A/N: Hello. I would again like to thank you all for you continued and generous support. I have decided onone more chapter after this oneand an epilogue after that. The epilogue will be a little different than the whole Law and Order SVU, but I'm sure once you read it you won't mind. The epilogue is my way of thanking all of my faithful readers and future readers, of this story, for keeping up with me.
Black Knight 03: Thank you so much for your review. I'm sorry I missed acknowledging you in my last two chapters (if you noticed). And, yes, I assure you both Gordo and Miranda will be greatly involved in both the progression and conclusion, in a very exciting way. How? Well just keep reading.
SunRise19: Thanks for keeping up with my story. You're the kind of reader that I'm aiming for, and I consider your continued input invaluable. Thanks, but keep reading and reviewing.
Abuhin: Thanks for your continued support and praise. Don't worry I'll make this good.
LegendaryBlade14: Don't worry, just review when you can. But thanks for your input, I hope this is to your liking.
PsYcHoJo: Thank you so very much for your comments. I aim to please, considering you were one of my first faithful readers. Trust me, it gets SO much better. And if thought the last two chapters were good, wait till you read this.
Lizzie01: Thanks for your continued reading. I know that you thought of what happened to Lizzie distasteful, so thanks even more for sticking with me. Although a friendly warning, this chapter is exciting butdarker.
Celestia Memora: Thanks for your warm comments. I'm like you in a way, as you probably already read from my intro Authors note, this was inspired by MY Lizzie brainwashed little relative (only in my case, it was my cousin, I don't have a sister). So keep reading. I won't disappoint.
Alley Parker: As you already know I really liked your story "Player". Anyways,I'll post a review of your story 'My LMM theory soon, like you asked me to. I already read it, and now I understand where your views come from. But one thing I MUST clear up. Like I said in a previous chapter, I didn't watch the actual movie. I just read more than enough LM fanfiction to understand the picture, so that I could write a Law and Order SVU story on it. Like I also said, if I did, my rep would fall and crash like a rock (Remember, I'm a guy). Also, at first your review of my Chapter 10 seemed like a bit of a flame, but I'm, hoping you didn't intentionally mean it that way (you probably didn't by the looks of it). And to clear up your question, yes, it was a little farfetched (Isabella's justification for her knowing about Paolo) but this was plausible (based on an actual episode of the original Law and Order) and remember, people are not always rational. Thank you so very much, but keep reading and reviewing.
FireSeeker: Thank you for your warm comment. I feel the same way with LM fanfiction, so that's why I wrote this. Please keep on reading, and please review again. Thanks.
T.V./Movie sources I would like to credit: Law and Order SVU (obviously) and the original Law and Order (Dick Wolf is a creative genius); S.W.A.T., Shaft.
Important Note (warning): Like I said in the beginning of the story, this particular chapter will exhibit the worst of human nature. So far, for some this may seem already so, but for especially real Law and Order: SVU followers (like me); this may not seem the case. Well it isn't so far. I must warn that this chapter is the epitome of the very dark and disturbing aspect of a SVU case This is what I mean. I you want to say/comment/suggest anything at all, please review. Please don't stop reading and reviewing.
These concluding chapters are dedicated to the late Jerry Orbach (Det. Briscoe). Jerry Orbach was by far the greatest detective character (played by a great New Yorker) in all of Law and Order history. He by far was New York (both Briscoe and Orbach). Law and Order and New York City will never be the same without you.
Jerry Orbach (Detective Lenny Briscoe): 1935-2004
Anyways enough talk. Paolo has escaped with the NYPD's elite SVU unit on his tail. Can they catch him? Without further adieu, the concluding chapters of…
Innocence Lost- a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit case
Grand Hyatt Hotel
Park Avenue at Grand Central Station
Manhattan
12:12 a.m.
Detectives Benson and Stabler arrive in the penthouse suite, they the officers and CSU already there. They begin to talk to the lead officer as well as the officers who were supposed to be guarding Paolo.
"How the hell did this happen?" Stabler demanded angrily.
The officer in charge begins,
"Paolo's been keeping room service busy since 8 this evening. On his last round he escaped, posed as the room service boy," replied the lead officer, pointing to the dazed boy in his underwear, receiving attention from the paramedics.
"What do you mean," asked Benson.
"The room service boy looked exactly like Paolo, on his last round of room service to Paolo's room. Paolo knocked him out with a paperweight to the back of his head and stole his clothes. Came out with the cart and went downstairs," replied the lead officer.
"And where the hell were you guys," demanded Stabler harshly.
The lead officer relented.
"My partner was on coffee break, and I had to use the can, give me a break, I thought he was the server boy"
"Didn't you look," asked Benson.
"Yeah, I did" replied the lead officer annoyed.
Then Stabler went face to face with him.
"Well you didn't look hard enough…now he's gone, you know how hard it was for us to collar him in the first place," asked Stabler, who was particularly pissed.
"Look, I'm sorry…," replied the officer
"Well sorry won't help now, will it…I want your CID number, as well as your delegate and you CO (the lead officer's boss)" demanded Stabler.
