David Wilson knocked on the door and they waited. He looked at his wife then knocked again.
"Maybe she decided to go stay with a girlfriend or something," David Wilson suggested to his worried spouse.
"Maybe, I wish there was a way to know for sure that she was OK," Patty Wilson replied.
Just then David decided to try the door, it was probably locked but it wouldn't hurt to try. To his surprise it was unlocked, so he swung it open.
"Gloria? Are you here? Gloria?" Patty called out as she and David looked around the small apartment.
They both could see the broken pieces of the vase they had heard hit the wall earlier in the evening, punctuating the verbal battle Gloria and her boyfriend had had just before he stormed out. The smell of Chinese takeout lingered in the dining area. They could see some of her clothing and his strewn near the couch, verifying that they had indeed heard, through the thin apartment walls, the sounds of the couple making love only moments before the fight broke out.
Patty ventured further into the apartment and as the bedroom came into view she let out a startled scream. David was by her side in a moment.
"Patty, call 9-1-1," he told her as he moved toward Gloria's limp body on the bed. He felt for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one. When he saw that his wife was rooted on the spot he yelled at her. "Patty, snap out of it. Gloria's alive but she needs the paramedics now!"
"So what have you got so far," Detective Olivia Benson asked her partner Elliot Stabler as she entered the crime scene while a pair of paramedics maneuvered a stretcher containing the unconscious victim out of the apartment.
"According to the uniforms, the victim, Gloria Pirelli," Stabler said as he glanced as his note pad and then nodded in the direction of the stretcher, "was found unconscious in her bedroom by her neighbors. They had been concerned about her earlier in the evening when they heard her fighting with her boyfriend, so they stopped by after going out to the movies to check on her. We've got the crime scene techs checking the bedroom and the living room as a lot of her clothes were there, as well as some men's clothes," Elliot replied.
"Why don't you interview the husband and I'll take the wife and see what we get," Olivia suggested.
Elliot nodded and they approached the young couple and comfortably separated them from each other like the professional interviewers they were.
"So Mr. Wilson, why don't you tell me about what you overheard earlier this evening that made you want to check in on Ms. Pirelli," Elliot asked David.
"Well," David began, " about a quarter to seven, Gloria and her boyfriend got started up and-"
"Started up?" Elliot asked to try to get the witness to be more precise.
"Look, the walls here are pretty thin and when Gloria and her boyfriend decide to use the couch instead of her bed, well it's like being forced to listen to the audio track of an x-rated movie. I mean, her boyfriend maybe a lot older than her but the guy's still got a pretty quick recovery time and he always seems to have it in him to do her two or three times before he calls it a night," Wilson said a bit embarrassed.
"I see, so you and your wife decided to clear out for a while?" Elliot asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, we figured we go to a movie and by the time we got back they'd either be done or they'd at least have moved to the bedroom, where it'd be some one else's problem to listen to, but even before we could get ourselves sorted out to go, they started fighting." Wilson added.
"What do you mean by fighting?" Elliot asked.
"They were yelling at each other really loud, then we heard something hit the wall and then shortly after that I heard him slam the apartment door. I looked out and could see him walking away really mad," Wilson said.
"Could you hear what they were arguing about?" Elliot inquired.
"Well, I'm not sure. I mean I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but they were yelling pretty loud, I think the gist of it was she wanted to get pregnant, he didn't want to oblige her and I think he was feeling like he'd been manipulated or something along those lines," Wilson said.
"Do you know anything about this boyfriend? His name, where he lives, or what kind of work he does?" the detective asked.
"Uh well, I know Gloria calls him Lenny," he replied smirking a little, "but I've never heard a last name," he added.
"What about a description of the guy?" Elliot asked.
"Well he's white, middle aged, pretty tall. I'd say maybe 6 ft 2. He's got dark hair that's graying. You better ask Patty what color his eyes are, cause I don't tend to look too much at other guys eyes if you know what I mean," Wilson finished.
Elliot grinned at Wilson's comment and gave him one of his cards in case he remembered anything more.
Olivia and Elliot met to compare notes from the interviews of the neighbors and decide their next step.
"Mrs. Wilson says Gloria complained about the danger and odd hours of her boyfriend's job. She apparently never came right out and said it but Patty thought he was a cop. Oh and she said his eyes are blue," Olivia added.
Elliot and Olivia looked at each other knowing the other's thoughts. They really didn't want to think one of their own had committed a brutal rape but they both knew that cops were sometimes pretty tightly wound. They were also thinking the description of the boyfriend sounded like a detective they both knew and would find it hard to believe could do such a thing.
