Thirty Seven: Olivia
"You're quite the long distance runner Detective." My heart skips a beat.
"Dominic." Everyone around me holds their breath.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! Would you like a fucking prize?"
"What do you want?" I ask coolly.
"Ha! How silly of me! All this time I thought you didn't care about what i I /i wanted." His jest is not amusing.
"I'm listening," I say.
"Of course you are," his tone turns dark, "I have something you want. Looks like Ms. Cabot is just Ms. Popularity tonight! Everyone wants a piece of her!" His maniacal laugh shakes every nerve in my system.
"Let her go Dominic." I say sternly.
"Why are you so interested in my friend Ms. Cabot?" He asks but I know he already knows the answer.
"Why are you? You don't even know her," I say emotionless.
"Oh I know enough. We'd have lots to talk about… if I wanted her for talking." I close my eyes at the statement and swallow hard. I've got to keep my cool. "I almost know her as well as you do Detective. The only difference is, I don't sleep with my friends. I sleep with my whores."
My eyes flash open. Elliot inches forward, staring intently at my expressions, confused as hell. Serena is biting her nails nervously. How did Dominic know? Has he been following me? I look at Elliot and point to my phone and mouth 'trace'. He nods and disappears, grateful to be of some use.
"It seems everyone has slept with my friend Alexandra but me!" He exclaims as a man in the back ground lets a laugh escape. My heart is racing harder than when I was chasing the car hours before.
"What do you want with her Dominic? You could pay any street pro to sleep with you. Now I know you're not a shy man," I say in a mocking tone. I can play this game. He's trying to rattle me.
"Tisk, tisk, Olivia. It's the i principal /i of the thing! It's not about sex! Ms. Cabot is a very judgmental person. She doesn't really care about anyone. No one's good enough for her. She uses people like I'm using her right now. So, what right does she have to do that? She goes to court and puts people on the stand and judges them too. She gets other people to judge too! There are just a lot of judgmental things going on with her. Have you taken a good look at her though? Let's judge her for once. I don't think it's fair for someone like i her /i to be in the position to judge others." Dominic repeats himself, talking in circles, skirting what he really wants to tell me.
"What do you mean?" I ask, getting confused.
"She's a dyke Olivia…" Oh that. Oh man. "…but you already knew that didn't you?" he says playfully. I clench my fists, willing myself to stay in control… for her. If I get mad, I'll loose her. It's what he wants.
"Yes, I did," I answer simply.
"You don't seem too upset. Could it be because you tricked her into being one, for your own evil reasons?"
"I don't think so," I say keeping my feet planted. Elliot returns from the computers. He looks at me and mouths, 'cell tower'. He shakes his head and shrugs.
"I do," Dominic answers bitterly. "The truth is, Alex isn't a dyke Olivia. She's pregnant with this shit head's baby. You didn't do that to her and you never could." His words are wrenching my heart in more ways than one.
"I understand," I say; tears brim my eyes.
"I'm glad. Besides, shouldn't the i real /i father get to spend some time with the mother of his child?" I put my hand over my eyes and will myself to focus. My skin is crawling with anxiety and anger.
"Why does he care? Shouldn't he have other kids somewhere?" I ask.
"Yeah, he does. However, he felt he should remind Alex here, of her role," he says. If I could see his face, I swear he's smiling.
"What's that?" I ask him.
"A nice, straight, Christian mother. Obviously she's strayed a bit so we need to break her in so that doesn't happen again." My imagination is brutal and I can't take it anymore.
"You son of a bitch," the bitter words slip out before I can think. Fuck! I slap my hand over my mouth in disbelief.
"Am I bothering you Olivia? I'm sorry… Are you squirming now? Are you squirming the way you wanted me to do for you at the precinct?" He laughs into the phone, "Do onto others, as you'd have done to you Detective."
-click-
"FUCK!" I scream as I go to throw the phone but Elliot raises his arms and stops me.
"What do you want to do?" he asks.
"I have no idea now."
After about thirty five minutes of trying to figure out their whereabouts, it hits me. I grab my coat. Elliot stops what he's doing and looks up. "What's up?" he asks patiently. I know he'll follow me anywhere tonight; even if it's to my grave.
"This is taking too long. We're doing this the old fashioned way." I say.
"Go to Goshen and pick a direction?" he asks in disbelief. I guess it's the only rational thing that comes to his mind.
"No. We're going to get it out of Hallie." I assure him. He nods and gets up, grabs the keys and we head out.
We arrive at Riker's and my mind is about to explode. I'm good at surprising my emotions so that's what I do. I walk confidently down the corridors; my game face on. I tell myself to calm down; time to do some acting.
"Olivia? Come to hear more about my life today?" The short scraggly looking girl asks.
"Yes actually," I say with a soft smile. Look at me. Look at me about to be your best friend. "I just got off the phone with your boy friend." I say calmly.
"Fiancé," she corrects.
"Right… It seems he got tired of waiting for you though." I begin the lie.
"What do you mean?" she asks absently. She picks at her nails completely uninterested.
"Well, he called me to tell me about his new girl," I say with a cocky smile. I want her to eat out of my hand. Come on you stupid bitch.
"What are you talking about Detective? He loves me," she reassures me.
"Well, I don't know. He gave me a pretty detailed description of her. She is tall, blonde hair, blue eyes. He said she has great legs. I hear she's quite a catch. In fact, he told me he couldn't meet with me because he's gone on some sort of vacation. He doesn't want to be bothered."
"You're such a liar," she laughs.
"Really?" I think of the cell phone trace and hope she'll fill in the blanks. She's taking the bait. "Hallie, did he ever take you to Connecticut?" A light bulb goes off in her uncharacteristically large head.
"BASTARD!" Her fists slam the table hard. "I thought he'd control himself… for me." She looks to the floor, defeated.
"Control what?" I ask.
"He's not good with monogamy… among other things. He promised he's never cheat again though!"
"Again?" I push.
"Yes! Look, I know I'm not the greatest catch in the world but God!" She says rubbing her head. I thought she was in on all Dominic's crap but I think she's just stupid.
"Don't beat yourself up, Hallie. Dominic has a lot of problems. I'd like to find him so I can help him. I know he's hurt you… He's hit you too, hasn't he?" I coax, going on gut.
"He didn't mean to, he's better, I swear," she's almost pleading with me to agree with her.
"He's off on vacation is what he is," I point out.
"God damn son of a bitch!" Hallie yells.
"He's taken you to Connecticut before, hasn't he?" I ask, with a touch of sympathy. I'm good at acting; always have been.
She sighs, "Our father has a lodge out there in Haddam on the Connecticut river. It's beautiful." …Holy shit, did she just…
"Wait… is Dominic your brother?" Hallie gives me an 'oh shit' look.
"It's not what you think," she says, but it is what I think. I'm completely shocked and disgusted.
"Illuminate us then," Elliot says. I bet he just can't wait to hear this excuse.
"Dom loves me. He taught me i how /i to love! In the bible, brothers and sisters lay together to create life. There are just so many sinners now that they think i we're /i in the wrong." I look at Elliot and he has no words. He just puts his hands up and cracks a laugh. A laugh that says, 'I don't even believe what I just heard.' I stand and don't wait for her to go on. I turn and leave; Elliot at my heels.