Robert Goren opened his second beer and leaned back on the couch to watch the news. It was rare that he got to watch the five o'clock news. Some days he didn't have a chance to make the eleven o'clock news. But Captain Ross had given him and Eames a few well-deserved days off after tying up the loose ends of their last case, his first case back since his mother's death. It was good to be back to work. He had missed it; he had missed Eames. But this had been a case that had taken a great deal of time, and it was nice to have a few days to regroup away from the squad room--and the captain.
The broadcast opened with a breaking news update. Slowly, he sat upright, setting his beer bottle on the coffee table, attention riveted to the television screen. A stocky, unkempt man in orange coveralls was being led from the courthouse by two plainclothes detectives. He recognized the two first-grades from Manhattan SVU, Elliot Stabler and his partner Olivia Benson. He turned up the volume as the newscaster reported: "William Landis, currently standing trial for the February murder of ten-year-old Jeffrey Markham,--" A smiling picture of the little boy in a baseball uniform appeared in the upper left hand corner of the screen. "--is shown here being escorted down the courthouse steps following his arraignment last month. Less than an hour ago, being led down these same stairs at the conclusion of the third day of his Manhattan trial, Landis was shot by an unknown assailant."
The scene on the screen changed to show people scrambling frantically for cover as Landis fell to the ground. After a moment of confusion, cops began to respond. In the background, he noticed Stabler and John Munch, also an SVU detective, along with the ADA they worked with, the one who took over after Cabot was murdered...Novak, he thought her name was.
He reached for his phone, which rang as he lifted it from the table. Eames cell. He flipped it open. "Are you watching the news?"
Yes. What do you make of it?
"I'm not sure."
He heard the interruption of signal that told him she had another call. Oh, look, the captain. What a surprise. I'll call you right back, but maybe you should get ready to meet me at the courthouse.
"Yeah, okay."
He closed the phone and headed for the bedroom to put on a clean suit.
Just over an hour later, he was pointing out a spent casing in the gutter not far from where the victim had fallen, watching as a new CSU tech bent over to retrieve it and drop it into an evidence bag. Eames was talking to witnesses. "Goren?"
He turned to face the man who called to him. John Munch extended a hand which Goren accepted. Munch grinned. "John Munch."
"I remember you. Can I help you?"
"We'd like to talk to you and your partner. Can you get away?"
"I suppose so..."
"Finish up here. Do you know where Sullivan's Bar and Grill is?"
"Near your station? Yes."
"Meet us there with Eames when you're through here."
He nodded, his curiosity piqued. "All right. We'll see you there."
They were just wrapping things up when Ross arrived. "What did you find out?" he asked without preamble.
"Not much," Eames replied. "We're following up with witnesses."
"I just got word from Bellevue. Landis didn't make it. This is now a murder investigation."
Eames shook her head as her partner hung back, as was his habit, especially with Ross around. Eames had a better rapport with the captain than he did. She said, "A lot of people saw a lot of nothing. We have a male suspect dressed in black leather, between five-four and five-nine. He was riding a motorcycle and his plate had a five or a two in it. That's it."
Ross looked at Goren. "What do you have?"
"He was firing a 9mm."
"Helpful. Okay. This kid Landis murdered...?"
"Jeffrey Markham," Eames looked at her notepad. "It was Manhattan SVU's case. He was ten, a good athlete, nice kid."
"They're all nice kids after something like this. Touch bases with Cragen's crew and see if they have anything useful to add. I want the kid's parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends...everyone interviewed. If they have no alibi, they're suspects."
Eames frowned, not hazarding a look over her shoulder at her partner. She knew how much he hated anything that bogged down an investigation, and this was as boggy as it got. "That's a lot of people."
"Then I suggest you get busy."
He walked away. Eames looked at her partner. The dark look on his face lifted when he looked at her. "Uh, we need to go over to Sullivan's before we start harassing the kid's family."
"Sullivan's? What for?"
"Ross said to touch bases with Cragen's crew. Let's start touching."
He headed for the car. She trotted after him, confused but willing, as usual, to follow his lead.
When they entered the bar, Goren searched the establishment, found who he was looking for, and headed through the crowd. Eames followed in his wake before the crowd closed back in behind her. From the snippets of conversation they were able to catch, they realized without surprise that most of the conversation buzzing about them was about the courthouse shooting. The patronage of this bar was mostly cops.
Goren and Eames approached the table where Munch and Stabler waited for them. Munch nodded at the empty seat beside him, which Goren took as soon as his partner was seated beside Stabler. A waitress came by and set drinks in front of the two SVU detectives, looking questioningly at the two new arrivals. "Rum and coke for my partner, scotch on the rocks for me, please," Goren told her.
Once she was gone, Munch addressed them. "Thanks for coming."
"We'll make this short and sweet," Stabler said, both hands wrapped around his drink. "You guys drew the courthouse shooting?"
Eames answered, "Yes. Why?"
Goren added, "You guys were there." Both SVU detectives nodded. "What did you see?"