They talked to the crime scene technician who indicated he was a bit confused by the scene. The victim was found unconscious on her bed; she'd apparently struck her head on the headboard. There were no other areas of the apartment besides the bed that had her blood on it, so that's where she must have been beaten, but the only seminal fluid he could find was out on the couch. He'd also found an unopened lambskin condom near the couch. Lambskin condoms were much more expensive than latex and only provided protection against pregnancy not against STDs. None of them were sure what to make of the pieces yet.
They decided Olivia would go to the hospital to see if the victim was conscious and to talk to the ER staff who would have by now run the rape kit. Elliot had had a brainstorm about the Chinese food the couple had had for dinner and hoped he'd be able to track the boyfriend down that way.
Lennie had been walking for over an hour which was damn uncomfortable without his socks, and he wasn't sure he'd resolved anything; but he realized he needed to get to the stake out site soon, so he flagged down a cabbie. Just before he got to the stakeout he remembered he had told Ed he would bring coffee and donuts. He had planned on taking the thermos he knew Gloria had at the apartment filled with the good coffee she made, but he'd forgotten that plan along with his socks, undershirt and tie when he and Gloria had their blowout. He had the cabbie stop and wait for him while he dashed into Starbucks to get a couple of very large coffees, which was a mind bending activity for Lennie given Starbucks' menu, and a couple of pastries.
Ed knew as soon as he spotted his partner in the review mirror that something was wrong. Lennie wouldn't be without a tie on duty unless it was called for by the job and the cups from Starbucks were another clue. Ed had been expecting a thermos of Gloria's excellent java. As soon as Lennie slid into the passenger seat of their sedan Ed had yet another clue, Old Spice didn't smell only of Old Spice, he also smelled of willing woman. Ed knew there were plenty of times Lennie had literally been pulled out of Gloria's arms to come to a crime scene but the guy had never before shown up still smelling of sex.
"Wouldn't she let you use the shower this evening or did you just not watch the clock close enough," Ed asked in a teasing voice.
"Don't push me tonight Ed," Lennie said in a tired but edgy voice. "I don't really have the patience for it".
"OK, Lennie I didn't mean to hit on a raw nerve," Ed responded apologetically.
"No man, I'm sorry and not just for the competition to my aftershave," Lennie replied. "Actually tonight I'm sorry for a lot," Lennie said but didn't elaborate, but just sat silently looking out at the empty street they were suppose to be staking out.
"Well, if you want to talk about it, I'll listen. I'm sure not going anywhere for a while," Ed said after awhile and he hoped his partner knew he meant it. The partners sat in silence for a while.
"I don't know, maybe I need to talk about it, 'cause I sure am going nowhere fast turning it around in my own head," Lennie admitted.
"So what happened to you this evening?" Ed asked hoping to prompt Lennie to open up.
"Until this stake out came up I was suppose to pick Gloria up at her place at seven thirty for a date. I signed out at a little after 5 and decided I would pick up some Chinese takeout and take it over to her place, that way we could spend some time together before I had to come to this little shindig. Gloria and I haven't been able to see much of each other recently, what with the last couple of cases we've caught," Lennie stopped and took a sip of his coffee and Ed grunted an agreement.
"Anyway after dinner Gloria said she was very hungry for dessert, if you know what I mean," Lennie said.
"Yeah, I think I know what you mean Lennie," Ed said with a grin. His partner might have a couple of decades on him and on Gloria, but he still seemed to be able to please her just fine.
"Anyway, just as I'm reaching for the Trojans she says no, she doesn't want to wait, she wants to just feel me not the damn condom and can't I just pull out a little early," Lennie said sounding a bit upset.
"Easier said than done," observed Ed.
"Yeah, especially when it's been a while since you've been riding bareback," Lennie replied.
"So you have a little trouble with the green light red light approach?" Ed asked with a grin.
"Yeah, she came real hard around me and I lost it," Lennie admitted.
"So, she tore you a new one for that?" Ed asked somewhat incredulously.
"No, no I start to apologize and she says it's OK, she hopes she gets pregnant," Lennie replied.
"I suddenly realized she'd planned all this, she quit the birth control pills a few months ago saying her doctor told her she shouldn't stay on them. Then she is just too hot not to do it and has to do it with no protection too. She set me up -cause she wants a baby and she knows that while I may not want a baby, I wouldn't make her abort it or raise the kid alone." Lennie said the anger coming back into his voice.
"I called her a few choice names, she threw a vase at me and told me to get out, so I got out," he added.
