Also, I claim no knowlegde of our legal system. I look up what I can, and the research is done, but I do not back up what I have written from a legal stand point. However, just because something is wrong does not mean I want it to stay that way. If you catch a boo-boo, please LET ME KNOW!! I will do what I can to [hopefully] fix it, or warn people of the mistake.
My thanks go to fellow author and loyal reviewer ;o) Munchkin for her background information on Detective Odafin Tutuola. It's so hard to find anything on SVU right now, and she unselfishly shares the information she finds with me in the sweetest of spirits.
Chapter Seven: The Fruit of Psychological Interpretation
"Fin."
He had just walked in carrying his jacket and his partner's to find Olivia and Elliot grabbing their own from the lockers.
"Cregan wants to see you."
"Thanks," he called as the they left. He put his coat in his locker, Munch's on his desk then walked towards the office. Just returning from a pointless quarter of an hour of haranguing the wrong person, his already knowledgeable partner, on the subject of racism, he wasn't as tense as earlier. Short of physically taking on Kip, speaking with Munch was the best thing for him, and had calmed him down immensely. John knew all about his partner's lifetime of living with black radical parents, parents that had always taught him to fight racism. So he could sense Tutuola's agitated spirit and knew when he needed to fume. Fin just wished he could somehow return the favor to his emotionally repressed partner.
"No, I don't think so." Elle shook her head at Cregan as Fin walked into the office. "I think this goes deeper."
As he closed the door all three heads turned to look at him. Cabot and Elle were sitting across from Cregan's desk, behind which he slowly paced.
Odafin looked at Cregan. "You wanted to see me?"
The man nodded, motioning for his detective to sit. "I thought you might be a tad more... receptive than Munch to Miss Seymour's condensed examination."
Fin looked to Elle. "Examination?"
She nodded confidently, but her eyes betrayed that self-assured attitude with a little unease. "Yes. I've read what little there is on Kip, and watched him. I've also pulled his mother's files."
"His mother's files?"
Cregan took his seat behind the work-cluttered desk. "Yes. It turns out that Kip's mother isn't dead." Fin was not sure where they were going with this, but took the heavy folder Elle had grabbed off Cregan's desk.
"Captain Cregan had me reading up on him while you were at the auto shop. Then I listened to him the first time around in the interrogation room. I thought I remembered his mother still being alive after he swore on her grave. And look."
Fin opened the stuffed file labeled Lana Kip, a.k.a. 'Penny Pence'. He was startled to find the woman had white-blonde hair with green eyes and a slim build.
"Looks identical to the other two victims."
Again, the psychology major nodded. "And she's a pro. Has been since..." Elle shrugged. "Forever. The first time on record was at 19."
"She'd probably been doing it as a kid." He thought out loud, the habitual method of most detectives when breaking down a situation. "Could have easily started at 15, 16 years old."
"Right. Long before Kip was born and long after."
"When was he born?"
"Year after her first recorded solicitation. The point here is how long he had to live with his mother having sex for money. Ever since he was a child, I'd say he's been hearing the sound of sex in the next room."
"You think he still hears sounds now?" asked Cregan, while Fin perused the files. "A psychosis of some sorts? Psychoneurosis?"
She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'd have to interview him, and honestly I'm not experienced enough."
Alex broke in, leaning forward in her chair. "Let's hope he doesn't hear voices or sounds of his mother's sexual escapades. You want him to be mentally competent to stand trail, and after that display of supposed innocence, I'll maintain that the man has some serious talent in the acting locale. If he thinks he can get away with an insanity plea, he'll convince jury and judge."
Cregan looked at the ADA. "How do we know he doesn't deserve an insanity plea, Alex?"
"He's not insane. Not enough to be perceived as incompetent, anyhow. He's calculated. You saw the immediate switch from innocent to guilty. He sure as hell knows what's going on. The only question I've got is: how can we prove it?"
