Conflict of Interests Chapter 5: The Pen Is Mightier, a law and order: svu fanfic

Office of

David S. Bowen

Avenue Graphics

Brooklyn, New York

"Brian's dead?" exclaimed company vice-president David Bowen. He and the detectives were sitting in his cluttered office drinking iced tea (or, in Bowen's case, a large glass of whiskey).

"I can't believe this is happening," Bowen said hoarsely, twisting a gold wedding band around his finger. "Do you have any"- he swallowed- "suspects yet?"

"Where were you between 5 and 7:30 this morning?" asked Elliot, using an approximate time of death range.

David frowned, thinking. "I don't remem- wait... I was here."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"Only the security cameras. I 've been here since 7 a.m. yesturday."

"Why?"

He stared off into the distance, brown eyes sad and hollow. "No place else to go. I drank a bottle of Jack Daniels and fell asleep around ten." He glared at something that wasn't present. "I bet he forgot to bring her orange juice in bed. She'll dump that sorry bastard, too."

Elliot flinched. This man could very well be him- living at work or in a hotel, with no place to go. Having nothing but the knowledge that he is completly worthless, that everything he fought for was all a sham. He shook his head and returned to the conversation.

"Before Brian, who ran the company?" asked Olivia.

"Rupert Clempson. A ruthless, arrogant asshole who would have someone else shoot you- he would never get his hands dirty- just as soon as look at you. The only thing he has going for him is his aggressiveness. He was running the company into the ground, so we executives were all glad when Brian took over. I was suprised that Clempson sold..." Bowen inhaled sharply. "You don't suppose it was a hostile takeover, do you? Oh my God, that means that..." He trailed off, eyes wide with terror.

"If it was, wouldn't you know about it?" reasoned Elliot.

"If it was legal, then yeah. All I remember was getting a memo saying that the sale of my shares to some businesswoman was 'essential to the survival of the company'. If we all screwed over Clempson, then he's bound to be furious. Did I mention that he has one of the worst tempers since Vlad the Impaler?"

"So you think Clempson had something to do with this?"

"If he did, then I'm next." Bowen buried his face in his hands. "This is too much."

The two detectives left the man with his whiskey. "It's getting late," Olivia said. "Wanna call it a night and go home?"

Just then, they heard a loud crack. "Gunshot," breathed Elliot.

They raced back to David's office, weapons in hand. He was lying face down in a pool of blood, a pistol pressed against his temple. A note was clutched in his other hand. "'You were right, Sylvie,'" Olivia read. "'I am nothing.'" She checked his vitals, then radioed for an ambulance. "Lights and sirens aren't necessary."

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The Stabler residence in Queens was dark and empty. Elliot dropped his keys on the kitchen table, the clatter sound louder than usual. Just like the gunshot.

"I'm home," he called tentatively.

There was a note on the table. "'If you ever decide to come home, I'm just letting you know that I took the kids out to dinner. -Kathy'" Elliot crumpled it up and threw it aside, wishing he could do the same with his problems. He took two sleeping pills and trudged into the living room where he collapsed on the couch. The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was the troubled face of David Bowen, a man who never got a chance to start over.

SVU Squadroom

March 19

"Let's take a look at your suspects, shall we?" said John Munchas he hung pictures of several suspects on the bulletin board.

"Don't you have work to do?" asked Olivia in mock exasperation.

"Fin is MIA, so I might as well lend my insight to you two," he said.

"First we have Rupert Clempson, owner of several mid-sized New York/ Jersey based companies. Then, we have Isis Black, stockbroker/ possible target. David Bowen used to be one, but he blew his brains out," said Elliot. "My money's on Clempson."

"Why?" asked Munch.

Elliot half-shrugged. "We haven't talked to him yet."

A.D.A Kasey Novak happened to be passing by when she saw Isis Black's picture on the bulletin board. "Isis Black's one of your suspects? Good luck with that."

"Why do you say that?" said Elliot.

"I used to work in Corporate, remember? I tried to convict her for insider trading once. As you can see, that didn't work very well. Then, she was a suspect in a huge illegal corporate takeover/ embezzlement scam. She wasn't even indicted."

"Did you say corporate takeover?"

"Everything's alleged," Kasey said flatly.

"What a day," sighed SVU psychologist George Huang as he walked over to the detectives from the newly installed soda machine, a can of generic cola in his hand. He set it down by Elliot and rubbed his eyes.

"Thanks, Doc." Elliot opened the can and drank all of its contents in one huge gulp.

"You're a real pain in the ass sometimes, Stabler."

The detective threw the empty can over his shoulder and grinned. "Always."

"Whoa," said Fin Tuotuola, as the can hit him on the head. "What was that for? I'm hand delivering your lab reports for you and everything."

Kasey tapped Huang on the shoulder. "I need to go over something with you later, okay?"

"Same time, same place? I'll be there."

The A.D.A. left. "What was that all about?" asked Olivia.

George smiled benignly and didn't say anything.

Elliot opened the file Fin brought for him. "Hey Liv, it looks like some of the fingerprints on the letter had a match."

"Let me see." Olivia frowned. "The letter was written on paper with a Walter Brown watermark on it, and, wait, some of the partials belong to Isis Black."

"I don't think she did it, though."

"We won't know for sure unless we talk to her again." She set down the file, and the two detectives left.

"You're welcome," Fin muttered.

See, I told you more would happen in this chapter. And in case anyone thinks they have this case solved, think again because I LOVE ironic plot twists! HeeHeeHee!