Chapter Text
Carisi set his bag down at his desk before glancing around the precinct, surprised that he was the only one there since he had been stuck in traffic. Of course, there was a good chance that Fin and Amanda had already left for whatever assignment they’d be working on that day, but normally Amanda texted him when that happened.
His phone had remained silent all morning.
The blinds were closed in Olivia’s office and Carisi took a sip of coffee as he wandered toward her office to see if she was in there, pausing when he heard voices. He cautiously knocked on the door before poking his head in. “Hey Lieu,” he said, trying not to sound as curious as he felt at seeing Amanda and Olivia standing and looking at a bunch of printouts spread across Olivia’s desk. “What’s going on?”
Unless he was imagining it, for a moment, something like guilt flashed across Olivia’s face. “Nothing,” she said, quickly gathering the papers together. “Are you all caught up on your paperwork?”
Carisi’s brow furrowed. “Close enough,” he said. “Is there a new case?”
Amanda and Olivia exchanged a glance. “It’s nothing you need to worry about,” Olivia told him, and Carisi’s frown deepened.
“Lieu, Fin’s out of the office and we’re understaffed as is,” he pointed out evenly. “If it’s something that I can help with, then—”
“It’s not,” Olivia said with a sigh. “There would be a conflict of interest if you were involved.”
Carisi’s blood ran cold. “Is it— is it one of my sisters?” he asked, reaching out to steady himself against one of the chairs. “Or my niece again? Please don’t tell me that she—”
“Oh, God, no, it’s nothing like that,” Amanda said quickly, giving Olivia a dirty look as she rubbed Carisi’s arm soothingly. “It just involves someone…” She hesitated, as if not sure how to word it. “Someone you used to be close with.”
“How close?” Carisi asked warily, and Amanda and Olivia exchanged another glance before realization hit. “You mean, Barba?” Neither of them seemed able to meet his eyes, which only confirmed it for him. “What happened?”
“Carisi,” Olivia sighed, but Carisi refused to let her interrupt.
“Is he ok?” he asked urgently. “Was he attacked? Or—?”
Amanda shook her head. “He’s been getting death threats again,” she said, ignoring the look Olivia gave her.
She said it so nonchalantly that Carisi was thrown off-guard. “He...what?”
Olivia cleared her throat. “He’s been getting death threats for the past few months. They’ve been markedly different from the previous threats he’s gotten, but serious enough that we’ve been investigating the source.”
Carisi ignored the latter part of what she said, his expression darkening. “Months?” he repeated, his voice cracking. “This has been going on for months and he didn’t tell me?”
“He reported it to the proper authorities,” Olivia said carefully, still conspicuously avoiding his eyes.
“The proper authorities who didn’t tell me that they were investigating,” Carisi said harshly, and Olivia looked slightly guilty at that. “Lieu, I shoulda been your first call—”
“He asked us not to tell you.”
Carisi recoiled, his jaw clenched. “Why the hell would he do that?” he demanded.
Olivia straightened, her expression evening out. “I imagine that’s something you’d have to take up with him,” she said coolly. “And seeing as how you can’t work this case from our end anyway—”
It was as clear a dismissal as anything, but Carisi still glared at her. “You should’ve told me,” he said, his voice low. “I know he’s your friend, Lieu, but trying to protect him—”
“He wasn’t the one I was trying to protect.” Olivia met his gaze squarely. “You’re dismissed, Detective.”
Carisi scowled but something in Olivia’s expression stopped him from saying anything more. Instead, he jerked a nod before turning and storming out of her office, making a beeline for the elevators.
If Olivia wasn’t going to give him a straight answer on why she didn’t tell him, there was still one person who might.
“What the hell, Raf?” Carisi demanded as he let himself into Barba’s office without knocking.
“Please, come in, make yourself at home,” Barba snarked tiredly without even looking up from the casefile he was reviewing, his feet propped up on his desk.
“You’ve been getting death threats again.”
Carisi didn’t bother phrasing it like a question and Barba did look up at that, his eyes narrowed. “Olivia wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“Why the hell not?” Carisi snapped, crossing to Barba’s desk in two long strides. “I have the right to know—”
“No, last time I checked, you lost that right,” Barba said coldly, glaring up at Carisi. “Right around the time when you told me that you weren’t in love with me anymore.”
Carisi flinched, his shoulders slumping as he looked away from Barba. “That’s not what I said, Raf,” he said quietly. “I’ve never said that.”
“You might as well have,” Barba said, equally soft, before clearly his throat and looking back up at him, his carefully neutral expression back in place. “So now you know. Is there something else that I can help you with, Detective?”
