"Holy shit."
"What is it Mike?"
"We meantioned to the O'Connors about Charlie
Collins."
"What of it Mike?"
"Well don't you think they got a bit up
set when we told them that Christine may have been involved in
the murder."
"Yeah, you're right."
"You know maybe we should check out the
O'Connors and see where this Charlie Collins fits into their
lives."
"Sounds good Mike, but let's get to it tomorrow.
It's getting late."
"Okay Lenny, I'll see you in the morning.I'm
going to stick around for awhile and work on this some."
"Suit yourself Mike,but pal get some sleep
tonight." Mike gave his partner a nod. Sleep was the furthest
thing from his mind. Even though exhustion
had been taking it's tole on him, he hated to sleep. He
couldn't erase the demon that would visit
him in his sleep.
It was almost 2 am before Mike decided to
pack it in for the night. Instead of going home he went into
the locker room upstairs and crashed on
the cot. At least it wasn't home and maybe he could sleep
there.
It wasn't long before Mike had him in his
dreams again. The Hotel, Father Joe, the despicable acts
were all there as well as him, a 12 year
old boy.
Father Joe was holding Mike's nude body close
to his chest. He stroked Mike's hair as he spoke.
"You're going to be okay Mikey. I will never
let anything happen to you. I promise. I love you son. You
do know that don't you?"
The tears rolled down Mike's face. He couldn't
make a sound, all he could muster was a nod. He was
too terrified to do anything else. This
was the man his parents cherrished and loved and until now, this
moment in Mike's life, so did he.
"Now son, wipe away your tears. I promise
it won't hurt so much the next time. Now you go into the
bathroom, get cleaned up and dressed."
Mike got off the bed and on shakey legs
he entered the bathroom and locked the door. He looked at his
reflection in the mirror. Shock and horror
stared back at him along with his pal Billy.
"See, Mikey." Billy laughed.
"It wasn't that bad now was it? Just think
of all the things that Father Joe can do for us ..."
Mike awoke with a start at the sound of
the locker room door opening.
"Are you Okay Pal? You look like hell."
Came the sound of Lenny's voice. Mike sat on the edge of the
cot with sweat dripping from his body.
Lenny was right about his decision to turn
around and check up on his partner. He was silently debating
between going home and minding his own business
or returning to the 2-7 to talk with Mike.
It was EADA Jack McCoy of all people that
made him decide to extend help to Logan. Jack was in the
middle of his fourth scotch when Lenny entered
the pub. "How's it going counselor?", he greeted the
obviously tipsy DA.
"Lenny Briscoe, nice of you to join me. Can
I buy you a scotch?", McCoy asked. When Briscoe
declined and asked for ginger ale instead
he remarked, "Thought so. Is Det. Logan coming?"
"Nah, he's burning the midnight oil at the
precinct as we speak. We got this case that doesnt want to go
away." Briscoe answered.
"Ahh....The O'Connor/Collins Homicide. Any chance the case will be on my desk soon?"
Humorlessly he answered, "Well, if Logan
keeps working late, you'd have your suspect at the end of
this week."
McCoy nodded. With a far away look in his
eyes he told Briscoe, "When I was a kid, I used to pray for
my old man to work late every day so he
wouldn't come home and beat the crap out of me and my
mother. Even now, everytime I go home, I
could almost see him coming in my room with that big belt."
Briscoe knew then Mike's reason for working
late is the same reason why the man beside him is
drinking himself to a stupor. With one swig,
he finished his ale, placed a hand on McCoy's shoulder to
bid him goodbye. It was 2 a.m., he took
a chance that Logan was still at the station.
Back at the 2-7, the sound of pained moaning
was emanating from locker room. Lenny rushed in and
found Logan in the throes of his nightmare.
The sound of the locker room door opening woke him.
"Are you Okay Pal? You look like hell." Came
the sound of Lenny's voice. Mike sat on the edge of the
cot with sweat dripping from his body. He
looked at Lenny with pained eyes, brimming with tears. He
still felt like he was 12 years old and
very scared. Mike couldn't stop his body from shuddering.
Lenny picked up a towel and gave his partner
his jacket. "Hey, its okay, Mike. Breath deeply. you got
to stop working so late. Come on, I'll take
you home."
