Chapter 13
"So did you guys find anything in the footage?" Olivia asked as she walked into the squad room the next morning.
"The baseball hat doesn't help but since the store owner can ID him, maybe that will help instead. Mr. Singh was right though. We haven't found a credit card receipt to match up with the visits so far," Fin heaved a sigh.
"How many more days of video do you have?" She wanted to know.
"Two. Maybe he'll slip up, but I doubt it. We told the local precinct to stake out the place without being conspicuous," Elliot shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Good call. I'll put on a fresh pot of coffee," Olivia offered before ducking into her office to drop off her bag.
"You look like hell," Amanda said as she walked into the squad room.
"Hello to you too, Rollins," Fin gave her a look.
"You find our guy?" She asked ignoring his look.
"Yes, but we have no way to find his address," Elliot heaved a sigh.
"After all these years, he's still careful with the cameras and credit cards huh?" The blonde put her bag on her desk.
"It becomes habit after a while. I can understand him not having a presence on social media. When he faked his death, social media wasn't as big as it is now. Plus, he's older so he doesn't need to be glued to the internet. His phone is a burner, so it's not fancy enough to do much more than make texts and calls. The pandemic has made some places stop taking cash. So how does he do it?" Elliot wondered.
"I think we need to check Derek's financials. He could be buying stuff for Bartoli," Amanda saw his point.
"What would we look for though? I mean the guy isn't going to be buying weird stuff. Derek will just say he bought it for himself," Fin brought the thought back down to Earth. Amanda frowned and gave Olivia a nod as the Captain walked by and headed for the coffee machine. They all heard Olivia's phone ring and she quickly answered it.
"Ok Joe. See you soon," ended the conversation.
"Where is our newest squad member?" Amanda wanted to know.
"CSU called him and he is swinging by them before heading over here," Olivia said.
"How much you want to bet that Derek's DNA matches the DNA at the scene?" Fin asked Elliot.
"Oh, I'd say I won't take that bet, but we need to call George. I'm getting a picture in my head that I'd like to run by him before we do any deeper diving," the OCCB detective said.
"I'll give him a call," Olivia told them before heading back into her office. Amanda gave Fin a look and he shrugged before turning his focus back to the video.
"That coffee smells good. I thought you guys only drank that stuff that Munch had," Elliot teased as he got out of his seat and headed for the coffee machine.
"I won't tell him you said that," Amanda smirked. Fin chuckled and hit the 'play' button on the remote. The security footage started rolling and Elliot handed him a cup of coffee as he got back to his seat. Fin nodded and took the cup of hot liquid.
Despite the Sergeant's put down, Amanda figured it couldn't hurt to dig into Derek financials. They had been sent over from Carisi. The DA's office had received them as part of Derek's bail application. Without the DNA results, Carisi couldn't arraign him for murder, only the stalking. Derek's defense attorney, Darlie Barter, argued that there was no complaining victim, since the victim was dead, and the judge had just given her a look. Carisi told the judge that they were only waiting on DNA results before filing murder charges. The judge had set Derek's bail high, instead of remanding him, mostly due to Derek's confession. Not even Carisi could justify remand at this point, no matter how much he wanted to.
"George will be here in about half an hour," Olivia announced to the group.
"Good. Hopefully, Joe will be back by then too," Amanda turned in her chair and smiled at the Captain. Olivia smiled back but not as much as she usually would before ducking back into her office. Amanda left her chair and followed her, closing the office door behind her.
"You ok Liv? If I need to kick Stabler out of here…" the blonde started.
"No, it isn't him. Well not entirely. I just need more sleep," Olivia admitted.
"I know what you mean," Amanda nodded.
"This case… the sooner we figure this out the better," the Captain said.
"On it," Amanda winked and headed back out of the office, not sure she believed Olivia, but she knew better than to push her. The group fell into silent working until Joe walked into the squad room, fifteen minutes later.
"DNA is in. Derek is our rapist, which I gotta say, confuses me," Joe admitted.
"George is on his way in. We need to talk. Did Derek actually make bail?" Fin wanted to know.
"I'll call Carisi," Amanda said before picking up her cell phone.
"I hope we can make sense of this soon because it's just getting weirder," Joe said, taking a seat at his desk.
"Carisi says that Derek didn't make bail yet. He's filing murder charges before he does," Amanda told them after she hung up her phone.
"That'll at least home him until we sort this out," Elliot said. Olivia exited her office at that moment but before she could say anything, her former partner's phone rang. He answered it and immediately bolted out of his seat,
"We're on our way Mr. Singh. Don't follow him." Fin got up out of his seat as quickly as he could and followed Elliot. The two rushed toward the elevator.
"Our guy must have showed up at the bodega. Let's hope the local precinct nabs him before Elliot and Fin get there," Olivia said.
To Be Continued…
