The Dynamic Duo based on "Law and Order: SVU"

Very quietly she places the cold, black gun barrel to the back of his head and slowly whispers, “Don’t you dare move.” Ever so slowly he raises his hands to surrender. She quickly grabs his left arm and slides her police issued glock back into its holster. Then, she pulls her handcuffs out of their case and, with great force, she fastens them around his hands. She grabs both of his hands and yanks him up off of the ground. With a grin from ear-to-ear on her face she blurts out, “I got you now. Daniel Cox, you are under arrest for the murder of Emily Smith and for the rapes of Emily Smith, Katie Summers, Corissa Williams, Amy Hankins, and Ashley Sanchez.” Twenty-four hours earlier… Captain Craigan practically sprints out of his office and slams a file down on Detective Olivia Benson’s desk, waking her from a snooze. Very sleepily, she looks at her captain and says, “What is this?” Craigan replies with, “A case from the Bronx. Serial rapist who is escalating. We have our first body that washed up from the Hudson in our jurisdiction. Grab Amaro and go.” Without hesitation she stands up and grabs her black coat that was hanging on the back of her chair. Her partner, Nick Amaro, was just walking in with coffee for both of them. She motions for him to turn around, and then they are on their way. They step outside their precinct and the crisp New York City air has a slight breeze in it causing Benson’s short, brown hair blow. The dynamic duo load up into their police issued undercover car and drive off. Amaro, who has kept quiet until now, pipes up and asks, “So Liv, where are we going?” She replies with, “Well Nick, we are going to interview the family of our first dead body. Then, we’re going to interview these four families and see what kind of information they can give us that the other detectives may not have known. Hopefully Warner will be done with the autopsy soon.” He nods, telling her that he had no more questions to ask. They pull up to the parent’s house of the first dead body in the case. After ringing the door bell and giving the family their condolences, the detectives are ready to start the interview. Olivia dives right in with the routine questions, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, could you tell me the last time you saw your daughter?” Mr. Smith answers with, “We saw her yesterday morning before she left for school. We don’t live that far away from it, so we allow her to walk. She’s only fifteen years old. I should have walked with her, or even driven her.” The father has a look of grief on his face, almost as if he was blaming himself for the death of his daughter. Amaro asks the next question, “Was Emily having any trouble at school? Maybe with any teachers or friends?” This time Mrs. Smith answers, “She was always so happy. Everyone loved her. I don’t know who would want to do this to her.” Olivia has a grand idea, but it is quite a stretch. She then asks, “Do you, or maybe did Emily, happen to know Katie Summers, Corissa Williams, Amy Hankins, or Ashley Sanchez?” Mr. Smith gets a very grim look on his face and mutters, “She played softball with all of those girls. It was a little league team Emily was on when she was about six. It was called ‘Little New Yorkers’. The coach was Daniel Cox.” Benson and Amaro thank the Smith’s for their time and assure them that they will notify them if anything comes up. “Liv, what’re you thinking?” asks Nick. She takes a second to respond and says, “Well Nick, we are going to go hunt down Daniel Cox. But first, let’s refresh the other family’s memory about him.” They drive on over to the Bronx and arrive at the house of Katie Summers. The dynamic duo go through the routine questions, similar to the ones they asked the Smith family. They repeat this with the other three families and they receive the same information. When they arrive back at the precinct, Olivia practically skips into her captain’s office to tell him her theory. “Captain, they all played on the same softball team together. Their coach was Daniel Cox. All of the girls said that he had given them a weird vibe, almost as if he was too into the sport. I think he’s our perp.” Craigan studies her face. Olivia is anxious waiting on his response. She can almost see the wheels in his head turning. He gives her clear instructions, and she really can’t wait. “So this is where he works?” asks Amaro as they sit in their car across the street from where Cox works. The sign says “YMCA Fitness Center”. Olivia slowly replies, “It seems like a perfect place for him to scout out his victims. I mean, it’s a fitness center. All of the little league sports teams practice in this facility.” Before they had left the precinct, she had printed out his background check. He has no priors and all she could find was a parking ticket. She finishes skimming his file and opens her car door. She looks to her right at Nick and says, “Let’s go.” Nick and Olivia bust through the doors of the fitness center like they own the place. There is a teenage girl sitting at the front desk with a terrified look on her face. Benson pulls out her badge and authoritatively says, “NYPD. I’m looking for a Mr. Daniel Cox.” The young girl raises her shaking hand and points to the basketball court. She whispers, “He’s coaching a basketball team right now.” Amaro was already on the basketball court by the time the girl had finished her sentence. He shouts, “Daniel Cox. Can you come with us?” He flashes his badge and the next thing he knows Daniel Cox is running out through the back exits. Amaro and Benson run after him. It doesn’t stop