Title: Blind, Chapter 29
Author: Sorsha_711
Fandom/Pairing: Munch/OFC, Tutuola/Benson, others implied
Rating: M, for language and references to violence; some adult situations
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to Dick Wolf. A quick check of my bank account should prove I'm not making anything off of writing my stories. Sigh!
Summary: A brutal assault in Central Park exposes a horrifying family secret… one that leads the SVU squad down paths none of them anticipated when they took the call. Munch-centric with heavy doses of the oh-so sexy Fin
A/N - Sorry for the delay in updating... RL and all that. I have drafts finished on the next few chapters, so I'll try to post more frequently. Feedback welcome.
Blind, Chapter 29
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"He needs to tell me everything he knows, Oliver… and, if he can convince me he had no part in the planning and execution of the assault… convinces me of his sincere regrets, I might be willing to discuss a deal," Casey responded.
"My client will tell you everything he knows… who did what and why," Gates offered. "In exchange, we'd expect you to drop all…"
"I'm not giving him a pass, Oliver," Casey interjected. "If he can convince me he wasn't one of the instigators and will testify at trial, I'm willing to consider transferring his case back to family court so that he can be tried as a juvenal… his records expunged at 21 if he behaves."
"What charge?"
"Let's hear what he has to say first," she responded.
Holding her gaze for several seconds, Gates finally nodded. "Paul, tell Ms. Novak what happened."
The teen fixed his eyes on the table in front of him, his fingers digging into the cheap veneer. "Ben was mad because Lucy refused to go out with him. She went out with Martin a few times, but broke it off because she didn't like the crowd he parties with. She made a lot of the guys at school mad by talking their girlfriends into taking that chastity pledge. She had no right to interfere with their girlfriends. Austin and Charlie warned her to back off and stay out of their business, but she didn't listen."
"So, it's her fault? The victim is to blame," Casey growled. "Oliver, we're wasting our time if your client continues to try to shift the responsibility for the attack to the victim."
Nodding slightly, Gates prompted, "Paul… you need to stick to the facts."
"But, I was only saying…"
"That girlfriends are the property of their boyfriends… that they have no right to decide if they are intimate with them or not?" Casey demanded. "Keep up that attitude and its only a matter of time before some other woman makes you mad… needs to be 'scared' into doing what you want."
"Lucy knows I love her," Paul cried. "I asked her out and she said no… that she didn't think of me like that. She said we were friends, but that was all. She had no right…"
Pushing to her feet, Casey began to gather her files. "I've wasted enough time…"
Reaching over to lay a hand on the teen's arm, Gates demanded, "Paul, you need to stick to the facts of the case."
Nodding, Paul slumped in his chair. Seeing this, Gates asked, "He'll stick to the facts, Casey. Let him finish."
Fixing the teen with a stern glare, she suggested, "You need to rethink your attitude towards women, Mr. Morgenstern. No means no. Lucy didn't owe you anything and you have no right to expect her or any other woman to accede to your overtures simply because you decide you're in love with them. Every man gets turned down at some point in life… so do women. If you can't accept that, I have no doubt you will be sitting across the table from me again before long. Got it?"
Nodding again, Paul squirmed in his chair. Seeing this, she prompted, "Tell me what happened?"
After a moment, Paul offered, "The Friday before the… before, I got a call from Eric Levine inviting me to a meeting at his house the next afternoon. I asked what it was about… I wasn't really friends with them. He said it was to discuss a mutual problem at school. I didn't know what he meant but… I wanted to hang out with them. Everyone wants to be in their circle… they're popular and the prettiest girls hang out with them."
"What happened at this meeting?" Casey pressed.
"Most of the others were already there when I arrived," he reported.
"I need names, Paul. Who was present?"
"Eric and Tom… Ben and Steven… Doug Williams and his sister, Jodi… Austin, Charlie," he recounted. "Sarah came in a few minutes later."
"Sarah?"
"Sarah Liebman," he supplied. "She's nuts about Martin, but… he barely knows she's alive. Sarah was jealous that he and Lucy dated… were talking again. Martin really likes Lucy, so he was trying to get her to give him another chance. I guess she likes him too since she was taking his calls again."
