Christine kept staring at Det. Logan. It
was clear from her eyes that she wasn't sure if she should
answer him. She owe Charlie too much to
keep him involved.
With hooded eyes she answered Logan, "I don't know the man."
Mike was never known for his patience in
interrogation. And Christine is trying her darnest to irritate
him. "She isn't even a good liar for Christ's
sake!", he said to himself.
"Well maybe then you can tell us why you
were seen walking with him at the park every fu**ng day?
The day we picked you up at that motel room,
your dress had his blood all over it?", he kept staring at
her.
"So why don't you explain to me why we found
your fingerprints at a roach motel where he died,huh?"
DIED. Christine suddenly looked up as soon
as she heard. Her eyes began to shimmer with unshed
tears. "h-he's de-dead?" she stammered.
She was biting her lower lip hard to keep it from trembling.
Her grief looked so real to Mike but he had
to get through to her. In a harsh tone he said, "yeah,
someone blew your boyfriend's brains out."
"Oh no, not Charlie. Please tell me your
lying about him being dead."
"He's dead alright and we want to know what
you had to do with his demise."
"Me, I would never kill Charlie. He was
always there for me and he alway protected me."
"Protected you? What in hell are you talking
about?" Logan's anger with Christine increased. "Look
Christine, I just about had enough of this
crap. Now, I want to know what you were doing with Charlie
Collins?"
"I don't know who this Charlie Collins is
that you keep asking me about.The guy in this picture is
Charlie Keller." Briscol and Logan both
looked at each other with confusion written all over their faces.
Suddenly the door opened and VanBuren stuck
he head inside. She motioned for the guy's to step
outside.
"Okay now, how about you two explain to
me how come all of a sudden we have this dead guy who
seems to have two different names?"
VanBruen, Briscoe and Logan all looked throught
two way mirror at Christine. She had started to shed
the tears she had held back while in Mike's
prescence.
"Okay it's almost 11 pm. How about you both
lock her up in the tombs for awhile? It will give you both
some time to go back over everything we
have on the case and then you can ask her some more
questions."
"Alright." Came Logan's reply. Before VanBuren
went back to her office, she turned to both her
Detectives.
"Oh and I want to know who both Charlie
Keller and Charlie Collins are. If in fact they are the same
person or not?"
"We'll do Lt." Lenny replied.
Returning from the basement Lenny grabbed
coffee for them both, while Mike sat down at his desk
and started to sift through the huge pile
of papers in the file.
Lenny placed a hot cup of the Java on Mike's
desk. Mike looked up and out of the cornor of his eye at
Lenny. He was still a little miffed at his
partner and it showed in his tone.
"Thanks."
"Not a problem Mike. Have you found anything
yet?"
"No, not really."
"How about you give me part of that file
and I'll do some looking too and maybe something will pop out
at me." Suddenly, just as Mike split the
file in half to give it to Lenny. He noticed a sheet of paper they
must have missed from before. He picked
the paper up off his half of the file and placed a grin on his
face.
"Now, would you look at this!"
Handing Lennie the piece of paper, Mike started his explain his discovery.
"Elmo and Christine ID'ed the guy as Charlie
Keller. His name turned up a long-ass record of
convictions, armed robbery, assault and
kidnapping."
Handing Briscoe a second piece document he
continued, "Forensics ID's the body of Charlie Keller
as a Charlie Collins. Collins is the exact
opposite of Keller. He had no priors,lived in a pricey
apartment and worked as an investement broker."
Lennie nodded his head in understanding."
So you're saying good ol' Charlie is a regular Jekyll and
Hyde."
"Whoever killed Charlie could be after either
Collins or Keller. If they were after Collins, my bet is
Charlotte and her mother had something to
do with it. Didn't Mr. O'Connor do business with
Collins?", Logan theorizes.
Briscoe agreed." Yeah. But they were after
Keller, his rap sheet will turn up 50 or so upset people
who'd have a beef with him."
"My bet is, whoever killed him wasn't just
a peeved perp. They would be connected to Christine.
Let's turn up the heat with Charlotte. She's
been in holding since yesterday. She should be ready to
break.", Logan finished. He stood up and
started to walk towards Van Buren's office.
"Hey Mike,", he heard Lennie call out cautiously.
Mike knew he was going to talk about what
happened between them earlier. He was still
a bit steamed, but he knew what his partner was trying
to say then.
Without bothering to stop and look at Briscoe
Logan responded, his words laced with sarcasm,"
Forget about it, Lennie. I got your point.
Don't worry, I'll try not to get you killed."
"Forget about it.
VanBuren looked up from the reports she had
been working on when Briscol and Logan entered her
office.
"So you guy's have something for me?"
"Yeah, seems like our old Charlie Boy is
a regular Jekyll and Hyde." Lenny spouted.
"Excuse me!" VanBuren relied. Mike snorted
out a chuckle.
"Well it's like this Lt.. Elmo and Christine
ID'd our guy as Charlie Keller, who's rap sheet shows
convictions in armed robbery, assault and
kidnapping. Forensics ID'd the guy as Charlie Collins,
who's the exact opposite. No priors lived
in a pricey apartment and worked as an investment
broker."
