AN: Hey all! So I'm not getting a lot of feedback on this story but I do seem to getting some follows so that's great. Please review. I like to know what readers are thinking about the direction the story is going. All (positive) criticism and suggestions are welcomed. If you don't like it, tell me (and tell me why please) and I'll try to fix it. If you do like it, tell me that too and I'll keep doing what I'm doing but please give me something. So, here's more and I hope you all like it.
Chapter 8: Hallie and Kaitlyn Darnell
The scene was the same as the two before it. Two women, stripped naked, throats cut, set on fire. He left the same white trash bag with all of their belongings, except their wedding rings. They'd found a receipt for a gay friendly cafe in a wallet belonging to Hallie Darnell, time stamped seven am. They figured he must have grabbed them when they were leaving. They'd done the family notifications and interviewed close friends of the victims and gone through the victims apartment to learn more about them. Hallie was an investment banker and her wife, Kaitlyn, was a first grade teacher. They were, by all accounts, the perfect couple; high school sweethearts who went to college together and then got married shortly after they both graduated. They had nothing in common with the other couples other than a couple popular gay friendly hangouts around the city and of course they fit the perps type. Hallie was a brunette with green eyes and Kaitlyn had blonde hair and blue eyes. He'd been careful to conceal himself, leaving the bodies further back in the alley. Even in broad daylight, no one recognized him. He'd had his hood up so no one could make out his face, just a middle aged white man. He always managed to be one step ahead of them. They figured their best chance at catching the perp was figuring out how he picked his victims.
It was going on four in the afternoon when they got back to the station. A crowd of people had formed outside with signs demanding justice and others condemning the victims to hell. Uniformed officers set up barricades to keep them off the precinct steps and out of the street. As they were going inside, news vans were pulling up. It seemed that their case was about to get a lot more attention than they wanted. They added more information to the board and discussed their theories about how he was choosing these couples.
"Ok, so we know he has a type that's really important to him" Reyes started, "and he's sticking to it. I just...it's really specific don't you guys think?" she asked. "I mean there's no shortage of blonde haired, blue eyed women...anywhere. Case in point" she said looking at Rollins, "but dark haired women with green eyes. How often does that happen?".
"Seems to happen often enough" Rollins said. "Case in point" she said gesturing to the pictures of the victims, "and case in point" she repeated looking at Chris.
"Ok. So how do we think he's choosing them?" Benson asked. "They overlap at one bar, a restaurant and the cafe that Hallie and Kaitlyn went to this morning".
"So maybe he goes to those places, watches and waits until he finds couples that fit his type" Fin suggested.
"And what, just he happens to hit the jackpot three days in a row?" Reyes asked. "I just can't believe it's that easy to find couples that fit his type. I was the only one in my whole class with dark hair and green eyes. And it was a pretty big class" she said before quickly finishing her coffee. "It was about five hundred students and there I was all on my lonesome, the only one with black hair and green eyes. Every other dark haired girl had brown or like hazel or..." they all recognized that she was starting to ramble. Rollins reached over and took her coffee cup from her.
"I think you've had enough for today" she said sitting the cup on her side of the table out of Reyes' reach.
"Ahhh, but I" she said starting to argue.
"Uh un" Rollins said shaking her head. Reyes let out a huff of air.
"Fine" she said with a pout. "Anyway, like I was saying, I don't think that he just luckily stumbled on these couples. I mean come on, three days in a row he just happens to find three different couples that fit his preference?"
"So, how do you think he finds them?" Fin asked. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know. I thought this was supposed to be a group effort? I feel like I'm doing a lot of talking" she said slightly joking. Rollins shook her head and chuckled.
"Ok, so maybe it is like Fin says. He goes to these places, the bars and cafes and he watches and waits until he sees a couple that...suits him. Then he follows them, gets their routine down, and waits for the perfect time to strike" she suggested.
"I like the way you think" Chris said. Rollins rolled her eyes and kept a tight grip on Reyes' coffee cup. "Hey, did we ever find out what those holes in the walls at the apartments were?" she asked looking at Amaro.
"CSU thinks they were put there to mount things on the wall. Pictures maybe" he said.
"Or cameras" she suggested. "So, maybe we should jump on his bandwagon".
"What? Follow couples and then put cameras in their apartments?" Fin asked.
"No. Well not the cameras part" she said.
"You mean go out to the places the vics had in common and wait until we see a couple that fits his type?" Amaro asked. Chris nodded her head.
