A/N: I make no profit off of this. All characters, except I think Tagamaura, belong to Mr. Wolf.
Chapter 3
"All rise for the Honorable Judge Liz Donnelly. Court is now in session."
'Oh this should be good! This should go quickly and this douche bag will be back where he belongs, especially with Liz trying this case!' I can't help thinking.
Back when she was trying cases for the SVU, Liz was one of the best prosecutors. She won 99% of the time. I was the first person called to the stand and quickly retold how the investigation had gone, how we had come to suspect Mr. Shale, and what occurred during our interrogation.
"The defendant, Mr. Shale, was brought in to answer some questions about his whereabouts on the day in question. At first he completely ignored my partner at the time and myself, then when we told him he wasn't under arrest but might possess some knowledge pertinent to the case was when he started throwing all types of derogatory names and words at my partner. When we tried to calm him down, he attempted to punch both Detective Benson and myself. After subduing him, we placed him under arrest for attempted assault of a police officer. We later learned that he was indeed withholding knowledge surrounding his whereabouts when the crime occurred, and that he had in fact been the person committing the crime."
Mr. Shale ended up not getting his appeal and Alex won yet another appeals case. As we were leaving the courthouse we met back up with Dani who had just finished testifying in her own case.
"How'd it go in the Tagamaura Case?"
"Not well. With the evidence we have, he may walk."
"Elliot don't tell me she's working the Richard Tagamaura case! There's no way she can win." Alex said before quickly adding,
"He gets the best lawyers and finds a way to get the best evidence you have for convicting him thrown out due to technicalities."
"Just because you couldn't put him behind bars with the evidence you and Detective Benson had, doesn't mean that ADA Novak and won't either. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go reinvestigate a crime scene." Dani said harshly.
"I wasn't trying to insult her work, I was just warning. Trying to make sure she was careful." The reminder of this case was hitting her hard.
Tagamaura, an Asian American businessman from an exceptionally wealthy family, had murdered and raped his stepdaughter's nanny. Liv and Alex had had what we all thought was rock solid evidence to convict the bastard. But as one piece of evidence after another was thrown out we learned that it was not as solid, nor was it going to be easy to convict as we thought. The case hit both women hard. But Alex, it seemed, really wanted this guy. Perhaps because they traveled the same circles, and he thought he could get buy his way out of the atrocity he'd created, which made everyone who traveled in that circle look like crooks, including Alex and her family. And there is nothing Alex hates more than seeing her family's name and reputation dragged through the mud.
"How dare that SOB think he can get out of this if he shells out enough money! Just because you have wealth and privilege does NOT MEAN YOU CAN BUY YOUR WAY OUT OF JAIL! It means you are held to a higher standard and have that much more to lose!" I remember hearing Alex exclaim after finding out that some of their evidence had been thrown out.
When we finally were able to convict him, Tagamaura told Alex that he would find a way out and make her look like a total fool, so to me it was little wonder she took the case so personally and was trying to help Dani out.
"I don't care who manages to finally get that monster behind bars, just so long as they make it stick! She should understand that! Liv would have. I hope they keep her safe wherever she is. It just isn't the sameā¦..it feels like something's missing. In here." Alex said pointing to her heart. "That lightness that I always felt knowing she was helping to keep me safe, even unknowingly, when I just came out of WPP, made it easier every day. But now, I'm back under that cloud of doubt, thinking 'Is it still safe? Will I have survived everything only to have something happen now?'" It was as she said this that I truly began to understand what kind of relationship they'd had and just how well they knew and relied on one another, causing me to wonder just how well I did know my partner.
