Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Divide and Conquer

By: Kaylyn Bell

Nora (Emily Jackson) and James (Adam Aalderks) Fletcher, a married couple, are celebrating their first anniversary and are preparing for a dinner party. In the kitchen James cuts some of their frozen wedding cake and tells her he knows they’ll be better together every year.

Captain Benson (Mariska Hargitay) arrives at One Police Plaza for the city-wide briefing where she runs into Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and they start catching up. Rollins is now a Sergeant with the Intelligence Unit, which she loves but jokingly says, “It’s like getting to eavesdrop on the whole world.” She introduces Benson to her new partner, Detective Corgan (John Clarence Stewart), as he passes them in the hallway. Rollins thanks Benson for putting in a word for her for the position and giving her guidance. She explains that before this role, she was missing who she was. Benson replies, “It is so good to see this version of you again.”

In the briefing Rollins, on behalf of the Intelligence Division, provides an update on a four-man robbery crew they’ve been tracking. They are crime tourists from Albania who fly to different cities to complete a few jobs and then leave in less than 48 hours. Their MO is to case potential targets and private residences and they leave no DNA. Interpol has been unable to put names or faces to these men. The division’s intel suggests the crew is headed into Manhattan this weekend.

The Fletcher’s anniversary party is ending as James sees out the last guests except for two of their friends, Valerie (Kate Abbruzzese) and Graham (Ben Jeffrey), a couple that offered to help clean up. The doorbell rings and James goes to answer it. He’s met with a gun aimed at him as four men in masks barge in. Some of the men wrangle everyone into the dining room while the others search for a safe. They ask James for the combination. When he hesitates, they shoot him in the knee, and he gives it up. One of the men is left guarding the hostages and when he points a gun at Graham’s head, James tells him to stop and take whatever he wants. The man walks over to Nora who is crying on the floor. He cuts the tie holding her arms together and tells her to take her clothes off. When she doesn’t, the man turns to James and starts stepping on his gunshot wound. James pleads for her to do what he says.

Later that evening Benson and Fin (Ice-T) arrive at the crime scene at the same time as Rollins and Corgan. Rollins suspects this could be her crew, even though the sexual assault is a departure from their MO. An officer on the scene fills them in on what happened, including that Nora was not the one to report the sexual assault. Rather, it was her friend Valerie. Benson looks shocked learning that Nora was assaulted in front of both her friends and her husband. Inside Graham is giving his statement to Rollins and Corgan. He explains the men were looking for the basement safe, described the weapons they used and outlined the dynamics of the men, including that there was a leader. This information confirmed to Rollins that this was the Albanian team. Meanwhile, Benson and Fin are speaking with Valerie in the dining room. Valerie explains that Nora doesn’t know she reported the assault to the cops because Nora asked her not to say anything. Valerie isn’t sure why specifically Nora didn’t want it reported but could provide more details about the rapist. She says he enjoyed making them watch, especially James.

Benson meets Rollins at the hospital so they can speak with Nora while James is in surgery. They find Nora in the cafeteria, and she enforces that she doesn’t want the police involved. She explains she is already going to have to move out of the city and change their lives, so she doesn’t want to make it worse. Rollins and Benson say that won’t happen because they’ll catch the men. Nora questions what makes them so sure, and they explain he made a big mistake and that was assaulting her. Nora is shocked but angry, exclaiming Valerie talked to them even though she asked her not to. Benson ensures that Valerie is just worried about her and rightfully so, as she needs medical attention. Nora says she doesn’t care what happens to her, as long as her marriage survives. She continues that she would help them catch him, starting with a rape kit, if they leave James out of it.

While waiting to meet with an officer, Fin points out that Corgan probably hasn’t dealt with many rape cases in his line of work. He confirms that he’s never seen anything like this and asks Fin why he thinks he did it. Fin replies that with the guys they’re dealing with, there’s not too much thinking involved. He then welcomes Corgan to “the cesspool of human depravity.” The officer invites them in and shows them a trail camera that was found hidden outside the Fletchers’ house and informs them that the footage is being pulled.

At the precinct Benson and Rollins are filling ADA Carisi (Peter Scanavino) in on the case. He asks Rollins if she’s sure this is her crew because the rape isn’t part of their pattern, and she’s confident. The rest of the squad updates Benson that they’ve got a few still shots from the neighbour’s security camera. It shows the four men in masks exiting the home holding seemingly heavy bags. Corgan explains the safe was completely emptied, but other items like paintings and expensive jewelry in the house weren’t taken, so they were looking for something specific. Carisi asks what James does to afford things like that and Fin explains he owns a chain of gyms and that he’s worth about $50 million. They’re at a dead end until they get the camera footage from TARU, so Rollins and Benson decide to speak to Nora again to ask if there is someone who can identify everyone who has had access to their home. When they arrive at Nora’s hotel, she gets a call from the hospital explaining that James’ condition has worsened, and she abruptly leaves.