Elle shook her head and turned to Cabot. "Like I said, it's more complicated and goes deeper than that, Counselor. Yes, he knows what's he's done. Yes, he knows what's happening and what's liable to come out of it. But he's smart. If you want him put away for as long as possible you're going to have to get a confession out of him and a good one. Otherwise the Public Defender or whoever gets this case is going to have a field day."
"Well, Miss Seymour," started Cregan. "How do suggest getting that confession."
"Okay. Start with his psychological make-up and his MO. He seems to be taking his hatred and sexual desire for his mother out on hookers that look like her."
Cregan looked thoughtfully at the file in Fin's hands. "He has a sexual desire for his mother? Incest?"
"Not necessarily. If he could hear his mother having sex, if it was common place, and he knew she what she did for a living, that's bad enough. Once he grew into a teenager, his hormones would push even normal sexual desires sky high. Hearing sounds from the next room, being aroused... It could do horrors to a young man. And it could cause stigmas, patterns. His disgust for his own sexual drive would grow and grow until he thought nothing was a worse sin than sex. Even murder and or death."
"So," Alex interrupted. "The question isn't why does he kill them, but why does he hunt for women like this? Like his mother?"
"Out of revenge." said Cregan.
"Possibly now, but not at first." Elle shifted in her seat, ready to present her thoughts to the willing threesome. "At first he'd see himself attracted to women in his mother's image: his mother equaled sex in his mind since as long as he could remember, so he might find himself unable to be turned on by other types of women. A man attracted to women because of this is in no position to have a stable relationship, and on some subconscious level, he knows it. So he makes the altered magazines to calm his sexual needs. But soon that's not enough. He has one night stands, soon he finds hookers, completing this semi-circle."
"How would the violence start?" Fin asked, impressed with what Elle, still a student, had come up with so quickly. "S&M? Or one of the hookers saying the wrong thing?"
She nodded. "Either one, maybe both. I couldn't tell from what I've seen of him, but taking a look through a few of those magazines could tell me if it was S&M. Did they find any?"
Cregan shifted in his chair. "We haven't gone through them yet."
"Well, with your permission, I'd like to."
"Fine. But what if it is S&M? Would he just crack?"
"Probably. He'd start out beating the women, what would seem like a little S&M, but in his mind it's more. There'd be a inner rage there, something spurring him on more than really arousing him. After a while he'd grow more and more violent, until he finally snapped, maybe at what Detective Tutuola said: a hooker saying or doing the wrong thing. He most likely killed his first victim either by accident or in an almost blind rage."
Fin followed where she was going. "After that he became more calm, controlled, bloodthirsty. Until his last two victims."
"Right. And I'd bet anything that the 'Dirty Blonde' on the forehead refers to his mother."
*****
"His mother?" Munch asked his partner, looking at the pictures of Sadie Kip. "Why does it always stem from parental screw-ups."
Fin shrugged. "Explains you."
"Doesn't it though?" He put the files down at his desk and rubbed his eyes, a major headache storming all fronts.
Fin took his seat across from Munch. "Cregan thinks it'd be best if I kept to the viewing room this time around. He thinks my presence during the interrogation would just get Kip rowdy and make things worse."
Munch looked at his partner's expressionless face. On their walk, less than half a hour ago, Fin had been raving about racism and the nerve of Philip Kip. He had desperately needed to vent his anger, and more than did so on the streets of New York. Once arriving back at the station, he mentioned to John how much he had appreciated the company, once again leaving Munch satisfied that he had helped his partner, but still a bit uncomfortable with the emotions of the situation.
Now Odafin was as blank as a brand new notebook, and no one would have ever guessed the frustration Munch knew he felt was beneath that placid exterior. Frustration that his own captain had insisted that the chocolate half of the cookie stay out of the milk.
Munch finally nodded, closing "Penny Pence's" file. "When does Stabler get back?"
"He's on his way now," said Cregan from his office. Munch turned, surprised at his presence. "John, can I speak with you a moment?"
