Tuesday 16th June
The Kitchen, Washington School
Mrs Deveraux's ample girth made her look like a woman who sampled plenty of her own cooking and knew how to keep the bellies of nearly three hundred boys satisfied.
She wiped a tear from her eye as she spoke.
"Such a lovely young man...but no Detective we didn't send out any food to the baseball game. They only play three innings in these matches and it was just some sliced oranges and juice. There's a fountain near the changing rooms for any wanted water. And before you ask there is no way Justin could have got nut traces via the knife used on the oranges. Usual hygiene aside we have five kids with nut allergy but Justin is...was...the only one had a problem with tree nuts so we know to be careful."
"I'm sure you do Mrs Deveraux" said Logan who had already seen notices in the kitchen regarding the cleaning and storage of knives between use.
A chart she had on the wall listed each boy with a food allergy or religious diet and beside it that week's menu showed the alternative dishes for each of them.
"Did Justin ever have a reaction you know of while he was at school?"
"Just once. Peanuts or things like hazelnuts are most likely to be used in cookies, cakes or maybe pies. The most junior kids wait their tables for the others. A new cadet got the numbers muddled up and a plate of cookies with ground coconut went to Justin's table by mistake. Soon as he bit in I think he knew and of course he carried that pen thing all the time. Gave himself a shot and was well enough to finish supper as I recall"
Duvall's suspicion of anaphylactic shock, supported by Goren at this stage, as possible cause of death made sense when you knew Justin Toomey was highly allergic to tree nuts as opposed to the more commonly known one to ground or peanuts. But like Bobby, Mike had seen such allergic reaction. Knew how quickly it could happen. The substance didn't even have to reach the stomach for it to take effect.
Which raised the question of how the dead boy came into contact with it? He was effectively alone for about forty minutes according to the timeline Bolt had given them. From when the other baseball players left the locker room, when Justin was still doing his laps of the track, to when the Captain went in search of him when he failed to appear at his table in the dining hall.
They had searched the bag in the locker room. Found no kind of food or ingredients of any type inside. But two full, unused "epipens" were there. Exactly what you would expect from a kid who knew he was highly sensitive and had a matter of seconds to receive a shot of adrenaline could be the difference between life and death.
Now they had CSU support on site, a search was being made of trash cans in that area for any candy or energy bar Justin might have mistakenly eaten. But what had puzzled Goren about the gym bag was that the bottom and side showed a couple of damp patches. Still detectible in this heat thanks to the insulating qualities of that building where Justin died. Which tended to suggest at some point it had been the "wet" or shower side of the changing rooms. And if so, either Justin changed his mind and moved it out or someone else did. With the result that when he felt the effect of his allergy coming on as he showered, Justin would have been very lucky to make it to his bag to use the life saving epipen before he passed out.
The Library, Washington School
Goren sat in his shirtsleeves grateful for the breeze the high windows of the room were somehow catching. In the original building, it could have been the library of a gentleman's club with the dark panelled walls and the only concession to modernity were half a dozen computers in one corner. He'd not taken the chance to scan the shelves but he suspected they were high in content of the military and historical nature and short on anything which might give rise to radical ideas or dangerous thinking in the young. Many branches of the military and quasi military were not so much "neo-con" as "always con".
He was flipping quickly through Justin Toomey's file, grateful Bolt had not questioned the legitimacy of him seeing it without a whole lot of red tape and thus avoiding another confrontation with Harriman. The kid had been here since he was thirteen and a cursory look suggested his grades were good. Very few "offences", successful in sporting activities and reports to indicate he set the sort of example and showed the kind of leadership, expected of a potential officer.
He was just getting to the current section when Mike returned. Bearing a plate of sandwiches courtesy of Mrs Deveraux and followed by that kid met them at the front. Seemed he was the duty "orderly" for the day and he came with a jug of iced tea and two glasses.
"Thanks son" said Goren suddenly realising his stomach walls were meeting and it was growling a little.
"Captain Bolt is rounding up the two baseball squads" said Logan as the door shut.
"Ungh"
It's hard to enunciate clearly with a mouthful of BLT on wholemeal.
Logan swallowed "Would you send a kid of yours to a place like this?"
"Never in million" chewed Goren. "Don't doubt it suits a few, may even straighten out some of the bad boys but with a few exceptions the military is not set up to encourage independent thinking"
"Never understood why you did it then Bobby"
"Military police is very different to the infantry and...and just say...I had other reasons"
Logan suspected he knew what they might be. Goren never spoke much of personal matters but Mike knew he'd had it rough as a kid with his father running off, his mother's mental illness and an increasingly feckless older brother in Frank. There must have been times when a very heavy burden fell on Bobby at a very young age. And who could blame him if there was an element of "running away" when he joined up. Getting the chance to see more of the world than any other cop Logan knew and if there was any element of "selfishness" about those years, he'd earned them by then and came back. Became once again his Mom's carer, eventually her main source of financial support and no question forewent many things himself until the day she died.
Mike took another sandwich. "Think one of the bottles was spiked? Seems the most likely source to me. Nasty prank went very badly wrong?"
