Chapter 8: Caged

Alex woke up on Saturday when her phone rang.

"Cabot!"

"Van Buren, Pierce Marsh has been caught."

"Is he in New York?"

"He's in CT. We need to extradite him."

Two hours earlier

Marsh got caught at a gas station. An off duty NYPD officer recognized the plate as one that had a BOLO on it, so he called the local authorities, and they surrounded him as he tried to get in his car.

He didn't think that anyone was on to him yet. His name hadn't been in the papers, and it was a high profile case.

"SHIT!"

Present

Alex wasn't officially on the case. She couldn't be since she was caring for Cassie. "I'll get an ADA down there to start working on the paperwork."

She called Steele who was not amused.

"Why are you waking me up Boss?"

"Because we caught Pierce Marsh, and I need someone to get an arrest warrant for him now." They hadn't filed it, so he couldn't get tipped off. Alex had a feeling he was connected to someone.

"I'll be at the courthouse in 30 minutes." Jim knew this wasn't time to play around.

Donnelly signed the warrant right away, but they couldn't initiate extradition proceedings against him until Monday.

Green and Lupo could, however, drive up to CT to try and get him to talk.

Cruel

When they got there, they immediately honed in on the nasty scar that Cassie had described.

"It's rude to stare," he growled.

"Pierce Marsh, do you know why you're here?"

"I got too many speeding tickets?"

What a little shit!

"A couple got murdered last week, and you're looking pretty good for it."

"You don't have anything on me."

"Really? The wife fought back. According to our ME, she got a good gash out of her attacker. Take off your shirt."

"No."

"You could be hiding weapons in there. Take it off or we'll remove it for you."

He took off his side, revealing a week old scar on the left side of his chest.

"I cut myself shaving," he insisted.

They took pictures. "You know blood leaves DNA right. Why did you do it?"

He didn't actually admit to the killings, but he didn't proclaim his innocence either.

Pierce knew he was down, but he wasn't out, not yet. He had one phone call and he had a plan.

More Red Tape

Monday

Of course DCFS called Alex wanting her to turn over Cassie. "We understand the killer has been arrested."

"The investigation is still open. He could have accomplices."

"I think you've let this go on far enough."

Alex pushed back. "We still don't know why the Walters were targeted. This may have been a hired killing, which means Cassie should stay put until the investigation is closed.

"We have an application process. You don't get to just take a kid."

"I have an application to become a foster parent pending. All of the necessary paperwork has been filed."

"The wait time is eight months, not two hours."

"How many foster children are in abusive or neglectful homes?"

"Miss Cabot."

"How many of them have run away while their parents continue to collect the checks?"

"That's not relevant."

"Like hell it's not relevant. Cassie has lost her parents. She has no grandparents and no one can find her aunt. She's traumatized, and she's only four years old. If she does not placed in a home with people who understand and can care for her in those conditions …."

"You can't keep this charade going forever."

Alex did, however, manage to keep Cassie.

Gossip

Everyone wanted to hear about Munch's Friday night.

"What were you doing with this lady?" Fin asked using finger quotations.

"Would you believe me if I said we made pizza and drank Scotch?"

"What woman drinks Scotch?" Stabler questioned.

"Alex did," Olivia muttered before she realized what she was saying.

"I guess it's a society thing," Fin added.

"Are you with an uptown girl?" Stabler teased.

"She sure isn't from the lower east side."

When Casey came in, Fin had to ask. "Do you drink Scotch?"

"Do I look like my father?"

"I have no idea. What does he look like?"

She raised a brow. "No. If I'm going to drink whiskey at all, I go for bourbon."

"Munch says he was drinking Scotch with a lady friend and we're trying to determine how realistic that is."

"I can't say most women drink Scotch, but I also can't see Munch with most women, so I could see him with a peculiar woman who drinks Scotch."

John didn't care if they believed him or not. He didn't want to tell them it was Alex; he knew they'd get the wrong idea and it wasn't their business. Alex deserved to have some connection to her past. She shouldn't have to cut off all of the 1-6 because Olivia moved on to Casey.

Napped

Tuesday

Alex had to get Cassie to Trevor's office for a client interview. He had to talk to Cassie without Alex, since she had her own interest in the case, and he wanted to be able to show the judge that he was truly advocating for the young girl's interest.

They got into the elevator and Alex explained, "I can't stay while you talk to Trevor."

"Why?"

"Because he's your lawyer. He has to talk to you alone to make sure that I'm not telling you what to say."

She frowned, but Alex gave her a big hug. "I'll come right back as soon as you're done, and we can get lunch okay."

"Kay Mama."

Five minutes later, she was on her way to the café down the street when she felt cold metal on her back.

"Walk at a normal pace. Do not scream."

She started to walk. Fuck!

Once they were alone, he said, "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?"

"Don't fuck with me, the little girl you had 10 minutes ago."

"She's with her lawyer."

"What?"

"She has a lawyer, for her custody hearing. She's in an interview."

"Take me up there."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"You have to show ID and be approved by someone who works in the building. I don't work there."

