Vigilante 28/?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"The woman's a Goddamn ghost," Olivia said frustratedly as soon as Elliot walked into the squad room with Munch and Fin.
"Well well well, look who's able to sit," Munch commented predictably, draping his coat over the back of his chair.
"Shut the fuck up, John, or I'll recruit Donnelly to kick *your* ass."
"Ooh la la," John said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Liv hid her smirk and turned to Elliot. "Do we have *anything* on St. Clair? Anything at fucking all? Because I'm inclined to think at this point that despite having spoken to her, she doesn't actually exist."
"Nothing," Elliot said with a shrug. "Sorry."
"How are we supposed to prosecute someone without an identity?" Liv shouted, standing up from her chair. "I want to know who she is! Did we run her prints in Russia?"
"No, just Uzbekistan," Munch answered.
"Funny!" Olivia snarled, slamming her fist on her desk with a loud bang. "She has a Russian accent, John, just go fucking run them!"
"You know, I thought I wasn't wearing my 'I'm here to run prints for you' t-shirt today. How'd you know the extent of my employment here?"
Olivia started walking toward John, and she was angrier than he'd ever seen her before, so he made a snap decision (which was to keep his head attached to his body) and quickly got up, heading for the computers. "I'm going! Down, Olivia, down!" Run, run, run.
"You run like a girl, John!" she called after him, then took a deep breath and turned on Fin. "*How*?"
Fin just shook his head and raised his hands in surrender. "I got no idea. Sometimes I even amaze myself. You know last week he used my toothbrush? My *toothbrush*, Liv."
That earned him a snort of laughter from the frustrated detective, and she actually allowed herself to smile a little. "Tough break."
"Eh, you know, I got one back the next day. Stole his skinny ass's towel in the showers."
Now Olivia actually laughed out loud, her small smile turning into a full-fledged grin.
Elliot had been thinking about something, and waved his finger toward Olivia a few times before speaking. "Wait wait wait. You talked to St. Clair? When?"
"Just before you guys got back. Why?" Liv asked, turning to face him.
"She wouldn't talk. Didn't utter a word durning her arrest or booking. How'd you get her to talk?"
"I don't know?" Liv shrugged. "I'm charming? I guess I pissed her off. I led off with her history as a pimp. She was quick to tell me that I know nothing."
"We got a hit!" Munch yelled, frantically waving a piece of paper back and forth over his head as he returned to the squad room, hoping that this turn of events would get him off of Olivia's radar.
"What?" Liv practically shot over to him, snatching the paper and reading it over. "Nikita Romanov, daughter of the... are you kidding me? She's Russian royalty? What the fuck is she doing over here pimping little girls and then killing off their johns?!" It was a rhetorical question, and she continued reading. "She's got no record. Why was she in the system?"
"I guess all royalty gets documented over there," John guessed.
"What, you mean you don't know? You're slippin, old man," Fin piped up from his desk. "Slippin."
"It doesn't say why she left the country."
"Let's go ask her," Elliot suggested, stretching with a yawn and walking over to Munch and Liv.
"Actually El, do you mind if I take this one?" Olivia asked, giving her partner an 'it's not personal, you're a great detective and partner and I love you but please do me this favor without asking any questions' look.
Elliot was a little surprised, but he knew that Olivia wouldn't be asking if she didn't have a good reason, so he wasn't offended. "Sure, go ahead."
"Thanks," Liv replied, almost sighing with relief as she headed to the phone to call for the suspect again.
--
"So. Nikita," Olivia began, taking a seat across from the silent woman. "Why did you leave Russia?"
Ms. Romanov laughed. Not the reaction Olivia was expecting. "You checked my fingerprints in my homeland," she acknowledged. "You're a very smart woman, even if you know nothing. Why do you think I refused to speak to the police? I knew my accent would give me away."
"Then why did you speak to me?" Olivia asked, regarding her curiously.
"I have my reasons. Let me ask you this... do I look like royalty to you?"
Liv allowed a smirk to cross her lips. "No. But looks can be deceiving."
"In this case they are not. I am not royalty, Detective. I am a police officer."
Liv's brows hit the roof. "Excuse me?"
The blonde sighed, finally relaxing her posture, folding her hands on the table in front of her. "You will blow my entire operation if this information leaves this room. I cannot trust any of the other detectives."
