"You've got to be kidding me," he said incredulously. "How long has it been? Twenty-five years?"

"Something like that," Olivia said. She walked over to their board and started explaining everything.

"So, Infinity's last rape was January 2, 1994," the lieutenant said. "I was a rookie in the five-five. Everyone in the five Boroughs knew about that case. We did have to catch Rollins up, though."

He glanced at Rollins.

"He wasn't exactly well known back in Georgia," Rollins said by way of explanation.

"Fair enough," he said.

"Now," the lieutenant said, "he was good for twenty-two rapes in Manhattan and Brooklyn from '81 to '94."

"This guy targeted couples," Carisi said. "He'd case out the place, jimmy open a door or window. Then he'd lie in wait, break in a second time."

"This guy's a real bastard," Rollins said.

"She's right. He'd tie up the boyfriend or husband, then he'd stack plates on their back and he said if he heard a rattle, the woman was dead," Fin said.

"He took trophies. Small personal items. After the fifth rape, he started leaving messages," Carisi said. "Infinity: 5. NYPD: 0."

Olivia looked at him. "You know, if this is him, he's been out of commission for over two decades, which makes him middle-aged or older."

"Had they gotten a sense of his age before?" he inquired.

"No," Carisi said. "They said that he, uh he spoke in a low voice, he told the wife to keep quiet. They didn't fight back, so there's no sense of his physicality either."

"Have you contacted Crime Stoppers?" he asked.

"No," she said, giving him a pointed look.

"One PP wants this quiet, don't they?" he asked, although it was more a statement than a question.

"Until we know what we're dealing with," she said, "yes. They want to keep it on the DL."

Sgt. Tutuola glanced at his phone. "Okay, no DNA in April's rape kit. CSU found two hairs in the bed but they're not a match to the Bakers and no match in CODIS."

"Okay, so check that DNA against old evidence," the lieutenant said. "Rafael, please do some digging."

Carisi turned to him. "How much do you actually know, Counsellor? Do you know who counsel was for the Infinity case?"

"I don't," Rafael said, "but we've likely crossed paths professionally." They nodded. "I'll pull some favours and get the files. I'll be given access. No judge wants to be responsible for not acting when this asshole is on the loose again. They'll open their kimonos, so to speak, the second I ask."

"Perfect," Liv said. "Then I'll leave that in your capable hands."

"What do you want us to do?" Rollins asked.

"While he deals with the case paperwork I want you and Fin to see if you can talk to any officers who worked the case," the lieutenant said. "We need every piece of information we can get on this guy. Carisi can help Barba and I'll go talk to April."

"On it, Lieu!" Fin said with a nod.

"He's only a human," he said, turning to face his fiancée. "He has to have made a mistake somewhere."

She nodded. "We just have to find it."

As expected, law enforcement was an open book. He was immediately lead to a room where the case files were stored.

"Here you go, Barba. Detective," the man said. "Infinity, '81 to '94. There's over a dozen of them. I'll get you a dolly.

"All right, thanks, George," Carisi said.

He glanced at the sheer number of file boxes for the case. "This guy is already making my skin crawl."

"You're not the only one, Rafael."

He started looking at a case file and saw something that surprised him.

"Carisi, look at this."

"What?"

"'Ben Stone', 'District Attorney's Office' He used to be with the Joint Infinity Task Force."

"You knew him right?"

"Yeah," Rafael said. "Saint Ben. He was a great man. There wasn't an ADA hopeful who didn't look up to him. He mentored quite a few hopefuls. McCoy amongst them, actually. We both attended his funeral."

Carisi nodded.

"Let's get this back to my office," he said with a sigh. "Then we can start reading all this."

Once back at Rafael's office they both delved into them, searching for anything useful. They hadn't found a whole lot, of course, as if there had been enough for a case, they wouldn't have been in this position in the first place, but they were hoping some of it would make connecting the dots easier later as Rafael had a bad feeling they'd have a second case. They had found a photo of his son, Peter, in the file, which was odd.

