Munch and Tutola studied Lily from a distance. Munch looked away. "I feel like a ping pong ball during a game—back and forth, back and forth."
Tutuola nodded his head in agreement. "Well, we are about to win the game. She can't protect him forever."
Lily was sitting there quietly with her hands folded in her lap. Tutuola pulled up a chair beside her and surveyed her for a few seconds. She looked over at him. "You have something to say to me?"
Tutuola smiled eagerly. "Why as a matter of fact, I do. We had a nice, little chat with your better half. I gotta tell ya. He didn't have very many nice things to say about you. If that's true love, I'm glad I'm single."
She looked straight ahead. "You're lying."
Munch sat down on the other side of her. "No, he's not. I heard him with my own two ears."
Lily glanced over at him and sniffed. "Maybe you need your ears checked."
Munch chuckled, "Well, if we are lying, why aren't we letting you go?"
Lily flipped her hair. "Maybe you like my company."
Tutuola leaned away from her. "Sorry, lady, murderers don't appeal to me."
She rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about now?"
Munch replied coolly, "Oh, you'll have plenty of company where you are going."
She started to look more interested. "What do you mean?"
Tutuola got in her face. "What do we have to do? Draw you a picture? Listen to me carefully. He sold you out. He told us it was your idea to bump off your sister."
She stood up and started to pace the room. "You're lying." She pointed her finger at him. "He wouldn't say that!"
Munch spoke up behind her. "He would for a ticket to freedom."
She whirled around to look at him. "Oh, would he? We'll just see about that."
Munch pushed a pad of paper towards her. "Feel like writing a story?
Tutuola interjected, "It better be true."
Tears were welling up in her eyes. "I met him and he seemed so nice. I was in tears one night from seeing Samantha and he took me into his arms and told me he would take care of her. He didn't like to see me upset. I had no idea he would do that!"
Tutuola wasn't convinced. "How long have you known him?"
She wiped a few tears away. "About a month."
Munch was absorbing all she had said. "Let me get this straight. Some guy you just met a month ago said he would 'take care of your sister' and you believed him? No worries or doubts? Nothing? What did you think he meant? He'd refer her to a shrink he knows? Come on, Lily! You had to know he had a dark side. Has he ever hit you?"
She was sobbing harder. "He hit me once and immediately apologized. He explained that he was locked up for so long he had built up anger. He would work through it."
Tutuola started to raise his voice. "He worked through it all right—on your sister!"
She tried to catch her breath between weeping. "I didn't know he would do all of that! I just thought he would talk to her—let her know how I felt since she wouldn't talk to me!"
Tutuola started to yell unmercifully. "Lily, no-one can be that stupid. Tell us the truth. You wanted him to hurt her. You wanted her to know that you didn't want to deal with her and her miserable life any more. She was bringing you down—a blotch on your perfect life. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"
She melted into her seat. "No, no...I didn't want that."
Tutuola continued his tirade. "What exactly did you want Lily? She's dead and you are to blame. Why are you crying? You should be happy. You don't have to deal with her again."
She was trembling so hard that the chair shook. "Alright, alright, I did want her out of my life. I tried to be good my whole life and it was always blemished by her. I wanted to be left alone. I just wanted her to go away and leave me be."
Munch leaned in towards her. "You got your wish didn't you? She'll never embarrass you again with her horrid lifestyle. She's probably better off. With a sister like you, who needs enemies?"
Tutuola interrupted, "I thought sisters were supposed to help each other, not kill each other. You have a little trouble with her and you get your abusive boyfriend to knock her off. Only he didn't just kill her. He had to have a little taste of the other sister before he took her out. She was your sister. She may have been trouble through the years, but she didn't deserve that!"
She was hysterical now. "I just wanted him to convince her to move away and leave me alone. I thought he would offer her money or something. I never even imagined that he would do something like that. I didn't know! I didn't know! I'm so sorry, Sammy...so sorry...."
She couldn't go on. Tears were hitting the table like raindrops. Munch tilted his body over to Tutola and whispered. "She's not faking that."
Tutuola exhaled a long breath. "Maybe not but, she has to live with what she has caused for the rest of her life—naïve or not."
They continued to stare at her as she let out sobs and torrents of tears.
99
They peeked in on Jacob to see what he was doing. He was reading a newspaper. Casey eyed him suspiciously. "Did you get anything out of the woman?"
Munch nodded his head. "Enough to convict him."
"Good!" Casey said smugly, "Now you have to get him to admit it."
Munch shook his head. "He's running out of places to hide. Lily never anticipated that he would go that far. He's getting backed into a corner and the walls are closing in. Who knows what he'll say."
