"What you got for us, Jet?" Elliot tried to keep his voice low, but Olivia began to stir at his side.
"Churlish and I just spent a couple hours
"Shouldn't they have those digitized," Olivia mumbled with her eyes still shut.
She kept her head against his chest and her eyes remained closed as she listened to the conversation. He chuckled lightly. "Ya hear that Jet?"
"Yeah…apparently the school has state of the art everything…except yearbooks."
"What'd you find?"
"At first nothing. The kid in the video is most likely Latino, and this school is so whitewashed I figured he would be an easy find."
"I'm guessing he wasn't."
"No. He looks like he might be fourteen. Churlish and I checked out 6th-10th grade in all somewhat recent yearbooks, but we struck out."
As much as Elliot liked a good backstory he really wanted her to get to the point. "What did you find, Jet?"
"The school has scholarship students, and I'll spare you all the details, but we found a kid who graduated last year who looked similar to our guy. We did a deep dive, and his neighborhood is prime real estate for BX9."
"Okay, but if he's what, like 19 then he's too old to be our guy."
"He's got a little brother…he didn't have the grades to get in here but…"
"Kid probably inherited the hand-me-down sweatshirt," Elliot deduced.
"That's what I'm thinking," Jet replied.
Olivia mumbled something unintelligible. Elliot bit back a laugh. Olivia was obviously somewhat coherent, even if she hadn't moved from her sleeping position against his chest. Problem was, she sounded stoned out of her mind.
"What?" Elliot chuckled.
Olivia's eyes remained closed but her brow furrowed. "I said to tell…" she paused like she forgot what she was talking about. She pressed her cheek harder into his chest and then finished her thought, "Take Churlish with you, and talk to the older brother. There's more hoops to jump through when interviewing the minor."
"You get that?" Elliot couldn't contain the humor in his voice. His gaze drifted to Velasco whose hand had slapped over his mouth in an attempt to avoid laughing out loud.
"Um yeah…" Jet sounded uncertain. "Is she okay?"
"Mmm fine," Liv mumbled, eyes still tightly shut.
Elliot glanced down once more and grinned. "Yeah she's good. She finally took some painkillers."
"Ah." Jet made a sound of enlightenment.
"She's right though. Start with the older brother and see what you can pick up from him. Hopefully, he gives us some info to help us talk to the kid."
-000-
"So sorry to hear about captain Benson, that's too bad. And her…not sure what he was actually. I heard he had an incident too."
"Yeah. Guess you know why we're here then," Fin wasn't interested in cutting through all the bullshit.
"I'm sorry about what happened, but the good captain and I worked out a little truce awhile back. This one isn't on me." Fin wanted to punch his arrogant grin.
Fin glanced over at Reyes who had his arms folded and his back pressed into the chair back. He seemed…calm, like he wasn't in the least bit stressed about being in a room with a sociopath. He seemed comfortable letting Fin take the lead and just watch.
He returned his attention back to Papa. "Look. Let's cut with the bullshit. We know it was one of your guys who shot at two cops."
Papa smiled, not intimidated in the least. "Seems like you have all the answers then." Fin knew this interview would be borderline useless. Papa wouldn't give anything up without the right leverage. This was about feeling out where he stood. Papa wasn't one to confess easily, but part of him wanted them to know it was him. They couldn't pin him down for anything and the message was clear. BX9 wasn't afraid of the cops, and Papa wouldn't tolerate disrespect.
Fin decided he needed to poke the bear a bit. He needed some sort of response from the guy. Even a minute one. "I'm just surprised you sent a kid to do your dirty work. Seems…weak…like you didn't have any men willing to do your dirty work." Fun chuckled. "Kid couldn't even get the job done."
Papa's lip twitched slightly. There. There was something. Fin had a hunch. He pushed a little further. "You didn't know?" He chuckled ruefully. "Guess your foot soldiers are runnin' a little rampant out there. Maybe you less control from the inside."
If there was one thing Papa couldn't tolerate, it was loss of control. He forced a grin. "Theoretically, who's to say things weren't done the way they were meant to."
Fin scoffed. "Well that's something. Seems like your crew might be softening. I can live with that." Fin continued to bait him. "I mean Duarte…that was precision. This?" Fin shook his head. "It's a damn mess."
Papa obviously knew what Fin was doing and sidestepped. "More reason to prove it wasn't my crew." He relaxed his position and Fin knew they were done.
He slapped his hands on the table and lifted himself from his chair. "Well I guess we'll keep lookin then. It appears someone else is looking for some recognition, and we gotta track them down." Fin gave Papa one last smile. "Sounds like you might need to watch your back."
Without another word he turned, and with Reyes on his heels they left the interrogation room.
"He's our guy."
"Of course he is."
"You want him to lash out." Fin nodded. The kid was quick on his toes that was for sure. "Think he's angry enough to make a mistake."
