The Questions Begin

Chapter 2

Franklin was a small suburb of Sussex County, located about an hour and a half away from New York City.

Carisi and Rollins were on their way to the crime scene. Carisi had to park on the curb, a way down from Susan Langley's apartment complex because the parking area in front of the building was occupied with police cars.

The victim lived in an older part of town, in a dilapidated apartment building. The white stucco complex had obviously seen better days.

Carisi and Amanda got out of car.

Amanda surveyed the building as she shut the car door, "I had no idea Susan lived in such a rundown place. She obviously didn't quit her job because she hit the lottery."

Even though Carisi had been thinking the same thing, he gave no response to Amanda.

They walked in silence towards the apartment building.

"So is THIS how it's gonna be?" Amanda spoke out at last, "the silent treatment?"

Carisi kept his response short, "What's there to say? You obviously don't want me on the case."

Amanda didn't deny it, "It wasn't my decision to put you on this case, but since we ARE stuck together, we might as well make the best of it!" she turned to look at him, "Truce?"

Carisi knew she was right. Right now he was acting like an idiot and they needed to act as a team.

"Fair enough," he acknowledged as they went up the walkway of the apartment complex.

Carisi tried the front door of the building.

And despite the complex having a push button intercom system, the door easily opened without using the speaker.

"Some security," he sardonically stated as they entered the building.

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The doorway of Susan Langley's apartment had been blocked with police tape. Since the door was left opened, Carisi and Rollins could see several police persons from Sussex County milling about inside.

After going underneath the tape, they went up to the detective who seemed to be in charge of the investigation. That was Detective Trey Wilkerson. He was slightly older than them, with salt and pepper hair and a thick grayish mustache.

He didn't look happy to see two SVU detectives.

"So you're Detectives Rollins,," he stated with a bored look on his face. He then head-gestured towards Carisi, "And who's this, your bodyguard?"

"Yeah, that's right," Carisi deadpanned, standing taller.

Amanda tried to be professional, "I assume my boss had already called you regarding why Detective Carisi and I are here?"

"Yeah, she pulled rank," Wilkerson whined, "and that's the only reason why you're still standing here."

"Look, we're here to help with the investigation," Carisi pointedly stated.

"So far, you're failing miserably," Detective Wilkerson commented. He then took out his notepad and looked over at Amanda, "but I suppose, since you're here-"

"-before I answer your questions," she informed him, "I'd like to take a quick look around."

Amanda was already looking beyond the detective's shoulder into the living room.

Wilkerson had no choice but to pocket his notepad when he no longer had Amanda's attention, "The body's already been taken to the morgue, if that's what you're looking for."

Amanda made a face. That was the last thing she wanted to see, "No, I wasn't looking for that. I wanted to take a look around to get a feel for her residence."

"So you're saying you're a psychic detective?" sneered Wilkerson.

Amanda stared evenly at him, "No, looking around the place will help me understand Sue better. So if you'll excuse me, I'll only be a minute" she absentmindedly stated, as she walked away.

Wilkerson scowled at Amanda's back as he turned to Carisi.

"She always like that?" he wanted to know.

"Like what?" Carisi innocently asked.

"Hmmmph!" Wilkerson grunted, "She better not be messing up my crime scene!"

Meanwhile, Amanda continued to wander around the living room. She tried to ignore the little yellow numbered markers in the middle of the floor where Sue's body had been discovered, especially since there was dried blood all around them.

Usually crime scenes didn't bother Amanda but knowing it was Sue's blood made her stomach churn slightly.

Turning away from the morbid sight, she walked over to observe the pictures hanging on the wall. She knew that personal pictures often revealed a lot about the victim's life.

There were pictures of Sue taken in various years. She basically looked the same throughout the years. Still a blonde, her hairstyle was shorter now, to her shoulders. In addition, there were also pictures of her with a man who Amanda knew was her boyfriend, in several of the pictures. She continued walking and observing the pictures, putting together the life Sue had led.

"Detective Rollins!" Detective Wilkerson's voice seem to boom across the room, interrupting her thoughts, "If you are done with your little picture tour, I'd like to continue my investigation by asking you some questions!"

Amanda turned away from the wall and strode back to where Carisi stood with the detective. She was already getting tired of Detective Wilkerson's antics.

"Alright, what is it you want to know?" she asked him.

The detective brought out his notepad and flipped it open again, preparing to write down her answers.

"How well did you know Susan Langley?"

Amanda shrugged, "We were friends at the precinct. We went out to lunch, probably a dozen times..."

Detective Wilkerson stopped writing and looked at her with disdain, "That's it? You act like you're the Queen of Best Friends, and it turns out that you and the victim were only acquaintances?"

Carisi stepped in, "In case you aren't aware, Detective Wilkerson, Susan Langley didn't have a lot of friends, so Detective Rollins is doing YOU a favor by coming all the way out here to talk with you, and not the other way around!"

"Oh yeah? Well, so far, she hasn't been ANY help!"

Amanda turned to Wilkerson, "You think you can tone down the attitude a little so you could get some answers from me, Detective?"

Wilkerson took in a heaving breath, "Fine, fine," he mumbled, but he didn't sound sincere.

Amanda told the detective everything she knew about Susan Langley, and her work at the Robbery Division. She mentioned that Sue was smart, hard-working, stubborn and ambitious. Unfortunately, all those qualities added up to her male workmates basically avoiding or ignoring her.

"...then roughly two years ago, from out of blue, Sue decided to quit her division," Amanda was saying.

"Did she say why she quit?" the detective asked.

"No, she was being her usual determined, private self, so I didn't push it and just wished her the best."

