Title: Till Death Do Us Part (12/15)
Author: KatRose
Disclaimer: Simply put, Dick Wolf's, not mine.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None that I can think of
Author's Notes: The dates for this story are all 2004. I also have to thank kukrae for all her help, wisdom, cheerleading and browbeating me into getting this story written.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHAPTER 12
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
MAY 10
"I wish something would have come from tailing Ermler," Munch said to Elliot. "I would have loved to have nailed him."
"Me too," he replied. "Too bad Cragen had to pull us off that detail. Something about too much time spent on doing too little."
"But sometimes that's how things get found," Munch complained.
"We know that, but the bean counters at Police Plaza don't always agree," Elliot sighed. "Maybe we'll catch a break in the next couple of days."
"Yeah, maybe."
Olivia walked in with food bags filled with burgers and fries for lunch. "Here," she said handing a bag to each of the guys. "I got extra fries for you this time, Elliot."
"Thanks," he said, ripping the bag open and pouring ketchup on the corner. "Any more Russian ladies go missing lately?" he asked.
"No, which is a good thing," she replied. "I just wish we had some movement on this case. I'm tired of not being able to move forward."
"I even called Kevin to see if Ermler had met with Dede. He said no."
"Too bad. Guess we'll just have to work on some of these other cases," Olivia said, indicating the pile of work in the in-box.
Over the next week or so the squad got no new leads on the bride killer, so they spent the time working on other cases and talking to other victims and suspects. The big board with all the details stayed up, but it was now pushed to the side of the room, instead of holding court at the middle of the back wall. The days flew by as they worked on and sometimes solved these other cases.
Periodic trips to the courthouse were necessary to take care of hearings or trials. It was at one of these outings that Elliot and Olivia received word of another missing Russian woman. They rushed back to the precinct to get the details.
Cragen motioned for them to come into his office when they returned. "We got word from Brooklyn's Missing Persons' unit that a 31-year-old Russian woman in the country only three months was reported missing by her fiancé."
"Do they think she's a possible victim of Ermler?" Olivia asked.
"That's what you need to find out."
AISLE BE THERE
MAY 19
A new face was sitting at the reception desk when Elliot and Olivia walked into the office.
"Where's Kevin?" Olivia asked.
"He no longer works here," the young lady answered.
"Since when?"
"I've been here since Monday," she replied. "Are you friends of Kevin's?"
"We're detectives and need to speak to Ms. Rayner," Olivia answered, pulling out her badge.
"I'm sorry, she's not here right now. Can I have her call you when she does?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Out."
"Where?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss that," she answered with firmness. "If you have a card, I'll have Ms. Rayner call you when she returns."
Olivia handed over one of her business cards and they walked out to the street.
"I wonder what happened to Kevin. Did he say anything about a new job when you last spoke?" she asked.
"No," Elliot answered. "Do you still have that employee list?"
"Yeah, back at the office."
"Let's go."
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
Elliot got on the phone and dialed Kevin's home number. When the phone was answered, he said, "Kevin, Detective Stabler."
"Hi!" he responded enthusiastically. "What a lovely surprise."
"Detective Benson and I went down to the office to talk to Ms. Rayner and heard you weren't working there anymore. Everything okay?"
"Sure, why wouldn't they be?" he asked.
"Well, when we last spoke you didn't say anything about quitting, so we thought something might have happened."
"No. I had some vacation time stored up and I needed a break from the round-the-clock work."
"So nothing's wrong and you'll be back at the office soon?" he asked.
"No. I'm thinking of getting into another business. I like working with the weddings, but not the people in them. Thought it might be time to try something new. Something not related to *that* business," he said.
"Okay, then good luck and take care," Elliot said, preparing to hang up. Something in Kevin's next words stopped him.
"Elliot, I'd really like to see you for lunch. I can recommend a great deli if you're interested."
"Lunch?"
"Yeah, a friend told me about a great deli with food *to go*. We could meet there and then take our food to the park for a picnic without too many eyes prying into our love life. Care to join me?" Kevin's voice was getting a little anxious with each passing word.
