blues and greens (barson)

xxii.

Rafael and Olivia returned alone to court the following day. It was rainy and chilly for August and the kids were more than happy to stay home and watch movies with Lucy. Rafael's mother, Lucia, was going to bring them lunch and spend time with them later on in the day.
Fin and Velasco were taking the stand to discuss everything the investigation had turned up.
Fin was first up.
"Sergeant Tutuola," Carisi began, "following Captain Benson's recusal, what did you do?"
"I stepped up to take over the case."
"How long have you worked at SVU?"
"Objection! Relevance!" Maria Benito was starting the morning off strong.
"Goes to experience investigating these sort of things?" Carisi looked at the judge, his face revealing just how done with Benito he was.
"Overruled, go ahead, sergeant."
"Thanks," Fin said to the judge, "I been at SVU about one year less than the Captain, so twenty-two, going on twenty-three years this fall."
"Is this similar to any case you've ever seen?" Carisi asked.
"No, we've dealt with fertility clinics and similar facilities, but never for something quite like this."
"How did you know where to begin?"
"Following the arrival of Aspen Barba-Benson and the note she brought with her, we started lookin' into the facility owned by the defendants. Hopeful Futures."
Carisi brought a blown up scan of the note Aspen had handed Liv that first day on the monitor and announced it.
"What did you do next?"
"We started looking into the facility, first paying them a visit to get a general understanding."
"How did that go?"
"Well, Mr Sullivan made some grossly inappropriate comments about my partner, Detective Rollins, and we met some folks outside who were protesting. They thought it was an abortion clinic, which it isn't," Fin continued, "but they told us that they'd occasionally seen some shady people going in and out of the side door."
"What sort of grossly inappropriate comments?"
"Objection! Relevance?"
"Goes to the defendant's view on women's bodies?"
"Sustained. Move on, Mr Carisi."
Maria Benito sat down with a smug smile on her face like she'd won the whole case.
"After that?" Carisi continued without missing a beat.
"We looked into reviews of the facility online, specifically on forums made for other parents of IVF and like support groups. There were a lot of folks on there talking about how their experience at Hopeful Futures had been real weird and some saying their children had turned out not to have any DNA of theirs but they were unable to afford an attorney to pursue the facility."
"You found other families that had the same things happen to them?"
"Yes, we spoke to some of them," Fin replied.
"What did you do after that?"
"We went through the financials and phone records of the facility. The financials showed completely out of control billing."
"How do you mean?"
"So, say my fiancé and I went to get IVF with a surrogate. They'd charge us $100,000 but if you and your partner went they might charge you $500,000 for the same exact procedures and the judge here, is it alright if I use you for the example?"
She gave him a go ahead nod.
"The judge and her partner could be charged a million for the exact same thing," Fin gestured, "it was impossible to pinpoint a base bill for any procedure."
"Could that have anything to do with insurance?"
"With a range like that? I don't think so. We got an inkling that it mighta been based on how much they thought someone made based on their job title, but even then, there were two couples that were made up of a professor and someone on Wall Street and their bills were drastically different despite being in the same lines of work, so we really never pinned it down."
"Was there anything else in the financials?"
"Objection! Leading!"
Carisi just looked at the judge.
"Overruled."
Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose, this woman was infuriating and if he'd been going against her he would've snapped long before now.
"There were a lot of payments to offshore LLCs."
"Thank you, Sergeant."
Maria Benito stood.
Carisi looked at Rafael as he went to sit down and took a deep breath.
Rafael didn't react other than blinking tiredly, he didn't want anyone to think Carisi was getting any kind of assistance even though it was clearly an exchange purely out of irritation.
"Sergeant. Would you say you're too close to this investigation having worked with the mother of one of these lost kids for so long?"
"No. I have the ability to remain unbiased."
"Are you sure?"
"Objection, argumentative," Carisi didn't even look up from his notes.
"And ridiculous," Rafa whispered in Liv's ear, which is unfortunately not the first time he'd had to pin that phrase on the end of an argumentative objection.
Carisi's shoulders moved which alerted Rafa to the fact that he'd heard the comment.
"Sustained."
"I'll move on," Maria declared as if she'd decided it on her own, "Sergeant, you said you were unable to ascertain the billing bases?"
"Yes," Fin sounded disinterested in answering her questions.
Liv's eyes followed movement, noting the Sullivan siblings whispering to one another at the defense table. She sneezed, knowing it would draw Carisi's attention.
He seemed to notice the defendants whispering and stretched his shoulders. He started scribbling in his notes as he could hear what they were whispering about.
The judge's eyes were already on the siblings, she knew they were speaking.
"Your honor," Carisi stood before Maria Benito could ask the next question, "the defendants are not supposed to be speaking to one another."
"Correct," the judge's eyes flicked to Carisi and back to the siblings, "if I hear you again, I'll hold you in contempt."
Maria sighed and glared at her clients.