"OK," Casey responded, adding a note to check on the status of her requests for extradition on the two girls to her list of things to do. She also made a note to ask Lucy if she and Martin had talked on the day of the attack. "Why was Jodi Williams there?"
"She hates Lucy… Jodi's a real bitch," Paul observed. "Lucy is a lot prettier than she is and she can't stand that. And, she's Eric's girl, so I wasn't surprised to see her there. They're joined at the… hip."
"Was there anyone else there?" she questioned, looking up from her notes.
"A couple of other guys… Billy Mandel, Brett Kaplan… Kurt Miller… and Brad Cagney," the teen listed.
"Were they part of the group that orchestrated the attack?"
Meeting her gaze briefly, Paul quickly lowered his eyes, unable to face the stern gaze she was giving him. "Ben was doing the talking, but he was looking at Steven like he was checking to be sure he was saying it right. Ben tends to let Steven call the shots more than he wants to admit… always has. Eric and Tom were nodding along, so I guess they knew what the plan was before the rest of us."
Eyes narrowed, Casey demanded, "And the rest of you approved of this plan?"
"No… I didn't, but…" he began, only to stammer to a halt. "Billy and Brad left as soon as Ben told us what they were planning. They said they wanted no part of it and told us to forget about it unless we wanted to go to jail."
"Their names again?"
"Billy Mandel and Brad Cagney… both of them are seniors at Winthrop," the boy offered.
"OK. What about the other two names you listed… what are their full names?" she pressed, adding their names to the list of people to interview.
"Brett Kaplan… he's a junior like me and Kurt Miller. Kurt's a senior at Reynolds-Alston Prep," Paul reported. "He transferred last year… he dated Lucy for a while, but she dumped him when she found out he was sleeping with another girl. He went off in the halls, ranting about her refusing to sleep with him and then getting mad when he got it from someone else… knocked over some plants and trashed a painting. He was given the choice of transferring or being expelled… he chose to change schools. I guess they thought he was still mad at her about that… like it was her fault he went mental."
"Where were they the night of the attack?" she demanded, wondering if they had two more perps to arrest.
"They agreed to be at the park, but never showed up," Paul admitted. "I don't think they were too happy about the plan, so I wasn't surprised they bailed. I heard Kurt telling Brett his dad would rip him apart if he got into anymore trouble… assuming we all didn't get arrested for rape. I started to walk out with them and discuss how to get out of it before it went too far."
"Why didn't you?" she questioned. "Were you happy about the plan?"
"No! I wanted to leave the second I heard what they were planning like Billy and Brad did, but… Steven got in front of me... I felt… trapped," the teen insisted. "I swear I wasn't going to go that night… I'd planned to tell my dad what they were planning when I got home, but he was working in his study and didn't want to be disturbed. I… I started to talk to him several times that weekend, but I kept putting it off. I was going to go to his office that afternoon… stop it from happening, but Steven showed up at our house right after school… like he was there to keep an eye on me. He's… Steven scares the hell out of me."
Keeping her face carefully composed, Casey asked, "Why? He's your cousin, right?"
"Yeah," the youth agreed, shifting uncomfortably. "It's hard to explain… he… Steven…"
"Steven what?"
Casting a nervous glance in his father's direction, Paul whispered, "Steven doesn't… he doesn't like being told no. He gets mean when you do."
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An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as Casey asked, "Has Steven… gotten mean with you?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" Paul insisted, an hysterical edge making his voice shrill. "He's psycho! He told me he was there to make sure I didn't chicken out! I should have told someone… protected her, but… I went with him even though I knew it was wrong!"
"Why? Why did you go?" Casey demanded, noting the confused and worried looks on Paul's parents' faces… and the predatory gleam in Oliver Gates' eyes. This was obviously not something they had heard before.
"I wanted to warn Lucy, but… he said he'd kill me and I believed him!" Paul exclaimed, pushing back his chair and surging to his feet. Turning his back on the table, he walked to the room's only window… his hands compulsively gripping the frame for support. In a low, tortured voice, he whispered, "I love Lucy and I… but I was afraid he would… I'd rather die than… not again!"
Suspecting the answer before she asked, Casey gently pressed, "Had Steven hurt you before, Paul?"
