Chapter 8
"Lift your pant leg." Goren did, trying not to wrinkle his suit. They were in the back of an undercover police van with one Peter Willis, a uniform police officer they had found in the binder. The D.A. cut him a deal for his cooperation in introducing Detective Goren to Mrs. Blue. The plan was to make the introduction, hand over the cash, and find out where the new house was so it could be raided, and its prisoners freed. Across the street was a white-tie party for some law firm where Mrs. Blue had agreed to meet Goren and Willis.
"You're sure this is gonna work?" Goren asked as one of the SWAT team members tightened a tracking device around his leg. He only laughed.
"This is the most powerful tracking modules in existence, we got them from the military, and they use them to track terrorists all over the world. So I'd say it's a fair chance we'll be able to tell where you're headed sir." Goren smiled, pulling his pant leg down over the device.
"Now, this is a miniature camera, open your shirt please." He did. And the SWAT guy tore off his second button, replacing it with its disguised identical. "We see and hear what you do. The camera will be recording the whole time for evidence. And the transmitter sits in the front pocket of your bullet-proof vest, right…here."
"Here's the deal Goren, you go to the house, get some pictures, and get out, I don't want the SWAT guys shooting you by mistake." Captain Cragen said after they had stepped out of the van, "And you," he addressed Willis coldly. "You just introduce him and get out. I don't want you getting shot before you do your time."
"That's her over there, blue dress, talking to the guy in the white tux. We have to wait for her to come to us." Willis pointed out, "It's how she does business." Goren studied the woman, Mrs. Blue, maybe fifty years old, with cold gray hair and a tight smile. She turned her head for a moment and caught sight of Willis, and his friend. After leaning in to whisper something to the lawyer in the white tuxedo, she excused herself and made her way slowly across the room, stopping to greet someone or make sure the drinks were kept full; the perfect hostess. Goren watched with glee as she ordered the waiters around without a second thought, knowing that this was the woman, his catch.
"Peter darling, I'm so glad to see you!" she gave him a tiny handshake. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Willis smiled, playing his part perfectly, but not for nothing; his deal was sweetened every time he did something right.
"Mrs. Blue, this is an old friend of mine, he just transferred here from Chicago PD. This is Detective Robert Goren. I thought I'd show him a good time for his birthday." Mrs. Blue gave him the same handshake she had afforded Willis.
"Please, call me Bobby. Mrs. Blue…" Goren said, bending low to kiss her hand, though it quite disgusted him to do so. She giggled slightly as he bent back upward.
"You are a giant of a man Detective, I mean that in all good taste. I wonder if your mouth is so large?" Mrs. Blue looked to Willis for the answer.
"He's one of us." Goren didn't want to know who 'us' was, though he figured it meant he could be trusted. He just kept smiling down at Mrs. Blue; she hesitated, but eventually smiled back.
"Well then, any friend of Peter's is a customer of mine. Follow me."
"Not tonight Mrs. Blue, sorry. My wife's anniversary tonight too. Bobby here's the one who reminded me. Friday?" Mrs. Blue nodded, apparently unperturbed. Goren followed Mrs. Blue outside to a limousine, where she offered him a drink.
"Scotch on the rocks." Goren said. She poured him a glass, but he only toyed with it in his hand.
"So, Detective, what brings you to New York?" Mrs. Blue asked, sipping a glass of expensive sherry.
"A transfer. I actually just wanted to be in the heat of it all, New York is number one for…insurance fraud." He smiled mischievously. Mrs. Blue laughed heartily.
"Insurance Fraud! Now they must have someone like you working on something much more high profile than that…" The small talk continued for several minutes, but then the limousine pulled over on a street lined with expensive homes. Goren walked up to the house, Mrs. Blue in the lead, careful to aim his camera button at the address.
"Now Detective…Bobby." Mrs. Blue had opened a black binder on the thin glass table in the front hall of what looked like an otherwise normal home. "Could you fill this little card out for me. Goren eyeballed the card in mock suspicion, but leaned over to fill in his name and the same information he had found in the first notebook, excluding the name and age of the child he was about to pay for with forged bills.
"Done." Mrs. Blue slipped the card into the binder and led Goren through a door into a dining room, where several other patrons sat clinking wine glasses together, some of them with beautiful women sitting beside them. This was the real party, not that white-tie formal back at the law firm. Goren sat down on a couch next to Mrs. Blue and leaned back comfortably.
"Well, Happy Birthday Bobby. Now, tell me, what's your pleasure? Boy, girl? Younger? Or just a good time with some pretty thing?" Goren turned his eyes this way and that.
"I was thinking a boy, maybe 15, 16, but I want… to relieve my stress. I'd already get that on the job if I worked some other cases, you know, get to throw a few punches." He punched the air slightly. Mrs. Blue looked as if her dreams had come true and she told Goren to wait.
"Bobby, this is Kyle. Let me show you somewhere you can get to know each other and relieve some of that stress." It was all Goren could do not to pull his gun and shoot Mrs. Blue. Daniel was older than in the picture, but the boy she had called "Kyle" was in fact Daniel, and he was still the male mirror image of his sister. He didn't look afraid, if anything, he was defiant, looking up at Goren with hateful eyes. Mrs. Blue led them to a small door that opened into a tight stairwell. Seconds later, Goren was alone in a room identical to the one with his homicide victims, but this one was not yet covered with blood. Daniel refused to look at him, staring avidly at the floor. Goren opened his mouth, but he couldn't form the words. He couldn't tell this kid, this boy that his troubles were over, his sister was safe, and soon everything would be okay.
"Look, can we just get this over with?" Daniel said, whirling around toward Goren and staring him down. This sparked him back to having a pulse. He drew his gun.
"I'm a police officer Daniel. I'm not here to…" he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"How do you know my real name!" He asked, edging toward Goren.
"Sarah told me." Daniel's eyes brightened, making him look more alive in his malnourished, pale body. "She's just fine Daniel, she told us everything, the SWAT-" But Goren stopped when the door behind him opened and the end of a pistol jutted through. Frank held the end of this gun, the same one he had used to shoot at Goren at the hospital. He was about to shoot when two shots hit him in the chest and back; one from Goren's own weapon, and another from the rifle of the SWAT team member, who pushed the door open, leading Goren, with Daniel at his side, to freedom.