"I don't want to go home, Lenny. I'm afraid...", Logan admitted with shame.
"My sofa is a lot better than this bench,
Mike. You can crash at my place tonight."
The drive to Lenny's apartment was quiet.
Mike never spoke a word and just stared out the window.
Lenny knew what the problem was, it was
Krolinsky's. Ever since he and Mike arrested the man and
he was tried and convicted. Mike wasn't
the same. Lenny had believed during the investigation that
Mike was one of the boy's Krolinsky had
abused, but Mike never admitted it to anyone. Lenny knew
the pain ran deep inside of Mike and it
would have to be Mike that faced the evil beast in order to begin
to heal.
Lenny looked over at Mike just as he pulled
into his spot at the apartment building.
"We're here Pal." Mike shook his head at
the sound of Lenny's voice.
"What did you say Lenny?"
"Come on Mike. Lets get inside. It's cold
outside." Mike offered a nod and followed his partner inside.
The apartment was about the size of a shoe
box, but it suited Lenny considering he was only here to
sleep.
"Well you know where everything is Mike.
Just help yourself and if you need anything and can't find it,
just ask." Again Mike nodded to Lenny, then
he headed into the bathroom.
Closing the door behind him, Mike looked
at the stranger in the mirror. The memories, the scene in the
Hotel room were still there in his head,
just like an ongoing movie that wouldn't stop playing over and
over again. He couldn't make them go away.
Mike dropped to the floor and began to weep. He pulled
himself up into a ball and hugged his legs
as tight as he could.
Out side Lenny called the station and left
a message for the LT. He and Mike would be late getting to
the office and he would explain in person
when he arrived. Just as he placed the phone in the craddle
he could hear the wimpers coming from the
bathroom.
Lenny decided not to intrude at that
moment. He would bring it up at a later date when he thought Mike
would me better rested and able to talk
about it.
They arrived at the office around 10:00 the
next morning. Van Buren was waiting for them. They had
dusted the Charlies room for prints, but
instead of Christine's prints they found.......
"......her sister's". Van Buren announced.
"Say what?," Mike said, dumbfounded.
Without batting an eyelash she continued to relay the new informations she got.
"CSU found 5 sets of prints in that room.
Two were from the previous occupants, Collin's and Charlotte
O'Connor's. The fifth fingerprint, Christine's,
was lifted off a radio tuner. But CSU said it was convered
by some light dust, could indicate it must
have been there way before the time of the murder, probably a
couple of days."
"Let's go pick her up then," Briscoe said.
"I'm one step ahead of you,", Van Buren retorted.
"Profaci and his partner are picking her up as we
speak. I want you and Logan to study the
missing person case on her sister, and see if you could find a
connection between Charlotte and Charlie.
Start with their conflicting statements about the last place
they said Charlotte was seen."
She handed the folder with all the new evidence
to Briscoe. "Collins said it was at a Guns n Roses
concert."
And with a raised eyebrow she remarked, "My
boys wanted to go to see Axle Rose. I'm sure as hell
know he wasn't from Julliard's."
After making a few phone calls, Mike obtained
a file on Charlie Collins and his investment dealings.
Mike skimmed through the file. He suddenly
stopped, pulled out a piece of paper and placed a huge grin
on his face. Lenny looked over at his partner.
"Well are you going to fill me in on what
has got your attention or are you just going to sit there and
grin?"
"Guess who Charlie had some investment dealings
with?"
"How about an O'Connor?"
"You get the gold star Lenny. You wouldn't
believe which one. The old man himself. Joseph O'Connor.
Would you believe they did business in commodities.
In particular property. In fact according to this
little piece of paper Martha was her husbands
silent partner. "
"Now isn't that interesting. So the family
did know Charlie Collins. The meation of his name came as no
surprize to them."
"You know Lenny maybe we had better dig
a little more up on the O'Connors."
"Okay guy's Profaci has Charlotte in the
interrigation room. Now have you got anything yet?"
"We sure do LT. We made a connection between
Collins and the O'Connors."
One hour later, Briscoe and Logan were at
the Bumbry meat-packing factory in Queens. They found
Barney Collins--Charlie's older brother--wearing
a blood-spattered apron.
"Charlie wasn't into concerts," Barney said.
