Lots Going On During Last Nights Episodes Of SVU And Organized Crime. Fabulous Performances.

Lots going on during last night’s episodes of SVU and Organized Crime. Fabulous performances.

Seems small, but it honestly stood out to me that Amanda asked how Sonny’s family was doing to during quarantine. It was one of the first times I’ve seen the support flow the other way, which is part of the reason I don’t always root for this ship.

And breaking news from Ice! 🙌

Chapter 2

As disappointed as Sonny was not to have had the time or privacy to put the moves on Larissa the way he would have liked, he didn’t have the opportunity to dwell on it.

His cell phone rang at an ungodly hour of the morning after a late night of drinking, just as the sun was coming up and peeking through his bedroom window.

Nikki Staines, an attorney from last night’s party, had been found assaulted outside her building.

Fin and Amanda met at the scene, but Sonny had strict orders from Lieu to get to the office ASAP. There could be no gourmet coffee stop to cure this hangover.

As the detectives sat around theorizing how and why the attack went down, it occurred to Olivia that they could at least canvass potential witnesses from the event who weren’t cops, without raising any red flags internally.

Reviewing the guest list, she said, “Carisi, Fin, you want to head downtown? It looks like a Raul Vasquez from some big law firm bought two tables at this thing. I’ll stay behind and talk to the Chief about the officers we need to talk to.”

“Uh, yeah, you got it, Lieu. I actually met him there last night, I think we have a good rapport.” said Sonny, grabbing his keys and suit jacket.

“This the guy you were talking to with that little blonde?” Fin asked after him, heading to the elevator. “I don’t judge, but some old rich dudes are shameless.”

“Not like that. She was his daughter.” Sonny answered, with a smile.

“Ahhh, ok” Fin said with a knowing smirk. “So you still got a shot then.”

“We’ll see.” Carisi responded, as they exited the building and approached his truck on the street.

The ride downtown was quick and comfortable. Fin and Carisi were so different, but worked well together.

Sonny had considered calling ahead to Mr. Vasquez’s office to give the heads up they were coming. He knew what an important and busy man Raul was, and figured they would be met with resistance showing up without an appointment. In the end, he didn’t want Fin, or anyone else, thinking he was turning soft for offering more than the usual courtesies to a potential witness, so he pulled up to the Wall Street building hoping for the best.

“We should have called ahead. This guy really is a big wig, huh?” said Fin, echoing Sonny’s thoughts after they had to introduce themselves to the third receptionist of the day.

Once they found the right corner office though, they weren’t waiting long before an assistant guided them in with a polite “Mr. Vasquez will see you know.”

“Mr. Carisi” Raul greeted “So soon. This can’t be a social call.”

“Unfortunately not.” said Sonny “This is Sergeant Tutuola.” He said, introducing Fin. “ We’re investigating the assault of an attorney who attended last night’s event.”

“Not someone from my firm, I hope. We made sure everyone had cars home.” Raul began to panic. It was actually reassuring to see someone worry about their employees.

“No, as far as we know, everyone from your office is safe. Her name is Nikki Staines. Do you know her?” said Fin.

“I’m sorry, I don’t.” said Raul

Sonny pulled up a DMV photo on his cell phone of Nikki. “This is her.” he said “Do you recall seeing her with anyone last night?”

“I saw her at the coat check at the start of the night, but she wasn’t with anyone. She was talking on her cell phone, it sounded like maybe to her children.”

“And you didn’t notice anything suspicious about anyone at the event?” asked Sonny.

“No, I didn’t. I’m sorry not to be more helpful.”

“Well, if you could, it would be very helpful if you could provide us a list of all the people from your office who attended last night.” said Fin. He and Sonny knew they were approaching a dead end.

“Yes, of course. My assistant must have this together already from arranging the transportation. And you can speak to my daughter, she attended last night.”

“Larissa, right?” confirmed Sonny, attempting to play it cool.

“That’s right.” confirmed Raul with a knowing smile, as he approached the office door to summon his assistant.

“Donna,” he said “Would you provide these detectives with the list of those who attended last night’s event? And Larissa’s contact information, please.”

“Thanks for your time, sir.” said Sonny, as he and Fin followed Donna out.

“I’m sorry to meet again under these circumstances. I hope you have better luck closing this investigation.”

Within a few minutes, Donna, the wonder assistant, had provided printed and digital copies of the list including the names, phone numbers, and addresses of those from the firm who had attended the charity event, along with the names of their guests, and the limo provider that took them all home at the end of the night. It was all they could as for, even if it was unlikely that their perp was on this list.

“Oh!” Donna said to herself absent mindedly from behind her keyboard. “You needed Dr. Vasquez’s information as well. Let’s see, Tuesday afternoon. I believe she’ll be at home.” She jotted down the address and a phone number, handing it over with a smile.