"When will they be done?"

"About an hour, maybe. I don't know."

"We'll wait."

Alex was trying to think of what to do. He won't let me go to Trevor's office alone. Do I scramble to pull the fire alarm once I'm in the building? Is there a panic button Trevor can press? I wish we hade a safe word for this.

About twenty minutes in, the phone rang.

"Don't answer it."

"It might be the lawyer."

"Answer it."

"Cabot."

"Green. We need Cassie to come in for a photo lineup."

"Langan and Hershall. Do you know where that is?" She hoped this goon wasn't paying attention to the name out in front of the firm.

"Hang up," the gunman hissed.

I can't, she mouthed.

"Yes, can you bring her here?"

"No, I need you to take care of getting it. I'm predisposed at the moment."

She sounds strange. "Should I come now?"

"Yes. I'll have to call you later tonight, bye."

"Who the fuck was that?"

"My boss and he is a paranoid man. If I had hung up, he would have sent someone to look for me."

The man growled. "Don't answer for anyone other than that lawyer!"

15 minutes later, Green and Lupo came looking for Cassie .

"She's with Trevor Langan, I'll buzz you up."

Trevor was surprised when the receptionist called him. What are Green and Lupo doing here?

"Officers, what can I do for you?"

"We need to bring Cassie to a lineup."

"Why didn't Alex just come for her?"

"She said she was too busy!"

"What? She's supposed to be in the café down the street waiting for us."

Lupo called her office, and she wasn't there.

"If she sent us here, then something bad happened," Green realized. The first mission must be to protect Cassie. "You need to get Cassie to the station now. Call in backup and put a trace on Alex Cabot's phone."

Rescue

Lupo got to the station in record time. He had the sirens on and everything. Bitches got out of their way.

When Green got the call giving him Alex's location, he calmly went into the coffee shop and acted like an old acquaintance.

"Alex, is that you? Long time no see."

He went into hug her, giving him enough time to see the gun under the table.

"Eddie, how are you?"

He shoved Alex out the way and drew his weapon. "NYPD drop it now."

SHIT! I should have known that guy on the phone with her was a cop.

He didn't want to die so he put the gun down and put his hands on the table.

"Alex, cuff him."

Alex quickly moved to get the suspect restrained, and then she kicked the gun away from him.

Backup came and took their gunman away.

An officer at the scene took her statement, even though she knew she'd have to recount it for the 2-7, and likely for McCoy.

"He wanted Cassie. He didn't say why, but he followed me to the firm and when I left, I was without her. He ambushed me from behind and demanded her."

She recalled his exact words.

They wrote it all down.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get to Cassie, and I'm sure the officers investigating her parents' murders will have more questions for me."

Green took her to the precinct, where everyone wanted answers.

Reunited

McCoy and Steele were already there, as was Lt Van Buren. The first person she had to see, however, was Cassie, who had been playing with Lupo.

"Mama!"

Alex gave her a big hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good, Mama. We got to ride in the cop car. It went really fast, and the lights were on."

"Isn't that fun? I need to answer some questions for the officers before we go home."

"And we need to do her lineup. We wanted to wait until you were safe and sound."

Alex nodded and kissed Cassie on the forehead.

Then she went to the dreaded interview room.

She explained her plan for the day. "I went to the office, but I took the afternoon off, so I could get Cassie to her client interview. We were going to get lunch after and I was going to do my work from home.

Soon after I left the office, I felt a gun in my back. "He told me to walk at a normal speed and not to scream."

She recounted what happened.

"When I saw Green calling me, I knew it was my one chance to get Cassie out of there, so I tried to be as cryptic as possible, so that he would get suspicious and come get her. I was also trying not to give myself away to the gunman."

Green nodded. It worked.

"Did he say why he wanted her?"

"No. He didn't even know her name. He kept saying where's the girl that was with you."

"Maybe he got the gig at the last minute."

"I think Cassie was the target all along. She was the motive for the murders, and whoever hired Marsh hired someone new."

Protection

That realization changed everything.

"She needs a protective detail," McCoy said quickly. "They both do now."

"I can't go into the program again," Alex said automatically. "It's like a soul crusher."

"You live in a secure building," Van Buren pointed out. "Which is probably why he didn't try to get you there. We can station a uniform outside the building and have another take shifts in your apartment."

"We'll also have an officer for when you're in the office," McCoy told her. "We're not losing you again."

"I bet DCYS will get off my back," Alex said bitterly. She said Cassie was still in danger. Unfortunately, she was right.

"Do you have any preferences for your detail?" McCoy asked her.

"I'd rather borrow officers from another unit, so Lupo and Green can keep chasing whoever is still trying to get Cassie. They're doing really great work, and I don't want a new team to have to get caught up to speed while they're protecting us. Preferably officers who have experience working with children."

"I'll make the call," Van Buren told her.

Green and Lupo had a suspect to try to crack. Before they left, Alex said, "Thank you for everything."

"You don't have to thank us. We just did our jobs."