"What makes you think you can trust me?"
"Because you understand."
"Just because I understand doesn't mean I condone murder."
"It is more complicated than that. Will you listen if I tell you?"
Liv was skeptical, but she nodded, leaning back in her chair. "Yes. Go ahead."
"I was a police officer back in Russia, when a group of American men came into the country and abducted a group of twenty-five teenagers, somehow smuggled them back to America and then forced them into prostitution."
Liv raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? Were the men arrested?"
"No. But each of the girls turned up on the internet with her own personal web page. By the time the American authorities found the girls, the men were long gone, and the girls were too high on drugs to be of any help. They had been drugged the entire time, because once they detoxed, they could not remember anything from their last few months, including their abduction. This was eight years ago. I was sent by my country's government to infiltrate the teenage prostitution ring and eliminate the perpetrators once they were identified."
Olivia's jaw was trying to go slack, but she managed to hold it together. "If that's true, then you have--"
"Diplomatic Immunity. Yes. The higher members of the American government are aware of my assignment."
"Why haven't they come to spring you then?" Liv wasn't sure if she believed this or not. She was inclined to, but she was wary.
"Because my assignment is not finished. I would prefer to be tried and convicted and spend twenty years in jail than to blow my cover and alert the three remaining targets that they have been identified. My country takes their offenses very seriously."
"So do we, but that doesn't mean we have to assassinate all the perps. We convict them and sentence them to death, legally. Why would your government employ a silent assassin?"
"Why don't you call them and find out?" Ms. Romanov asked, leaning forward to stare at Olivia. "Do you have a pencil?" Once Olivia had removed her notebook and pen from her pocket, Nikita gave her the telephone number of the top government official in Russia. "Tell him Valanya gave you the number. Ask him anything you want to know and he will tell you."
There was a knock on the door and Casey breezed into the interrogation room, one brow arched as she looked at Olivia. "I get you the day off and you come back to work?"
Liv cleared her throat. "This is Casey Novak, the Assistant District Attorney. Casey, can I speak to you privately, please? This case... isn't quite what it seems to be."
The blonde's eyes went wide, pleading with Olivia not to disclose the information. "Detective, please..."
"I promise, you can trust her too," Olivia said quietly. "And if what you told me is true, then you'll be out of here with a slap on the wrist, and the immunity will not be mentioned to the press."
"What immunity?" Casey asked, not liking being left out of the loop, especially regarding something that involved her lover.
"Casey, I'll explain the situation while we walk. I need to make a phone call." She gave Nikita a reassuring smile, and was almost to the door when she stopped. "One thing... is Nick Miller a target?"
The blonde shook her head. "No."
Liv nodded and then pulled Casey out the door, proceeding to tell her the whole story as they walked. She decided to use the phone in Casey's office, so that no one would overhear.
"Do you believe her?" Casey asked as she closed her office door and turned to face Liv.
"Yeah, I think I do," Olivia answered with a nod. "She didn't deny killing any of them, and if she was going for sympathy from me, I think she would have come up with something besides being a hired government assassin. But, we'll see in a second." She picked up Casey's phone and pressed a button, then hung up and tried again. "How do I get an outside line? What is this?"
Casey laughed. "Star ninety-nine."
Liv got a dial tone and rolled her eyes. "Why not just nine like the rest of the world?"
"We at the DA's office are very possessive of our phone line, apparently."
"Apparently," Liv said absently as she dialed the international number from her notebook.
--
An hour later, the conversation came to an end, and Olivia hung up the phone. Casey was the first to speak. "You're paying Branch for that call, I hope you know that." Olivia *looked* at her, and Casey bit her lip. Gahhh, that look just made her feel like a naughty schoolgirl. No matter how hard she tried not to let it affect her. She was supposed to make Liv earn back her trust before she went all googly-eyed again and handed over the reins... "Yeah, what I mean is, would you please tell my boss that you made the call?"
Olivia continued to give Casey the *look* as she leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I *am* your boss."
Casey's spine tingled with the shiver that raced through her, and she absently grabbed hold of Olivia's waist to keep herself standing. "I meant Arthur," she squeaked.
"I know what you meant." Liv nibbled the ADA's earlobe and then pulled back to look at her. "What are we going to do about Romanov?"
"Can we discuss it *after* we have sex on my desk?"