Chapter 29
Fin and Jamie were still searching the computer trying to dig up information on Lee. Fin looked at Jamie. "Hey, maybe you spelled his name wrong."
Jamie turned her head and looked at Fin. "I know how to spell, Fin."
"I know but there's numerous ways to spell Neuman."
"Okay, then let's try them all." Jamie said and typed in all possible variations of the last name Neuman. After typing in the last option they ended up getting the same computer error on every one of them. Jamie turned to Fin again. "Okay, satisfied? This guy does not exist, hon."
Fin sighed. "We've got a serious problem here."
"Ah, you think?" Jamie asked sarcastically.
Barrett walked over to the two detectives. "I want you two in my office, now." he said and started off towards Cragen's office.
Jamie looked at Fin and than at Barrett. "That's not your office."
"Right now it is Detective Roenick." Barrett said standing at the door.
Fin shook his head. "It's not your's it's Cragen's."
Jamie shut her computer off and she and Fin followed Barrett into Cragen's office. "What's this about?" Jamie asked.
Barrett shut the door and then sat down at Cragen's desk. "I want to know exactly what you're working on."
Fin shook his head. "We can't divulge any details. If you want to know about it, then talk to the Captain."
"I already have. He wouldn't tell me anything."
"Then what makes you think that we will?" Jamie asked.
Barrett stood up from the desk. "You're skating on thin ice here, detective. If you want to keep your job, you better tell me what you're working on here."
Jamie shook her head. "I'm not telling you a damn thing. So go ahead and get me fired."
Barrett stepped forward and got in Jamie's face. "Don't tempt me, Detective Roenick."
Fin got between Jamie and Barrett. "Back off, Lieutenant." Fin warned him.
//Chung Chung//
Nicole was getting some rest on doctors orders so Cragen and Munch decided to check out the first crime scene, the farm house. Munch had gotten the directions from Nicole before they left. As they walked up to the house the crime tape was already cut. "Tapes cut." Cragen pointed out.
Munch nodded as he passed a pair of gloves to Cragen. "Maybe when Lee brought Nicole here."
Cragen nodded. He slowly opened the door and the first thing they smelt was the heavy oder of decaying blood. They walked past the first pool of blood and started to look around the house. "CSU wasn't here." Cragen pointed out.
"There's no evidence that they were. What type of CSU do they have here?" Munch asked. "There's no fingerprint powder, nothing."
They slowly started to make their way to the kitchen. "Look at the blood. This isn't a murded this was a slaughtering." Munch said as they looked at the blood spatter all over the kitchen table, counter and cupboards.
"This was not done by a group of people. This was done by someone who the family knew." Cragen pointed out as they made their way to the living room.
Munch nodded as he looked around. "There was no forced entry. They let him in."
As they entered the living room and saw the blood spatter on the TV, along with the blood pool on the carpet and blood on the wall. Cragen looked around. "I hope Nicole hasn't seen this yet."
Munch stopped and looked at Cragen. "She has. Lee apparently had walked her through the house, recounting where everyone was killed."
"When did you find that out?"
"When I got the directions." Munch answered as they made there way upstairs.
When they got to the doorway of the first bedroom they saw a bed that was soaked with blood.
As Munch and Cragen were upstairs they were not aware of the fact that Lee had entered through the back door. He had a container of gasoline and he started to pour it all over the downstairs area of the house.
He started with the kitchen table and made his way through the hallways and into the living room. Munch and Cragen were still making their way through the upstairs when Lee struck a match and dropped it on the living room floor.
Lee ran out the front door and stopped in front of the house. He stood there and watched the windows start to burst out and the flames shoot out through them.
Munch and Cragen heard the crash and made their way down stairs. "What the hell is going on?" Cragen asked as he started to cough from the smoke.
"The house is on fire. We have to get the hell out of here." Munch said and made his way to the front door. He didn't get two steps when the hallway caught fire and blocked their way.