Casey grabbed her bag and stuffed some papers in it. "As long as he admits that he killed her, that's all I need. We know he raped her. It wouldn't be a far stretch to get a jury to believe that he killed her. Lily confessed. Make him talk."
Tutuola came in carrying two paper bags. "This one is yours."
Munch took the bag from him and folded it up. "Let's see what we can turn up."
They both marched into the room and sat down across from him. They sat their bags on the table. "Hungry?" Munched asked him not really caring if he was.
"As a matter of fact, I am." He said irritated.
Munched moved the bag to the side. "OK, let's make this quick. Why did you kill Samantha Brown?"
Jacob threw his hands in the air. "What are you talking about? You have no evidence or is it in that bag?"
Munch moved the bag further away out of his reach. "It's coming."
Jacob was getting restless. "I'm not saying anything else until my lawyer gets here. He should be here any minute."
Tutuola grabbed his sack. "Whatever you say. While we are waiting on him to show up, I'm going to eat my lunch." He pulled a juicy burger out of his bag. "Mmmmm, I love thiese things."
Munch pulled out a chicken sandwich with a side of fries. "I'm partial to their fries when they are hot. They don't like me though." He pointed to his stomach and they laughed.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Tutuola left the room and came back with two cokes. "Can't forget the tasty beverages."
They continued to eat and Jacob's mouth began to water. "This is cruel and unusual punishment. I'm starving from sitting in this dingy room all day and here you two are eating right in front of me."
"Tell it to your lawyer." Munch muttered between bites.
Tutuola put his sandwich down and took a drink of coke. "Hey, this was your idea. We aren't allowed to talk to you until your lawyer arrives. We might as well eat while we are waiting. Please, just sit there and be quiet. You're disrupting my meal. I'm sure you'll get fed wherever you are going."
The door opened and a tall man with black hair entered the room. "I take it you haven't talked to my client?"
Tutuola shook his head innocently. "Not us. We're just enjoying our meal."
Munch wadded up his wrapper and threw it in the bag. "Now that you are finally here, we can get this over with. I wanted to try that new ice cream shop that opened on tenth street."
Tutuola tossed his bag across the room. It landed perfectly in the garbage can. "Yeah, I heard about that place. I hear it's good. They have every flavor you can think of."
Jacob was squirming in his seat. "Who gives a damn about ice cream? I want to get out of here...NOW!"
Tutuola stopped abruptly and glanced over at Jacob. "Munch, where are our manners? We shouldn't converse about such things in front of a man who will never be able to attain them."
Jacob raised his voice. "You have nothing. This is a joke. I will be free in no time." His lawyer tried calming him and he finally sat down. As if on cue, two policemen were walking Lily through the station past the window She could barely bring herself to look at Jacob. "Where are they taking Lily?"
Munch slapped his hand on his knee. "Oh, shoot, we should've told him.
Jacob was feeling a bit insecure. "Told me what?"
Tutuola shrugged his shoulders and made a face. "We couldn't, Munch. He wanted his lawyer first, remember?"
Munch hit the palm of his hand on his forehead. "That's right. Since everyone is here, I guess we can tell him. Lily is free to go."
There was hope on Jacob's face but his lawyer was skeptical. "If she is free, then I'm free."
Munch paused to wipe his mouth with his napkin. "Not exactly. She didn't redeem you."
His hope was quickly turning to despair. "What do you mean she didn't redeem me? She was in this as much as I was."
Tutuola spoke very slowly so he could savor every word. "She sort of implicated you. All she wanted was for her sister to move away—not go away forever. That was your idea. And I must say, you did a very good job. Too bad you left your calling card behind."
He dangled the paper of incriminating evidence in front of him to spark a reaction from him. "She told us all about you saying you would 'take care of her'. She had no idea about your deadly scheme, did she?"
An anger rose up in Jacob that they haven't witnessed before. His face was getting red. His lawyer was becoming more concerned. "She told me that she wanted her gone. She didn't want to deal with her any longer. She was fed up with her antics and told me to do what I had to do."
Tutuola pounded his fists on the table which startled his lawyer. He tried to get Jacob to sit down but he wouldn't budge. He stayed standing. Tutuola stood up also so he could face him. "That's right, Jacob. She did tell you to do what you had to do. But, I highly doubt that she told you to rape her, beat the hell out of her, and kill her. Did it ever occur to you to talk to her? Just talk to the woman? Let her know her sister's view?" He persisted unrelenting before Jacob could open his mouth to speak. "Of course it didn't because you already had a plan...because you are a rapist and a killer. Talking is a bore to you. You need more excitement—the thrill of the kill. It turns you on to see someone scared—begging for their life. You live for it. It gets you through your pathetic life, doesn't it?" Tutuola calmed down and sat back in his seat. "Well, the thrill is gone. You get to face your own fear and pain. You'll get plenty of time for that in Rikers."