"Sure, that would be nice. I'd love get together with you," Elliot said, tapping his desk to get Olivia's attention. "I think I know the deli you're talking about. It's over on 95th, right?"
"That's it," Kevin sighed into the phone. "One hour?"
"I'll be there. See you soon, Kev." Elliot hung up the phone.
"What was that about?" Olivia asked.
"I think Kevin's phones are bugged. He wants to meet at the deli we met him at before. He wants to talk in the park were there will be less people able to watch us."
"But the deli's not on 95th, it's in the Village."
"I know that, but I wanted to mislead whoever's listening in."
"Now I'm really curious about what's going on," Olivia said.
"Me too. Me too."
DELI TO GO
GREENWICH VILLAGE
MAY 19 – Noon
"Hi, Elliot," Kevin said seeing the detective walk into the restaurant. "I'm glad you could meet me." Kevin stood and gave Elliot a quick hug. Elliot returned the hug with more fervor than he felt thinking anything less than enthusiasm might look suspicious to anyone lurking in the shadows.
"Glad you called," he said. "I wanted to see you too."
"Let's get some sandwiches and head to the park. I know a nice secluded place to, um, chat," Kevin said with a secretive grin.
They stood in line, ordered food and wandered out to a secluded area of the park down the street. Olivia kept watch of their every movement from the roof of a building between the deli and the park. She used her phone to let Elliot know there was no unusual activity following them.
"Thanks, Liv," he said, disconnecting the call. "Ok, Kevin, the coast is clear, what's going on?"
"Sorry for the subterfuge, Detective," Kevin said, "but when they canned me shortly after you came by the office, I was told if I wanted to keep my severance and benefits, I couldn't tell anyone what happened."
"What did happen?"
"Mr. Hatagov found out that I'd spoken to you and Detective Benson about Pasek. He asked if I had also handed over company records to you guys without express permission from Dede. I told him I only gave you guys what you were looking for to help with the murder investigation. He was NOT a happy man and told me I was fired." Kevin took a bite of his sandwich and then continued. "He told me they'd give me my vacation pay and a small severance if I kept my mouth shut and didn't make waves. I took the money because I already live paycheck to paycheck." He stopped for a sip of his soft drink. "Then I got to thinking about what he was really doing and what he trying to get me to stop doing. He knows that Pasek's doing something illegal, why else would he fire me for helping you guys?"
Elliot jotted down some notes in between eating his lunch. "Why didn't you just call us?"
"I would have, but I started getting the feeling that I was being followed. There's this guy that works for Pasek. I don't know his name, but I've seen him around. Big muscled guy with hands like hams. Every time I'd walk down the street or go to the corner store, he'd be there. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I didn't want to risk my life over this." Kevin paused looking at Elliot sheepishly, "I know that's chickenish, given that all those women are dead, but I didn't want to join them."
"That's okay, Kevin," Elliot said. "I understand completely."
"So when you called today, I took it as a sign from God that I needed to not be scared anymore. But that didn't mean I shouldn't be healthily paranoid, right?" he asked with a small grin. "I didn't know if they were bugging my phone in addition to following me, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try and push them off in another direction."
"You did good," Elliot said. "We appreciate your help. If you want it, we can give you some protection while the investigation is still going on."
"I think I'll be okay," he replied. "I'm sorry for coming onto you over the phone. Well, not exactly sorry, just hoping you weren't completely offended," he added with a grin.
"Well, it's not every day I get a nice young man hitting on me," Elliot replied with a grin of his own. "Just don't let it become habit," he admonished.
"Deal," Kevin answered. "Oh, by the way, I had access access to Dede's calendar up until yesterday afternoon," he said with a secretive smile.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, when I first went to work for her, we set up my home computer to be networked with the office system since she did work at all hours and would need me to update things from home. I printed this out for you before they remembered and disconnected me," he said, handing over several sheets of paper.
Elliot looked at the proffered paperwork, wondering if he took it would it come back to bite them in the ass because Kevin was acting as an agent for the police. Shaking the thought from his head, he reached for the papers. Perusing the calendar pages he noticed Dede had a breakfast meeting with Mudri Barichev the day before. "Thank you, Kevin. This will help us a lot."
