The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

33: An Author

Two days later, I am sitting at my desk across from Sonny writing up yesterday's sexual assault case when two women walk in together "Hi, we need to speak to whoever is in charge here." One of them states looking around.

I stand up and move over to them "Alright, why don't you two come take a seat and tell us what's going on." I gesture towards the chairs by our desks.

"Are you in charge?" The blonde women looks at me, already knowing I'm not. I look at Sonny with a nod and he starts to walk over to Benson's office.

"Why don't we head over there." I gesture for them to follow him and they do.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Benson asks once they walk into the office.

"We want to report a sex crime. A rape" One of the girls say as I finish shutting the door.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Why don't you have a seat?" Benson comes over to the side of her desk and the women sit in the chairs. "Which one of you--"

"It wasn't one of us." The brunette answers.

"It was our father, Walter Briggs." The Blonde explains.

The name is familiar but I can't place it. Sonny eagerly comments "The novelist? I'm a huge admirer." He starts rambling "I've read every one of his books ever since--"

I know to stop him from continuing his rambling "so what happened to him?" I say, as Benson carefully eyes Sonny.

"His wife, Charmaine, she pumps him full of erectile dysfunction pills and makes him have sex every day, which is dangerous, considering he's got a heart condition." The brunette says.

"He's divorced from both our mothers." The blonde adds on "Charmaine won't let us see him."

Benson asks "so how do you know this?"

"His housekeeper told us." One answers "she feels terrible, but she doesn't know what to do."

"That may not technically be rape." Sonny tells them as carefully as he could.

"Penal law section 130.25 Sexual intercourse with a person who is incapable of consent because of mental disability or incapacitation." The blonde sister elaborates while looking at him. He puts on a sort of impressed smirk. "Our father is almost 80 and has dementia. He does not consent. He cannot consent."

"Did you look that up?" He asks, his weird grin turning into a sort of smile.

"I'm in law school." She answers.

"Oh, where? I'm in Fordham, nights--" He goes to chat.

"Carisi?" Benson stops him. "Why would she be doing this?"

"Our father's will divides his estate in equal shares between his current wife and his children." The other sister explains to us.

So I say what they aren't saying out loud "your stepmother wants a child so she can have an extra share."

"So she's raping him." The brunette affirms her accusation and they look to Benson for her answer.

Benson exhales, thinking about it for a moment when she looks to me "Grey, Carisi, go call the housekeeper, ask her to come in." She directs us and we move to leave.

I bite the inside of my lip as I walk out of the room once Sonny opened it for me "I can't believe we're working a case on Walter Briggs, he's a legend." He says to me.

"Huh." I simply return back.

"Everything okay?" He asks once we are at our seat.

"Sure." I simply put, typing at my computer to find the housekeepers name.

Sonny stands back up and comes over to my desk. I eye him from the corner of my eye looking around the room "come on, I can tell somethings wrong." He urges me.

"Nothing, someone just seemed real eager to chat it up with ms future lawyer in there." I say, not really hearing how childish it sounded until it came out of my mouth.

He sort of chuckles "are you jealous?" He leans down to whisper in my ear, pretending he's looking over my shoulder at my computer. I give him a death glare and he leans up "come on Grey, you know you're all I got my eye on." And he stands up to walk back to his desk.

I try to hide the blush that's forming on my face by putting my head down and writing the number of the housekeeper on paper "here, why don't you charm your way with this one to get her to come in today." He takes the paper with a smile and starts to dial the number "I'll tell Amanda and Nick we're on a case." I get up and walk over to Amanda's desk where she's typing her own report.

Sonny goes into the room to ask her questions alone and the rest of us stay outside watching "So, you've worked for Mr. Briggs a long time?" Sonny starts the interview.

"Yes, I've worked for Mr. Walter for 30 years." She answers in an accent."His daughters told us that you had some concerns." He goes on.

She nods "I do. When Mrs. Briggs find out, she'd fire me in a skip second." She returns though with worry.

"Now, we'll do our best to keep you out of it." Sonny tries to assure her.

"What's she's doing to Mr. Walter is wrong. Giving him them pills." She shakes her head a little "He doesn't know, but I see her. A man his age, he needs his ease."

Sonny asks "does he know what's going on? In general."

She sort of smiles "he was brilliant." But it starts to fade "now he's got gaps. Big, empty spaces." Just then something ticks and she looks down at her watch "Oh, she don't like me to be late."

"Okay." Sonny stands up to allow her to leave "thank you for coming in."

She goes out one way and Sonny the other to us "well, the housekeeper confirms."

"Okay, so Mr. Walter as in Walter Briggs, the writer?" Amanda asks to confirm.

"Yeah, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award." Sonny elaborates on his accomplishments.

"Well, he's nearly 80, and his wife--" Benson starts to talk.

"His sixth wife." Nick corrects.

Benson continues "who's 45 And making him have sex constantly."

"Is that a crime or an old man's dream?" Amanda asks, causing Nick to grin a little.

"The daughters say that she wants another child, so if he is incapable of giving consent, then they're right, it is rape." I say, not agreeing with Amanda's tiny joke.

Sonny goes on "yeah, and the fact that the alleged rapist is his wife is legally irrelevant but, I mean, of all the people I mean, have you guys read Briggs' book "The Fifth Assailant"?" He pauses for a moment, hoping someone would say yes. "The guy is a literary genius."

"Isn't he the literary genius who threw one of his wives through a plate glass window?" Nick asks.

Sonny pauses again before answering "Yeah, there's actually a scene based on that in the book."

Nick and I exchange a weird glance but Benson quickly speaks up "Okay, so the complaints are coming from his daughters, right? What's in it for them?"

"A bigger slice of the estate?" I ask.

"No. Love, devotion, maybe concern?" Sonny tries.

"Right." Amanda snorts back.

"We've got an allegation, we have corroborations, so you three, go speak with the happy couple." Benson directs to Sonny, Amanda, and I. We go to walk out and Benson hollers out "And Carisi, as a detective, not a fan." Amanda and I share a quiet laugh together as we grab our jackets to go.