Jacob's lawyer tried consoling him but he was past that point. "She will not get away with this! She wanted her gone. She told me that!"
Munch said warily, "We'll see what a jury says. Who will they believe? Some two-bit killer or a naïve, grieving sister? We're willing to roll the dice—are you?"
As a signal to enter, Casey came in and sat down. His lawyer knew where this was heading. He's seen it many times before. He asked in a monotone voice. He knew the offer. He knew his answer already. "What's the offer if he tells his side?"
"Manslaugher two—twenty-five years to life." She stated firmly.
He dismissed her offer with a wave of his hand. "That's preposterous. He was told to do it by someone else."
"He may have been told by someone else but that doesn't mean he should carry it out." Casey eyed Jacob. "Mr. Taylor, would you jump off of a bridge if Lily told you to?"
Jacob looked at her like she was crazy. "Of course not, that's nuts. That's something I don't want to do. No-one could make me do that."
Casey became eerily serene. "You wouldn't want to jump off of a bridge but you would want to rape and kill another human being? You may or may not have been told to kill but, you would have never done it unless you wanted to." She looked satisfied as the confidence seemed to fade away from Jacob. "You have ten minutes to confer with your lawyer, Mr. Taylor. We need an answer. This offer will not be on the table forever."
Jacob was caught and he knew it. With Lily turning on him, he had nowhere else to go. He was heading for prison. It didn't take a jury for him to see that. He was desperate. "If I take this plea, I have one request."
Casey tipped back in her chair. She was feeling triumphant and didn't see any reason why she couldn't grant his only and last request. "We'll see what we can do."
Jacob had a wicked grin on his face. "I need to be able to see and talk to one person before I go."
Casey looked at the others and nodded her head. She didn't see any harm in this. He'll still do his time. "Sure, Mr. Taylor, who do want to talk to?"
Jacob put his hands behind his head and got a good look at everyone in the room. He also glanced at the window where Stabler and Cragen were waiting. All eyes were on him. The name rolled off of his tongue as if were an old friend...."Olivia Benson."
99
Please read this whole story and let me know how I'm doing. The next chapter will be in a few days.
Tutuola nodded his head in agreement. "Well, we are about to win the game. She can't protect him forever."
Lily was sitting there quietly with her hands folded in her lap. Tutuola pulled up a chair beside her and surveyed her for a few seconds. She looked over at him. "You have something to say to me?"
Tutuola smiled eagerly. "Why as a matter of fact, I do. We had a nice, little chat with your better half. I gotta tell ya. He didn't have very many nice things to say about you. If that's true love, I'm glad I'm single."
She looked straight ahead. "You're lying."
Munch sat down on the other side of her. "No, he's not. I heard him with my own two ears."
Lily glanced over at him and sniffed. "Maybe you need your ears checked."
Munch chuckled, "Well, if we are lying, why aren't we letting you go?"
Lily flipped her hair. "Maybe you like my company."
Tutuola leaned away from her. "Sorry, lady, murderers don't appeal to me."
She rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about now?"
Munch replied coolly, "Oh, you'll have plenty of company where you are going."
She started to look more interested. "What do you mean?"
Tutuola got in her face. "What do we have to do? Draw you a picture? Listen to me carefully. He sold you out. He told us it was your idea to bump off your sister."
She stood up and started to pace the room. "You're lying." She pointed her finger at him. "He wouldn't say that!"
Munch spoke up behind her. "He would for a ticket to freedom."
She whirled around to look at him. "Oh, would he? We'll just see about that."
Munch pushed a pad of paper towards her. "Feel like writing a story?
Tutuola interjected, "It better be true."
Tears were welling up in her eyes. "I met him and he seemed so nice. I was in tears one night from seeing Samantha and he took me into his arms and told me he would take care of her. He didn't like to see me upset. I had no idea he would do that!"
Tutuola wasn't convinced. "How long have you known him?"
She wiped a few tears away. "About a month."
Munch was absorbing all she had said. "Let me get this straight. Some guy you just met a month ago said he would 'take care of your sister' and you believed him? No worries or doubts? Nothing? What did you think he meant? He'd refer her to a shrink he knows? Come on, Lily! You had to know he had a dark side. Has he ever hit you?"
She was sobbing harder. "He hit me once and immediately apologized. He explained that he was locked up for so long he had built up anger. He would work through it."
