When Amanda Rollins and Kat Tamin pulled up to the very tiny police station in the equally tiny town of Liberty, Amanda took her phone off the charger to send a quick text to Carisi.
'Kats out of the bag'
'She saw ur texts'
'Ur gonna owe me big tonight'
The three dots immediately showed he was probably sitting there waiting for a text from her.
'Copy that detective Rollins'
'Ill be limbered up & ready'
'I got U'
;-P
Amanda laughed and sent him back the explosion emoji and heart eyed one, which caused her cheeks to burn red again. She put her phone in her pocket, ignoring the look she was getting from her young partner and put on her game face.
They walked into the smallest police station ever. There was barely room for the two of them in the lobby. One deputy was sitting at the only desk. He took one look at them and said, "You must be the detectives from the city". He opened the half door into the rest of the station for them.
"Detective Rollins, this is Detective Tamin". Amanda pointed to herself then Kat.
"Deputy Branch". He nodded to them and led them back to the office with 'Sherrif Cooper' on the door. It was the only office in the place.
"Sheriff Cooper? Those detectives are here". He spoke as he knocked on the door, opening it before he heard a response.
The sheriff rolled his eyes a bit at the deputy. "Branch, what did we talk about"?
"Sorry, should I close the door"? He asked, still holding the doorknob, but Amanda and Kat were already halfway through it.
Sherrif Cooper sighed. "No". He stood up and walked around his desk.
Sherrif Cooper waived the detectives into his office. He reminded Amanda of Sam Elliott, grey hair with a mustache and a warm smile. He introduced himself and offered to get them coffee. When they both gave their names but politely declined the coffee, he reached for his hat and rain coat on the hook in his office.
"Not to push you back out, but we left everything like we found it. The car is out on Weiss Road, not too far from here. I assume you'll wanna be heading out there".
"Thank you, yes". Amanda let him lead them out.
"Branch, can you handle things here till we get back"? Cooper didn't even turn to look as he asked. The younger deputy smiled at Kat, rolling his eyes after his bossed passed and she gave him an understanding nod. She was the newbie on her team too, she got it. He was so young, obviously the new guy.
They followed Cooper to the Bronco in the Sherrif's spot, Amanda had taken the seat beside him, Kat in the back. On the way he told them he'd left his other deputy in charge of the scene and they were to leave everything as it was.
"So you New York City cops think your Central Park Ripper might be all the way out here"?
"We're not sure", Amanda admitted, "He hasn't left us anything to go on, so we're investigating every possibility".
"You know, this town hasn't had a murder in over fifty years, it's mostly stopping out of town speeders, drunken disorderly collars, that kinda thing. The past few years we've caught a couple farmers trying to make extra money growing different things, last year we even found a poppy field, but this"?
"It might be nothing". Amanda reiterated.
"The truth is, this is only the fourth missing person since I've been sherrif, that's 25 years, but the second woman in the county to go missing without a trace like this in the last 2 years". Sherrif Cooper reluctantly admitted.
"The second"? Kat asked, leaning forward from the back seat.
"Yea, not quite 2 years ago. In November 2019. It was in a more remote area up on the other side of Neversink Reservoir. Girl was camping with her dog, never found again. The dog wandered into town, and when they found her camp, it looked like maybe bears had gotten to it but they never found her".
Rollins realized that was too close for comfort. "Okay, we need to head there after".
"It's a more remote area. You've gotta travel on an unpaved road to get there". Cooper balked. "Anything of use would be long gone now".
"No, we still need to see it". Amanda insisted.
Kat furrowed her brow, but didn't say anything.
"Okay, but it'll be late by the time we get back. The roads get more treacherous when it's rained like it has been".
They hadn't planned on this but Amanda knew if this was their guy, there was a chance that could be the first victim. All the other victims were taken from areas within a few hours of the city. If this was his first one - there was a possibility he was from around here. Someone he had taken, but his ritual hadn't been perfected yet. They had to see the place. Maybe take a few pictures.
When they got to where the abandoned car was, it started to sprinkle again. Crime scene tape was all around the area, but with all the rain they'd had there was likely no forensic evidence left. The only other deputy in Liberty was in another sheriff vehicle parked behind the car. When he saw them pull up in front of the small sedan he put on his hat and got out to meet them.
Rollins and Kat walked up to the car, and the deputy introduced himself as Jeff Thomas.
"Rollins and Tamin". Amanda pointed to herself then Kat again.
