Chapter Two
Office of Casey Novak
April 3, 2006
11:45 A.M.
Casey's first reaction was one of confusion. What could possibly be going on that Alex would want to talk to her right now? Usually if it was about a case, Alex would either go directly to Casey's office or leave her a note to come up. If it was something about getting together with Olivia for drinks, it was usually said at the end of the day. And again, it would just be Alex stopping by Casey's office. Not a phone call.
Casey gasped. Was she getting promoted? She stopped herself before she gave her squeal of excitement. That could not be it either. If that was it, the phone call would have been a direct one. It would have been directly from Branch or Alex. But no. This one was from Jim on Alex's behalf.
Casey shrugged as she walked out of her office. She quickly rushed to Alex's. As she did, she had the vague notion that this was not a good thing. The door was closed all the way. She was supposed to be at Alex's office, wasn't she? She gave a small knock at the door.
Jim told her to come inside. Casey did. As soon as she was inside, she closed the door. If it was closed before, she had the feeling that it was done to protect Alex's privacy. She still did not know why. She turned to the two other ADAs in the room.
Alex was sitting at her desk. Her eyes were red from crying or trying not to cry. A couple of crumpled tissues were on her desk in front of her. Casey immediately recognized the look in her boss's eyes. It was the same look that all of the rape victims had - a look of helplessness mixed with confusion. Casey then noticed the burn marks on Alex's face. The one on her forehead looked especially bad. Casey winched slightly at the sight before she pulled up a chair at Alex's other side. "Whenever you're ready," she said soothingly.
Alex nodded, but the words did not seem to form in her mouth. She was still not ready to accept the reality of what was happening to her. She hated admitting that she was a victim. She hated it the entire time when she was in Witness Protection.
Casey said nothing. She kept her hand on Alex's arm for comfort. Jim looked at the two women. He figured that Casey had everything under control. Casey dealt with battered women every day. He did not want to generalize and place Alex into that category, but it was true. Casey had much more experience in dealing with women in Alex's situation. Jim did not want to get in the way. He mouthed a quick "Thank you" to Casey before he left Alex's office. He closed the door behind him.
Alex finally looked up at Casey. "Thank you," she whispered gratefully. "I don't think I could do this with any one else."
"Okay," Casey promised. She did not ask questions. She did not need to. The details she needed, she would receive. "I'll get you a guilty verdict."
Alex nodded. "I know you will, Casey," she said. She drew in a couple of breaths. Could she face this? She had to. She was going to have to face it eventually. She looked over at Casey. "It's my fiancé."
Manhattan Special Victims Unit
April 3, 2006
1:15 P.M.
Robert Sheldon. Casey knew she had heard that name before. As soon as she heard Alex's account of what happened, she rushed back to her office. She dug through her desk until she found the case file she wanted. The file belonging to Robert Sheldon. As soon as she had it, she dialed the SVU to let them know she was on her way over.
"Hey, what's going on," Munch asked upon Casey's arrival. "You sounded pretty serious on the phone."
Casey nodded. "It is serious," she stated. "It's Alex's fiancé, Robert Sheldon. He's abusing her, and I know he's not going to stop until she's dead."
"Come again," Munch said as he pulled Casey over to his desk. "Someone else is after Alex now?"
Casey sighed as she and Munch sat down. "I remembered his name when Alex told me what happened," she started. She handed Munch the file. "Robert Sheldon is this big Wall Street man - lots of money. I got a couple of indictments against him back when I did white collar, but he and his lawyers always managed to make me look like an idiot."
"That's got to suck, but with all respect, how does this relate to Alex?"
"Sheldon's been obsessed with money. It's like a family trait," Casey stated. "And although he is one of the richest men in the city if not the richest, he always feels that he needs more money. In order to get that, he dates the women from wealthy families."
"Alex," Munch muttered softly. He then frowned. "Wouldn't she have known about this little habit before she started dating him? And definitely before she agreed to spend the rest of her life with him?"
Casey shrugged. "That's the thing. It's hard to get an indictment on him for something like this. He works in weird ways. He's the nicest man when he first meets a woman. According to Alex, she was just blown away by how kind he was when they met. He remained kind and normal. They didn't need to eat at fancy places each night. Some days, a McDonalds meal or a slice of pizza would be perfect.
"Then the part that Alex doesn't know," Casey said as her tone changed. "During the early stages when he's being nice, Sheldon's either doing it himself or he hired someone to see exactly how much money the family has, and how much of it goes to the woman he's dating. If it's enough, he'll propose. They'll make an agreement to give each other their inheritance if they should die. That's enough to turn Robert against them. He gets distant, cold, and then violent. In his greed for the money, he most likely ends up killing the girl."
"Alex doesn't know any of this?" Munch asked doubtfully. "You just described a pattern, implying that he's done this before. Wouldn't it be on his record?"
Casey shook her head. "No prosecutor has even gotten an indictment on this guy. He's too careful. He claims all the deaths were accidental. There were never any witnesses to the crime. His alibi is always rock solid, and there's never evidence to prove – or usually even suggest - murder. The jury always believes him. He's the devil."
Munch stood up. "What can we do about it?" he asked her seriously. This was not just any case. It was Alex. There was no time to be sarcastic and make jokes.
"Find out how much the Cabot family is worth," Casey said. "Exactly," she added. "I'm going back to meet Alex and see what she wants to do."