Lee was still out in front of the house watching it burn. He looked through the front door and saw Munch and Cragen beyond the flames. "You should have stayed in New York, gentlemen." Lee stated and took off from the house.
Back inside, Munch and Cragen were still trying to find a way out of the burning house. Cragen turned and noticed the back door opened. But as he and Munch started toward it, a beam from the ceiling collapsed and blocked them in. Now they were trapped between the front and back doors with no way of escape.
Suddenly, Munch saw a door that headed down to the basement. He opened it and pulled Cragen down the stairs with him. Once they made it down, Munch went to the cellar door. He walked up the concrete steps and pushed. Just their luck, it wouldn't budge. Cragen walked over and both men started to push on the door. No luck. It wasn't moving.
Munch walked back down the steps and ran to a nearby window. He stood on a crate and tried to push the window open. It wasn't budging either.
Cragen looked around and found a pipe on the floor. He picked it up and walked over to the window. He took the pipe and busted the window out. Finally, Munch and Cragen managed to climb out of the window outside into the fresh air.
Just as they made it out of the window the fire reached an oil tank and the entire house exploded. Cragen and Munch were sent flying a good distance.
Both men couldn't believe what had just happened. Cragen managed to pick himself up and helped Munch get to his feet also. "What the hell happened in there?" Munch asked.
"I don't know. But I get the feeling that someone didn't want us looking at that crime scene." Cragen replied.
//Chung Chung//
Nicole was awake, due to the fact she felt something was wrong. Something was totally off. She started to think about how both Munch and Cragen were looking sideways at Lee. Things started to line up. He didn't want to show her the house, and when he did he described things a little to much in detail about what happened. Never in her years of work did she have someone describe a crime scene quit like Lee did that time. And the more she thought about the crime scene it seemed like CSU was never there.
She sighed as she tried to push herself up in a sitting position. Though the feeling in her arms and hands was almost all there she still had no feeling from about her waist down. Still it was painful enough to sit up, due to the surgery.
The more she thought about what went down in the warehouse she was not at all sure if Lee did save her. She hated that she was starting to doubt the fact that she trusted her old partner.
She was starting to really wonder and she needed someone with an objective mind to talk to. The only person that came to mind was Jamie.
Painfully she moved over and picked up the phone. Not having a clue she dialed nine and than Jamie's number.
"Roenick." Jamie answered.
"Hey, can you talk?" Nicole asked.
"Nic? Yeah, yeah I can talk. Is everything okay?"
"Sort of. What is going on with you guys looking into Lee's background?"
"Don asked us to look into him. Something doesn't add up."
"Doesn't add up? The more I think about it, it doesn't. He didn't want me to look at the crime scene; than when we were there he describe it a little to descriptive, something I have never heard before and to make it worse it didn't seem like CSU was there."
"Okay that's different. That fits right in with the fact that there is no record in the Ranger's data base of a Ranger Lee Neuman."
"No record? Are you kidding me? I worked with the guy for almost two years."
"Nic, that's what I said. No matter how I spelt the name there was no record. This guy is a shadow in the system."
Nicole couldn't believe what she was hearing. Learning that Lee turned out to be a dirty cop was something she could handle, sort of. But learning that the guy never existed was downright strange. This was a man she was with every day for two years. Now she finds out that she never really knew him at all. "There has to be some explanation, Jame."
"The only explanation I can give is that this guy is a total fraud. I was about to run his name through NCIC, AFIS, IRS, VICAP, anything I could think of just before you called."
Nicole shook her head. "I just can't believe this."
"If I could figure out why he is a Ranger with no file I would have told Cragen. But this guy has something to hide and has to have connections."
Nicole nodded just as Cragen and Munch walked into the hospital room. "Look, I'll call you later."
"Sure thing." Jamie replied and they hung the phone in unison.
Nicole looked at the two guys. "Why do you look like you just came out of a forest fire?"