"Not much of anything," Stabler answered. "There was a lot of media there, crowding out our view of the street."
"The guy was on a motorcycle, skull and crossbones on his helmet," Munch put in. When Stabler looked at him, he shrugged. "I'm taller than you are."
"What's going on here, guys?" Eames asked.
"Look," Stabler answered. "You guys didn't work the Markham case. This was a sweet kid, and Landis tortured and murdered him. That kid didn't die an easy death. I'm not saying I condone vigilantism, but in this case, the guy got what he deserved."
Munch nodded in agreement. "Life in prison would have been a reward for Landis. He's been in and out of jail since he was twelve, and he preferred being in. I testified at his parole hearing last year. They never should have let him out, and I was right. Sometimes I hate being right."
Stabler went on. "This was the worst kind of scrub. My partner and I arrested him and interrogated him. Liv couldn't stomach the beast, which is why Munch is here with me today and not her. Oh, she was here during the opening statements the other day. When his lawyer put out that cock and bull story about his battered childhood and misunderstood adulthood, she left and she hasn't been back. The son of a bitch boasted about what he did to that poor kid. He was fucking proud of himself. Misunderstood, my ass."
Munch grinned. "My partner and I are taking turns. The captain doesn't quite trust Elliot's temper, so Fin and I get to babysit."
"So what's the point of asking us to meet you here?" Eames asked. She glanced at her partner, whose dark expression told her he had an idea. So did she.
The response to her question was delayed by the arrival of their drinks. When they were again alone, Stabler said, "There won't be much mourning over this guy's passing, let me tell you. I can get you a copy of Jeff's file. What Landis did to that poor kid...just read the coroner's report. That's bad enough. What this bastard has to say about it...that's worse."
"Why do you think we need to know about the Markham case?" Goren asked. "Beyond interviewing his family members, it's really not relevant to our case."
"You're going to trouble his mother about this? Come on, guys, the poor woman's been through enough. She was hospitalized for three weeks after they found Jeff's body. This has been hard enough for her. Now you're going to interview her as a suspect in this?"
Eames' suspicions were growing. "We're going to do our job, Stabler."
Munch spoke up. "And we'd never interfere with that. What we want to know is: what are you planning to do with this case?"
"Solve it," Goren replied simply.
"Why?"
He raised his eyebrows at Stabler. "Because that's what we do, Stabler. We solve crimes and this was a crime."
The SVU cop bristled at Goren's tone and Eames kicked her partner under the table, delivering a silent warning with her eyes. The last thing they needed was word of a fight getting back to Ross. He'd go postal on her partner...again. Munch spoke again. "Okay, technically, yes. This was a crime."
"Technically?"
Stabler's voice was low and menacing. "This was justice, Goren. Plain and simple. The guy that did this deserves a fucking medal. Back off the case and let it go."
"We can't do that," Eames answered before Goren had a chance to. "You know that. If it was just us, then maybe. But we have a captain to answer to, just like you do."
"This isn't about Jeff Markham," Goren added. "It's not about justice, or even about Landis. This is about the department. A suspect in our custody was murdered on our watch. It gives us a black eye. That's the bottom line."
"Screw that," Stabler snapped. "Don't get all high and mighty. Landis got the justice he deserved, and it was better than anything the court could have given him."
"We aren't going to argue that point," Eames said in a reasonable tone. Her partner's social grace was going to cause problems if she didn't nip this in the bud. "But our captain isn't going to let us drop it. If it was given to us, then this case came from the brass. We have a job to do, just like you guys do."
"So you make it look good and then tell them you can't find the guy," Munch answered, shrugging. "It's a needle in a haystack anyway."
"I have a strong magnet," Goren muttered.
Another blow to the shin and he frowned at Eames, who ignored him as she addressed the other two detectives. "We won't argue that Landis got what was coming to him. But we can't let people take the law into their own hands. You guys know that."
"This is one case," Stabler said reasonably. "How much damage can it do to your solve rate?"
"You think that's what this is about?" Goren asked. "I don't give a damn about statistics, Stabler. I just do my job. We can't pick and choose the people we prosecute. A crime is a crime and wrong is still wrong." He downed the last of his drink. "I'll meet you outside, Eames."
He tossed a ten on the table and walked away. Eames was relieved. She felt like she was sitting on a powderkeg, tossing sparks in every direction. Stabler pointed at Munch. "I told you this was a waste of time."
Munch ignored him and spoke to Eames. "Don't think we do this as a matter of course. We're on the same side here."
Eames nodded. "Sometimes, my partner's view of the world is black and white. He shuts out the shades of gray in between. Maybe we are chasing our tails here, but we can't condone vigilantism. Suppose someone else had been injured or killed? Those are the people we're protecting: the innocent, not the guilty." She slid out of the booth and looked at Stabler. "Send me Jeff's file."
"What about your partner?"
"What about him?"
"What will it matter to him?"
"Everything matters to him, Stabler."
She walked away from the booth and left the bar.