The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

40: Power over People

I take Sonny out to dinner that night, figuring he probably wants to talk about what happened. "I just can't believe what he's saying." Sonny starts off after we order a bottle of wine.

"Because he's a guy or because of his past?" I ask him.

He shrugs, mulling it over for a moment "both I guess."

"You know guys can be raped too Sonny, just like girls can't help it, guys can't help it either." He gives me a strange glare and I remind him by saying "morning wood?"

He snorts a little "I guess, it's just. Why now? Yanno. Bella is going to be having a baby and she shouldn't have to deal with this."

I nod but remind him "but Tommy's also dealing with this Son, he's the one who's a victim."

He exhales at my words and our wine arrives. We talk about other things after that, wanting to keep his mind occupied knowing we'll have more information tomorrow once Tommy comes in for his interview. Sonny walks me home but declines coming in, we kiss each other goodnight and I go upstairs to get ready for bed.

The next day, I arrive to work just as Amanda and Nick finish their interview with Tommy. Tommy leaves the precinct, giving me a small smirk goodbye and I spot the two of them with Benson huddled together by Amanda's desk "how was the interview?" I ask them, throwing my jacket on top of my desk.

Amanda responds "I don't know. No witnesses."

"He's still not sure he wants to even pursue this." Nick adds on.

"Something I should know about?" Sonny then walks in, asking us with a worried look.

Olivia answers him "Uh, Tommy came in this morning. Rollins and Amaro took the statement."

Sonny shakes his head "I hate to drag you guys into this. He's not even family. But was he credible?" He asks after apologizing.

"Well, he's, uh... reluctant. But consistent." Nick informs.

"He brought in the clothes he wore for testing." Amanda adds on.

Sonny wants to clarify "so he wants to go through with this?"

Amanda speaks up "honestly, I don't know what he wants to do. He's all over the place."

Olivia steps up from where shes sitting "well, what he went through--"

Amanda adds on "if it's true."

Olivia eyes her cautiously "it's a lot to process. We all know how difficult it is for women to admit that they've been assaulted. But men--"

"I know." Amanda admits back "It just looks bad that he didn't disclose until after he violated his parole."

"So we do our due diligence." I say back to her "let's see if CSU turns up anything on the clothes."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tommy still hasn't even told my sister yet." Sonny holds us up "you got to slow this down."

Olivia steps a bit closer to him "Carisi, you can't be part of this investigation." His face drops, probably knowing this was coming. "But what you can do is walk Tommy and your sister through where it can go."

He exhales and agrees "copy that, Sergeant. So I should go now, huh?"

"Yeah." She answers and he nods, walking out of the precinct.

Before he can leave and Olivia comments to the rest of us "okay, so where were we?" Sonny and I exchange a glare and I give him an assuring now, letting him know I will keep him in the loop as things moved forward.

Nick goes over what we know on the P.O. "we checked out Tommy's P.O. Donna Marshall. She graduated with a Masters in Social Work from SUNY Purchase, top of her class. She's been at the downtown office for over a decade."

Amanda elaborates to us "her boss, Ralph Kessel, just cited her on the DOC website as having the lowest recidivism rate in his department."

Olivia nods "Good. Invite him in." She looks at all of us "anything else?"

I decide to ask the obvious question "you think NYPD has a blue wall? You know how the Department of Corrections is going to frame this."

"Oh, I do." Olivia answers "but what if the genders were reversed? Are you saying that a respected male officer wouldn't abuse his power to coerce a woman into sex?" I nod, knowing and agreeing with her, just worried about how hard this is going to be. "Look, guys, we all saw the look on Tommy's face, his affect. We know that something happened to him. So we take this case as seriously as if it was a woman accusing a male P.O." She directs and leaves us to do our jobs.

Amanda and I watch from Olivia's office as her and Nick interview her superior later that day. "It's never good news with you guys." Mr. Kessel says standing in front a chair "hit me."

Olivia and Nick move to the chairs around him "yesterday, a parolee made rape allegations against one of your P.O.s." Nick starts off.

He looks to Nick then to Olivia "not unusual. The amount of stories these ex-cons come up with would put Stephen King to shame. But just to play along, which P.O.?"

"Donna Marshall." Benson responds.

"Donna? You do know she's a woman?" He asks.

"We do." Olivia responds knowingly in return.

He sort of chortles "okay, let me guess. The lesbian welfare mom. She's on her third P.O. in as many months."

Nick declines his reasoning "actually, it was a man."

"A man?" Mr. Kessel questions "seriously?" Nick and her just stare at him with serious glares and he starts to laugh "this gets better and better. Uh, how does that even work?"

"Well, she's a woman in power. And according to the disclosure, Officer Marshall pulled a gun on him, and he felt that he needed to comply." Olivia then takes her spot in her chair.

"Oh. Comply. He sounds like my wife." Mr. Kessel laughs at his own joke.

Nick plays along "mine too."

"I'm sorry, not everybody gets my sense of humor." The man apologizes before going on "but, come on. Donna, she's-- she's barely a sexual being, let alone a sexual predator. She's all work."

"Well, you're right. This all may go away. But legally, we have to follow up, and you need to cooperate."

Mr. Kessel replies "of course. Just give me the name of the lying son of a bitch who's yanking your chain. If he's filing, it's public record."

Amanda and I glare at each other, knowing this isn't going to be as easy with him as it should be. Olivia answers "well, you know, it is early in the investigation. And it's clear that Officer Marshall has your confidence. So I think we've heard everything we need to right now."

She walks over to the door and opens it for Mr. Kessel to exit "well, okay. Well— let me know if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you so much for coming in." She smiles to him.

"All right. Thank you for having me." He responds back, leaving the room.

Amanda and I enter the room as she shuts that door and we all look at each other knowingly. Mr. Kessel is going to go back to Donna and things are going to get a lot worse for Tommy.