"You were right, you know."
"You don't have to tell me that. I already know I was right. I just don't see why you doubted me."
Silence. Ace closed the door to the room behind him and frowned slightly in Lucas' direction before going on.
"It's not going to be easy from here on out," he said. "That lawyer I talked to, he looked like he knew something was off."
"He probably just wonders why you came around so late, when you could have come around during the day," Lucas said, dismissively. "It's not anything to worry about. Just make sure you don't slip up."
"I won't. Didn't give them my real name. I'm just saying, it might be harder than you think to pull this off. It's only you, me and a bunch of guys that we just picked up. Everyone we can actually trust is back in North Carolina."
Ace had a point, and Lucas knew it, even if he didn't like it. They hadn't had much of a choice but to take those from North Carolina that hadn't been nailed, and there were only a handful of them. Everyone else, they had tapped from the streets of New York, and as of yet, they were still unsure that they would not be turned on.
"The point," Lucas said finally, "Is that you and I are here, and the Feds aren't going to pick me up on some little charge of breaking my parole. They'll want something bigger than that."
"And they might just get it," Ace pointed out, "You left your damn laptop at the other house. If they manage to pick up anything that you thought you erased, we're both screwed."
"I do believe I know how to scrub a hard drive, whether you choose to believe it or not is your problem," Lucas said, suddenly icy. "How many times do I have to tell you not to doubt me? You might be married to my sister, but don't think I won't hesitate."
He didn't need to elaborate on what he meant; Ace already knew. Scowling, he leaned back against the door.
"You know, she's worried sick about you. I talked to her, but she ain't heard one word from you," he said. "'Least you could do is give her a call and let her know you're still alive up here. Feds talked to her. They know you ain't in North Carolina anymore."
"That doesn't matter. As long as they don't say anything to the local authorities here or to the police in North Carolina, there's nothing they can do, and you, dear brother-in-law, have managed to retain a lawyer."
"You can't always count on me to keep you out of trouble. I'm in just as far as you are. If I get nailed, there's no way they won't be able to get to you."
"You saying you'd talk?" Lucas demanded, his voice dangerously low. "What did I just tell you?"
"I don't give a damn what you'll hesitate to do and what you won't," Ace shot back, "You knew coming up here was a stupid idea. They probably already have proof you're the one who shot Fielding in the first place."
"I wouldn't be surprised." Lucas trailed off, mollified for the moment, and after a few seconds went on. "But then, there's a such thing as an alibi, in case you've forgotten."
Ace shook his head, half-disgusted. "You really are a piece of work, you know that?" he asked. "What the hell good do you think this is going to do?"
"Once Lovell is dead, we can disappear again, and believe me, there are any number of ways we can do that," Lucas said flatly. "She won't be there to testify, and with luck, neither will anyone else."
"What are you saying?" Ace asked, slowly, and Lucas opened the laptop he'd been using since leaving the last one behind. A screen popped up immediately. On it was a picture.
"These are the people she's closed to," he said. "In order, from left to right, District Attorney Jack McCoy, and two of his EADA's, Michael Cutter, and Amanda Fellowes. The lawyer you talked to. Judges Jamie Ross and Elizabeth Donnelly. ADA Casey Novak and ADA Connie Rubirosa. Defense attorney Danielle Melnick."
The meaning of this remark was not at all lost on Ace, who shook his head.
"You have lost your damn mind," he said. "Five people out of the DA's office, two defense attorneys and two judges? Have you been taking your own product?"
"No," said Lucas, "I have not. But you said it yourself. You're in as far as I am. And it doesn't end until I say it does."
Across Manhattan from where this was taking place, Jack remained exactly where he said he was going to: in Anna's office, having refused to leave. She was still glaring at him.
"You get answers on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know," she said angrily. "I don't care who you think you are, my business is mine, and mine alone, Jack. You don't get to just march in here and demand answers from me!"
"Why the hell not? Because you don't know what they are, or because you don't have time to make up another lie to tell?" Jack shot back, just as angrily. "You can't stand here and tell me that you have no explaining to do to anyone!"
"I've done my explaining, and it wasn't to you!"
