[SWAT S1E14]
"Uh, Ben? There's a dog inside your car," Luca mentioned with a weirded out expression as he entered the kitchen at the SWAT HQ.
The SWAT officer had just come from outside, without his gear on. Hondo's team had the day off, so Ben was surprised to see him. There was a mischievous air about Luca like usual, but the second Ben paid a little attention, he noticed that his friend was tense.
Ben was quite sure that something was bothering him. There had to be, Luca shouldn't be here.
"I am well aware, thank you. Horatio had his last day at the K9 unit yesterday but his partner who retired with him was convinced by his wife to go travel the world on a sailboat. Chris arranged his stay with me in a hurry," Ben explained with a small nod as he got two servings of food into the microwave. He decided not to press Luca to ask what was wrong just yet.
"I told him to bring Horatio in with us," Erin Cole, who once again rode with the detective on the second day of his return, chided in a meek voice.
Ben only looked at her for a short moment before sighing in playfully acted out annoyance.
"He's a police dog and quite used to it. We're parked in the shade. Plus, we're out of here when the food is hot and I needed to fill up his travel water bottle," Ben countered with an overly dramatic hand gesture as he placed the back of his hand against his forehead, pointing at a doggy water bottle to the side.
"Yeah, I get that. But why not take him inside?"
"Erin, do you want to take it or should I?"
The rookie who was now allowed to wear short sleeves because she passed her Plain Clothes Day a week before hurriedly shook her head.
"Well, someone managed to drop his leash, allowing it to fall into a storm drain where we couldn't recover it from. And somehow, that very same someone managed to ruin the backup leash I got on the way by - Erin correct me if I'm wrong - cutting it by accident when she tried to merely 'get rid of some frayed edges'? That someone said she knew what she was doing."
"There was this huge pothole," Erin mumbled while looking at her feet.
Luca looked quite amused as he enjoyed the play, but still decided to play oblivious, asking, "Alright, sure. But if he's trained K9, won't he just run heel anyway if you know how to order him?"
Ben studied Luca's playful attitude for a moment before he commented, "You look like you're joking but you aren't joking. And while I am confident in his training, I am not confident in the fact that he will listen to me without fail."
As Luca was finding his words, the microwave beeped to indicate Ben's food was done.
He decided to ignore it for a moment.
"I'd like you to come outside for a moment. Uh, actually it might be a little more than a moment. I saw a serial killer today," Luca said, losing all his jovial bravado.
Taking out his phone, Ben studied two notifications on the screen instead of commenting and asked, "I knew I saw Hondo's car outside… is this matter related to this ominous mail I got from Detective Rose out of RHD?"
Luca didn't see or hear it then, but Ben's voice got colder, his eyes narrowed. The moment he had seen who the mail came from, the detective's mood shifted entirely.
"Yeah, Hondo went to see Rose and got you two the files. The case is closed because we all saw the building blow up thinking the killer died with it, but I know what I saw, man," Luca promised as he gave Ben an earnest nod. "He didn't die, I always suspected he survived. He ran past me this morning and got away."
"The Vanity Killer?" Erin suddenly asked.
"You know about him?" Luca countered, surprised, as he looked at the rookie doing some paperwork by the big table.
"I mean, there's a lot more serial killers than we all want… but there's not so many that I don't remember one who blew himself up in recent years," Erin pointed out with a wry smile. "The man was a big deal in our highschool. He got a teacher's aide, his fifth victim. Mutilated, died of blood loss."
Sighing, Ben got both food containers out of the microwave, handed them to Luca and then turned to Erin holding up the water bottle for Horatio, the dog.
"Bring him in, we're eating at the computer," he commanded before turning to Luca. "And you, just call me first. It's not like I need Ben Rose of all people to send me his shoddy worknotes to get the full picture."
Luca and Ben were walking to the command center next to the gym and armory as Erin got the dog.
"You don't seem to like Detective Rose all that much?" Luca asked to start the conversation again.
"I know I should know better now after living through the adrenaline of an active shooter situation. But I still hate him. Nothing you or him or anyone says will ever make me see him in a different light. I'm glad that he's helping people and making lives better, he lives his life to serve, bla bla bla. I'd still rather light myself on fire than accept him being assigned a case as mundane as the theft of Anna's lollipop. Let alone finding a serial killer," Ben replied, his face betraying no emotion.
"Your mom?" Luca asked instinctively. Nothing ever made Ben furious. Unless it was about people he cared about.