Tutuola started to raise his voice. "He worked through it all right—on your sister!"
She tried to catch her breath between weeping. "I didn't know he would do all of that! I just thought he would talk to her—let her know how I felt since she wouldn't talk to me!"
Tutuola started to yell unmercifully. "Lily, no-one can be that stupid. Tell us the truth. You wanted him to hurt her. You wanted her to know that you didn't want to deal with her and her miserable life any more. She was bringing you down—a blotch on your perfect life. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"
She melted into her seat. "No, no...I didn't want that."
Tutuola continued his tirade. "What exactly did you want Lily? She's dead and you are to blame. Why are you crying? You should be happy. You don't have to deal with her again."
She was trembling so hard that the chair shook. "Alright, alright, I did want her out of my life. I tried to be good my whole life and it was always blemished by her. I wanted to be left alone. I just wanted her to go away and leave me be."
Munch leaned in towards her. "You got your wish didn't you? She'll never embarrass you again with her horrid lifestyle. She's probably better off. With a sister like you, who needs enemies?"
Tutuola interrupted, "I thought sisters were supposed to help each other, not kill each other. You have a little trouble with her and you get your abusive boyfriend to knock her off. Only he didn't just kill her. He had to have a little taste of the other sister before he took her out. She was your sister. She may have been trouble through the years, but she didn't deserve that!"
She was hysterical now. "I just wanted him to convince her to move away and leave me alone. I thought he would offer her money or something. I never even imagined that he would do something like that. I didn't know! I didn't know! I'm so sorry, Sammy...so sorry...."
She couldn't go on. Tears were hitting the table like raindrops. Munch tilted his body over to Tutola and whispered. "She's not faking that."
Tutuola exhaled a long breath. "Maybe not but, she has to live with what she has caused for the rest of her life—naïve or not."
They continued to stare at her as she let out sobs and torrents of tears.
99
They peeked in on Jacob to see what he was doing. He was reading a newspaper. Casey eyed him suspiciously. "Did you get anything out of the woman?"
Munch nodded his head. "Enough to convict him."
"Good!" Casey said smugly, "Now you have to get him to admit it."
Munch shook his head. "He's running out of places to hide. Lily never anticipated that he would go that far. He's getting backed into a corner and the walls are closing in. Who knows what he'll say."
Casey grabbed her bag and stuffed some papers in it. "As long as he admits that he killed her, that's all I need. We know he raped her. It wouldn't be a far stretch to get a jury to believe that he killed her. Lily confessed. Make him talk."
Tutuola came in carrying two paper bags. "This one is yours."
Munch took the bag from him and folded it up. "Let's see what we can turn up."
They both marched into the room and sat down across from him. They sat their bags on the table. "Hungry?" Munched asked him not really caring if he was.
"As a matter of fact, I am." He said irritated.
Munched moved the bag to the side. "OK, let's make this quick. Why did you kill Samantha Brown?"
Jacob threw his hands in the air. "What are you talking about? You have no evidence or is it in that bag?"
Munch moved the bag further away out of his reach. "It's coming."
Jacob was getting restless. "I'm not saying anything else until my lawyer gets here. He should be here any minute."
Tutuola grabbed his sack. "Whatever you say. While we are waiting on him to show up, I'm going to eat my lunch." He pulled a juicy burger out of his bag. "Mmmmm, I love thiese things."
Munch pulled out a chicken sandwich with a side of fries. "I'm partial to their fries when they are hot. They don't like me though." He pointed to his stomach and they laughed.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Tutuola left the room and came back with two cokes. "Can't forget the tasty beverages."
They continued to eat and Jacob's mouth began to water. "This is cruel and unusual punishment. I'm starving from sitting in this dingy room all day and here you two are eating right in front of me."
"Tell it to your lawyer." Munch muttered between bites.
Tutuola put his sandwich down and took a drink of coke. "Hey, this was your idea. We aren't allowed to talk to you until your lawyer arrives. We might as well eat while we are waiting. Please, just sit there and be quiet. You're disrupting my meal. I'm sure you'll get fed wherever you are going."
The door opened and a tall man with black hair entered the room. "I take it you haven't talked to my client?"
Tutuola shook his head innocently. "Not us. We're just enjoying our meal."
Munch wadded up his wrapper and threw it in the bag. "Now that you are finally here, we can get this over with. I wanted to try that new ice cream shop that opened on tenth street."
Tutuola tossed his bag across the room. It landed perfectly in the garbage can. "Yeah, I heard about that place. I hear it's good. They have every flavor you can think of."
Jacob was squirming in his seat. "Who gives a damn about ice cream? I want to get out of here...NOW!"
