For the People Chapter 58
Rick lifts a crystal flute of sparkling cider. "To Kate Beckett, who has once more prevailed against evil and injustice."
Jim Beckett clinks glasses with Kate and Rick. "Hear, hear!"
"And how's your fight for justice going, Dad?" Kate asks.
"Brown Rock claims they're evaluating the situation at Olivia's building, but they haven't actually fixed anything yet. I have the paperwork ready to file. And I'm also doing a deep dive into the rights of the tenants to stay in their homes. The law concerning their protections has a lot of wiggles to it."
Kate puts down her cider. "Don't all laws? I may have won in court today, but Jasper Lowell has declared his intent to appeal. The Brooks case could still be working its way through the courts for years."
"How about your other case, the brother who slugged the guy who assaulted his sister?" Rick inquires.
"That's going to be two cases, but they'll work in tandem. I'm going to charge the jerk who attacked the young woman. I already have the evidence from her statement supporting her brother."
"And Gidon Shapiro's going to let you do both of them?" Jim Beckett questions.
"He is. Anything else would be a duplication of work, which the office can't afford. But depending on the docketing, I may be running between courtrooms."
"Maybe I should get you some running shoes," Rick proposes. "Do they make those with high heels?"
Jim Beckett covers his chuckle with a napkin while Kate shakes her head. "I don't think so. But I can manage."
Ryan's eyes quickly survey the crime scene. He points to an empty glass-fronted display case. "Bro, what do you think was in there?"
"Sports trophies, maybe?" Esposito guesses.
Lanie looks up from the body. "Not likely. This guy looks like one of those before pictures for an exercise video. If he was winning trophies for anything, he would have been using his mind not his muscle."
"Have you got an ID?" Esposito asks.
"Could be," Lanie replies. "He didn't have a wallet on him, but he had a folded-up receipt in his pocket made out to an Alan Trehosen. He bought a Star Trek phaser display for $1,700."
"Then I can guess what the murderer stole," Ryan announces. "Trehosen was into sci-fi collectibles, and from the price of what he bought, expensive ones. The murderer probably killed Trehosen to rip him off."
"An exterminator, Finley Barnes, called in the body," Alvin Trainer, a uniformed officer reports. "He was supposed to spray all the apartments today. He had a master key. When he knocked on the door, and no one answered, he came in and found the victim."
"So where is Barnes now, Trainer?" Esposito questions.
"The hospital. He fainted. Apparently, he has no problems with dead rats, but the sight of blood makes him woozy. The paramedics transported him as a precaution."
"Barnes did see plenty of blood," Lanie confirms. "Trehosan's left carotid artery was slashed with something very sharp. As far as I can see now, it took only one blow, but I can tell you more about that and the weapon after I get the body back to the lab."
Esposito turns to Officer Trainer. "Make sure the scene is secure and wait for CSU to get here." He signals to Ryan. "Let's go see Barnes."
"You know," Ryan points out as Esposito drives their unit toward the hospital, "we have a robbery homicide. It's your perfect chance to spend some time with Fernito."
"Maybe I don't want to spend some time with Fernito," Esposito retorts.
Ryan flaps his elbows and squawks. "I never thought I'd see you afraid to go after a woman, Bro."
"I'm not afraid of Fernito!" Esposito insists. "I just want to figure out how the murder went down before I worry about the robbery."
Ryan shakes his head. "Yeah, Bro, Just keep telling yourself that. But neither one of us is going to believe it."
Kate pushes files aside to clear space on her desk. "This is nice. I haven't been able to see you and Lily at lunchtime lately."
Rick begins laying out thick sandwiches and salad containers. "Finelli's sale is your gain. And Lily fell asleep in her stroller on the way here from the parking structure. Can you believe I had to go to the sixth level to find a space? But walking around and around down that nice gentle incline was just the thing to send Lily into dreamland. I'll have to remember that for our next sleep-deprivation emergency. Her tummy rumbles will probably wake her up in a few minutes, but in the meantime, we can enjoy our little spread. Did Thomas Milcham make it into court this morning?"
"He did. His lawyer asked for release on his own recognizance, and I didn't oppose it. His trial won't be docketed for a while, but I'll be seeing him when he brings Amelia in as part of the case I'm putting together against Jason Jordan."
Rick sticks a spoon in a container of potato salad and pushes it toward Kate. "It sounds like you've got everything in hand. Things seem to be moving along on my little adventure in justice as well. I got a call from Janelle, Olivia Jefferson's granddaughter. She said a boiler repair team showed up at the building this morning. Olivia's apartment doesn't actually have hot water or working radiators yet. But at least someone's there. However, quite a few of the demonstrators returned home to await a hot bath. So, Channel 25 is gone too, and of course, there won't be any pickups from ZNN. This would be the perfect time for Brown Rock to plan the next move in their nefarious scheme."
Kate wraps her hands around corned beef on rye with dark mustard. "But with you and my dad on the lookout, they won't get away with it."
Rick's eyes dart to Lily's stroller, assuring himself that she's still asleep. "Damn straight."
"I just let myself into 3B to spray," Finley Barnes repeats to Ryan and Esposito. "Then I saw the body and all that blood." Color washes from Finley's face.
"Stay with us, Barnes," Esposito orders. "Did you touch the body at all, like to feel for a pulse?"
"No. With that much blood, I knew there wasn't going to be a pulse. And it was starting to smell like it does when a dead mouse is in a trap. I barely called 911 before I passed out."
"Did you see anyone when you were letting yourself in? Maybe someone carrying something?" Ryan inquires.
"Yeah," Barnes recalls, "I did. There was someone at the end of the hall hefting what looked like a laundry bag. Except, now that I think about it, it looked strange for a laundry bag."
"Strange how?" Ryan probes.
"Well, a laundry bag full of clothes looks soft, you know, like any bumps are kind of rounded. This one looked like it might have had boxes with corners in it, or something like that."
"Do you remember what the person with the laundry bag looked like?" Esposito asks. "Man or a woman?"
Barnes shrugs. "I only saw them for a second. They were pretty far away, and in this city, who can tell anymore? Kind of tall with short dark hair. That's all I remember."
"A man or woman, kind of tall with short dark hair," Esposito repeats with disgust as he and Ryan return to their unit. Not much of a description."
"But we know at least one thing that was stolen," Ryan reminds him, "that $1,700 collectible phaser. The higher the price, the rarer the item. It shouldn't be that hard to trace. And it would be a great job for Robbery."
An uncertain smile flirts with Esposito's lips. "Yeah, maybe it might."
