Rosalind
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole
ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a
court of law.
To borrow a phrase: NYPD Blue no mine......no money, no sue, please?
"You get anything from the kid?" Barbados asked as soon as they walked in.
"Not much" Andy replied, disgruntled. He hadn't said much on the way back to the station and John knew he wasn't happy with the way things had gone. He had especially been flustered with the way Grace had handled things. She had a very different style.
"Uh, we know he's a witness, but he's still not talking. Gra.....Dr. O'Malley was able to get that it was a man, that the boy had seen at school talking to the teacher before" John added.
"No name?" Barbados questioned.
"Uh, sorta. We got the name Boo Mitchum from the principle, guy that stopped in to see the teacher couple weeks ago. We ran it by Phillip, he didn't say nothing, but Dr. O'Malley says he recognized it."
"Boo Mitchum?" Barbados repeated, "Get on it"
"Yes sir" Andy answered as he took a seat at his desk.
"Hey, we got the report from the morgue," Jones told them, "That teacher, she wasn't sick"
"So what's that mean?" John asked.
"That means she wouldn't have called in sick, and then come in in the morning," Metaboy said, "And that means, someone else must've called her in."
"Where're Connie and Ortiz?"
"They went to talk to the DOA's sister, see if she knew anyone who might do this" Barbados replied and went back into his office.
Elsewhere.......
"Ms. Gorthrop?"
"Mrs. Langely now" the woman answered from behind her half opened door, "I got married a couple weeks ago"
"Sorry." Rita apologized for her mistake, "Congratulations. But you are Greta Gorthrop's sister?"
"Yes" Langely replied slowly, "Is there something wrong?"
"Can we come in?" Connie asked. They were a glitzer neighborhood, a nice apartment building, almost out of their territory. The same question was running through both of their heads: what had Gorthrop been doing in their neighborhood?
Langely sighed and finished opening the door. She stepped back and let the detectives in, though she didn't look happy about it. She was dressed to go out, maybe for a lunch appointment, in a lilac skirt suit and matching pearls. The apartment was well furnished and tastefully decorated in lilac, dark blue and white.
"When was the last time you saw your sister?" Connie asked after glancing around quickly.
"The day I got back from my honeymoon, last week. Thursday" Langley replied, a touch of impatience in her voice.
"She been complaining about some guy bothering her, at all?" Rita asked, "A Boo Mitchum maybe?" Suddenly Langely's face paled and she look terrified. The arms that had been folded a minute ago dropped and she reached for, but didn't actually touch, Rita.
"Boo Mitchum? Why? Did she make a complaint? Is Greta okay?" Rita and Connie didn't know exactly what to say.
"You know this Boo Mitchum?" Connie pressed, instead of answering the question.
"Arthur! Arthur!" Langley turned around and yelled instead, "Arthur!" A man came running out from down a hallway, half dressed in nice gray slacks and socks.
"What, Gerta?" he asked, alarmed himself.
"Boo! Boo's been after Greta again!" his wife cried and then twirled back to face the detectives.
"He'll kill her! He will! He's crazy, I just know it! You have to protect her!"
"Why do you think he'll kill her?" Rita asked.
"Boo's been obsessed with Greta ever since high school" Arthur told them, "He stalked her for a while, his room was plastered with pictures of her. We tried for years to talk Greta into putting a restraining order on him, but she just wouldn't do it"
"Old boyfriend she was still in love with?" Rita questioned.
"Lord no" Arthur replied, "Greta was just too nice! She never could tell anyone no, or to bugger off. She kept telling him gently, you know, and he just didn't get it"
"He's crazy! I'm telling you he'll kill her!" Gerta insterted, "God, why are you even here, investigating this? Is Greta okay?"
"Do you know where we could maybe find this Boo?" Connie asked instead, not skipping a beat.
"Is Greta okay?" Arthur repeated, saying each syllable slowly. Rita and Connie exchanged glances.
"She was found this morning" Rita said, "at her school" Gerta screamed and started sobbing, falling backward into her husband.
"She was stabbed to death" Another scream from Gerta while her husband turned her around and wrapped his arms around her.
"Do you have any idea where we can find Boo?" Connie repeated.
"I don't.....I don't know" Arthur told them, "There.....we saved.....he used to send......we thought, you know, evidence....."
