Thank you for reviews for the last chapter. I have to admit I was nervous about posting it in case people thought I'd trivialised her decision, so thank you for your support.
Also, thank you for your kind words about my Uncle and Nan. It turns out that my Uncle was misdiagnosed and doesn't have cancer which is great news. My Nan on the other hand isn't doing so great however, I should mention she has Alzheimer's and is in the final stages of kidney disease so is in pain and distressed most of the time. Although it is awful to say, it will be a relief for her when she goes and in her very infrequent semi-lucid moments she says she's ready to go too. She's 89 so she's had a good innings!
Anyway, on with the story...
Detective Samuel Morales watched as the CCTV images flicked across his screen. He was beyond bored.
It had been a little over 2 weeks since they had conducted the search of Giovanni Rossi's apartment and he'd been force to have a DNA and STI test. The results of which proved it was his semen that was in Alison McCord's underwear and that both Alison McCord and Giovanni Rossi shared the same strain of chlamydia.
Not only that, but whilst the Techs had been gathering evidence of the sound proof room at Giovanni Rossi's apartment they had also found several high tech devices with spy cameras built in. Alarm clocks, smoke detectors, USB chargers - all inconspicuous everyday items that had built in spy cameras with recording capabilities. Upon investigation it turned out those cameras had been used as part of the security system that monitored his apartment and were top of the range, they recorded images in ultra HD and had the latest technology for precision sound recording.
The alarm system itself was somewhat complicated. The common areas of the apartment were monitored by CCTV 24 hours a day, the bathrooms and bedrooms were monitored in three ways. The first method of monitoring the bedroom and bathrooms was when the intruder alarm was activated and Giovanni Rossi was not in the apartment, then the footage from the CCTV cameras was recorded and monitored remotely. When Giovanni Rossi was in the apartment the footage was not recorded remotely, but rather the images were recorded to a SD card inside the spy camera and the recording would be kept for 48 hours. Apparently Giovanni Rossi felt this gave him privacy whilst allowing there to be some record of what happened in his apartment in case the apartment was broken into whilst he was in residence and he was assaulted, kidnapped etc. The third way in which the cameras could be used was when the audible portion of the intruder alarm was deactivated, but Giovanni Rossi was not in attendance such as when his cleaner or workmen were in the apartment. It appeared that Giovanni Rossi did not trust his staff very much as he used the cameras to monitor what they did.
Forensics had tried to recover footage from the SD cards in the cameras in Giovanni Rossi's bedroom but had not been able to recover anything useful, so the NYPD had subpoened the alarm company for the CCTV footage for the day of the party and the day after in the hope they would be able to find something that could help the case. Sam was now absentmindedly watching the footage from the hundreds of hidden cameras in Giovanni Rossi's apartment. If he didn't know better he would say that Giovanni Rossi was somewhat paranoid about an intruder getting into his apartment as the sheer number of cameras he had was astounding - and he had the pleasure of going through all of them to try and gather some useful evidence for Alison McCord's case. He had just finished going through footage from all of the living room cameras of the apartment and had found useful footage which showed that Alison McCord and Giovanni Rossi had barely had any contact at the party until the drink had been spilt on Alison. Giovanni Rossi could then be seen almost forcing his way through the crowd to get to her before leading her from the living room into his bedroom.
He clicked on the next file and up popped a blank screen. At 7.46am the screen flickered and Giovanni Rossi's bedroom came into view. He checked the time against the intruder alarm log that showed the alarm being set at 7.46am as Giovanni Rossi left the apartment. At 9.00am Mr Rossi's housekeeper deactivated the audible intruder alarm, but as per the specification of the system, the CCTV cameras in the bedroom stayed on. 53 minutes later he watched and heard as the housekeeper cleaned the bedroom and exited. At 11.03am the alarm log showed the audible intruder alarm was once again activated and the image of the room remained unchanged until 5.38pm when the screen suddenly went blank. Sam checked the intruder alarm log and noted that at 5.38pm the intruder alarm system was deactivated as Giovanni Rossi had returned home and the CCTV in the bedrooms and bathrooms was switched off. The screen remained blank until Giovanni Rossi left the apartment at 11.56am the next day and it made Sam's skin crawl knowing what had happened in that room after the CCTV had been deactivated.