The lead officer relented. He knew he was in real trouble, not only with the department (NYPD), but he knew the press would crucify him as well, because by now the news of Paolo was already public knowledge.
Downstairs…Outside the service exit.
Detectives Briscoe and Green are analyzing the trail that lead to the back door outside. They sum up the possible scenario, after interviewing the few who saw Paolo run and the few security cameras that caught Paolo.
"Alright, so Paolo made it here by the service elevators, and fled out the back."
"Yeah, he dumped his clothes after he got out" Green commented in the overturned cart outside, with the clothes in its bottom shelf.
"Which means, unless our Italian friend's running around Manhattan in his boxers, he hid his clothes in the same shelf, took it downstairs and changed," hypothesized Briscoe.
"And with the kitchen closed, no one saw, not even the janitor." Green reported.
Back at the SVU precinct.
Cragen's giving a briefing to all the SVU detectives as well as the extra officers and Ms. Novak who are called in to help.
"Your telling me Paolo escaped posing as the bell boy"
"Service boy," corrected Stabler.
"And they didn't notice the difference," Cragen asked, rhetorically, in disbelief, about the officers.
Then Cragen continues with…
"Alright, we do have some good news," Cragen started.
"What do you mean," Benson asked.
"Well, the divers found the preserved silenced .45 Beretta (the gun), and the lab found both Paolo's prints and DNA. Ballistics also proved a positive match, the gun was definitely the one that killed Kate"
"Alright, so now we have everything we need to put Paolo behind bars," commented Ms. Novak, "except for Paolo himself. Damn why's this so hard?"
"Don't worry, we'll catch this perp, and bring him down" assured Stabler angrily, but supportively.
"It's not as easy as you think, since the Feds already gave him back his passport, and revoked the restraining order," remarked Ms. Novak.
"Alright, so now the question is, where could he have gone?" said Benson.
"In this city, his face's incurring the wrath of pro-Lizzie New Yorkers, so if he was in public domain for long, he would've been 'outed' by now," hypothesized Cragen.
"He'd probably run considering, he know were out to get him"
"Well, I've already called the officials at Grand Central station. They said that they didn't catch anyone fitting Paolo's description on any of their surveillance cams. And neither did any of the taxi cab companies in the city"
"No, Paolo's much smarter than that Captain," remarked Stabler, "he'd have to expect that we'd be waiting for him if he took the trains, plus he'd have to realize that no intercity buses or trains are going to leave at this hour"
"So what are you saying?" asked Benson.
"My gut's telling me that if Paolo were to run and try to escape, he wouldn't use trains or buses," began Stabler, "He's probably gonna rest up before he runs again."
"So you thinking he's taking refuge in a safehouse," confirmed Cragen.
"It's the only option that makes sense"
"But who would give him refuge?" asked Benson.
They all pause to think.
"What about the Feds, I mean how desperate…" Stabler asked a little wearily and desperate.
"No, they wouldn't dare," Ms. Novak assured, "they may have screwed us legally, but there's no way that they would do anything criminally, especially now. If he had gone to the Feds, they'd have no choice but to give him to us."
"How 'bout friends?" asked Cragen.
"Well, according to the officers guarding Paolo, he didn't receive any visits from friends," replied Benson.
"Probably because most of then are still in Europe," finished Cragen.
"Besides, Paolo's only friends would be fake ones, and if his friends are anything like Paolo, they wouldn't have anything to do with him," hypothesized Stabler.
The detectives all are discouraged, but then Ms. Novak asks.
"Wait, Paolo has no friends in New York, but what about family?" asked Cragen.
"Wait! That's right," said Ms. Novak, "Paolo was supposed to testify against them in relation to there activities in New York and Europe. His family is established here"
"But wait, wouldn't his family be out to get Paolo, after he snitched know about this," asked Benson.
"No, his family knows that their relatives are in Attica, but they don't know it was Paolo who put them there yet", replied Ms. Novak.
Cragen then gives his orders.
"Good, I've already put all police units on alert and informed the Port Authority, Canadian Border officials, the FAA, and Bus Transport officials, so he's not going anywhere. Liv, Elliot, check with Organized Crime Bureau on the Valisari's, narrow down the possible hideout places" begins Cragen, "and use force, I want Paolo stopped now."
The detectives leave.
Organized Crime Bureau (of the NYPD)
One Police Plaza
The lead detective of the Organized Crime Bureau, quickly shows paper files as well, as computer data to both detectives, while briefing them.
"Alright, so where did Paolo escape from, again"
"Grand Hyatt hotel, Grand Central station," replied Stabler
"And your sure he didn't hop a train," asked the detective.
"No, he didn't take a cab either," asked the detective
"So if he went out on foot, his choices were limited," remarked the detective.
"How so?" asked Stabler.
"You see, most of the establishments used by the Valisari's are in Brooklyn, only three in the Bronx, which makes it easier," said the detective while bringing up the visual aide for the detectives on his computer.
