Story Title: Fallout
Chapter Title: Truth and Consequences
Pairings: None Yet
Series: Law and Order SVU
Spoilers: References to Intoxicated, Loss, and Ghost
Summary: See story description under first chapter.
Casey dropped the remnants of her frozen dinner in the trashcan before refilling her wine glass. Trudging back into the living room she gave the untouched files on her coffee table a guilty look. Her week had steadily gone downhill since the plea on the Eldridge case Tuesday.
It had cumulated in a screaming match with Olivia at the station this afternoon. Casey sent a silent thanks to the powers that be that today was Friday. She shoved the paperwork back into her bag unwilling to face the cases she had chosen to abandon in lieu of a mediocre bottle of wine. 'After all what was the point of wasting good wine when the sole intent was getting drunk' Casey acknowledged honestly.
Propping her feet up on the coffee table Casey reclined against the back of the couch letting her wine glass rest comfortably on her stomach. Closing her eyes the scene with Olivia earlier in the day returned to taunt her.
"What do you mean you can't offer a deal! The bastard is willing to tell us where he left the other three bodies if you take the death penalty off the table. These families need closure Casey! He's agreed to consecutive sentences, he'll never see parole. Why are you waffling on making this deal?" Olivia demanded her voice rising with every syllable.
Casey took the detective's demands in stride trying to diffuse the situation before it became more heated. She noticed Elliot out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be wavering between stepping in and letting the two women work out the disagreement on their own.
Casey knew he had noticed the increased friction between them this week. She also felt his confusion as he perched on the fence not sure if he should step in or not. Casey registered his decision by the look on Elliot's face as he eyed his partner before turning his attention to her. It said everything she needed to know, he was going to back Olivia up even if he didn't know what was going on. For some reason the knowledge only served to irk her further.
"I can't make a deal without clearing it through Donnelly first. She's not in the office and I am waiting for her to return my messages now," Casey managed through clenched teeth the anger quickly burning out as the mind numbing exhaustion, from the constant fight that seemed to be her professional life, took its place.
"Give me a break. You've made bigger deals before. Since when do you need permission to do your job? This unit needs an ADA capable making their own decisions without running back to the boss for approval. We don't have time for lawyers more interested in covering their ass than making tough choices. Peoples lives are at stake here," Olivia accused bitterly.
"Liv," Elliot broke in admonishing his partner.
The words stung and Casey refused to look at the detectives as she forced back the tears from the unwarranted attack. That Olivia felt that she needed to be told that almost hurt worse than the words themselves.
"Just say it!" Casey found the thought out before she had even finished thinking it.
She looked around at the different faces and the obvious confusion generated by her demand. She glanced over seeing Cragen make his way out of the office drawn by the heated discussion.
Casey felt her anger growing the words passing through her lips unchecked. "Just say it. If Alex Cabot was here she would make the deal. Alex 'the oh so perfect Cabot' who never let you down. The woman who was so dedicated that she was willing to give up her life and go into witness protection in the fight for justice." Casey took in their shocked looks but she didn't care she was on a roll now. Three nights of no sleep and the deep freeze she had fallen victim to in her own office and the precinct this week had worn her down to a single raw nerve. The truth was her anger had been slow to build and the latest had just fallen at the right time to be come the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.
Cragen seemed ready to step in and cut her off but Casey didn't give him the chance. "I've got news for you detectives. The ADA you remember was a fantasy, she worked her ass off and put her share of criminals behind bars but she was just as limited in her powers as I am. But it doesn't matter how successful she was. I can promise you she busted a gut trying to meet your demands that always seem to demand just a little more. Fixing the holes you punched in cases when you decided to cross the line, making deals to get what you needed for your next collar, standing up in court trying to string together a conviction based solely on the faith that you," Casey punctuated the next with a point finger, " her detectives, were right in your suspicions about a perp." Casey paused giving them each a hard glare. Cragen seemed to have forgotten whatever he was going to say as his shocked look joined that of his detectives. They were all stunned into silence as they watched expectantly, the ADA obviously not finished with her tirade. Casey didn't disappoint.
"And all of it for what? When she won it was because of the work you did, and when she lost it was because she fucked up a perfectly solid case. They say the burnout rate is high for detectives in this unit but I would be willing to bet it is even higher for their A.D.A.'s. You chew them up and spit them out without a second glance. Secure that your pursuit of justice gives you the right to do whatever you think you have to as long as the endd result is you win," Casey knew the last reflected more how she felt but she had no doubt Alex Cabot had felt the same on a certain level. She had known Alex before she joined SVU and watched the woman be slowly ground down by the impossible expectations the detectives and job had placed upon her.
