#dowland

“Morning.” You groaned, wincing at the sunlight pouring in through the windows.

“Mornin’.” Carisi replied, his brow furrowing in distaste at the darkened marks on your skin.

“It’s not that bad.” You assured him, “I’ll be able to cover it with make up.”

“Looks like it hurts.” He commented, pulling down a bottle of Tylenol and sliding a glass of water over to you.

“Thanks.”

“Hey, don’t let that ruin your stomach.” He handed you a toasted bagel, complete with gourmet cream cheese.

“Thanks.” You mumbled over the pill, “you alright if I take this to go? I don’t wanna be late.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ve got an arraignment to get to anyway.” You nodded, swiftly calling a car and slipping back into your shoes.

“And Sonny?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we…keep this between us? At least for now?”

“I’m not gonna rat ya out to your wife.”

“Thank you.” You pulled open the door, only half hearing what he asked next.

“Hey…uh…how much older than you is Rita?”

“Eight years!” You called back as you disappeared into the hallway, hurrying down the stairs to jump into the car.

*

Once back at your apartment, you darted out of the car, halting only when the doorman called out to you.

“Ms Winters!”

“Yeah?” You stalled, turning back to him, noticing he was digging through his podium.

“This got dropped off for Ms Calhoun about an hour ago.” He handed you an unmarked Manila envelope, “she’s already left for the day and I don’t want it sitting here overnight, figured it was something important.”

“Thanks Robert.”

You shot him a warm smile and completed your race into your apartment. At least with the confirmation of Rita being gone already you didn’t have to tip toe around. Tossing the envelope onto the island you kicked off your shoes, traipsing down to the bedroom to jump in the shower and then pull on some work appropriate clothes, gathering everything you needed. You grabbed a blazer that covered up the mark on your collarbone, hoping the bruising on your neck wouldn’t get any worse, and did what you could to cover up the bruise on your temple with makeup. Clipping your shield and gun onto your belt, you pulled on the blazer, half jogging out to the kitchen.

You’d been home just long enough to brew a coffee, dumping it into a to go mug, as you took your first sip your eyes landed on the envelope. Curiosity got the best of you and you picked it up, flipping it around in your hands. It was completely unmarked, Rita wasn’t currently working any cases in your department, and you figured if it was work related it would’ve been delivered to the firm instead. You slid your fingers through the seal, gently opening it and dumping its contents out onto the island.

It took a minute before you even realized what you were looking at, your head tilting in confusion as you flipped a few of the pieces over.

“Oh my God..”

You couldn’t help the instinctual response to clasp your hand over your mouth as tears began to prick into your eyes. It was a pile of photos, while the quality wasn’t the best, it was pretty damn easy to make out what was happening. The boys had documented Rita’s assault, a ploy to keep her quiet you assumed. Some of them showed arms pinning her down, holding back her arms while another boy raped her, ensuring that she couldn’t fight back.

What you hadn’t thought of was that this was more than just a sexual assault. In another reminder of why she should keep her mouth shut they’d clearly beaten her, red marks and forming bruises littered across her body. You shoved them back into the envelope, unable to to look at the pain on her face any longer and that, was when you found the note.

‘You better not be getting any ideas. Don’t forget I have these.’

It was unsigned, but you had more than a hint of a feeling of who it was from. After talking with Chip last night he must’ve felt like he needed to give a little reminder to keep his victims quiet. The question was, how many other stops did he make. The fact that he’d managed to track down your address gave you the chills and you made a mental note to get a squad car posted outside for good measure.

Grabbing the envelope you nearly forgot your coffee, locking the apartment and jogging down the stairs, bursting out the front door before Robert could even get it opened for you.

“Who dropped this off?” You asked breathlessly and he shrugged.

“Looked like he was homeless.”

“I need that security tape.”

“Of course Ms Winters.” He nodded and you followed him back into the entryway where the little office was located. He knew you were a police sergeant, and that Rita was a lawyer, there was no issues of him handing over something you wanted in his mind.

“Thank you.” Giving him a quick smile you tossed the flash drive into the Manila envelope and jogged down to the car. At this point, you were just trying to not be late, you could dig into this a little more once you were at work.