"Whoa, I think that's our guy," Ed said and he and Lennie went out to make the collar. Unfortunately Ed wasn't going to get a chance to help his partner with his problem until after the paperwork was done on this collar.
Olivia waited outside the exam room for the doctor, hoping she'd be able to interview the victim. She saw an older, grey haired woman approaching the room supported by another woman who resembled the victim, probably Ms. Pirelli's mother and sister. Just then the doctor came out and spoke to the two women telling them they could go in to see Gloria but that she would sleep through until the morning because of some medication she had given her. Olivia sighed, so much for interviewing the victim tonight. She'd have to settle for the doctor who treated the victim.
"Doctor, I'm Detective Olivia Benson. I'm investigating the assault on Gloria Pirelli. I'm wondering what information you can give me?" Olivia asked the doctor.
"Well, not as much as I'd like," the doctor replied as she leaned up against the nurse's station.
"What do you mean?" Olivia asked.
"Her injuries weren't as bad as they looked initially, mostly bruises and a few cuts, nothing that will leave lasting physical scars. Though we both know the emotional scars will take a long time to heal. The worst physical injury was the head wound but even that seems to be less severe than we first thought," the doctor stopped and looked down at her feet for a moment.
"She regained consciousness when we were part way through the rape kit. We'd already bagged her clothes, clipped her fingernails, combed her pubic region and swabbed her externally. I told her I was going to do a pelvic exam and she asked why. I told her it would help us establish who raped her and she got very upset saying, 'No you'll think the wrong thing, it's not his fault. I made him do it.' It was weird. I've never heard a rape victim take that much blame in a situation like this one. So I backed off. I mean we were pretty sure we had enough semen from her clothes and the external swabbing to prove the rape and to get DNA evidence and I sure can't do a pelvic without her consent," the doctor said.
"No, you can't," Olivia agreed.
"Well there's more, I offered her emergency contraception and she flipped out. She said no she'd already lost him but she might be able to have his baby. She got so hysterical I had to sedate her," the doctor concluded.
"Well, we were thinking it might be the boyfriend and the way she's talking maybe it is. If so though, he's really done a head job on her to make her take the blame for him and try to protect him," Olivia commented.
"Yeah, except something doesn't make sense to me in this whole thing," the doctor said slowly.
"What?" Olivia said hoping the doctor could shed some light on the case that would take it away from the cop boyfriend.
"Well, the paramedics noticed that she seemed very allergic to latex- her skin reddened as soon as one of them touched her with a latex glove, so they changed to vinyl gloves and we did the same thing. But I noticed as I was about to start the vaginal exam that her genital and vaginal area were very irritated as though she'd been exposed to something she was allergic to like latex. But we found semen so why would we also find evidence of condom use, unless there were two guys?" the doctor asked without really expecting an answer.
"I guess this isn't going to be an easy one. Do you have what you did get of the rape kit?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, but without her consent can you use any of it?" the doctor asked.
"We'll have to ask the DA's office about that, but we may as well process it and maybe tomorrow I can convince her to let us run the rest of the exam," Olivia added and the doctor took her to the exam room to collect the finished portions of the rape kit.
Elliot found the Chinese restaurant the boyfriend had bought the takeout food from, now if they got lucky maybe the guy had charged the dinner to his plastic so they could get a last name and he just hoped it wasn't the name things seemed to be pointing to. Elliot just couldn't reconcile the Lennie Briscoe he'd met a few times on cases, with a guy who would rape and beat his own girlfriend.
"Are you the manager?" Elliot asked an older Asian man as he showed him his badge.
"Yes, how can I help you?" the older gentleman said as he kept his eye on his customers.
"I'm trying to see if I can figure out who bought this order of take out food from your restaurant," Elliot said as he handed the manager the bill that had been stapled to the takeout sack.
"This looks like my granddaughter's handwriting. Just a moment I'll ask her to help you," the older gentleman went and got a young waitress who looked to be maybe 18.
"Mai, can you help this police officer find out who bought this order?" the old gentleman asked, when she nodded he left to tend to his customers.
"Let me see, oh yes I remember this order, he's a regular. Comes in about every other week and gets take out or brings his girl friend in. This order was sort of special; he said his plans got screwed up for this evening so he hoped this would sort of make it up to her," she looked around to see that her grandfather was gone then added, "I can tell you on thing it wouldn't take a lot for me to forgive him".
"Oh why's that?" Elliot asked the young woman with a smile.
"Well, I know he's like way too old for me, but - he's got these great bedroom eyes, a wonderful deep voice and he's very funny," she answered as she thumbed through the credit card receipts.