there. They run down the street after him, where, there eventually lose him. Her face is fiery with anger. She is breathing heavily. The cold air burns her lungs as she breathes. Her voice cracks as she says, “We had him, and we lost him.” Amaro pats her on the shoulders in a comforting way and replies, “We will get him, Liv. I promise.” His phone rings and he answers, “Amaro. Yeah? We’ll be right there.” He hangs up the phone and turns to Olivia. He says, “Warner’s got something.” They walk into the coroner’s room and instantly are overcome with grief. Olivia examines the young girl. Her hair is light brown and pulled back under her so that Warner could examine her closely. There is a dark bruise on her left temple, and what looks like a bloody impact mark on her hairline. Warner walks up to them with the girls file and says, “It’s a shame isn’t it?” Olivia’s eyes stay fixated on the girl while she says, “What’s COD?” Warner takes a minute to reply. She studies Olivia’s face and then replies, “She asphyxiated on water. The blow to her head knocked her unconscious. My guess is the perp knocked her out and then her head fell into a bucket of water, causing her to drown. There was signs of sexual assault and fluids were present. I sent them to the lab for DNA testing.” Amaro stays quiet, as always. They head up to the testing lab to see if results were in. “Moralis, please tell me you have something.” Says Olivia with a hopeful tone. He gives her a dull look and says, “Sorry but, your guy’s not in the system.” She gives him a disappointed look and mentions, “That’s what I was afraid of.” Nick and Olivia leave and head back to their squad room. Nick had only been with them for a couple of months. On their walk back she took the time to study him closely. He has dark skin, thanks to his Hispanic heritage, and short spiked up hair. He is just a hair taller than her, but that wasn’t something new. She was tall for a woman. He was slender, and she could tell her was quite a bit younger than her. He was always dressed in a nice suit with a tie. His apparel reminded her so much of her ex-partner. Amaro was an attractive man, and she knew he was a great husband and father. He catches her glance, smiles, and says, “What?” She laughs and replies, “Nothing. I just wonder why a guy like you is working in Special Victims Unit.” He smiles and brushes it off. They arrive back in their squad room and get to work. Olivia is running his credit card statements to see if he has used one recently while Nick is running his phone records to see if he has made any calls. “Liv, it looks like he’s in Harlem.” Says Nick with a hopeful tone. He pulls up the GPS on the phone to see if he can tell where the call was made and where the call was received. He is in fact in luck. He writes the address down, and they are on the move again. Nick states, “It’s been almost twenty-four hours. We have to hurry or else we may have another dead body.” Picking up where we left off… “You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford one then one will be appointed to you.” Says Olivia and she confidently walks him from the abandoned warehouse to their car. Amaro opens up the back door, she shoves him in, and slams the door. Their ride back to the precinct was very quiet with tension in the air. As soon as they arrive, Olivia throws him into an interrogation room. She stands outside of the one-way glass and studies him. He is sitting calmly at the table. He is about six foot two inches with light hair and thick rimmed glasses. Amaro and Craigan walk up to her. Nick says, “Are you ready to take a crack at him?” She doesn’t reply. Instead, she walks over to the door, opens it, and waltzes right in. She throws the crime scene photos on the table, hoping he will look at them. She stands there for a minute, and Nick comes in behind her. She walks over to the glass and leans her back up against it. She begins her questioning, “So Daniel. Why did you kill her?” He doesn’t respond. He won’t look at the pictures either. Nick takes his turn, “She asked you a question dude. Why did you kill her? Was it because you were afraid she was going to tell?” Cox looks up at Olivia, and then over at Nick. He has a very evil look on his face. Olivia can feel the hostility in his eyes. Olivia takes another go at him, “Fine. Don’t answer. We don’t need you to speak anyways. You left your DNA inside of her. We can just get a court order for your DNA and then prove it that way. But uh, you will have to testify and you will have to speak so you better get to talking.” He gives her a “go to hell” look and opens his mouth, “Why did I kill her? Yeah, she did threaten to tell. I wasn’t about to let her ruin my life.” Amaro is in shock. He asks, “That’s why you killed her? You were afraid of a fifteen year old girl? You took away her life so that you could save yours? Tell me how you did it.” Cox started laughing like it was all a joke to him. He begins to spill the beans, “You want to know how I did it? I was tired of hearing her cry. After I finished doing her I hit her upside the head. I must have knocked her out because she just laid there. Then, I went to my bathroom and filled the tub up with water. When it was full enough, I threw her in it face first. After about an hour I went and got her. She was dead. So, I drug her down the alley and threw her in the dumpster, and I left.” Olivia asks, “What did you hit her with?” Cox gives her a smile and says, “A lamp.” Amaro pushes a piece of paper and a pencil at him and sternly says, “Write it down. All of it.” After Cox writes down his statement Amaro goes and gets an officer