"His first week on the job. He was the officer who shot near the man who held her as a human shield. Well, he was the first to shoot. A second officer joined him after hearing a gun go off. Rose may not have hit my mom, the other officer did, but without him there, my mom would be alive," Ben uttered, his voice holding nothing but repressed contempt and anger.
"You sho-"
"Yeah, I should let go. It's been almost two decades. I should be the bigger person. Accept that not everything is in our control. That accidents happen. That people make mistakes. That she is in a better place now. God's plan. The great wheel of reincarnation," Ben waved off. "I heard it all. But he is the reason my mom is gone. My mind knows it isn't so simple, but my heart won't hear it."
"You should punch him in the face was going to be my suggestion," Luca countered as he scratched the back of his head.
The two stayed quiet for the shortest moment and just before reaching Hondo and a gorgeous blonde woman, Luca whispered, "Hey, means a lot to me that you're dropping everything just because I say I saw him."
"I know you wouldn't joke about this. In fact, I know that you hung up the picture of everyone that ever got away in your closet like you're a stalker. Don't forget, I'm your landlord. Just because Street said they can't go on the fridge doesn't mean I don't know you put them up somewhere my friend."
The two arrived near the other two waiting for them next to the boxing ring they had in the training area.
"Hi, Ben Weiss," the detective greeted with an outstretched hand and a reassuring half-smile.
"Keri, Keri Sims," the blonde introduced herself with a relieved smile. She turned to Luca and jokingly quipped, "You could have told me that you're working with Super Ben."
"Ugh," Ben groaned with an eyeroll and ignored Hondo and Luca beginning to grin. He simply walked past them to the computers to get to work.
The media had investigated his case solving rate ever since he became a detective and unfairly compared it to the solved cases of the average LAPD detective. Ben's numbers were ridiculously inflated, though, especially with the way they calculated it.
There simply wasn't a Metro Liaison Officer before that they could put his results up against. He was the first one. A job created for him specifically.
His numbers weren't just high because he was actually good at his job and solved petty crimes done over the internet quicker than anybody while on lunch break while sending others to do the arrest. They were so high because he handed over cases back to RHD or Vice whenever SWAT stopped being involved. And then he would still get credit for all the arrests anyway.
At least with the numbers one particular news outlet got a hold of - which weren't even good numbers to use because they had to extrapolate his solved case numbers to account for a whole year. He hadn't been a detective for a whole year yet in the first place.
They named him 'Super Ben' in the most recent headline after the Senator's medal ceremony - after his recent news-worthy performance that brought his sacrifice during the undercover operation back to the collective minds of everyone. Because he apparently would have solved four times as many cases as the average LAPD detective. Four times was a ridiculous outlier in the grand scheme of things.
He'd stop being relevant soon enough. The media would find something else to use to get clicks. But it couldn't come too fast for the detective.
"Damn, he got super speed?" Ben heard Keri quip as he started typing at the main console of the command center.
After a short snicker, Hondo explained, "He's using the Vehicle Tracking System. The city has cameras all over the city that register passing license plates. Surveillance on government buildings, traffic cams, dashboard cameras on squad cars. Ben's using it to track a possible route for the car Luca saw and maybe build a history. Nobody's better at this than Ben."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Hondo. I know for a fact that you know how to type yourself and open the VTS," Ben said with an exasperated sigh. He briefly turned to Luca and asked, "Are you gonna hold that food until it's cold again? Come on, bring it over already."
The files on the Vanity Killer popped up on one of the larger screens as the search was going on. As good as Ben was using it, as Hondo so eloquently put, the search still wasn't instantaneous. Not all cameras uploaded their gathered data constantly - the interface to the server would overload. Only with specific requests would the server contact the cameras and get the relevant info that was recorded recently.
"Half a dozen dings since this morning. Different route from his usual," Ben said after studying the info they got back from the VTS. "It should be parked somewhere in North Hollywood."
Ben zoomed in on the map, studied the cameras in the area and continued typing on a different screen. Hondo and Luca saw the route of all patrol cars in the area pop up. They also saw him signal dispatch and he made them ask if all the cars had their cameras on and whether or not they were functioning.
This was about a serial killer. Ben wouldn't allow himself to let the man get away on a technicality he should have accounted for.
"Yep. These two streets. The car hasn't left the area in the last hour unless he got rid of the plates," Ben explained with absolute certainty as he made them light up on the map.
Just then, Erin got back in with an older mixed German Shepherd and Akita Inu dog.