"Oh here it is, I was pretty sure he paid by credit card. Leonard Briscoe," she read off the credit card receipt.
"Thanks," Elliot said.
"Detective, he's not in trouble is he?" the young waitress asked.
"I can't really say, might be nothing, don't worry about it," Elliot reassured her.
"So I assume that the fact that we're meeting here at the 2-7 isn't a coincidence?" Olivia asked Elliot as the walked into the precinct's foyer.
"No, I got confirmation that Gloria's boyfriend is Detective Lennie Briscoe. I found out he's due in from a collar he and his partner made on a stake out. So what did you find out at the hospital?" Elliot asked.
"Can't talk to the victim until tomorrow, doctor sedated her when she became hysterical at the mention of emergency contraception," Olivia said as Elliot's eyebrow flew up..
"We need to be prepared for the likelihood of a victim who is not totally cooperative. The doctor says that she wouldn't let them finish the rape kit when she regained consciousness. She was saying something about they'd get the wrong idea, it wasn't his fault, she made him do it," Olivia repeated the doctor's version of what Gloria had said.
"Whoa, are we gonna have to drop this whole investigation?" Elliot asked.
"I don't know, but I'm beginning to wonder if we've really got the right picture here. I think we'll know better after I talk to the victim tomorrow. Look I'm gonna call they lab, they said they'd have the ABO typing on the semen and skin tissue that was collected right away," Olivia said.
"OK, I'm going call the hospital and make sure they know not to let Briscoe in to see the victim," Olivia grimaced when he said that but she knew is was SOP, "then I'll to talk to Lt. Van Buren, give her the heads up," Elliot said.
Lt. Anita Van Buren couldn't believe what she had just been told and she told Detective Stabler as much. There was no way Lennie Briscoe would rape any woman, let alone Gloria Pirelli. Gloria had been Lennie's girlfriend for as long as Anita had known him. Oh sure, they had broke up once but that didn't last long. She suspected that if Lennie didn't have such a negative attitude about marriage that he'd probably have made Gloria wife number 3 a long time ago. This was going to be tough on them. It was hard enough for a woman and her loved ones to recover from a rape but when the woman's lover is accused of the rape it would be even worse. She just hoped when Gloria woke up tomorrow she'd be able to clear things up some, but with a head injury it was possible she might not remember anything.
She reluctantly agreed to let Stabler and Benson use one of the interrogation rooms to talk to Lennie. Poor Lennie! She knew the interrogation technique was to tell the suspect as little as possible and see how much he knew. Lennie was smart he'd realize very quickly that he was a suspect in something that had to do with Gloria and, if as Anita suspected, he was innocent, he'd be scared out of his wits trying to figure out what had happened to Gloria.
When Anita saw Lennie and Ed Green come towards their desks, she stepped out of her office and cut them off.
"Hey lieu, we got the bad guy!" Green said.
"Good for you. Now why don't you write it all up while Lennie has a little conversation with Detectives Stabler and Benson in Interrogation 2," Van Buren gave the order as though it were a suggestion. Ed gave a worried look to his partner and Lt Van Buren.
"Oh," Lennie let out a big sigh, "can't this wait a while. I'm pretty bushed," Lennie asked.
"No Lennie, I'm afraid it can't," Van Buren said sympathetically.
"Well, you two need my help for something?" Lennie asked as he entered the interview room. He was feeling a bit nervous, as though he were being questioned by IAB.
"Yeah Lennie, sit down," Elliot said as he motioned to a chair at the interrogation table.
"We need to know where you were this evening between the time you checked out and the time you showed up for the stake out?" Elliot told him.
Lennie gave Stabler and Benson an odd look as he sat down, "that sounds like you're asking me to ante up an alibi," his voice held a tone of amused disbelief.
"You're a pretty sharp cookie Lennie. Now what were you doing between the time you punched out and the time you showed up for the stake out?" Elliot asked.
"Why don't you tell me what you think I've done?" Lennie said in an aggressive tone, his brain trying to figure out just that.
"You know that's not how an interview works, Lennie," Stabler said firmly.
"OK, you want the low down on what I did from 5:15 to 8:30pm?" Lenny asked in a calmer voice and Stabler nodded.
"First, I went to the Imperial Gardens Chinese restaurant and picked up takeout food for me and my girlfriend Gloria. I took the food to Gloria's apartment and we ate dinner, then we had a fight and I left. I walked around until about 8pm then I got a cab and stopped to pick up coffee and pastries for the stake out," Lennie said giving a very brief and rather sanitized version of the evening's events.
