Chapter 22

The next morning dawned and despite the nice weather, no one was smiling. Captain Duarte was dead. He had been hacked to death by multiple men, who wielded machetes, inside a bodega not far from his apartment. The leader of the Bronx Gangs unit could have only been killed by one group, BX9. They killed him to prevent him from testifying. Any witness left would not be willing to testify after hearing that the NYPD couldn't even keep one of their own safe. It was a perfect way to get the case against Oscar Papa put in jeopardy if not thrown out altogether.

Carisi had asked for the jury to be held out of a hearing prior to starting the case in court. The judge had allowed his request and it was just the defendant, his attorney, Carisi, the judge, and the court reporter in the courtroom. The ADA explained that they needed a continuance. Their star witness had been assassinated the previous night. Oscar Papa's lawyer had objected to the term, so Carisi explained what had happened. The judge frowned. He did not want to delay the trial, but the clear murder of an NYPD Captain in a case against one of the most dangerous drug dealers the city had seen in a while, was a set of circumstances that could not be ignored.

"Carisi was given twenty-four hours before the trial resumes," Rollins told her Captain inside her office.

"Good grief. You think you and Velasco can break Sacrilege today?" Olivia wanted to know.

"After this? BX9 went after you and then they killed Duarte, Bugbear, and Benny. Sacrilege, if he's heard about any of this, is going to clam up and he barely said much of anything anyway," Amanda shook her head. Olivia knew she was right.

"Then there is only one thing to do," the Captain said.

"Get the tapes of the prison phone calls and shove them down Oscar Papa's throat?" Rollins asked. It was not necessarily a question that needed an answer. The blonde slid her phone across the desk and pressed the "play" button.

"I got a problem," it was Oscar Papa.

"I know," the voice on the other end was not recognizable.

"Make sure you pick a public place to meet up with Duarte. We want to be sure that he can be seen," Oscar Papa said.

"I got just the spot," the other voice said. That was the end of the phone call.

"Well, it's not exactly a direct threat but he names an NYPD Captain who turned up dead in a public place only hours later," Olivia said.

"It's enough to see if he'll squirm," Rollins wasn't so sure that the BX9 leader would really roll over but in a court of law a jury would know what they heard.

"Call Carisi. I want a meeting with Oscar Papa at Rikers," Olivia told her. The blonde wasn't so sure that was a good idea, but she took her phone back and quickly made the call.

"He says he'll let us know. Meantime, I'll e-mail you the sound file," Rollins said. Her Captain just nodded.

"How are you?" The younger woman wanted to know. Olivia let out a breath. It was a loaded question but over the years they'd been together, the blonde had known how to get her superior officer to open up.

"This could mean that Noah could come home," Olivia was hopeful.

"True, but you're dodging me," Rollins didn't mince words.

"I… I told Elliot everything last night," the words were finally out in the open. Rollins let them sink in.

"How'd it go?" The blonde had a good idea how it went. She'd told her Captain, her friend, that she needed to go for it before. There was no way to know how exactly Elliot would react, but Rollins knew that the chances were the elder detective would say "no" were close to zero.

"It was going well and then…" Olivia gave her a look.

"You got the news," Rollins heaved a sigh.

"Yup," she let out a breath. On some level, she knew there would always be that call, whether it was a case or an officer in trouble or even her boss trying to chew her out. If Elliot continued his undercover work, there'd be times when they wouldn't even be able to be in contact. All of it, they'd dealt with before. It wasn't new, just the rhythm of their lives since they'd met each other.

"Well, you took the first step and not surprisingly, he was ready for it," Rollins teased her. Olivia shook her head and chuckled. She was about to say something else when the blonde's phone rang.

"You're on in an hour," Rollins said.

"Good. Let's end this," Olivia told her.

To Be Continued…