Fake it (Pt 2 to Sick) - Nick Amaro
I roamed into the living room, carrying a mud-covered Frannie. Amanda looked up from her phone and started uncontrollably laughing. "This isn't funny," I glared.
"What happened? Ya'll look like you went on a dirt slip and slide."
"We did. It started raining and she ran down a dirt path. I followed her and tripped." She laughed harder and took a picture.
"I'm sending this to Nick." I huffed, letting Frannie run all over the room. "Hey!"
"Whoops." My phone rang and I looked at it, "Rollins." I answered.
"Hey, N/N. I wanted to check in with you and Amanda, I have my own personal cell here-" I hung up the phone before she could finish.
"I-uh-nothing! I'm going to shower, there's a rock in my shoe." I quickly ran to the bathroom and locked the door. After what Kim had done to me and Amanda I was pissed, we were sent to jail, tried for murder, and our shields and guns were confiscated. I wasn't ready to forgive her, I turned the shower off, got dressed, and exited the bathroom.
"Y/N, Kim just called me. She called you too, didn't she?"
"Yeah, I'm not ready to forgive her Mandy."
"I know, but she's our little sister."
"Amanda, she lied to Lieutenant Tucker about us! She went to IAB and got us arrested!" There was a knock at the front door. "What!?" I yelled when I opened the door.
"I came to see how your day off is. I'm going to assume not so good." Nick snapped me out of my angry fit. "We need you, we got a homicide call."
"Okay, just let me change out of my sweats."
"So, what were you two yelling about?" I raised my head from where I rested it on my hand and looked at him.
"Shouldn't you be focused on driving?" I retorted.
"I can multitask, I've only ever seen you that angry when you're dealing with a perp."
"Kim called us today, she said she wanted to check in on us, but I'm still mad at her."
"And you have every right to be,"
"Amanda wants to forgive her. She says that she's our little sister. I get family means everything but I'm pissed." The car came to a stop and we climbed out.
"Detective Amaro, this is my partner Detective Rollins. What do we have here?"
"16-year-old, at least 8 months pregnant, we found 28 stab wounds in her stomach and a gunshot to her head, there's no way to tell which one came first." I stared down at the young woman who lay on the ground, lifeless.
"That's not just a stab wound." I took a pair of gloved and put them on, gagging when I picked up an umbilical cord. "Whoever did this took the baby." The paramedics flipped her over, she had 'whore' carved into her back. "Oh, my god."
"I texted Liv, she's interviewing her classmates with Amanda."
"Okay, I think I need to step out." I took the gloves off, threw them away, and walked out the back sliding door, and Nick followed me out, closing the door behind us.
"Cariño, what's wrong?" I was leaning on the railing of the balcony, looking down at the cars below us.
"She was only 16, who was she involved with? And the mother said she was home, how do you not hear a gunshot or the screams of your daughter? Something just isn't sitting right with me about this."
"They did some snooping in the daughter's room, the baby daddy is a 'retired' pimp. After questioning the mother on it we learned she was selling her kids for money."
"Wait, kids?" I turned around to look at him. He nodded. "How old was the other?"
"I don't think you want to know." I covered my face with my hands and let out a long sigh. "Liv wants us back at the precinct. She said it's urgent." I started walking away but he grabbed my arm. "By the way, you looked adorable covered in mud with Frannie." I gave him a look and walked back to the car.
"16-year-olds Martillia Costello and Maryam Costello were found dead in their apartment today at noon, their mother claims to have been in the apartment but says she didn't hear any struggling or any gunshots." Olivia filled us in on all the information we had.
"Which would be impossible unless she was deaf or was listening to some really loud music," I added on.
"Exactly, which is why we believe she was involved in the murder."
"We interviewed everyone who was close to her, she went to a group for teen pregnancies." Amanda read off her notes and taped a business card onto the whiteboard. "We called them and the ages ranged between, 16 to 19"I squinted at the card then looked back at the picture of the victim. "She's also not the first one in the group to suffer a terrible death."
"What do you mean?" Nick asked.
"Nicole Freeman was another 16-year-old, stabbed and shot the same way, Umbilical cord tied around her neck, and her baby was gone."
"So this sicko waits until they're ready to pop and attacks, they take the baby and kill the mother," Fin stated.
"And neither of them knew who the baby's father was." I rapidly wrote on my notepad and jumped up. "Let me go undercover as a pregnant teen, I'll join the group, claim to be 8 months pregnant and say I don't know who the father is. That's the only way to infiltrate the group and find the killer."
"Hell will freeze over before I let you do that." Amanda looked at me like I was incapable of doing this.
"No, she's right, maybe that will work." Olivia looked at me, "Can you do it?"
"Tell me where to get a pregnancy belly and I'm in."
"Are you sure about this?" Nick parked the car in front of the building. "You're shaking."
"I'm sure, this is going to save innocent lives."
"You're very brave. I love you, Mi Amor."
"I love you too." I kissed his cheek and waddled out of the car and into the building.
"Girls we have someone new with us today. Would you like to introduce yourself?" The group leader Rose spoke.
"My name is Katherine, I'm 7 months pregnant with a baby girl and I'm 16."
"Nice to meet you, Katherine." Everyone spoke in unison, making me uncomfortable. Both murders were on the same day the girls joined, so this shouldn't be so hard.
"How about we meet up in my office when we're done here, alright Katherine."
"Uh, yeah. Okay." I responded.
"So Katherine," She poured me a glass of water. "Where is the father of your baby?"
"Oh, he's in jail for rape."
"So the baby is going to grow up without a father?"
"No, I have a boyfriend, he's not the biological father, but he'll do." I drank the water. "Why is it spicy?"
"Tap water." I felt dizzy.
"No, no. Something is-" Black.
I opened my eyes and I was in my own living room, "What the hell?" We of course took no chances and rigged the place with cameras, I knew the safe word, I would be safe.
"You're not fit to be a mother." Rose sliced my shoulder making me scream out. "A 16-year-old 7 months pregnant, no father." She sliced in between each word, getting deeper as she went. "Now I'm going to do with you what I did to those other whores." She brought the knife toward my fake stomach and sliced it open.
"Please, I want to live" I threw out the safeword. In seconds everyone was in the room, guns drawn.
"Police! Put your hands up!" Rose turned to me and I smirked through the pain.
"Rose Arintine. You're under arrest for the murders of Martillia Costello, Maryam Costello, and Nicole Freeman,"
"You have no proof of that!"
"You just tried to kill me and take my baby. And we found the missing babies in your house." She was dragged away and Amanda and Nick untied me.
"You okay?" She asked. I nodded "Okay, I'm going home." I removed the fake belly and turned to Nick.
"I think you owe me something." He grabbed my waist.
"Yeah? And what is that?"
"I think you know." He leaned in and our lips connected, it was sweet but short.