He nodded and got up, patting his partner on the shoulder as he passed, then frowning as he remembered Ellandra doing the same. He knew Fin was going to need more ranting time at the end of the day, and he hoped he'd be the one the man would turn to. Not some pretty redheaded shrink wanna-be.
He pushed his own fears of emotional inadequacy and personal misgivings aside as he walked into his captain's office. The last thing he needed was another reason not to trust Seymour. Unfortunately, he knew this one would stick as much if not worse his fears of her cooperating with IAB. He had become very protective and possessive of his partner lately, after finally getting used to the man as a replacement for Monique.
He was smart enough to see the subliminal pattern starting to form in his mind, but he didn't care. Monique was gone because of the Commissioner's want for a psychological profile on each detective. A shrink had thought her not mentally worthy to keep working the SVU. Or more simply: a shrink had taken her away. Now Fin and Elle seemed to be hitting it off. He didn't want to lose what he and his partner had formed.
Bringing his mind back to the current situation, he stood in front of Cregan who was looking through the papers on his desk. "Fin briefed you on the possible psychological make-up?"
"From A to Z."
Cregan looked up. "And he informed you of his role during the interrogation?"
Munch crossed his arms and nodded.
Cregan sighed and rubbed his forehead with his right hand, placing his left on his hip. Munch noted Donald's movement, a reflex of habit, his keen mind working on details even with familiar company. "He's a damn good cop, John. But this is too touchy a situation to thrown more flame onto the fire."
"I understand."
"Does he?"
"Like you said: he's a damn good cop. Pissed off, but perceptive."
Donald nodded, going back to the files on his desk. "I talked to Andrew Brooks, Kip's lawyer and cousin. Kip used his call to phone his aunt who then got in touch with her son. When Brooks came down here, he wasn't sure about anything except that his cousin was in need of legal service for some criminal charges. When he found out that Kip was here for two rape and murder charges he was... Well, less than enthusiastic about representing the man."
"But he went in anyway? Instead of letting a PD take over?"
Cregan shrugged. "I don't know why, but I think he's gonna be more of an ally to you than Kip. He was disgusted by the MO and the evidence."
Munch nodded. "Anyone half decent would have been. What did he think about the history?"
He looked up at his detective. "I left that up to Kip. If he wants to tell his cousin the details with his mother, then let him go for it. But I doubt that he will, and I don't want to give Brooks any motivation for sympathy right now. Besides, we don't want Kip to know how informed we are of his family issues."
Munch raised his eyebrows, saying nothing, but his boss could guess his train of thought. "Unethical? Maybe a bit. But if an insanity plea is what he's going for, we need a sane confession. Therefore we're gonna have to keep Brooks from acting like an actual lawyer in there."
He frowned again as his bossed went back to tending the clutter on his desk. There was no guarantee that the lawyer was going to let them badger Kip, and there was always the possibility that the man was going to take the fifth until he got better counsel. "How do you know Brooks won't be ready to defend Kip once I get in there?"
"Well, for starters Kip is smart enough to know that he can no longer play innocent, so he won't try and convince his cousin."
"Even if he did, it would do nothing but harm him once the truth came into light. With all the proof we've got he really would have to be insane to play harmless."
Cregan found what he was looking for, and glanced up at Munch. "Right. Also, I got the impression as soon as Brooks stepped in my office that he doesn't care much for his cousin. And if you saw the look on his face once Alex and I presented the evidence against him, you'd understand, there's no way he'll be completely on Philip Kip's side."
Munch shook his head, partly disagreeing. "Unless Kip tells him why he killed the women. What his mother did to him."
"What are the odds?"
There was a knock on the door, and Stabler entered. "We ready?"
Cregan looked to Munch who nodded. "Let's go." He motioned the two detectives out of the office.
Fin was already gone. In the viewing room, Munch guessed. Watching Philip Kip, no doubt.
Stabler turned to Munch as he stopped to pick up the file on Lana Kip. "What exactly are we doing here?"
Munch opened the file and handed the picture to Stabler.
"Kip's mother."
"Right. We're going to use her."