Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All characters owned by Dick Wolf and NBC. No money was made by me on this work.

Casey Novak was in bed when she got the call.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily into the phone.

Suddenly she got up. "They found her? Is she all right? She is? Good. On the news? Okay."

Casey went over to the TV and turned on the news. "The missing transport carrying convicted rapist Amelia Chase and accused rapist and murderer Sebastian Ballentine has been found. The driver and Ms. Chase are okay, and are in the hospital. The guard escorting them was killed in the accident. Mr. Ballentine was found dead a few hundred feet from the site of the accident. The circumstances of his death are not yet public."

"Oh, my..."

Later...

"So," asked Olivia at the office, "how are you doing, Casey?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. So, I think we can make a deal in the McAllister case."

"Great."

"Yeah, well. I'm glad I am finally getting some respect, and people are finally able to start looking at me as the ADA, rather than as 'that witch that replaced Our Blessed Lady of Law, Alex."

"So, how are you doing, though, with all this surrounding your sister?"

"Well, I checked around a little. She is okay."

"Yeah, I got that from the news. Anything else."

"Well, I know that the guard was killed in the crash. Chase claims that Ballentine took her out of the transport and raped her. He then fell asleep, and she managed to kill him."

"Impossible. Ballentine only victimizes virgins. Amelia Chase isn't a virgin; hell, that's what she's in prison for."

"She claims that his mind must have been affected by the crash."

"And you believe her?"

"No. But it occurred outside of my jurisdiction. I have a feeling that no one is going to investigate, because no one cares. Ballentine was scum, and no one cares how he died."

"So what do you think happened?"

"I think that Amelia probably raped him. From what I know of her, she hates men, she was abused when she was younger, and abusive men particularly set her off. She probably knows about the Ballentine case - everybody does. She must know how he only likes virgins - and probably figured she'd torture him in the only way possible - make him have sex with a non-virgin."

"Wow. Wonder what her facial expressions would have done to him."

"There was a mask nearby - one of the ones that were used to prevent Ballentine from getting into the heads of the guards. She could have put it on."

"So you think?"

"Yeah. But there's nothing I can do, and I doubt that anyone will pursue this very far. So I'm just going to not worry about it."

"Wow."

Later...

Elliot was talking to Maureen over the phone.

"So, Honey. What's going on?"

"Well, Daddy, I have a crush on this really cute guy - I don't think he notices me at all though. I'm wondering if I should slip him some roofies -"

"Maureen!"

She started giggling. "Sorry, Daddy. I couldn't resist saying that."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I just want to protect you, Maureen. I don't want to see you in trouble. I was always so scared of you being hurt - now I'm scared about - what if you get in trouble for something you do. I - I love you, and I want to see you happy."

"I know, Daddy."

Meanwhile...

Olivia was leaving the office. Casey had come to talk to her, and they were going to have a drink together. She heard some people gossiping and snickering by the water cooler. "Hey, Liv!" hollered one of them, a 40-something white man. She walked over to him. Casey followed a few steps behind.

"Drinkin' with Casey?"

"Yes, we're having a drink together."

"So, are you - doing anything else?"

Casey walked over and stared in the man's eyes. "We are not having an affair. I'm not even Lesbian, nor do I have any interest in experimenting."

"Same here," said Olivia.

"Damn!" exclaimed the guy at the water cooler. I guess I lose that $20.00 I have in the pool."

Meanwhile...

Richard Adler went to answer the knock on his door. He opened it to see a tall man with a rather bland look on his face and a small woman with brown hair. "What do you want?"

"Hi, I'm Detective Goren and this is Detective Eames. We are investigating an attack on a prison transport. I'm sure you've heard of it on the news."

A month later...

"Well," said the doctor at the prison. "Bad news, Ms. Chase. You are right."

Amelia Chase smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, I'm afriad that when Mr. Ballentine raped you, he left a reminder. That's why you threw up this morning. You're pregnant."

"I'm keeping it."

"You are?"

"Well, I won't keep it in here after I have it, but I am not giving it away for adoption nor am I aborting it. I have a sister who I am certain will take care of my child after it is born."

THE END