My Sister's Secret

(Chapter Six: Breaking The News)

"What the Hell do you mean sending in uniforms to arrest my kid!?!" Elliot yelled as he slammed his fists down on Cragen's desk infuriated.

"It was done by the books," Cragen attempted to defend the work of the uniformed officers. "They were just following an order."

"You could have given me the courtesy of a phone call!" Elliot barked as he paced the floor. "I would have brought her in, you know that!"

"I had no say in the matter. She is my granddaughter, Elliot! You think I don't want to protect her? This happened in our precinct. But due to the and I quote 'special circumstances' they brought in uniforms to do the arrest. The orders came from above me. I had no choice."

"This is ridiculous! Bailey is a fifteen year old girl. She's a kid! You and I both know she isn't capable of murdering anyone!"

"Elliot if I have learned anything doing this job it is that kids are just a capable as adults at committing horrific crimes."

Elliot glared at him.

"I am not saying she did it! Or that I think she did it! I want her to be innocent as much as you do. And I am sure that somewhere a very big mistake has been made and I assure you if that is the case someone will pay for it. But right now we have to work this case as we would any other. Bailey cannot have special treatment because she is your child and my grandchild. We can hold her here for a while. Stall a bit on her questioning and run it later into the night. Then I could 'wait for Haung' and I'm sure it will take a while for the family lawyer to arrive. I can probably keep her from the tombs tonight. I have her in a holding cell by herself right now. She'll have court in the morning. Maybe if we are lucky, since she has never been in any trouble they will let her go home with you until the actual trial. But she is in a lot of trouble Elliot. Munch and Fin have been working the case from the start, I am keeping them on it until someone tells me I have to remove them. Go home and be with Aubrey and Olivia. I will keep an eye on her tonight."

"Not a chance. Olivia can stay with Aubrey. If she has to spend the night in a holding cell, there is no way I am leaving tonight."

"You should go be with her. She needs her family right now."

"Yeah," Elliot said as he walked out of Cragen's office and toward the bullpen.

As he did, Olivia walked in.

"What the Hell is going on?" She asked. "I got a voicemail….are the kids alright?"

"Bailey was arrested," Elliot informed her. "I got a voicemail, too. This is so fucked up!" He exhaled and scratched the back of his head. "You!" He said snapping at John Munch as he entered the room. "You knew they were going to arrest my kid and you couldn't tell me?"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Fin interrupted pushing his way between the two men knowing that Elliot was just pissed enough to snap Munch like a pencil. "We didn't get the results back until a few hours ago. We didn't even know until right before it all went down. And he did call you. We both did, numerous times. You have both been in court all morning. We had to leave voicemails. We don't like this any better than you do, Elliot. But the evidence proves she was involved."

"What evidence?" Olivia asked.

Fin and Munch looked at each other.

"What evidence?" Elliot repeated her question.

"Her fingerprints on a bloody ashtray. The weapon that was used to hit the victim in the head, causing blunt force trauma. I'm sorry you guys. But it doesn't look good."

"God no," Olivia said combing her fingers through her hair. "Aubrey?"

"Still at school," Fin answered. "I called them and asked them to hold her there. I am on my way to pick her up now."

"Can we see Bailey?" She asked as she started to cry.

Munch looked over his shoulder at Cragen, who nodded his approval.

"Yeah, I'll walk you back."

"El?" She asked looking back at him. "I'm gonna work on finding her a good attorney. Call Kathleen."

"Okay," Olivia said as she walked back to the holding cell's to see their daughter.

"Dad?" Kathleen's voice sounded confused for a moment when she answered.

"Yeah honey, is this a bad time? I have something really important I need to talk to you about."

"Not a bad time. I just never get calls from you."

"Nice to hear from you, too dear."

Kathleen laughed. "It is very nice to hear from you dad. What's up?"

"Bailey is in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Deep trouble. They arrested her today for the murder of a teenaged boy."

"Oh my gosh!"

"It's bad, Kathleen. She needs our help. I don't know anyone else. I was hoping maybe you could…"

"Daddy, I can't defend her. It would be unethical because we are family. Besides, I would never be able to forgive myself if I defended my sister and lost and she spent her life in prison because I messed up."