“What, you think I’m just gonna leave now that I know you’ve gotten death threats?” Carisi asked, incredulous. “Who’s set up your security? Do Olivia and Amanda have any leads?”
Barba gave him a look. “Those both sound like questions that your colleagues could answer for you.” Carisi scowled at him but Barba’s expression didn’t change. “I’m serious, Detective. I have work to do, and answering your questions when you’re not even on this case is not my job. So get out.”
Carisi crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Make me.”
Barba stared at him. “Are you serious? What are we, in elementary school?”
“I am serious,” Carisi said flatly. “You want me gone, you’re gonna have to remove me yourself.”
Barba sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I knew I was going to regret letting my gym membership lapse,” he murmured sourly before glaring at Carisi. “Fine. I don’t have security. Threat assessment doesn’t think I’m in imminent danger. As far as leads go, not so much, though Det. Rollins believes that the threats are related to one of my recent cases.”
“Why does she think that?”
Barba rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, something to do with the language used. I know this will shock you, but I don’t particularly enjoy reading about all the graphic ways someone wants to watch me die, so I haven’t exactly done a close textual analysis of all the various threats.”
“All of them? Christ, Barba, how many have there been?” Barba jerked a shrug and Carisi gritted his teeth. “Are we talking emails? Letters? Phone calls?”
Barba sighed and leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling. “All of the above,” he muttered.
“Jesus fucking—”
“Why do you even care?” Barba snapped. “You were the one who walked away, so don’t pretend like you have a vested interest in this.”
“Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I want you dead!” Carisi half-shouted, exasperated.
“Maybe not, but it does mean that you don’t get to show up here with this self-righteous bullshit and pretend like you suddenly care. Not to mention, I am working which means now is decidedly not the time or place—”
Carisi ignored him, spotting something on Barba’s desk and snatching it up. “Is this a new threat?”
“It’s a piece of mail,” Barba said with a sigh. “I don’t exactly screen every single letter that my office gets—”
“It’s a hand-delivered envelope, not mail, so unless you’re expecting something…” He didn’t wait for Barba’s reply, tearing the envelope open and sliding the letter out.
“US Code 18 Section 1708,” Barba said idly. “Mail Theft. Felony.”
Carisi ignored him, scanning through the letter, his heart dropping even further with every sentence that he read. “This wasn’t delivered here, was it?” he asked, and Barba suddenly seemed very occupied with the papers on his desk. “Jesus Christ, Barba, they know your home address? Does threat assessment know that?”
“Just give me that,” Barba snapped, reaching out and snatching the letter from Carisi, wincing as he did. “Fuck, papercut,” he swore, glaring down at his finger as if it had personally offended him.
Carisi stared down at the envelope still in his hands, all of the blood draining from his face. “Rafael.”
He tried to keep his voice calm but something in his tone had Barba glancing back up at him. “What?” he snapped before sticking his thumb in his mouth to suck the blood that had welled from the papercut.
“I need you to very slowly and carefully hand me that letter back,” Carisi said, as calmly as he could, and praying that Barba wouldn’t argue with him on this.
For a moment, it looked like Barba right refuse, more on principle than anything, but he studied Carisi’s face for a moment before silently handing the letter back to Carisi. “What—?” he started, but Carisi cut him off.
“Now I need you to shut the window, and I need you to text Carmen and tell her to quickly and quietly leave the building.”
Carisi had his own phone out already, the envelope and letter held at arm’s distance, and as such he almost missed the startled look that Barba threw him, even as he moved over to the window. “Can’t I just open the door and tell her?” he asked.
Carisi shook his head. “No.”
“Sonny, what the hell is going on?”
Carisi finished sending the various text messages he needed to before he set his phone and the letter down on Barba’s desk. “That envelope didn’t just have a letter in it,” he said, somewhat grimly. “It was laced with white powder.”
Barba blinked. “What, like anthrax?” he asked skeptically.
“Could be,” Carisi said honestly. “Or it could be something else.”
“Sure, like baby powder or talc,” Barba snapped. “This is asinine, Sonny—” He was interrupted the fire alarm blaring, and he glanced around, startled. “Don’t we have to evacuate?” he asked.
Carisi shook his head slowly. “Hazmat protocol,” he said. “We’ve both handled the material and until we know if it’s something biological or contagious, we won’t be permitted to leave.” He gave Barba a tight smile. “So might as well get comfortable, Counselor. We’ll be here awhile.”
Barba sighed heavily. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”