Elliot pulled out his cell phone. "Liv, we got something. Find out if that missing woman's name is Mudri Barichev. I'll meet you behind the deli."
"Kevin, do you need a ride somewhere?"
"No, I think I'll stay here just in case someone's looking for me. That way my story will be intact."
"Okay, take care," Elliot said, grabbing up his lunch remains. A few minutes later he caught up to Olivia in the sedan.
"You were right. How'd you know?" she asked.
"Kevin. He printed out Dede's calendar and it showed a breakfast meeting with Mudri yesterday. It stands to reason that she also met with Ermler sometime in the afternoon after Kevin's access went away," Elliot replied.
"Let's get over her fiancé's apartment. We'll need every bit of information to stop Mudri from being another dead victim," Olivia said driving towards Brooklyn. On the way, Elliot filled her in about Kevin's situation and why he finally came forward.
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
12:30 PM
Cragen shouted out the door, "Fin! Munch! In here!"
The two tromped over to find out what the boss needed. "Yeah," Munch said upon entering the office.
"Mudri Barichev is definitely one of Aisle Be There's customers. She had breakfast with Ms. Rayner yesterday morning. Go find Ermler and bring him in!"
"No prob, Cap'n," drolled Fin. "I'm looking forward to this."
After the boys left, Cragen called Novak. "We're going to need a warrant to search Pasek Ermler's place of business and his home. We have good reason to suspect that he's got another victim. We need to get to her before she's dead too."
"What evidence do you have?" she asked.
"There's a direct connection between Ermler and every one of these victims. He met with Dede Rayner within hours of her meeting with the vics and within hours of that they would disappear."
"I don't know if that'll be enough, I'll call the judge and see. I'll let you know as soon as I have it."
"Let her know that it happened again yesterday. Maybe that'll push the right buttons."
"I will," she replied.
"Thanks." Cragen hung up the phone and prayed they weren't too late.
WINSTON KWAN'S HOUSE
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
1:15 PM
"Mr. Kwan? I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler. May we have a word with you?"
"Oh course," he answered. "Please come in."
"We may have a lead on your fiancée and need some information from you."
"Anything to help," he said, holding a mug of coffee tightly in his hands. "Can I offer you anything?" he indicated to his mug.
"No, but thank you," she replied. "When was the last time you saw your fiancée?"
"Tuesday night. We went out for dinner and a movie. I dropped her off at her apartment around 11."
"Does she live alone?" Olivia asked.
"No, she has a roommate. Patricia Rostinov. I have her number here," he said, handing Olivia a slip of paper. "She's as worried about Mudri as I am. She's still not familiar with the city and hasn't quite captured the whole English language thing. It's one of the reasons I tease her about her name being 'Mud'," he said with a self-conscious laugh. "Please find her."
"We'll do all we can. Do you know what her plans for the day were?" Elliot queried.
"She was meeting Dede Rayner for breakfast to discuss the wedding plans. After that she was supposed to come back here to meet with a decorator about some changes we want to the place after we get married."
"When's the wedding?"
"In three months."
"You don't live together?"
"She didn't want to upset her mother back in Russia. She wanted to be a 'good girl' until her wedding day." Winston sighed, then took a stiff gulp of coffee. "I agreed because I want her to be happy with herself, me and the marriage."
"How did you meet?" Olivia interjected.
"Through Dede. She's a friend of a client. My friend knew I was looking for a, well, wife, and thought Dede could help. She did. Mudri had only come to New York a month before we met and that night it was like magic." He paused to look at the detectives. "I don't want to sound all romantic here, but it really was amazing. She just lit up the room and made everyone around us smile. She was having a hard time with English and what I know of Russian would fit inside my mom's old thimble, but we still managed to share some great laughs and good times. She's one of those rare people that makes everyone feel good to be around her."
"Here's my card," Olivia said handing her business card over. "If you think of anything else, please call us. We'll be in touch as soon as we find anything. Don't despair. We're doing everything we can."
"Thank you, Detectives," he said humbly. "Just find her."
