Chapter 4: First Interrogation
They hauled in everyone on the list and all of them offered up their DNA without hesitation. The last person and best lead was Mike Landry and he was nowhere to be found. They went to his apartment, his job, and his parents house and came up with nothing. It was nearing six thirty and they were about to call it a night when they got a call from Monte saying that he'd gotten in touch with Mike. He said he'd found his phone at his house and was on his to come get it. Fin, Rollins and Reyes got in a sedan and went to the hotel the Ramos family was staying in. They got there just as he was leaving and hopped out the car to arrest him. Of course, he tried to run but Fin was able to cut him off with the car. They cuffed him, read him his rights and hauled him down to the station where they argued about whether it was a good idea to bring Ariana in for a line up. The DA arrived and they hoped he could settle the argument.
"ADA Barba, Detective Reyes" Cragen said doing the introductions.
They shook hands, "Rafael", he said with a light smile. "Chris".
"Ok, so where are we with this guy?" Barba asked, walking over to the mirror to get a closer look at the suspect.
"Mike Landry, twenty four, works at a car lot doing repossessions" Fin said giving Barba the skinny on their suspect.
"Criminal record?"
"Small stuff" Rollins said opening her file on the guy, "A couple of arrests for petty theft for stealing from some of the cars at his job. Nothing violent, nothing sexual involving minors or otherwise. There is an ex-girlfriend who tried to bring rape charges against him but she dropped it when she was told there wasn't enough to make the case" she said.
"He got another job at a car lot after stealing from cars?" Barba asked confused.
"Well, he was a minor so he spent a little time in juvenile detention and his record was expunged when he turned eighteen on the condition he stay out of trouble" she explained.
"What else?"
"Witnesses confirm that he was the one that made the jungle juice for the party and Raquel named him as the one that made the drinks to give to the vic" Olivia said chiming in.
"Raquel is...?" he asked.
"Ariana, the victim's, best friend. It was her brother Monte's party. He turned twenty one and told her she could invite a few friends so she wouldn't tell their parents, who were out of town, that he was using their house for his birthday bash".
Barba nodded his understanding, "And the girl, the victim, uhhh, Ariana...she ID him?"
"That's what we were just debating" Reyes said jumping into the conversation. "She was drugged, lab found traces of GHB in her system, so her memory isn't all there. She says it was dark, she closed her eyes, didn't get a look at his face. I wouldn't count on her being able to pick him out" she said. She and Amanda both thought it was a bad idea to do the line-up. Olivia and Nick thought they should give it a try. They thought maybe seeing him would jog her memory but Chris didn't want to risk it. Fin was indifferent. It didn't matter to him how they made the case as long as they did it legally and made it stick.
"You don't have much confidence in her, do you?" Barba asked looking at Chris.
She walked over and leaned against the two-way window, "We went over it over and over again. She couldn't give any details about him. She could barely remember half of what happened during the rape. The girl's got holes in her memory the size of the holes in my sister's jeans" she said. Barba's eyebrows raised at Reyes' sense of humor. "If you want to put him in a line-up, that's your deal, but I talked to her and I'm telling you she won't remember him".
"Ok" Barba said deciding to move on from the topic of a line-up, "What about physical evidence?". It was Nick's turn to add something to the discussion.
"Blood on the sheets and floor is a match to Ariana. There was also semen present and vomit on the floor. We checked, the vomit's not from Ariana or any of the other party goers so it has to be the perps. All the other males at the party offered up their DNA, we ran 'em all against the kit and no dice". He pointed at the two-way window, "He's the last one on the list of people the brother gave us of who was at the party. He's got to be our guy".
"His DNA not in the system from his juvie arrest?" Barba asked.
"It was but when his records were expunged his parents and the big shot lawyer they hired made sure that everything that came with it, including fingerprints and DNA, was wiped from the system" Rollins explained. "They didn't want any chance that it could have a negative effect on his future" she finished.
"It pays in soooo many ways to be rich" Chris said.
"Tell me about it" Fin said.
"I can't. I'm not rich" she answered sarcastically.