"Because we did." Munch said sitting down in the chair next to the bed.
"What? What happened?"
"Someone set fire to the farm house while we were inside." Cragen replied.
"Who would do that?" Nicole asked.
"I think I have a pretty good idea." Munch stated glancing at Cragen.
Nicole looked at Munch. "You think Lee did this don't you?"
Cragen sighed. "Listen, Nic, I know you don't wanna think he's capable of something like this, but..."
"No. I just found out that I don't know Lee as well as I thought."
"What do you mean?" Munch asked.
"I just got off the phone with Jamie. She said the Rangers have no record of Lee at all."
"I knew there was something off about that guy." Munch stated.
"She's gonna run him through all the available databases and see what she can find."
"Okay, I'm going to see if we can run vice on this. And if we can, I'm going to go talk to Lee's Captain, and see if he knows that his Ranger is not in the records." Cragen said and walked out the door.
Nicole sighed. "What have I done?"
Munch took her hand. "You haven't done anything, honey. You thought you could trust this guy and he let you down. Don't blame yourself for any of this."
Nicole looked at Munch and gave him a small smile. "I love you, John."
"I love you, too, Nicole."
//Chung Chung//
Cragen arrived at the Ranger headquarters and walked up to the from desk. "Excuse me? I'd like to speak to whoever is in charge."
"And you are?" the woman behind the desk asked.
"Captain Donald Cragen of the New York Police Department's Special Victim's Unit."
"One moment please." she said and picked up the phone. "Excuse me, Captain Spencer, there's a Captain Cragen here to see you." She placed her hand over the receiver and looked at Cragen. "He said you don't have a appointment."
"I understand that but this is urgent." Cragen replied.
She relayed the information and looked at Cragen again. "He'll be down in just a moment."
"Thank you." Cragen said and took a seat in the waiting area.
After a few minutes of waiting Captain Spencer walked into the waiting area. "You must be the gentlemen that had something urgent to tell me."
Cragen stood up. "Yes, that would be me. Can we speak in your office, by any chance?"
"Sure thing. Follow me." Spencer said as he started to lead Cragen to his office. Once in his office Spencer sat down in his chair. "Now what would the Captain of the Sex Crimes unit in New York have to tell me that is so urgant that he couldn't just tell me over the phone."
"It has to do with your Ranger named Lee Neuman." Cragen said sitting down in the chair across from Spencer.
Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Lee Neuman? You mean one of the best guys on this force?"
"If you say so. His old partner Nicole Green came down here after he notified her that her family was murdered."
"I still don't see how this has to do with Sex Crimes in New York Captain."
"My detective was almost murdered. We did a little background check in to what you call your best Ranger. He has no record on file."
"I assure you he does. I brought him on myself. However your little detective whom was a Ranger never stood a chance with Neuman or the rest of the department. If you should be doing any background checks it should be on your little so called detective."
Cragen stood up from his chair and glared at Spencer. "Listen to me, Nicole is one of the best detectives I have on my squad. Now, she was almost murdered, and I believe that Neuman was involved."
Spencer scoffed. "I find that hard to believe. Ever think that your detective just screwed up."
"No, it's Neuman that screwed up. Now, I wanna know why his file doesn't exist in your computer system?"
"What I want to know is how do you know what's in our computer system?"
"We were aloud to take a look to get some info on Neuman." Cragen said.
"Now that is a lie Captain. Maybe you and your circus of detectives should get out of my state."
"We're not going anywhere until I get to the bottom of this matter."
"You're making a big mistake, Captain. I'm giving you the opportunity to quit while you're ahead. If you're smart you'll take it."
Cragen glared at Spencer. "Like I said, we're not going anywhere." he said and walked out of the office.
//Chung Chung//
"Okay, so he played me like a fool. But why did he have to kill my family and burn down my family's house? I want to kill his asshole." Nicole said than took a drink of water.
"Now we don't know that he killed your family for sure, let alone burnt down the house." Munch replied.
