Homicide(s)
"You won't believe what I have planned for our anniversary next week," said my wife excitedly through the phone.
"I could say the same thing. We're not doing gifts this year, only experiences, correct?"
"Yes, and Tori, don't try and be sneaky, please. Own up to your part of the bargain too," she tittered.
I rolled my eyes and smiled. I was about to answer when I heard the call-hold beep, "Liv, baby, someone's calling my office line. We'll talk later, ok? I love you," I said, biting my lip.
"I love you more, talk to you later, sweetheart," she said before hanging up.
"Dr. Reyes-Benson, FBI," I answered.
"Cabot—Tori, I need your help," came the voice of an overly exhausted Alexandra and it sparked curiosity in me. Why was she calling my office line?
"Lexie, what's going on?"
"I've spent the better part of the morning attempting to convince your boss to let you help me and he has been so apprehensive, Jesus! Why is he so difficult?" she asked rhetorically.
I chuckled, "I'm sure we won't know, but I'm guessing you used that silver-tongue of yours and now you're going to brief me?"
"No," she said, I furrowed my brow and went to answer before she continued, "Meet me downstairs, we're going to the two-seven. I'll brief you there."
Alex hung up before I could ask any other questions. She had asked me a while back if I could work with Homicide as well but since nothing had been said to me from either her or my superiors, I thought nothing had came out of it, but from the looks of it, today would be the day that I would make my debut as a profiler for the two-seven. I had been too dumbfounded to move and still held the receiver of my phone in my hand when I realized that the walk from the DA's Office to the Bureau literally took about three minutes and knowing the way Alex sounded on the phone, her stride would have power and purpose behind it so she literally could be standing outside in the freezing cold and I'm just sitting here rummaging through my thoughts.
I stood and gathered my knee-length pea coat and threw it on before grabbing my purse. I ran my fingers through my hair as I felt the familiar mid-morning headache and sighed. I stopped as I reached my door and turned around to grab my phone atop my desk, "Pregnancy brain," I mumbled underneath my breath. Downstairs it had been snowing but it had let up. I was standing outside, the wind blowing my hair into my face when I heard the familiar voice of my favorite blonde, "What the hell are you wearing?"
I giggled and turned, "A dress, with tights, and thigh-high boots?"
Alex's mouth hung agape, "Did Olivia see you in this?"
I rolled my eyes and walked to the woman, "She left before I got dressed so please, spare me," I pleaded.
Alex guffawed, "Why do you keep wearing heels, Victoria?"
"I have a headache and I'm craving peanut butter and salami," I grunted, throwing my head back, "God, that sounds so good right now."
Alex giggled and pulled me by the arm, "No, it doesn't but if you say so..."
We hailed a cab to upper Manhattan where the precinct was located and for the majority of the cab ride I kept bothering Alex with my craving until she gave in and made the cabby stop at a deli where she got me my current craving and picked up my common one of sea salt & vinegar chips just in case. In front of the precinct, I paid for the cab fare and we exited. I had stuffed the zip tie bag of salami and the jar of peanut butter in my purse, as well as the chips and as we entered, I had to go pee. Alex just continued on and told me to find her in the bullpen once I was done. I relieved myself and as I'm finding my way back through the busy precinct, I heard the faint shouting fest that was going on.
As I entered the bullpen I focused on the conversation and how four men had teamed up to have a yelling match with their Bureau Chief. I smirked and placed my hands on my swollen stomach and just listened. I needed to get a feel of these men. The 'leader' of the group was the one having the current match with the blonde. She wasn't backing down and I smirked, having been on the opposite side of that stern voice many a time. I noticed Alex had shed her coat and purse on an empty chair and I did the same, placing everything next to hers. I was wearing a cream bodycon long-sleeve dress with a turtleneck, black tights, and over-the-knee grey boots. Being pregnant and having such a hugging and fitting dress awarded my shape appraise.
I noticed a whiteboard with pictures and names and thought that maybe that was the case Alex needed help with. I walked to stand in front of it, still rubbing on my stomach, and taking everything in. It was brutal and disgusting and I thanked the man upstairs for giving me somewhat of an iron stomach when it came to victim's photos, "Uh, ma'am, you're not supposed to see those. Do you need some help?" said a low-pitched voice.
"Three victims," I mused, "is the cause of death the same on all of them?" I asked.
No one answered so I continued to move around the board, "They were bound, choked, and gagged," I mused to myself mostly. I noticed the amount of blood loss and the bruises on the victim's bodies, "Why so much rage, huh? What did these women do to you?"
"Hey!" someone grumbled behind me, causing me to startle momentarily, "I told you, you shouldn't be here."
