Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Dear Ben (2019)

Philip Winchester: ADA Peter Stone

Photos 

Quotes 

• Peter Stone : I had no idea how haunted my father was about this case.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, a lot of people in law enforcement lost sleep over this guy. He was like the Zodiac or the Son of Sam.

• Peter Stone : [to Carisi]  You know, Infinity wrote about me. Look at this. "Your son throws the ball like he was born for it." June 1988. I would have been 7. You know, my dad sent me and my sister to live with my aunt Carolyn in Montana that summer. Dropped us off and said, "Be back soon." Three months later, not a word. My aunt had to put us on a plane so we wouldn't miss school. I always resented him for that.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Sounds like he might have been trying to protect you.

• Peter Stone : "Dear Ben, I was thinking about you last night. Wondering about Mary."

  Olivia Benson : Mary Harris. Infinity's 22nd victim.

  Peter Stone : "Wondering if Mary would tell you what I did to her. What I made her say. If she would get the details right or if she would leave out the interesting parts because she was ashamed."

  Edgar Noone : Infinity had a way with words.

  Olivia Benson : That's probably what made him interesting to Ben Stone.

  Peter Stone : Yeah. My father studied him. He read and re-read the letters, looking for clues about... about the crimes. His life. About his traumatic childhood.

  Edgar Noone : What do you mean?

  Peter Stone : As a boy, Infinity was forced to listen while his father raped his mother.

  Olivia Benson : Explains the pathology, but... I don't think any of that was in the books.

  Edgar Noone : And... and Ben Stone knew that?

  Peter Stone : Oh, my father was obsessed. I mean, he kept everything. I mean, look, letter after letter. Infinity even sent him a Father's Day card one year. Look.

  Olivia Benson : "Dear Ben, happy Father's Day." Signed with the infinity symbol.

  [handing it to Edgar] 

  Olivia Benson : Take a look.

  Edgar Noone : Ben Stone kept this?

  Peter Stone : [taking the card back]  Yeah, he did. He kept it in an evidence file so it wouldn't get smudged or torn. Of course, the idiot, he sent a card with golf clubs. My father never played a game of golf in his life.

  Edgar Noone : [snatching for the card]  Infinity couldn't have known that...

  Peter Stone : Right. Because he knew nothing about my father.

  Edgar Noone : They had a relationship.

  Olivia Benson : There was no relationship.

  Edgar Noone : All those hours Ben Stone spent on the case? He spent more time with Infinity than he did with his own family!

  Olivia Benson : Ben Stone cared about the women who were raped. He cared about getting justice for them. You're a little confused.

  Peter Stone : If you think this was about you, you're more insane than I thought.

• Peter Stone : I found this in my father's notes. Uh, "Peter's game today. Don't be late. He's the starting pitcher." I was in junior high. It was the first game of the season. He never showed. I hit a homer in the last inning. I went home and, uh... I could tell he wanted to talk, but I was so angry I just went to my room. I'll never forget the disappointment in his eyes.

  Olivia Benson : You were a teenager.

  Peter Stone : Yeah. The next day, he wrote this: Uh... "Peter's team won. Maybe he'll forgive me someday." We never talked about that game. It was September '93. Turns out... Infinity had struck again the night before.

  Olivia Benson : Peter. It's time to forgive him.

• Peter Stone : You got a good kid there.

  Olivia Benson : You should see him at dinnertime or bedtime or homework time.

  Peter Stone : Well, all kids go through phases. I'm told.

  Olivia Benson : Well, whatever he's going through right now, I gotta tell you, I'm a little over it. Maybe he... just needs some masculine energy.

• Peter Stone : The lab actually pulled DNA from Infinity memorabilia?

  Olivia Benson : Saliva residue from a stamp. A letter mailed back in '83.

  Peter Stone : Back before Infinity got careful.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah. The bad news is there's no hits in CODIS.

  Peter Stone : I'm starting to understand how my father must have felt.

• Peter Stone : 25 years later. Did they get a sense of this guy's age?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Uh, no. They said that he, uh... he spoke in a low voice, he told the wife to keep quiet. They didn't fight back, so there's no sense of his physicality, either.