Nicole shook her head. "If he is dirty, than no wonder he always called me 'Squeeky'. But I am now certain with every fiber in my body he was behind that. But why?"
Munch sighed. "If he is behind all this then we'll find out and stop him before anyone else gets hurt."
"I want that asshole for myself." Nicole stated.
Just then Cragen walked into the room. "Nicole, you have to calm down. That attitude is exactly why you're laying in that hospital bed."
"No the reason I am in this hospital bed is because the person I thought I could trust was full of bullshit. After he killed my family to bring me back here and than tried to kill two of the people I am closest to." Nicole replied.
Munch took her hand. "Hey, calm down. We're all still here." Munch said and looked at Cragen. "Did you find out anything?"
"Yeah, the Captain's a self-centered bastard." Cragen stated.
"Lovely. Let me guess, Spencer's still in charge and up to his old tricks." Nicole said as she rolled her eyes.
Cragen nodded. "Yeah and he's not very fond of you at all."
"That doesn't surprise me. He's probably covering for Lee."
"Yeah, I got that impression. He wasn't exactly the most cooperative person."
"Great. How high up does the filth actually go?" Munch asked.
//Chung Chung//
Fin walked into the bullpen and found Jamie in the same spot. He walked over to her desk and handed her a sandwich. "Any luck yet?" he asked as he sat down.
"Nothing. This guy does not exist anywhere. Not even in the alternate databanks." Jamie said opening her sandwich and taking a bite.
"What the hell have we gotten into here?" Fin asked.
Jamie shook her head. "I don't know but we better notify Don fast."
//Chung Chung//
"You know it doesn't surprise me that Spencer would be dirty." Nicole was saying.
Just then Cragen's cell phone went off. He answered it on the second ring. "Cragen."
"Captain, it's Fin."
"What have you got Fin?" Cragen asked.
"Not a damn thing. Jamie checked NCIC, VICAP, AFIS, the IRS and the alternate databanks. This guy doesn't exist anywhere."
"Well, I talked to Neuman's Captain and he told me he does have a file."
"He's obviously lying, Don. Jamie checked their files. She even used all the variations of Neuman that we could think of and he's not in their system."
"I didn't think so."
"What's going on down there?" Fin asked.
"We're not exactly sure, Fin." Cragen replied.
"You know, Captain, if we had this guy's fingerprints we could see who he really is." Fin stated.
"I don't see how we're gonna get his prints."
Munch looked at Cragen. "Captain, Neuman was drinking coffee in the waiting room."
"Go find that cup." Cragen said and Munch took off out of the room. "Okay, listen Fin, Munch is looking for a cup that Neuman was drinking from. If he finds it, we'll send it out right away."
"Alright, let us know one way or another."
"Will do." Cragen said and hung up.
//Chung Chung//
Munch ran down to the waiting room and stopped at the table. The cup was no longer there. He looked around and saw the janitor walking down the hallway with the garbage can. "Hey!?" Munch called out.
The janitor stopped and looked back at Munch. "Can I help you?"
"Did you just clean off that table in there?" Munch asked and pointed to the waiting room.
"Yeah. But there was nothing on it but a couple of napkins and a coffee cup."
"I need that cup."
The janitor raised an eyebrow. "Okay, knock yourself out."
Munch took out a handkerchief from his pocket and pulled the cup out of the garbage can. "Thanks."
"Sure thing." the janitor replied and continued on down the hall.
Munch walked up to the nurse's station. "Excuse me? Do you happen to have a plastic bag?"
The nurse looked around. "Uh, yeah, right here." she said and handed it to him.
Munch placed the cup in the bag and sealed it. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Munch took the bag and made his way back to Nicole's room. He entered and held up the bag. "Lucky I went when I did or this would have ended up at the city dump."
Cragen gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, let's get that shipped out to Fin and Jamie ASAP. I'll call them and let them know to expect the package."
TBC...