You didn’t even bother stopping at your desk, simply giving Olivia a little wave so she would acknowledge that you weren’t skipping out on work. You unlocked the conference room you’d been working in and set to work tracking down contact information for Richard and Jonathon. Neither of them were in the system for anything, and after your interaction the night before, you were sure Chip had to be the instigator in all of this. If you could at least try to get their statements, convince them into testifying, it would help the case one hell of a lot to prove that Dowland had been turning a blind eye to violent sexual assaults for decades.

It didn’t take long for Sonny to pop up in the room, settling in to help you out while he was between court appearances. You briefly asked about the arraignment and he mentioned that the judge went for the higher bail, much to his pleasure.

“Hey…can I grab your copies of the lists?” He asked.

“Yeah.” You dug the folder they were in out and slid it across to him. Sonny flipped through it quickly and let out a heavy sigh, “what?” You asked, actually looking up from your laptop.

“Ya know, I like to dabble in photography…I can tell this list is shopped. I get that she works for the defence, but wouldn’t she want to help out your case? At least make a statement?”

“What’re you talking about?”

“This list,” he held up Rita’s year, “is eight years before the year you graduated.” He held up the list with your name on it, “Calhoun brought us the first Dowland case ‘cause she went to Dowland with Abby’s Mom. Or is this some kinda conflict because she’s Gallagher’s attorney?”

“You’re grasping at straws Carisi.”

“Really?” He cocked a brow, “then why’d your shoulders tense up the second I asked? You’re awfully fidgety right now. You remember I used to be a detective, right?”

“Yeah. I do.” You huffed, trying to make a conscious effort to stop your ticks from giving anything else away.

“Okay, so what are tha other names you photoshopped out?”

“There are no other names.” You mumbled, your eyes back on your computer screen.

“Would ya work with me on this Sarge? Or are you butt hurt because this is how ya found out she used to date men?”

“She never dated a man.”

“Okay, so a couple nights of experimental sex then? Is that why she took Gallagher pro-bono? Old flame from high school?”

“No.” You stated firmly, “the only reason she took him on as a client was ‘cause he was blackmailing her.”

“What?” Sonny’s brow scrunched.

“I didn’t know until this morning.” You dug the Manila envelope from your bag, tossing it across the table, “this got dropped off at our apartment.”

“Oh fuck..” he muttered as he sifted through the photos and the note, “this is…”

“Rita…yeah…” you tried to blink back the tears threatening to pool in your eyes, “she has no idea I know.”

“She never told you?” Carisi’s expression was one of bewilderment as he looked up at you and you shook your head.

“I was like…ten when it happened, that’s not exactly a conversation you have with a kid.” You let out a shaky breath as he slid the envelope back to you so you could tuck it back into your bag, “please don’t bring this up to anyone else or put it in the case file yet. I need to talk to her before dragging her into this fucking dumpster fire.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, “that’s why you went to Gallagher first?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna track down the other two boys this afternoon, see if they’ll confirm my hunch that Chip was the instigator, hopefully they’ll testify.” You pushed back from the table, “I’ll be back in a minute. You want another coffee?”

“Please.”

Carisi watched as you ducked out of the room, the pit in the bottom of his stomach heavier than it had been when he’d first gotten to the precinct. You slipped into the bathroom, giving yourself a moment to calm down, shifting back into work mode. The last thing you needed was somebody else thinking there was something wrong.

Refreshed you headed out into the bull pen, hitting up the coffee station. As you were adding creamer into your cup you heard the heels on the linoleum and from just the sound you knew it was Rita, and that she was not impressed.

“What’re you doing here?” You muttered, your eyes still on the coffee as you picked up the mugs in one hand, starting to walk back to the conference room.

“Wondering why in the hell one of my clients was waiting for me outside my office this morning wanting a cease and desist against you.” Rita snapped and you sighed, taking the blue paper from her in your free hand.

“Nice try, but last time I checked my last name isn’t VanRiel.”

“Oh don’t act like I don’t know it was your UC name in narcotics.”

“Rita..” you turned as you placed the coffees down on the table.

“What the hell were you doing talk”— her hand suddenly shot out, you caught Carisi out of the corner of your eye jumping to his feet, thinking she was about to hit you. Instead her voice softened as her hand gently cupped at your chin, turning your face to the side. “What the fuck happened?”