A tense silence settled over the room, the only sound the harsh breathing of the teen staring out the window. Knowing she had to get an answer, for the sake of the boy as much as for the sake of her case, she asked, "When did it happen, Steven? You need to tell me what he did."
Albert Morgenstern jumped to his feet and stared at her with a mix of anger and horror. "What the hell are you suggesting? Steven is Paul's cousin for God's sake!"
Ignoring him, Casey repeated, "You need to tell me what he did to you, Paul."
"Paul… you need to be completely honest with Ms. Novak and tell her what happened," Gates urged, reaching over to lay a restraining hand on the elder Morgenstern's arm. "Tell her the truth and we may be able to help you."
In a gruff whisper, he offered, "He stayed at our house while his parents went to Europe for some conference… Uncle Andrew was giving a speech or something. Ben had gone on a hunting trip with their grandfather, so Steven was all alone. Mom volunteered to let him stay with us. One night… Mom and Dad were out. I was in my room playing video games and Steven walked in… asked if he could join me. I wanted to say no, but… he's my cousin. Mom had asked me to make an effort to be his friend… said he didn't have many because he had been skipped ahead of the kids his age when he was promoted at school. "
Rising to walk over and stand near the boy, Casey prompted, "OK, so you two were playing video games. What happened then, Paul? You need to tell me so I can help."
She had to lean closer to hear, "I didn't want him in my room… he's said some… sick things to me earlier."
"What sort of sick things?" Casey asked, noting the shivers that were coursing through his gangly frame.
"Just stuff… it made me feel creepy," the young man hedged, refusing to look her way.
Struggling to keep from pushing him to hard too fast, Casey urged, "OK… so you let him join you to play videogames."
"Yeah… we had been playing Knight Quest for an hour or so when I leaned forward to change the setting…"
"And?"
"He hit me over the head with a lamp," Paul whispered. "I… he… I tried to stop him, but he hit me with the lamp again… it was… I couldn't tell anyone. I'm not gay and I didn't want Dad to think…"
His mother rose and rushed to his side. Trying to pull him into her arms, she cried, "You said you slipped in the bathroom and hit your head! Why didn't you tell us he attacked you?"
Pulling away from her attempts to embrace him, Paul continued to stare blankly out of the window. "I… what was I supposed to say? Dad would have… I tried to fight him, but… my head hurt and… blood was in my eyes. I wanted to throw up. He punched me in the stomach before I could get up and… I didn't want you to know."
"Why?" she insisted, still oblivious to the full extent of what had happened. "We would have made sure…"
Angry, the youth rounded on his mother and demanded, "You just don't get it do you? You never do!"
Albert Morgenstern rose and joined his wife, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders. "Paul… what are you trying to tell us?"
"Nothing… I'm not telling you anything," the teen retorted. "You'd have to be listening for me to tell you anything!"
"This hardly the place…" Morgenstern began.
Needing to move the conversation back to the case at hand before it degenerated into a family quarrel, Casey broke into their exchange. "Paul, tell me about Steven? What's he like?"
Albert Morgenstern answered, having decided it was time to take control of the conversation. "He and Steven used to be close friends when they were…"
"Steven has never been my friend! He's a sick bastard," Paul interjected, a long simmering rage making his voice hard and biting. "How can you not have seen? He has no friends because everybody is afraid of him. His parents can't even have live-in servants with little kids anymore. He likes to hurt them!"
"How do you know about this, Paul?" Casey gently pressed, moving to place herself subtly between him and his parents.
"Everybody knows… except for my clueless parents!" he exclaimed, his anger and resentment at their lack of awareness obvious.
"OK… what does everybody know?"
"That he likes to hurt people… do things to them. He's been like that ever since he was little," he muttered. "A guy from school tried to pick a fight with me last winter because Steven… hurt his little sister. They lived next door to them and… I heard she wasn't the only one."
"What was her name?"
"I don't know… Carol or something like that," Paul supplied. "Mark is her brother. Mark Purcell. Ben and Eric beat him up for spreading rumors. The Purcells moved… Mark transferred to a new school right after that."
"Ben covers for his brother?" Casey questioned, hoping to keep the teen talking.
"I guess…. Ben doesn't want to believe it about Steven… think about what he's really like," Paul speculated. "He hides from what a nightmare it is in their house by doing drugs."