Detective Wilkerson finished writing. Then he looked up and complained, "You didn't tell me much of anything."

"How about this..." Amanda continued, "Sue had a boyfriend. There's a picture of him on the wall. Maybe he's the person you need to question next."

"...or maybe he was an ex," Wilkerson theorized, "Those pictures you were looking at could be months or even years old. Do you know for a fact that they were together up until she was killed?"

"I'm fairly certain they were together...up until her death..." Amanda's tone faltered at the end. Her friend's death was still so recent.

Detective Wilkerson asked, "When's the last time you spent time with her?"

Amanda thought about it, "Roughly a month ago. We had a very pleasant lunch together."

"A lot could happen in a month's time," the detective told her, "and the way I heard it from a neighbor, their relationship was volatile. This neighbor claimed to have heard some noisy arguments between the two on several occasions, even the night she was killed."

"I already told you that Sue was quite stubborn," reminded Amanda, "so, yeah, they probably had fights. But every couple does. Partnerships are hard. There's a lot of emotional give and take."

For some reason, she avoided looking at Carisi.

"You and Dr. Phil have got it all figured out, don't you?" the detective snidely stated, "So what makes you think she hadn't broken up with the guy if she argued with him so much?"

"Here, let me show you why I think she was still with her boyfriend at the time of her death," Amanda firmly stated.

She then turned and walked back to the area she had been previously standing. Grabbing a picture from the wall, she brought it over.

"See this picture here? The man with her in the photo was her boyfriend. I know that because I had met him a couple of times. If you look closely, the calendar here in the background of this picture is flipped to THIS month, meaning this picture was taken within this last week since we are in the second week of this month."

Detective Wilkerson still didn't look impressed but Carisi was looking at her with admiration.

Meanwhile Amanda ruefully shook her head and mumbled to herself, "It's just too bad I can't remember the boyfriend's name."

But Detective Wilkerson had heard her, as he nonchalantly answered, "His name is Antonio Trentini."

Amanda slowly turned her head towards him with accusing eyes, "You knew his name all along?"

Wilkerson shrugged, "Of course I knew! This IS my investigation, after all. And personally, I don't feel YOU need to know every little detail of the case!"

Amanda was about to give him a piece of her mind until she saw from the corner of her eye, Carisi shaking his head as if to say, "Don't antagonize the guy. He's a jerk, but we need answers."

So Amanda backed down.

"You're right, of course, Detective Wilkerson," she relented, "you don't need to tell me anything about the case, so I appreciate any facts you can share with me regarding the investigation of my friend's murder." she paused as if in deep thought, and then asked, "Do you think, for instance, you could tell me the estimated time that Sue was...murdered?"

When the lead detective hesitated with answering, Carisi added, "As you know, Detective Wilkerson, we know more when departments share information. After all, we both wanna close this case as soon as possible, don't we?"

The detective heaved a sigh, "The coroner estimated the time of death to be between nine and eleven last night."

Carisi then asked, "What was the cause of death?"

The detective sounded bored, "The victim was shot three times, mid-body, close range."

Amanda scrunched her face at that image, thinking how horrible the last seconds of Sue's life must have been.

"Did anyone hear the shots?" she asked.

Wilkerson responded, "No one heard a thing. A silencer was used, meaning the murder was also premeditated."

Amanda felt a cold shiver at that piece of news, "Sue didn't deserve that."

"But we appreciate the heads up," Carisi stated and then added, "You've got a theory yet regarding the case, Detective Wilkerson?"

Wilkerson looked pleased they were asking his opinion at last, "I do, in fact. The night Ms. Langley was killed, she was on her way to party the night away, but unfortunately, the killer caught her unaware and shot her."

Amanda's look was one of disbelief.

"Sue was on her way out to a party?" she questioned, "That doesn't make any sense! The Sue I knew hated parties. She felt they were so fake, so pretentious. How did you know she was ready to go out?"

"It's called using my brilliant detective skills," Wilkerson smugly stated.

"How else did you know?" Amanda sarcastically shot back, which caused Carisi to hide a grin.

Wilkerson stated, "Susan Langley was dressed to the nines the night she was killed. When her body was found, she was wearing a sexy halter dress and high heels. You usually don't dress like that to munch popcorn in front of the TV."

Amanda vehemently shook her head, "No, I'm telling you, she doesn't dress like that and she isn't like that!"

"I'm only stating the facts," Wilkerson told her, "...and here's something else we found..." the detective seemed to get a thrill out of shocking Amanda, "... a number of jewelry was found under her mattress and we already know they didn't belong to her. "

Amanda's eyes flashed with anger now.

"What are you saying?" she challenged, "that Sue stole them?"

"Looks to be that way," Detective Wilkerson concurred, "There had been a number of jewelry thefts of homes in Stanhope and Montegue," he stated, naming two affluent cities nearby, "and the missing jewels matched the description of those taken from the latest heist. We had already digitally sent a couple of pictures of those recovered jewels to one of the robbery victims and she positively identified them as belonging to her."

Amanda looked even more shocked at this latest news.

Her friend was a jewel thief?

Carisi felt bad for Amanda. He wanted so much to reach out to her, to comfort her, but he knew at the moment, he would probably receive a sharp reprimand from her.

"No, that's not Sue!" Amanda insisted, "You're WRONG!"

The lead detective was not convinced.

"Like they say, desperate times call for desperate measures," Detective Wilkerson philosophically stated, "Susan Langley needed money, and she obviously needed it fast...look at this dump she lived in..." he then gave Amanda a smug look, "Guess you didn't know your little lunch friend as well as you thought you did, did you?"

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