"My first identity was Karen Cooper, kindergarten teacher, in a small town just outside of Atlanta. I spent the entire drive down there from New York and the two days I had before I started teaching studying who I was."

Casey smiled as she took a bite of her chicken parmesan. She was doing her best not to stare at the beautiful woman sitting across from her, but it was nearly impossible. Alex was wearing a deep red spaghetti strap dress with a simple yet elegant diamond necklace and tennis bracelet. Her hair was straightened and hung down around her shoulders. "That must have been hard," she forced herself to say. She didn't want to get caught staring.

"I studied those notes every night for weeks," Alex admitted. "I was so afraid I was going to forget a detail or get one wrong. It didn't really matter though, because by the time I was positive I knew all the details, I had to move again." She took a long sip of wine and shook her head. Cassandra Novak was stunning in her black halter dress, with her long hair hanging behind her shoulders. Alex found her incredibly easy to talk to. The wine was definitely helping, but she had a feeling most of it had to do with Casey's engaging personality. "But enough about me. Tell me about you."

"Well, I guess you know how long I've been here. I started about two weeks after you died. And when I first arrived, everyone was less than friendly. Trust me when I tell you that I was very much not wanted."

Alex shook her head. "That doesn't sound like them at all. What, did you do something to piss them off? Rumor has it you can be quite stubborn."

"Only thing I did wrong was not be you."

Alex choked on her food. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, please. You had everyone in the precinct in love with you. I was new and inexperienced. You were their friend and you had a lot of experience and history with them. Now why on earth would they want me around instead of you?"

Alex looked away nervously. She hadn't expected such a confession. "Well, I'm uh, I'm glad I was at least a little difficult to replace."

"You're not difficult to replace, Alex. You're impossible to replace."


Casey walked into the precinct quickly. She had gotten an urgent call saying she needed to get down there ASAP. Apparently they needed to search a rape suspect's car. "Tell me you have enough evidence for a warrant."

"Our witness described the attacker as a white male, early thirties, with brown hair and green eyes. Said the victim was dragged into a light blue Chevrolet sedan, but she wasn't sure which model it was. Our victim's neighbor meets this description and drives a light blue Chevrolet Corsica."

"Can anyone place him at the crime scene?"

Elliot hesitated. "There were prints on the duct tape he used, but they don't match anyone in the system. That's it though, because the victim was grabbed, pulled into the car, and the car sped away. All we really have is the dumps site."

"Okay, does he have an alibi?"

"Claims he was at the movie theater. He provided a ticket stub for the 7:30 showing of Alice in Wonderland. The theater just so happens to be seven blocks from the dump site though. Nobody at the theater specifically remembers seeing him, but it was opening night of the movie, so that's not too surprising. They'd have trouble picking out anybody from that night."

Casey sighed. "Does he have any connection to the victim?"

Olivia shook her head. "Just that they live on the same street. He claims he doesn't know her."

"So nobody can place him at the crime scene, he has no motive, he has a ticket stub that proves he was at least at the theater at 7:30. What's the time of death?"

Olivia flipped through the file on her desk. "Warner says between eight and midnight. The movie was over by 9:30 if you give ten or fifteen minutes of previews."

"Any idea where our guy went after the movie?"

"Witnesses placed him at a bar at 9:45."

"The bar three blocks from the movie theater?"

Olivia nodded. "He had opportunity. All he had to do was buy a ticket to create an alibi. Then he had two hours until he had to be at the bar to establish his second alibi."

Casey paced back and forth, trying to put together everything they had told her. The only thing the suspect and the victim had in common was that they lived on the same street. The victim had been kidnapped, raped, strangled, and dumped in the park. Everything happened within eleven blocks of the movie theater. She just couldn't figure out what Blake Ryan had to do with Keely Smith. "Does he have any priors?"

"Nope. We ran his name and nothing came up."

Casey nodded and walked towards the door. "We've got nothing, guys. Sorry."

Elliot stood up from his desk and started towards her. "Casey, this guy's dirty. He did it."

"And until you can get me some evidence that proves it, I can't do anything for you."


"Please tell me that's not office coffee," Casey said with a sigh. Alex was standing in her doorway with two cups of coffee in her hands. "And then you can tell me why you're here."

"Coffee shop, down the street." Alex placed a cup in front of Casey and sat down in the chair next to the desk. "Let me guess. They don't have enough evidence but they're blaming you because you can't get them a warrant."

Casey took a sip of the coffee and smiled, pleased that it wasn't the sludge the office called coffee. "That's pretty much it. Though I guess you've been in this position more often than I have."

"I thought your Peter Anderson case was rock solid."

"No, that one I've got. Anderson tried to rape another blind woman. She got away and took a chunk of his hair and scalp with him. His ass is mine."

"Awesome. I love it when that happens. What's this new case?"

"Uh, I can't really talk to you about open cases."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, I know. I'm no longer an officer of the court. I'm just curious."