"And why is that?" asked Benson
"Because the last two places," remarked the detective, "the Feds busted in and shut down the place, last week, said for money laundering"
"That leaves the one left" remarked Benson.
"Yep, its Giovanni and Luciano's Sports bar and club"
"Luciano, as in Consul General Luciano Valisari"
"Same guy," relented the detective, "Luciano also has ties with his 'family business'. He a hell of a lot more active in the money laundering scam that's been going on"
Then Benson and Stabler realized…
"Elliot, remember where Paolo said he worked,"
"As a bartender at his cousin's bar," confirmed Stabler.
Benson then asks the detective.
"Is Giovanni related to…," began Benson
"Yep, that's the cousin you want," confirmed the detective using the information the police had on the Valisari's.
"Oh, and one more thing, do you if there's any particular type of gun these mobsters these mobsters use," asked Benson, knowing it might have been a dumb question. But it wasn't
"Actually yeah, these mobsters are actually pretty picky in picking weapon to 'whack' people with, always a .45 Beretta…," responded the detective, referring to their known M.O.
Both detectives then realized and knew that that was where Paolo got the same gun to kill Kate. But that means he could still be armed, since mobsters were never in short supply.
"Thanks," Stabler said as he and his partner headed out with the information and the address.
"Oh, detectives," said the detective.
Benson and Stabler turn to hear the detective.
"I hope you get this thug. Lizzie reminds me of niece," relents the detective.
Benson and Stabler acknowledges the detective before they leave off.
"Area looks like 37th precinct territory," comments Benson as she studies the location of the bar in her file.
"Let's get Briscoe and Green to help us," replied Stabler.
Benson agrees and they leave.
Giovanni and Luciano's Sports bar and club
764 Rhodes St.
THUD
The normally calm patrons of this establishment (as well as the bartender), were instantly startled by the breaching of the door by Stabler (by his foot) and even more shocked to see 3 armed and armoured detectives barge in, weapons drawn, and ready, storming in, with 3 even heavier armed and armoured police officers charging in behind them to secure the safety of the detectives by guarding the patrons, likely mob members. The patrons all generally and slowly rise to confront or to escape the team after being startled so late. But Stabler orders them down in the harshest and loudest police tone while displaying 2 blue and white coloured pieces of legal paper…
"Nobody move! We have both a search and arrest warrant for one Paolo Valisari, as well as anything pertaining to him and any criminal activity he is doing or has already done, all of which he is suspected of. Anyone who knows anything about his whereabouts, come forward or face obstruction charges"
The patrons slowly relent and sit down in response to this. Stabler orders two officers to the back of the store, He and Green looks for Giovanni among the patrons and barkeeps, while Briscoe and the remaining police officer keep watch over the patrons. He instantly notices a man behind the counter. He is medium build, olive tanned, Italian man, whom Stabler knew was Giovanni (from his picture in the Organized Crime Bureau). Stabler and Green approaches. Giovanni remains calm as he asks…
"I assume you weren't bluffing about the warrants," asked Giovanni.
"I assure you we're not," replied Stabler, handing the warrants to Giovanni.
After reading the warrants, the bartender relents, and returns cleaning his glasses and continues to close up shop. As Green looks on, he spots a familiar Italian man, finishing a beer, obviously trying to avoid eye contact with the cops. Green walks toward him and takes a look and confirms it…
"Detective Stabler, look who we have here," Green said.
The Italian man turned around to show his face.
"Consul General Luciano Valisari," confirmed Stabler.
Then Consul Valisari's indifferent look disappears from his face and is replaced by a disgruntled look, which pisses both detectives off. He speaks up.
"Detectives, how nice of you to not only go to great lengths to ruin my nephew, but to personally come and interrupt our business…," began the Consul.
"Where is he," demanded Stabler, who suspected because of his ties, had to have at least helped out Paolo, if not done more.
Then the Consul piped up snobbishly.
"I don't know, but even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," replied the Consul.
Then Green goes face to face, confronting the Consul, while brandishing an older copy of the New York Post lying on a nearby barstool, showing a face of Lizzie with the subtitle "Queen of our Hearts"
"Look, you better tell us, because he raped, sodomized, and murdered an innocent girl and murdered another one after that. So that stupid comment of yours, just made you eligible for us to charge you with obstruction of justice.
The consul looks at the paper, while confronting Green.
"My nephew didn't ruin her…she ruined him," the Consul insisted.
Then referring to the newspaper Green was holding.
"If there was any truth in this world, that should be renamed, 'Queen of the Sluts'," remarked the Consul.
Then Green lost it. He had a soft spot for Lizzie's angelic face too. He had a history of excessive use of police force. And now, it looks like he's going to be taking it out on the Consul.
Green takes the Consul by the collar and slams him to the opposite wall, while Stabler tries to control him.
"You're gonna regret saying that," threatened Green.
"Calm down detective," urged Stabler, as he tries to both control Green and retake Valisari into his care.