"Oh, I get it. I have to be completely honest with you in everything I say and do, but you don't. Is that it? What the hell are you so afraid of?"
"You aren't the one with an entire drug ring out to kill you!" Anna snapped, turning away from him. "You aren't the one they want, all right? They want me, and they found me, and if I want to make it out of here alive, I can't do this."
"Do what? Talk to me, give me a straight answer...you know, this is the beginning of this damn relationship all over again. Something happens, and you run!" Jack retorted.
"Oh, and you've never run from anything?" Anna demanded. "You've never felt stuck in a corner that you can't get out of? If I could tell you and know that you wouldn't get hurt, I will, but there are no guarantees! The game is up, Jack! My game is up! They know who I am, where I am and everything about me, including the fact that I'm with you!"
Jack gave a derisive snort. "I don't see how they could be fool enough to draw that conclusion," he said coldly, "We haven't had anything to do with one another in the past three weeks."
"Do you really think that matters to them?" Anna asked, a bitter amusement in her voice that he did not miss. "Do you really think that matters to them?"
"Apparently it no longer matters what I think. I've got my entire office hiding things from me, and now I find out that it's not only them, but the whole damn legal community, people I used to think were friends, and someone who I thought I loved."
It was dark enough in the office that he could not see the reflection of her face in the window, and it was something that she was definitely grateful for. Tears stung at her eyes, hot and bitter, something that had been happening a lot lately, and most of it, she blamed on the fact that she was pregnant, but this time, she couldn't do that, and it hurt.
"If that's the case, then what the hell are you still doing here?" she asked finally, without turning. "Why do you even give a damn if it was only something you thought you wanted? For that matter, why did you even give a damn in the first place?"
Questions he knew the answers to, but at the same time, questions he didn't want to answer. Scowling, Jack looked down at his watch, wondering how long he had been there, but at the same time, not caring.
"Why?" he asked, finally. "You want to know why? I gave a damn in the first place because it was you. And now I find out that I didn't even know the real you. Just some shell the Feds made up to keep the real you safe from the rest of the world."
"I'm not a shell, Jack, I'm someone, whether I'm Anna Flynn or Annalisa Lovell, or whoever the hell else you think I am, but I am not a shell. I didn't spend thirteen years getting to where I am so that I could be a shell."
"You know what I meant."
She did, too, even if she didn't want to admit it. "Emily already told you what I said to her, didn't she?"
"Don't change the subject," said Jack, in such a way that told her that Emily had told him everything.
"What do you want from me?" she said. "The truth? Fine. I'll tell you, but you're sure as hell not going to like it."
"I don't care whether or not I like it. I just want to know who the hell you really are."
Narcotics arrested two people, and then called the two-seven. As it was, Ed and Nina were both there, neither of them feeling comfortable about leaving, but there they had it. Now they found themselves on the north side of Manhattan, in an observation room.
"They decided they didn't want to talk." Detective Mallory Fleming looked at the two of them and went on. "We were hoping you two might be able to get them to say something. Neither of them have asked for lawyers."
"Do we know if they already have lawyers on retainer? Because we'll be kind of screwed if we question them and it turns out they did," said Ed. Mallory gave a wry smile.
"Yeah, we checked on that. My old partner says SVU got hit by something like that a while back. Most of the squads are taking their advice on checking whether or not people they haul in already have lawyers. These two idiots don't. We nailed them outside a schoolyard." she said. "Apparently, they had a meeting with someone."
"You caught them just in time, then," said Nina. "You guys planning on hitting them with anything?"
Mallory shook her head. "Not at the moment," she said. "Captain says we're to hand them over to you, because these two have been associated with Lucas Delgado and his crew from North Carolina. According to him, the Feds and the lot of you will be able to hit them harder than the lot of us."
Ed and Nina exchanged glances. Narcotics was one of those squads that disliked handing things over to anyone, and were only really known for cooperating willingly with the likes of Manhattan SVU and the Major Case Squad. They knew they were lucky to be able to deal with this, without Narcotics' objections, and so they said nothing about it.
"So, who's in with them now?" Ed asked finally. Mallory motioned to the first interrogation room.
