The next morning brought rain and clouds. Penn arrived on time and ahead of everyone. When Fin arrived she was sitting at the empty desk across from Olivia's. Penn waited until Fin had gotten his coffee and settled at his desk.
"I'm Penn Rhoades." She said. "We didn't get introduced yesterday."
"Odafin Tutulola." Fin responded.
"Your going to have to repeat that quite a bit before I'll remember." Penn said truthfully.
"Most people call me Fin."
"That I can remember." Penn said smiling. It was obvious Fin had no interest in conversing with her so she turned to the lone police file on her desk.
"So what's your story?" Fin asked after several minutes. Penn was so surprised by this sudden inquiry that she did not immediately register the question.
"Sorry?" she had to ask.
"What..is..your..story?" Fin repeated slowly as if talking to someone mentally delayed.
"I started on the force, got lucky with an undercover. By the time I came up they handed me a gold shield and sent me here." Penn kept the story short and used little detail so as not to open herself up to more in depth probing.
"How long did you walk a beat?" Fin asked with a slight edge in his voice.
"Two years." Penn answered taking notice of the changing tone.
"Not very long. Most of us walk a beat for five plus years before they are even considered to test for detective." Fin said. Penn looked hard at Fin. It suddenly dawned on her what he was angling for.
"You may think I don't deserve the promotion after only a few years on the job. Hell maybe you think I should have gone back to the beat instead of coming here, but I will tell you something I am a good cop, I respect the job and the people I work with." Her voice grew louder as she spoke. Her heart pumped harder and her hands started to shake. "I know I have a lot to prove before any of you will give a dam about me but I will not take the judgment and attitude until I have been given a fair chance."
"Hey no need to get aggressive with me. If I gotta trust you with my life I want to know a little bit about you." Fin said defensively.
"I earned the badge, I wear the colors. How I did it doesn't matter!" Penn was on her feet.
"You feeling froggy? JUMP! You're nothing but a lucky punk who kissed the right ass. I worked my ass off to get where I am you just showed up. You don't belong here!" Fin stood up and stepped towards Penn. She made the same move bringing them face-to-face.
"What a load of bullshit! You wont even give me a chance!" Penn responded. Everyone that had arrived or was passing through stopped to watch.
"You are a no good rat sent here to spy on us for the mayors office!" Penn lost control and lunged at Fin. They both fell into his desk then tumbled to the floor. Despite the size difference, Penn at five two one hundred forty pounds and Fin at five nine two hundred pounds, Penn drew blood. Fin managed to land several strong punches of his own but Penn was much faster.
Munch finally arrived to find the fight going on. He set down his coffee then reached in and grabbed Penn under the arms and managed to pull her off.
"You ignorant bastard! How dare you call me a rat! I would never!" Penn continued to struggle but seemed to be losing steam. With the help of a uniformed officer they finally managed to restrain her.
"See I told you we were getting some hot headed PUNK!" Fin's words were harsh and angry. He got to his feet wiping blood from the cut on his face. Captain Cragen arrived with coffee and paper in hand smiling. He stopped dead at the sight of Munch and the uniform holding Penn down and Fin out of breath wiping blood from his face.
"What is going on here?" he asked losing his smile. No one answered. Everyone just looked around at the room.
"Ok! Rhoades and Tutuola my office NOW!" Munch released Penn who was still heaving. She walked past Fin into the captain's office. Fin followed after and the captain brought up the rear. Before closing the door Cragen turned to the room yelled for everyone to get back to work then closed the door with a snap.
"Explain." Cragen demanded leaning against his desk, arms folded across his chest daggers shooting from his eyes.
Penn looked from Fin and Fin looked back. Penn was angry but had no intention of worsening the situation. She waited for Fin to speak.
"One of you better start talking." Cragen spoke with forced calm. "Or I'll have both your badges."
"Penn told me she was small but quick and could take down any size purp with a simple move. I asked her to show me. Munch walked in just after she took me down." Fin answered. Cragen looked to Penn.
"A take down move? That's what happened?"
