Chapter 28 - Cragen

Lyrics by Amy Grant – Ask Me

I see her as a little girl hiding in her room
She takes another bath and she sprays her momma's perfume
To try to wipe away the scent he left behind
But it haunts her mind
You see she's his little rag, nothing more than just a waif
And he's mopping up his need, she is tired and afraid
Maybe she'll find a way through these awful years to disappear
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the heaven
Where did he go in the middle of her shame?
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the heavens
I see no mercy and no one down here's naming names
Nobody's naming names
Now she's looking in the mirror at a lovely woman face
No more frightened little girl, like she's gone without a trace
Still she leaves the light burning in the hall
It's hard to sleep at all
Still she crawls up in her bed acting quiet as a mouse
Deep inside she's listening for a creaking in the house
But no one's left to harm her, she's finally safe and sound
There's a peace she's found
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the heaven
(How do you know?)
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the heavens
(How do you know?)
Yeah, ask me how I know
(How do you know?)
Ask me
Ask me
Ask me how I know
(How do you know?)
There's a God up in the heavens
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the heavens…

Cragen

"Hey, did she ID him?" I stuffed my hands into my pocket and watched John enter the squad room.

"Yeah." He said with an angry sigh, tossing the photo array on the desk in front of me.

"What's wrong?" I knew it was an absurd question the moment I spoke it, but I figured it was worth the risk, just in case I was mistaken.

"Nothing." He spoke with sarcastic happiness dripping off every word. "I'm wonderful. I couldn't be happier with the fact that this sonofabitch is running around the city with at least a grand in his pocket and not a care in the world while Olivia is at home killing herself over this!" His voice started gaining volume and intensity until he was almost screaming by the time he was done.

"And you screaming isn't gonna do a damn bit of good for anyone." We both looked towards the doorway to see Fin walking in, same clothes, same attitude, and same exhaustion still apparent.

"I thought you went home to sleep?"

He shrugged and walked past me to get to his desk, adjoined with Munch's. "Couldn't sleep."

"Okay. John, fill him in and I'll go see what Casey can do." I started walking off when John's bitter-filled voice stopped me.

"Still at square one, only know Olivia knows we have a suspect and it'll only be a matter of hours before she finds out we don't have him in custody."

My first reaction was to turn around and completely chew Munch out, say that I was doing the best I could. I choked that down and instead slowly counted to ten, feeling my composure coming back. And people wonder why I still go to AA. I shook my head in frustration and continued towards Casey's office.

--XXX--

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Fin asked me as we bounded up the stairs towards Brent's apartment.

"Anything that might tell us where he is," I sighed, stopping in front of the door. I turned to Munch and Fin and nodded. They nodded back and placed their hands on their guns, ready to draw them in a moment's notice. "Brent Silvestri!" I slammed the outside of my fist against the door as I went through the motions, knowing damn well he wouldn't be inside. "New York City Police! We have a warrant to search the premises! Open up!" I waited a few minutes before nodding to the detectives again. I stepped back while they drew their guns and Fin kicked the door down. While they ran in to clear the apartment, I followed, standing just inside the room.

"All clear over here!" Munch appeared from a hallway, putting his gun back in its holster.

"Clear this way." Fin did the same.

"John, you take the kitchen, Fin, take the living room, I'll take the bedroom." I quickly assigned starting areas and they nodded before taking off.

The furniture in the bedroom was minimal, suggesting he didn't stay here often. There was a twin bed, a desk, a bureau and a couple end tables. I started at the desk. I yanked out the first drawer and casually starting pulling things out of it, pens, pencils, random pieces of paper, a stapler, nothing out of the ordinary. When nothing in there helped, I just tossed the things on the floor and slammed the drawer shut. I repeated this until the once spotless floor was scattered with litter and only two of the four drawers were still connected to the desk. By the sounds coming from the other rooms, I assumed Munch and Fin were handling things with the same 'delicate nature' that I was.

Stepping on the mess I'd made, I heard cracking and snapping noises as I made my way over to the dresser. The first drawer contained only some shirts that quickly met the same fate as the office supplies. As I started digging around the last drawer, my hand hid something hard. I did a double take and quickly pulled the object out. It was a picture frame with a three by five neatly placed inside. The snapshot was of Brent sitting in a restaurant with his arms around a very young and strikingly beautiful blonde-haired woman. She couldn't have been much over twenty, while public records had Brent pegged at thirty-nine. I turned the frame around so that I could remove the backing, just in case there was a caption or something on the picture. Instead, I found a small piece of paper sticking out of it. I pulled it out and noticed there was writing on it. As soon as I started reading it, Fin came in the room.