"You didn't leave the details out on my account, did you Lennie?" Olivia asked.
"Details?" Lennie asked trying to sound innocent.
"Neighbors say there was a little interlude between the dinner and the argument," Olivia said and looked at Lennie meaningfully. Silence filled the room for several beats.
"Fine, yeah, Gloria and I did it on her couch. You want the adult version or will that do?" Lennie finally admitted hotly.
"What did you and Gloria argue about Lennie?" Elliot asked, ignoring Lennie's anger.
"She sort of tricked me into having unprotected sex with her - cause she wants to get pregnant," Lennie replied sulkily.
"And you don't want a baby, huh Lennie?" Elliot asked.
"No I don't. I'm too old to start all over again," Lennie said.
"What's your blood type Lennie?" Olivia asked.
"AB negative, why?" Lennie said.
"That's a pretty rare blood type Lennie, less than 1 percent of people have that blood type." Olivia said.
"Yeah, so?" Lennie said.
"Where'd she scratch you during that fight, Lennie?" Olivia asked him. "I don't see any marks on you, but I know they took skin from under her fingernails that belonged to someone with AB negative blood," Olivia explained.
"What? What are you saying? Did someone hurt Gloria?" Lennie asked franticly as he stood up, knocking over the chair he'd been using. He knew it was routine to take scrapings from under the fingernails of a rape or assault victim. He suddenly realized that something very bad must have happened to Gloria, and Stabler and Benson thought he was responsible for it.
"Good act Lennie," Elliot said.
"You son of a bitch. I'm not acting here. I want to know how she is," Lennie said to Elliot.
"So why did you came back later and beat her up, Lennie?" Olivia asked, asked trying to ignore Lennie's distress and push him into a confession.
"I didn't go back and I never hurt her," Lennie tried to calm down some, hoping that would make the other cops believe him and trust him enough to tell him how Gloria was.
"Then how'd your skin get under her fingernails, Lennie?" Stabler asked.
"She scratched me when we were making love, she does that sometimes," Lennie explained.
"Please, please tell me how she is," Lennie begged Olivia.
The desperate look in his eyes got to Olivia and she gave in. She just couldn't continue to believe Lennie was the one who hurt Gloria.
"She's going to be OK, Lennie, and I'm sorry we put you through all this but the evidence all points to you. Semen, and skin tissue from an AB negative individual, witnesses who heard you arguing with her a few hours before she was found raped and unconscious in her apartment," Olivia explained.
Lennie put a hand over his mouth for a moment. Then with tears brimming in his eyes he asked in a choked voice, "She was raped? You sure, I mean I told you we made love before the fight, couldn't it be -"
"Lennie, she regained consciousness in the ER and said no to the vaginal exam, but the doctor definitely believes she was raped as well as beaten. When she refused to let them complete the exam she said -No you'll think the wrong thing, it's not his fault. I made him do it.' I don't know if maybe she doesn't remember the rape or she's just afraid that we'll only find evidence against you. She really got upset when the doctor offered her emergency contraception," Olivia decided not to spare Lennie this part as it might straighten some things out for the couple, "She said she'd already lost him but she might be able to have his baby."
"Oh God," Lennie said and put his head down on the table for a moment.
Elliot wasn't sure that Olivia hadn't given up on Lennie as a suspect a bit early, but as a new theory began to form in his mind he decided to clear up some things.
"Lennie, were you going to use a condom with Gloria?" he asked.
"Yes, but she didn't want to wait and she wanted to feel bare skin too, so I didn't wear it," Lennie said calming down.
"What kind of condom was it?" Olivia asked seeing where Elliot was going with the line of questioning.
"A Trojan lambskin, Gloria's allergic to latex," Lennie answered.
"OK, so I think I've got the picture. Lennie and Gloria do it on the couch and that's where we get the men's clothes and the unopened Trojan lambskin. They argue and Lennie leaves, then the perp comes in, beats and rapes Gloria using a latex condom," Elliot surmised.
"Oh God, it's all my fault," Lennie moaned.
"What are you saying Lennie?" Olivia asked him.
"I always check and make sure her place is safe before I leave. I check the windows and make sure she locks the dead bolt and chains the door after I leave. But I didn't do it this time. I was too angry to think straight. Damn it!" Lennie got up and started to pace in an agitated manner.
"Hey Lennie, beating yourself up's not gonna help anything," Olivia said.
"What hospital is Gloria at? When can I see her?" Lennie asked as he began to focus more on Gloria and less on his own feelings of guilt.
