Chapter 8
"So how bad is it?" Fin asked as he and Velasco walked back into the precinct. Benson, Klass, Bruno, Huang, and Rollins were all looking at the board which had pictures of the men on parole and now Drew Hurley.
"It's not great. TARU is looking for any cameras in the area of the shooting otherwise we have a few witness statements and that's about it. Captain Hoffman was more than happy to sift through Drew Hurley's desk for us and promised to give us an update. CSU and Melinda are working the scene and Melinda promised an update as soon as she can. We do have the preliminary though," Olivia started.
"Hope I didn't miss too much," Elliot announced his presence. He was coming in behind Fin carrying a couple of pizza boxes, which he set down on the nearest desk. While the questioning of Akiko had been going on, the OCCB detective had stepped out to handle a few things and figured that none of the people in the precinct had thought about lunch.
"You brought back pizza – all is forgiven," Rollins chuckled before heading to the break room to grab plates and napkins.
"I hope so. The talk with Akiko go well?" Elliot asked.
"She told us that Drew Hurley's boss is a piece of work. Seems he likes to encourage sexual harassment and even cheated on his wife with his secretary," Velasco spoke up.
"Get his picture up here," Olivia told him. The younger man nodded and went to his computer. Soon a picture of Marty Hutchinson was on the board as well.
"Are we sure this all fits together?" Klass wanted to know. That's when Rollins reentered the bullpen and put the plates next to the pizza.
"Well first things first – we need to see if any of our lovely parolees knew Drew Hurley. I want someone on Bryan Willard, even though you ruled him out. Of course, same goes for Clinton Rein and Dylan Jovin," the Captain announced.
"I'm on it," Bruno offered.
"Did we rule out those last two as maybes targeting Klass?" Elliot asked.
"While you were gone – Clinton Rein was picked up the day after Akiko was attacked. Needless to say, his parole was violated when they caught him peeing in a fountain in Central Park," Olivia filled him in.
"Lovely, but that doesn't totally rule him out," Elliot shook his head.
"Agreed – especially if the murder of Drew Hurley has nothing to do with the attack on Akiko. Dylan Jovin is still out there somewhere so he's in the mix for sure," Olivia said.
"He threatened me and Jared when he got sent upstate. Guy was full of rage. We had a DNA match. I never understood what his issue was," Klass spoke up.
"Well, Jet found something that I think we need to look at," Elliot finally announced.
"Holding out on us huh Stabler?" Fin asked.
"I wanted to double check with her before I brought it up. Akiko's presence online shows that we don't know all about her," the OCCB detective admitted. He went to the folder that he'd brought with him and the pizza. He tacked a photo to the board.
"So, Akiko left that out when we talked to her," Fin shook his head.
"She has a Sugar Babyz account?" Klass was very confused.
"I have Jet doing a further dive into it. Akiko doesn't seem the type and she isn't flashing money around or anything like that. We have some blurry camera footage showing someone dragging what looks like Akiko into the alley. There doesn't appear to be anything they could have used to assault her though. Regrettably, if you're hoping for a positive ID, that's going to take a bit. That new fancy AI thing that Jet and Vargas like to use is trying to clean it up," Elliot told them.
"This opens a whole new avenue of investigation," Olivia ran her hand down her face.
"I think we have distinct crimes here. Drew Hurley was obviously a predator, but he was only leaving notes. Nothing where he had to confront the person he was looking to harass. I doubt Akiko is his first victim. Someone else probably had a grudge," Huang finally voiced his opinion.
"Agreed. This seems incredibly ballsy for the middle of the day. Especially since the bullet went into the back of his head," Elliot said.
"Someone walked up to him, got as close as possible, and fired. They had to have brain matter and blood on them," Fin frowned.
"The witnesses seem to agree on only one thing – they saw Drew fall. No one was running away. It almost seems like a hit if it wasn't so crazy," Rollins spoke up.
"The person who wrote on the apartment walls wants confrontation and isn't afraid to try and provoke it by hurting people around Detective Klass. While the violence of Akiko's assault would indicate a level of rage, we also have to factor in the fact that it's a controlled rage," Huang continued.
"What do you mean?" Klass asked him.
"If the intention was to just rough Akiko up, our attacker could have done so right out in the open. Instead, they whack her on the head, drag her into an alley, and then do not use any part of their own body to assault her. It's even possible that the person had left something in the alley to use, at an earlier time, rather than carrying it with them. The fact that little to no forensics was left means there is a level of intelligence and knowing exactly who they are dealing with. I'm not sure missing you at the apartment was a mistake," the forensic psychiatrist explained.
"We didn't find the weapon. Could have tossed it in a dumpster somewhere," Bruno said as he went to the printer. He had some information.
"Akiko having a Sugar Babyz account could explain why she was coming home so late," Elliot noted. It was almost ten pm when Akiko was attacked. The homeless man who found her had been looking for a place to sleep. Detective Klass hadn't gotten the call about Akiko until the early morning hours. The detective had still been at the precinct catching up on paperwork, which was why she'd missed the person who was looking for her.
"I need to process this," Klass sat down and Betty came up to her and put her head in Klass' lap.
"Bryan Willard would seem to have no connection to Drew Hurley or Akiko's work. Same goes for Clinton Rein," Bruno announced as he approached the board, a piece of paper in his hand.
"What about suspect number three?" Olivia asked.
"Dylan Jovin is a cousin of Drew Hurley," Bruno stuck what appeared to be a family photo to the board. A group of people were bunched together posing for the shot.
"Where did you find this?" Elliot wanted to know.
"I did a quick internet search to see if Drew Hurley's name popped anywhere. People really need to learn to change their privacy settings on Facebook. He was tagged in this photo. Tell me the guy on the end isn't Dylan Jovin," Bruno pointed to the person in question.
"Somone must have forgotten to tell the rest of the family they have a sexual predator in their midst," Velasco said.
"You confirmed they were cousins?" Olivia asked.
"Dylan has an emergency contact in his file for a Fiona Hurley – Drew's mother," Bruno said.
"I think it's time we pay poor Mrs. Hurley a visit. Has she been called into identify her son's body?" Elliot wanted to know.
"No, but the news of her son's death was broken to her by the local precinct," Olivia said.
"You think that Dylan killed his cousin or that he is the one who hurt Akiko?" Rollins asked.
"We won't find out until we talk to Mrs. Hurley," Elliot figured.
To Be Continued…