"Mike Sandoval and Mikey O'Ryan are in there," she said, and then, motioned to the second one. "Chris Barrow's in there on his own; I was with him before you two came. Whoever you don't talk to, we're probably going to talk to and vice versa until we get something."
"How long do we have them for before we have to hand them over to the ADA's for indictment?" Nina asked. Mallory looked at her watch.
"About twenty-two hours," she said. "We figured we'd try for a while to get something on our own so we wouldn't have to dump it all on you, but no dice."
"Thanks for trying," said Ed, "It helps, more than you guys know. We've been trying to break this for a while."
"We heard," said Mallory, "It's been floating around everywhere, not just with the lawyers. Here's to hoping you'll get something. Which one do you want to talk to first?"
"If you'd grab your partner, that'd be nice; we'll give you two a break," said Nina, "Who knows? We might just get lucky."
"You don't mind if we listen in on the interviews, do you?" Mallory asked as she headed towards the second interrogation room to retrieve Chris. Both Homicide detectives shook their heads.
"Nah, we don't mind," said Ed, "Might even help you break a case or two yourselves."
Mallory gave a wry grin and pulled the interrogation room door open. "Here's to hoping on that one, too, then," she said, and then, "Hey, Chris, come on out of here. The detectives from the two-seven are here."
A few seconds passed, and then Chris Barrow appeared, looking about as tired as everyone else felt. He went straight towards the counter and poured coffee into one of the mugs sitting there, taking a sip before speaking.
"You guys want any?" he asked. Mallory shook her head, but both Ed and Nina nodded.
"Might help," said Nina. "Any idea what time it is?"
Chris looked at his watch. "Well, it's late, I know that," he said, and then, "It's about one-thirty in the morning."
"Great. Just what we need. More overtime. Department's going to throw a fit." Ed took off the jacket he was wearing and put it on one of the chairs in the observation room. "You two still set on listening?"
"That we are," said Mallory, "That way you don't have to keep walking out to tell us what you've got."
"That works." Nina pushed the interrogation room door open again and walked in; Ed followed suit. The person sitting at the table looked up at the sight of new detectives.
"What do you want?" he asked, in such a way that made the two of them exchange glances.
"What do we want?" Nina asked in reply, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "We want answers. From you. About Delgado. If you don't talk, you will be in a world of hurt, and it's not a threat, it's a promise."
"You can't touch me," the guy retorted, smirking. "You do, and I'll slam this department with a police brutality lawsuit so fast your heads will spin."
"We'd love to see you try," said Ed, sarcastically. "If no one sees anything, you have nothing to go off."
"Don't think I won't find something."
"And don't think we won't nail your ass to the wall. You took up with one of the most dangerous dealers in the country," said Nina. "Don't think he won't hesitate to kill your sorry ass if he finds out the cops got you."
"They ain't got nothing. Ain't none of you got a damn thing and you know it, so quit blowing smoke up my ass. I don't have time for it."
"You got time for whatever we say you got time for," Ed retorted. "Word hits the streets you got picked up, Delgado's gonna have your ass in a sling. Talking to us is the only way you can protect yourself. Now when did you take up with him?"
"Three weeks ago. When he first came here. Said he had a…proposition. Something for me to do, a way to make money. I got a family."
"Yeah, and Delgado's known for killing people's families to keep their mouths shut," said Nina. "You think about that? Right now he's after a Fed, and don't think he isn't gonna name people when he gets caught."
"He wouldn't do that to the people who stay loyal to him."
"You don't know that." Ed trailed off, frustrated, wondering how they were going to get to this kid, who looked like he was only about twenty-four, at the most. It didn't seem likely. "People talk, you know. We let you go, Narcotics is gonna let slip that you spilled everything. You talk to us, that doesn't happen."
"They can't do that."
"They can and they will, and don't think they won't," said Nina. "You talk to us, like my partner said, that ain't gonna happen. The more you cooperate, the less trouble you're going to be in."
Silence. The kid appeared to be mulling this over, and it felt like forever had gone by before he finally spoke again.
"All right," he said, "All right. You got me. What do I have to do?"