I ignored the man and continued with the scrutiny of the board when I felt eyes on me, but not just looking at me, checking me out, "Uh, Alex," I begun, "could you tell your detectives, whomever it is, to stop staring at my ass?"
Alex chuckled, "Boys," she begun, "meet Dr. Victoria Reyes of the FBI. She will be helping with a profile of your Pattern 14 killer."
"Fuck no, Alex."
"We're not handing this case over."
I turned around and watched as they instantly became quiet, "You won't be handing anything over, I'm just here to help out Alex."
"Tori, meet Sergeant Chad Bryce," she said motioning to whom I pegged as the leader, "Dt. Austin Todd," a man with dark features waved, "Dt. Josh Perry," an albino man nodded, "and last but not least, Dt. Adam Hendricks," a brunette man with a red beard smiled, slowly approaching me.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Reyes," Hendricks said, extending his arm.
"Likewise," I responded, extending my hand, "So, could someone please brief me?" I said, opening my eyes and smiling.
"Pattern 14 killer," began Perry, "three vics between the ages of thirty-three to thirty-six. Like you said, Doc, victims were gagged, bound, and choked but they didn't die of that. Cause of death, single gunshot wound to the head. He gags them first, then he chokes them, and then he binds them and proceeds to brutally beat them up. Perp has left his DNA in all three crime scenes."
"He spits on them once he's done," said Todd with a thick Brooklyn accent.
"No familial hits on CoDIS?" I asked, rubbing on my swell.
"You think if we had a familial DNA match you'd be here?" bit back the Sergeant.
I smiled, "I'd be here even if you had your perp sitting in the box already so please, save your dick-flinging contest for someone who cares, Sergeant."
Alex snickered and hid her face at my comment, "Care to tell her the newest development, Bryce?"
He gritted his jaw and stared me down, "The ME finished with the autopsy reports on these women, they were several weeks pregnant. All of them were."
His statement caused me to falter. I could immediately feel all the blood leave my body and the pitching ring in my ears intensify. I held my left hand to my forehead and felt hands around my waist: Perry's arms, "You ok there, Doc?"
"Tori," said Alex, cupping my face with her hands, "do you need to sit down?"
I smiled weakly, "Yes, sorry; side-effects of being fifteen weeks pregnant."
"Do you need us to call your husband?" said Sergeant Bryce.
"I don't have a husband," I chuckled as I sat.
The men looked at each other, "B—But you have a ring and you're pregnant," mentioned Todd.
I chuckled and shook my head, "Yes, I am married but I have a wife. I'm sure you know her but when working with the NYPD, I omit my married name."
"W—We know her?" Hendricks asked, "There's Reyes from the two-two but she's not gay, not that I know of."
"Benson," Alex said, "That's her married name, not Reyes."
"You are Olivia's wife?" Bryce said and I nodded, "Wow!"
"Enough about my married life, guys," I said, crossing my legs on the chair, "And, no; you do not need to call Olivia. I'm fine."
The men nodded and Perry took over once more, "They weren't showing, as you could obviously tell but their partners knew."
"Have you questioned the boyfriends since this new development? Because, they failed to mentioned their girlfriends were pregnant when we initially questioned them," Alex seethed.
"Yea, Alex, we did. They said that they were so distraught that they forgot," Hendricks shot back.
"What drives a man to kill a pregnant woman?" Todd mused.
"This may sound crude, Detective but motives may vary, with a woman's pregnancy at the time of death sometimes being coincidental," I responded, "So, that's how you should look at this."
"What do you mean, Tori?" Alex asked.
"Maybe the fact that they were pregnant has nothing to do with the fact that they're now dead. If they weren't showing, the killer may not have even known that they were pregnant," I mused and turned to look at the board, "Is there anything that links these women together?"
The detectives and their sergeant looked at each other, shaking their heads, "Not that we know of. One lived in Harlem, the other in Chelsea, and the other in Hell's Kitchen."
I furrowed my brow, "Shouldn't that have gone to the guys in the two-four?"
Hendricks chuckled, popping a chip into his mouth, "I see Benson has taught you a lot."
"I work for the FBI, I know who has jurisdiction over what part in this borough, Detective Hendricks. Don't patronize me," I responded curtly.
"We caught the case in Harlem first and when the second one happened, they handed it to us, and once the third one happened; they really wanted nothing to do with it," Perry quickly said.
I sighed and looked at the board, standing and walking towards it as I fixed the short skirt of the dress. This carried a lot of rage. It was really bloody and messy. All of them were. This wasn't an expert; this was an amateur, someone who was acting on impulse rather than on method. And, just as much rage as it carried, you could see the hints of resentment and hurt in every blow. These women, these soon-to-be-mothers had hurt this man but in a way that had affected his ego. This was hard. I was swimming blindly. The team was withholding information and I knew it, I could feel it. Something wasn't right, "What links these women, guys?" I asked, turning around, "Either you're not telling me something or…"
"Or what, Doctor?" Bryce hissed.
