muse_playground - 2008.5 - Face of The Enemy
"The face of the enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me." -Unknown
Anna leans back in her chair with a yawn while Detective Angela Beretti tries, vainly, to get a confession out of their murder suspect. The case was strong enough to hold up in court, but as usual McCoy wanted a confession just in case the defense tried anything. Beretti eventually paces around the room before going silent, her resignation hanging heavily in the air.
Their perp - a one Terri Simmons - breathed in smugly, feeding off Beretti's frustration before casting a bored glance Anna's way. Her smugness faded slightly and she leaned in, cuffs grating against the table as she moved. "Am I boring you, Detective?"
"It's that obvious? I'm sorry, I was going for subtle." Anna drawled, yawning again. "You'll have to forgive my partner - she's a little antsy. See, she just wants to go home, have herself a nice dinner with her husband, and go to bed. She doesn't have time to play your little game. Me? I have plenty of time, I'm just not impressed."
Terri's lip twitched ever-so-slightly in annoyance and she glared at Anna, getting even more annoyed when Anna just rolled her eyes dismissively. "Victor was impressed. He was scared when he saw what I could do."
Beretti stopped in her tracks, eyes widening a little in surprise at the sudden turn in the interrogation. She'd spent the better part of two hours trying every good/bad-cop interrogation trick in the book to get even the slightest incriminating statement out of Terri and nothing worked. Well, the Lieutenant did say the kid was good with this sort of thing... she mused.
"Oh, I've seen what you can do, Terri." Anna replied evenly, spreading out crime scene photos on the table in a gruesome, bloody, perverse sort of overlay that would've made some detectives sick to their stomachs. Anna regarded it with a numb sort of fascination, the way she'd regarded the case itself - in a purely scientific manner. "Takes all sorts of rage and hate to gut a man like that..."
"You don't know nothin' about hate, Detective." Terri hissed, trembling slightly as she looked over the photos.
"Don't make the mistake of judging me, Terri. I just might surprise you."
"Bastard deserved it. I made him beg for mercy. He kept cryin' and screamin' for me to stop, to have mercy." Reaching out she placed her hands on the photograph of Victor Munez's face, her gaze focusing on his glossy eyes. "He didn't stop when I begged him for mercy, when I screamed to stop..."
Anna's heart dropped into her stomach as the realization slapped her in the face. Nothing in their investigation had pointed to him being a rapist - the MO didn't point to a rape victim being the murderer - and she never saw it. It didn't fit her profile. "He raped you." Her voice grew soft, and that seemed to set Terri off.
"I stopped him! He raped me and told me he'd kill me if I reported it! For five years I've huddled up in my apartment afraid to leave at night because of him. I haven't... haven't slept or- or had a date since he attacked me. He never saw it coming." She stood up in her seat, leaning in to catch Anna's steely green eyes with her ice blue eyes. Beretti started to move but stopped when Anna held a hand out.
"You murdered a man."
"I took my life back, Detective." She said with a sickeningly empowered smile as her eyes widened in almost psychotic glee. "I can sleep at night now. He'll never hurt me again."
Bile started to rise in Anna's throat and her gaze softened, her grip on her almost scientific detachment slipping the more her inner vigilante connected with Terri's words.
"I killed him and now I'm free." She smiled, a few tears rolling down her cheeks as Beretti grabbed her forearm and started dragging her out of interrogation. "You don't understand what it's like to spend your nights with the light on and a knife under your pillow because you're waiting for him to come finish you off. Or the constant anxiety when you leave your building or get caught in a crowd."
Anna rose from her seat and swallowed hard as she gathered the crime scene photos, fighting the sudden urge to go throw up.
"Living in fear every day and having no control! You don't know what it's like, Detective Morasca! Don't you judge me!" Terri screamed before Beretti pulled her out of the room for the last time.
"Yeah, I do." She said numbly, sliding back into her empirical detachment as she went back to her desk, sickened. Is that what I'll become when I find him? Am I really that out of control? She was going to spend the rest of her night haunted by that particular demon.