"Lennie, I think we're pretty sold on you not being the perp, but until we get a bit further into this investigation I think you ought to stay clear of her," Elliot advised.
"No, I got to see her, talk to her. I can't let her think we're through. I was angry at her sure, but I've been thinking about it and well I have to either let her have her way or let her go, and I'm not going to let her go," Lennie said with conviction.
"We'll see what we can do Lennie, that's all I can promise," Olivia said.
"You can go now, just stay within easy reach, OK? And Lennie you and your partner stay away from Gloria until we give you the word," Elliot advised, thinking to add the partner in to the restrictions just in case he and Olivia were really wrong in their judgment of Lennie.
Lennie sighed heavily not happy with the restriction but finally said, "OK".
As Lennie exited the interrogation room detective Profaci approached him swearing loudly, "You fucking son of a bitch, how could you do her that way?" Profaci punctuated his invective with a well-placed punch to Lennie's gut and the older man doubled up in pain. Suddenly Ed Green and Elliot Stabler were there to restrain the angry man before he could do more damage.
"He isn't the one who did it," Elliot yelled at the angry man.
"Tony," Lennie wheezed, "I'd never hurt Gloria, never!"
"Oh yeah, you been hurting my cousin for years. You won't marry her and you won't let her go," Profaci countered, a little less angry as it soaked into him that the good cop he knew couldn't be responsible for raping Gloria.
"You're right Tony, and that's something I'm gonna change and soon. But right now I just want her to be OK and I want the creep that did this to her dead," the last thing Lennie said had a determined tone.
Stabler and Benson exchanged worried glances, it could mean big trouble if Lennie or profaci or anyone else decided to go vigilante over this assault.
"Lennie, I know this is gonna be hard but you've got to stay away from this investigation, you're too good a cop not to know that no good will come of your getting involved. Let Stabler and Benson do their jobs," Anita Van Buren told Lennie hoping some how to be the voice of reason.
Lennie looked at Van Buren and suddenly an idea came to him. Stabler had told him that he and Ed had to stay away from Gloria but no one said anything about the lieutenant. He calmed down and he and Profaci shook hands saying their apologies. Stabler and Benson headed ouut deciding to call it a day.
"Anita," Lennie decided to use his supervisor's first name to let her know this was personal, "would you take a note to Gloria for me? They won't let me near her and she needs to know that everything's gonna be OK between us". Lennie's dark blue eyes probed Van Buren's for understanding.
"OK Lennie, I'll take it by first thing in the morning. You write the note and then you go home and try to get some rest," she strongly suggested.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Lennie said, knowing he wasn't going to sleep well until he could comfort Gloria by holding in his own arms.
Despite her lack of sleep Anita forced herself to seem alert and upbeat as she went into Gloria's room. The young woman was curled up in her bed and Anita could hear soft sobs.
"Gloria, it's Anita Van Buren from the 2-7. I brought a note to you from Lennie," she said gently to the young woman.
When she didn't respond Anita added, "He'd have come himself but they won't allow him until they can really clear him of this".
The young woman finally reacted. "He wanted to come?" she asked sounding as though she didn't dare hope.
"Yes, he was really upset that he couldn't come himself and he asked me to bring you this note," Anita said as she pressed the departmental envelope containing Lennie's note into Gloria's hand.
Gloria's hand shook as she opened the envelope and took the note into her hands. She started crying tears of joy as she read what Lennie had written.
Sweetheart,
I'd be there now to hold you if they'd only let me. I'm so sorry. I feel like this is all my fault. If I'd only made sure your place was secure before I left. If only I hadn't gotten so angry.
Honey, I want you to know that I'm not mad anymore, I understand. I was being selfish. I wasn't thinking about what you wanted, needed. I won't make that mistake anymore. I realize now I've got to either give you what you need or let you go to find what you need with someone else. I can't imagine ever letting you go, so I guess I'll just have to readjust my thinking some.
You hurry and get well and we'll get this mess straightened out so we can be together. Don't you ever think you've lost me. You can't ever lose me. I love you. I know I don't say that often enough. Guess it doesn't fit with my tough guy image, but baby I do love you with all that I am. I'm yours for as long as you want me, my sweetheart, and I hope that's forever.
Lennie
Just as Gloria finished reading the letter Olivia Benson came in to see her. Anita introduced her and Olivia asked if Gloria thought she might be able to talk about what had happened the night before. Gloria didn't want to, but then she thought about Lennie's note. He said when the "mess' got straightened out they could be together. She needed him with her if she was going to recover from that man's brutal assault. She nodded her head and asked for a glass of water.
