Chapter 26
"This has become a cluster," Sergeant Ayanna Bell frowned. She had invited Captain Benson and Detective Stabler down to the OCCB precinct. They were standing in her office after the two former partners brought her up to speed.
"I don't disagree," Olivia said.
"It's time to uncluster it, Sergeant," Elliot had a smirk on his face and his commanding officer gave him a look – a smirk of her own forming.
"Jett has something you should probably know," Ayanna told them. The three headed out to the young computer genius.
"So, Velasco forwarded me a last name for Luigi. Meet Luigi Cappelli. He's up to almost three hundred pounds and isn't getting around much anymore. Not sure he'll be much of a help," Jett explained as she showed the group what was on her computer screens. It seemed the former investigator was now living at an assisted living facility. While getting around must have been tough, Olivia figured that there were other medical issues they were not privy to.
"He still working for Taglietti?" Elliot asked.
"He's still getting healthcare through Taglietti's firm. Though I can't find a paycheck from them," Jett admitted.
"Why pay for a former employee's healthcare?" Olivia gave Elliot a look.
"To keep him quiet," he said.
"Bingo," Olivia had a smirk of her own.
"He's not going to roll over, just because you two show up and try your good cop, bad cop routine," Ayanna pointed out.
"I wouldn't expect him to. He got a record? Any outstanding warrants?" Elliot wondered.
"Unpaid child support. Since he has no income, his ex-wife hasn't been able to collect the money he owes her," Jett explained.
"Um you want to back that up? He has a minor child? How old is this guy?" Olivia gave the younger detective a look.
"Seems he likes his wives young. His last one is twenty years younger than he is. He's in his late sixties. Her son, however, turns twenty-one in a couple months. Problem is Luigi hasn't paid child support for the last five years," Jett explained. Elliot puffed out his cheeks letting out his breath.
"We can't even use the back child support against him. The unpaid child support can be sought out for twenty years after the date of default," Ayanna shook her head.
"How did he get so clean?" Olivia wanted to know.
"Oh, he's not. Luigi did time for mostly petty crimes but… there is a weird note in the file which I cannot understand," Jett admitted before using her index finger to point at the screen. The three elder detectives looked at it. The word "Lemon" appeared on the last arrest notes that Luigi had on his record.
"Well, that explains how he managed to never get pinched," Elliot chuckled.
"He was informing on people. You think Taglietti didn't know?" Olivia wondered.
"He was driving business to Taglietti. I think he didn't care," Ayanna couldn't help but shake her head.
"Why wouldn't he have been marked a CI then? I mean this term doesn't mean much to anyone," Jett was confused.
"This goes back to Logan's case. Kirkoff and Virgini were dirty cops. 'Lemon' was a way that one of their coworkers, Ralph Costanzo, would hide his informants. Ralph didn't mention it until he was retiring a few years later. He wanted to be sure his unit was clear of dirty cops first. The language was supposed to be cleaned up, but it looks like a few of the files got missed," Elliot told her.
"Why 'Lemon'?" The younger detective wanted to know.
"Because it would seem that Luigi soured on his cohorts. I guess it was used in the nineteen thirties and Costanzo figured none of his coworkers would figure it out," Olivia spoke up. Jett nodded and then sent the address of the assisted living facility. The Captain and her former partner headed out with well wishes from the Sergeant.
Once the two were in Olivia's SUV, Elliot reached out to Jamie and Bobby. Their response came quickly and he let them know that he received it. A comfortable silence existed for a few seconds before Olivia asked,
"All good?"
"All quiet on the western front," he confirmed. It was a long phrase for something that usually only required a one-word answer. She half wondered if he was just trying to avoid the silence between them. They had a lot to talk about and trying to make chitchat seemed a bit… idiotic was the only word that Olivia could come up with. There had once been so much between them and moments like these were mostly comfortable but now there was an edge to it. Silently, she wondered if that gap could be crossed. Elliot had come back into her life, something she did not expect, something she'd buried as 'never going to happen'. On some level, she knew that she had moved on but on some other level, fears that she had thought were gone had resurfaced.
"Liv, the light's green," his voice cut through her thoughts and she refocused on the road. The car moved as it should down the street once more.
"Where'd you go?" He could always read her like a book. Some things never changed.
"The mother in this case bothers me. She doesn't report her husband missing? Instead of protecting her daughter or her husband from her son, she sides with her son. A son who has proven himself to have some sort of mental issue. Why?" It wasn't entirely a lie, her thoughts, she just hoped it would satisfy her former partner.
"It's better to be the right hand of the devil, than in his path," Elliot said.
"So you can set him loose on unsuspecting women," Olivia frowned as she turned the car into the parking lot of the assisted living facility.
To Be Continued…