"Me too. There is one possibility though"
"Mmm...that Justin deliberately swallowed something containing a tree nut product. Though doing it in the middle of the day and about to take a shower is an unusual scenario for killing yourself"
"Agreed" Goren swallowed. "But it might explain why he moved the kit bag. To get it out of reach? So he could not change his mind at the last minute"
Logan reached for the iced tea. "There's lot of dog don't hunt about the suicide theory"
West 71st Street
Neither Justin nor Mrs Saunders were home when Eames and Stabler arrived at the apartment block. One of those kids almost lost the use of his legs according to the concierge. Luckily for them, if not Benny, he had been on duty Saturday morning covering for a buddy's vacation. He was absolutely certain Judy Morley did not show up that day though he recognised her from times she had arrived with other friends of Will's. They had the decorators in the lobby the previous week so he had spent most of the morning cleaning up odd spots of paint, replacing the furniture and re-hanging the pictures. And when he needed to pee he told Stabler, he locked the front door. Residents had keys and his predecessor had been canned by the Management Committee for forgetting and getting found out three times.
What he did tell them was interesting however. That if Judy arrived or departed via the basement garage for which only resident's had key cards, he would have had no way of knowing if she was in the building.
"By his own admission Will was out in his father's Porsche later that morning" said Stabler softly as they sat on an overstuffed couch to wait.
Eames nodded "And there's the witness said he got the impression Judy might have been looking out for a vehicle. If we can trap him in an outright lie Elliot we'll try and rustle a warrant ASAP. Not give Saunders Junior time to clean up anything he missed or get his Daddy on the case"
"Neither parent has a gun permit by the way" added Stabler "Doesn't mean there is not one but..."
"But however crooked a lawyer is, they rarely own or risk being caught with an illegal gun"
Elliot smiled at that.
Twenty minutes later they had somewhat revised their opinion of Jed Saunders and rapidly concluded it was Marie who was largely responsible for the creation of the spoiled princeling that was their son. Soon as they met in the lobby she was calling her husband and seeking to "protect" Will. Creating the impression he was the most emotionally fragile creature on the Earth and finding a textbook might help them track the movements of a dead girl, a great hardship to him. It was clear from the one side of the conversation they heard, his father was having none of it and expected him to co-operate. And while this was going on the kid stood to one side as casual as can be. Stabler suspected he knew just how to play one parent against the other to get what he wanted.
As soon as they entered the apartment Mrs Saunders simply abandoned her son. Started complaining to the maid about a couple of drooping flowers in the arrangement in the hallway and excused herself to go deal with a couple of urgent telephone calls. Where to have coffee or go shopping tomorrow Eames suspected as they followed Will to his room on the upper floor.
"It was this one" he said pointing to the book as instructed by Eames.
"That's a biology text" said Stabler "You told me it was history"
The kid's face turned pale as he realised he'd been caught out in a casual lie but he tried to cover it.
"Oh yeah...that one then"
Elliot removed it with a gloved hand into an evidence bag.
"You do realise Will" he said quietly. "If we don't find Judy's prints on this you will have more explaining to do?"
"Sure" he shrugged. "But like I told you Saturday was a really messed up day. I might have made a mistake. Got confused"
Just then the door was pushed open and a cat walked in. A long haired, blue/grey creature. Persian perhaps.
"Oh what a lovely cat" cooed Eames bending down to pick it up. "What's your name then?"
"Springsteen" muttered Will "Mom loves him. He's okay but the cat's a pain in the butt"
Behind him Stabler stared hard at Eames. Not because she was stroking the thing so vigorously but because he remembered the report from trace as well as she did. The hairs found in the lace of Judy's bra. Cat hairs of just that shade from a "long haired breed" and it was an usual location for accidental transfer when the Morley family did not own a cat of any breed and colour.
"Oh dear" sighed Eames as she put "Springsteen" down. "I see one of the problems"
Her green t shirt was fairly well covered with hair.
"This the bathroom? I'll sponge them off"
She ducked in knowing she could rely on Elliot to keep the kid distracted while she placed some of the hairs in a plastic bag and then sponged the rest with tissue. Tissue she went to place in the trash. A trash can she did not have to search hard to find a used condom and which she "accidentally" kicked over. It turned out to have two condoms amongst the other debris.
"Um Will?" she said "Sorry about the mess but do you mind if I take these rubbers?"
"What for?" he asked suspiciously.
"Thought you would know that being a lawyer's son" Stabler hissed in his ear from behind. "Lab can probably get a sample from the outer surface. Find female cells? Enough to do a DNA? You heard of that. If you didn't it's probably in that biology book over there"
"You tipped that over on purpose. That's...illegal...not in plain view..."
"I can see it clearly enough" shrugged Eames. "It was a genuine accident. A bit like your genuine confusion about Saturday. Anyway a judge can always rule it inadmissible later. On the other hand this cat hair on my shirt..."
She took a bag from Elliot and was pulling on a glove, when Will Saunders sighed wearily.
"Okay. I'll tell you what happened. Make a statement. Whatever. But I want my father there"
"Good idea" Eames muttered.
To be continued...