  George : Here you go. Infinity, '81 to '94. There's over a dozen of them. I'll get you a dolly.

  Peter Stone : All right, thanks, George.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : This is gonna take forever.

  [taking a case file] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hey, you never told me your dad was on the case.

  Peter Stone : What?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [showing him]  Yeah, "Ben Stone, District Attorney's Office. Joint Infinity Task Force."

  Peter Stone : I didn't know. I was in school. We never talked about his cases.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : What's Patton's defense gonna be? The guy confessed. We got forensics.

  Peter Stone : Well, never underestimate a public defender looking for his moment in the sun.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hey, sorry to interrupt, but the, uh, DNA from the stamp? I got a hit.

  Olivia Benson : How?

  Peter Stone : I thought there was nothing in CODIS?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No, from learnmylineage.com.

  Olivia Benson : You sent Infinity's DNA to a genealogy website?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : It was a shot in the dark. I figured it was easier to ask your forgiveness than your permission.

  Peter Stone : And?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : I got a familial hit. A close female relative. She's got an address in Brooklyn, and she gave the site permission to contact her with any matches. So now I'm, uh... I'm asking your permission.

  Olivia Benson : Go, run with it. Go.

• Olivia Benson : Okay, we have unmarked cars on the Bakers' block, right? We're monitoring their calls?

  Odafin Tutuola : Nothing so far. This guy was and continues to be a ghost.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [entering with Stone]  Nope, not a ghost. A copycat. We've been going through the old case files. Ben Stone was the lead ADA in the case.

  Olivia Benson : I didn't realize that.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : And whoever attacked the Bakers was definitely not Infinity. The signatures, the reconnaissance, the-the plates. That was all in the papers, plus three books.

  Peter Stone : What wasn't made public and what was consistent with each victim: he forced them to pretend they were enjoying the assault. Lovely.

  Amanda Rollins : For the tied-up husband to hear.

  Olivia Benson : And this guy made April keep quiet.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Noone's DNA matched the DNA on the back of the stamp, and Claire Newbury made a voice ID.

  Peter Stone : That's just enough for an arrest warrant for the one rape.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What about the 22 other rapes?

  Peter Stone : Well, defense will argue that Noone may have licked the stamp and mailed the letter, but that doesn't prove he's Infinity. What about the apartment? Any trophies?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No, now we're going through his financials. Maybe he's got a storage unit somewhere.

  Peter Stone : Does his niece know anything?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Nah, to her, he's just a sweet uncle.

  Peter Stone : What about the profile you sent the website?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Uh, I used my name.

  [Stone snickers sardonically] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : No, relax, the guys who caught Golden State did not identify themselves as police. Now, I did the research on this, and there is legal precedent in California and Florida.

  Peter Stone : Yeah, but not New York, which is what defense will argue.

  Carmen : [entering and giving Stone a blueback]  This just came for you.

  Peter Stone : Thanks.

  [giving it a once-over] 

  Peter Stone : Defense motion to exclude Noone's DNA.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Eh, good for them, but on this one, the law's on our side.

  Peter Stone : Let's hope a judge thinks so.

• Claire Newbury : I interviewed your father years ago. I've written three books on Infinity.

  Peter Stone : Sorry, I never read them.

  Claire Newbury : Oh, but you must have been interested in his cases. Your father's white whale.

  Peter Stone : Look, is there something I can help you with?

  Claire Newbury : I'm working on my fourth book. I've already set up an interview with Mr. Patton. I mean, the psychological, mental state of that guy has got to be fascinating, in-in its own weird way.

  Peter Stone : Take your word for it.

  Claire Newbury : I was also hoping that I could interview you, what it was like growing up with a father obsessed with a psychopath he couldn't bring to justice.

  Peter Stone : Like I said, my father and I never discussed his cases. I wouldn't have anything to tell you.

  Claire Newbury : [giving him a business card]  Well, maybe you'll change your mind.

  Peter Stone : I won't.