Whir.
Whir.
-click-
"You said he had an Ace. A partner. Who was he?"
Blue eyes wide, once wondrous, now hardened. "Who? Buck? Yeah, he had a partner. Some snot-nosed punk from the Bronx."
"How do you know?"
"Look, genius, we found Hanson, Buck and his butt-buddy...we were just too late."
Pause.
"How did you find Hanson?"
"How do you think? We low-jacked her."
Raised eyebrows. "'Low-jacked her?'"
"Yep. Followed the little blinking dot to some warehouse, where our already failed operation got worse." Says it simply. Two plus two equals four.
"Worse? How so?" The female, seemingly curious. How odd.
Cocked head to the side. "Hanson was dead, for one." Simply said. Again. Four plus four equals eight. "Plus, Benson needed to lose Greene and cover me."
"He hadn't gone yet?"
Shakes head. Negative. "No, he wanted to catch up some time, talk...you know. If you ask me," leans forward, near whisper, "He just wanted to talk to someone he knew, but didn't hafta see everyday, because the poor guy knew."
"Knew what?" Questions, questions. Didn't they learn anything yet?
Leans back, uncomfortable in the chair. "He knew he was going to die."
Nods. Agreement. Finally. "Of a brain tumor. Yes, we know."
"You asked, Chief." Smart ass. Cocky.
"What then? Did Benson lose him?"
Bites lower lip, licks the pink flesh with a darting tongue. "Yeah, at the moment. He knew something was wrong, something was up. She told him eventually what was really happening, later. At the bullpen she told him everything. He had to go anyway...was running late for a meeting, we were running out of time."
"So you tracked Hanson down, found her body...where was Buck and his partner?"
"Buck was gone," low whistle, "High-tailed it out of there when he found Hanson's badge. The kid though-" Low chuckle. "He was armed, scared and armed. Took a couple of potshots at us, grazed my partner and..." he trails off. He doesn't need to say it, the two can see for themselves, the damage.
He motions idly to the angry, red scar on his forehead anyway. Pointless. They can see.
"So you were both wounded. I understand here," looks down at file. Finally. Finally looks down at the file. "Det. Benson eventually subdued him. You were rendered unconscious?"
Harsh laugh. "Yeah, I was shot in the head."
Nods, more nods. "So, quick summary-" Glances at female who takes over.
"Hanson goes undercover for Manhattan SVU. The operation goes sour, she winds up dead, you wounded, and one out of two suspects are obtained."
Affirmative. Shows by nodding.
Male. His turn, her turn, his turn, her turn...his turn. "So, this brings us to Hanson's captain, and this entire set up against you." Set up, he grins, they know. They all know. Good for them.
"Yeah..." Cracks knuckles. Rests head on the metal table. It's cold, like the weather on March 6th.
"Care to tell us about this...this..." At a loss for words. There is a God in Heaven.
Female chips in quickly. Frick and Frack, Ying and Yang. "Set up. Tell us who, why, what, when, where."
Barely lifts head. Smiles teasingly. "Don't you mean who, what, when, where and why?"
Scowl. "Continue."
Exhales. Deeply. He's tired. He's very tired. "He was angry, upset. We-I killed his best detective and he. Was. Pissed. So he concocted this cock and bull story." Looks. They're itching to say, "continue." He does quickly. "He claimed that the reason I screwed up was because I was jealous. I was jealous that Liv was paying attention to another man, to this Greene guy. So when this guy dies..." Pause. Light smoldering in his crisp, tired, blue eyes. "When Greene dies, he accuses me of murder. Thinks that I killed him because I was jealous."
"You didn't though." Pointing out the obvious. No shit. Dumb, stupid. "Autopsy reports showed that he eventually succumbed to the tumor. While sleeping."
"I know." Aspirated tone. Exhausted. "But with my history of anger, and my close friendship with my partner...it seemed plausible that I would kill him."
"By everyone, I presume."
"Of course. Everyone but her. Olivia. She believed me, she rallied for me, she helped me...and they accused us of being closer than we were."
"Sexually closer?" They enjoyed saying that, he knew.
"Yeah, that's why I'm here." Wave of hand angrily, "No food for twenty four hours. Nothing but a shitty cup of coffee and a cheap cigarette."
"You're here under mandatory review, Detective."
"And?" Presses, he wants to know...needs to know.
Whir.
-click-
"We're done for now. Get some rest." Fake smile. Forced. White.
"We'll be back." Sickly sweet smile from her. Sickly.
Sounds of scraping, wooden chairs against cement flooring. Door opening, door closing.
Silence. Alone. Utterly alone.
Sigh.
Pause, longer silence. Whir. Whir. Whir. Motions toward where they had sat, towards the end of the table, knows the recorder is taped to the underside.
"It's a damn enigma," he says aloud. The whole case, the whole thing.
An Enigma.
Whir. Whir. Whir.
-click-
TBC...
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