"Where?" Rita asked calmly.
"Closet" Arthur replied. Connie stayed with the shocked couple as Rita went to find the closet. It was in the hall and she found a shoebox full of envelopes right away.
"Can we take this?" she asked. Arthur nodded. Connie left them the number of a councilor and the detectives took their leave.
"Whad j'ya find?" Andy asked as soon as they walked in with the box.
"Boo Mitchum used to stalk Greta Gorthrop" Rita answered, plopping the box down on Connie's desk. The squad crowded around.
"What's this?" John asked.
"Letters. Apparently, Mitchum was quite the writer" Connie told him and pulled a stack of enevelopes out. Some were opened, some weren't. She pulled a paper out of one of the open ones. She didn't read it aloud, but rolled her eyes.
" 'I love you, I need, I want you, I'll protect you, I'll have you'" she said "Basic obsessive compulsive stuff"
"Look, this one has a picture in it," Rita said, handing the photo to Connie.
"This one too" John said, as he had been flipping through the envelopes. The guy was medium size, normal brown hair, brown eyes, nothing particularly striking about him.
"What do you have there?" Barbados said from behind them all.
"Ah, stalker letters" Andy answered.
"The sister and brother-in-law said this Boo Mitchum has been stalking Gorthrop ever since high school" Connie told him.
"You run him?" Barbados asked.
"Yeah. There's nothin on him" John answered.
"You got an address?"
"We've got some letters" Rita waved a couple of the envelopes, "We can check the most current return address"
"Do it" Barbados answered and left them to do it. The entire squad sat down to go through the envelopes and post marks, trying to decipher what the most current address was.
"I've got an '02 here" Jones said after a while.
"February, '03!" Metaboy exclaimed, getting up and handing the envelope to Rita who had pulled a chair up to Connie's desk.
"That's it" she said after looking it over. She and Connie got up and pulled their jackets on.
"We'll go with you" Andy said and he and John followed them.
They found the apartment easily enough. They were only a block from Gorthrop's listed address. Andy banged on the door. The waited a few seconds. Nothing. Andy banged again.
"Open up, Mitchum, it's the police!" Connie yelled at the door.
"He's not there" They all turned to see a little old lady standing in a door way down the hall.
"He went to visit his wife" she added.
"His wife?" Rita repeated.
"Her name is Greta" the old woman told them, "She's a teacher at the elementary school. He left this morning and he hasn't come back yet" The four detectives exchanged a look.
"Thanks" Andy said and they all headed back down the stairs. They were walking up the steps to the station when John spotted Grace.
"Grace, what're you doing here?" he asked.
"I got a call" she answered, "They said they'd found a picture of a suspect or something, and they wanted Phillip to take a look at it"
"Who called you?" John asked as they all headed up to the second floor. Grace shrugged.
"Some guy named Irvin" she said.
"Good, you're back" Barbados said as they walked in, "And Dr. O'Malley, I assume?" He held a hand out to Grace.
"Lieutenant Barbados" he introduced himself, and John noticed his slightly surprised look when Grace shook his hand with that firm grip of hers.
"The Gershwin's are already here, in there" he pointed to one of the back rooms.
"You have a picture for him to look at?" Grace asked.
"Yeah, just a regular, you know, snapshot of the guy we think did it" Barbados answered. John didn't like the way he was leaning towards the Doctor. And had he held her hand just a tad bit longer than he had needed to?
"You understand that if I think it's going to cause further trauma I will not allow him to look at this picture?" Grace responded, almost arrogantly, and very firmly. John was proud of her. And he felt like pushing the Lieutenant back a step or two.
"Of course" Barbados replied and started to lead the way, but Grace didn't follow.
"Um, John, Detective Sipowitz, uh...." she looked at Jones and then back at John with an inquisitive smile.
"Jones" John supplied.
"Detective Jones, would you three join me?" Jones and Metaboy exchanged a look.
"Sure" Jones replied and followed them into the room. Grace put that effective smile back on her face.
"Hello Phillip" she said. Phillip was seated on his father's lap, his mother on his right, at the table.
"Mrs. Gershwin, Mr. Gershwin" The parents nodded. John took a seat next to Grace.
"How are we doing?" she asked.
