A/N: Sorry this took so long. I thought I could get some writing in before the holiday. I hope you enjoy.


Chapter 18

"Your client knows why we're having this meeting. He's lucky I'm not adding charges after that stunt with Doctor Huang," Carisi addressed Derek and his lawyer, Brett McDaniel. They were meeting in one of the meeting rooms at the DA's office. It had been almost a week since Amanda and Fin had met with Abigail.

"Why don't you enlighten me?" Brett asked.

"Derek's DNA was found in seven rape kits in Boston. The DA's office there is being very gracious and letting us try Derek first. Once our case is resolved, they want a crack at him. Now, you know we have you dead to rights on the murder of your ex-girlfriend Christine. You're staring down the barrel of twenty-five to life minimum, but the good detectives at SVU kept digging and we shouldn't be surprised at what they found," Carisi pulled out his phone and pressed play on the screen.

Derek's voice is clearly heard on the recording. First, he is berating Christine. Then he starts threatening her, his language turning fouler. Finally, the words are unmistakable, I'm going to kill you. The phone company could only tell them that Christine had deleted it. They could not tell if she'd listened to it first. They saved all deleted messages on their servers for seven days for cases such as these or in the case of missing persons. The owner of the phone could not retrieve them once they were deleted, but that was typical of the industry.

"They figure that she never listened to it and just deleted it once she knew it was you. I don't know if she was truly afraid of you, but I think we all know that she should have been. When the jury hears this, you're looking at life without parole, with the charges in Boston, you'll never see the light of day again," Carisi told Derek. The man just glared at the ADA.

"Are you offering a plea?" Brett asked.

"My only offer is that he gets twenty-five to life here in New York. The second he is paroled here; Boston will take custody and he will serve his sentence in Massachusetts. Seven rape cases means he's looking at another very long sentence. He'll be an old man, if and when he gets out," the ADA figured.

"So, you're offering a change of scenery and that's it," Brett gave Carisi a look.

"You go to trial and it won't just be the voicemail recording that the jury will hear. It didn't take SVU a week to just get the voicemail. They found sex workers whose services Derek used. I'll get them on the stand to testify how violent he could be. You get life with no parole here and Boston may just have him allocute," the former SVU detective said. Carisi could see that Derek was close to seething. He knew he was screwed and Carisi wondered if the only way to control the defendant was to make sure he was locked up behind bars forever.

"Let me talk to my client," Brett said. Carisi nodded and left the room so they could talk. He wasn't sure what there was to think about, but Brett had to make it look like he was doing his job. He sent a text to Amanda letting her know that he figured a deal was imminent.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Bartoli asked Elliot and Olivia. They were sitting in her office.

"Take care of your granddaughter. You two are all you have left. Your secret is still safe. No one in this office or my office is going to say anything. I don't think your lawyer will either," Olivia said.

"It's my fault that Derek hurt those girls in Boston," the former mobster was not able to let what happened go. It was a little surprising, considering his former career.

"Even if you sat on Derek twenty-four seven, he would have found a way. You said it yourself, there was always something wrong with him. You tried to do what you could, but even Doctor Huang could see that there is nothing that will fix Derek. Someone was going to get hurt. It's surprising that it wasn't sooner. That might not make you feel better," Elliot was being honest.

"Do me one favor – can you look into what happened to my son-in-law? I thought he just bailed but now…" Bartoli wasn't so sure.

"Derek was only seven," Olivia gave him a look before handing him a victim's services card.

"Yeah, and I picked a dead cat up off of my daughter's porch. Doctor Huang is right and it starts with killing pets, doesn't it?" He wasn't wrong. Everything was thrown into question and they knew that Derek would never admit it. They were all bothered by Karen Davidson's behavior. She just made it seem like her husband didn't exist. Abigail did say that her mother coddled Derek.

"We'll do what we can. Do us a favor and see a therapist," Olivia told him Bartoli nodded and then thanked them before leaving.

"I don't know about you, but I need a drink," Elliot said.

"Let's see what Carisi has managed first," she smirked.

To Be Continued…