Casey wasn't done but her phone rang shattering the temporary lull. Casey fumbled in her coat angrily snatching out the offending instrument. She registered the caller ID a split second before pressing the answer button. "Novak," she bit out angrily.
"Catch you at a bad time?" the sarcastic lilt of Liz Donnelly's voice only served to send Casey a little further out on the edge.
"I need to make a deal on the Roberts case. He'll only give us the location of the other three bodies if we take the death penalty off the table," Casey answered straight to the point. There was a pause on the other end of the phone.
"Will he offer a guilty plea on all five murders in court with consecutive sentencing?" Donnelly asked all business now.
"No, I thought maybe I would have the detectives' drop him off at Coney Island for hot dogs and ice cream when he was done telling us where he hid the three bodies!" Casey practically shouted into the phone. A very small part of her brain that still seemed to be behaving logically jumped up and down trying to reign in the ADA. Casey absently silenced the last vestiges of common sense that still seemed to be functioning. She almost took pleasure in the bewildered looks the detectives were shooting back and forth while Casey single handedly shredded what was left of her career.
"Casey, what is going on?" Donnelly tried to take a reasonable tact with the obviously upset A.D.A.
"Yes, or No, Liz. The detectives feel the DA's office is dragging their feet on this case because the A.D.A.can't possibly understand the gravity of the situation before her. So now that I have run back to mommy for permission to make a deal, give me an answer," Casey demanded.
The silence on the other end drug on and for a minute Casey was certain that Liz Donnelly was going to hang up and call Cragen with orders to lock Casey up until she could be hauled into the loony bin.
"Make the deal, and then I want you back in your office for a meeting. I'll be there in thirty minutes," Liz promised disconnecting before Casey could refuse.
Casey hung up the phone slamming her briefcase on Elliot's desk. Rummaging through the folders she pulled out the agreement she had drafted while waiting for Donnelly's approval. She tossed it out forcefully, enjoying the loud thwack it made as it hit the surface.
"There's your agreement. Go get the information you need," Casey offered as she zipped her briefcase shut.
"Casey," Elliot stepped forward an apologetic look on his face.
Casey held her hand up stopping him. "Don't bother. I seriously doubt you have to worry about me being you're A.D.A anymore. If you'll excuse me I have a meeting with my very pissed off boss in," Casey looked at her watch. "Twenty-five minutes."
Casey turned on her heel stalking out of the squad room. She wasn't sure what surprised her more. The tirade she had just subjected the detective's too or the fact that she didn't care.
"Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?" Cragen requested.
All eyes turned to Olivia. "What?" she demanded with raised hands.
"Liv, you two have been going at it like cats and dogs since the Eldridge plea. Whatever is eating her started there," Elliot said reasonably.
"I don't know what's going on. She's barely talked to me since Tuesday morning," Olivia confessed.
"Fine," Cragen cut in, " Elliot you and Olivia go in and get Roberts information. John you and Fin get a line on where the parents of the three missing kids are. As soon as we find the bodies the story is going to break. I would prefer they hear it from us and not on the nightly news," Cragen directed.
Cragen watched his detective's peel off before returning to his desk and scrolling through the rolodex for Liz Donnelly's number.
Casey opened her eyes staring at the ceiling as her thoughts returned to the present. Her anger had long faded but she could find no regrets for the words she had spoken at the station house. The thoughts could have been better phrased but there was nothing she had said that Casey did not truly feel.
Taking a sip from the wine glass Casey's thoughts retreated to the meeting with Donnelly.
Casey was calmly working at her desk when Liz Donnelly arrived. Casey barely spared her boss a glance before returning her attention to the file on her desk.
Donnelly shut the door quietly before claiming the chair in front of Casey's desk. Casey refused to speak letting the silence draw out. Donnelly patiently waited until Casey finally set her pen down on the desk before leaning back in her chair to eye her boss.
"So, am I fired?" Casey asked without preamble.
"Is that what you're hoping for?" Donnelly replied watching the lawyer's reaction carefully.
"You've tied my hands. I can't be running back to you for every plea agreement. It cuts down my credibility with the squad and the court," Casey replied.
"You made your choice when you over stepped you authority in the Eldridge case. No one did this to you but yourself. These are the consequences Casey," Donnelly reminded her.
"You've made your point Liz," Casey responded.
"I don't think I have. You let a defendant guilty of murder two walk with a slap on the wrist. It showed poor judgment," Donnelly accused.
