Chapter Five
Bobby and Alex drive to the Yardley home to speak to Virginia Yardley.
"Good morning Mrs. Yardley."
"Good morning Detectives, please come in."
They walk into a home, which appears very clean, but in disarray.
"Please sit down. Can I get you something to drink?"
"No thank you."
Yeah a whiskey straight up would be good.
A smile crosses his face. "No thanks."
They sit down on opposite ends of a couch. Mrs. Yardley sits across from them.
"Have you arrested that Lowell boy?" Alex looks over at her partner.
He's zoning out again.
"No. We're looking in another direction."
"How do you mean?"
"That she may have been drinking with one particular person that night. Someone she may have known and had been hanging around with weeks maybe months before."
"You mean that person could have done this to my daughter? Is that what you are saying?
"Yes. She may have been out drinking with this person before."
"What?"
Bobby blurts out. "Her drinking buddy."
A look of surprise crosses her face. Alex just shakes her head.
She continues. "Can you think of a time that you may have suspected that Michelle had been drinking?"
Bobby interrupts, "And don't give us that line, my daughter wouldn't do that sort of thing crap, we need to know the truth."
Alex is firing up her lasers again, this time Bobby sees her and looks away.
"Did you notice any strange kids hanging around the house or phone calls from kids you didn't know?"
"No." She shakes her head.
"Michelle enjoyed high school, she went everyday, we never had a problem with her breaking curfew, she was always in the house by 10 o'clock."
Tears start to fill her eyes and she puts her head down.
"You feel as if you've done everything you can to protect them and something like this happens."
"We know that you and your husband did everything you could to protect your daughter,
If you say anything-inappropriate Bobby, I swear I'll shoot you.
"Unfortunately she met up with someone that night who was only interested in his own needs."
He pauses not looking at either woman.
"That's it. Damnit. That little son of a bitch, he fooled me."
Mrs. Yardley to Alex. "Is he alright?"
Alex sits back in the chair and smiles.
"Yes, he's fine."
As she listens, she thinks to herself.
Now that's better.
As he speaks, he catches the eye of both women."He didn't have those parties to be popular. He's all about power and control, he gave them what they wanted and he got what he wanted."
In a whisper, "That little shit."
He walks over to Misses Yardley and holds her hand. "Mrs. Yardley my partner and I are going to do everything we can to make sure that Richard pays for this crime."
He shakes her hand.
"Thank you detective, thank you both."
They leave the house and as he walks down the steps, he touches Alex's elbow.
She turns around. What?"
"He's done this before, but something happened that night and he couldn't finish what he started my guess is he'll do it again."
"Well, we better get him before he does."
Bobby gets in the SUV and slams the door. "Fuck!"
"What, what's the matter?"
"I have to explain it to you, what if he's already done it again."
"We haven't heard anything."
"If I would have figured this out last week that little fuck would be in jail now."
"Ok you made a mistake. I was in that room with you. That little mother fooled me too."
They hardly speak on the drive back to the station.
Bobby stops off at the men's room and Alex goes right to her desk. She watches as he passes her and goes into the room with the piles and piles of papers pertaining to the Yardley case.She gets up from her chair and joins him in the room.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I am reading over some things."
"Like what?"
"Nothing in particular."
She sits down across from him and she picks up some papers and starts flipping through them. "Talk to me maybe I can help you sort it out."
"There's nothing to sort out."
"Stop ignoring me Bobby."
"Jesus Christ Eames. I'm not ignoring you I'm just reading over my notes, alright."
"We're supposed to work together, remember."
"We're working this case."
"No we're not." She says shaking her head. "You' re doing your part and I'm doing mine, but we're not doing it together."
He looks up at her for the first time. Sarcastically he says. "Are you going to write another letter?"
"Don't tempt me Goren."
He tosses the papers across the table and half of them fall on the floor. He gets up from the chair and as he reaches for the doorknob, he turns to her. "You're free to do whatever you want, I don't care. It doesn't matter to me."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Hell yeah."
She just stares him down and he looks away from her as he scratches the back of his head. He walks back onto the room.
"Shit. I don't know." He pauses. "No."
He sits down in the chair and points to the pile of papers on the table. "I must have read the same paragraph five times and I still don't know what the hell I read."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Not that little girl. I'll tell you that."
Captain Deakins walks in and he startles Bobby. "When did you two get back?"
Alex answers him. "About twenty minutes ago. What's up?"
"I just got a call from Cragen at SVU. It seems that a Mr. and Mrs. Keller went away for the week. They left their sixteen-year-old son home alone and he had a party. A young girl was sexually assaulted and left for dead."
"Why would Cragen tell you that?"
"Because Richard Lowell was there. Same neighborhood, same group of kids, same unreliable witnesses."
Alex holds her face in her hands. "Oh my God."
Bobby shakes his head. "Goddamnit."
I need a cigarette and a drink.
"Do you have something for me?"
"Yes. Bobby and I are convinced that Richard murdered Michelle after he tried to have sex with her. It seems as if he's struck again."
"Why did he leave this one alive."
Bobby stands up and looks at the Captain, "Because he finished what he started."
They just watch him as he leaves the room. Under his breathe, "Son of a bitch."
Alex gets up suddenly and follows him. She catches up to him and grabs him by the arm. He just stops. He doesn't turn to look at her.
"Bobby it's not your fault."
"Yeah." He nods his head. "I know, I know that, Alex."
He continues to walk slowly through the squad room toward the elevator.
"Bobby."
He doesn't answer her.
"Bobby, where are you going?"
"I don't know, I'll see you tomorrow."
Alex walks back to her desk. "Damn this day just keeps getting worse."
She sighs as she sits down at her desk.
TBC