He and Eddie met at Forlini's, ordered food, and Eddie started to tell him all about his trip to Miami. Sebastián had loved the trip, and Eddie had had a great time himself. He had met his girlfriend's parents the other night as well.
He was happy things were going well for Eddie. He really was. "I'm glad you had a good holiday."
Eddie took a sip of his drink and looked at Rafael. "It was good to see everyone again."
"Sin duda!" he said. "I can say the same."
"Ernesto the same as always?"
"You know it," he said with a laugh. "That guy will never change. Nunca."
"What else is new with you? Qué pasa?"
"En realidad," he said, "I'm now engaged."
"Qué?" Eddie said. "When did you ask? Have you set a date?"
"Nochebuena. And no date, yet."
"Y eras de carnaval sin duda," Eddie said, cracking a joke at the fact that Rafael was always impeccably dressed.
"For once, no!" he said with a laugh.
Eddie shook his head, amused. "Sure, sure. Do you own anything but suits now?"
"Yes," he said with a snort.
"Just teasing," Eddie said with a grin. "Honestly, congratulations, Rafi! I'm really happy for you."
"Gracias," he said. "I also wanted to ask you something."
"Qué? What is it?"
"I want you to be my best man," he said.
"Si estas seguro," Eddie said, "I'd love to, Hermano." He squeezed Rafael's shoulder. "Seriously, I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks, Eddie."
"How did your mom react?"
"It's my mother," he said, quirking an eyebrow. "She's ecstatic. She's been wanting grandchildren for years. Now, she gets to bug Noah."
"Two birds with one stone," Eddie said with a laugh. Eddie's attention landed on the TV. "What's going on there?"
"Not sure," he said, "but that's about my case." He recognized that girl. She was the woman that stopped him outside the courtroom. He glanced towards the bar and gestured to the TV. "Hey, Anthony, can you turn that up?"
"Sure, Barba!"
He nodded his thanks, fixing his attention to the interview taking place.
"So, Mr. Patton," Claire Newbury said, "you claim to be the infamous Infinity rapist."
"Yes," Patton said. "You should know that. You wrote three books on me."
"You realize," she said, "Infinity - if he's even still alive - would be well into his 60s by now, if not 70s. An old man."
"That's why the world needs a new Infinity," Patton said. "That's why I'm Infinity now."
He didn't bother paying attention to the end. If it was probative, he'd be informed shortly. It didn't contain anything new he could use.
"Ese descara'o -" Eddie said, shaking his head.
He quirked an eyebrow. "That's putting it mildly, Hermano."
"Do you gotta run?"
Rafael looked from Eddie to the TV and back again. "No. Not yet," he said, making his choice. "It's just an interview. It's not anything that can't wait."
"Alright."
"So, tell me about the Chocolate Festival. You didn't exactly explain."
"I regretted that when it was time for Seb to sleep," Eddie said with fond amusement. "In any case, we..."
When he finally said goodbye he knew he'd made the right choice in saying work could wait. He'd always be somewhat of a workaholic, but he had come to realize just how lonely he'd been before the Householder case without realizing it. Especially after he lost Alex and Yelena.
"Where's the fire?" he asked, walking into the precinct.
"In there," the lieutenant said, pointing to an interview room. "Claire Newbury and her husband, Leo." She shook her head. "Claire was raped. Her statement is being taken right now."
He took a deep breath. "Fucking brilliant."
Needless to say, his mood was hardly improved when he started listening to the interview.
"It was him," Claire said. "I am absolutely positive."
"Did he say anything?" Rollins asked.
"Yes. He said, 'I'm alive, you bitch.'" Claire paused. "Obviously he saw me on the news."
"Do you have any idea how he could have gained access to your apartment?" Rollins asked.
"He must have followed us in from the street," Claire said.
"Ok, what then?" Rollins inquired.
"Leo had his key in the front door, and suddenly he was just there," Claire explained. "Ski mask, gloves. He had a knife. I wanted to fight, to scream, but Leo said no. We would do whatever he wanted." Claire's voice caught. "We didn't want to die."
"What happened next?"
"He put the knife to Leo's throat," Claire said. "He had me tie him up, stack the plates, everything the way I had researched. Exactly the way I knew he would behave." She made a gesture with her hand. "He took me into the bedroom. Then he tied me up and he raped me. And he told me to moan like I was enjoying it."