"We'll do our best."
Author: KatRose
Disclaimer: Simply put, Dick Wolf's, not mine.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None that I can think of
Author's Notes: The dates for this story are all 2004. I also have to thank kukrae for all her help, wisdom, cheerleading and browbeating me into getting this story written.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHAPTER 12
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
MAY 10
"I wish something would have come from tailing Ermler," Munch said to Elliot. "I would have loved to have nailed him."
"Me too," he replied. "Too bad Cragen had to pull us off that detail. Something about too much time spent on doing too little."
"But sometimes that's how things get found," Munch complained.
"We know that, but the bean counters at Police Plaza don't always agree," Elliot sighed. "Maybe we'll catch a break in the next couple of days."
"Yeah, maybe."
Olivia walked in with food bags filled with burgers and fries for lunch. "Here," she said handing a bag to each of the guys. "I got extra fries for you this time, Elliot."
"Thanks," he said, ripping the bag open and pouring ketchup on the corner. "Any more Russian ladies go missing lately?" he asked.
"No, which is a good thing," she replied. "I just wish we had some movement on this case. I'm tired of not being able to move forward."
"I even called Kevin to see if Ermler had met with Dede. He said no."
"Too bad. Guess we'll just have to work on some of these other cases," Olivia said, indicating the pile of work in the in-box.
Over the next week or so the squad got no new leads on the bride killer, so they spent the time working on other cases and talking to other victims and suspects. The big board with all the details stayed up, but it was now pushed to the side of the room, instead of holding court at the middle of the back wall. The days flew by as they worked on and sometimes solved these other cases.
Periodic trips to the courthouse were necessary to take care of hearings or trials. It was at one of these outings that Elliot and Olivia received word of another missing Russian woman. They rushed back to the precinct to get the details.
Cragen motioned for them to come into his office when they returned. "We got word from Brooklyn's Missing Persons' unit that a 31-year-old Russian woman in the country only three months was reported missing by her fiancé."
"Do they think she's a possible victim of Ermler?" Olivia asked.
"That's what you need to find out."
AISLE BE THERE
MAY 19
A new face was sitting at the reception desk when Elliot and Olivia walked into the office.
"Where's Kevin?" Olivia asked.
"He no longer works here," the young lady answered.
"Since when?"
"I've been here since Monday," she replied. "Are you friends of Kevin's?"
"We're detectives and need to speak to Ms. Rayner," Olivia answered, pulling out her badge.
"I'm sorry, she's not here right now. Can I have her call you when she does?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Out."
"Where?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss that," she answered with firmness. "If you have a card, I'll have Ms. Rayner call you when she returns."
Olivia handed over one of her business cards and they walked out to the street.
"I wonder what happened to Kevin. Did he say anything about a new job when you last spoke?" she asked.
"No," Elliot answered. "Do you still have that employee list?"
"Yeah, back at the office."
"Let's go."
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
Elliot got on the phone and dialed Kevin's home number. When the phone was answered, he said, "Kevin, Detective Stabler."
"Hi!" he responded enthusiastically. "What a lovely surprise."
"Detective Benson and I went down to the office to talk to Ms. Rayner and heard you weren't working there anymore. Everything okay?"
"Sure, why wouldn't they be?" he asked.
"Well, when we last spoke you didn't say anything about quitting, so we thought something might have happened."
"No. I had some vacation time stored up and I needed a break from the round-the-clock work."
"So nothing's wrong and you'll be back at the office soon?" he asked.
"No. I'm thinking of getting into another business. I like working with the weddings, but not the people in them. Thought it might be time to try something new. Something not related to *that* business," he said.
"Okay, then good luck and take care," Elliot said, preparing to hang up. Something in Kevin's next words stopped him.
"Elliot, I'd really like to see you for lunch. I can recommend a great deli if you're interested."
"Lunch?"
"Yeah, a friend told me about a great deli with food *to go*. We could meet there and then take our food to the park for a picnic without too many eyes prying into our love life. Care to join me?" Kevin's voice was getting a little anxious with each passing word.