"Mike and I figure that who ever killed
Charlie could have been after either Keller or Collins. But
who ever it was we think is somehow connected
to Christine. Considering either way this guy leads
right back to the O'Connor Clan. We would
like to press Charlotte again. She's been in holding since
yesterday and maybe she is ready to break."
The Lt. looked up at the clock. 12 midnight.
"It's late, but okay. Bring Charlotte back
in here and we will see what pop's." Before Mike and
Lenny turn and leave the office, Van Buren
added.
"I'm also going to have Profaci and Kurtz
find out more on why Christine ran away from home? And
while they are at it, I think I'll have
them see what else they can find out about why this guy Collins or
Keller was protecting her and what he was
protecting her from?" Nodding their heads the Detectives
left the office to go pick up Charlotte.
"I'm not talking to you f**king a**holes,
before my Lawyer gets here." Both the Detectives could
see that the stay in lock up had made Charlotte
bitchier than ever. She made the job of escorting her
to the interrigation room difficult.
"Suit yourself Charlotte. We have all the
time in the world." Mike replied as he guided her through the
precinct. He placed his hand on her arm
as they ascented the stairs to the squad room.
"Get your f**king hands off me you bastard."
Her loud voice got everyones attention and the officers
all staired at Logan. He yelled back to
her.
"See if I care if you fall down the stairs."
"Okay Mike, cool it." Lenny spouted.
In side the squad room VanBuren was waiting
for them. When Charlotte spied her she started
yelling.
"You bitch, how dare you lock me up for
nothing and leave me there." Unconcerned with Charlotte's
attitude, Anita looked at Briscol and Logan.
"Take her into the interrigation room and
then I want to see you both for a few in my office." She
motioned for one of the uniformed officers
standing near by to go and wait with Charlotte.
"I want my Lawyer. Now!"
"Your Lawyer will be here soon. He was called
already." Logan replied.
"Now how about you shut to hell up." The
scene she made in the squad room attracted attention, but
no one paid any concern to her.
Finally Logan and Briscol entered the Lt.
office.
"I see you had your hands full with her."
"Your not kidding Lt." Mike replied.
"So what's up" Lenny asked. VanBuren looked
at them both and handed them a file. A long over due
file that had been missplaced.
"Here I think you'll both want to take a
good look at this. This should answer some of the questions
on Christine we have." Mike took the file
and leafed through the few sheets of papers inside the
folder. He then looked up at VanBuren and
then over at Lenny.
"What is it Mike? As a perplexed look came
over his face.
"It's a rape report that was filed with Social
Servies 5 years ago by Christine's school Guidance
Counselor, Molly McGuire." Mike stopped
long enough to yawn before he continued to talk.
"According to this, Christine was sent to
the school nurse after she complained about not feeling well.
The nurse examined Christine and found several
bruises on her body. When the nurse asked
Christine how she got them, Christine refused
to talk and demanded to be allowed to go home. The
nurse became suspicious and called the counselor.
Once McGuire gained Christine's trust, Christine
detailed everything about how she had been
raped. She never named a name though. McGuire
wanted to call Christine's parents, she
objected. Concerned about Christine's reaction about her
parents knowing, McGuire suspected that
maybe old man O'Connor may have had something to do
with it. So McGuire filed this report with
Social Services." Mike stopped again and yawned, handing
the report to Lenny.
"I know pal.It's late and I'm tired too."
Lenny looked the report over and shook his head.
"So, Social Services didn't even follow
up on this. Not that I'm surprised." Anita nodded her head.
"Right Lenny and right after the report
was filed Christine disappeared. The Detectives working the
case were never told any of this and the
file ended up in a dusty drawer. Profaci and Kurtz did some
poking around and came up with it. Oh, Mike
have another look, there's more." Mike popped open
the file again and found the hand written
note done by McGuire. Mike looked over at Lenny,who
was still reading the report.
"Christine described her attacker to McGuire,
Lenny. You know, this discription sounds alot like
Silas Collins." Mike handed it to Lenny
so he could read it.
"It sure does, Mike, sound like the bastard.
You know maybe this would explain a few things.
Yesterday when we talked to Silas at Attica.
He discribed Christine as a willing partner one time and
then the next she was like the Vigirn Mary."
"Come to think of it, he did say somthing
like that Lenny. So maybe it wasn't Christine the first time
he did the O'Connor girl, maybe it was Charlotte.
It might explain this rape report." Mike looked
over at VanBuren.
"So now what?"
"How about you both go ask Charlotte a few
questions about this, and take a picture of Silas with
you . Considering it's late, almost 1:30
am, maybe she'll let something slip."
"Okay, we'll do Lt." Lenny replied as he
and Mike walked out of her office.
***********************************************
Anita decided to go check on Christine downstairs.
When she entered the basement all was quiet.
She stood outside Christine's cell and looked
at the sleeping girl on the cot.
"Do you want me to get her out of the cell
for you Lt?" said the guard.
"No, let her sleep. Did she ask to see anyone?
a lawyer perhaps or someone else?"