Amanda hadn't been expecting to find evidence here but the hair on the back of her neck stood up when she was looking at the umbrella lying in a puddle, and inside the car and trunk. Sometimes you just get a sense for these things. Deputy Thomas told they found it just like this. Umbrella on the ground, the car's hazards were blinking, but there was nothing else.
While they couldn't find new evidence, Amanda definitely had the feeling this was more than just a car breaking down and the owner having to walk home or to find help. If that was the case, why hadn't they come back. She called Olivia when they got back in Sherrif Coopers truck. She arranged to have the car towed back so their crime scene techs could go over it. She also let her know they'd be later than they thought because they wanted to view the other potential crime scene.
Once she explained the situation, Liv agreed they needed to go see it. By then it was pouring down rain again. Deputy Thomas agreed to stay with the car until the tow arrived.
Sherrif Cooper had told him they'd be heading out to where the other girl's campsite was.
Thomas had told the Sherrif the weather was too bad and the road might be washed out. He ignored the warning and they headed up to the campground at Neversink.
At first the road was just a standard paved road, but they turned off on a gravel road after about 15 minutes. Then that road crossed a creek.
"Is this the part that gets washed out"? Kat asked, as she looked out the window while they crossed through the water.
"Yea, we'll be in and out before it gets too much higher". Cooper assured her.
It took another 20 minutes on this bumpy mountain pass before they got to a designated camping area. There were signs for different trails, camping, even a longer hike to a waterfall. Under different circumstances it would have been a beautiful place to visit.
"We've gotta get out and walk from here. I have extra umbrellas, but it's easier to walk the uneven trail without holding on to that".
They opted not to carry the umbrellas, depending on their raincoats to keep them as dry as possible in the relenting rain. The forest was so dense in some areas the rain didn't even reach them. The campsite was a short 10 minute hike from the parking area. Again Amanda felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. At one point she turned around to look behind them. She had that distinct feeling someone was watching them, but no one was there. Neither Kat or Sherrif Cooper seemed to notice.
While the hike was short, Amanda couldn't believe how isolated it felt. There was a very small clearing, in the middle was a round group of rocks, clearly people used this as a place to make a fire.
While they were just walking around looking to the ground, a loud snap caused all three of them to look out in the same direction.
"What was that"? Kat asked, trying unsuccessfully to see anything beyond the green canopy of the forest.
"There's all kinds of wildlife up here". Cooper explained. "Deer, Cougars, Bears, Coyotes, Wolves. Could be anything", but he still took his gun from the holster, and switched off the safety before putting it back in.
Amanda made circles around the campsite, and noted to Sherriff Cooper that it looked like someone came out here pretty frequently based on the bare spots where there was no grass, and she could even make out spots that it appeared a chair would be sitting, near the fire. If they could see these marks even after all that rain, they'd have to be pretty deep, meaning someone used this a lot.
Looking in the direction where the chair would have been facing, she told Kat they needed to walk into the woods a bit, straight ahead from where this spot faced.
"You think if it was the Ripper, he might've come back here"? Kat asked Amanda.
"If this was him, it's possible. Probably nothing, but I could imagine him sitting here in front of a fire, looking into the woods where he'd taken her. Reliving it until he decided to take another girl".
They each took a side, moving brush aside, getting soaked, but searched small areas at at time. Sherriff Cooper stood in the clearing watching them. Before he had a chance to ask if they needed help Kat yelled out from a bit deeper into the woods.
"Rollins"! Kat's face was ashen.
Amanda carefully made her way over. Kat was pushing aside the brush, and something gleaming white was exposed. Half buried, but unmistakable was the top of a human skull.
"We're gonna need crime scene techs out here, and we need to try and preserve what we can right now". Amanda told Sherrif Cooper. He had a tarp in the car he brought out to cover the remains. Then they proceeded to put crime scene tape up at the clearing to the trees, not that anyone was out here in this weather. Amanda tried to call Olivia but there was no signal. Sherrif Cooper said he could put a call into the station to request they relay a call.
"Do you have a coroner here"? Amanda asked him.
"Sure, back in Liberty".
"Okay, we're gonna need to bring him up here, I'm not sure we can wait for techs to come up from the city, and Albany is just as far. We need to get back to town so we can coordinate this".
Sherrif Cooper told the he'd put up a trail cam before they left the scene just in case anyone came back while they were gone. Liberty was a small town, word could have gotten out that detectives from the city were here searching for clues to a major case. Amanda and Kat waited in the car while he brought the camera back. Their phones still weren't working.
"I've never been anywhere my phone didn't have a signal at all". Kat admitted.