"Sure, that would be nice. I'd love get together with you," Elliot said, tapping his desk to get Olivia's attention. "I think I know the deli you're talking about. It's over on 95th, right?"
"That's it," Kevin sighed into the phone. "One hour?"
"I'll be there. See you soon, Kev." Elliot hung up the phone.
"What was that about?" Olivia asked.
"I think Kevin's phones are bugged. He wants to meet at the deli we met him at before. He wants to talk in the park were there will be less people able to watch us."
"But the deli's not on 95th, it's in the Village."
"I know that, but I wanted to mislead whoever's listening in."
"Now I'm really curious about what's going on," Olivia said.
"Me too. Me too."
DELI TO GO
GREENWICH VILLAGE
MAY 19 – Noon
"Hi, Elliot," Kevin said seeing the detective walk into the restaurant. "I'm glad you could meet me." Kevin stood and gave Elliot a quick hug. Elliot returned the hug with more fervor than he felt thinking anything less than enthusiasm might look suspicious to anyone lurking in the shadows.
"Glad you called," he said. "I wanted to see you too."
"Let's get some sandwiches and head to the park. I know a nice secluded place to, um, chat," Kevin said with a secretive grin.
They stood in line, ordered food and wandered out to a secluded area of the park down the street. Olivia kept watch of their every movement from the roof of a building between the deli and the park. She used her phone to let Elliot know there was no unusual activity following them.
"Thanks, Liv," he said, disconnecting the call. "Ok, Kevin, the coast is clear, what's going on?"
"Sorry for the subterfuge, Detective," Kevin said, "but when they canned me shortly after you came by the office, I was told if I wanted to keep my severance and benefits, I couldn't tell anyone what happened."
"What did happen?"
"Mr. Hatagov found out that I'd spoken to you and Detective Benson about Pasek. He asked if I had also handed over company records to you guys without express permission from Dede. I told him I only gave you guys what you were looking for to help with the murder investigation. He was NOT a happy man and told me I was fired." Kevin took a bite of his sandwich and then continued. "He told me they'd give me my vacation pay and a small severance if I kept my mouth shut and didn't make waves. I took the money because I already live paycheck to paycheck." He stopped for a sip of his soft drink. "Then I got to thinking about what he was really doing and what he trying to get me to stop doing. He knows that Pasek's doing something illegal, why else would he fire me for helping you guys?"
Elliot jotted down some notes in between eating his lunch. "Why didn't you just call us?"
"I would have, but I started getting the feeling that I was being followed. There's this guy that works for Pasek. I don't know his name, but I've seen him around. Big muscled guy with hands like hams. Every time I'd walk down the street or go to the corner store, he'd be there. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I didn't want to risk my life over this." Kevin paused looking at Elliot sheepishly, "I know that's chickenish, given that all those women are dead, but I didn't want to join them."
"That's okay, Kevin," Elliot said. "I understand completely."
"So when you called today, I took it as a sign from God that I needed to not be scared anymore. But that didn't mean I shouldn't be healthily paranoid, right?" he asked with a small grin. "I didn't know if they were bugging my phone in addition to following me, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try and push them off in another direction."
"You did good," Elliot said. "We appreciate your help. If you want it, we can give you some protection while the investigation is still going on."
"I think I'll be okay," he replied. "I'm sorry for coming onto you over the phone. Well, not exactly sorry, just hoping you weren't completely offended," he added with a grin.
"Well, it's not every day I get a nice young man hitting on me," Elliot replied with a grin of his own. "Just don't let it become habit," he admonished.
"Deal," Kevin answered. "Oh, by the way, I had access access to Dede's calendar up until yesterday afternoon," he said with a secretive smile.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, when I first went to work for her, we set up my home computer to be networked with the office system since she did work at all hours and would need me to update things from home. I printed this out for you before they remembered and disconnected me," he said, handing over several sheets of paper.
Elliot looked at the proffered paperwork, wondering if he took it would it come back to bite them in the ass because Kevin was acting as an agent for the police. Shaking the thought from his head, he reached for the papers. Perusing the calendar pages he noticed Dede had a breakfast meeting with Mudri Barichev the day before. "Thank you, Kevin. This will help us a lot."