"He was into reading smut and porn...well, not really.
What's to read with all the pictures!"
The detectives returned to headquarters.
By that time, Profaci and Kurtz had brought in Christine, who
had uttered the L-word.
The four detectives conferred with their
boss beside the interrogation room window. Logan said,
"There's one other Collins brother we should
talk to. His name is Silas and he's doing time in Attica.
Why don't Lennie and I go up there and chat."
In the silence that followed, even old Lennie
could hear the footfalls of a cockroach as it scuttled along
the floor. Everyone knew who else was in
Attica.
After a moment Anita said, "Okay, go. But
watch yourselves." Her gaze was fixed firmly on Mike.
Before Mike and Lenny left the 2-7, Lt. Vanbruen
pulled Lenny aside and had a few words with him.
"How's he doing anyway Lenny?"
"So long as he doesn't have to sleep, he's
fine."
"Well I want you to keep an eye on your
partner while your up at Attica. I don't want him wondering
off by himself and getting into trouble."
"Don't worry LT. if I have to I'll connect
a leash to him to keep him in my sights."
***********************************************
The drive up to Attica was taken up with
small talk between Mike and Lenny. They conferred some
about the new info they had learned about
Charlie Collins. One thing both of them avoided was
speaking directly about Krolinsky.
"So what did the LT. want to see you about,
as if I didn't already know."
"She is just concerned about one of her
best Detective's Mike, that's all." Mike gave a little nod of
acknowledgement and discontinued the conversation.
*********************************************
Inside, Mike and Lenny was waiting inside
an interrigation room for the guards to bring Silas Collins to
them. While they waited another guard was
escorting a prisoner back to his cells. It was none other
than Krolinsky.
Krolinsky instantly noticed Mike. Joe thought
he would get a little dig in at Mike by pasteing a smug
smile on his face as he walked by. Mike
just glowered at him.
He was the last person Mike wanted to see,
especially since the man was always invading his head
while he slept.
As Mike and Lenny sat patiently waiting
for Silas Collins, the door slowly opened. In came a small little
man with a balding head glasses so thick
you could barely see the color of his eyes.
The detectives told him about the murder
of his brother and offered their condolences. When they ask
him if he knew a girl named Christine O'Connor,
his face turned completely white and he said "Who do
you think put me in this wheel chair?"
Silas told the detectives that Christine
had shot him 18 months ago, for no reason. He'd told the ER
personnel that it was an accident, but a
hotshot detective named LaMotte had discovered his
outstanding warrant for rape.
"It was a bum rap. Bitch said 'no' when she meant 'yes.'"
Logan said, "What about Christine?" Did she
say 'no,' too?"
"The bitch is a fu**ing liar",Silas exploded."Her
father used to bring her with him at Charlie's everytime
he talks business with my him.Then she started
coming by herself."
Silas let out a snicker as he continued to
talk about Christine's exploits. "She was all over Charlie,
always trying to get him all alone and finding
every excuse to stay a bit longer. Once I even told
Charlie, "Just do her man and get it over
with" but he always treated her like a kid sister. So she was
trying to make him jealous or something,
she started coming on to me."
"She slept with me and deliberately left
the the door to my room open so Charlie could 'accidentaly'
walk by and see us!"
"She is some piece of work, that O'Connor.
She acts like some whore at one time then like the freaking
Virgin Mary the next. The next time I tried
coming on to her,she acted outraged and slapped me.", Silas
shook his head in amazement.
Logan found himself believing Silas for some
reason. He took out a picture of Christine from his breast
pocket and asked, " This Christine O'Connor?"
Silas took one look and said, "That's the bitch"
"Are you sure? Or is this her?", he took out another picture, this time of Charlotte.
With a bewildered look Silas asked, "You fu**ing with me? Thats the same girl."
"Christine has a twin named Charlotte, Mr. Collins. Your brother never told you?", Lenny asked.
Logan and Briscoe looked at each other."So
which one did you sleep with, Mr. Collins?"
After talking to Salis, Mike and Lenny proceeded
to the front desk to sign out of Attica and to retreive
their guns.
"So Lenny what do you make of all this anyway?"
"You got me Mike. The man couldn't even be sure which girl it was he slept with."
"Yeah I know." Giving Lenny a strange look.
