Chapter Text
“So, what do we know about the caller?” The captain asked as she walked towards the investigation board.
“Just that he called from a payphone, and he got a pretty thick British accent. There’s no way to identify him as of now.”
“How about the vic? How many billionaires are out there with a red-headed partner that have appeared on TV before?”
“Not too many,” Fin replied. “But the caller didn’t sound like he was sure about having seen her on TV.”
“Well, we have to start somewhere. Start digging,” Olivia commanded.
Amanda was already typing on the computer. Barely a minute later, she’d come up with the results.
“Looks like we got lucky. There’s only two of them. Vivienne Ashford, 35, girlfriend of Sebastian Langley, that one film producer in the Upper East Side… and Lena Carter, 29, married to Julian Carter, CEO of Carter Aviation.”
“Ashford and Langley?” Bruno chimed in. “I saw a post of them on social media this morning. They’re somewhere in Europe, I think.”
“Which leaves us with the Carter’s. We go pay them a visit?” Fin asked.
Arms crossed, Olivia took a moment to think. This would be a high-profile case, if it was a case at all.
“If the victim’s actually the wife of a billionaire, I doubt they’re gonna stay silent about it. There’s something we’re missing here,” she asserted. “Either way, we’ll need more evidence to get something out of these people. If you plan on asking around, do it with discretion.”
With that, she left the case to her squad and returned to her office, hand still holding the photo of the red-headed woman that she’d just grabbed from the printer earlier. Something was off, and she needed some alone time to think.
Eventually, later that night, Olivia had let her gut feelings get the better of her and asked Amanda to track down Lena Carter’s location. According to Amanda, the woman should be somewhere inside the diner, and the place was going to close soon. Olivia waited patiently in her car, hoping that she’d at least get a moment of privacy with her supposed victim.
The place wasn’t crowded - no one was coming in, just a single person coming out once every while. It made Olivia’s surveillance job a little easier. A brunette guy, a small kid, an old grandma… And then, there was this person in grey hoods pushing the door open a little too warily, head turning left and right as if in a panic, every move laced with caution. Olivia spotted a red speck of hair sticking out, and she immediately fixated her eyes on the target.
Moments later, she was tailing the walking grey figure in her car, careful so as not to be exposed. She was driving and thinking of all the scenarios that could’ve happened to someone to make them so guarded, until she was led to a night bar, dimly-lit with purple. The person made their way in, and Olivia was going to sit there for a few minutes before she, too, got out of the car and pushed the door inside.
Soon enough, the black hood was removed and Olivia’s speculation was confirmed: It was Lena Carter. The woman sat alone, frantically typing on her phone. She was calling someone, and from the looks of it, the person she was calling should be the one meeting her in this bar. Maybe she was blackmailed by her attacker?
Olivia sat a few tables away from the woman. Seeing as a meeting was about to take place, Olivia didn’t want to scare her victim off yet. Olivia wanted to watch first, and then question the lady when she had the chance.
But before anything remotely close to a meeting occurred, the door once again was pushed open, and then came a big, buffed man in a draped suit, his face standing out like a sore thumb. Olivia could recognize him as Julian Carter right away. He marched straight towards the trembling woman, as Olivia hid herself behind a glass of cocktail.
“Lena, what are you doing here this late all by yourself?” The man asked with the most phonily cloying tone.
“I-it’s nothing!” Lena shrieked. “I just wanted to go get a drink, that’s all…”
“Weird, I don’t remember you asking for my permission to do that.”
“Please… I just needed to clear my head a little…”
“Did you? Lena, are you hiding something from me?” His voice began to raise. “Because for damn sure it looks like you’re seeing someone here!”
“I’m not having an affair, I promise!”
“Well, I take that you’re admitting to expecting someone here,” Julian Carter spoke with a steely cold attitude all of a sudden. “Is it… the police? You’re meeting a cop in private to rattle off about yesterday, is that it?”
“No..!” The woman cried out in fear.
“Let's see about that,” he hissed with arrogance. “If I spot a single cop somewhere around here, you're done for.”
Shit . How convenient it was for Olivia to be here right now. She could make out the sound of scattered footsteps. It was distant, then it was coming directly at her. Now, she could just show herself and demand that he leave Lena alone and take the woman in for the night, but there was no way they would let her hold someone for that long.
The footsteps were approaching even closer. Well, maybe he could pose as some random cop walking in to investigate a burglary- but that would still raise too much suspicion. Or maybe–
“Olivia. I need you to trust me on this.”
A familiar voice. Startled, she turned around, mouth half-opened. Her gaze was met with blue ones from a blonde she knew all too well.
“Do you trust me?” Alex Cabot repeated firmly.
The footsteps were louder and louder.
“Ye…s?”
As soon as the approval escaped Olivia’s mouth, Alex moved in the blink of an eye. Alex was all over her, pinning her on the wall with one hand, the other gently caressing her cheek. Alex’s hips were brushing against the badge hanging by her waist. The gap between their faces closed. Then… their lips intertwined . Soft. Tender.
Olivia couldn’t make out what was going on, where Lena was dragged to exactly, whether her victim was hurt, whether there were eyes staring at her too cynically. She was obscured from the violent men in front of her, just as they were obscured from her, even though the footsteps were becoming clearer each second. They jumbled with the relentless pounding of her heart, every beat gripped by Alex’s presence. There was just Alex standing over her, only one focal point. There was only the warmth of Alex’s touch, the feeling of Alex’s lips pressing against hers.
And she enjoyed it…?