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Release	By : KaticaLocke Category: G through L > Law & Order Views: 3499 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Alex stopped Bobby outside the door.

�Is it just me, or does this feel wrong to you, what we�re doing to him?� He cocked his head to one side, as if better to see her, but his eyes were on the ground. �Every time I see him, I want to rip his guts out personally, but the thought of what they are doing, torturing him, it - it makes my skin crawl.�

�I understand what you mean,� he said. �We should be in someone�s basement, in the dead of night, with just bare, flickering light bulbs overhead. This isn�t what cops do.�

�Exactly. But this isn�t police work, is it? This is dark basement, dead of night stuff we�re dealing with.�

�Did you find Munch?� Bobby asked suddenly. Alex blinked.

�No, Fin�s looking for him. He might have gotten on a train at Grand Central this afternoon.� He glanced up at the ceiling, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

"Or gone to empty a locker." Alex glanced back up the hall, at the vacant desk sitting alone amid the flurry of everyday police work.

"He wouldn't," she said at last, but her voice was small. "Oh, Bobby no, he wouldn't." Why couldn't she sound more convinced? John Munch ... was a good cop - but even good cops could make mistakes. They exchanged uneasy glances. Alex pulled out her cell phone and dialed, chewing on the edge of her lip as she waited for Fin to pick up.

�Yeah?�

�Fin, it�s Eames. Any sign?�

�Nah, nobody remembers seeing him.�

�Do me a favor, get transit to open up locker 12D. There should be a book inside.� If Munch hasn�t been there first.

�We got a warrant for that?� Fin asked.

�See what you can without one,� she replied, �but call Novak if you have to. Thanks.� She hung up. �God, I hope we�re wrong.� Bobby opened the door.

Elliot and Olivia were circling Raum like sharks, taking turns asking questions - no, the same question, over and over again.

�Why won�t you answer?� Raum sat in the chair with his head bowed, his hair dark and lank with sweat. �Why won�t you answer?� Elliot looked up as they entered the room.

�Need to borrow some more of him?� he asked. Alex shook her head.

��Fraid not. We need to talk with him.�

�Good luck,� Olivia said. �He hasn�t spoken since Elliot relocated his shoulder.�

�I told you the human body couldn�t take that kind of stress,� Elliot said with a feral grin in Olivia�s direction. She shrugged.

�So I got a little carried away.� She looked down at Raum, her dark eyes hard. �Sue me.� There was something so ugly about this whole scene, it made Alex's blood run cold. She could have seen Elliot dislocating Raum's shoulder in a fit of anger, but not Olivia, not like this, cold and detached, causing pain for it's own sake. Alex watched them leave the room, trying to see the man and woman she had met just the day before, and failing. She turned on Raum, seething inside at the very sight of him, hating him for what he had turned her friends into.

"Talk, damn it," she growled, "or I'll make you sorry you were ever born." Bobby lightly touched the small of her back as he passed behind her and she backed off, taking a seat beside him, across from Raum, her teeth clenched.

"I'm going to ask you one question," Bobby said, "and you're going to answer me, or else my partner and I will leave, and you can sit in here alone until the Council arrives." He allowed Raum a moment to think about that. Alex would have preferred to pull his fingernails out until he answered them, but apparently Bobby had another idea. "Yes or no, is the woman who was once known as Nicole Wallace alive at this moment?" Raum was silent for a long time. Bobby waited patiently; Alex, less so.

"I don't know," he said at last, his sibilant voice now a raspy whisper. That sickness clawed at Alex's insides again. What had they done to him? He glanced up at her, hostility thick in his strange, pale eyes, and she decided it wasn't anything he didn't deserve. Bobby rubbed a hand thoughtfully across his lips, then stood up, walked around the table and grabbed Raum by the back of his shirt, hauling him up from his chair with a swift jerk. Raum grunted in pain, limping as he struggled to keep up with Bobby�s long strides. Alex followed as Bobby dragged him into the hall and next door, into he observation room overlooking the table where Ms. Anastasius sat, staring calmly into the mirror.

�Is that the woman once known as Nicole Wallace?� Bobby shoved the little man up against the glass, causing it to shake and Ms. Anastasius to glance around.

�Yes,� he hissed, his breath fogging up the glass.

�Did she die?�

�Yes.�

�And you somehow magicked her back from the dead?�

�Yes.�

�Why?� Alex chimed in, stepping up in front of him. The side of his face was smashed flat, his glasses askew. He looked at her through one eye and gave a half-smile.

�I told you already, she was strong; I admire that.�

�She wasn�t just strong, was she?� Bobby asked, stepping closer, breathing right in Raum�s face. �She was powerful, untrained, helpless, owing her very life to you, and you couldn�t resist.�

�She�s your apprentice,� Alex said, looking into the room at ... Nicole.

�Very good, Detectives,� Raum said, twisting around so that his back was against the wall. He brushed the sweat-damp hair from his face with his cuffed hands. �Now, what are you willing to offer me in return for your nemesis, because, believe me, you will never get her on your own.�

�How about we don�t make your life a living hell until the Council gets here?� Alex suggested. Bobby looked from Raum to Nicole and back again.

�Your life,� he said, his voice ground down to a barely audible growl.

�I�m afraid my life is not yours to give,� Raum said. �That is mine and mine alone.�

�Your freedom, then,� Bobby said. Alex stared at him. You�ve got to be kidding, she thought, this man�s a monster.

But so is she, came the logical reply. Raum�s eyes shifted between them.

�No, even that I can get on my own. Let me give you a hint, Detective Goren, it�s what ultimately interested me in Nicole�s little vendetta against you. I would never have gotten involved if not for ...�

�The puzzle box,� Bobby said, his eyes sliding sideways, going unfocused.

�Have you unlocked all the secrets that box has to offer?� Raum asked. �Boxes like that often hold unimaginable treasures.�

�It was empty,� Bobby said. �The three compartments were -�

�Oh, are we sure there were only three?" Raum interrupted. �You see, I discovered magick when I was but a teenager. I was trying to find a cure for my sister, who was thought to be possessed by demons. In my search, I found Balam, a powerful warlock who promised me an amulet that would end my sister�s delusions and paranoia, if I would only learn from him and, should he ask, give my power to him. He kept this amulet in a wooden puzzle box.�

Bobby�s face had gone very still and blank, listening, absorbing with ever fiber of his being. �Once I discovered what he meant to do to me,� Raum continued, �I killed him and took his power instead, but the box was lost.�

�And you think that box is the same one my partner has?� Alex asked. Raum glanced at her, the self-satisfied smile on his face filling her with such loathing that she had to walk away. She wasn�t normally a violent person, she reminded herself. Something about this guy just brought out the worst in her.

�This amulet, what exactly does it ... do?� Bobby asked.

�It banishes demons,� Raum replied. �It stops the voices. It cures schizophrenia.�
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