“Perp got one in on me. I’m fine.” You shrugged, technically, it wasn’t a lie. Rita raised a suspicious brow to you, but let it slide.

“You should put some ice on it.” Her hand trailed down from your face, pausing as she shifted the collar of your shirt, the indentation there catching her eye, “jesus…sweetheart you need to be more careful.”

“I’ll keep a better eye out next time.” You sighed as she smoothed down the lapel of your shirt, fixing the collar swiftly.

“You want to tell me why you were talking to Gallagher now?”

“Rita…he went to Dowland…he’s on a list, and he’s got a conviction for sexual misconduct, what was I supposed to do, ignore a lead?” You asked while you moved around the table, dropping down into your chair.

“No. But considering you didn’t identify yourself as NYPD and you spoke to him without his attorney present…you know better.”

“And we both know he wouldn’t have given me a word aside from ‘lawyer’ if I’d gone in with a badge.”

“Well think twice next time.” Rita pursed her lips as she surveyed you, “a lot of these men were pigs when they were teenagers, they’ve just grown into worse versions of themselves. I don’t want you coming home with a broken arm one of these days.”

You nodded, opening your mouth to say something before you paused, her words bringing back a memory that you knew you could use as your way in.

“Rita…”

“What?” She huffed, turning back around from the doorway.

“How’d you break your arm?”

“What?” Despite her move to try and play it cool you saw the panic flash through her eyes.

“The summer after you graduated, Mom was supposed to drive you out to the Hamptons with us right after exams were done, but you didn’t show up til mid July…with a cast.”

Her eyes darted between you and Carisi, the open yearbooks scattered across the table and the photocopies of the lists, she felt her heart jump into her throat. You were a trained detective, you were smart enough to try and piece things together even if her name didn’t happen to be on a list you’d found.

“I thought I told you. Drunk at a grad party, tripped down some stairs.” She shrugged and your head tilted in disbelief.

“Rita…” her eyes shifted between you and Sonny once more.

“I am not having this conversation right now. I’m due in court in twenty.” Her tone was clipped, her annoyed attorney voice slipping in before she turned on her heel and fled from the precinct.

You groaned out, dropping your head to the table, wincing at the added pain from your injury.

“We’ll get ‘em.” Carisi assured you and you looked up, flicking the blue paper toward him.

“Yeah well, now I can’t go anywhere near Gallagher.” He picked up the folded paper, flipping it open and scanning the document.

“Except that this is null.”

“Huh?”

“She filled it out Y/N VanRiel…”

“Rita’s not an idiot, she knew it was me, why would she do that?”

“Because maybe she wanted it to be void?” Sonny suggested and your brow scrunched, “she know’s you’re running point on this case, maybe she wants you to go after Gallagher, take him down for what he did to her and who knows how many other women.”

“Hmmm…”

“Listen, I know ya know her a helluva lot better than I do. But she really wasn’t herself working the Gallagher case. Usually when evidence gets brought into the game late that’s not in her favour she gets that…” his hands flailed as he tried to find the right word.

“Calhoun glare?” You offered with a grin.

“Yeah. ‘Cept on this one? She almost seemed relieved to know that he didn’t stand a chance.” You chewed on your lip for a moment, looking over the document, the parts that were hand written were in her hand writing, it was signed by her.

“You really think she did this on purpose?”

“Dunno.” He shrugged, “but unless she serves you with another one with your legal name on it, you can do whatever you want to Gallagher.”

“Suppose you’re right Counsellor.” You practically smirked across the table at him.

“You said you were meetin’ with those other boys this afternoon?”

“Yeah.”

“How ‘bout I come with you? Give them a little bit more motivation to get them to tell the truth, come clean about what happened and the going ons in the school.”

“You up for a field trip?”

“I’ve been in this from the start, haven’t I?”

Sonny shot you a small smile, he knew that this case had already been dragging you down, and with every development you found you seemed to be unearthing something worse about your wife. He didn’t want you to have to deal with that all on your own, and at least this way if something happened and you had to recuse, you’d have a second signature on all the paperwork verifying that you hadn’t broken any rules.

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