"So you're not charging him?" Munch asked, his voice much calmer, but the set of his jaw and the glare in his eyes, visible despite the tinted lenses of his glasses, suggested he was still angry.
"Not now, but he's definitely a person of interest," Casey answered.
"Is it OK then, if I take him home with me?" he asked his voice sounded controlled, except to all those gathered round him who knew him so well.
"Sure, just keep track of him," she answered.
He rolled his eyes a bit at her, but nodded, and then turned to Captain Cragen.
"Captain, I think I'm going to need a few more days off."
"All right, but John," Cragen paused, considering his words. "I don't have to tell you to stay away from this investigation, do I?"
Munch blew out a breath that signaled his irritation, "I know the regulations as well as anybody."
"Yeah, well knowing and obeying aren't always the same thing are they, John?" As Cragen began cautioning John, Andrew exited the interrogation room.
"Obeying has never been Johnny's strong suit," Andrew said.
"Must be a family trait, I thought I told you to wait in there for me," John said indicating the interrogation room.
"When you get to be my age, you'll learn that they only thing you really listen to is your body, and right now my body says it wants to go pee. So if someone would show me the way to the men's room, I'd appreciate it," Andrew replied.
"Right this way Mr. Munch," Elliot Stabler said, and began escorting the old man out, but not before he looked back at John and grinned.
"John, I meant what I said about not working this case," Cragen reemphasized his earlier point.
"I understand, but I've got to do what I can for my uncle," John replied.
"Doesn't he have other family?" Cragen asked.
"My Aunt Sarah died 8 years ago."
"What about children?"
"Rebekah moved to Chicago years ago when she got married and Andy is a CIA agent, he's stationed in D.C. but there's no telling where he actually is," John answered. He turned his back on Cragen looking in the direction that Elliot and his uncle had gone. He put a hand to his neck as though to ease tension and then shook his head.
"I don't get this, there's no reason for my Uncle to be on the streets. He owned his brownstone and he had a profitable repair business that he sold a few years back. I know Andy helped him invest it so it would provide Uncle Andrew an income for the rest of his life. Even if something happened he knows where I live, he could come to me. He knows that," John said more to himself than to Cragen or Novak or Beck.
"Are you sure about that?" Dani Beck asked. "He seemed kind of confused there for a while, maybe he couldn't remember," she suggested.
Munch looked at the blonde detective icily.
"He's fine, he just needs to get off the street, get a good meal and a decent night's rest, that's all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see what's keeping my uncle."
Munch didn't wait for an answer but brushed by Beck hurriedly.
"Wow, if looks could kill, the Munch family would be racking up it's second homicide," Beck said after Munch was out of earshot.
"Beck," Cragen said not sounding to pleased with her, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, we don't have enough evidence to arraign Andrew Munch for anything more than vagrancy."
"But we are going to investigate this aren't we? I mean, we aren't going to give him a free pass just because he's Munch's uncle are we?" Beck asked.
"No, we investigate this like any other crime, but we're careful, we walk the line. We don't want to look like we're giving him a walk because of John, but I don't want the old man railroaded because we were afraid to look like we were letting our personal feeling get in the way."
"Then don't you think it's best if I'm lead on this investigation? I mean the rest of you have worked with Munch for years, he's like a brother to you. To me Munch is just another smart mouthed detective."
Casey glared at Dani Beck. It was hard enough for her to act professionally in this case given how it set her at odds with a man she had deeply buried feelings for, but with this woman's constant digs at that man, she was coming dangerously close to losing it.
"All right, you're lead, Elliot can work with you, he's worked with Munch as long as I have. Let's see what sort of information we can get on the victim and what sort of background information we can get on Andrew Munch," Cragen decided
"Oh don't get me wrong detective, Johnny was always a good boy, just a bit troubled, but you can't blame him, that's what happens when a boy doesn't have a father around when he's in those difficult teen years," Andrew's voice resonated off the tiles of the men's room as he and Elliot Stabler emerged from it.
"Come on Uncle Andrew, you're going home with me," John said, hoping to pull his uncle away from Stabler before he could do too much damage to his reputation.
"Goodbye Detective, it was nice to met you," the older man said as he reached out and shook Elliot's hand.
"Same here Mr. Munch"- at an upraised finger and a small smile Elliot corrected himself. "Andrew, take care."
As Elliot returned to the squad room he said to no one in particular, "Man, I hope he didn't do it."
"Why?" Casey asked.
"Because he's a nice old man and he obviously loves John like a son. I'd hate to see that get messed up."
Casey didn't say anything, she just nodded.