Despite his somewhat slower pace and the lagging hind leg that was a little slower than the other, the dog looked like he belonged. He didn't flinch at the loud noises coming from the training area and still looked like he paid full attention to everything.
"You took a while," Ben commented as Hondo and Luca stormed off to get changed into their SWAT gear and drive off.
"I thought it would be unfair to eat without Horatio getting anything," Erin said with a shrug.
Looking at her hand that wasn't holding a leash but a wrapper instead, Ben incredulously asked, "So you got him a Turkey sandwich from the vending machine?"
"I mean, do you have a better idea?" Erin asked in a stand-offish manner.
Keri, too, looked at him with a raised brow that screamed 'why would you want to starve this poor puppy'.
"I'm not a monster. There's dog chow in the trunk," Ben pointed out as he took another big bite from his warmed-up meal. After sufficiently chewing on it, he held a hand in front of his mouth and clarified, "I knew I'd take Horatio today, just not when exactly. I didn't plan for him to tag along on the first stretch of our patrol, but I'd still have him with me when I got home. So I bought supplies like a decent human being."
Before Erin could apologize or blunder her way through an excuse for her oversight, Hondo and Luca rescued her.
"Hey, Keri. Is it cool if we leave you here? You said it yourself, there'd be no safer place than next to Super Ben," Luca inquired, now dressed in a bulletproof vest and a little out of breath.
"Yeah, totally. Is it cool if I use the gym?"
"Knock yourself out," Hondo chimed in and dragged Luca outside before giving Ben a look.
A look that told him she was the detective's responsibility now.
Ben just gave both a deadpan stare as he continued eating.
It only broke when Keri softly coughed into her hand, asking, "Uh, would you happen to know where the changing rooms are?"
Ben looked at Erin, realized she needed to eat before it got cold, too, and called over one of the staffers.
"Hey Franklin, could you show Keri here where my office is and allow her to change into sports gear inside?"
The man nodded and Keri followed him with a brief look back.
"Why your office?" Erin asked with a raised brow.
"I can't let her change where weapons are stored. She could break into a locker and grab a backup piece from one of the guys. She can't do that to my safe," Ben explained as he got back to looking up possible victims that he might be able to link to the known MO of the thought-to-be-dead serial killer.
Though, technically, there should be no weapons in the locker room in the first place, Ben wanted to be safe rather than sorry. And the changing room was still mixed because Chris was the only woman who didn't have her own office to change. SWAT was still trying to find how to best accommodate her and future female SWAT officers. A supply closet would likely have to be sacrificed soon.
"How were you so fast in ruling out all these missing people?" Erin asked after taking her food and eating it next to Ben.
"The Vanity Killer has a very specific profile. He goes after young out of town aspiring entertainers as you may know. Always a man and a woman. So I can rule out anybody who didn't go missing in roughly the same timeframe as no other person from the other gender was also reported in a similar area."
"Yeah, but that teacher's aide from my school wasn't that?"
Ben pulled up the record of the victim in question as if he knew she would ask.
"Paul Sutter, died aged 32. Objectively looked 22, though. He moved to LA after a failing Broadway career. He immediately got that teaching gig at your school because he knew he wouldn't be able to pay rent otherwise. Paul lived with four other out-of-towners who were hoping to get their big break. As far as we can tell, he used his experience and charisma to trick aspiring actresses into bed, two of his roommates included. Paul was not a good man, though I suppose he didn't deserve to be gutted for it."
Staring at the screen to read along with Ben's explanation, Erin eventually mumbled, "I hadn't known that."
Ben nodded and continued to explain his thought process. Erin had not-so-subtly revealed that she had hopes for a detective career and Ben wanted to test if she was suited for it. He couldn't very well tell her that she wasn't detective material - others with more experience on the job should do such things.
Since he was still somewhat new, he decided to approach it with the intent to teach and discuss.
Even lifelong patrol officers had the eye of a detective if they had the mind for it. It didn't need to be a good detective, as long as they managed to spot obvious clues and made even more obvious connections in the field.
"I can't imagine what she must go through," Erin said once she came back from the kitchen to wash the food containers Ben had brought for the both of them. Zofia had prepared an extra once she heard Ben had another person in the car this morning.
Ben turned to look at Keri who was busy punching one of the training dummies.
"She used to be a powerless victim," Ben observed with furrowed brows. "She's clinging to what works. Self-defense is a very good outlet."
"I mean, she looks very nice doing it," Erin muttered and Ben nodded in agreement.
Keri was toned and muscular in all the right places. Her glistening skin from the workout and the tight gear she wore accented her physique nicely.