Sam clicked on the next file, which turned out to be a view from one of the other cameras in Giovanni Rossi's bedroom, and the same sequence of events happened; the camera clicked on at 7.46am, at 9.53am the housekeeper could be seen and heard cleaning the bedroom, and at 5.38pm the CCTV camera was deactivated entirely. The next 4 files showed exactly the same routine from different views of Giovanni Rossi's bedroom.
Releasing a sigh of frustration, Sam clicked on the next file and jolted in surprise when he saw Giovanni Rossi standing in his bedroom in nothing but a towel. The time on the footage read 7.08am and a wave of confusion washed over him. According to the alarm specification the CCTV should have been off, but here he was watching Giovanni Rossi dress himself and exit the room. Sam Morales held his breath as the footage continued to roll and followed the same schedule as the other cameras in his room however, at 5.38pm the camera did not deactivate. He watched as Giovanni Rossi entered his bedroom and stripped before going into his ensuite. 20 minutes later he exited in nothing but a towel and dressed himself for the party. The room remained unchanged and silent until 11.48pm when he heard the door open and voices were picked up on the audio. His heart rate increased and his breath caught in his throat as he recognised the two voices and he promptly hit pause on the footage.
"Erica!" he exclaimed as he turned towards his partner.
"What?" she replied distractedly as she too was working her way through the CCTV footage.
"Come here" Sam demanded. The tone of his voice caught his partner's attention and immediately sparked her curiousity. She wheeled her chair over to his desk. Her brow knotted in confusion as she looked at Giovanni Rossi's bedroom and noted the time on the footage.
"Sam, why is there an image of the perp's bedroom on your screen?" she queried in a bewildered tone.
"I don't know, but this camera doesn't click on and off like the others. Maybe it's broken, I don't know, but here, just listen and watch" Sam stated seriously as he removed one of the ear buds from his ear and passed it to his partner.
He pressed play and together the two detectives watched as the figures of Alison McCord and Giovanni Rossi entered the screen. They listened as Alison McCord sweetly thanked Giovanni Rossi for letting her borrow a shirt, gratefully accepting the item as he retrieved it from a drawer and she made to move towards the ensuite bathroom before she was blocked by Giovanni Rossi. They watched the surprise register on her face as he tried to kiss her and she pushed him away. Both detectives listened and watched intently as she told him she wasn't interested and tried to move towards the door, only to be blocked by Giovanni Rossi as he intimidated her, eventually trapping her against the bed before he pushed her on it. Sam and Erica watched and listened with disgust and pity as Alison screamed for help and struggled against the 6 foot man who was pinning her to the bed. They watched as Giovanni Rossi reached into his bedside cabinet and retrieved a set of handcuffs that he used to restrain Alison McCord to the bed and their hearts broke as they saw her freeze in fear. The audio quality of the camera was so precise that their stomachs turned as they heard Alison McCord beg Giovanni Rossi not to hurt her in a voice barely above a whisper.
And then they watched and listened as Alison McCord was raped.
The girl had never stood a chance.
Detective Erica Johnson stood impatiently in the elevator of the plush Chelsea office complex which served as the corporate HQ of Giovanni Rossi Enterprises, an arrest warrant in her possession.
After what she'd witnessed on the CCTV footage she could not wait to arrest the bastard that was Giovanni Rossi.
She was looking forward to hearing his explanation as to how his semen had been found in Alison McCord's underwear after denying he'd ever had sex with her. She was even more interested to hear how both Alison and he had the same strain of chlamydia.
But what she was most looking forward to was his reaction to the CCTV footage they had obtained from his broken spy camera - that evidence alone had been enough for a magistrate to sign the arrest warrant she now held in her hand.
"Ready?" she asked her partner, Sam Morales, as the elevator dinged and the door slid open.
"Yep" Sam replied happily. Ever since watching the CCTV footage he had been looking forward to this day and he could not wait to arrest this son of a bitch - and if he had perhaps mentioned to a journalist friend of his that they would be making an arrest at this location at approximately 10.30am today, well, what came out of his mouth after a few beers couldn't be helped...
"Ma'am, there's something you need to see" Daisy Grant informed her boss, a sense of deja vu washing over her as she stood in the doorway to the Secretary of State's office "It's of a personal nature"
Elizabeth McCord's blood ran cold at the use of those words and her hand stopped mid-signature. The last time Daisy had said those words her family life had come tumbling down.
