-11-

Monday, February 17, 2014

Kris Mackey was back in New York, once again on her own dime. She'd been upstate, visiting a cousin in Peekskill, and had decided to take the train down for the day to brainstorm with Benson and Amaro. There were no new cases they hadn't discussed, but she hoped to get her hands on the files from the Christmas-morning case, and see the location. Electronic records-sharing was a great thing, but for her money, there was no comparison to seeing evidence, walking the crime scene, and just being in the space.

"If you guys are too busy, just point me to the right subway stop and I'll manage," Kris said. "You don't have to babysit me."

"They want to pick your brains as much as you want to pick theirs, I'm sure," Cragen said.

Kris had called Olivia the day before-she'd decided on a whim to postpone her flight and make a trip to the city, and would have gone regardless, but she was glad that Benson had invited her to come to the 1-6. She'd caught the 6:19 train to Grand Central and was at the squad in time for their 8:00 am case briefing. I can come later, she'd offered. I know you'll have other cases to discuss.

No point in that. This damn thing dominates every briefing, anyway, Olivia said. If you can get here in time, we'd appreciate your two cents.

Two cents was about all she had to contribute, but for the low, low price of an extra day of PTO and a $31 round-trip Metro-North ticket, she'd be glad to listen to anything they had to say. Her team in St. Louis was grasping at straws, glad they had no new case to work but spinning their wheels because of it. The FBI obviously didn't take either department seriously in terms of believing they were looking for the same guy, or they'd have all been relegated to supporting roles faster than they could get mad about it.

After the squad meeting, Rollins and Benson took their visitor on a tour of their most recent crime scene, while Fin and Nick worked a case they'd caught while they were pulling weekend duty. Mackey called her partner a couple of times during the day, asking him to check one thing or another in their files as she gathered more information from the two NYPD detectives. The three women chased down a few things that had come to mind as they talked, covering a wide swath of Manhattan and a bit of Brooklyn in the process, but nothing solid materialized.

Just more ghosts, Kris thought. Wasted day.

It wasn't entirely wasted, though, if she really thought about it. She was still working in the boys' club Olivia had spent so many years in herself. Spending a day with the female detectives was a breath of fresh air. Mackey didn't think men or women were inherently better detectives, but she did believe that most women approached problems differently from most men, and a variety of perspectives could only help any investigation. But when it came down to it, all the perspective in the world didn't solve cases. She'd give her right goddamn arm for a solid fucking lead, and that was the truth.

"The Sloane Jansen show?" Alex asked incredulously. "That didn't turn out well for me last time. Perhaps you weren't aware of that debacle."

"I'm more than aware of it," Pam Thomson said. "That's why this is exactly what you need to do. We're controlling the narrative, remember, Alex? You are controlling it, and what better way than to do it on CNN, with a sympathetic figure and an audience predisposed to love you?"

"This is a local election," Alex protested. "I should just do a local interview."

"Tell yourself that if you want," Pam laughed. She was quiet a moment, letting her words sink in. She hadn't regretted saying what she had said in Cabot's office the week before, even when the candidate's silent treatment for a couple of days had convinced her that Joel might be right. She'd thought she might be fired for forcing an issue Alex had been adamant about avoiding, but then Thursday afternoon, Alex had called and acted as if nothing had happened. Their call had been cordial, dealing with campaign business, some speeches Alex had to give, and so on. Before they hung up, Pam had spoken up once again.

So, can I collect on my bet with Joel? she asked.

Which bet is that? Alex replied.

The one in which he said I'd be fired for what I said to you on Tuesday.

Collect your money, Alex said. You're not fired. And you won't be. I pay you because you're the best, and you know what you're doing.

Pam smiled to herself. Then you'll do it? she said. Pull back the curtains and let the light in on this story of yours?

I didn't say that, Alex countered. But I'm thinking about it. That's all I can say.

That's enough.

"Not very many things in New York are really local, Alex," Pam continued. "People know you, at least news show junkies anyway. Christ, Dateline wanted to do an episode on you."

"That was a lot of years ago," Alex said. "And I said no."

"Understandably so. It was all still too raw, I'm sure," Pam said. She was speaking in soothing tones, being agreeable, knowing she had Alex in the right frame of mind, and just needed to ease her into this. "But you're running for office now. People are interested again. I've talked to Sloane, and I think this is the way to go. She'll talk about your campaign, other things, and then, when the conversation flows naturally in that direction, she'll walk you through it. She wants to do two hours, make it a thoughtful interview."

"Two hours?"

"It's exactly what we want, Alex. She wants to do it right, not go for the headline-grabbing sensationalism. You couldn't be in better hands."

"When will we do this?"

"Tonight," Pam said. Alex just looked at her incredulously. "Your schedule is open, it's a slow news day, and the sooner the better. You know that. You need to do this while there's time for it to make a difference, but more importantly, you need to do this before you change your mind."

Alex considered the words only briefly, then visibly stiffened her spine and nodded. "Fine, let's do it."

"It's the right thing to do," Pam said, her voice calm and reassuring even as she pulled her phone out and went to the recent calls to pull up Sloane Jansen's number. "And just look at it this way. In a few hours, it'll be over."