When they return to the station, they’re informed that James is stable but still unconscious. Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) and Fin share that they showed a picture of two men captured by the trail camera to a housekeeper and she was able to identify one of them as Dennis Maynard (John Hemphill), James’ business partner. Benson directs Curry and Fin to go ask Dennis if he knew what was in the safe.

Corgan informs Benson that Interpol’s database found a DNA match from the rape kit. His name is Aldlrit Neziri (David Garelik) from Albania and he has a history of sexual assault unrelated to robbery, but he fled before he was prosecuted. They weren’t yet able to find a connection between him and the crew, but they discovered he has a girlfriend who previously posted his bail. She has an apartment in New York they think he could be staying at. When they arrive at her apartment, they find her dead in the living room. Aldrit’s stuff, including his torn-up passport, is near the bed. They identify a blood trail in the apartment, so they suspect he was injured by whoever killed his girlfriend, likely his crew. Fin orders a citywide hospital canvas. He’ll be a crucial witness if he’s alive, and he should be easy to flip because his crew already turned on him.

Back at the precinct Benson updates Carisi. They are still unaware of what was in the safe other than a gun used at the crime scene, registered to James. They also discovered that James cashed out half of his portfolio last month, so they are trying to speak with his business manager. He has not been answering the phone, so Benson sends Fin and Curry to go to his house. Dennis informs them that James purchased $10 million in gold and that only him, James and an appraiser for the insurance company, Kyle Schwartz, would have known about the purchase. The insurance was purchased a week before the robbery, so they suspect the crime could have been set up to collect on the policy.

Rollins and Benson arrive at Nora’s apartment to show her a picture lineup, which she successfully identifies Aldrit from. Nora also informs them that she didn’t know James had a gun, but she assumes it was because he was worried for her safety as she was punched on the street six months ago. Nora was not aware he cashed out several million dollars but explains he is a doomsday planner.

Fin and Curry are informed that James has woken up, so they head to the hospital to investigate the insurance. James says Dennis signed the form on his behalf and he was never informed about the policy. James also states that he never told anyone about having gold in his basement and has no idea how the crew found out, leaving only Dennis and Kyle as suspects. Curry reports the appraiser has been missing for two days, and Fin assumes he was murdered by the crew. Benson orders Dennis to be brought in. Kyle was found in the East River full of shotgun pellets, so Fin and Corgan head to the morgue. Upon inspection, the bullet wounds match the weapons the crew used.

In interrogation, Dennis admits to setting up a crime but says no one was supposed to get hurt and that he was told the men weren’t violent. He’s shocked to learn he’s facing murder charges and starts giving up information in exchange for protection. Dennis took out the insurance policy without James’ knowledge, and the robbery crew agreed to cut the profits with him. He assures the detectives that they will still be in town because they’ll need time to sell the gold. Fin instructs him to get in touch with them, pretending he found a buyer.

Rollins and Benson inform the Fletchers that Dennis was the one who set them up. Rollins gets notice that a doctor was just reported held at gunpoint by a man with gunshot wounds. At the clinic, they show the doctor a picture of Aldrit, which she confirms to be the man she treated. Benson orders for the surrounding area to be canvassed, as they know he is on foot. Rollins spots him in a crowd on the street, and he runs. They chase him into a club, corner him on the roof, and arrest him.

The next morning Valerie asks Benson to meet with her as Nora is drunk in a bar and she is worried. Nora still won’t speak to her and Benson acknowledges this must be hard for her as well. She reminds Valerie that it’s not about forgetting about it; it’s about dealing with it. Inside the bar Benson tells Nora that she’s not going to let her “beat herself up alone” and asks her to share what she’s experiencing. Nora remains silent, and Benson recognizes that between this and getting attacked on the street, Nora never lets herself feel how she is affected, just the people around her. Benson continues, “Your first instinct was to not report your rape to spare them all the pain.” Benson points out it’s a form of avoidance and that to heal, it’s important for her to share with her husband how it affected her. She finishes by informing Nora they caught her rapist, and she starts crying in relief.

Curry announces to the squad that the three other members of the crew were arrested during the meet up with Dennis. Carisi is hoping that because they tried to kill him that Aldrit will testify against his crew to strengthen the case. Aldrit is arraigned in the hospital, and his lawyer says he’s willing to testify. Carisi informs the squad that once the others learned Aldrit made a deal, they all folded. All four men will be getting a minimum of fifteen years in prison.

Benson and Rollins tell Nora that Aldrit, with the combination of all his charges in different countries, will be in prison for the rest of his life. Benson asks about how her and James are doing and Nora just hopes they’ll get through it as a couple. Benson suggests that she takes care of herself because, in her experience, “we cannot truly support another person until we deal with our own individual trauma.”