Fin shrugged. He hoped he had poked enough sore points, but time would tell if he had pushed enough. "We gotta watch their movements. Something's gonna happen. Hopefully, we got him angry enough to be messy."
Reyes let out a breath. "Think he'll come for you?"
They continued their brisk walk down the prison hallway. "Nah. I'm not a big fish. We will need to make sure Benson and Stabler have more security though. There's a chance he's gonna want someone to finish the job. He's gotta recover some of his street cred."
"Think he'll try something? Even after we came here? Wouldn't it be obvious that it was him?" Fin knew Reyes' questions were to glean from Fin's experience. He was trying to learn how someone like Papa worked.
"Yep," Fin answered firmly. "He's gotta save face. His crew didn't finish the job they were supposed to. Someone's ass is going to be kicked and then we're gonna see some retaliation."
Reyes pulled his phone from his pocket. He scrolled through his contacts and dialed. "I'll bring my Sarge up to speed and then you guys can figure out what our plan is."
"Perfect."
-000-
She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming of, but body felt tense. A familiar pair of lips pressed into her forehead and she felt more than heard the deep rumble of her name. "Liv." She flinched as her mind pushed away the dog of sleep. "Liv, baby, I need you to wake up."
His voice slowly dispelled the fog clouding her consciousness, and her eyes fluttered open. "Hey," he whispered.
"Hey," her voice held a dream like quality.
He reached his hand up to brush some stray hair out of her eyes. You were tensing up, and I didn't want to let you sleep…you know."
"Yeah." She closed her eyes again, and brushed her lips over his. "Thank you."
"I got you Liv. No matter what, I'm here." His forehead rested gently against hers, until a knock in the door pulled them apart.
The nurse in shift stuck her head through the door. "Hey guys," she said with a smile. "I need to get some numbers for you guys." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry Captain Benson, but I gotta move you back over. The doctor is making his rounds and he might not be thrilled with our arrangement," she smiled.
Elliot let out an exaggerated groan, and Olivia laughed. ""You'll be more than fine without me."
The nurse made her way over to the edge of the hospital bed and held Olivia's arm. Elliot gave her a little boost with his good arm and the nurse easily returned her to her bed. Olivia shuddered as the nurse pulled the cold sheets over Olivia's lap. Her body aches and she already missed the comfort Elliot's body provided.
Their nurse flit around, punching numbers into the tablet that laid cradled in her arm. "You guys are lookin pretty good. I don't think either of you will be stuck here too much longer." She pointed her pen at Elliot. "You might be a couple days, but I would guess the Captain can go home soon."
The excitement Olivia felt at the prospect of recuperating at home was dampened by the realization she would have to leave Elliot here. She turned her head, and could easily read the displeasure in his face. If the doctor thought they were going home separately, he had another thing coming. She was fairly certain that Elliot was building his argument and would be verbally combative.
The nurse's smile dropped and everyone's heads whipped towards the door as the door handle clicked.
-000-
Jet and Churlish approached the dorm room door with the number 86 on it. "This it?" Churlish clarified.
Jet glanced down at the information on her phone. "Looks like it."
With a nod Churlish knocked firmly on the door and waited. Somewhere from behind the door they heard the shuffle of feet and a TV turned off.
The door swung open and they were met with a clean cut 19 year old. He wore a white long sleeved shirt with a small logo where a pocket would be. It was the kid they were looking for. Marcos.
Jet pulled out her badge, "Got a minute for a couple questions?"
Marcos looked over his shoulder, and Jet could make out the shape of a girl with long dark hair.
"Uh yeah. Give me one second." Marcos left the door open and stepped back into his living room. They overheard a hushed conversation spoken in Spanish take place before Marcos stepped away from the couch and back towards the door. He motioned for the detectives to step into the hall and he closed the door behind him. He folded his arms and leaned against the now closed door. "What can I help you with, detectives?" His voice was calm, soft spoken.
Jet quickly pulled her tablet from her bag. "Uh yeah. We have a couple of questions about a kid that turned up in our investigation." Jet paused. "We want to find him before he gets hurt."
Marcos face blanched with dread. "Uh, how old?" He wiped his face nervously. "I have two little brothers. Diego and Luis."
"Is one of them like 14?" Jet held out the still photo taken from the security cam.
Marcos doomed in and tried to look closer, but unfortunately they couldn't do much more about the photo quality. Marcos swallowed deeply. "I can't say for sure, but I think that's Diego. He's thirteen. My other brother is much younger, not as tall." He nearly pressed his nose against the tablet glass as he looked closer. A strange look of recognition crossed his face. "That's my old hoodie." He lowered the tablet and his gaze jumped between the two women. "It's Diego." He handed the device back to Jet who promptly dropped it into her messenger bag. "Um," he shifted his weight. "What's going on…what has he gotten himself mixed up in now?"
-000-