He'd probably call the Homicide ADA during this case to see if Ben had accidentally let anything slip over the years.

If he was as stuck on this case as it seemed like, it would have bled into his children's lives in some form or another.

He shook his head. "Carisi. These notations in Stone's handwriting? They're dated 2017."

"That's a year before he died."

"Yeah," he said. "This case must have haunted him."

Carisi nodded. "A lot of Law Enforce lost sleep over this case."

"I hope we get this bastard."

"You're not the only one."

They went back to the Squad Room.

"Okay, we have unmarked cars on the Bakers' block, right?" Liv asked. "We're monitoring their calls?"

"Nothing so far," Fin said. "This guy was and continues to be a ghost."

"Nope, not a ghost," Carisi said. "A copycat. We've been going over the old case files. Ben Stone was the lead ADA in the case."

"I didn't realize that," Liv said.

"Whoever attacked the Bakers was definitely not Infinity," Rafael said. "Everything, the signatures, the reconnaissance, the plates, were all in the papers. And then there are three books. What wasn't made public and was consistent with each victim is exactly why we know it's a copycat. He forced them to pretend they were enjoying the assault." He looked at Liv. "Loudly."

"For the tied-up husband to hear," Rollins said, understanding.

"And this guy made April keep quiet," Liv said.

"The Infinity's got a lot of fans online," Rollins said. "Serial rapist, serial killer message boards. I mean, believe it or not, that's a thing."

"So, one of these guys got bored fantasizing and made it real?" Fin said.

"Twenty-five years to the day to the last rape," Rafael said. "All this is a sick homage to mark the anniversary."

Rollins was quickly typing away on her computer. "Okay, so I've got Infinity's Wikipedia page up." She paused. "Hold up, it was it was last updated two hours before the Baker assault."

"Who?" Liv asked.

"Uh, the username is "RealInfinity23."

"Have TARU track down the address," the Lieutenant said. "ASAP."

Thankfully, TARU moved quickly, and they had a name before long: Karl Patton.

Fin and Carisi had immediately been sent by Liv to go arrest the guy.

The lowlife was living with his sister and had a room full of Infinity paraphernalia. Fin refused to even cuff the guy, not wanting to touch the bastard.

Even his sister thought that Patton was guilty.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the interrogation happening in front of him.

"Don't you feel the excitement?" Patton said. "Soon the whole world will know who I am."

"Cut the crazy," Fin said. "Tell us about this woman."

"Sweet, sweet April."

"Just answer the question," Fin said.

"She smelled like roses. Fresh out of the shower."

Carisi sighed. "Okay, let's..." Carisi put his face in his hand for a second, trying to get a grip on himself. "Let's start with why you were in her bedroom. Your side of the story."

"You're playing with me, right?" Patton inquired, although not exactly questioning. "Good cop, bad cop?"

"Look, the game's over, Karl," Fin said, "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face. Tell us what you did."

"I've been waiting for this moment for 25 years," Patton said. "I want to savour it."

"I'm done," Fin said, closing the file and getting up out of his seat.

Both detectives pretended to start walking out. "Wait! I want to confess."

"We're listening," Carisi said.

"I stalked April," he said. "I raped her."

"What about her husband?" Carisi asked.

"I tied him up, stacked plates on his back," Patton said. "Told him if I heard so much as a rattle, game over. That's my signature."

"Your signature?" Fin asked.

"Of course," Patton said. "But you knew that."

Rafael took his attention off the interrogation for a second, turning to Liv. "He's a piece of work."

"This guy laying out his own insanity defence?" Liv inquired.

"He's not doing a bad job," Rafael admitted.

"Well, he can't be Infinity," Liv said. "Patton wasn't born until a year after the first rape."

"Well, we already knew he wasn't," Rafael said. "What's his story?"

"He's an unemployed computer programmer," she said. "From his social media, he's been obsessed with Infinity since he was a teenager. And we know he's good for April and Gavin? He planned it to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Infinity's last rape." She took a deep breath. "The DNA found on the hairs from the Bakers' bedroom is a match, and CSU found April's brush in his workroom, which was a treasure trove of Infinity's paraphernalia including this letter, which I had the lab make a copy of." She paused. "We need to talk to Peter Stone."