"I didn't mean...I mean it's just a..." Chris smiled and Fin rolled his eyes. "You can't ever just be serious, can you?" he asked.
"Well, you know" she said with a little shrug and a chuckle.
"Alright. Let's hold off on the line-up; see if you can get him to hang himself. I don't want to risk her not being able to ID him and then it be admissible at trial" he said.
Cragen nodded, "Alright. Sounds good to me" he said. "Amaro...and Reyes" he said turning to his new detective, "you take the interrogation". Nick stood up and walked over to the door to the interview room.
"I thought you said I just had to get my feet wet? I'm soaked over here" she said walking over by Amaro.
"Just say the word and I'll send Rollins instead" he said smirking at her joke.
"Nope. I'm good boss". She turned to Amaro, "After you" she said gesturing for him to head in. He opened the door and walked into the room with the suspect and she followed behind him.
"Well, she's...different" Barba noted as the door to the interview room closed.
"Oh, you have no idea" Cragen said agreeing with him.
Amaro and Reyes sat down across from the suspect and stared at him. He stared directly at Reyes as if Amaro wasn't even in the room. She was careful to control her facial expressions. She didn't want him to think that he had any affect on her whatsoever. Soon his straight face turned to a smirk and he looked down at his hands that rested on the table.
"She always so serious?" he asked finally looking at Amaro. Nick ignored him and just continued to stare, same as Reyes. They wanted him to know that they controlled when the conversation would start and what it would be about. "¿Por qué no sonríes para mí la miel?" he said. He was tying to sound sexy but his pronunciation was horrible. Amaro almost laghed but was able to hold his stare. Chris got up from her chair and walked around the table to stand behind him. She put her arms around him so that her hands rested on the table.
"Let's set a few ground rules, ok? First, don't ever call me honey. Second" she slammed her knee into the back of his chair, "sit up straight. Third, speak english. You're embarrassing yourself". She opened a folder sitting on the table, pulled out a picture and sat it in front of him before walking back around to her chair and sitting down.
"Ariana Soto" she said. She kept her steady glare and waited for a response.
He scratched his head, "I'm sorry. Who?"
"The sixteen year old girl you drugged and raped last night at your buddy Monte's twenty first birthday party" Nick said jumping in.
Mike shook his head, "No, I didn't rape anybody. You got the wrong guy" he said.
Chris shrugged her shoulder, "Ok. So just give us a DNA sample and we can clear this whole thing up" she said looking over at Nick who shook his head in agreement.
"A DNA sample?" he asked as if he didn't know what it was.
"Yeah" Chris said annoyed with his innocent act, "a DNA sample. You remember what that is, right? You had to give one when you were arrested for...what was it, again?" she asked looking at Nick.
"Stealing from cars on his uncle's repo lot" he said, pretending to remind her.
"That's right. He did you a favor by giving you job at his lot after school. You bagged up people's belongings for them when their cars were impounded, only they didn't get all their stuff back, did they? That's a pretty ungrateful attitude there, Mikey" she said.
"Whatever. I was a kid then. Doesn't mean I raped anybody" he said.
"We talked to your ex-girlfriend, Elena. She told us that she dumped your ass because she found nude pictures of herself on your phone. Pictures that she doesn't remember posing for" Nick said leaning forward with his elbows on the table.
"She was young too. Only seventeen. You like 'em young and latin, huh, Mike?" Reyes said a little flirty. "Is that why you were so excited when Monte invited you to his party? You were hoping to find some nice, young Latinas to prey on?"
"I didn't do anything wrong. Elena got drunk and didn't remember taking the pictures. That's not my fault".
Nick stood up and slammed his hand down on the table, "She was seventeen years old!" he yelled. He got up and walked around the table, "You got her drunk and you took advantage of her!" he yelled in his face.
Mike started to get flustered, "No, that's not true. She wanted to have a good time. I helped her do that" he said shrinking away from Amaro. Chris got up from her chair and joined Nick on the other side of the table.
