| A Matter of Trust |
| By Monday morning, Lennie was getting really worried about Jack. He'd tried to call the attorney several times on Sunday, never getting an answer. He'd been forced to look a painful reality square in the face Saturday evening, and had rejected any offer of help. Lennie knew McCoy wasn't the kind of man who let people into his life easily, but he prayed that somebody would get through to him, somehow. Rey Curtis walked in and hung his suit coat on the back of his chair. "Morning, Lennie." The voice brought Briscoe out of his reverie. "Hey, Rey." His partner's voice sounded � sad. Rey came around to Lennie's side of the desk and perched on the corner. "How'd it go Saturday?" he asked softly. Lennie took a long drink of his coffee. "I was right. He � didn't take it well. He's hurt so bad, Rey." Curtis could see the pain in his partner's eyes, and reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "Did he give you anything to go on?" "Said he drove the guy to an apartment building about 5 blocks from the Palace. He's not sure he could find it again. Place was vacant. But he also said he only got about a block away before he collapsed. So I'm thinking we canvas around where he was found, see if there are any vacant apartments." Rey nodded. "So. You want to go bring the LT up to speed on this one?" "Yeah. I've got an idea how to get him, but she's not gonna like it." Rey raised an eyebrow, but for the moment just followed Lennie into Van Buren' office. Their boss looked up as they walked in. The long faces set off her alarm, as did the fact that Rey closed the door behind them. "All right, what's up with you two? You were on call over the weekend, weren't you?" Lennie nodded. "Yeah. Caught a bad one about 2AM Saturday. One Damiel Sandhu was beaten and raped within an inch of his life. He's still in ICU, they're not sure if he's gonna make it." "OK, so why do you two look like he was your best buddy?" "He's not the first victim. We've got a serial rapist on our hands." Anita was confused. "How do you know that?" Lennie bit the bullet. "He was found a couple of blocks away from the Jade Palace." Van Buren recognized the name. "Wasn't that the gay bar involved in the case with McCoy?" Lennie nodded. "The bartender there saw Sandhu leave, probably with our perp." He took the artist's sketch out of the folder and gave it to the LT. "Did you happen to hear about McCoy's run-in last weekend?" Van Buren was confused by the sudden change of subject. "I heard he was mugged, his motorcycle was stolen." Lennie sighed. "The bartender said the same suspect left the bar last weekend with McCoy." Anita's face visibly paled. Every woman worried at some time in her life about the possibility of rape. But men weren't prepared to deal with such things. "Dear lord �" "When I showed McCoy that drawing, he nearly passed out. I got him to admit what really happened, but he was really upset, and basically threw me out. I haven't been able to get ahold of him since then. I don't know how cooperative he'll be." Anita rubbed her eyes. It wasn't even 9AM, and already this day was looking bad. "Did you get any details at all?" Lennie nodded. "He said he drove the guy to a place about 5 blocks away from the bar, to a vacant apartment. When he left, he got about a block before he collapsed. So I'm thinking we canvass the nearby apartments, see if we can find a vacant one." Van Buren nodded. Lennie hesitated, then dove back in. "LT, I've got an idea on how to catch this creep. He goes after older men he picks up at the bar. So far, only on weekends. We know approximately what he looks like. I want to go undercover next weekend. Set myself up as his next victim. See if he takes me to a vacant apartment. From what Jack told me, I know what to expect. I wear a wire; if he starts in on me, Rey is just on the other side of the door. I don't think we can count on McCoy's testimony; I want to get him good to rights without it." Van Buren shook her head. "It's dangerous, Lennie. Let's see if you can turn up something on the location first. Have you checked to see if any other rapes have been reported in the area?" "Put in the request, but I have a feeling it's not gonna turn up anything. He counts on the fact that the men he targets are not going to risk outing themselves by reporting this." Van Buren sighed. "You're probably right, but still. In fact, check the whole city. If he's really a serial rapist, he may have done this before elsewhere and has just moved to new hunting grounds." The detectives nodded. Van Buren bit her lip. "OK, Lennie, you've got till the end of the week. If we don't have anything better to go on by the weekend, we'll try the undercover." Lennie nodded. "Thanks, LT." Anita watched as the detectives left her office. She didn't like at all the idea of Lennie going under cover. He wasn't as quick as he used to be. Oh, he was an outstanding cop; she'd trade half a dozen younger men for the knowledge hidden in Briscoe's mind. But undercover, that was different. And she had to admit, she had a special fondness for Lennie. His sense of humor had kept her going through