"It won't end there," Alex said knowingly.

"No, it won't. There will be other requests for interviews, and we will decide if and when any of those are granted. It does open it up for discussion, but I've looked at it from every angle, and there's absolutely no way that any of your opponents could use this against you. Any mention of your time in Witness Protection only serves to make you look better," she said. Jansen must've picked up, because Pam hastily finished her thought. "I don't see a downside."

Alex saw a downside, but it wasn't something she could articulate. There was a sense of opening the closet doors and looking under the bed, checking the house because you heard a noise, and you're the adult now, and who else is going to do it?

She was going to throw the door open on her life, and she could only hope that it let the light in, rather than unleashing the darkness that was still there. Everyone had to face their own demons, and every demon had to be dealt with in its own way. Alex had spent the past few years flipping on every light, checking on every noise, clearing the monsters out of every corner of her life. She was afraid, though. There were some that you couldn't find that way, couldn't scare off with a baseball bat or a gun or a simple incantation or charm.

There were ghosts, and those only came out in the dark.

"Tonight?" Liv asked. "You're going to go on CNN tonight?" It was already 5, and sunset was just a few minutes off as the temperature dropped.

"Apparently so," Alex replied. "I foolishly agreed to an interview in principle before thinking to ask the when question."

"That's not like you," Olivia laughed. "You never ask a question without knowing the answer…"

"And never answer one question without knowing what the next one will be," Alex finished. "Yes, I know. See, Liv? I'm no good at this campaigning stuff. I'm forgetting the basic tenets of my existence."

"You're just fine, honey," Liv reassured her. She and Rollins were headed back to the precinct, having dropped Kris off to do a little shopping before she caught her train back to Peekskill. "Are you sure you want to do this, though? You're prepared to discuss it all?"

"As prepared as I'll ever be," Alex replied. "But…"

"There's a but," Olivia said. "That's my girl."

"Can you be here for the taping?" Alex rarely asked Olivia for that type of moral support. "I won't be home first. I have an early dinner thing and then I'm doing the second and third hours of her show, starting at 9, so hair-and-makeup at 8."

"Absolutely, I'll be there," Olivia said. "I'll meet you there by 8...8:30 at the latest. Just make sure Pam leaves my name on the list."

"Will do," Alex said, and Olivia heard a smile in her voice for the first time in a while. "Thank you, baby. You don't know how much this means to me."

They signed off and Olivia turned her attention to Rollins. "My wife is going to be on the Sloane Jansen show tonight. If you're very nice to me, I can get you an autograph."

Amanda laughed. "You're making jokes, Benson, but it sounds a little more serious than that."

"She's going to talk about her time away," Olivia explained.

"Her time away." Amanda said the words slowly, like she'd tasted something and couldn't decide if she liked it or not. "You mean Witness Protection."

"Yeah," Olivia said. "She usually calls it away, just like that. When I was away. She's made a lot of progress, but more often than not, she still falls back on that little euphemism when it comes up in conversation."

"How often does it come up?"

"Less often lately," Olivia allowed. "I think she's dealing with it. God knows she's turning over every rock trying."

"Well, this ought to help," Amanda said. "Sloane Jansen loves to turn over rocks."

"That's the truth," Olivia laughed ruefully.

Neither of them felt like speculating about what might come crawling out from under rocks that had been undisturbed for so long.

Olivia had been helping Munch chase down some leads by phone for Fin and Nick, while Amanda tried to knock out some DD5's. Cragen came barreling out of his office at 6:45, looking around the bullpen as he walked, seeing only Munch and the two of them. Olivia hadn't even realized he was still there so late.

"Detective Benson, where's your partner?"

"Upper West Side, Captain," she said. "He and Fin are interviewing witnesses from that rape they caught Sunday."

"Well, then, it's Ladies Night. Rollins, you go with Benson on this one. I'll be right behind you. Munch can round up Fin and Amaro."

"Everyone?" Amanda asked. She knew, but asked anyway. "What is it?"

"Our guy," he said. "Or a damn good copycat."

"Where?" Olivia asked.

"That's the best part, Detective. The body was found in the same spot as our Christmas victim."

"We were there early this morning," Amanda said.

"Exactly, Rollins," Cragen said. "Either our boy has a sick sense of humor, or…"

"Or he's watching us," Olivia finished. She knew as the words came out of her mouth that they were the truth. It didn't make sense. There was no particular reason for them to have spent that day, of all days, touring the scene of a two-month-old crime. But they had been, and now, less than 12 hours later, they had another body.

She grabbed her coat without another word, and walked out of the precinct with Rollins on her heels. Once they were in the car, she dialed her phone. The call was answered on the first ring.

"What is it?"

"Are you on the train?"

"I am," Mackey replied. "Just passed Ossining."

"How appropriate," Olivia said. "Get off at the next stop and come back. Text me your ETA. I'll have a uni pick you up at Grand Central. Assuming you want to, that is."

"Another one?"

"In the exact same fucking spot," she spat out. "The son of a bitch saw us. He's playing us, Kris. He's watching us."

"I'll see you there," Kris said. "You couldn't keep me away."