"Kathleen please, I don't know who else to call."

"I will make a few calls and see what I can do dad. I think I know someone who would help out. And he is a really good."

"Thank you baby. Give me a call if you find anything out."

"I will dad."

"Kathleen."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, dad. Give Bailey a hug for me and tell her that I love her and I am going to do everything I can to help."

"I will."

Elliot closed the phone and walked to the soda machine. He exhaled deeply and dropped a couple of quarters into it as he pressed the button. He leaned against the wall for a moment trying to think of what to say to Bailey when he saw her, but nothing came to mind.

He knew his little girl must be terrified right now. Arrested for murder and thrown in jail. Unsure of what her future holds. He knew this, because he was terrified as well. How on Earth could sweet little Bailey have gotten mixed up in something this horrible?"

Elliot walked to the room off the back of the bullpen where the holding cells were located. Olivia was sitting in a chair beside the cage that held their child as she attempted to comfort her. As Elliot approached Bailey looked up at him with her puppy dog eyes and her tear stained face. He had so many questions right now. He wanted to yell and cry and react to every emotion that was causing the rapid pounding in his chest. But none of that would help his daughter now.

"Hey baby," Elliot said kneeling beside his wife to kiss his youngest child through the bars of her jail cell.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry," the girl sobbed as tears streamed down her face.

Elliot could tell it broke her heart to think that she had disappointed her parents.

"It's okay baby," he said handing her a Diet Coke between the bars. "I called Kathleen and she is going to help find you a good lawyer. And before long we are going to get this whole mess sorted out."

"She can't be my lawyer?"

"She isn't really supposed to honey. Because you are family. But she is going to find someone really good," he said combing his fingers through her hair.

"Bailey, what happened?" Olivia asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Honey, you are going to have to. If we can't figured out how this went down then we cant build a defense for you. You will go to prison for killing that boy," Elliot said a bit harsher than he intended.

"Not now. I just don't want to talk about it."

"Bailey, they have evidence that proves you were there with that boy. Your finger prints are on the weapon that killed him. Baby, if you just talk to us we can help you," Elliot said staring her in the eye.

Bailey stood up and walked to the back of the cell taking a seat on the bench. She exhaled deeply and combed her fingers through her hair as she stared at the wall.

"You guys would never understand. No one will."

"Sweetheart, daddy and I are not going to be angry with you. We just need to understand what is going on here. You were at that party? Is that why you don't want to talk about it?"

"Yes," she said in a shaky voice. "I mean yes, I was at the party. But that isn't why I don't want to talk about it. I just don't, okay!"

"Not okay," Elliot snapped. "There are a lot of people here who have questions, Bailey. And so far we are not getting a lot of answers. Your mother asked you what happened and I suggest you answer her young lady!"

Bailey turned and stared at him with sorrow in her eyes, but didn't say a word. The room was quiet for a few moments and the silence was maddening Elliot.

"I can't," she replied softly pulling her knees to her chest as she stared at the sunlight through the barred window at the back of her cage.

"Damn it!" Elliot growled swiping up her empty soda can from the floor and throwing it hard against the wall. He stomped out of the room and back into the bullpen slamming the door behind him.

Bailey shifted her eyes to meet Olivia's in silence for a moment. "Daddy has never been this mad at me before," she said as tears of heartache welled up in her eyes.

"He isn't mad, baby. He's scared," Olivia said through her own tears. "We all are. But we love you. More than anything, we love you and we want to help you through this. We're sitting here watching this all happen and we can't do anything to help. Not unless you tell us the truth about what happened that night. You went to the party….did you sneak out?"

"Yes."

"And Aubrey?"

"I don't want to talk about Aubrey."

"Bailey, please tell me what you could have possibly done to make them think that you killed a boy!"

"I killed him, mom. I didn't mean to, but I did it. I am guilty. And maybe I should go to jail."

"Please tell me what happened."

"I can't," Bailey answered through tears. "I made a promise. And I wont betray that trust. I am sorry mom, but that is all I can say."

"Who are you protecting?"

Bailey shifted a bit on her bench and returned her attention to the window. Her side of this conversation was over.