"I'm so sorry, Ms. Newbury," Rollins said. "Is there anything about him that stood out? Did you get a sense of his age?"
Claire nodded her head in confirmation ."He was an old man. He had old-man breath."
Rafael looked at Liv. "This might be the real Infinity."
"I was thinking the same thing," she said.
They both turned their attention back to the interview.
"My husband is still in the hospital," Claire said. "He is too old for this! I'm too old for this! He comes back! That's what he does! What if he comes back?" Claire - who had been holding herself together really well - started to sob.
"Jesus," he said. "I want this bastard. Yesterday."
"Listen," she said, keeping her voice levelled, "we have every available officer working overtime. We're pulling street cams, we're pulling security cams from every bodega, bank, and lobby on the Upper East Side."
"All right, was there anything else at the scene? A partial print, a hair, a fibre?"
"CSU is going over that house with a fine-toothed comb. We're just we're waiting on the rape kit.
"She said he was careful. He wore a condom, a ski mask, and gloves -"
"Counsellor, he was careful, yes but with the advancements in DNA technology-"
"Fine. Now, how about that letter? Have Fin and Carisi found anything?"
She sighed. "The lab, it checked the letter that we found at Patton's office. There's no DNA. Look, there's... there's nothing else on evidence."
He sighed. "So, we wait for the Sargeant and Carisi."
"For now, Counsellor. Slowly and deliberately, but we'll get him."
He took a deep breath.
Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before Carisi contacted them, saying they were on their way back with some news and commented that they threatened that Rafael would subpoena the store's business records to get cooperation.
He went back to his office to try and get some paperwork done while he waited for a call to go back to the precinct.
"The lab actually pulled DNA from Infinity memorabilia?" he asked.
"Saliva residue from a stamp," Liv confirmed. "A letter mailed back in '83. You were right, this guy actually made a mistake."
"Any hits in CODIS?"
"No, unfortunately," she said.
He gave an awkward laugh. "I'm seriously beginning to relate to Ben Stone, right now."
"We'll get him, Counsellor.".
"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Carisi said, opening the office door, "but the, uh, DNA from the stamp? - I got a hit."
"How?" the Lieutenant asked. "I thought there was nothing in CODIS?"
"From learnmylineage," Carisi explained.
"You sent Infinity's DNA to a genealogy website?" the lieutenant inquired, more than a little surprised.
"Under what name?" Rafael asked. There had to be a catch somewhere. This seemed too easy.
"Uh, my own," Carisi said somewhat sheepishly.
Rafael sighed. And there's the catch. That could complicate things. He then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great job, Detective, but next time let me know when you want to get every piece of evidence we have thrown out."
"It was a shot in the dark," Carisi said, not letting Rafael's icy tone bother him. "I figured it was easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. If anyone can convince a judge to permit the evidence's admittance, you can."
"And?" Rafael demanded. "I assume you have a point, Detective?"
The blond ignored his tone again. "I got a familial hit. A close female relative. She's got an address in Brooklyn, and she gave the site permission to contact her with any matches." Carisi paused, turning to Olivia. "So now I'm, uh I'm asking your permission, Lieu."
Liv didn't hesitate. "Go, run with it."
"Now, Carisi!" Rafael said. "I don't want a third victim."
"On it," Carisi said. "I'm taking Fin."
Good, the Detective and Sergeant were a good duo. Fin had a knack for controlled chaos and Carisi was a calmer influence.
Carisi also knew the law fairly well and could occasionally work an angle Rafael needed without even needing to be asked. Carisi being a lot calmer was good. Fin had literally kidnapped Byron Marks from Cuba. Fin was good at his job, but he preferred to avoid a repeat of that. Although, Carisi had just pulled a pure Odafin Tutuola. At least he gave him a heads up and he wasn't blindsided in court as Fin had done. He could likely deal with the aftermath of Carisi's choice.
He wasn't even mad, per se. Just... irritated. It was most probably going to complicate things.
Within an hour he had results. Perfect.
"Edgar Noone, 68," Carisi said. "Lived in New York with his wife before she passed for twenty years. He's now retired. Fin's going over there now. I'm with the niece."
The suspect was at the precinct within half an hour.
They immediately took his DNA and Fin ordered a rush on it.
Rafael watched from behind the glass window.
"Now what happens?" Noone said.
The lieutenant looked at Noone. "We wait for the DNA match and then we arrest you for twenty-three rapes."
Noone wasted no time in replying. "I'm not Infinity."