"Were there any violent ex-boyfriends?"
I saw as Hendricks and Perry took a step forward to say something but a sudden glare from their Sergeant stopped them in their tracks, "We know how to do our jobs."
"Really?" I sarcastically asked, "Because, you've done nothing but stonewall me ever since I stepped foot in this precinct. Understand something, Sergeant," I said, taking a step forward, "you don't have to like me because my loyalty is not to you or the NYPD. My loyalty is to the victims so; give me what I need and stop fucking around. It might work better in your favor since you hate having me here so much," I finished with a smile.
"Bryce, knock it off," Alex growled, "I'm giving your team and you the courtesy of briefing her on your own. I know you don't tell me everything and you hate that it's me here instead of Brian but deal with it, alright?"
"Fine," he mumbled, "Austin, give the doctor all of the statements."
Todd stood and rummaged through desks, handing me several files. I had a feeling that Bryce had an issue with other people telling him what to do, especially if the other people were women. My guess, that's why he became a sergeant in the first place, he could have autonomy over his cases and pick out his own team. In the forty-five minutes or so that I had been there, I hadn't seen the commanding officer of the unit and another gut feeling and guess told me, whomever they were, they trusted Bryce and I had no doubt in my mind that he was amazing at his job.
I walked back to the desk I'd been sitting at and began reading with Alex over the files and statements taken from family members, the current boyfriends, friends, co-workers, and neighbors about the lives of our victims and in every other statement they kept mentioning how happy they had been that they had finally moved on from 'that toxic relationship', "Umm, Perry," I called out the overly blonde man across from me.
"Yes Dr. Benson," he said sweetly, looking over a file.
"Did you guys ever looked into this toxic relationship that is mentioned by the families of the victims?" I asked.
Perry looked up, his eyebrow knit in confusion, "Uh, no. For victim one—Carissa Lane—that relationship had ended over ten years ago, for victim two—Lorraine Kominsky—the relationship ended roughly five years ago, and victim three—Louise Cox—she was the most recent, the relationship ended about a year and a half ago."
"Ok," I said nodding, "did you find anything on Louise's relationship?"
"No, because that would mean t—" he interrupted himself, following my train of thought.
I had been playing my cards close to the vest, as per usual, because of the apprehension the team showed but if I was to get in, Perry or Hendricks would be my best shot, and I was right. Perry immediately stood, walking to Hendricks' desk, "Adam, Adam," he called.
"What?" he answered, not looking up from his file.
"Did you get the name of the vics three ex-boyfriend?" Perry asked in a rush.
By now, Bryce and Todd had stood and gathered around us, "What the hell is going on?" Todd asked.
"I think the Doc just figured something out. It may be a reach, but I don't know, my gut is telling me otherwise," Perry responded.
"Maybe you have to take a shit," Hendricks quipped, earning his self a slap to the back of the head by Bryce.
"What is it?" Bryce asked.
"Hendricks, the fucking name for Christ's sake," Perry ushered, motioning with his hands.
As Hendricks shuffled for his notes, the rest of the team anxiously waited. We all saw as he moved files, opened drawers, and finally raking his hands through his face he remembered, "Damian," he shouted, "Uh, Damian Lindworsky."
Alex shuffled with the file in her hands and found the connection with Carissa and then Todd looked up, "They all dated the same guy."
Bryce ran his hands over his face and looked at me as I smiled and nodded towards him, "Alex," he tried.
Before Alex could speak, I quickly interrupted, "Congratulations gentlemen, you have a hedonist lust killer in your hands."
I saw as Alex pushed her self from the desk and I went back to the board. I could hear the men debating with Alex for a warrant to search his apartment, to search his financials, a warrant for something to get moving with the investigation and that's when I saw it. How could I not notice this before? How could the ME not notice this? Was a rape kit even performed on these women? Fuck. "Guys," I turned abruptly, making myself momentarily dizzy.
"What now?" Todd said, noting my dead face.
"Alex, this is wrong. We were all wrong," I admitted.
"What the hell are you talking about, Victoria," she chided, approaching me.
I turned and pealed several pictures from the board and as I faced her, I handed the photographs of bruises between their thighs that looked like handprints. I saw as the blonde woman went through an array of emotions, not believing what I was saying even when the evidence lain right there in her hands. Her nostrils flared and she removed her glasses in haste, "They were raped. This is an SVU case, Lex."
A/N: I know the Via situation is "up in the air" but trust me guys, stick with me. Also, review, review, review! :)