Doctor Vasquez?, Sonny thought to himself as he took the card. “Thanks a lot,” he said.

When they got back to the car, Fin asked: “You wanna take a run at the good doctor on your own? Where’s she live?”

“Upper East Side” said Sonny “And no, you might as well roll with. Liv wouldn’t like it.”

“To the old money!” Fin joked, as they headed uptown.

Jokes aside, when they arrived at the brownstone, it was even more impressive than either man had imagined. They half expected “the help” to answer the door, but in fact no one answered the door at all.

Instead, a woman’s voice came from behind them. “Can I help you?”

Before they could turn to respond, Larissa got closer and her tone changed from slightly accusatory to pleasant, but cautious. “Oh, it’s you. My father called to tell me you might contact me. I wasn’t expecting a house call.” Her eyes never left Sonny’s. Fin might as well have been a fly on the wall.

“Ah, yeah, this is my sergeant, Odafin Tutuola. We’re investigating the assault of an attorney who attended last night’s event. Do you mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?” Sonny said, trying desperately to maintain professionalism. He wanted to forget all about what had happened to Nikki and learn everything there was to know about the woman in front of him.

“Sure” she said, looking down at her key ring to choose the right one, as she awkwardly slid between the two men on her front steps, grazing Sonny’s arm. “I didn’t see anyone get assaulted though.”

“We understand,” said Fin.

“Sometimes the smallest details can actually be very helpful.” Sonny added, pulling up Nikki’s photo on his cell phone as they entered the foyer. “Did you see this woman last night?”

Pulling the phone closer, she concentrated before answering. “Um, yes. I don’t know her name, but we spoke a few times last night. Once at the bar waiting for drinks, just small talk. And then,” she hesitated, not wanting to violate a fellow woman’s privacy, especially to a couple of middle aged men she barely knew. “Um, we met again in the ladies room and she asked if I had a pantiliner.” she blurted out quickly, handing the phone back to Carisi.

“Um, ok, that’s good to know, thank you. Did you see her leave with anyone, or notice anyone giving her unwanted attention?”

“No, I didn’t see her leave.” she hesitated again, wondering if a seemingly meaningless detail was worth sharing, even if it was just a bad vibe. “Um, when we left the bathroom together, there was a man with a beard right outside the door, which seemed strange to me. She knew him, said hello and gave a smile, but for some reason, she seemed relieved not to be alone. She gave me a look. I don’t know how to explain it. Just a woman’s intuition, I guess. We separated right after that.”

Sonny was taking some notes as she was speaking, which made her feel self conscious about how inarticulate she must sound. Ugh, a woman’s intuition? she thought . My guess is they don’t arrest people based on that. This woman was at home in an OR, not an interrogation.

It was actually endearing to Sonny how out of her element Larissa seemed. When they interacted at the coffee shop, she always seemed incredibly confident and sure of herself. Putting together what he was learning about her and her family, he assumed nothing like being questioned by police had happened in her life, even if it was clear she wasn’t in any trouble.

“Thanks a lot for your help. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.” said Fin. His hands remained firmly in his pockets, leaving to door open for young grasshopper Sonny to close the deal.

“Right.” said Sonny, catching the drift, as he fumbled in his jacket pocket for his card. “And if you remember anything else, you can call me. Any time.”

Larissa took the business card, looking down with a small smile as she delicately framed it in her fingers. Stop it, girl. she scolded herself. A woman has been hurt. This is not good for you.

She broke out of her inner monologue and cleared her throat. “Of course, I will.” she said hurriedly, walking the men out the front door. “Good luck cracking the case” she added as a sort of goodbye, cringing and wishing she could take back the awkward statement as soon as it left her lips, as if these guys were playing some kind of Whodunit game. She couldn’t close the door behind them fast enough.

Meanwhile, Sonny was grinning widely as they walked back to his truck. “You think she was a little nervous?” he said.

“I don’t think it was you giving her the butterflies, Romeo.” Fin laughed. “ In this neighborhood, I bet that poor girl never dealt with a cop in her life.”

Little did anyone know at the time how helpful Larissa’s details would prove to be.

Yesss! 🙏

How exciting! New project with Peter and his son, Leo.

Deadline

‘Social Distance’: Danielle Brooks, Mike Colter Among Cast For Netflix Quarantine Anthology Series From Jenji Kohan & Hilary Weisman Graham

Netflix has set the full cast for Social Distance, its upcoming quarantine anthology series from Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan

RIP Chadwick Boseman

1977-2020

I'm in utter disbelief at the news. Thank you for bringing up so much joy and excitement over the years.