As Mike and Lenny started to leave the facility,
the guard at the desk gave Mike a note.
"What's this?"
"Don't know Detective. I was told to make
sure you got it." A shudder suddenly traveled up Mike's
spine as he opened it up and read it.
"Until we meet again." Joe.
Mike quickly placed the note in his pocket
and hurried out of the place. Lenny had a hard time keeping
up to Mike's pace.
"Wait up Mike." Shouted Lenny. Mike ignored
his partner and just continued until he reached the car.
"What's up Mike? What was in the note?"
"Nothing Lenny. It's personal." Lenny felt
for now it was best to let it go and the two Detectives got in
the car and headed back to the City.
***********************************************
"Look Detective, my client already told you
she doesn't know nor never met Silas or Charlie Collins.
Asking the same question a hundred different
ways isn't going to change her answer," Charlotte's
attorney stressed the claim with sarcasm.
Lenny ignored her and proceeded to talk,
throwing bits and pieces of information to Charlotte, hoping to
rile her up to a confession. " Come off
it, Charlotte, your fingerprints were all over the murder scene
where Collins was shot, it was even on the
shirt he was wearing.", he stepped closer to her as he
continued to barage her with info. "His
brother could verify your father brought you along to Charlie's
apartment when he talked business."
Lenny place his hands on the table and leaned
forward so that he could almost see the whites of her
eyes. "We also know that you got this huge
crush on Charlie and when he wouldnt give you the time of
day, you slept with Silas to make him jealous."
"That wasn't me!! My father never wanted
to take me to Charlie's place. He always took Chrisie!",
Charlotte yelled back at Lenny, her eyes
burning with rage.
As soon as she spoke the last word, it dawned
on her that she let loose more than she wanted and now,
Briscoe has got her where he wants. Briscoe's
persistence paid off. He signaled to his partner to finish
the interrogation but Logan's mind was somewhere
else at that moment.
With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the distraught Charlotte, "Ready to talk, Ms. Collins?"
"Give us a minute, Detective.", her lawyer requested.
Van Buren was outside the room waiting with
salutations for her detectives. "Nice going, Lenny", she
said with a smile. "Think we can get some
answers now from her. Why don't you take 5 and grab
something to eat, I'll take it from here."
Van Buren hardly made them take breaks, especially
in the middle of an interrogation and possible
break. But Lenny has worked long enough
with his Lieutenant to recognize her signals.
He certainly wasn't looking forward to this
particular request. He could scare the beejezus out of perps
but he couldn't scramble enough words to
ask his partner a simple question.
Logan was out of earshot when Lenny was about
to plead. Van Buren stopped him and said, "Better
you talk to him now, Lenny, than wait till
you take a bullet because his mind was someplace else."
Mike and Lenny walked out of the precinct towards the Crown Vic. on their way for a belated supper.
"So, Mike, How about we talk?"
"About what?"
"About, what's been going on with you lately."
Mike started to get defensive as his tone
changed.
"There's nothing to talk about." Lenny leaned
over the roof of the car on the passengers side.
"Get off of it Mike. This is me you're talking
too. You don't sleep and when you do, you have
nightmares. When you're awake your mind
is god knows where, as if I didn't know." Mike's temper
started to stiffen.
"Lenny, stay to hell out of it. It's personal
and I'll deal with it."
"You haven't been dealing with anything
Mike and that's the problem. Are you just going to wait until I
get blown away because your head..." Mike
cut Lenny off and the level in the tone of his voice
increased.
"That's a low blow Lenny. I've alwayed covered
your back."
"Yes Mike, up until a few months ago I could
alway's depend on you. But now I'm not so sure." I think
it's about time you leveled with yourself
about Krolinsky." Mike hammered his fists on the roof of the
car.
"Krolinski! He has nothing to do with any
of this." Lenny now started to raise his voice. Uniformed
officers passing by casually looked at the
Detectives auguring.
"Mike, I was there today if you don't happen
to remember right off. I saw the look Krolinsky gave to
you and I saw the look you gave in return.
Then there was that note. It was from him wasn't it? It's not
going to go away, Mike, not until you admit
it to yourself."
"Go to hell Lenny."