"No Lt., no one. She seemed quite content
just curling up on the cot and going to sleep. She hasn't
even asked to make her allotted phone call."
Anita nodded her head.
"Alright, I want to know if anyone and I
mean anyone outside my office inquires about her. If anyone
does, deny she is here. You got that?"
"Yes Lt. not a problem. I'll make a note
of it." Anita nodded her head to the guard just before she left
the room.
*********************************************
Back upstairs VanBuren watched through the
observation window at the progress her Detectives
were making with Charlotte.
Logan put the picture of Silas in front of Charlotte and saw the tell-tale gaze in her eyes.
"Look," he said, "we know about the rape
five years ago. We know you and Christine were familiar
with the Collins brothers. Your fingerprints
are at the murder scene..."
Christine said, "Listen mister, there's a difference between murder and extermination!"
Even at 2:00 a.m. Charlotte's eyes were blazing
with hatred. She glared at the picture of Silas.
"That bastard raped my sister!",she vehemently
said."He doesn't deserve to live!"
"So what, because you can't find him, you
decided to kill his brother instead?', Lennie asked. "Or
maybe," Lennie continued to probe, "...
because after all the trouble you went through sleeping with a
slimeball like Silas, Charlie still wouldn't
give you the time of day."
"Yeah.", Mike chimed in." It must have sucked
pretty bad for you, when he found out that his brother
raped Christine, he took her in and disappeared.
He liked Christine from the start, yeah? That's why
your daddy brought Christine at Charlie's
instead of you. Charlie liked Christine even then."
Lennie smirked, exerting further pressure
on Charlotte."Can you imagine that, Charlotte? You look
exactly like your sister but he wouldn't
lay a hand on you. You must have some serious personality
flaw!"
The veins on Charlotte's temple was throbbing.
Both detectives noticed it. A little more push and she
would fall right over the edge.
Mike leaned on table and looked squarely
at Charlotte."You know deep inside your black little soul,
Charlotte, you are partly responsible for
Christine's rape. You slept with Silas pretending to be your
sister and now you sit here telling us Silas
is a bastard."
Mike leaned even closer towards Charlotte.
So close that the tip of his nose almost touched hers.
"So what does that make you?", he asked
slowly.
"You f**king bastards." Charlotte jumped
up from her chair knocking the thing to the floor with a
loud crash. Her Lawyer jumped up too.
"Okay Detectives that's enough, I want to
talk to my client. ALONE!" Mike kept his eyes directly on
Charlotte's face. She was breathing deeply
and he could see the hate she had inside of her.
"Okay,Wells, you can talk to your client.
In fact take all the time you need. It doesn't matter anyway,
after we talk to Christine it will be all
over for your client anyway." Fury errupped in Charlotte.
"You know where she is, don't you?" Mike
didn't even acknowledge her as they started to leave the
room with Lenny. Charlotte rushed towards
them with her fists swinging. Wells, caught her just
before she struck Logan on the back.
"You bastards, You have her hidden somewhere
haven't you?"
"Cool down Charlotte, getting enraged isn't
going to help you." Wells stated.
Once the door was closed to the room, both
Logan and Briscol recieved praise from VanBuren.
"Splendid job guy's, I was sure she was
going to confess in there. You both had her right on the
edge."
"I know, If only Wells hadn't interruped
us." Mike protested.
"Don't worry Mike, it's almost over for
her. It's very late. I want her returned to central booking.
Then I want you both to go home and get
some sleep and we can take this up again earily in the
morning. Maybe something else will break
by then. See you both around 7am." VanBuren walked
out and returned to her office before going
home herself. She left her Detectives standing near the
two way mirror looking in at Charlotte.
She paced around the room as she talked to her Lawyer,
slamming her fists on the table and kicking
the chairs.
"Looks like we really stirred somthing up
in her Mike."
"I can see that. I wonder if it has anything
to do with Christine and her thinking we have her or no."
"Maybe Mike, maybe." Mike looked at Lenny.
"What if Christine saw Charlotte haveing
a heated arugument with Charlie Collins. Maybe Charlotte
had a gun and threatened to kill Charlie
and her own sister?" Lenny furrow his brow.
"You know Mike, I think you might have something
here. What if Charlotte knew her sister saw it
all? Charlotte would want to get her sister
out of the picture. Maybe that is why Christine is so afraid
of her family. Maybe they want her dead?"
Mike nodded in aggreement.
"For now we will take Charlotte back to
her cell. I'll do a little checking into this new info we came
up with."
"Mike, VanBuren wants us to get some sleep!"
"I will Lenny, I swear. I just want to check
something out first." Lenny knew better than to beleive
Mike. He knew Mike wouldn't sleep. He knew
the Mike still had Krolinsky in his head at night. He
didn't want to press the issue tonight considering
the little confertation they had had the day before
over it.
Mike sat at his desk. He couldn't remember
if he'd gotten the confession out of Christine or
Charlotte.
*So tired,* he thought. He closed his burning
eyes, and the light that filtered through was the color of
long-dried blood.
*************************