In response to this act, the loyal patrons rise and are ready to confront the two detectives in true mob style. Luckily Briscoe and the remaining officer are there. Briscoe quickly steps forward towards the patrons and orders them down, while the officer raises his police shotgun at them.
"SIT DOWN, there'sPLENTY of room at RIKERS"
Again, the patrons relent. Then the Consul pipes up.
"I'm calling police brutality on you," threatened the Consul, at mainly Green.
"SHUT UP," replied Green as he shook the Consul, still holding to him roughly.
"Easy, Ed," tried Briscoe, keeping an eye on his anger prone partner.
Then Stabler speaks up. They were definitely breaking protocol. But Stabler didn't care either. Right now, he wanted Paolo. He can deal with the ACLU later.
"Tell us where Paolo is and this can all be over," said Stabler referring to the situation and to the grip of Detective Green.
"I have diplomatic immunity…"
"Which'll be useless, when we report you criminal activities and your criminal connections to the Attorney General's office," assured Stabler, finishing the Consul's sentence off for him.
Then the consul's face drops, and pauses and sighs.
Then the two officers, who were searching the back, came out of the backrooms and reported…
"Nothing, sir he's not here," said the first officer.
Stabler acknowledged this. But then him and Green refocused on the Consul. The Consul was realizing that there was no way he would escape the Attorney General's office, much less the death grip of Detective Green. He relents.
"Look, I don't know where he is now, but I know where he might be…," he relented while gurgling his surly chest and saliva.
"WHERE," demanded Green.
"He has a place that his father got him. He bought it for him, and he's been living there ever since he came to New York, I have the address"
Onlywhen he saidthat did Green let go of the Consul. The consul quickly scribbles down the address. It's a luxury apartment in Queens.
Stabler, then retreats.
"Alright, I'll call up my partner to do this and meet up with her too…you think you can handle it?" Stabler asked Briscoe.
"Yeah, don't worry we got things covered from here," assured Briscoe.
Green still confronts the Consul…
"This is isn't over yet, you're still under arrest," reminded Green.
"And I'm still calling police brutality on you…"
But Green, not caring about that, begins to handcuff the Consul and reads him his rights.
"Consul General Valisari, you're under arrest for…,"
Outside Paolo's door (but inside the apartment building)
The usually quiet hallway is disturbed by the thunderous storming of 6 very heavily armed and armoured (soldier-like) NYPD Elite Services Unit (SWAT) or ESU. All of the ESU officers are sporting police SMG's (Sub machine guns) and shotguns as well as tactical (and bulletproof) vest and helmet. The first two are carrying a police battering ram (solely for busting down doors) ready for the forced entry. They are lead by Detectives Benson and Tutuola (Fin), who are also readily armed, Benson with her 9 mm and Fin with a police shotgun.
They all 'stack' the door. Fin and Benson puts their ear to the door. Their catch the pulsing Italian music, so loud they could almost make out the lyrics.
"Music, he could be in there," Benson relayed to Fin.
"Let's find out," replied Fin, as he nodded to the ESU officers behind him.
Benson bangs the door three times.
"POLICE,OPEN UP," shouts Benson to the inside.
Immediately, both detectives stand back and Benson orders…
"Break it DOWN", orders Benson.
Without a second to spare, the two battering ram wielding ESU officers…
CRACK, thud
"POLICE!"
"POLICE!"
"POLICE, ARREST WARRANT,"
While shouting, the ESU officers drop the battering ram to the side and instantly charge into the luxury apartment like stampeding bulls with guns ready to fire at any moment. Benson and Fin charge in as well, but they linger in the living room while the officers search the other rooms.
"Check the back rooms," orders Benson.
"Nothing yet in the living room," Fin commented.
Fin then spots a counter full of spilled whitish power, coming from a brick shaped, aluminium foil wrapped packet, familiar to Fin from his day in narcotics division.
"Liv, look, crystal meth," revealed Fin
"This guys high…," began Benson.
"More like this guy's off his whack," continued Fin, "by looking at that used portion looks like he's done so much he'd…"
"Clear"
"Clear"
"Clear. Nobody's home detectives."
The detectives pause when suddenly...
"DETECTIVES," shouted the ESU officer from one of the backrooms.
Benson and Fin immediately rush to that backroom. They enter and pause just inside what was obviously the master bedroom. Paolo's Bedroom. Shades are drawn but there is dim light coming form the nearby bedside stand next to the bed.
"You really should see this," said the ESU officer disgusted, referring to the whole room.
Benson and Fin looks around and are mortified. They notice the bed was in use not long ago, and open bottles of KY jelly were lying on the side. What grabs their attention, was what was playing in direct view of the whole room, but especially the bed. What was playing on the large screen plasma T.V. was obviously a homemade DVD. The footage was from a hidden camera, purposely designed to give a shaded, multi faceted picture of the same thing, four times on the screen, whose design reminded of what pedophiles use. But that wasn't what mortified the detectives. It was the footage. Paolo had made this DVD from a hidden camera hidden in Lizzie's shower bathtub. And on repeated playback was footage of a Lizzie being taped showering and taking a bath, with her full exposed body in view.