Casey decided to indulge her. She knew being away from her cases would be difficult, and it was only normal for Alex to be curious. "A woman was kidnapped, raped, strangled, and dumped in the park. Witness described the attacker and the car. The victim's neighbor matches the description and has a car similar to the one the witness saw."

"But he's got an alibi. It's probably shaky, but he's got one. No real connection to the victim. No apparent motive, though motive doesn't always exist in these kinds of crimes. How am I doing so far?"

"So far so good."

"I've gotta say that's the part of the job I don't miss. Trying to get warrants when I've got no evidence to get them."

"Yeah, they're not very happy with me right now. I'm planning on going over my notes with a fine toothed comb tonight. I know they've given me everything they've got. Now I have to see if I can make sense of it."

Alex nodded and sat back in the chair. She almost missed working these cases. Then she reminded herself that it was these cases that nearly got her killed. Still, she couldn't help but want to participate a little. "Why don't we go out for a drink? I'll pick over your notes and see if I can find something."

Casey hesitated, and found that she was more nervous to have drinks with Alex than she was to show her the case file. That surprised her. "Alex, I don't know."

"You know none of what's in that file will get out. Come on, Casey. Let me look. If I can't be the ADA anymore, maybe I can be the ADA's assistant."

Casey sighed and looked down at the stack of papers in front of her. She knew what evidence she had and she hadn't been able to put anything together. Without a warrant, Andrew Conroy was going to walk. "These notes are all I've got. I'd rather not risk taking them out and discussing them in public."

"Okay, your place or mine?"

"Uh, beg your pardon?"

Alex laughed. "I know you don't want to spend all night here in your office. If you don't want to go out to a bar or restaurant, the only logical place to go is either your place or mine."

Casey smiled. The woman had a a point. And fuck she was hot. There was no denying that. "Do you even have a place yet? You've only been back for two weeks."

"Uh, yeah. It's one of the...benefits of being a Cabot. I've got a town home in Manhattan." She shrugged and shook her head. "But if you're more comfortable at your place, we can certainly go there."

"My apartment's being renovated. Guy above me tried to flush a bunch of heroin down the toilet and it clogged. Then it overflowed. Then it leaked into my living room. He's getting new flooring. I'm getting a new ceiling and couch."

"Damn. Let me know if you need any help with that."

Casey looked up from her notes, surprised and a bit taken aback by the offer. "I'm fine. The repairs aren't coming out of my wallet and a new couch isn't that expensive."

"Well then, Miss Novak, why don't you accompany me to my place to have a few drinks and go over your severe lack of evidence?"

This was new territory for Casey, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. Everyone before had usually been interested in only thing: sex. Guys didn't like to talk at all, while some of the women liked to chat a bit, but sex was always the goal. Alex seemed different. She couldn't explain why, but she felt it. Alex definitely didn't feel like she was just after sex. "Okay," she said softly. "Your place it is."


Olivia and Elliot were just about to sit down for dinner – lasagna fresh from the freezer – when Olivia's phone rang. She rolled her eyes, annoyed at how often their dinners were interrupted. "Benson."

"Hey, Liv, it's Casey."

"Oh hey, Case. What's up?"

"Do you have a minute?"

"Uh yeah, hang on a sec." She excused herself from the table, mouthing a quick "sorry" to Elliot, and walked into the bedroom. "You okay?"

"Alex brought me coffee tonight. Then she offered to go over my notes to see if she could come up with anything." She swallowed and started pacing around her office. "She offered to take me out for drinks. I...I think she's trying to ask me out on a date."

Olivia laughed. "Do you want to date her?"

"I don't do dating."

"Why not?"

"Olivia, you know why not."

"Casey, take her up on the offer. See what happens."

"Olivia –"

"Don't argue with me, Casey. You've dated before and you know it. Now I know things didn't work out in the past, but you picked some real losers back then. Alex...she's not like anyone you've ever met. If you're at all interested, give her a chance. And know that she's...she's safe, Casey. Go out with her. You might be surprised."

Casey swallowed nervously. "She just texted me. She's outside waiting."

"Go, Casey," Olivia urged.

"Okay. Wish me luck."

"Have fun, sweetie. Call me if you need anything, no matter what time it is." She hung up and slipped her phone back into her pocket. Casey was nervous, and Olivia knew she had good reasons to be. Her past was a terrifying nightmare, and Olivia hated that her friend had been through so much. She would do anything to help her.

"Who was that?" Elliot asked as Olivia walked back out into the dining room.

"Casey."

"Everything okay? You seem a little upset."

"Yeah. She's okay. Alex may have asked her out on a date. Casey wasn't really sure if it was a date or if Alex just wants to hang out."

Elliot took a slow, deep breath and put his napkin in his lap. He only knew the bare bones of Casey's past, and that was enough to understand what a date meant to her. "Well that's a tricky situation."

"It is, but I have to say that Alex is probably the safest person for her."

"Assuming Casey's gay."

"I think she is."

"What makes you say that?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. Just how she's responding to Alex. If I know Alex as well as I think I do, she's just trying for friendship first. No way she asks someone out this quickly after meeting them."