"Where do you want me to start?" she asked.
"What happened after Lennie and you argued and he left your apartment?" Olivia asked.
"I was almost in shock. I wasn't sure he'd ever be coming back. I started straightening up the kitchen, and then I decided to lie down and have a good long cry. I don't know how long I'd been laying there but I heard my bedroom window open and I started to get up but in a flash he was in my room and had a knife at my throat," Gloria stopped and took another sip of her water.
"What did he look like Gloria?" Olivia asked her.
"Well I can't tell you much about his face because he had a ski mask on, but he had brown eyes and light tanned skin and no body hair," Gloria said the last part with an emphasis that implied how weird that was. "He was not anywhere near as tall as Lennie but a lot heavier, very muscular like a body builder," Gloria remembered.
"Did he have any tattoos, scars?" Olivia asked and Gloria shook her head no.
"Did he say anything to you?" Anita asked.
"Oh yes, he was very talkative and he wanted me to talk to him, but when I said something he didn't like he'd hit me," Gloria said obviously remembering the beating he'd given her.
"What about his voice did he have an accent?" Olivia asked and again Gloria shook her head no.
"No, he sounded like a New Yorker," Gloria said.
"You said he talked a lot what did he say?" Olivia asked her.
"It was very creepy, he'd touch me in a place and a way that was exactly something Lennie had done earlier and then he'd say -oh come on baby I know you like that, you liked it when he did it'. I realized somehow he had been watching us make love," Gloria said obviously distressed at recalling what had happened.
"Could he have been watching you through the bedroom window?" Anita asked, not knowing the layout of Gloria's apartment or the detail that Gloria and Lennie had been making love in the living room not the bedroom.
"No, he couldn't have seen us from there. We were in the living room," Gloria said after shaking her head vehemently.
"How could he have seen us?" Gloria asked of Olivia.
"I hate to say this but it sounds like he may have been spying on you somehow. I better have the Crime Scene techs go over the place with that in mind," Olivia said as she started to leave Gloria's hospital room.
"Detective Benson, you do believe Lennie had nothing to do with my assault don't you?" Gloria asked.
"Yes I do Gloria, but I've got to convince my partner of that before we can say Lennie's no longer a suspect. Be just a bit more patient. I suspect he'll be cleared by this afternoon and then he can come see you," Olivia reassured the other woman.
"We need to have the crime scene techs go over the apartment again, this time with an eye out for spy cameras," Olivia was telling Elliot over the phone.
"OK, I'll have them look, but I think maybe we should try to do it in a way so that if he's still watching, he won't realize we've figured it out," Elliot replied.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Hey Elliot, can we officially clear Lennie Briscoe as a suspect now? It would really help Gloria if she could see him," Olivia asked.
"I don't know, I don't want it to look like we're playing favorites. I think it might be best if we wait until we've got a good lead on the real perp," Elliot replied.
"Come on Elliot, don't worry so much about what it will look like and worry a little more about the victim. She's being further traumatized by not having him there with her," Olivia countered.
Elliot sighed. "Yeah, yeah OK. You handle the paperwork on it and I'm OK about it".
The crime scene technicians decided to check the attic space above Gloria's apartment first, thinking if they found anything there they'd be able to investigate it without tipping off the perp. Their idea was right on the money as they found a number of spy cameras set up in the attic that gave views into Gloria's living room, bedroom and bathroom. The camera had motion detectors built in and so only recorded when there was motion in a room there was also a very sensitive microphone trained on the apartment that was tied into the cameras and so would turn on when ever the cameras were in use. The video and audio fed into a digital video recorder. They dusted everything for prints then bagged it all as evidence.
Benson and Stabler order surveillance of the apartment building figuring the perp would probably want to come back and get his equipment so he could watch the crime again and so he could use the set up on his next victim.
Elliot and Olivia got the departments "geeks" to set up a monitor so they could view what was on the DVR to see if it might give them a clue as to where to find their perp.
"What do you want to see?" the technician asked.
"Well let's see, the Crime scene guys are probably the last thing on the tape and they were there for several hours and we know the rape had to have happened anywhere from an hour to 3 hours before that, so back it up say 5 hours?" Elliot suggested.
"Whoa, uh that's a bit too far," Elliot said as the scene in front of them showed a naked Lennie Briscoe lowering his body over Gloria.
"Yeah," the tech said, "that looks pretty consensual to me."
"There he is," Elliot said as the spy camera showed a masked man with a knife approaching Gloria in her bed.
Elliot and Olivia watched the assault looking for clues. If they could figure out who this guy was, he was toast, as the DVR had good audio. They'd be able to do a good voice match if they could just figure out who he was.