They couldn't believe it. Paolo had made a porn tape of Lizzie, for his own pleasure, with her unbeknownst to any of it.
"Good Lord," said a disgusted Fin trying to partially cover his eyes, to prevent him from seeing an underage Lizzie.
And Lizzie was indeed underage. Benson knew from the skyline shown in window, caught in the footage, where he hadfilmed this.
He hadfilmed this in Rome.
Lizzie would be barely 14 years old.
"You know what this means," said Fin.
"The bastard did child porn of Lizzie," correctly concluded an outraged Benson.
Then Fin found something on the bed too.
"God, it looks like he was enjoying it too," Fin pointed out to Benson.
He pointed to the bed. The used KY jelly. But Fin, after putting his protective foresic gloves on, pointed at the spot where plentiful amounts of semen lay. Benson was even more disgusted, and a more enraged.
"He was masturbating to it," Benson said correctly.
"And looks what he used to jack himself off with," said Fin.
Benson saw the piece of clothing that was soaked with semen.
"Panties," confirmed Benson.
"Fifty bucks says it was Lizzie's, and Paolo stole it from her in Rome"
Fin then feels the warmth of the sheets. Remembering that Paolo was high enough to now to be deranged, Fin concludes.
"This guy could be anywhere now"
Both Fin and Benson notice behind the closed blinds that the window was open, and as they looked outside, the fire escape had clearly been used. Paolo was long gone.
"He escaped out to the streets again," Fin said angrily.
Benson then concluded angrily.
"Now we got him on charges of Drug possession and producing andviewingchild porn (A/N: two separate charges)"
Suddenly the ESU officer in the room spoke up, as he popped out of nowhere from an adjacent room.
"Add distribution to those child porn charges"
"Please tell me your joking," pleaded Benson, not sure if she could go on without blowing her cool.
"I wish I was," replied the ESU officer.
The ESU officer lead the detectives to the adjacent room. They see the improvised study room. The only thing there was a table and a laptop connected to the internet. The programs running include, a Windows media payer, playing the same video of Lizzie, a Windows Video creator, live feed programs, which were streamlining packaging and sending the media to two web sites, both running. One was English, probably based in the U.S., while the other was an Italian site. Both illegal by international law.
"Alright, get tech suppor there, we need this packed and sent to the SVU lab," Benson ordered trying to contain her anger.
This was to track the sources, distributors, producers, and customers. All of whom are breaking the law.
It's only then do they take heed of the pulsating music playing inside the previous bedroom. It was playing all throughout, also on repeat, from when Paolo was last here.
"Wait, I recognize that song."
Benson walked in checked the track and the CD playing in the room. She couldn't believe. While Paolo had done all this, he had been listening to while he had been 'pleasuring' himself to his footage of Lizzie…
"What Dreams are made of, Paolo and Isabella Duet version" Benson confirmed, "I don't believe it."
"Yeah, he's got the same song as background music for his 'porn' for both his video the video he sent out.
Then Benson's cell phone rang. She picks up
"Benson"
Fin surveys the scene more in disgust and anger. But he's caught by Benson's face as it fell and flew into seriousness. Something was seriously wrong. She hangs up and tells Fin.
"Fin, that was Cragen, 911 call came in. It was Isabella's bodyguard. Isabella's been kidnapped."
"WHAT! How?" asked Fin stunned.
"He was knocked out, Paolo had a gun," replied Benson, "the mobsters must've given to him"
"God, if he's as high as he is, and armed with a gun, who knows what he'll do," remarked Fin.
"We gotta go, we'll meet Elliot and Munch there," agreed Benson as she rushed out the room with Fin.
The detectives wrap up along with the ESU team. They leave the rest to the regular police and CSU. Now they had to go to Isabella's hotel. Now they also had to contend with a newer, more dangerous Paolo. High, armed, and deranged.
Isabella Perichi's Penthouse suite.
Plaza Hotel
Manhattan
Benson and Fin barges into the busy penthouse suite. They meet up with their other two partners and their captain. Fin and Munch both carry on analyzing the scene and interview bystanders. The scene was not unlike Paolo's suite, as Benson and Stabler briskly moves in past the frantic police and meet up with their captain. He leads the CSU and police officers and guides the paramedics to the aid of both Isabella's attorney and bodyguard, who are both nursing head wounds. The lead officer meets up with Benson and Stabler.
"What happened," Benson asked the lead officer.
"Bodyguard said a punk kid came in posing as a fan of Isabella's. When the bodyguard tried to get rid of him, he was surprised by a .45, the kid was wielding, and after taking him inside, bodyguard got his ass pistol whipped. He was just waking up, when paramedics arrived," explained the officer.
"What about Isabella's attorney," asked Stabler.
"Don't know, we just calmed him down, just before you guys came. He was all over the place when we arrived. Looks like the kid did him in too."
