Chapter 14
Carisi was let into the apartment by the patrol officer outside the door. Once he'd gotten the call from Fin, he hurried down to meet him as quickly as possible. Still, the ADA was worried that all the evidence seized in the apartment.
"So how bad is it?" Carisi asked as he was met by the detectives in the living room.
"Well, we found women's clothing and a second toothbrush. Casey didn't say that he had a live-in girlfriend. The warrant said that we could look for hidden weapons and money but we weren't planning on finding what we found," Fin explained.
"There's no pictures of her though," Bruno spoke up.
"So, we can't confirm that there is a woman, other than by the clothing, and maybe the toothbrush," Carisi said.
"Right," Fin said.
"What about the landlord? Is there another name on the rental agreement?" The former cop asked.
"Churlish is shaking him from his afternoon TV as we speak," Bruno explained.
"Ok, if there is only Casey's name on the lease, and since he did not tell us there was another person living here, we should be in the clear. The person living here didn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy since we were acting in good faith," Carisi figured.
"I certainly hope so because that gun we found certainly opens a can of worms," Fin said.
"Right because we were looking for knives. Why have a knife if you have a gun?" The ADA nodded.
"Something is really off but is Ben lying?" Bruno wondered.
"What for? He has no record and if he was going to frame his boss, wouldn't he do it a little better? Ben would know that his fellow gravediggers would notice how sloppy things were at poor Mrs. Bernardini's plot," Carisi gave him a look.
"And he would have brought up the knife thing when we first questioned him. If you're framing someone, you don't wait to spill the beans you've been prepping," Fin said.
"So why would Casey lie about a girlfriend?" Carisi wondered.
"Because as far as anyone can tell, the girlfriend doesn't exist. The landlord made a copy of the rental agreement. No one is on it, but Casey Barreto," Churlish handed over the rental agreement to the ADA. Carisi made a face as he read the agreement.
"We haven't ruled out another option…" Bruno let the thought hang there.
"What option is that?" Churlish asked.
"What if Casey likes to cross-dress?" Fin wondered.
"Doesn't explain the second toothbrush, but it does explain the clothing and no photos. Might even explain the knives and the gun," Carisi nodded.
"I think it's time to go talk to Casey again," Bruno said.
"You go. Churlish and I will wrap things up with forensics here,"
"I'm coming with you," the ADA told the newest Manhattan SVU detective. That's when his phone rang. Fin looked at Bruno as they watched Carisi's face fall.
"What's up?" Fin asked when the call was over.
"Seems Detective Klass and her dog Betty stumbled onto another body. This one is an adult female buried in an abandoned lot," Carisi heaved a sigh.
"Geez," Bruno shook his head.
"Do they need you?" Churlish asked.
"No, they just wanted to update me. Come on Bruno, let's go see if Casey knows anything about that gun or the ladies' clothes. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll confess to the body in the lot," the ADA said.
"Either that or the guy who Klass and Gonzales were tracking down knows a little too much," Fin figured.
"We'll get these guys. I just hope that we do it before we find another body," Bruno said.
To Be Continued…