Rafael took Olivia's hand, clearly growing more irritated with this defense attorney, he leaned into her ear again, "I could've done a better job even if I was purposely throwing the case."
She smiled at him.
Carisi scratched at his head and fixed his hair.
Maria was asking Fin more useless questions and wasting time.
"Nothing further," she finally sat down.
Fin got off the stand and on his way out he gave Liv and Rafa a look, it said apologies for ditching them but he was getting the hell outta there as fast as he could.
Neither of them blamed him.
Velasco, one of the doctors from the facility who had flipped, the ME who did the autopsies on both Paxylls, and three more sets of parents that this had happened to finished out the day.
Stabler was slated to be Carisi's final witness tomorrow to drive home just how brutal Lauren Paxyll's death was by describing the state they'd found her in in the river.
Rafael and Olivia had a nice, calm evening with the children. Grateful to not have to listen to Maria Benito's voice any longer.
They tucked the kids in at 9 and we're sitting on the couch in their room for the ten o'clock news.
They hadn't escaped Maria as long as they'd hoped as she apparently wasn't avoiding the media circus in front of the courthouse like Carisi and the rest of their squad had been.
"The DA's office has nothing on my clients except a few mistakes," she claimed in front of dozens of reporters, "everyone in that office is human and mistakes are made. Tomorrow I will be moving to drop the charges as this has been two days  more wasted where my older brother and sister have been unable to do their work to provide children to those who struggle."
Rafael turned to Olivia, "brother and sister?"
"I thought it was just the two of them?" She grabbed her phone and dialed Fin.
"Hello?" He sounded like he'd been sleeping.
"Sorry for calling late," Liv started as she paused the television, "you're not watching the ten o'clock news?"
"Nah, that crazy lawyer gave me a migraine."
"That's why I'm calling. She's on the news."
"What?"
Rafael's cell phone was ringing in his office, he slid from the couch to go grab it.
"Dominick, hang on. We're on the other line with Fin."
"You told me that Sebastian and Sophia were the only kids Goldie Sullivan had?"
"They're the two that took over the facility. She had a daughter with her third husband, Marianne Sullivan, and a son with her forth husband, his name was Armani Sullivan, I think? Man, I don't know, why?"
"Marianne Sullivan. Maria Sullivan," she looked at Rafael, "and if she got married Maria Benito."
"What is this?" Fin asked.
"Maria Benito, the defense lawyer, called Sophia and Sebastian her older brother and sister on the news."
"Oh fuck," there was rustling followed by distant complaints from Phoebe, "I'll call you back."
"Alright, Carisi," Rafael put his phone on speaker.
"I take it you saw the news?" His voice came through the phone.
"We did."
"Why didn't we know about this?"
"Fin only looked into the siblings involved in the facility. The original CEO had four kids with four different husbands."
"Busy."
"I'd say," Rafa snorted at Carisi's response.
"Fin said he'd call me back," Liv  chimed in.
"Keep me posted on what we find out."
"You got it," Rafa said.
"You would think that she would be trying more," Liv hit play on the tv again.
"The charges against my siblings are ridiculous, neither one of them are capable of such an evil and unreasonable scheme. My brother and sister are good, they are philanthropists and would not risk their reputations or our mother's reputation this way."
Liv leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and her hands over her mouth.
Maria continued, "this smear campaign initiated by the NYPD and the Manhattan DA's Office is purely due to SVU Captain Olivia Benson and former, disgraced Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba being upset at a mistake that was made by human beings."
The clip from the courthouse steps cut away and the news anchor continued speaking, "the DAs office has refused to comment and many of the people involved in the trial are keeping a low profile. The trial continues tomorrow morning, for your news..."
Olivia looked at Rafa, "you're not, nor have you ever been disgraced."
He was staring at the screen, unmoving.
"Raf," Liv whispered, turning on the couch to grab his shoulders.
"What?" His green eyes finally moved to hers.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm just..." he paused as he dug for the right word, "astonished? I don't know if that's the word I'm looking for. Maybe appalled? That the media would run this, especially with our names. And even after everything she's heard in court, she still believes they're innocent, I understand supporting your client and their innocence but I have never once blindly believed any of them the way she seems to be with this."
She considered his words for a long moment, "she's going to try to move for a dismissal and that judge who is already sick and tired of her is going to laugh in her face, Raf."
"Oh, I know."
"You're okay, though?"
He gave her a crooked smile, that famous Barba crooked smile that has always calmed her while simultaneously lighting every nerve in her body, "I'm fine, my love. Her words mean nothing to me and beyond that I was far from disgraced. McCoy didn't even want me to leave, I left because I needed to."
Olivia nodded.
"Are you okay?" He inquired.
She nodded again, "I'm just worried. To me it seems like Carisi has already won the case but she is so convinced that I feel like we're missing something."
He shook his head, "don't let her get into your head, Liv. It looks bad and seems bad but the DAs office advises not to speak to media until trials are over so Carisi can't stand on those steps and argue back."
Liv's eyes searched his face, "okay."
"Let's get some sleep?"