Then Benson and Stabler approched the distraught attorney. The attorney takes one look them and recognizes them instantly.
"Oh, thank God you're here," began the attorney.
"Are you all right," asked Benson
"I don't know…", replied the attorney.
"What happened," asked Stabler.
The attorney's still in a haze, but answers.
"I was here early at Isabella's request, we had to prep for the hearing, when somehow he showed up…I mean I don't know how he got past the bodyguard…"
"Bodyguard was pistol whipped, just like you," answered
"Oh, man. Look detectives…"
The attorney stutters, not being used to this and all.
"Its alright take you time and breathe, what happened," guided Stabler.
"When he came in, I confronted him. That's when he pulls out a gun and orders me on my knees on the floor,"
"What'd he look like?" asked Benson.
"He was crazy, like he was breathing hard and heavily and had bloodshot eyes, and screaming everywhere. Isabella was in the shower, so she didn't hear, when Paolo took my car keys, and ordered me to tell him where my car was, and I told him. Man, he must've been on something, it wasn't natural."
"Did you see his face," asked Benson.
"Oh, yeah…in fact he looked like…," began the attorney.
Then the attorney sits up and realizes who it actually was. He didn't recognize him at first…but realizes…
"Oh, God it wasn't…," began the attorney.
"Was it him?" interrupted Stabler, as he flashed a hand held version of Paolo's arrest picture.
"Oh, dear Lord, yeah it was Paolo"
Now the detectives were really worried. So was the attorney.
"Wait, where's Isabella," asked the attorney, really concerned.
Stabler quickly surveys the officers, who shook their head to him, before answering.
"She gone, Paolo kidnapped her"
The attorney shows even greater signs of worry but more guilt than anything else.
"Oh, God, why didn't I stop him…," began the attorney.
"Don't worry about it, there was nothing you could do about it. He was high and armed, you did the smart thing. You could've gotten worse."
"Yeah, but he took Isabella with him. And my rental car too."
"Rental car?" asks Benson.
"Yeah, my car's in the shop. I rented it from AVIS for Isabella."
"Calm down, its alright. Now which branch did you rent it from."
"Manhattan branch, near Broadway. It's a silver Mercedes-Benz CLK. I remember the license plate- 872 DFFY"
"By any chance, did you hear or catch anything, at all, that might have told you where Paolo was taking Isabella"
"No, all I remember after he took my car keys and knocked out."
"Alright thanks for you help, you did great," said Benson as Stabler writes down the car info.
The attorney relents as the detectives leave him so that he can be further treated by paramedics. They rush outside of the room to meet their Captain who was also finished. They brief each other on the testimonies they all heard, but they still needed answers to a piece of this that didn't make any sense.
"Wait, first of all, how did Paolo know what hotel to find Isabella in?" asked Cragen.
"My guess is that, he correctly figured that Isabella would be staying at the ritziest place in town," hypothesized Benson.
It looked like Paolo's luck was coming back to him. Out of the hundreds of high end hotels in the city, Paolo knew Isabella well enough that she would be staying at the Plaza. There was no other real explanation. But more questions still needed to be answered.
"Alright, but how did he know that Isabella was staying at the penthouse suite," asked Stabler.
"Guessed again?" Benson asked.
"Nope," interrupted Munch answering her question, just joining the conversation, "I just came back from the surveillance room. Apparently, Isabella had just came back to the hotel, while Paolo was pacing in the lobby. He spotted her, she didn't spot him. Looks like, Isabella was talking to a service boy about bringing towels to her room. He must've heard where they were going, and Paolo waited until the towels were delivered before making his move on her suite."
Cragen then speaks up.
"Well, it makes perfect sense Paolo wants to get rid of her. She's the only person who can tie him to any of this. But how did he know she was going to testify in the first place."
"New York Post, sir," replied Benson, "One PP, (police slang for NYPD headquarters), leaked out the hints that someone from his past would come back to testify it was him. Paolo must've known instantly that it was Isabella. Looks like one PP wanted the positive publicity. There's no way they expected that Paolo would escape."
"Wait, why didn't Isabella have any more protection, besides one bodyguard?" asked Benson
"Same reason why Paolo needed to lip synch in Rome, she isn't that famous here. That kind of extra protection problably wasn't warranted," answered Stabler.
Then Stabler pipes up extremely worried and angry.
"Look, we gotta find Isabella first. Any longer, and Paolo's gonna make sure she ends up like Lizzie and Kate"
"Alright, we know that Paolo had to have used the car to leave," started Benson, "since it was a rental, AVIS should have at least a tracker."
"To track it when it gets stolen," finished Stabler.
"But where do you think he's going," asked Benson.
"I don't know, problably some place secluded and quiet, same places like Lizzie and Kate. But where ever he is, the car'll be there too"
Then Cragen gives his orders.
"Fine, Liv, Elliot, check out the AVIS branch, have them track the car. The minute you have anything, call me up, I'll put locals on high alert and I'll notify city and state police about the Car. Remember, Isabella could already be dead, so there's no time to lose. I'll also alert ESU. You'll have them the moment you locate Paolo. Fin, Munch, if and when anything goes down, I want you there."