to escort him to the tombs where he will sit until arraignment in the morning. Nick and Olivia walk outside the interrogation room and see their A.D.A. Rafael Barba. As usual, he is dressed in a very dark, expensive suit with a bright, red tie. He gives them a big smile and says, “Well done. I guess you guys really are the dynamic duo. Now if you will excuse me, I have to prepare for arraignment in the morning.” Just as fast as he had appeared, he disappeared. Olivia and Nick are seated in the courtroom bright and early the next morning. They can’t wait to see what the judge has to say. After a very short briefing on the case, the judge remands him to the tombs until his hearing. Barba turns to them and says, “Piece of cake. Now I just have to convince the jury.” Later that afternoon the judge fit the hearing into his busy schedule. After a long hard fight, it was finally time for the jury to give their verdict. The judge reviews it and says, “On the count of rape in the third degree, how do you find the defendant?” “We find the defendant guilty.” “On the count of murder in the third degree how do you find the defendant?” “We find the defendant guilty.” “The defendant will remain in the tombs until sentencing. Court adjourned.” A huge grin comes across Olivia’s face and she turns to Nick. He is smiling as well. Olivia and Nick meet Captain Craigan and A.D.A. Barba outside the courtroom. They chit chat for a minute with smiles on their faces. Barba says, “Anyone up for drinks? My treat.” Then they all end the long day at a bar down the street. They could all get a good night’s sleep that night; that is until all their phones beeped at the same time. Olivia smiles, reaches into her pocket, pulls out her phone, and says, “So much for sleep. Let’s go.” Olivia is not just a detective, she is a human too. She desires love. She desires to succeed and to fulfill her dreams. She desires companionship. The only thing she wants is to be loved unconditionally. She wants to lay on the couch in a sweatshirt and sweat pants and watch Netflix with the one she loves. She has been let down so many times before and is very tired of empty promises. Maybe this is why she refuses to give up on her victims. Her dreams have been shattered more than once. That is the support she has always wanted: for someone to believe in her like she believes in herself. She hasn’t had that in a very long time. She plans on waiting for the right person to come into her life. There will be no more searching for him. She will succeed on her own and will fulfill her dreams, with or without a man. After all, she’s married to the job anyways. She is a very outspoken person but will also be very shy. When you meet her she will give you a very small smile and fix her chocolate brown eyes on you until she warms up. She will warm up to you with time. This is how she is with the families of her victims. She is the complete opposite in interrogations though. She will make light of situations but will also be very serious and professional. The term “you only live once” does not mean a thing to her. She believes that you live every day which is why you need to be professional but also have fun. She is the type of person that will push you as far as she can, and then congratulate you at the end. She will pick you up when you are down and she will be a part of your support system. Just ask any of her victims. She is a very sweet person but will also tell you like it is. Every day with her is always a mystery, but you will never be bored. She speaks from the heart and doesn’t make promises she won’t keep. Her soul is beautiful and you will see that more and more every day. She is very uplifting and insightful. You can always count on her to be there to listen when you need to vent, but don’t expect her to sugarcoat anything. Her advice will be exactly what you need to hear even if you don’t like it. She will tell you, “Keep your chin up. Everything will work itself out. It all happens for a reason.” She will listen when you need to talk. The best advice is always given by her. She will say, “Now this is how I got myself out of…” or “When I was with ________ and __________ happened I…” It brings out the kindness from her heart. She is always willing to help in any way she can. Her heart is big and everyone has a place in it. It definitely helps her victims cope. She works very hard. She will stay up until all hours of the night making sure she is caught up on work. She doesn’t ever call into work, no matter how bad she feels. She likes to work. She pays her bills on time and is responsible with her money. She makes smart choices and always thinks about possible outcomes before she makes a decision. She has made a point to make herself independent. She is mature and doesn’t need help with anything. She does have internal conflict going on. She wants a companion but she also has very high standards. Her guard is up. Her heart can’t take many more traumatic breakups. She is trying to protect herself. She doesn’t want to let people in because she is afraid of being hurt again. She also knows that she doesn’t need a man to make her happy or to support her. Her independence doesn’t allow her to rely on any one person. Her wants are different from her needs and she wants for them to be on the same page. She knows exactly who she wants though. This person that she is makes her the great cop that she is today. Her passion and dedication to the job helps her victims, both alive and dead. She will always find justice for the victims, and she will always give them a voice. This makes her the role model that everyone needs.