The Sergeant looked at Noone. "Let's agree to disagree."
"You're pretty confident," Noone said.
"Oh, I'm very confident that if we had the wrong man, you wouldn't be so calm," the Lieutenant said. "See, we have police files going back decades. Dates, times, places. And those apartments are gonna be on your cable repair route. And you won't have an alibi."
"We got the knives," Fin said. "We got the rope you planted, which you used to tie up your victims."
Noone, the picture of calm, just looked at them. "Infinity wore gloves."
"Well, we'll find touch DNA somewhere," Fin said.
"Infinity's too smart," Noone said.
"If Infinity's so smart, why'd he come out of retirement and rape Claire Newbury?" Fin said.
"The case was cold," Olivia said. "He would have gotten away with it."
"Maybe," Noone said a bit cautiously, "he didn't want the world to think he was dead."
He couldn't make out Fin's reply as Defence Counsel tapped him on the shoulder.
With a sigh, he knocked on the door.
"That'll be the ADA now," Liv said, opening the door.
"Look who I ran into," he said, gesturing to the attorney beside him.
"No more questions for my client," Noone's lawyer said.
"You're that Baby-killer-ADA, aren't you?" Noone said. "You worked under Ben Stone."
"Yeah, I am. Why'd you ask?"
"I said no more questions," Defence Counsel said.
Noone's DNA matched the DNA on the back of the stamp and Claire Newbury made a voice ID, so they had a decent case for the one rape, at least.
He didn't have enough to indict Noones on any other counts of rape or sexual assault, and explained so. He needed more evidence, maybe a trophy.
They were going through Noone's financials, so hopefully, that would uncover something. He needed it too because he was concerned about the acceptance of the DNA evidence. Honestly, he wasn't surprised when not long after that conversation he was gifted with the Defence's motion to exclude Noone's DNA.
He really was fighting the urge to not strangle Carisi right now.
As the Defence had filed the motion, they went first. "The familial DNA which led police to my client was obtained without a valid court order."
"The genealogy website willingly complied," Rafael retorted.
"Based on an assumption of identity," the Defence countered. "NYPD did not identify themselves."
"Which is not illegal," he said. "In the Golden State case, the arresting officers did not identify themselves as police. The courts ruled to proceed regardless as the perpetrator had been properly Mirandized."
"Golden State was not in New York," Defence countered.
"And your point is?" he said with a raised eyebrow. He then silenced the Defence's reply, citing an obscure case precedent he'd found during his research for the Byron Marks case and another less obscure case example. He hadn't been able to find any local ones, unfortunately. "Your Honour, there was no arrest previously. When Mr. Noone's was arrested, he did know why and by whom. The police did not hide their identities when it was important. Furthermore, the niece did give permission to be contacted."
The judge sighed. "Was the website public?"
"Private," the Defence explained. "And while my client's niece agreed to be contacted by familial matches, she did not agree to law enforcement having access to her DNA." The Defence was really getting on his nerves. "Katz versus United States," Defence continued. "Supreme Court ruled in favour of protections of intrusions of privacy."
"With an exception for exigent circumstances," Rafael countered, tone making it clear he thought the Defence was stupid. "We believe Edgar Noone is the Infinity Rapist. To allow him the opportunity to escape would have been putting the entire population of New York City in imminent danger."
"There are serious Fourth Amendment issues here," Defence said. "If we go down this road, what's next? Police state? A mandatory universal DNA database?"
"My God!" he said, rather dramatically. He glanced at the Defence. "Are you done?"
"Fine, go," Defence said nicely.
"Thank you," he said smugly. "Ex post facto law clearly applies. The DNA was willingly submitted, and in Willson vs Dade-County the courts implied that retroactive consent was enough."
The judge sighed. "Mr. Barba, do you have any other evidence linking Mr. Noone to these crimes?"
"Yes, Your Honour," he said. "The last victim made a positive voice identification."
"And that is also tainted," the Defence said.
"Hardly," he said quickly, seeing the judge about to speak. "It is no more tainted than a lineup, Your Honour. Victims have identified rapists accidentally in elevators before making an official ID. A positive ID is a positive ID. And in the People v. James the courts -"
He was cut off. "I see your point, Mr. Barba. I don't like it, but I am denying the motion to dismiss. For now."
He nodded. "Thank you, Your Honour."
Making a gloating comment to the Defence, he walked out of the courtroom feeling quite pleased.