The detectives wrap up.
AVIS Rental Car: Manhattan-Broadway Branch
998 Tempsten Street
Manhattan
The detectives are now waiting for the clerk to track the car. The situation has already been explained and dealt with.
"Alright, CLK Mercedes, 872 DFFY…Yep, its was tracked going from the Plaza Hotel, pass into the freeway and headed to Queens."
"Queens, wait where in Queens"
This troubled the detectives, because they knew that was where Lizzie and Gordo lived. At this deranged state, who know what he'll do. The detectives wouldn't wait to find out.
"Here he is. Hopefield cemetary, Queens"
"Cemetary? Well, it's a quiet place, but why in Queens?" asked Stabler.
This confused the detectives for only a moment, until Benson realized why a cemetery, but especially why this particular cemetary, which was unfamiliar to Benson until this case. Benson gets ready to leave
"Hey do you think we could have that info," Benson asked the clerk referring to the printed out information"
"Sure, these are only copies anyways," remarked the clerk.
"Thanks," said Benson, as she took the information and headed outside with her partner in tow.
"Wait, Hopefield sounds familiar…," began Stabler.
Then Stabler realized what his partner realized earlier. Paolo wasn't just going to any old cemetery.
Hopefield Cemetery was the one Lizzie was buried in. What ever he was going to do to Isabella, he was going to do it there. And considering his despicable nature, God knows what else he'll do. Both Benson and Stabler knew that he was going to do it near Lizzie's resting place. They had to stop him. They rush to their car, while Benson calls up on her cell…
"We have a Code 3, niner, Code 3 niner, deranged suspect with a hostage. Priority one. Request ESU assistance, I repeat request ESU assistance, at Hopefield cemetery, area 32, near the hills in the area of the city. Set a perimeter, prepare for search."
Her radio call responds back
"click Roger that, priority one, ESU teams on route from dispatch. ETA 15 minutes. click"
Benson then called Cragen, who in turn proceeded set everything up, himself included to meet this threat.
This was it.
Hopefield Cemetary
Area 32, Hill 3
Queens
2 hours after Isabella's kidnapping.
The scene at the tranquil cemetery is rudely interrupted by the loud and frantic disembarkment of 4 entire five man ESU (SWAT) field teams (20 men). The perimeter is being set up, and the ESU teams, evenmore heavily armed than when they arrived at Paolo's door. This time they approach at a distance. This time, they prepare for a hostage retrieval and recovery. And this time, 2 ESU police snipers (ESU specialists) had also been called. They approach stealthily (from the bushes and scenary surrounding them) from both in front of and behind where they found both the car and the suspect.
Lizzie's grave was at the top of a miniature, but substantial hill, ESU teams approached from both sides. ESU had called up on police negotiators, who were ready to plead from a command post being set up. Lizzie's plot, was a rather elaborate and beautiful one, with a wide headstone, and resting atop of it was a medium sized stature of a beautiful angel. Just like Lizzie.
ESU had successfully located 2 people. One was holding the other hostage, with the gun.
The snipers take high ground positions and survey the scenario. ESU and Police negotiators are successfully stalling and delaying anything from happening. They knew that only SVU could handle this.
At this point all of the SVU detectives involved arrived, with (of course) guns drawn and ready, and sporting full police body armour. The standing order for all ESU teams was to follow the command of Captain Cragen himself. But before that, Cragen and the other detectives want to talk to the lead officer of this scenario, about what happened before. They learn that this has escalated exactlyhow they didn't want to. A hostage situation. The lead officer directs the attention to the cemetery caretaker, who saw the entire thing and was the one who called the police to bring them here (this specific part). And by entire thing, he means the events leading up to it and what happened before any police even arrive. He tells the whole story from the beginning.
"Alright, what all I saw was this," explained the caretaker frantically, knowing the hostage situation first hand, "I was across the hill, when I saw a young man crying and mourning over Lizzie's grave. He was crying and crying, until he walked away. He just made it out of sight, when from the other side of the hill, comes this other young man. Good lord, he was just awful, he was stumbling up the hill and when he got to Lizzie's grave, he began to desecrate it. The man went on and on, spitting on the grave, stomping on it, trying to kick apart the stone angel."
"And what did you do," asked Stabler.
"I just plain charged up there with shovel in hand, ready to kick him out of the property and bash his head if he didn't. But then he took a gun out of the front of his pants and brandishes it at me. Oh, Lordy, thank heavens he didn't shoot me. He just hollered at me to go away and keep digging. He said he needed privacy because he had to take a piss. Although, now that I think about it, that boy that was about to take a piss."