"Yes sir." Penn answered. Cragen walked around to the other side of the desk and sat down in his chair.
"Both of you get out of my sight." He said quietly. Fin and Penn didn't need telling twice. Once Fin had closed the door Penn turned to face him.
"You're going to need a few stitches." She told him. She walked away passing Munch and out of the squad room. Munch walked over to Fin.
"Did I miss something? Why are you bleeding?" Fin walked passed him without a word. He passed Olivia as he exited the squad room.
"Was Fin bleeding?" she asked Munch.
"I got stonewalled." He answered.
Penn returned to the squad room ten minutes later, Fin close to an hour his cut stitched and bandaged. Captain Cragen came out of his office.
"Benson, Rhoades what did you get from the car service?"
"The supervisor didn't want to talk at the office. He said there were two many "eyes and ears". He seemed trustworthy so I gave him a chance. Told him to bring the file here first thing this afternoon."
"Make sure you get that file. In the mean time pull finances on the car service. Check for any complaints against them with the better business bureau." Cragen ordered.
"What about us captain?" Munch asked.
"Has anyone looked into the shifty principle from PS118?"
"We're on it." Munch answered.
"Good everyone get moving." Cragen said. He retreated to his office and closed the door. Munch and Fin immediately started discussing how to go about investigating the principle. Penn turned to Olivia.
"Good morning. How was your night?" she asked.
"Long. It's amazing how being woken up every three hours can disrupt one's sleeping pattern." Olivia answered. Penn shrugged and smiled.
"But you woke up. That was the point." Penn glanced sideways at Olivia who smiled and laughed quietly.
Later that afternoon Penn paced the squad room. Olivia tried to concentrate on her paper work but found it difficult.
"Would you please sit down?" Olivia pleaded.
"Captain said to stay on it. What if this guy doesn't show? What if he played us?" Penn was starting to get more anxious.
"You need to relax. It is now one thirty, lunchtime. If he doesn't want people to know what he is doing he'll go into work this morning and deliver the file on his lunch break." Olivia explained. She felt weird being the rational one. With her former partner she was always the hot headed one. Penn sat down behind her desk, picked up a case file and started looking at it. Something suddenly dawned on her. She immediately dropped the case file and started up her computer.
"Come up with something?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah. The Gains have a nanny right? At least the neighbor's babysitter said they did. I can guarantee any currently employed nanny of the Gains wont talk to us, but what about past nannies? Disgruntled employees always have something to say about their former employers. Now the nanny service won't tell me anything either without a warrant but if I call as a prospective client looking for references they will probably give up their names at least."
"That's smart." Olivia responded. Penn looked up the nanny services phone number on the computer then called. While the phone rang she noticed the elevator doors open and watched Mr. Schmidt step out holding a fast food bag in his hand and a file folder under his arm.
"Round one to you partner. Now lets hope he has some kind of useful information." Olivia spun around in her chair to see what Penn was talking about. She was relieved when she saw. She had started to become worried that he wasn't going to show. Olivia rose from her chair and went to meet the man.
"Mr. Schmidt thank you for coming."
"Sure, sure. What ever I can do to help. Here is the file you asked for. I made copies so you can keep those." Mr. Schmidt said handing over an envelope.
"Thank you. Do you have a minute to answer a few questions?" Olivia asked.
"No. I must get back to work. Really." Mr. Schmidt answered.
"Ok. We appreciate your co-operation." Olivia said. He smiled a halfhearted smile then retuned to the elevators. Penn was hanging up the phone as he got onto the elevator.
"What is it?" Olivia asked. Penn had a look of shock and fear on her face but before she could answer Cragen opened the door of his office and signaled for them to come inside.
Once inside the office Cragen seated himself behind his desk while Olivia sat down in a chair across from him and Penn found a corner to stand in.
"I just heard from Fin and Munch. They managed to determine the principal's problem. It would seem he feared our investigation would cost him his job." Cragen said
"What did he think we would find out?" Olivia asked with intrigue.