some rough times in the past. She suddenly realized why this was so important to him. After the Travers case, he and the EADA had started hanging around together after work. Despite their differences, apparently the two had become friends. And Lennie's loyalty was one of the things Anita so admired about him. Reluctantly, she realized that he wouldn't give this one up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lennie and Rey spent the rest of the morning canvassing the area around where Jack had been found by the uniformed officers. They were closer to two blocks away when they found a possibility. "Yeah, 2C just moved in this weekend. Woulda been vacant last weekend." The super was a heavyset man in his 40's, dressed in work clothes. Lennie offered him the sketch. "You ever seen this guy? Goes by 'Dave.'" The super stared at the picture for a good long time. "I dunno. He looks kinda familiar, but I can't place it �" Lennie sighed and handed him his card. "If you figure it out, give me a call." "Yeah, sure." Rey was looking intently at the door jamb. "Lennie. Come here. Is that?" Curtis was staring at a dark brown stain on the white paint. Lennie leaned in for a closer look. "Blood?" "McCoy's face was bleeding from that cut, right?" Lennie nodded. "About the right height if he fell against the wall. We're going to need to get CSU out here. I hate to inconvenience your new tenants, but somebody may have been raped in that apartment before they moved in. You have any idea who would have a key?" The super looked queasy at the mention of rape. "The old tenants, and anybody they gave a key to. Didn't change the lock until the new folks moved in this weekend. Hey, do you hafta do the whole place? You ain't gonna find anything anyhow; the old tenants hired a cleaning service to come in after they moved out. They were here last Monday. Hey! I think that's where I mighta seen that guy before!" The detectives looked at each other, then back at the super. Lennie spoke. "You remember the name of the service?" The super's face scrunched up; he was really trying to remember, but finally he shook his head. "Sorry, I don't." "Can you get in contact with the old tenants and ask who they hired?" Super shook his head. "They left New York. Loaded up a truck and drove out of the city. Said they gave the post office a forwarding address, wanted the security deposit back before they left. Sorry." Lennie sighed, shaking his head with disgust. For a moment there it actually looked like a lead. Rey grinned. "Well, I guess we start calling every cleaning service in the city �" Lennie groaned, then hesitated. "Rey. Wait a minute. I was thinking 'Dave' took them to the same place. But this place was occupied this weekend, so Sandhu had to have been done somewhere else." "OK, he was hurt a lot worse than McCoy, probably didn't even get this far." They picked up the search where Sandhu had been found, and sure enough, just a couple of doors down was a vacant apartment. Unfortunately, the super was no where to be found. They were about to head back to the 2-7 when a little old lady poked her head out of the next door down. "You boys with the cleaning service too?" "Uh, no ma'am, we're police." Lennie flashed his badge as he glanced at Rey. "Was the cleaning service here earlier?" "Made so much noise! That carpet cleaner ought to be outlawed!" //so much for CSU � // Lennie's eyes rolled; they couldn't have gotten here a little sooner! "Did you happen to notice the name of the service, ma'am?" Rey asked politely. "Oh, no, officer, I'm sorry." "Can you tell us who lived there?" "Raymond Nastri. Although it should have been Nasty. Good riddance to that one!" "Do you know where he moved to?" She shook her head. "The super might know. He'll be back in a couple of days. Family emergency in Jersey" The partners looked at each other in exasperation and thanked the witness, heading back toward the car. Back at the 2-7, Lennie handed off the blood sample they'd collected to forensics. It should be an easy matter to compare it to McCoy's, which would confirm the location. But first they had to get a sample from the EADA. With more than a little trepidation, Lennie dialed Jack's direct line. Almost immediately, it rolled over to the secretary's desk. "Mr. McCoy's office." "Yeah, hi, this is Detective Lennie Briscoe from the 2-7. Is McCoy around?" "I'm sorry, detective, he called in sick today. Can I forward your call to Ms. Ross?" The news shook Lennie. Jack, not going to work? Work was his shield against the real world. This was bad, very bad. "Uh, no, thanks �" Lennie hung up, more worried than ever. The detectives spent the afternoon calling cleaning services, working their way through the list alphabetically. It was tedious, and Lennie's heart just wasn't in it. He almost jumped when his phone rang. "Briscoe." "Detective, this is Adam Schiff." Lennie was shocked; why was the DA calling him? "Uh, yes sir. How can I help you?" "Lt. Van Buren came over this afternoon to personally brief me on the case you're working on. I believe there are some facts which she is not aware of � which I would like to discuss