Black Tie Event

Chapter Eleven

"You have nothing, Hayden," Allison was lecturing as we sat in our shared room trying to quietly discuss what we had seen hours earlier.

"Besides physical evidence?"

"Ephemeral physical evidence," she reminded. "By the time the DA got your half-assed case to trial, it would be gone. And there's no way she's going to let you photograph her. If she even was assaulted, she's not letting on."

"There's no if," I pressed. "What other explanation can you offer?"

"That she really fell down the stairs? Give her benefit of the doubt, Kim. Yeah, that's a cliche lie, but it doesn't mean it's always a lie."

"Some of the contusions were yellow. That means they were in the healing stage. Up to several weeks old. But there were bruises of every color, which means that whatever's hitting her, she's getting hit repeatedly. And you could get any ME in the country to corroborate that."

"To corroborate a claim that she was bruised multiple times in a month. Nothing more."

"Doesn't that mean something?"

"It could mean a lot of things. Maybe she's just clumsy."

"Whose side are you on?"

She just gave me a look, knowing that my question didn't truly call for an answer. 

"We're supposed to be for the victims," I filled in. "And we have one. We have to fight for this."

"Well we're not helping anyone by pursuing an empty lead," she resiliently argued. "Kim, we have nothing. Give it time."

"So you want me to just sit here and wait for her to get hurt again," I comprehended.

"I know it's tempting to want to protect her," Allison said. "But she's a big girl, and you're not a detective. You have to remember that this is an undercover investigation, and until you have enough to charge, you can't expose us. Believe me, if Shaw laid a hand on Lucy, there's nothing I'd like more than to collar him right now. But we have to be smart about this. If we're going to try and form a case, we have to be damn sure it's a case we're going to win. Because if and when this goes to trial, you had better believe it's going to be our DA against the most expensive defense attorney in the country. And we're not going up against one of those sharks crying rape unless we mean it."

I laid down, defeated, and stared at the ceiling. I'd joined law enforcement to work for justice, but sometimes it all just seemed like a game. Like the law was a competition between lawyers, and we were just facilitators. 

"This is more than I thought it would be," I finally admitted.

"I hear you," Allison said. "Tomorrow night could not come sooner. Alexandra Rivers can screw. I just want to be Beckett again."

 ***

Allison and I agreed to stop by the PD after checking out of the manor the following afternoon. We figured we'd share our notes with Harwood so he knew that he wasn't wasting his time sending us out  - at least totally. We found him walking about the station and immediately upon seeing us he changed directions and approached. The impromptu visit seemed to give him pause.

"Beckett, Hayden," he realized. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine, Captain," Beckett assured. "We got a day off, so we came to fill you in."

He put down the paper work he was carrying around to tend to the more pressing matter.

"Okay," he said. "My office."