"He still hasn't spoken" Mrs. Gershwin told her. Grace nodded.
"Well, that's okay" she said as if it were no big deal, "We don't mind, do we John?" She looked at him.
"Uh, no" he agreed, trying to smile at the boy who still looked frightened out of his wits, poor thing.
"You remember my friends, Policeman John, and Detective Sipowitz, don't you? And this is Policeman Jones" she nodded toward Jones. Phillip nodded.
"Good. Now, Phillip, we need you to do one more thing for us, okay? We have this picture" Barbados had given her the picture and she had it sitting upside down on the table in front of her, "Now, we think the man in this picture is the Bad-man, but we aren't sure. We wondered if maybe you could look at this picture and tell us if it's the same Bad-man you saw" Phillip didn't answer. His eyes got a little bigger and he looked up at his dad, then over at his mom. Grace leaned over and whispered something in John's ear.
"You don't have to, Phillip" he said, as instructed, "We don't want you to if it scares you too much. But if you can, it would help us a lot" He hoped that had come out right. Phillip just blinked at them. Grace seemed to see something there that the other's didn't though.
"Look, Phillip" she pulled Jone's forward by his wrist, "You see these Policemen? And your Dad? They're big, strong men, and they know how to protect you really good. No. One. Is. Going. To. Hurt. You." she said each word by itself, "No one. All you have to do is look at this picture for just a second, and nod if it's the Badman, shake your head if it's not. Can you do that?" They all held their breath while they waited for his answer. Finally, he nodded. Grace nodded and slid the picture across the table slowly. Phillip didn't reach for it. Grace made eye contact with his father and nodded, so the man lifted the picture, so his son could see the face on it. Phillip immediately started nodding vigorously. His father slammed the picture back on the table.
"Okay" John said, standing up, "We'll go put him in jail then" He nodded at Sipowitz and Jones and they followed him out, leaving Grace to help the obviously distraught little boy.
"Well?" Barabdos asked.
"It's him" Andy said.
"Detectives?" Irvin said, haning up his phone, "The ER just admitted a man with multiple stab wounds, screaming 'I killed her, I killed her" he reported.
"That's him!" Andy said and the six detectives headed off to the hospital.
To borrow a phrase: NYPD Blue no mine......no money, no sue, please?
"You get anything from the kid?" Barbados asked as soon as they walked in.
"Not much" Andy replied, disgruntled. He hadn't said much on the way back to the station and John knew he wasn't happy with the way things had gone. He had especially been flustered with the way Grace had handled things. She had a very different style.
"Uh, we know he's a witness, but he's still not talking. Gra.....Dr. O'Malley was able to get that it was a man, that the boy had seen at school talking to the teacher before" John added.
"No name?" Barbados questioned.
"Uh, sorta. We got the name Boo Mitchum from the principle, guy that stopped in to see the teacher couple weeks ago. We ran it by Phillip, he didn't say nothing, but Dr. O'Malley says he recognized it."
"Boo Mitchum?" Barbados repeated, "Get on it"
"Yes sir" Andy answered as he took a seat at his desk.
"Hey, we got the report from the morgue," Jones told them, "That teacher, she wasn't sick"
"So what's that mean?" John asked.
"That means she wouldn't have called in sick, and then come in in the morning," Metaboy said, "And that means, someone else must've called her in."
"Where're Connie and Ortiz?"
"They went to talk to the DOA's sister, see if she knew anyone who might do this" Barbados replied and went back into his office.
Elsewhere.......
"Ms. Gorthrop?"
"Mrs. Langely now" the woman answered from behind her half opened door, "I got married a couple weeks ago"
"Sorry." Rita apologized for her mistake, "Congratulations. But you are Greta Gorthrop's sister?"
"Yes" Langely replied slowly, "Is there something wrong?"
"Can we come in?" Connie asked. They were a glitzer neighborhood, a nice apartment building, almost out of their territory. The same question was running through both of their heads: what had Gorthrop been doing in their neighborhood?
Langely sighed and finished opening the door. She stepped back and let the detectives in, though she didn't look happy about it. She was dressed to go out, maybe for a lunch appointment, in a lilac skirt suit and matching pearls. The apartment was well furnished and tastefully decorated in lilac, dark blue and white.
"When was the last time you saw your sister?" Connie asked after glancing around quickly.