Amanda was on the trucks radio trying to get one of the other deputies to pick up with no luck.
Finally Cooper got back, and they headed back down. When they got to the creek they'd crossed earlier, it was at least twice as wide as before and definitely too deep to chance trying to get over it.
"What now"? Kat asked.
Cooper rested both hands on the wheel, and put the truck in park. "This is the only way back to Liberty. We're stuck until the water subsides".
"Stuck"? Amanda balks.
He bent his head down to look through the windshield at the darkening sky. It was getting close to dusk.
"Neversink's pretty isolated. People here like it that way. There's one tavern, we might be able to see if they've got some rooms available, you ladies can take those, I'll head back to the camp tonight & stay till morning.
The Sherrif turned the truck around, the other direction along the creek.
Amanda kept trying her phone until finally she got a signal.
She called Olivia to relay everything they found out, but that the road had them stuck for the night.
She needed to call Carisi and let him know she wasn't coming back tonight.
Liv let her know she was going to have the chief authorize them sending crime scene techs up to Liberty, but at this point it would be tomorrow. There was no proof that skull wasn't there for a hundred years, and they really hadn't found anything else. Olivia believed her, but to have them all come up immediately and use air support to get them there, they'd need more than that.
"Copy that Liv. Look, we just got to the uh...tavern. Lemme call you back".
Tavern was one word, Amanda would have used 'shack'. It was a small bar attached to a motel with maybe five rooms. There were a few trucks parked out front and it did have a neon 'Open' sign. They followed Cooper into the bar.
The tavern owner was an older woman named Virginia, who saw how wet they were and disappeared in the back, bringing towels for each of them to dry off. The few patrons inside were definitely staring at Amanda and Kat. Amanda thought to herself it was doubtful that many women came in this place.
The sherriff didn't tell her what they'd found at the campsite, but did say they were stuck here and unable to get back over to Liberty. Virginia offered them a couple rooms for the night, and told them she'd get them some dinner too. She gave them keys to the rooms so they could dry off a bit first.
First thing Amanda did when she got into the room was call Carisi. It had been a long day. She wasn't looking forward to spending the night in this motel bed...alone.
"Amanda"? He picked up on the first ring.
She relayed the whole day to him, including the part where she wasn't going to get to come home tonight. She paused when she heard Jessie in the background asking to talk to her mama.
"Okay, okay Jessie, here talk to your mama".
Amanda could imagine the smell of Carisi's spaghetti sauce in the warm glow of her kitchen as she listened to Jessie talk about how she was helping cook. She felt an ache in her heart missing out on even one night with them.
When Carisi finally got the phone back, he told her everything would be fine.
"I got you, Rollins". He'd said this so many times to her over the years, and he really did. She almost said those 3 words to him right then...but she didn't.
He told her that Warner confirmed that the body in the park was another Central Park Ripper victim, not that they didn't already know it. She was able to ID the body, a missing person for the last month from Norwalk Ct. Cause of death was the same as the other 3 bodies found in Central Park. His voice hushed so the girls wouldn't hear him. Signs of torture, she'd been bound, held for at least a week if not more. The actual cause of death was strangulation.
She and Kat would hopefully be able to meet the forensics team tomorrow before heading back to Manhattan, even if they were going to turn around and come back, they hadn't prepared to spend the night. She told Carisi they were going to meet back up at the tavern in a few minutes for dinner.
"Uh huh. Tavern. As in a bar"? He asked her.
"You should see the bartender". Her side smile wasn't visible through the phone.
"That's not funny Rollins", but she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Too soon"? She asked, smiling. Although she felt a little bad afterwards remembering how much that affected him. Before he could answer she went on.
"She's about 75, pretty cute, but not my type".
They talked a few more minutes, Carisi didn't have any court dates in the morning so he'd be fine to take Jessie to school and Billie to daycare. He asked what she wanted for dinner tomorrow, and told her about how Fin had given him the speech that he better treat her right or else. Amanda was surprised, she thought if anything, Fin would lecture her about how Carisi was sensitive and not to break his heart.
"Call me before you go to sleep"? She asked him before they hung up. Her voice sounded small.
"Sure...you okay Rollins"?
"I just...I'm gonna miss you. I've gotten used to...falling asleep with you next to me". She sighed, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She saw and felt the tears in her eyes thinking about having to spend even one night away from him.
"Me too. It's just one night, you'll be back here tomorrow. It'll suck but we'll be okay. Why don't you call me when you get back to the room? Girls will be in bed by then".
"Okay, it's a date Dominick".