"Yeah. They had three places in common right? The bar, the cafe and that italian restaurant. I love Italian so I call dibs on going there".
"That sound like a plan to everyone?" Cragen asked wanting everyone to be on the same page.
"Sounds like the only the plan we have right now" Olivia said. They all nodded in agreement.
"Ok. Let's start with the restaurant tonight. All of you go. Then tomorrow you can do the cafe during the day and then the bar in the evening. Go home, get changed, meet back here at six thirty to head over to the restaurant" he said dismissing them.
"I'll call and make us a reservation" Rollins said pulling out her phone and looking up the number to the restaurant. The rest of them got up from their places around the table, gathered their things and headed out the door. They walked past the crowd of protesters to get to their cars and went home to get ready for dinner. While she was home, Reyes made jambalaya and put it on the stove. She set the timer and told her sister to check on every ten minutes until the timer went off. She made sure her mother took her evening pills and then went to get ready for dinner. She came down at five forty and checked on dinner one last time before she had to leave. Her dad and brother walked in, dropped their stuff right in the doorway and started to head up the stairs. They'd only taken two steps forward when she saw the dirt falling from their boots.
"No. Por supuesto que no" she said stopping them. "Quítate esos zapatos y dejarlas en el tapete. Y tomar esas cosas piso de arriba. Esta casa está limpia. Quiero que siga así". They groaned their complaints but followed her orders, kicking off their dirty boots on the mat by the door and grabbing their bags to take them upstairs. "Jeza" she said turning to her sister, "I'll be calling your teachers tomorrow to check in. I better like what I hear" she said. Jeza just rolled her eyes and looked back down at her homework. "No rodar sus ojos hacia mí, chica" she snapped. She just kept her eyes on her homework. Her mom, dad, and brother came down the stairs and she checked her watched. She had forty minutes until she had to be back at the station.
"Ay mija" her mother beamed as she laid eyes on her, "you look beautiful. Espero es guapo" she said moving her hair out of her face.
"No, mama. I'm not going on a date. I'm going back to work" she said.
"You're going to work dressed like that?" her brother asked not convinced she wasn't going on a date. Robbie was always trying to be the protective big brother. Whenever they were out as a family and some guy put the moves on her, he was right there to shut it down.
"Yes, I am. Dinner's on the stove. It should be ready in about ten minutes. I have to go" she said quickly making her way to the door. She knew the conversation that was coming if she didn't get out of the house quickly.
"If you dated as much as you work, you'd have found a husband by now" her mother quipped.
"Mami, please, don't start" she said opening the door. "Have a good night. Don't wait up". She hurried to her car to make her way back to the station on time. She saw everyone else's cars on the parking lot and knew she was the last to arrive. She looked at her watch again and it read six fifteen. "I'm not late" she said to herself as she walked up to the precinct doors. The protesters that had gathered earlier in the day were still out in full force, yelling at each other across the barricades the officers set up to separate them.
"The lesbian community is under attack and all you cops are doing is going out for a nice time?!" one woman yelled as Chris walked by.
"The lord is laying seige to these abominations. His will is being done. There is no need for police interference" a man yelled from the other side, waving his bible in the air. Reyes just kept walking up the stairs, through the precinct doors and up to the squad room, shaking off what she'd just heard. She walked through the squad room doors and went over to her desk, not noticing that everyone was staring at her. She was a wearing a light blue dress that stopped just above her knees with black high heels that accentuated the muscles in her legs. Her jet black hair fell around her face in waves of curls and the black eyeliner and mascara she had on made her green eyes pop. She opened her laptop and quickly checked her emails before shutting it again and turning around, finally seeing everyone's eyes on her.
"What?" she asked. They all shook their heads and looked away. Captain Cragen came out of his office at six thirty on the nose.
"We all ready?" he asked looking at each his detectives. His eyes lingered a little longer on Reyes than they did on the rest of his detectives. "You all look great".
"I made our reservation for seven so we should start heading over" Rollins said. Chris looked over at her for the first time since she walked into the squad room. She was wearing black dress pants and a powder blue blouse that matched Chris' dress almost perfectly. She wore a light layer of make up and clear gloss on her lips. If they stood next to each other, it would look like they planned for their outfits to match. She'd taken her hair down from the ponytail she had earlier, letting her blonde locks fall down her shoulders. They all noticed, maybe for the first time, that the two of them fit the victim type perfectly. Rollins looked over to see Reyes staring at her. She held her gaze for a moment before looking away.