"The day I got back from my honeymoon, last week. Thursday" Langley replied, a touch of impatience in her voice.
"She been complaining about some guy bothering her, at all?" Rita asked, "A Boo Mitchum maybe?" Suddenly Langely's face paled and she look terrified. The arms that had been folded a minute ago dropped and she reached for, but didn't actually touch, Rita.
"Boo Mitchum? Why? Did she make a complaint? Is Greta okay?" Rita and Connie didn't know exactly what to say.
"You know this Boo Mitchum?" Connie pressed, instead of answering the question.
"Arthur! Arthur!" Langley turned around and yelled instead, "Arthur!" A man came running out from down a hallway, half dressed in nice gray slacks and socks.
"What, Gerta?" he asked, alarmed himself.
"Boo! Boo's been after Greta again!" his wife cried and then twirled back to face the detectives.
"He'll kill her! He will! He's crazy, I just know it! You have to protect her!"
"Why do you think he'll kill her?" Rita asked.
"Boo's been obsessed with Greta ever since high school" Arthur told them, "He stalked her for a while, his room was plastered with pictures of her. We tried for years to talk Greta into putting a restraining order on him, but she just wouldn't do it"
"Old boyfriend she was still in love with?" Rita questioned.
"Lord no" Arthur replied, "Greta was just too nice! She never could tell anyone no, or to bugger off. She kept telling him gently, you know, and he just didn't get it"
"He's crazy! I'm telling you he'll kill her!" Gerta insterted, "God, why are you even here, investigating this? Is Greta okay?"
"Do you know where we could maybe find this Boo?" Connie asked instead, not skipping a beat.
"Is Greta okay?" Arthur repeated, saying each syllable slowly. Rita and Connie exchanged glances.
"She was found this morning" Rita said, "at her school" Gerta screamed and started sobbing, falling backward into her husband.
"She was stabbed to death" Another scream from Gerta while her husband turned her around and wrapped his arms around her.
"Do you have any idea where we can find Boo?" Connie repeated.
"I don't.....I don't know" Arthur told them, "There.....we saved.....he used to send......we thought, you know, evidence....."
"Where?" Rita asked calmly.
"Closet" Arthur replied. Connie stayed with the shocked couple as Rita went to find the closet. It was in the hall and she found a shoebox full of envelopes right away.
"Can we take this?" she asked. Arthur nodded. Connie left them the number of a councilor and the detectives took their leave.
"Whad j'ya find?" Andy asked as soon as they walked in with the box.
"Boo Mitchum used to stalk Greta Gorthrop" Rita answered, plopping the box down on Connie's desk. The squad crowded around.
"What's this?" John asked.
"Letters. Apparently, Mitchum was quite the writer" Connie told him and pulled a stack of enevelopes out. Some were opened, some weren't. She pulled a paper out of one of the open ones. She didn't read it aloud, but rolled her eyes.
" 'I love you, I need, I want you, I'll protect you, I'll have you'" she said "Basic obsessive compulsive stuff"
"Look, this one has a picture in it," Rita said, handing the photo to Connie.
"This one too" John said, as he had been flipping through the envelopes. The guy was medium size, normal brown hair, brown eyes, nothing particularly striking about him.
"What do you have there?" Barbados said from behind them all.
"Ah, stalker letters" Andy answered.
"The sister and brother-in-law said this Boo Mitchum has been stalking Gorthrop ever since high school" Connie told him.
"You run him?" Barbados asked.
"Yeah. There's nothin on him" John answered.
"You got an address?"
"We've got some letters" Rita waved a couple of the envelopes, "We can check the most current return address"
"Do it" Barbados answered and left them to do it. The entire squad sat down to go through the envelopes and post marks, trying to decipher what the most current address was.
"I've got an '02 here" Jones said after a while.
"February, '03!" Metaboy exclaimed, getting up and handing the envelope to Rita who had pulled a chair up to Connie's desk.
"That's it" she said after looking it over. She and Connie got up and pulled their jackets on.
"We'll go with you" Andy said and he and John followed them.
They found the apartment easily enough. They were only a block from Gorthrop's listed address. Andy banged on the door. The waited a few seconds. Nothing. Andy banged again.
"Open up, Mitchum, it's the police!" Connie yelled at the door.