(OOC comments are most welcome)
Anna leans back in her chair with a yawn while Detective Angela Beretti tries, vainly, to get a confession out of their murder suspect. The case was strong enough to hold up in court, but as usual McCoy wanted a confession just in case the defense tried anything. Beretti eventually paces around the room before going silent, her resignation hanging heavily in the air.
Their perp - a one Terri Simmons - breathed in smugly, feeding off Beretti's frustration before casting a bored glance Anna's way. Her smugness faded slightly and she leaned in, cuffs grating against the table as she moved. "Am I boring you, Detective?"
"It's that obvious? I'm sorry, I was going for subtle." Anna drawled, yawning again. "You'll have to forgive my partner - she's a little antsy. See, she just wants to go home, have herself a nice dinner with her husband, and go to bed. She doesn't have time to play your little game. Me? I have plenty of time, I'm just not impressed."
Terri's lip twitched ever-so-slightly in annoyance and she glared at Anna, getting even more annoyed when Anna just rolled her eyes dismissively. "Victor was impressed. He was scared when he saw what I could do."
Beretti stopped in her tracks, eyes widening a little in surprise at the sudden turn in the interrogation. She'd spent the better part of two hours trying every good/bad-cop interrogation trick in the book to get even the slightest incriminating statement out of Terri and nothing worked. Well, the Lieutenant did say the kid was good with this sort of thing... she mused.
"Oh, I've seen what you can do, Terri." Anna replied evenly, spreading out crime scene photos on the table in a gruesome, bloody, perverse sort of overlay that would've made some detectives sick to their stomachs. Anna regarded it with a numb sort of fascination, the way she'd regarded the case itself - in a purely scientific manner. "Takes all sorts of rage and hate to gut a man like that..."
"You don't know nothin' about hate, Detective." Terri hissed, trembling slightly as she looked over the photos.
"Don't make the mistake of judging me, Terri. I just might surprise you."
"Bastard deserved it. I made him beg for mercy. He kept cryin' and screamin' for me to stop, to have mercy." Reaching out she placed her hands on the photograph of Victor Munez's face, her gaze focusing on his glossy eyes. "He didn't stop when I begged him for mercy, when I screamed to stop..."
Anna's heart dropped into her stomach as the realization slapped her in the face. Nothing in their investigation had pointed to him being a rapist - the MO didn't point to a rape victim being the murderer - and she never saw it. It didn't fit her profile. "He raped you." Her voice grew soft, and that seemed to set Terri off.
"I stopped him! He raped me and told me he'd kill me if I reported it! For five years I've huddled up in my apartment afraid to leave at night because of him. I haven't... haven't slept or- or had a date since he attacked me. He never saw it coming." She stood up in her seat, leaning in to catch Anna's steely green eyes with her ice blue eyes. Beretti started to move but stopped when Anna held a hand out.
"You murdered a man."
"I took my life back, Detective." She said with a sickeningly empowered smile as her eyes widened in almost psychotic glee. "I can sleep at night now. He'll never hurt me again."
Bile started to rise in Anna's throat and her gaze softened, her grip on her almost scientific detachment slipping the more her inner vigilante connected with Terri's words.
"I killed him and now I'm free." She smiled, a few tears rolling down her cheeks as Beretti grabbed her forearm and started dragging her out of interrogation. "You don't understand what it's like to spend your nights with the light on and a knife under your pillow because you're waiting for him to come finish you off. Or the constant anxiety when you leave your building or get caught in a crowd."
Anna rose from her seat and swallowed hard as she gathered the crime scene photos, fighting the sudden urge to go throw up.
"Living in fear every day and having no control! You don't know what it's like, Detective Morasca! Don't you judge me!" Terri screamed before Beretti pulled her out of the room for the last time.
"Yeah, I do." She said numbly, sliding back into her empirical detachment as she went back to her desk, sickened. Is that what I'll become when I find him? Am I really that out of control? She was going to spend the rest of her night haunted by that particular demon.
(OOC comments are most welcome)