Lennie clutched the flowers he was bringing to Gloria tightly in his hands. He was very nervous. He'd been around enough rape victims to know how delicate their emotions were and he knew his own emotions weren't too well sorted out either. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Gloria more by responding "incorrectly". He'd thought about bringing a teddy bear too, as a way of telling her he was OK about her having his baby if that's what she wanted, but he was afraid that would be too much. But God, he needed to see her. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was going to be OK.
Lennie saw a short, muscular sandy-haired man; dressed in typical uniform scrubs, enter Gloria's room. He dropped the flowers and ran as fast as he could for her room.
As soon as the man said her name she knew he was the rapist, but before she could scream he had his hand over her mouth and the other of his powerful hands on her neck. But in the next moment Lennie burst into the room and hauled the man off of her and began hitting him over and over. The sandy-haired man was much younger than Lennie and very strong, but Lennie was enraged. This was the son of a bitch who had raped his Gloria and if Lennie hadn't realized there was something wrong with the guy, he'd have killed Gloria.
Soon the hospital's own security team was there. They managed to pull Lennie off of the guy before he killed him. As soon as they pulled him off of the guy, he heard Gloria calling his name and went to her. He sat on her hospital bed and alternated between holding her and showering the un-bruised portions of her face with kisses.
Eventually Neve, the rapist, told Stabler and Benson everything. They found evidence at his apartment of four other rapes in which the woman had been murdered and the woman's boyfriend blamed for the crime. Three of the boyfriends were doing time in Attica and the fourth was awaiting trial. Lennie Briscoe would have been the fifth, if not for Gloria's neighbors. They'd come back to check on her just before Neve could kill her, so he'd left and watched, waiting until he could find another chance to kill her. McCoy let Neve plead guilty to 5 counts of rape and 4 of first-degree murder and 1 count of attempted murder in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. Neve would do life with out possibility of parole and the four men whose lives he had destroyed were freed.
Gloria and Lennie's relationship wasn't some fairy tale happily ever after, every time things seemed to be calming down something would happen to stir up the trauma again. It wasn't uncommon for Lennie to seek out friends to talk to about the situation and he admitted to being tempted to go back to the bottle on more than one occasion. Today he'd stayed after his shift to talk to his lieutenant.
"What do you think Lieu? Should I find a new apartment and ask Gloria to move into it, just to get her away from the memories in her place?" he asked.
"No Lennie, you shouldn't do that just to get her away from the memories, but you should do it to get on with your lives," Anita told the detective forcefully.
Lennie looked down at his shoes. He knew Anita was right. Gloria wasn't showing yet but it wouldn't be long. They needed a bigger place and they needed to stop paying for two places. Before he could say much more his cell phone rang. He looked at the number in the display and smiled.
"Hi honey," he said then listened for a while. "Yeah I'll be by soon, OK. I love you sweetheart," Lennie said and then ended the call.
"Gotta go. I have to find Cherry Garcia ice cream and almond stuffed olives," Lennie said.
"Gods, she is pregnant isn't she?" Anita asked rhetorically.
"Yeah she sure seems to be," Lennie said with a smile.
"Lennie, you OK with that now?" Anita asked him before he could make good his escape.
"You know once I stopped fighting it I realized, I'm actually gonna enjoy being a new Dad again. I mean this time I think I'll be a lot better at it than I was with the girls, and I think Gloria and I have a relationship that we can actually make last no matter what," he answered.
"I'm glad for you," Anita said as Lennie waved goodbye to her.
Hi Sweetheart," Lennie said as he entered Gloria's apartment and kissed her. He then put his hand on her belly and speaking toward his hand said, "Hi kid, it's your Dad".
"What took you so long? Did you get the ice cream-" Gloria began but Lennie interrupted her.
"I got everything you want, right here," Lennie said and indicated the sack in his arm.
"I got Cherry Garcia Ice Cream" he said as he took the pint of ice cream out of the sack, "and Almond stuffed olives" he said as he pulled that out too. "The apartment guide for Manhattan," Lennie said as he handed the magazine to a perplexed Gloria. "And an engagement ring," he said as he pulled a black velvet box out.
"Oh Lennie!' Gloria squealed.
"So is that a yes? You gonna let me make an honest woman out of you?"
"Yes, yes!" Gloria said.
Lennie knew there would still be plenty of bumps along their road together, but for right now he didn't care. He was just gonna put an arm around his future wife and baby while they tried to find a new apartment they could afford and let the future take care of itself.