with you personally. Could you come over to my office?" Lennie's blood ran cold. // He knows. // He'd been glad Rey had followed his lead and not mentioned his involvement with McCoy to Van Buren. But apparently the D.A. knew. Lennie knew Jack was close to his mentor; he guessed it wasn't entirely surprising that the man knew. Somehow he found his voice. "Uh, yes sir. When?" "Now, if it's convenient." "Of course, sir. I'll be right over." As he hung up the phone, Rey looked over at him across their desks. "OK, who's high up enough to get the 'sir' treatment?" Lennie took a deep breath. "Schiff. Wants to talk to me about the case. LT briefed him this afternoon, since his 'golden boy' is involved." Rey shook his head. "Whew. You think he knows?" Lennie nodded. "I'd better head over there. Might as well get this over with." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adam Schiff sat in his office, clutching a glass of scotch. He'd needed it to calm his nerves after Van Buren told him what had apparently happened. He'd been worried when Jack called in sick this morning; Jack usually buried his personal problems in his work. It had to be pretty bad for him not to seek out that refuge. Raped. Dear lord. Adam couldn't even begin to imagine what his friend had gone through. He'd known there had to be something more to last weekend's events, but this? He looked up at the knock on the door and waved Briscoe in. The detective closed the door behind him. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Schiff?" Schiff grunted, waving toward a chair. Luckily he remembered Briscoe was a recovering alcoholic before offering him some of the scotch. He put the glass aside and looked at the man who had so shaken up Jack's life. Certainly not what he'd consider a handsome man; but then who knew what Jack thought about that? He certainly didn't. And wasn't sure he wanted to. But the thing that immediately struck Schiff was the look in the detective's eyes. Jack had said Briscoe was the one who had fallen in love, not him. Looking into those eyes now, Adam realized he'd been at least partially right. There was fear there, certainly not knowing what the DA was going to say, but also something else. Pain, as if he felt everything Jack had been through. "Detective, relax. I know about your relationship with Jack. I can't really say I understand, but I accept it." Lennie managed to relax a little at those words. "What, uh, did you want, then?" "You talked to him this weekend. Got him to admit what happened." Lennie nodded. "How was he?" Lennie heard the concern in the older man's voice. "Not good. He's hurting real bad, both physically and emotionally. But he's drawing into himself. He can't stand to be touched." Lennie looked up at the DA. "Sir, I think you know I do care about him an awful lot. Things got tense there between us for a while, but believe me I never stopped caring. I want so much to help him through this, but he won't let me. I � I don't know what to do." Adam knew then that there had been a special bond growing here, and realized that it had been Jack who had cut it off. "He always pushes people away, Detective. Claire Kincaid was the only one who ever really got through." Briscoe nodded. "I � I feel kind of responsible, though. He told me �" Lennie's voice trailed off. He swallowed hard, and started talking again. "He saw me at the bar that night with somebody else. He got mad and ran off with the first guy who caught his eye." "So much for his assertion that you were 'old news.'" Briscoe looked up, confused. "What do you mean?" "He tried to tell me that it was over between you two, that you had fallen in love but he hadn't. I knew then that he was lying to himself. Don't blame yourself, Detective. Jack's own stubbornness is more responsible than you'll ever be." Schiff reached for the abandoned glass of scotch, and took a drink. "What about the case? Will he testify?" Lennie shook his head. "I don't know. After he told me the details of what happened, he threw me out and I haven't been able to talk to him since then." Schiff sighed. "Let me talk to him. Maybe I can get through that thick skull." Lennie nodded. "I'd feel better just knowing that somebody who cares about him has talked to him." The DA raised an eyebrow, and nodded. Briscoe obviously knew the score on his end as well. Jack McCoy wasn't just his 'golden boy,' top prosecutor and heir apparent. He was like a son. "Thank you for coming by, Detective. I'll see what I can do with our 'problem child.'" Lennie stood and shook the man's hand. "Thank you, sir." As he walked toward the door, Schiff spoke one last time. "Briscoe? If he needs you, will you be there for him?" Lennie paused and looked back at Schiff. "If he lets me, yeah. I'll be there." The DA grunted and went back to his work. After Briscoe left, he picked up the phone, buzzing for his secretary. "Marian, get Dr. Olivet on the line for me, will you?" Continue on to Chapter 21 Send me some Feedback Back to the Story Index Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I'm just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Chapter 20 |