"Alright then" Cragen said breaking the awkward silence. "Head on out". They decided to just take one car and since Amaro had an SUV, he offered to drive them. They piled in, Olivia in the front and Fin, Amanda, and Chris in the back and made the drive to the restaurant. When they arrived, Rollins gave her name and they were seated immediately. Everyone in the restaurant seemed to have their eyes on Chris and Amanda as they walked to their table. The other three people in their group were a bit of an afterthought. They sat down and ordered their drinks and started looking over the menu. They talked in the car and decided they needed to act like a normal group of friends, not cops. They were enjoying their food and light banter of conversation, careful to keep an eye on the other patrons. There were a couple of blondes with blue eyes and a couple of dark haired women but none with green eyes and none of them had come together.
Reyes happened to look up at the exact time that Ryanne, her waitress friend, walked into the restaurant. She was with another brunette woman and a man with short blonde hair, who looked to be a couple. Chris quickly looked away, "Shit" she said under her breath. Everyone looked at her as she tried to shrink in her chair. She was hoping that Ryanne would get to her table without noticing her. She put her elbows on the table and brought her forearms up to shield her face then turned to Amanda and asked her to pretend to have a conversation with her.
"Chris?" Ryanne said trying to decipher if it was really her. She almost pretended not to hear her but decided that probably wasn't the best course of action. She put her hands down and turned to look at her.
"Hey" she said nicely. She was hoping that this wouldn't be an awkward scene but with her luck she wasn't holding her breath.
"Hi. I thought you were gonna call".
"I was, I mean, I...I am. I've just been busy, working" she said. She just wanted Ryanne to go to her table and leave her alone.
"You don't look busy" she said looking around the table.
"Well, I am Ryanne. I'm working" she said becoming impatient. Ryanne looked between Chris and Amanda, noticing that they were dressed alike.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Ryanne asked looking between the two of them.
"No" Reyes said quickly. She sounded a little offended by the suggestion which kind of hurt Amanda's feelings. Amanda didn't know why it hurt her feelings that Chris would object so adamantly to dating her but it did. "Look I said I would call you and I will, ok? So, can you just go?" she asked. Ryanne looked at her like she couldn't believe Chris was blowing her off. "I really am working" she said trying to get rid of her. Ryanne sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Fine" she said. She walked around the table to where Chris was sitting and leaned down, kissing her firmly on the lips. "You better call" she said before standing up and walking away to her table. She sat down with the couple she came in with, who looked over at Chris, seemingly checking her out and nodding their approval. The mood at the detective's table was awkward, to say the least. Nobody knew exactly what to say to start up conversation again. Amaro had a slight grin on his face from the knowledge that he was right in his assumptions that Reyes was gay. Olivia and Fin looked back and forth between each other, not sure what to say. Amanda shifted uncomfortably in her chair and all Chris could think was that she could really use a drink. Unlucky for her, they were still working. Another forty five minutes passed with awkwardness and silence besides the clinking of forks on glass plates.
"Uh, so how much longer are we staying here?" Reyes asked breaking the silence. "There haven't been any couples to walk in here that fit his type". Olivia looked at her watch and it was going on ten o'clock. The restaurant closed in another hour.
"Alright, let's call it a night". She waved the waitress over and asked for the check. They settled the bill and left the restaurant. When they got outside, Ryanne was there waiting for Chris.
"Oh my god" she said, "Are you stalking me? Because that's a real turn off".
"No. I just...I wanted to..." Chris was really annoyed at this point and didn't want to hear anything Ryanne had to say.
"I said I would call you, Ry, but I gotta tell you I really don't think I want to anymore".
"It's just...we had sex and now you're ignoring me. I don't get it. What'd I do wrong?" she asked.
"Uh, we're...gonna go wait in the car" Rollins said. She quickly walked away and Benson, Amaro and Tutuola followed behind her. Chris wasn't the type to be shy or embarrassed but she didn't want everyone knowing her business. She'd also noticed that Rollins seemed jealous inside the restaurant and just now, when Ryanne mentioned them having sex, Rollins couldn't get away fast enough. She would deal with that later. Right now, she needed to deal with Ryanne.
"You didn't do anything wrong...until tonight. I said I would call you, Ry. I know you probably wanted me to call you the next day but I'm not on your schedule".
"I know that" she said trying to resolve the situation. She hadn't intended to upset Christina. She just wanted her to pay attention to her.
"And what you did in there, not ok. I have to work with them. I told you I was working and then you accuse me of dating someone and then kiss me in front of everyone. Ryanne, we're not together, ok? You don't have any right to be jealous of anyone I'm with" she said. She wanted to be clear of where they stood because obviously her soft approach wasn't working.