"Do his parents know?"
"They must… I know Mark's parents threatened to go to the police… I was there when that happened," Paul offered. "Uncle Andrew pulled Mark's dad into the corner and… Mr. Purcell looked scared to death when they left. They sold their house and Mark transferred to a new school before the end of the semester. They had moved by the next time I visited."
"What about your aunt?"
"She pretends everything is OK, but… she knows something is wrong with him," he admitted. "I think… I think Aunt Martha worries about what he might do."
"Is she scared of him?"
"Maybe… hard to tell," he offered. "She and Uncle Andrew… she never seems happy."
"Paul… that is quite enough of this gossiping about family," Renee Morgenstern interjected, horrified by what her son was saying… as much for the fact he was telling an outsider as by the facts he was revealing about her brother's family.
Rising to join the group by the window, Oliver Gates offered, "We did promise that Paul would tell Ms. Novak what he knows. I think Ms. Novak is beginning to realize Paul has suffered greatly at the hands of his cousin and deserves full consideration for his help."
Pausing for a moment to filter through what she had learned, Casey agreed. "If his facts hold up, I'm willing to discuss a suspended sentence with the understanding he gets counseling to help him deal with what happened. But first, he needs to tell me the rest."
Wild-eyed, Paul looked in her direction. "What do you mean? I… there isn't anything else…"
"Did he rape you, Paul?" she asked, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. SVU had uncovered too much about Steven Phelps for her to doubt what had happened. She had tried too many cases… talked to too many victims of rape not to recognize one still coming to terms with what had been done to him.
"Raped???" both parents exclaimed, unable to take their eyes off of their son. The look of panic and dread that swept over his face was all the confirmation the adults needed.
"It's not your fault, Paul" Casey soothed. "He hit you over the head… attacked you. You tried to fight him off, but… you didn't do anything wrong. Steven did."
"I'm not gay," he whispered. "I didn't want him to…"
"Nobody thinks you did," she promised. "Did he rape you?"
Unable to speak, the teen finally nodded.
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"His names not on the list Cambiati left in his affidavit," Cragen replied, "but it seems to fit what we know about Steven's attacks on other children. Since the attack occurred at the victim's home and his parents didn't know about it… not surprising this is the first we've heard of it. Young teen males are the least likely to report an assault. What do you want us to do about this Casey?"
Sighing, she requested, "His parents have given us authorization to obtain his medical records for the night in question. His mother took him to the hospital for x-rays thinking he had fallen in the shower. See if the records support his claims… shouldn't be hard to confirm if the dates for his hospital visit overlap with the Phelps' trip to Europe. Thanks to the date on the hunting knife used in the attack on Martin Danvers, we already have the date Ben was on the hunting trip with his grandfather."
"If we can connect the dots, are they willing to file charges for rape?" Cragen asked. "It will be tomorrow at the earliest before I can get anyone working on this. Fin is out running down a new lead on the Walters case and my other detectives are strung pretty thin helping cover for the three we have out on medical."
"Don't worry about it. I'll get one of the investigators McCoy assigned to me to get us a copy of the hospital records. As for whether or not they will be willing to file… I don't know," she admitted. "His parents are in shock… Paul is angry and ashamed about what happened. At this point, I doubt it."
"Not surprising."
"No, its not," the ADA agreed. "At the every least, I need to know if he's telling me the truth. If he is, I'm willing to let him pled guilty to assault in Family Court, probation, and mandatory counseling. In some ways, rape has a wholly different emotional impact on a boy… it makes him feel his sexuality is in question."
"Do you want Huang to talk to him?"
"Yeah, not a bad idea," Casey agreed. "I'll ask Gates to arrange a time. It may be the closest we come to getting him inside of Steven's head. George needs to be able to convince a jury that a 13-year old boy managed to control the others."
"This might also open the door for our other defendants to claim they were only there because they were afraid of Steven… that they were his victims too," Cragen pointed out. "Are you prepared for that?"
"Let them try," she replied. "The only reason I was willing to meet with Paul was our investigation showed he didn't actively participate in the attack on any of our three victims. He tried to run and was restrained by Doug Williams. The others all took an active role in the assaults, so they don't get a pass regardless of whether or not they can tell a sob story."
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5-13-2009