"He's not there" They all turned to see a little old lady standing in a door way down the hall.
"He went to visit his wife" she added.
"His wife?" Rita repeated.
"Her name is Greta" the old woman told them, "She's a teacher at the elementary school. He left this morning and he hasn't come back yet" The four detectives exchanged a look.
"Thanks" Andy said and they all headed back down the stairs. They were walking up the steps to the station when John spotted Grace.
"Grace, what're you doing here?" he asked.
"I got a call" she answered, "They said they'd found a picture of a suspect or something, and they wanted Phillip to take a look at it"
"Who called you?" John asked as they all headed up to the second floor. Grace shrugged.
"Some guy named Irvin" she said.
"Good, you're back" Barbados said as they walked in, "And Dr. O'Malley, I assume?" He held a hand out to Grace.
"Lieutenant Barbados" he introduced himself, and John noticed his slightly surprised look when Grace shook his hand with that firm grip of hers.
"The Gershwin's are already here, in there" he pointed to one of the back rooms.
"You have a picture for him to look at?" Grace asked.
"Yeah, just a regular, you know, snapshot of the guy we think did it" Barbados answered. John didn't like the way he was leaning towards the Doctor. And had he held her hand just a tad bit longer than he had needed to?
"You understand that if I think it's going to cause further trauma I will not allow him to look at this picture?" Grace responded, almost arrogantly, and very firmly. John was proud of her. And he felt like pushing the Lieutenant back a step or two.
"Of course" Barbados replied and started to lead the way, but Grace didn't follow.
"Um, John, Detective Sipowitz, uh...." she looked at Jones and then back at John with an inquisitive smile.
"Jones" John supplied.
"Detective Jones, would you three join me?" Jones and Metaboy exchanged a look.
"Sure" Jones replied and followed them into the room. Grace put that effective smile back on her face.
"Hello Phillip" she said. Phillip was seated on his father's lap, his mother on his right, at the table.
"Mrs. Gershwin, Mr. Gershwin" The parents nodded. John took a seat next to Grace.
"How are we doing?" she asked.
"He still hasn't spoken" Mrs. Gershwin told her. Grace nodded.
"Well, that's okay" she said as if it were no big deal, "We don't mind, do we John?" She looked at him.
"Uh, no" he agreed, trying to smile at the boy who still looked frightened out of his wits, poor thing.
"You remember my friends, Policeman John, and Detective Sipowitz, don't you? And this is Policeman Jones" she nodded toward Jones. Phillip nodded.
"Good. Now, Phillip, we need you to do one more thing for us, okay? We have this picture" Barbados had given her the picture and she had it sitting upside down on the table in front of her, "Now, we think the man in this picture is the Bad-man, but we aren't sure. We wondered if maybe you could look at this picture and tell us if it's the same Bad-man you saw" Phillip didn't answer. His eyes got a little bigger and he looked up at his dad, then over at his mom. Grace leaned over and whispered something in John's ear.
"You don't have to, Phillip" he said, as instructed, "We don't want you to if it scares you too much. But if you can, it would help us a lot" He hoped that had come out right. Phillip just blinked at them. Grace seemed to see something there that the other's didn't though.
"Look, Phillip" she pulled Jone's forward by his wrist, "You see these Policemen? And your Dad? They're big, strong men, and they know how to protect you really good. No. One. Is. Going. To. Hurt. You." she said each word by itself, "No one. All you have to do is look at this picture for just a second, and nod if it's the Badman, shake your head if it's not. Can you do that?" They all held their breath while they waited for his answer. Finally, he nodded. Grace nodded and slid the picture across the table slowly. Phillip didn't reach for it. Grace made eye contact with his father and nodded, so the man lifted the picture, so his son could see the face on it. Phillip immediately started nodding vigorously. His father slammed the picture back on the table.
"Okay" John said, standing up, "We'll go put him in jail then" He nodded at Sipowitz and Jones and they followed him out, leaving Grace to help the obviously distraught little boy.
"Well?" Barabdos asked.
"It's him" Andy said.
"Detectives?" Irvin said, haning up his phone, "The ER just admitted a man with multiple stab wounds, screaming 'I killed her, I killed her" he reported.
"That's him!" Andy said and the six detectives headed off to the hospital.