"Not what we would find but where it would lead us. He didn't want anyone to know he had lead us to a possible child abuse case involving the deputy police commissioners kid." Penn spoke from the back of the room. Cragen and Olivia stared at her. "Dawson Gains and his wife Julia are the parents of Hanley Gains."
"When were you planning to tell us this piece of information?" Cragen asked.
"I just found out from the nanny service. Seems the deputy commissioner has been going through nannies at an impressive rate." Penn answered. Cragen looked from Olivia to Penn then back again. He ran his hand across his face. The next move had to be a cautious and calculated one.
"Did the car service turn over anything useful?" he asked
"The family has two regular drivers, Kevin Mannix and Cameron Ryder. Mannix is the one who usually picks up and drops off the boy. There is a list of "special" instructions; the boy is to be picked up at the door, escorted to the vehicle and secured in vehicle. Even the exact route to be taken." Olivia read out.
"Well his father is a cop." Cragen said.
"But why just the one boy? There are other kids why don't they get driven?" Penn asked.
"Pull birth-certificates on all the kids. Lets make sure they belong to the Gains and we need to interview those drivers." Cragen tried to sound confident with his instructions. Investigating the deputy police commissioner for child abuse was not something he had ever planned on doing and wasn't really sure how to do it.
Penn crossed the room, opened the door and exited the office. Olivia stood from her chair and made to leave the office. As she reached the door Cragen added something.
"Lets get Novak up to speed. Something tells me we are going to need her backing us up and everything needs to be by the book. Not even a toe out of line." Olivia nodded her acknowledgement.
Just outside the office Olivia met up with Penn.
"First case as a detective and it's a duzy." She said. "Makes me a little nervous." Olivia stopped and starred at Penn.
"Are you scared to investigate this case?" she asked.
"Aren't you? I mean investigating the deputy police commissioner? It's not like other cases where if we are wrong it goes in the loss column and we move on. This goes sideways and we lose our badges and our jobs. You may have walked this line before and came out unscathed, but I can't take that risk. I am already on thin ice." Emotion got the better of Penn and she said more then she should have. Olivia cocked her head sideways in curiosity, processing what Penn had just said. She stared straight into Penn's eyes, which was a mistake. The paralyzing blue color once again trapped her and forced any question or thought right out of her mind and left a calm, peaceful feeling. Penn watched as Olivia's eyes went blank before breaking her stare and walking away. As she walked she glanced back over her shoulder at Olivia, who had yet to move but was shaking her head as if coming out of a trance. Penn would never admit it out loud but she knew how captivating her eyes were and used them to her advantage.
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Several hours passed. Munch and Fin had returned to the squad room with no additional information.
"Dose anyone find the lack of available information in this case a sign that we should stop investigating." Munch said.
"Well information may be hard to come by but there is some. I tried to pull the birth certificates on the Gains kids and it was suggested to me that I call the state of Oregon." Olivia said.
"Why Oregon?" Munch asked. Fin suddenly sat up straight in his chair and began typing feverishly. After a moment he got up, went over to the printer and returned with a piece of paper.
"Care to share?" Munch asked.
"Couple of years back there was a story that went national. A father killed the mother of his three kids then kidnapped them and ran. They chased him across seventeen states before losing the trail. Bodies of the wife and boyfriend were found in the house and he and the kids were never seen again."
"And you think the Gains kids are the kidnapped kids?" Munch was skeptical at this far-reaching theory.
"I'm no expert but this kid certainly looks like the boy we met in the hospital." Fin held up the article containing pictures of the three kidnapped kids. The boy in the middle had the same features, hair color, even hairstyle as the boy they met. Cragen entered the squad room from the elevators.
"Anything new to report?" he asked looking around the room.
"Fin's got something." Olivia answered. Fin repeated his theory to Cragen who listened intently. When Fin finished Cragen thought for a moment.
"Lets get all the case files from any state involved and get the photos from the news article to T.A.R.U for facial recognition. I want concrete evidence before we start making public accusations." Cragen ordered. "Oh and lets tread softly with the other states. We don't need them knowing we picked up their trail." The room became a flurry of movement.