"I know, but you kept my little girl safe and saved my life. I'll never forget that."

"Let's go make this gunman cry," Lupo said.

Green nodded his head.

Surprise

Cragen came out to the 1-6 with an announcement.

"There was an attempted abduction on a four year old girl."

Elliot and Olivia sprung up to go to the scene.

"Sit back down. She's safe in the police station, and the would be kidnapper was already arrested by the 2-7."

"Why is homicide in this?" Stabler questioned.

"Calm down and let me finish. Anyway, there is a concern that another kidnapper may try again, so I need two of you for a protective detail while the 2-7 chases down whatever co-conspirators are still free.

I have the girl and her foster mother coming in right now. She wanted whomever her daughter felt most comfortable with as she can be skittish with new people."

"So we're auditioning," Fin questioned.

"Basically."

Minutes later, they all froze as they heard a familiar sound: Jimmy Choos clicking down the hallway as Alexandra Cabot walked up to them with a four year old in her arms.

"Hello everyone," she said as she got close to them.

Cassie looked up and yelled, "Uncle John John."

Alex put her down, and she ran over to Munch. He scooped her up into his lap.

"Uncle John John?" Fin questioned.

"Mama says that an officer is coming to stay with us. Is it you?"

"Possibly,"

Olivia was frozen. Alex is a mother?

Elliot wasn't expecting her of all people. "You always have something crazy going on."

"You have no idea."

After John put down Cassie, the girl ran to Olivia. "You're pretty!"

The detective snapped back into reality and smiled. "Thank you."

"I'm Cassie."

"I'm Olivia."

"Hi Livia."

The girl started gabbing away.

Alex could tell whom her daughter had chosen, and she was not surprised.

"I guess you all want to hear how I got to be a foster mother, and why I need to be in protective custody, again," she said trying to laugh it off.

"I don't even know," Fin retorted. "This is like déjà vu mixed with something strange."

Alex explained that Cassie's parents had been murdered. She was the ADA assigned to the case until she decided to take in Cassie and then she transferred the case to Steele. "They thought it was a robbery gone wrong at first, but that didn't quite fit.

Marsh was arrested for the murders on Saturday and earlier today, a gunman took me hostage and he wanted me to give him Cassie. Luckily, she wasn't with me at the time. Detective Green called me and I was able to get him to get Cassie, and as Lupo got her to the precinct, Green rescued me.

Now, I'm convinced that the murders were about getting Cassie all along, and whoever hired Marsh, hired this gunman, and may keep hiring people, which is why we both need a detail."

Well damn, that was a story.

"Any reason why someone would target Cassie?" Cragen questioned.

"She's really rich now that her parents are gone? She also saw the killer's face, so if he knew she made him, he might have had reason to try and get someone to abduct her."

"She saw …" Stabler questioned.

"The aftermath, and it was ugly."

Awkward

Cragen wasn't sure what to do. Cassie clearly picked Olivia, but given their history, he wasn't sure if that was wise.

"Alex, Olivia, can you two meet in my office?"

Alex nodded to John who took over Cassie watching duty.

The two walked into the office.

"I always figured if I did the walk of shame with you, we would have had fun first," Alex said to Olivia.

The detective snorted.

With the door shut, Cragen got right to the chase.

"We all want what's best for Cassie, but I need to know now if you two can work together effectively. If not, we'll send in someone else."

Alex and Olivia shared an awkward glance.

"If I may," Alex started, "Cassie doesn't trust people easily. She refused to speak to anyone when she we first found her and still won't talk to the child psychologist. If Olivia can put up with being in my apartment, then I want her in on the detail. I need someone Cassie can trust, and when it comes to her safety, I don't think there's anyone I trust more."

Olivia was expecting a hell no from Alex. She was humbled by her response.

"What say you Benson?"

"I'll do it," she decided quickly. She'd be an ass to say no now.

"I take it McCoy won't be thrilled."

"I'll handle Uncle Jack."

"Why did he go nuts before?" Olivia questioned.

Cragen started to warn her.

"I can answer. One of my ADAs told him she was concerned about my safety. Her mentor, ADA Robinson, had recently been murdered, and it didn't take much to make her nervous. It was his case we were working on at the time."

Olivia felt like an asshole. She couldn't believe she scared the girl so badly. She must have thought I was one of those crazy exes who murder her lover in a public shoot out or something.

Olivia just had one thing to ask Alex in private. "What will the sleeping arrangements be?"

"You can take Cassie's room. She usually sleeps in my room anyway."

Olivia knew this would upset Casey. She wasn't sure how to break it to her.

"I can ask John to take the first shift," Alex said. "I assume you need to talk to Casey."

"Am I that easy to read?" Olivia asked.

"I plead the fifth."

John always kept a spare change of clothes, a bottle of shower gel and deodorant in his car just in case, so he was able to leave with Alex and Casey right away.

"Where to Miss Daisy?" Munch asked Cassie as she was in the backseat.

"Ice cream!"

"I think it's time for ice cream."