"How about you ask her out?" Erin idly suggested as she read another file Ben had highlighted on one of the screens but side-eyed Ben.
"Don't even get me started. And don't let Hicks hear it. Don't even think about it," Ben hurriedly shut down. Looking around, he didn't see the commander breathed a sigh of relief.
"Huh?"
Ben looked at his protege and scolded in a low voice, "You're going to get me killed."
His not-date-date with Molly had been very awkward.
Hicks had decided to tag along and watched the two interact for hours, dropping hints on every short break. When Sara decided to come by and drop off an invitation to dinner, Hicks' eyes had turned to pinpricks.
Ben and his mentor hadn't talked since then.
"Hey, Hondo, Luca. I got four definite maybes for Vanity Killer victims and one that is kind of recent but is a little murky. We don't know yet if the person in question just decided to ghost his long-time boyfriend," Ben informed after calling the two SWAT officers in the field.
"*We found the car. Abandoned. We think he got a fresh victim. Lance Roy, find any registered car and put it through the tracking system. The car should be here but it's missing,*" Hondo quickly cut off from the other side of the line.
"2001 Honda CR-V. I'm putting out an APB," Ben said out loud for Hondo's and Luca's benefit after finding the correct Lance Roy in the system while putting that car's license plate through the Vehicle Tracking System. "In the meantime, I think his base is definitely in Agoura Hills. That car Luca spotted this morning made the drive between Hollywood and Agoura Hills on the 101 three times in the last week. That's either the destination, or he operates in Woodland Hills or Sherman Oaks and spreads himself out. I don't know if it's anything yet, but I suspect he eats gas station food almost exclusively. The plate was clocked at plenty of gas stations, but never near a parking lot of a supermarket."
"He made us eat only food in gas station wrappers," Keri suddenly commented after she came over. She had heard that Ben was on the phone with Hondo and got curious.
Ben's hunch made her remember that particular detail.
"You heard her, guess I was right," Ben said loudly while winking at Keri to reassure her. "Want to make the drive to Agoura Hills now or do you want to ask the rest of the team to come in and split the search up?"
"*Chris and Tan are on their way. Street is checking up on Buck, Deacon is a maybe. Man is on diaper duty today.*"
"So that's a definite yes for Deacon," Ben mumbled with a small scoff.
-----
A few hours later, Chris and Deacon came into the command center with huge grins. Chris especially jumped on Ben's back to give him a hug and playfully ruffle his hair.
"This is a police station," Ben chided with an outraged tone of voice as one of his hands shot up to stop Chris' actions.
The female SWAT officer dropped from his back and turned to Horatio calmly lying next to him and Erin, "And who is that little cutie?"
"Horatio, meet Chris. Chris, meet Horatio," Ben said with a theatrical wave, but his eyes were still glued on the screen. He knew that Chris knew Horatio from her time at the K9 unit.
On the screen, he had managed to match DMV records with the help of the recovered gas station footage. They finally had a name for the Vanity Killer.
Deacon studied the profile and asked, "So that guy lived in Portland for two years?"
"I sent Keri away, she shouldn't have to stare at his face. But yeah, she confirmed that it's definitely him."
"Where is she?"
"Resting on the couch in my office, I think."
Ben turned to the side, looking at Chris kneeling beside the retired police dog and scratching him gently around the ears. He decided to copy that move later. Horatio seemed to love it.
"Hey Chris," he called out. "Your tía called me while you were on the way. She said something about being your plus one to a Quinceanera?"
"I freaked out," she answered without standing back up. "I didn't have a date and all of them were giving me that judgy look."
"One, how is that new? You not having a date worth bringing home to family," Ben immediately insulted with a playful scoff. He continued before Chris could stand up, "Two, you get shot at on the regular. How could a bunch of old Mexican ladies looking at you make you nervous?"
Chris gave him her patented double middle finger move and grabbed his water bottle in retaliation, drinking it in one go before leaving him with the empty bottle.
"Hey, hey! Wait! This wasn't all! You told them to hold the party at my place you little b– brat!"
They were at work, thankfully Ben caught himself in time before dropping the b-bomb.
A little two hours later, the SWAT team that had come in on their day-off managed to finally apprehend the Vanity Killer. Luca had almost shot him in the face, but Hondo managed to pull the officer off of him at the last moment.
Ben had remained at HQ to keep an eye on Keri, one of the killer's survivors, and to teach Erin what he knew. But in that moment, Ben frowned.
