Part Seventeen: Olivia
While I'd love any excuse to see Alex walk through that door, doing it after interrogation always makes me irritated and hot headed. It always makes me worry that something uncalled for will fly out of my mouth. Much like it used to in the past. I need her too much these days to piss her off. And since when did I become so dependent on another person? I swear, this women is helping to breakdown all that I've spent years building up. Ah, speak of the devil.
"What do you need from me Detective?" A slight smile creeps across her face that only I catch and only I know what is meant by it. I give her the rundown on the suspect and the evidence set against him.
"We have one witness. The rest of the women claim to remember nothing." I tell her.
"Who's your witness? Is she here?"
"Her name is Jillian Steele. She lives on the Upper East Side. We were going to wait to see what you could do with him first. He's asking for a deal already. He's got to know that Jillian saw him. Why else would he throw the deal card in so early? Either way Alex, careful with this one, he's a cocky bastard." She rolls her eyes and gives and un-amused laugh.
We head over to interrogation and she doesn't stop in front of the two way glass. I figured she just wanted to dive in, or she was preoccupied. Usually she takes in the suspect before waltzing in. Alex always has a game plan. Maybe this is just a different one. However, as I enter the room I hear a tiny gasp behind me. Almost completely inaudible, she stifles it fast. When I turn to face the suspect I notice she's still standing in the door frame.
"Well, Alexandra! My, I haven't seen you in ages!" The man at the table looked Alex up and down, infuriating me. I step between her and his eyes and stare him down.
"Ms. Cabot is our A.D.A. She will also be dealing with your case." I say sternly.
"Well then I'm sure to win then? Alex, you remember me don't you?" He looks at her and she walks in next to me and sits. He goes on giving his attention to me, "we were old friends you know."
"I'd hardly call us old friends Dominic. We went out for a drink once." Her voice was level. Alex had an uncanny way of hiding all or any emotion.
I can feel my heart beating fast as I notice the way Dominic's eyes travel over what parts of Alex he can see. How does he know her? Was he one of the men she partied with? Was this the man that got her pregnant? All my wondering distracted me from the scene in front of me. A second later Dominic laughed. I turned my head to see Alex's arms crossed against her chest.
"Give me one good reason why I should give you any kind of deal when we have a witness who is ready and willing to testify?" Her eyes pierced him but he wasn't intimidated by her glare, I knew there had to be something else.
"You don't look too nervous Mr. Clark, and I think you should be." I turn his attention to me, "There something you want to share with us?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I think you should give me a deal because I have some information you might want."
"Heh, well you're going to have to do better than that. You tell us what you know and we decide if it's relevant." I say rolling my eyes. Does he think he's the only one who ever threw that card on the table?
He looks at Alex for minute and she raises her eye brow as if to challenge him. She lives for this kind of thing. Getting them to beg for a deal when they are smiling, thinking they have it all figured out.
"I had a partner." He smiles sideways at her. He knows she'll need to know who that partner is. She needs to know if and who the other victims are.
"Give me his name, the names of both your victims and then we'll talk deals." Alex doesn't flinch. She remains still, holding her ground; she owns the room.
"Oh Alex, now that doesn't seem very fair." He says in a sadistic playful manor.
"Quite frankly Dom, I really don't give a Goddamn what you think. Even if I don't have those names, the victims get justice if you have a date with the needle." She never looks away from him.
"Really? Where's the justice if my buddy is out there doing my work? You got nothin' on him honey. Without me, he's going to keep doing what he does and there will be nothing you can do about it."
Cregan knocks on the glass and calls us out of the room. I shut the door behind me and Alex lets out a sigh.
"I just got here. Elliot says you and perp have history? Alex, I can't let you handle this case. And this nonsense about a partner and other victims… Do we think he's bluffing?"
"Captain, I wouldn't even really call it history. He bought me a drink a month or so back. That's all. He's obviously scum, which is why I've never spoken to him again until this afternoon. I have no problem handling the case." She straightened up as the words came from her.
"I'll trust you on this one Alex but if he tries to start anything with you, let me know."
"Yes sir."
"What do we know about his partner?" Cregan looks to me.
"Exactly what he said… we got nothin' Captain." I say regretfully, glancing at Alex. "Should we make a deal? If there are more victims out there, the only way we can help them is to find this other man."
"Yeah? And what if this guy's lying?" Cregan questions, looking at both of us.
"I don't think he's bluffing Captain. He's way to sure of himself—" I begin, but Wong cuts in.
"She's right. He knows his only ticket out of here is his partner. I'm almost sure there is one. He's not even breaking a sweat in there. He obviously knows how the system works. He knows you guys will need that information. Unfortunately he's right. We need to know so we can get them both off the streets."
"So this scum gets ten to fifteen for murder and rape if he hands over his partner? In ten years I'm sure he will have no problem attacking again. Where's the justice in that?" Alex asserted.
"I'm sure there's a way to get them both Alex. We have a witness on him but you need to get the name of this other guy." Elliot added casually.
Cregan motioned towards the door, sending both Alex and I back in. Ultimately, Dominic only gave up his partner's name. He was holding back the victim list for later, I'm sure. He wrote a name and an address on the notepad and slid it over to the table to me.
Gary Montgomery. 30 W 60th St. New York, NY 10023-7902.
"We'll have you moved to a lower security facility as soon as this information is thoroughly checked out." Alex explained, emotionless.
"You do know it's not my fault if he runs right? I mean, it's not a secret down here. Eventually he'll get paranoid and book out of this city," Dominic added. Alex looked at me and we stood in unison.
Cregan looked at Alex when she left the room, "We're doing the right thing Alex, you'll see."
She paused briefly to listen to his words, only out of respect. Seconds later she was out the door and out of sight. We are going to have to talk about this later.