"Oh, you helped her alright. You drugged her, didn't you? You drugged her and raped her and then kept a parting gift for yourself" Chris said towering over him on the side opposite Amaro. "You couldn't help yourself, could you? You needed those pictures. You needed to..." she paused as if a thought came over her. "You needed to relive the moment...over and over again". Her volume trailed off and she stood up straight. She walked from behind him and stood at his side. She looked down at his pants pockets and didn't see any indication of anything in his pockets. "Stand up" she commanded. He slowly stood from his chair and she walked around to look at his back pockets. "Empty" she thought to herself. "Sit down". He slowly sat back down, unsure of what she was thinking. She walked over to the door leading to Captain Cragen's office. "Come on, Nick. We don't need this guy" she opened the door and left the interview room. Nick picked up the folder and followed her out of the room.
"Why'd you do that?" he asked confused as to why she pulled them out. "We had him. He was about to crack" he said slapping the folder down on Cragen's desk. "I think he already did" she said.
"What are you thinking?" Cragen asked. Clearly, she felt like she was on to something.
"He was in the wind. We couldn't find him. He would've gotten away with it. So why come back?". She already knew the answer but she wanted get everyone on her thought train.
"Monte called him and told him he had his phone" Fin said answering her.
"Yeah, but if you were trying to duck a rape charge would you go back to the city where cops are looking for you to get a phone?"
"Nah. I'd just get a new one" he said.
"Exactly. So it wasn't the phone that he came back for. He could get a new phone so there must be something on his phone that's irreplaceable" she said hoping they'd catch on to her thought process.
"Pictures" Rollins said catching on to what Reyes was getting at.
Chris nodded her head, "He took pictures of Ariana before he raped her, just like he did to Elena, but this time he lost his phone. Hours later, when he wanted to relive what he did, he couldn't. He needed those pictures. So he came back but he didn't count on Monte ratting him out" she explained.
"We need to find that phone" Benson said.
"Is that enough?" she asked turning to Barba. He looked as if he didn't understand her question. "We have everyone who says he made the drinks for the party, Raquel who can testify that he made the drinks specifically for Ariana and when we find his phone..."
"You mean if you find his phone" Barba said interrupting her.
"When we find his phone" she repeated, "we'll have the pictures. Is that enough to compel a DNA sample?" she asked clarifying her earlier question.
"I'd feel better if he had priors" he said rubbing his forehead.
"What about Elena?" she asked.
He shook his head, "There was no arrest. That's not helpful" he said dismissing the idea.
"She tried. She went to the police but they couldn't charge him. She didn't find the pictures until weeks later so any evidence of the drugs or the rape was gone and of course she had no memory of it but that's not the point" she said stopping herself from rambling.
"Oh, you have a point?" Barba asked smirking at her.
"Of course I do. I always have a point. We have Elena, seventeen, Latina, drugged, raped, pictures. Ariana, sixteen, Latina, drugged, raped, pictures. She proves a pattern of behavior; establishes his MO" she said finally getting to her point.
Barba nodded his head, "Ok, I could work that. This ex-girlfriend, she'd be willing to testify?"
Reyes shrugged her shoulders, "I don't see why not?" she said.
"That's not a yes, detective" he said looking at her sideways.
"Ok. Say she agrees to testify. Can you make that enough for the DNA swab?" she asked.
"Without a doubt" he said confidently. Without another word, Chris walked out of Cragen's office and over to her desk. She pulled out her notepad and found Elena Delano's phone number and called her. Everyone watched through the office window as she sat at her desk on her phone.
"Where'd you find this girl?" Barba asked looking at Captain Cragen.
"The stork dropped her off" he quipped.
"I'd hazard a guess that she drinks as much caffeine as I do" he said looking at her through the window.
"More...with lots of sugar" Rollins said.
"Where's she from?"
"California" Amaro said jumping in. "Don't stare so hard, counselor. You're not her type" he joked. Barba turned and glared at him and everyone else laughed. Chris walked back into Cragen's office.
"We got her. She'll testify" she said referring to Mike Landry's ex.
"Ok. Find the pictures. I'll start working on the court order" he said grabbing his brief case and heading towards the door. He stopped and turned to look at Reyes, "Good work, Detective" he said. She gave a light nod and he walked out of the office.