Amanda left her jacket and raincoat in the room to hopefully dry out overnight, and walked back over to the tavern. It was still sprinkling but had definitely let up. Kat and Cooper were already seated at a table, each of them with a beer.
Amanda smiled, remembering how she and Carisi had such a good time at that bar in West Virginia, even if he'd really gotten upset with her later, they'd had a lot of fun that night.
The food at the tavern was actually pretty good, and after a few beers, the sheriff loosened up and they all ended up enjoying themselves, despite the situation. The tavern was pretty full considering how remote of an area it was. Amanda and Kat were definitely outnumbered. There must have been 15 men in the bar, and only one or two other women. Multiple times both Kat and Amanda turned down requests to join someone on a non existent dance floor. After the first few times, when someone would approach the table, Cooper would tell them both women had boyfriends. There was that word again. Kat however, didn't mind the term, but corrected the sherif in her case.
"Girlfriend actually, Celine. We've been dating a couple months". She smiled at Sherrif Cooper, and he just held his beer up to clink with hers. It was always nice when Kat met someone who didn't pass some weird judgement and the sheriff had just made an innocent mistake by assuming.
"And you, Detective Rollins'? He asked.
She looked at Kat, who shrugged back as if to say, why not.
"Yes, I have someone". When she didn't elaborate, the sherrif reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet.
He showed them a photo of him smiling with an attractive woman around his same age.
"Married for 27 years, that's my Alice".
"Beautiful" Kat said, and passed it to Amanda.
"She is, you guys look so happy". She handed it back to him.
"She's a nurse, worked in Albany for many years, then when we came up here she took a job at the local doc's office". He looked at the photo for a moment before closing the wallet and putting it back.
Kat gave Amanda a look, like she needed to share something.
"How'd you know she was the one 27 years ago". Amanda asked.
"Oh, I knew it almost the day I met her. She took a bit more time though". He laughed.
"Dominick Carisi". Amanda looked at Kat again. "That's his name, he's an ADA back in Manhattan".
Kat pointed her beer at Amanda, "Rollins and Carisi used to be partners".
"You don't say"? Cooper asked. "Your ADA used to be a cop"?
"Yep, he left us for the DAs office a couple years ago".
Cooper held his beer up and she tapped it with hers.
"Good for you, Rollins".
The Sherrif hadn't been able to get in touch with deputy Thomas since they'd gotten to the tavern. He didn't seem too bothered by it. He did get deputy Branch, back at the station, who said he'd swing by to make sure the car had been towed on his way home. After hours any 9-11 calls were routed to the deputy on duty that night. The station wasn't manned 24 hours a day.
They spent the rest of the night sharing stories, and beer. Trying to forget about the skull they'd found earlier. Finally, Amanda said she needed to get some sleep, not wanting to miss her call with Carisi. She left Kat and Sherrif Cooper having coffee, deep in conversation and went back to her room.
It wasn't that late, only around 10 PM but she was exhausted from the day and just wanted to hear Dominick's voice. She hung her pants and shirt up, trying to keep them as wrinkle free as she could until she had to put them back on the next day. Curled up under the covers she FaceTimed Carisi, who picked up right away again. He was in her bed (their bed now) in a familiar Fordham Law t-shirt, sitting up, likely still working. Rollins had the phone propped up on the pillow next to her.
"You look tired Rollins". Was the first thing he said to her, his forehead furrowed with worry.
"Gee, thanks". She smiled.
"I mean, beautiful...but tired. Did you eat something"? He was always worried she wasn't eating enough.
"I ate plenty, it's just been a long day and I want it to be tomorrow already. What are you working on"? She asked him, yawning.
He started to tell her about the case he was working on, and noticed her blinks were lasting longer and longer each time. She was going to fall asleep on the call.
Rather than have her fall asleep hearing about the DV case he was prosecuting, he changed gears.
"Let me tell you about the girls tonight". He proceeded to tell her a story about her daughters and Frannie. They all took Frannie on her walk before dinner, but the the girls insisted on dressing her up first. He watched as she slowly fell asleep listening to the sound of his voice. He dropped it softer and softer finally describing how he told them 2 bedtime stories before they were both fast asleep.
He didn't want her phone to die but he wanted to make sure she was really out before disconnecting.
"Good night Amanda Rollins". He almost said he loved her just then, but didn't want the first time to be when she was unconscious so he didn't. Just held the connection another 20 minutes or so as he worked. He could hear her breathing slow, and finally heard the light snore he'd come to love. Finally at that point he disconnected the call, and kept the phone close to him all night in case she needed him.