He had to laugh when he got the report. While at Topaz, a woman approached Fin and Carisi, then proceeded to call the blond detective a choir boy - which he found more funny than he should - and played up to Fin. The sergeant explained that Carisi was looking for a girl he met a month ago there and he described her. Carisi mentioned the tattoo and that the girl was a painter. The woman recognized the description and said Monica Russo, the girl that they were looking for, quit and last she heard Monica was working a dungeon, explaining that was S&M.
"Go talk to her and let me know how it goes," Rafael said. "Keep it to female detectives and maybe she'll open up."
He could almost see the eye-roll over the phone, the tone of voice unmistakable. "Thanks for the faith, Counsellor."
He gave a little snort. "For the record, I'm so calling Carisi 'choir boy' from now on."
She laughed. "You'll realize really quickly what the implications are of Carisi growing up with a bunch of siblings. Sisters to boot. So, do so at your own peril."
He rolled his eyes, not caring she couldn't see it. "Have you met my mother?"
While Rafael got back to managing his other files, and dealing with more than a few phone calls, one of which was with with Sex Offenders Monitoring Unit, Olivia and Rollins went to speak with Monica. When questioned she told Olivia and Rollins that at this new club there were rules. Olivia told Monica she wanted to help her. Monica ended up taking a picture of the pair of detectives and said that they'd be her next billboard (if they didn't take her case seriously).
After that, Fin and Officer Tamin talked to the club manager, who insisted, to no one's surprise, that Monica made the entire thing up.
One of the other girls at the club told Fin that a guy named Markeevious Ryan was who they were asking about and he was rich and didn't need to rape anyone. Monica was just a drama queen.
At that point, Olivia updated him over the phone while he made his way to one of the conference rooms for a meeting.
The meeting hadn't been the most riveting one he'd had, but turning his phone back on more than made up for it.
Olivia had gone to see Monica - at her home studio - who was still rather hostile.. Olivia talked to her and, thankfully, managed to get the woman to open up slightly - the new trauma-informed interviewing techniques definitely helping as she finally got the story from her. Olivia had immediately had Carisi drop off the file with the written statement for him to go over.
"It was a few weeks before Christmas. The place was packed. Markeevious wanted just me and him in the VIP room. Normally it was me and another girl or two, but that night we were alone. As soon as I shut the door, he started taking his pants off, and I was like, 'Whoa, slow down, buddy!' but he wasn't listening." Rafael sighed as he read it. The sheer entitlement here was disgusting. "He started putting on a condom, and I was like, 'Wrong move, buddy! you know. I was trying to joke my way out of it. I've had to do it a million time before, but that night, I was scared of him. He had this blank look on his face. And he pinned me against the wall. And I tried to fight him, and he threw me on the floor. I was alone. I was trapped. I was yelling, but the music was so loud, nobody could hear me. He just overpowered me. He starting moving me around like a piece of furniture any way he wanted." Another sigh left his lips as he continued to read the statement. "I struggled. but at a certain point, I just gave up. He raped me. After, I just tried to go back on stage. I was trying to pretend like nothing happened. Markeevious was still there, and he waved at me, and that's when I told Jared. And Jared said, 'Markeevious is a good customer, so I should shut up.'" He adjusted his glasses, and, frowning, finished reading. "That's when I went to the local precinct. They never even returned my calls."
He read it again, to make sure he didn't miss anything and then put it off to the side, managing his files again for another hour and a half before he through on his jacket and made his way out of 1 Hogan Place and down to the 16th.
"So what do we have exactly?" he inquired.
"His ex said that there were more allegations," Rollins said, "but she's refusing to name names."
"Doesn't want to give them a way to sue," the sergeant added. "Markeevious also claims that he ain't guilty of rape, 'cause he's gettin' divorced and tipped her."
"Huh, interesting. Still, he's claiming consensual," he said, "which puts him in the room with Monica." He made a face. They had very little evidence. "Anything else?"
"We're working on that," Olivia admitted.
"So we've got nothing," he said. "No rape kit. No DNA. And the victim seems like a bit of a wild card." He glanced at Olivia. "How will she hold up on the stand?"
"Well, she doesn't have a lot of faith in the system," Olivia admitted to him, "but I think I can get her there."
"Well, I can't say I blame her," he said, frowning. "If we had the original report..." His frown lightened slightly. "Talk to Officer Donahue. If he testifies to the reports existence, if it gets to that point, a jury might make that leap."
"Rollins?" Olivia asked, giving the blonde detective a look.
Rollins dipped her head slightly. "On it, Captain."
Rollins was heading out, when there attention was caught by a woman walking through the door with a box.
Olivia seemed slightly surprised, but quickly recovered and there was no hesitation when she spoke. "Monica." Ah. So this is the woman.
"What the hell did you say to them?" the woman said tersely.
"What are you talking about?" Olivia inquired.
"The club," she said. "They sent me all of my stuff back." She pointed out the things in the box that she'd now put on the table. "It's all ripped, it's all covered in crap." She rummaged through her things. "Oh, and they sent me this." She pulled out a dead rat in a bag. Rafael couldn't believe they'd has the audacity. Well, he could, unfortunately, but the behaviour was so childish and despicable. Still, it never failed to amaze him how poorly people would treat those strong enough to report. "Yeah," she said, noting the looks on all of their faces.
"Wow, Monica," Olivia said, "I am I'm so sorry. Why don't you come into my office-"
"Why?" the woman sneered. "So we can talk?"
"Markeevious conceded that he had sex with you," Olivia explained. "He said he tipped you after -"
"After I was raped," she said, not missing a beat. "Yes, I took it. I was in shock."
Th captain looked like she was about to speak, but Rafael cut in, concerned that the victim would leave if she became any more frustrated with the police, Olivia in particular as she'd been so involved. "Believe me, we understand that," Rafael said, "but I would like to actually sit down and have a conversation with you."
She eyed him. "And who are you?"
He took a step forward, offering his hand. "Rafael Barba. I'll be the one prosecuting your case if this goes to trial." Her glare didn't lessen much. "Regarding that, I can try to get you an Order of Protection of that would make you feel more comfortable."
"Like you care," she scoffed.
He gave her a sad smile. "I do, actually. As a matter of fact, I am the one who called the billboard in." A pointed look. "We're on your side here. Okay?"
She huffed, but relaxed slightly. "About that Order of Protection..."
He really hoped Rollins would be able to get the cop to testify. If the woman was pushed over the edge much more he thought she might just torpedo the entire case, which was weak enough as it was.
They talked for a while longer, Rafael trying to suss out what kind of witness she'd be, before Monica finally left. As the door closed behind her, he turned to Olivia. "See if you can get into any of his prior bad acts." He shook his head. "This can't be his first time raping a hooker."
She sighed. "Wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Send Tamin to make some rounds?" he suggested. "She's ex vice. She's good, and there has to be rumours about this guy."
"Well," she said, "it can't hurt."