"Cap! I got an address book here." He held up a leather book that fit the 'little black book' stereotype all too well. "I figure we could go see some of these people, maybe he's staying with them."

"Is there an address for a Melissa Waters?" I asked him.

Though he seemed puzzled by my question, he flipped through it. "Yeah, why?"

"Because Molly Bates wasn't the only woman he was seeing." I handed him the picture and note that was inside it.

"Dear Kevin," Fin read it aloud. "Happy four month anniversary, love Melissa." A look of understanding passed his face once he spoke again. "It's dated a week and a half ago."

"You're bouncing around two woman," I started. "So what do you do after you beat the crap out of one?"

He nodded, catching on. "You go hide out with the other one."

"Or at least tell her where you are. Get Munch. I think we should pay Miss Waters a little visit."

He nodded and hurried off.

--XXX--

"Hello? Melissa Waters?" I politely knocked on the door, not saying that I was with the NYPD just in case Brent was inside. I didn't want to give this bastard a chance to run.

"Yes?" The apartment door opened to reveal the woman in the photograph. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm Captain Donald Cragen with the NYPD." I flashed my badge. "These are my detectives John Munch and Odafin Tutuola." I slightly moved to the side and pointed them out to her. "We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about a Brent Silvestri?"

"Brent? He's actually in the other room right now. What's this about?" A worried look crossed her face.

I turned and faced John and Fin for a moment. They instantly brought their hands up to their guns and they both nodded.

"Miss Waters, I'm going to have to ask you to step outside for a moment." I held my arm behind her as I ushered her outside.

"What? Why? This is my apartment! You can't just-!"

"We can, and we will," I snapped at her in a whisper. "Now wait here until we say you can go back in."

She opened her mouth to argue again, but suddenly she thought better of it and simply crossed her arms, trying to hide her fear with her anger.

"Fin," I whispered. "Go outside just in case he tries to run. John, come with me."

Fin took off the moment I spoke. John instantly went for his gun, shoving his coat back. I heard a gasp and an "oh my God" come from behind me and I realized Melissa had seen it.

"Not yet," I put my hand over John's, stopping him from pulling the piece out of its holster. Though I knew he wanted to oppose my order, he said nothing as he went into the apartment, drawing only his badge.

"Brent Silvestri?" I felt my anger rising up in my chest as I walked into the living room and my gaze settled on him. There he was, stretched out on a maroon recliner, his eyes glued to the television set, laughing at something, like he hadn't just raped a woman four days ago. I desperately fought back the urge to draw my gun and shoot him point blank right now. Screw a trial, screw all the legal things, I'll finish it.

"Who are you?" He looked up and nodded calmly, though asking as if I'd just made some huge intrusion on his life.

"We're with NYPD." I held my hand up and revealed my badge, not even making the slightest dent in his expression. "You're going to have to-" Before I could even finish, Brent suddenly leapt up from the chair and dove out the open window next to him. We were on the third floor up, but he landed on the fire escape.

"Damnit!" Munch responded by taking off after him, hopping out of the window as he drew his gun. "Hey! Freeze!"

Because Brent was in much better shape than John and had an adrenaline surge working for him, he quickly made it to the ground before my detective even had both of his feet on the fire escape.

"He said freeze!" Out of nowhere, Fin suddenly appeared and ran towards the fire escape ladder Brent was still hanging onto. That caught Brent off guard, causing him to make a split second hesitation that was more than enough for Fin to take advantage of. Now, I don't think I'll ever know if Fin did what he did next because he thought Brent might run, or if he was only thinking about what the bastard had done to Olivia. Either way, he suddenly took a flying leap, lunging at Brent.

Even three stories up, I heard the metallic thud of Brent's face smacking against the fire escape ladder. He instantly cried out as he hit the ground, his hands flying to his face.

While Fin was lying on top of him, he quickly whipped out a pair of handcuffs. In a swift motion, he dropped them on Brent's back, pulled his hands from his face, twisted them behind his back, and cuffed him.

"You sonofabitch!" Brent screamed in anger and started thrashing around against the cuffs once Fin had gotten to his feet. "You broke my nose you…" I tuned out his profanities as I focused on his face.

Sure enough, blood was pouring from his nose, probably from hitting the ladder before he went down.

"You better hope that's all I do!" Fin suddenly caught off the man's screams with a fierce growl as he grabbed one of Brent's arms and pulled him to his feet.

"Brent Silvestri, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…" I watched as he started Mirandizing Brent and shoved him in the back of the squad car.