He knew he likely wouldn't discourage Luca from shooting the killer, and that bothered him. Not just because he thought himself to be wrong - he didn't - but because the others might be. And if they weren't, which he had to admit was just as likely, then there would eventually be a falling out with all of his friends he made at SWAT.
The detective hurriedly shook his head and looked at Erin opposite him standing at one of the computers.
"You should go home. Your shift ended an hour ago," he advised.
Erin looked up, shook her head, and concentrated back on the monitor.
"Found something?"
"Yeah, I think," she uttered with deep focus. "With the warrant you got, I managed to link a phone from their dealership to another call made to a burner that was used at the 77th precinct a whole bunch of times. If I play my cards right, Derian might let me get in touch with whoever works there."
She was a rookie at the 77th precinct, it could hardly be a coincidence. Or maybe it was, and the officer working at the division was low-level enough to not appear on anyone's radar.
"In any case, we should stop being around each other," Ben instantly decided with furrowed brows. "We may have already tipped our hands too much. I told your captain that I wanted another day with you on patrol because I was in a hostage situation and couldn't properly finish our day together. If whoever is on the Derian's payroll at the 77th catches wind, they might not think too much. But if we do a repeat performances, they'll catch on. We can't believe they are idiots."
"Um, sir? I… we could pretend to be involved?"
Ben studied Erin's face for a while, glad that nobody was around to hear her proposal.
"You're definitely pretty enough, I could see it work," Ben muttered in deep thought.
It had the potential to complicate his life severely, but it could also do absolutely nothing.
"Thank you," Erin shyly rebuffed in thanks and turned back to the screen. She knew it wasn't meant as flirting. She was a fit young woman and plenty of people had their eyes linger too long or said borderline creepy 'compliments', but Ben never even once looked at her like that or said anything other than things he would do to any other person.
"But it won't really be fair to you. Women in the force already get a bad rep once they sleep with one other officer. People know that you and Chris were together before the academy so you'd only get flak for it from the hardcore misogynists, but if word gets out that you slept with a detective while still a rookie… it could follow you your whole career," Ben patiently explained. The idea was good, but it wasn't perfect.
He wanted Erin to come out of this whole thing with the possibility of a good career intact. This wasn't it.
But the brunette rookie shook her head.
"You already made it so I will face close to no real punishment for my actions. This is barely a sacrifice on my part. I need to do this," she firmly decided.
"You need to pretend we're together, huh?" Ben asked with amusement in his voice.
Before Erin could stammer out an apology or weasel her way through an excuse, Chris ran inside the open command area and punched Ben's arm as she mumbled something excitable about catching a serial killer.
"Come on, you're off now. The killer is booked, I know you already finished the paperwork before we put him in the car, and we only have an hour left to introduce Horatio to little Anna! I can't wait!" Chris impatiently ordered and dragged Ben toward the waiting retired police dog.
Ben allowed himself to be pulled along, but before he could leave, he turned back to Erin who hurriedly closed all files and stepped away from the computers - lest someone thought she would use the access at Metro HQ to look for something to give the Derian crime family - and instructed, "This was not a usual day on patrol like I thought. Again. Write a report about what you learned about investigating the potential escape routes and ways to shake off police scrutiny by suspects from our point of view here at HQ today. Reflect on the why of my methods and think about what could be done better."
She nodded and walked out, though in a different direction from Ben and Chris.
Those two met Luca and Keri on their way, and both fiercely hugged him. Especially Luca.
"Man, I can't believe we got him. All thanks to you," Luca whispered excitedly from the hug.
"You're the one who kicked in the door and freed his two victims," Ben scoffed in self-depreciation.
Luca just ruffled his hair and shoved him away.
"Go home to your daughter, Super Ben," he playfully admonished and Chris dragged him away with a huge smile on her face. It was her day off and they still managed to save two lives and finally end a serial killer. Today was a great day.
"What's with the homework for little Miss Rookie?" She asked as they reached Ben's car.
Chris had already decided she would sleep at Ben's house, so he would have to take her with him when he got to work tomorrow so that she could get her own car later.
"It's not homewo– okay, it's homework. But I think it will help her in the long run," Ben non-clarified with a helpless shrug.
They loaded the dog in the backseat, Horatio complied without a fuss, and got into the car.
"So what, are you trying to two-time her and the redhead?" Chris innocently asked as Ben turned on the car. "Is that why you're paying attention to her? I have to admit, she's right in my strike range. It's how I know she's in yours."
For the first time in a long time, he answered with two middle-fingers as he politely smiled, just like Chris usually did.