Elliot pulled out his cell phone. "Liv, we got something. Find out if that missing woman's name is Mudri Barichev. I'll meet you behind the deli."
"Kevin, do you need a ride somewhere?"
"No, I think I'll stay here just in case someone's looking for me. That way my story will be intact."
"Okay, take care," Elliot said, grabbing up his lunch remains. A few minutes later he caught up to Olivia in the sedan.
"You were right. How'd you know?" she asked.
"Kevin. He printed out Dede's calendar and it showed a breakfast meeting with Mudri yesterday. It stands to reason that she also met with Ermler sometime in the afternoon after Kevin's access went away," Elliot replied.
"Let's get over her fiancé's apartment. We'll need every bit of information to stop Mudri from being another dead victim," Olivia said driving towards Brooklyn. On the way, Elliot filled her in about Kevin's situation and why he finally came forward.
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
SQUAD ROOM
12:30 PM
Cragen shouted out the door, "Fin! Munch! In here!"
The two tromped over to find out what the boss needed. "Yeah," Munch said upon entering the office.
"Mudri Barichev is definitely one of Aisle Be There's customers. She had breakfast with Ms. Rayner yesterday morning. Go find Ermler and bring him in!"
"No prob, Cap'n," drolled Fin. "I'm looking forward to this."
After the boys left, Cragen called Novak. "We're going to need a warrant to search Pasek Ermler's place of business and his home. We have good reason to suspect that he's got another victim. We need to get to her before she's dead too."
"What evidence do you have?" she asked.
"There's a direct connection between Ermler and every one of these victims. He met with Dede Rayner within hours of her meeting with the vics and within hours of that they would disappear."
"I don't know if that'll be enough, I'll call the judge and see. I'll let you know as soon as I have it."
"Let her know that it happened again yesterday. Maybe that'll push the right buttons."
"I will," she replied.
"Thanks." Cragen hung up the phone and prayed they weren't too late.
WINSTON KWAN'S HOUSE
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
1:15 PM
"Mr. Kwan? I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler. May we have a word with you?"
"Oh course," he answered. "Please come in."
"We may have a lead on your fiancée and need some information from you."
"Anything to help," he said, holding a mug of coffee tightly in his hands. "Can I offer you anything?" he indicated to his mug.
"No, but thank you," she replied. "When was the last time you saw your fiancée?"
"Tuesday night. We went out for dinner and a movie. I dropped her off at her apartment around 11."
"Does she live alone?" Olivia asked.
"No, she has a roommate. Patricia Rostinov. I have her number here," he said, handing Olivia a slip of paper. "She's as worried about Mudri as I am. She's still not familiar with the city and hasn't quite captured the whole English language thing. It's one of the reasons I tease her about her name being 'Mud'," he said with a self-conscious laugh. "Please find her."
"We'll do all we can. Do you know what her plans for the day were?" Elliot queried.
"She was meeting Dede Rayner for breakfast to discuss the wedding plans. After that she was supposed to come back here to meet with a decorator about some changes we want to the place after we get married."
"When's the wedding?"
"In three months."
"You don't live together?"
"She didn't want to upset her mother back in Russia. She wanted to be a 'good girl' until her wedding day." Winston sighed, then took a stiff gulp of coffee. "I agreed because I want her to be happy with herself, me and the marriage."
"How did you meet?" Olivia interjected.
"Through Dede. She's a friend of a client. My friend knew I was looking for a, well, wife, and thought Dede could help. She did. Mudri had only come to New York a month before we met and that night it was like magic." He paused to look at the detectives. "I don't want to sound all romantic here, but it really was amazing. She just lit up the room and made everyone around us smile. She was having a hard time with English and what I know of Russian would fit inside my mom's old thimble, but we still managed to share some great laughs and good times. She's one of those rare people that makes everyone feel good to be around her."
"Here's my card," Olivia said handing her business card over. "If you think of anything else, please call us. We'll be in touch as soon as we find anything. Don't despair. We're doing everything we can."
"Thank you, Detectives," he said humbly. "Just find her."
"We'll do our best."