"What is it, Daisy?" she asked in a serious tone, noting that Daisy was carrying the Tablet of Doom.
"This has just come in" Daisy replied in an equally serious voice as she approached her boss and clicked play on the news report she had just become aware of.
"The fashion world was rocked this morning as Giovanni Rossi was arrested..."
Elizabeth let out a sad, heavy, sigh as the news item finished. Alison had been doing so much better the past 2 weeks since she had made a decision about her pregnancy. She was interacting much better with Henry and Jason, she was eating again - albeit the only thing she could keep down were pancakes - she'd been spending more time socialising with the family rather than just hiding away in her room, and she had even started making tentative contact with her old school friends. She'd started to see the old Alison appear and it had given her hope for the future. Although the news of Giovanni Rossi getting arrested was good news, she feared it would send Alison spiralling back to how she had been before.
"Ma'am the White House has just called" Blake announced as he entered her office disturbing her reverie "You're needed in the Situation Room urgently. There's been a development in Pakistan".
Elizabeth cursed to herself. Alison was home alone and she didn't want her to be alone when she got this news. Henry was in lectures, Stevie had spent the night at Jareth's, and now she had to go to the White House. It was times like this she wished she was a college professor again when getting home to Alison would simply have meant cancelling a class, but she couldn't blow off the President when things in Pakistan were in such a delicate state.
"Ok" she stated in a resigned, frustrated, tone. She would just have to call Alison on the way to the White House.
Stevie McCord dashed through the front door of her parent's home having spent the night at her fiancé's. Although she loved spending time at Jareth's apartment, last night had not exactly been restful and she was tired, hungry, and running late for class. She'd only popped home to grab a text book she'd forgot to take with her yesterday and she ran upstairs to get it, heading back down the rear stairs to grab a drink and a snack on her way out. She was surprised to find the TV on in the kitchen and her younger sister making pancakes.
"How you doing, Ali?" she asked with concern noting how pale her sister looked.
Alison groaned in response "This morning sickness is killing me. 3 hours I sat by the toilet this morning!"
"The doctor said it should start to subside soon, didn't she?" Stevie queried.
"Yeah, a couple more weeks and I'll have reached the second trimester then it should st..."
"Alison?" Stevie asked in a panicked tone as her sister dropped the spatula and turned even paler.
Stevie followed her sister's gaze to the TV screen and suddenly she understood.
"The fashion world was rocked this morning as Giovanni Rossi was arrested..."
The scene on the TV filled Stevie with both anger and joy. Giovanni Rossi was being lead out of an office building in New York in handcuffs by the detectives who had been at the house the night Alison had confessed to having been raped, news cameras and photographers snapped his picture as he was lead towards the waiting police car. The expression on his face was one of pure rage and indignation.
"This is a mistake! The NYPD will pay for this!"
"You doing ok, Ali?" she asked her sister in concern turning her attention back to her.
Alison could not take her eyes of the screen. Relief, anger, disgust, shock, and fear coursed through her. "I think I need to sit down" Alison whispered as she felt her knees buckle.
"Ali!" Stevie yelled in alarm as she saw her sister waver. In a second she was by her sister's side and helping her to the kitchen table chairs.
"Put your head between your knees and breath deeply" she instructed as she gently pushed Alison forward and then quickly dashed to the sink to get her sister a glass of water.
"Here, drink this when you feel ready" she instructed Alison as she placed the glass of water on the table.
She heard her phone vibrate against the kitchen counter and groaned internally as she reached to pick it up. She did not have time to take a call, she needed to look after her sister!
"Hello?" she answered distractedly as she watched Alison slowly sit up.
"Noodle?!" came her mother's frantic voice.
Confused Stevie took the phone away from her ear and realised that it was her sister's phone she had picked up, not her own.
"Alison!" she heard her mother call again.
"Calm down, Mum, it's just me" she responded calmly as she waved her arm at her sister in an attempt to get her to drink the water.
"Stevie?" Elizabeth queried.
"Yeah it's me"
"I thought you were at Jareth's? What are you doing with Alison's phone" Elizabeth asked in confusion.
"I forgot a book and came home to grab it. I picked up Alison's phone by accident when you called" Stevie informed her mother as she went to sit by her sister and rub her back soothingly "It's mum" she whispered to Alison who simply nodded in response.
"Is she there?" Elizabeth asked her oldest daughter frantically.