"I'll call him," he said. "I was already intending to, but why?"

"The letter... Apparently, it's from the real Infinity. To his father."

"Ah," he said. "I'll go talk to him. Let me known if anything else comes up."

"Will do, Rafa," she said, squeezing his hand.

Unfortunately, Stone hadn't been much help. Peter had never talked about his father's cases with Ben, although, certain things had started to fall in place for the young ADA.

Stone read the letter, nonetheless. He had wanted to help, he just didn't know anything particularly useful.

"Your son throws the ball like he was born for it," Peter read aloud. "June 1988. I would have been seven."

"He seems to of staked out your Little league games," Rafael commented.

"That photo you found with this," Stone said. "I was seven. Infinity might have taken it." He looked pensive.

"What?" Rafael asked when Stone wasn't quickly forthcoming.

"You know, my dad sent me and my sister to live with my Aunt Carolyn in Montana that summer," Stone explained. "Dropped us off and said, "Be back soon.' Three months later, not a word. My aunt had to put us on a plane so we wouldn't miss school. I always resented him for that."

"Your father may have been trying to protect you," he said softly.

"And I resented him for that," Stone said. "What kind of son does that make me?"

"A child who simply felt abandoned because nobody even tried to explain the situation?" he said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't blame yourself for it."

"Easier for you to say."

"My resentment for my father is well earned, I assure you," he said with a snort. "No guilt there."

Neither knowing what else to say, he said goodbye before going to see if the squad had found anything. They hadn't yet, unfortunately.

"On one count of rape in the first degree, one count of assault in the first degree, one count of kidnapping in the second-" Judge Serani said.

"Shouldn't that be twenty-three counts?" Patton said.

"Counsellor, how does your client plead?" the judge asked.

"Not guilty," Public Defender Guthrie said without preamble.

"People on bail?" the judge asked.

"The people request remand, Your Honour," Rafael said. "This brutal assault was premeditated, an homage to the real Infinity's last rape down to the date and the time."

"I am the real Infinity!" Patton cried out.

"That's enough, Mr. Patton!" Judge Serani said.

"Mr. Barba," the judge said, "I'm granting your request for remand.

"Thank you, Your Honour."

The grabbed his files, and feeling pleased, walked out of the courtroom to where Carisi was waiting.

He'd not quite reached his destination when he was stopped by some true-crime reporter or author or some other named Claire Newbury.

She wanted to do an interview with him, Patton and had hinted at planning to ask Peter Stone.

He shook his head. Like he was going to participate in that farce.

"What's Patton's defence gonna be?" Carisi asked. "The guy confessed. We got forensics."

"Don't underestimate Guthrie," he said with a snort. "He's clashed with a lot of people even other defenders. He stuck as a public defender. Barely passed the bar. He's rather low on the totem pole and wants his moment in the sun. He's desperate. He'll get creative. Just like he did in the Lewis Hodda case." He raised an eyebrow. "Between you and me, him taking this case was a mistake on his part."

"Going to throw the book?"

"Twice over," Rafael smirked. "Hmm... The letter found in Patton's house, was it authenticated?"

"Handwriting analysis matched those received by the NYPD," Carisi said.

"Do we know where Patton got it?" he asked.

"Criminal memorabilia black market," Carisi explained. "A dealer bought it from a detective who was working the Infinity case in the '80s. Ended up at a store on the Lower East Side."

"Really?" he grinned. "I want you and Fin to pay someone a visit for me."

"I know where you're going with this," Carisi commented, "and I like it."

"Fin'll appreciate getting to do a little shakedown," he said wryly.

"Oh, no doubt," Carisi said, pulling out his phone to call Fin.

He hoped the store owner would actually give them some information.

Checking the time, he pulled out his phone. "Hola, Hermano! Qué bolá? How do you feel about lunch?"