Tutuola stopped abruptly and glanced over at Jacob. "Munch, where are our manners? We shouldn't converse about such things in front of a man who will never be able to attain them."
Jacob raised his voice. "You have nothing. This is a joke. I will be free in no time." His lawyer tried calming him and he finally sat down. As if on cue, two policemen were walking Lily through the station past the window She could barely bring herself to look at Jacob. "Where are they taking Lily?"
Munch slapped his hand on his knee. "Oh, shoot, we should've told him.
Jacob was feeling a bit insecure. "Told me what?"
Tutuola shrugged his shoulders and made a face. "We couldn't, Munch. He wanted his lawyer first, remember?"
Munch hit the palm of his hand on his forehead. "That's right. Since everyone is here, I guess we can tell him. Lily is free to go."
There was hope on Jacob's face but his lawyer was skeptical. "If she is free, then I'm free."
Munch paused to wipe his mouth with his napkin. "Not exactly. She didn't redeem you."
His hope was quickly turning to despair. "What do you mean she didn't redeem me? She was in this as much as I was."
Tutuola spoke very slowly so he could savor every word. "She sort of implicated you. All she wanted was for her sister to move away—not go away forever. That was your idea. And I must say, you did a very good job. Too bad you left your calling card behind."
He dangled the paper of incriminating evidence in front of him to spark a reaction from him. "She told us all about you saying you would 'take care of her'. She had no idea about your deadly scheme, did she?"
An anger rose up in Jacob that they haven't witnessed before. His face was getting red. His lawyer was becoming more concerned. "She told me that she wanted her gone. She didn't want to deal with her any longer. She was fed up with her antics and told me to do what I had to do."
Tutuola pounded his fists on the table which startled his lawyer. He tried to get Jacob to sit down but he wouldn't budge. He stayed standing. Tutuola stood up also so he could face him. "That's right, Jacob. She did tell you to do what you had to do. But, I highly doubt that she told you to rape her, beat the hell out of her, and kill her. Did it ever occur to you to talk to her? Just talk to the woman? Let her know her sister's view?" He persisted unrelenting before Jacob could open his mouth to speak. "Of course it didn't because you already had a plan...because you are a rapist and a killer. Talking is a bore to you. You need more excitement—the thrill of the kill. It turns you on to see someone scared—begging for their life. You live for it. It gets you through your pathetic life, doesn't it?" Tutuola calmed down and sat back in his seat. "Well, the thrill is gone. You get to face your own fear and pain. You'll get plenty of time for that in Rikers."
Jacob's lawyer tried consoling him but he was past that point. "She will not get away with this! She wanted her gone. She told me that!"
Munch said warily, "We'll see what a jury says. Who will they believe? Some two-bit killer or a naïve, grieving sister? We're willing to roll the dice—are you?"
As a signal to enter, Casey came in and sat down. His lawyer knew where this was heading. He's seen it many times before. He asked in a monotone voice. He knew the offer. He knew his answer already. "What's the offer if he tells his side?"
"Manslaugher two—twenty-five years to life." She stated firmly.
He dismissed her offer with a wave of his hand. "That's preposterous. He was told to do it by someone else."
"He may have been told by someone else but that doesn't mean he should carry it out." Casey eyed Jacob. "Mr. Taylor, would you jump off of a bridge if Lily told you to?"
Jacob looked at her like she was crazy. "Of course not, that's nuts. That's something I don't want to do. No-one could make me do that."
Casey became eerily serene. "You wouldn't want to jump off of a bridge but you would want to rape and kill another human being? You may or may not have been told to kill but, you would have never done it unless you wanted to." She looked satisfied as the confidence seemed to fade away from Jacob. "You have ten minutes to confer with your lawyer, Mr. Taylor. We need an answer. This offer will not be on the table forever."
Jacob was caught and he knew it. With Lily turning on him, he had nowhere else to go. He was heading for prison. It didn't take a jury for him to see that. He was desperate. "If I take this plea, I have one request."
Casey tipped back in her chair. She was feeling triumphant and didn't see any reason why she couldn't grant his only and last request. "We'll see what we can do."
Jacob had a wicked grin on his face. "I need to be able to see and talk to one person before I go."
Casey looked at the others and nodded her head. She didn't see any harm in this. He'll still do his time. "Sure, Mr. Taylor, who do want to talk to?"
Jacob put his hands behind his head and got a good look at everyone in the room. He also glanced at the window where Stabler and Cragen were waiting. All eyes were on him. The name rolled off of his tongue as if were an old friend...."Olivia Benson."
99
Please read this whole story and let me know how I'm doing. The next chapter will be in a few days.