"Yeah, she's here."
"Good. Tell her not to watch the TV or turn on the radio, or go online until your Dad or I get home. Something happened today and..."
"Giovanni Rossi got arrested" Stevie interrupted her mother.
"You know?" Elizabeth asked crestfallen.
"Yes, we've just seen it on the news" Stevie informed her mum.
"Is Alison ok?" Elizabeth asked worriedly.
"I'm putting you on speaker" she informed her mother "Ali, it's mum" she prompted gently.
Alison looked up confused at her sister.
"On the phone" Stevie prompted softly, relieved to see that some of the colour had returned to her sister's face.
"Hi Mum" Alison croaked.
"Hey Noodle. Stevie told me you've heard about Giovanni Rossi's arrest, you doing ok?" Elizabeth asked in a soft, mothering, tone.
Was she doing ok? She felt shaky and startled, but she was ok she realised. She was just shocked the police had actually arrested him, that the NYPD believed her story and he was going to get punished. She felt relieved and it was starting to occur to her just how scared she'd been of bumping into him again, even though they lived hundreds of miles apart. She felt a strange sense of freedom. Alison was just about to respond to her mother when the fire alarm starting ringing.
"What's that?!" Elizabeth exclaimed in a panicked tone as she heard ringing in the background.
"The pancakes!" Alison exclaimed as she leapt up from the chair and ran to the stove to remove the pan.
"It's ok, mum" Stevie acquiesced as she waved a tea towel in front of the smoke detector to stop it going off "Alison was cooking pancakes when the news report came on TV and we forgot to take them off the stove"
Alison looked longingly at the burnt pancakes in the charred pan and was suddenly overcome with emotion.
"The pancakes!" she wailed as tears started flowing from her eyes.
Stevie looked at her sister in shock as she started crying over...pancakes.
"Ali?" she queried.
"The pancakes are ruined! And the pan! They're the only things I can eat!" she sobbed.
"Noodle?" came their mother's concerned voice over the phone.
Simultaneously Stevie took the phone of speaker and moved to pull her sister into a hug.
"Mum, she's crying over pancakes!" Stevie exclaimed in a disbelieving whisper as she held her sister tightly as her shoulders heaved in heavy sobs.
"Pancakes?" Elizabeth asked in confusion.
"Yeah, the pancakes she was making are burnt and I think the pan is destroyed too" she whispered which caused Alison to cry harder against her.
Elizabeth couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face as she heard Alison's cries in the background "Stevie, I think Alison's pregnancy hormones are starting to kick in." Boy did she remember those suckers and she was glad that she wouldn't have to go through those ever again, although she wasn't sure she was going to enjoy being on the receiving end of Alison's.
"What do I do?" Stevie hissed.
Elizabeth sighed. She wasn't entirely convinced that Alison's tears were because of the pancakes, but if that's what was holding her daughter together and if that belief would keep her daughter somewhat calm until she could get home, then she'd take it. "I've got to go to the White House, but I'll try to get hold of your dad..." she replied in a resigned tone.
"Dad's got lectures all day" Stevie replied. She looked down at her distraught sister who kept looking at the charred pan with an expression of longing and distress and made a decision. "It's ok, I'll stay with her"
"But you have class..." her mum started to argue.
"It's only one class and I'm already 15 minutes late, I can get the notes from someone else. Team McCord, right?" she replied, hoping her mum would understand her subtle message.
At Stevie's words a wave of love and gratitude washed over Elizabeth. Whilst she hated the fact her eldest daughter would be missing out on her education, she was glad that Stevie was there for her sister. "Team McCord, right." she replied softly. "Thanks Stevie."
Stevie hung up the phone to her mum and gently pulled her sister away from her. "Come on, get dressed. Let's go out for pancakes and get a new pan" she informed her sister. "We're having a girls day..."
Because of my job I have a limited knowledge of how intruder alarm systems work and the system I described at the beginning of the chapter is technically possible - well, at least in the UK it is and I'm going to presume the USA has similar technology.
Oh, and it occurred to me this week that at the end of Season 2 the Prime Minister of Pakistan was murdered and the country practically collapsed, yet they haven't mentioned it at all in Season 3 so far. Therefore I decided to use Pakistan as the country in crisis as surely there would be fall out from the Prime Minster being murdered?
Reviews welcome!