That was it. Stabler's blood was boiling. So were bloods of all the other detectives. Even cool and collective Cragen, who's seen and arrested them all, couldn't help it either. The gardener continued…
"He just finished unzipping his pants, ready to piss, when who comes running up from behind him, but that previous boy who was crying. Must've saw what he did, because he came charging up like a bronco. He runs up from behind, jumps onto the 'perp's' back and gives him a sleeper hold. Boy, I swear that 'perp' tried everything to get him off. Just as the perp was reaching for his gun in pants, the guy holding him, took his gun from him, kneed him down and sticks the gun right to his head, hard. And he's been there ever since, rambling since"
The detectives heard enough. They approach the area with caution. Close enough, past the awaiting ESU teams and into the line of sight.
What the detectives were expecting was that Paolo had found either remorse or a good ending place to end his own life, and had visited Lizzie's grave to do this, and that he wanted this as an M.O. (or style). They thought Paolo was the 'charging bronco'.
(A/N: I know that's far fetched, but in psychological situations and terms, it is more than plausible, its documented, and SVU has dealt with several just like it)
But what they see is unbelievable to them.
It was a hostage situation alright, but nothing of what they could ever dream, or want.
It was Paolo being held hostage. Paolo was the hostage.
And the person who was holding him hostage. The person who was wielding the gun ready to fire. The person who at this point was more insane than Paolo. The person who was ready to snap, if he had not done so already.
The person who unlike Paolo, loved Lizze more that anything in this entire Earth
Was…
"David Gordon. Drop the weapon NOW," ordered Cragen
Detective Captain Cragen approaches the two, his 'old school' revolver drawn. He is the most senior negotiator and is ready to do his part. The other detectives, took this as a cue not to join. Cragen orders Fin and Munch to search the car, which they know is on the other side of the hill. Fin and Munch utilizes a spare ESU team and approach the car, while Benson and Stabler survey the situation. But first…
"GO AWAY, I wanna take care of him," yelled Gordo.
Gordo is crazed looking and in absolute tears. He looked as if he was about to snap, pop, break down, and explode, all at the same time. Cragen tries again, making progress. (A/N: very dramatic negotiation)
"There's nowhere he can run now, let him go," pleaded Cragen.
"That's what you cops told me when he was place in protective custody," Gordo yelled back.
"It won't be like that this time, he going away…"
Gordo's not convinced…
"Yeah right"
"He's not worth it, don't do this"
"I have to…"
"You do this, you'll ruin you life, forever."
Gordo appears to relent a bit. Then he talks to Paolo.
"Tell him what you did, you son of a bitch"
Paolo also stuggling said…
"Did what…?"
Gordo then twist his arm in a way, causing excrutiating pain for Paolo. Paolo yelps. At that the officers raise their rifles for a brief second, but Cragen waves them down. Paolo gives in.
"Alright, alright, I raped and murdered Lizzie, I murdered Kate…," confessed Paolo, whose still struggling.
This seems to bring a sense of calm to Gordo, but unfortunately also brings a sense of determination to kill him.
"Alright, Gordo, that a confession, you hear, that's a confession. Let him go, we gothim now."
"It's time for Paolo to die," replied Gordo, pushing the gun further into Paolo's cheek.
Cragen then ante's up, and gets serious.
"You do this, you're no better than Paolo. You'll be just like him"
This hits Gordo hard. The usually rational Gordo side had died when he found Paolo was responsible for Lizzie. Since then, his only goal in life was to kill Paolo in revenge for him killing the only woman he loved. Rational Gordo had died. Cragen brought it back to life. Unfortunately Paolo took this as an opportunity.
"See, you can't even do this when you have me hostage. Your not a real man…," bravely, but stupidly comments Paolo.
Gordo briefly flinches and re-points the gun at Paolo. Cragen fights him on this.
"Don't listen to that bastard. He's the coward, not you," pleaded Cragen.
Gordo then appears to defuse
"C'mon don't do this. Drop the gun."
Then Paolo grins stupidly says something that may be his last words.
"You know, I would have done Lizzie and Kate(harm them) all again, in a New York minute."
But Cragen interjects again…
"Be the bigger man and let him go…," said Cragen.
Gordo's tries again…
"But he killed Lizzie…"
Cragen then defuses this by saying…
"Killing him won't bring Lizzie back."
That was it. That the last step in the process of resurrecting Gordo's humble and intellectual side. As it comes to life, the situation defuses itself as Gordo, with one arm, throws Paolo to the ground, letting him go. He drops the gun in front of him, and almost collapses in grief, as he walks toward a welcoming and supporting Cragen, who at this point symbolizes strength and courage for him. Cragen waves off ESU, and is about to help prop up a devastated David Gordon.
Cragen moves Gordo away.
Just in time to see, Paolo's face change, to his despicable face.
Paolo suddens summons his last ounce of strength, and
Suddenly, he rushes to the awaiting gun Gordo dropped, and raises it to Gordo's head.
GUN!
(rang out an ESU officer).
BOOM!
A/N: Cliffhanger. Who shot who?
Don't worry. I already have the next chapter written. So review me and I'll post it. Remember, if you review me sooner, I'll post soon (don't worry, I'll post anyways.). Thanks
GFMarshall