Chapter 11
"I sent the squad home. We're not making much traction tonight anyway," Olivia told Elliot as she walked up to him in the OCCB squad room. He was standing next to Jet at her desk. The former SVU detective had taken the information they had back to the tech guru in the hopes that she could start some sort of algorithm or put out some feelers or something on their man, Bartoli.
"The problem is, there are no other viable suspects," he said.
"That is the problem. At first, George thought there might have been two killers. The crime scene was all over the place despite it looking like a push in. Now, I'm wondering if he isn't right," she admitted.
"There was only one person on the security cameras," Jet spoke up.
"Yes, but if you've spent almost the last twenty years keeping your head down…" Olivia pointed out.
"You'd get good at avoiding the cameras. You confiscated Davidson's phone, right?" Jet asked.
"Yeah. CSU should have it by now," she said. Jet picked up her cell phone and quickly made a call. Elliot turned his focus to his former partner.
"How are you doing?" He asked as he pulled her away from Jet.
"I'm tired and the case is going sideways. Right now, the arrest will hold, but with no way to positively ID Derek, any good defense attorney will get the video tossed. A stalking charge finally has some teeth, but the worst of it is only seven years in prison. Of course, that'll only stick, if his DNA matches what we found on the victim. If not, we have a confession that will probably only net him three months in jail. Since Christine didn't report her concerns, he might not even get that," Olivia shook her head and heaved a sigh.
"You don't think she knew that he was following her?" Elliot wondered.
"No reports from her local precinct. No diary or electronic journal mentions of feeling like she was being followed," she said. Elliot nodded. The case was definitely hanging on by a thread.
"You guys wanna see what CSU sent me?" Jet interrupted them.
"That was quick," Olivia said.
"Well, I can hack passwords better than they can. No offense to them," the tech guru told them.
"We won't tell them if you don't," Elliot chuckled.
"Now we had the phone log from the phone company for Christine's phone. Any overlapping phone numbers?" Olivia wondered.
"I'm running that now. I think the more interesting thing is a repeating number that is not stored in Derek's phone," Jet pointed out.
"Why would anyone not store a number they call or receive calls from a lot?" Elliot asked, giving Olivia a smirk.
"Because the person on the other end doesn't want you to," she said.
"I'm checking to see who that number belongs to," Jet let them know.
"You think whoever is on the other end of that number will bolt when they hear that Derek was arrested?" Olivia was willing to bet that the number belonged to their former gangster.
"He's stayed dark this long. I'm willing to bet that he doesn't panic," Elliot figured.
"Whoever it is will stay dark for longer. The number belongs to a burner. All I have is the bodega it was bought at," Jet heaved a sigh.
"Covering his ass in case Derek's phone got into the wrong hands," Olivia shook her head.
"Is there a way to age that mugshot we have?" Elliot wondered.
"Well, I can get CSU on that. I hear we have a new forensic artist," Jet offered.
"Do that. We may need to go to that bodega. Could be our phone number goes there often," he said.
"You got it. No overlapping numbers between Christine and Derek's phones," the tech guru told them.
"All right. We'll start fresh in the morning. Thanks Jet," Olivia smiled at her.
"No problem," the younger woman smiled slightly back.
"I could use a drink," Elliot huffed.
"Raincheck? I need to get home to Noah," his former partner said.
"Yeah. Go. I'm sure he's got homework that needs checking," he winked at her.
"Oh, I'm sure he does," Olivia smiled and headed out of the squad room. Jet watched the exchange but didn't say anything. It wasn't her place and she didn't know the story behind their partnership, but she figured that there were a lot of unspoken words between them.
To Be Continued…