Casey shot out of her chair her hands landing on her desk forcefully. "Don't you think I gave that plea careful consideration? I didn't just wake up on Tuesday morning and decide I was going to give Carrie Eldridge a pass on murdering her mother," Casey said bitterly.
"Don't you think I have my doubts? Did I do the right thing? Was her story true? Will she do it again? Was this a one time event brought on by a long history of abuse? Did I short change the victim laying down a judgment on the worthiness of her life against that of her daughter?" Casey paced around the office her agitation obvious as the string of questions fell from her lips.
"Give me some credit Liz. I looked at the new information that came to light just before the Jury was about to go into deliberations. I could not introduce any new evidence after resting my case without Petrovsky dismissing with prejudice which would have meant no retrial and I couldn't bring myself to allow her to walk completely. I don't have to tell you that Simone Bryce wouldn't have been able to get a new trial based on evidence she knowingly withheld the first go around. I was between a rock and a hard place and end the end I trusted the instincts of the detective's in the squad and I made a choice that I hope prevented Carrie Eldridge from becoming one more number lost in the system."
Casey slowed down her voice losing some of its anger. "You can accuse me of making the wrong choice but don't you dare sit there and tell me I didn't think it through," Casey demanded. She returned to her chair her legs nearly failing her as she realized how precariously close to the edge she was skating with her job. If she hadn't lost it already. She waited for Liz's response.
Liz nodded thoughtfully. "That was a much better argument than simply stating that you thought it was the right thing to do. Maybe if you had tried that when I asked you why you made the plea I wouldn't have placed the supervisory restriction on your cases," Liz informed her.
Casey couldn't quiet wrap her mind around what Liz was trying to say. "I don't understand."
"I've been in the DA's office twenty years Casey. I've seen my share of hot shot lawyers come and go. Here it doesn't matter how smart you are but how well you play by the rules. Justice isn't blind I don't give a damn what your law professors told you. But there are enough pressures influencing the cases we try everyday without adding the personal prerogatives of the prosecutors." Liz paused seeming to choose her next words carefully.
"We have to walk a fine line when we make deals with defendants. Most of the time it's routine but sometimes there are choices that have to be made that leave you wondering why you ever chose to practice law in the first place. I have watched some very good lawyers succumb to the temptation of their office. Bending rules past the breaking point to get the convictions they believe are just." Liz leaned forward piercing Casey with an intense gaze.
"It's a very easy slope to slide down and it starts slowly one case at a time until the line becomes so blurred you're in a free fall before you know it. I know from personal experience." Liz admitted.
"If you think it's hard trying a case and sending a man to prison think about how it would feel if you cut corners doing it only to find out 6 years later that he wasn't guilty to start with. Trust me there is nothing that will assuage that guilt ever." Liz promised her mind briefly flashing to Eric Plummer.
"So if you think I was hard on you, your right, and I had my reasons," Liz assured her.
Liz stood giving Casey a thoughtful look. "You're free to plead out your cases without clearing them with me first. Don't make me regret my decision," Liz warned her.
Casey nodded understanding that Donnelly would not let her by so easily next time. The Deputy DA definitely had a way of making her point. Casey felt like she had been run through a wringer the last four days.
"Do yourself a favor Casey. Go home, put away your briefcase, and enjoy your weekend. You look like you could use a rest," Liz advised.
Casey nodded slightly agreeing with her boss. Donnelly turned as she reached the door tossing out one final order.
"And on Monday morning go make nice with your detective's. Oh and don't be surprised if you get a few calls over the weekend from colleagues wondering if the rumor that you had a nervous breakdown in the squad room of the one-six is true. Remember they wouldn't gossip about you if they didn't care," Liz assured her with a wicked gleam in her eye before slipping through the door.
The door buzzer drew her from her thoughts. Casey sighed tiredly as she climbed to her feet. The dyslexic boyfriend of the woman in the apartment across from her was always hitting Casey's call key by mistake.
Shuffling over to the intercom she pressed the answer key. "Yes."
"Casey?" Olivia's disembodied voice floated through the box.
Casey groaned as she leaned her forehead against the wall. Just when she thought this week couldn't possibly get any worse. "And who said God didn't have a sense of humor," she grumbled to herself. For just a minute she entertained the fantasy that maybe if she clicked her heels together three times she could go back to Monday and none of this would have happened. The steady ring of the call button reminded her there were no do overs in real life. They were the stuff of childhood and the movies. Casey pressed the release for the downstairs door holding it a few extra seconds to insure Olivia had time to enter the lobby.
Draining the last of the wine in her glass Casey slowly refilled it as she mentally counted off the seconds until Olivia knocked on her door.