"Mike, you don't need me to spell it out
for you, but, I know, I was there when we nailed the bastard. I
know how the whole case affected you. Mike,
I know even if you don't want to admit it, that you were
on of the boy's Krolinsky abused."
"F**K you, Lenny! F**k you." Mike hurled
the keys acrossed the roof top of the car and walked away.
"Where are you going Mike?" Mike through
his hand in the air behind him not saying aword.
*********************************************
Mike found himself, after walking for several
blocks, back in front of the church. He stood staring at it
for several minutes before he decided to
go inside. He had to talk to Father Tom McGovern again.
Mike walked inside St. Augustine's and headed
right towards Fr. Tom's office. Like before organ music
played in the background from somewhere
inside the church. The sound was so serene unlike when he
was a kid and forced to go to this church.
Mike was just about to knock on Tom's door,
when a nun approched him.
"Hello, may I help you."
"I just wanted to talk to Fr. Tom."
"I'm sorry sir, but he's not here now. He
had to make a housecall to see one of our elderly parishioner.
Would you like me to let him know you were
here."
" No that's okay. I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Mike thanked the Nun and left quickly before she could get
his name. He really didn't want to stay
and talk.
Out side the church Mike stood in the cold
shivering as he thought about earilier in the day when he
saw Krolinsky again and that note. Mike
reached into his coat pocket and discovered he still had the
note. He pulled it out and read it again.
*Until next time. Joe*
"Not if I can help it you bastard." Mike
thought.
Looking up from the note, he started to
walk in the direction of the Hotel. It was four block away and
the memories of his past returned. Each
step he took, he remembered everything Krolinsky had said to
him that night. It was like a tape recorder
in his head, that was forever on.
"So Mikey, How was school today."
" Okay I guess." Mike never answered too
many of his question , he was more concerned where
Krolinsky was taking him. Mike's Dad had
alwayed warned him never to go to this particular of town.
Before Mike realized it he was once again
standing outside that Hotel, looking at it. He took a deep
breath and swallowed the lump that had formed
in his throat. Even though he trembled, Mike felt
maybe if he went inside once again, maybe
he could some how rid himself of this man. Fr. Tom told
him " Mike you have to take back whatever
it was he stole from you."
Mike walked ever so careful towards the
room. Again he wasn't sure what to expect once he opened
the door. The lump returned to his throat
and he started to shake a little as he placed his hand on the
door knob. He slowly turned the knob and
the door gradually swung open. He was astonished to see
who was inside.
Logan was looking straight into Christine O'Connor's startled eyes.
She was stooped behind the bed as if looking
for something when Mike entered the room. Caught off
guard, she bolted and attempted to barrel
through Logan and into the empty hallway.
Quickly regaining his composure, Logan held
her by the shoulders, turned her around and cuffed her
behind her back.
"Where have you been, Christine?", Logan
whispered behind her ear. "Everyone's been looking for
you."
Christine wouldn't stop struggling. "Let
me go!! You're hurting me! I didn't do anything wrong!" Once
again, she attempted to escape the detective's
iron hold and bolt.
"It won't hurt if you stop wriggling.", Logan
responded. He proceeded to lead her out of the room.
"Why did you come back here? Did you forget
your shoes?"
Christine didn't respond. But the icy glare
she gave Logan was enough to freeze hell twice over.
"or something else?" Logan asked, his voice just casual enough. "Like a dress?"
"Go to hell," Christine snapped, beginning to struggle against him again.
Unmoved, Mike jerked her out the door into
the bright daylight. "Let's go," he said tersely, almost
dragging her toward the car. "We have a
few questions we'd like answered." He paused for a moment,
grinning. "And I think your mother would
like to see you again, too."
"No, no not my mother. Please don't call
my mother. I don't want to see her." After helping her into the
back of the squad car, Mike took a long
look at Christine. She was shaking and seemed terrified. The
sight of this peeked his curiosity as to
why. But before he could inquire further, he was interrupted.
"Nice job, Mike." Lenny said. "Maybe now
with her back in our hands, we can finish the puzzle and
close this case. Mike nodded his head in
reply. He was still a little pissed off at Lenny for his eariler
remarks and he didn't feel much like talking
to him. Mike turned and walked around to the other side of
the car. He got into the back beside Christine
for the ride back to the precinct.
******************************************