"I thought you said you weren't with her?" she asked jealously.
"Ryanne! Are you listening to anything I'm saying?!" she yelled. Ryanne sighed and took a step closer to Chris and wrapped her arms around her waist.
"Yes, I'm listening. I'm sorry, ok? You're right. I'm being really jealous and a little stalker-ish. I'm just not use to girls not wanting to call me after we've been together, that's all". Chris took Ryanne's arms from around her waist and took a step back.
"Ryanne, I like you. I think you're a great girl" she said.
"But?" she asked knowing a "but" was coming.
"But I don't want to date you" she said bluntly.
"So why'd you come back to the restaurant to talk to me?" Chris could tell that she'd just hurt her feelings.
"Because I was attracted to you and I wanted to..."
"You just wanted to fuck me" she said answering for her. Ryanne wasn't the kind of girl who could have no strings attached sex. Chris just wished she would've figured her for that type before getting involved with her. She didn't want to hurt her feelings any more than she already had but she didn't want to lie to her either.
"Yeah" she answered honestly. "That's all I wanted. I'm sorry. I know you want more but I can't give that to you". She waited for her to say something but she just stood there, trying to hold back her tears. "Look, I have to go. I'm..."
"Working" she said finishing her sentence. "Yeah, whatever". She turned and walked across the street and got into her car. Chris walked over to Amaro's SUV and climbed in next to Rollins.
"Everything alright?" Amaro asked.
"Yeah, everything's good" she answered nonchalantly. Nick started the car and pulled out of the restaurant parking lot to head back to the station. They checked in with the captain about their night out. They hadn't seen one couple that fit the victim type nor had they noticed anyone who seemed to be scoping people out. He told them to go home and get some sleep but to come back bright and early. They needed to be at the cafe the couples went to for breakfast and lunch dates. It was eleven fifteen when they were walking out of the precinct to head home. Reyes wasn't sure if now was the right time to address the tension between herself and Rollins but she figured, no time like the present.
"Hey, Rollins" she said calling across the parking lot her, "Wait up". Rollins stopped in the middle of the parking lot and Reyes hurried over to meet her. "Ummm, listen, I don't really know you very well and you don't know me. I felt like we were getting to know each other and that we could be friends, you know, outside of work but after tonight I just...ummm...I feel like maybe you want to be more than just friends..."
"That's ridiculous" Rollins said stopping her mid-speech. "I'm not gay". Her voice was completely confident even though, on the inside, she was questioning the feelings she had for her coworker.
"Uh, ok". Chris wasn't sure what to do with that reaction. No matter what Rollins said, she knew she was attracted to her. "I just got the sense at the restaurant that you were...kind of jealous when Ryanne came over and..."
"I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous?" Rollins asked interrupting her again. Chris somewhat understood what Amanda was going through. She had a hard time coming to terms with the reality that she was gay but she'd accepted it some time ago. She thought it must be harder for Rollins, though, to be so secure in who she thought she was only to have it challenged by her own feelings.
"I understand it might be hard for you to accept but...come on. You were jealous" she said. Rollins opened her mouth to argue but Reyes didn't want to hear anymore of her denials. "Look, I just don't want things to be awkward between us. We both have jobs to do and I would like for us to keep things professional. I always like to be professional which is why I don't get involved with co-workers. It's kind of a rule of mine" she said. She was trying not to mince words and just be completely honest.
"Well, that's a good rule but it wouldn't matter because I'm not gay" she repeated.
"Ay dios mio" she said softly. "Ok". Chris saw this conversation going absolutely nowhere. She'd said what she had to say and she was just going to have to be satisfied with that. "Well, good night". She turned and started to walk to her car. Amanda stood there in the middle of the parking lot, watching her walk away. She tried to peel her eyes away but she just couldn't. Reyes suddenly stopped and turned back around to see Rollins staring at her. She laughed to herself and then started walking again. "Not gay my ass" she thought to herself.
Spanish- English Translations
No. Por supuesto que no- No. Absolutely not
Quítate esos zapatos y dejarlas en el tapete. Y tomar esas cosas piso de arriba. Esta casa está limpia. Quiero que siga así- Take those shoes off and leave them on the mat. And take that stuff upstairs. This house is clean. I want it to stay that way
No rodar sus ojos hacia mí, chica- Don't roll your eyes at me, girl
Espero es guapo- I hope he's handsome
Ay dios mio- Oh my god