"So, what are the chances we'll find his phone at the house?" Fin asked. "CSU's already been over the place. Do we think they missed it?".
Nick shook his head, "Not a chance. We lifted every surface and looked in all the nooks and crannies. No cell phone" he said.
"Maybe it was somewhere else in the house. I mean, how thorough were they in the rest of the place?" Reyes asked.
"Well, we mainly focused on the best friend's room since that's were the rape took place but we went through every room" he said.
"Well, go back. All of you. Find it" Cragen said.
They all left his office, grabbed their jackets and headed over to the Ramos' house. They searched the place from top to bottom but didn't find the phone. It was getting late and they were running out of ideas. Olivia, Nick, Fin and Amanda were ready to pack it in but Chris wasn't ready to give up yet. She paced back and forth across the living room trying to think of where the phone could be. Then it hit her.
"Monte" she said aloud. "Monte called him and told him he had his phone. He was leaving the hotel when we got there" she said.
"Yeah, so, what's your point?" Amaro asked annoyed. He was tired and couldn't think straight anymore. He just wanted to go home, get some sleep, and start again with a clear head in the morning.
"So, my point is that either Monte lied and told Landry he had his phone so he'd come to the hotel for us to arrest him or..."
"Or he did have his phone and gave it back to him. Which would mean Landry had his phone when he left the hotel" Rollins said following Reyes thought process. Reyes had a feeling that she was really going to like Rollins. They seemed to be on the same wavelength most of the time. She was looking forward to continuing working with her.
"Yes, but his pockets were empty. So between the hotel and the station, he lost the phone again" she said.
"Great, so it could be anywhere" Liv said sounding just as annoyed as Nick.
"No, it has to be outside the hotel" she corrected.
"We patted him down before we put him in the sedan and he had nothing in his pockets" Fin said chiming in. "It must have fallen out when I hit him with the car".
They left the house and went to the hotel to find the phone. They looked around outside for a few minutes until Rollins thought to go inside and ask the front desk if anyone had turned in a phone. Sure enough, valet found the phone and gave it to the front desk. She took the phone and looked through the picture gallery and hit the jack pot. They called Barba and told him they found the phone and the pictures were there, just as Reyes had suspected. He sounded pleased and told them he'd put the finishing touches on his DNA request and they'd have the court order by the morning. Just like that, they had him. They went back to the station to log the phone into evidence and check in with the Captain. He commended them on their work, especially Reyes, and told them to go home and get some sleep.
They gathered their things and headed for the elevators. Chris' phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket and answered it. She tried to quietly argue with whoever was on the other end but in the enclosed space of the elevator, it was impossible for them not to hear her. "Ok. I'm on my way home. I'm on my wa...I'm hanging up. I don't care. What!?" she yelled suddenly startling everyone. "¿Sabes qué, no me importa. Sí, eso es lo que dije. Go to bed. I'm hanging up. Bye". She hung up the phone and let out a harsh sigh. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the wall of the elevator. A second later, they reached their floor and the doors opened. They filed out of the elevator and out the precinct doors to the parking lot. Reyes offered Rollins a ride home and she gladly accepted.
Olivia stopped them on the way to her car, "Hey, Reyes" she called after her. Chris turned to see who'd called her name. Olivia walked over to where she and Rollins had stopped, "Listen, I know I've given you a hard time but I just wanted to tell you...good job today. You did excellent work" she said complimenting. Rollins looked at Chris as she was about to say something. She had a feeling that nothing but sarcasm was about to come out of her mouth.
"Just...say thank you" she said stopping her from ruining the moment. Chris smiled, "Thank you" she said softly. Olivia gave a small laugh and nodded her head before turning and walking to her car. Chris and Amanda did the same and they all headed home for the night.
Spanish- English Translation
¿Por qué no sonríes para mí la miel? - Why don't you smile for me, honey.
¿Sabes qué, no me importa. Sí, eso es lo que dije- You know what, I don't care. Yes, that's what I said.