad lawyer by any means. He understood", with Abbie then leaving.
"Looks like we're going to be in for a rough ride, though I least I won't have to deal with Jason in court", said Connie.
"I know you and Jason don't exactly like each other", then said Jack, with Connie knowing how he meant it, then saying, "You know as when she's been defense attorney on criminal cases, Abbie's never lost a case."
"I know, something like 10-for-10. I know the only time she's the defense attorney, it's a case like this, where she feels the defendants are the real victims", then said Connie.
"Which explains why Jason understood Abbie taking over. He isn't stupid, he knows Abbie's record in these cases. Same reason she was such an asset to this office, and why I think she could be the DA someday", then said Jack.
"If Susanne doesn't go after that ring and get it first", then said Connie, with Jack getting a chuckle knowing how she meant it given how respected Susanne is in the DA's Office, but also knowing she isn't ready yet to make that big of a step.