Kado's POV:
I walk into the interview room and see the jackass sitting there. He looks up at me with a shocked look and I hear Elliot walk in behind me.
"Long time no see, sweetheart." Lewis smiles and licks his lips.
"Not long enough." Elliot answers for me but Lewis ignores him.
"You got a wicked right hook, anyone ever tell you that?" He asks looking me up and down.
"No. They usually don't get the chance." I smirk and he seems to like that.
"Why did you want to talk with me?" I ask sitting down on the chair backwards.
"Well, I wanted to let you know that there were no hard feelings. Even though I know you enjoyed beating me." He states and I just stare at him emotionless.
"Just like you enjoyed beating that helpless old woman." I suggest and he chuckles.
"That wasn't me honey. You've got the wrong guy." He sighs.
"So what do you take? Karate? Martial Arts? Kung f00?" He asks about my training.
"A little bit of everything." I shrug and he nods his head.
"What you did to that woman you're lucky there's a cop in here with you. He's not here to protect me from you. He's here to protect you from me." I whisper leaning in and he seems to take the bait.
"You get your rocks off on torturing helpless women?" I scoff and he sneers.
"You seem like the type who enjoys violence. Am I wrong?" He tries to change the subject.
"No, but I don't go after the helpless, see, I can actually fend for myself quite well. There's no need for bondage unless I plan to drag it out." I whisper.
"I find that bondage is good to keep them still, it gets tiring after a while, but you would know all about that wouldn't you." He says looking me up and down and Elliot let's out a low growl.
"Tell me, what do you do when you draw it out?" He asks me intrigued.
"Well, once I hung up a man and skinned him alive. He didn't last very long due to blood loss and exposure though." I start to explain.
"Well, that's why you have to start out small, like burning the skin, it gets the same reaction but also gives you more time to do what you want with them. Keep them alive if you want." He suggests.
"I never keep mine alive." I state.
"Why not? Them remembering you is what keeps it alive! Sure you can look back on it in the future but knowing that there is always going to be a part of you with them and they have to live knowing about what happened to them...well that's where the power comes from." He explains.
"That why you brand them, so they have a constant reminder of what you did to them?" I ask.
"Of course. If you want to make an impression on someone, sometimes you have to make it physical as well. Did yours ever beg for you to end it? To take them out of their misery? Mine certainly did. I mean the things the human body can endure are amazing." He states in awe.
"They usually don't even know what's coming to them." I state.
"We are speaking hypothetical here, right? Because I have dark thoughts sometimes and that's what I'm sharing with you right now. I would never act on them just as I'm sure that you wouldn't act on yours." He adds as his lawyer walks into the room.
"What the hell are you doing talking to my client?!" She growls.
"It's alright, she's not Police. We were just having a talk about some common interests is all." He sneers and I just shake my head and leave.
"Are you ok? How did you know to get him to open up like that?" Rollins asks.
"He's a sadist, likes making people feel exposed. But he also wants to know if there are others like him. People who enjoy hurting people like he does." Elliot explains.
"So you had Kado pretend to enjoy hearing all those details. That's genius." Rollins states amazed.
"Not enough though...he claimed that it was all hypothetical at the end." I sigh feeling like I didn't do anything.
"You did what you could." Barba encourages me.
"If I did what I could, he wouldn't be breathing right now." I scoff.
"Fine, you did what you legally could do." Fin scoffs.
"And what is this I hear that you can't testify?" Barba asks confused.
"Ask a judge." I shrug.
"I did and he said he wasn't allowed to give me any details, just that you can't be subpoenaed and testify." Barba states skeptically.
———
The victim comes in for a line up but doesn't get to do it because Lewis choked himself and is now on suicide watch.
I head back to Elliot's apartment with some clothes that Rollins gave me. I go into the bathroom and take a shower while Elliot orders food.
I let the water run over me and I close my eyes when images start flashing through my mind. Images of Lilith torturing me in Hell. I feel the water is ice cold and heat Elliot knocking on the door.
"Kado, is everything alright?" He asks worried.
"Yeah. Just dozed off I guess." I lie while I catch my breath.
I dry myself off and put on some sweatpants and a sports bra. I get out of the bathroom and see Elliot standing there with a worried expression.
"Are you sure you're ok?" He asks calmly and I nod my head.
———
The next day I go into court and sit next to Stabler as I watch a screen with Lewis lying in a hospital bed.
"I request a psych evaluation for my client. He is severely depressed and tried to commit suicide this morning." The redhead female defense attorney claims and I can't help but scoff.
"It's worth noting that he sustained no injury in said attempt. And was conveniently timed to avoid a line up." Barba argues.
"Are you raising a question as to whether your client is competent enough to stand trial or are you pleading he's not guilty by reason of insanity?" The judge asks.
"Possibly both your honor." The defense states.
"Are you kidding me?! He is competent enough to hide his identity, to frame his confession as a hypothetical, he's more than competent enough to stand trial." Barba scoffs.
"Said confession wasn't even taken by an officer of the law. He said it to a citizen who isn't even aloud to testify in court." The defense states.
"She told him up front that she was not an officer or part of the department. He willingly told her about how he enjoyed torturing his victims and then put it in a hypothetical." Barba clears that matter up.
"He was only playing along with her sick and twisted games, he put it all in hypothetical so she wouldn't be arrested. She made the statements as if they were real." The defense states.
"I have to agree with the defense on this one. The confession is out. He will receive a psych evaluation and then I'll go over my findings." The judge states and dismissed us.
We head back to the precinct and Rollins puts photos of Lewis up on a board.
"Lewis Williams, I tracked down his birth certificate. He was born in Harling Kentucky. 15 years ago, he abducted and raped the mother of his girlfriend when she tried to break them up." Rollins explains.
"What?! Did he get charged?" Barba asks.
"Oh no. He got lucky. See the mother was a junky so the DA didn't want to put her on the stand. No charges were filed." Olivia explains.
They explain his past and many victims and I just shake me head.
The next day I go back to the courtroom and watch as the defense claims that Lewis has been targeted and accused his whole life. Lewis just stands there as if he's a vegetable. He suddenly claims competency and is remanded until the trial.
The Detectives go to the rape victim's house and find her dead. The M.E. said that she had a heart attack.