Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

At Midnight in Manhattan (2019)

Bea Cordelia: Lakira Baca

Quotes 

• Officer : [to Kat]  A trans-whatever beat up by a John.

  Kat Tamin : Trans-whatever? Seriously?

  Officer : Sorry, the vic was found unconscious here. Skirt up, cuts and bruises. Some barfly called it in.

  Kat Tamin : Yeah, did you get a statement? How about a name?

  Officer : He was gone before I got here.

  Kat Tamin : Lakira.

  Lakira Baca : Officer Kit Kat. If you're here to arrest me, you're too late. Mall cop over there beat you to it.

  Kat Tamin : You cuffed a vic? I'm taking these cuffs off you.

  [removes the cuffs] 

  Lakira Baca : You're sweet, Kit Kat.

  Kat Tamin : They're gonna load you up.

  [to the EMT] 

  Kat Tamin : Radio Mercy ED and let them that we need a sexual assault nurse with trans experience. Lakira, okay if I come with you?

• Kat Tamin : [to Lakira]  It's gonna be a little while.

  Lakira Baca : Never get assaulted on a Friday night. So you're SVU now.

  Kat Tamin : Yeah. You're my second case.

  Lakira Baca : Good for you, Kat.

  Kat Tamin : Thanks. Can I call anyone for you? You back in touch with your family?

  Lakira Baca : I got a moms, but my moms don't got a daughter. So, no.

  Kat Tamin : What happened out there, Lakira?

  Lakira Baca : Just trying to make some money so I could sleep in a real bed tonight. Rich dude picks me up. Middle of a BJ, he goes soft, so he smacks me. I say, "Don't take your ED out on me." He starts hitting me, pulling my skirt, then he grabs a flashlight.

  Kat Tamin : You recognize him? You ever seen him before?

  Lakira Baca : Don't waste your time, Kat. Just let me get fixed up and get out of here.

• Lakira Baca : I've seen him around the pier. Never been with him before.

  Kat Tamin : What'd he look like?

  Lakira Baca : Blue eyes. Big jaw. He's got a Dorito-colored car with doors that open up like wings.

  Kat Tamin : Okay.

  Lakira Baca : A vulture.

• Kat Tamin : Captain, ADA Carisi? This is Lakira Baca.

  Olivia Benson : Hey.

  Lakira Baca : ADA? Your shoes say "police."

• Kat Tamin : Thanks for the heads-up, Lakira. Somebody helping you out?

  Lakira Baca : An angel with wings.

  Kat Tamin : I thought he was a vulture.

  Lakira Baca : You know what my moms used to say?

  Kat Tamin : No. Why don't you tell me?

  Lakira Baca : She said there's two types of people in this world: the ones that turn gold into garbage and the ones that turn garbage into gold.

  Kat Tamin : Is that what you think you did?

  Lakira Baca : [as she shows off her red fur coat]  She's pretty, isn't she? I got it for my moms. I got rent money for her too. Maybe she'll finally let me move back home. Turning vultures into angels, Kit Kat. You know me.

• Kat Tamin : You okay?

  Lakira Baca : No. Your jury looks at him, looks at me, who are they gonna choose? Even his eyes shine money.

  Dominick Carisi : We'll do our best, Ms. Baca.

  Lakira Baca : You know, the first time I was assaulted, I was 14. My mom had just kicked me out of the house. Know what the cop told me? "Wipe off your makeup and go home. You don't belong out here."

• Kat Tamin : How you doing, Lakira?

  Lakira Baca : I look in the mirror, it hurts.

  Kat Tamin : Give it some time. You'll be pretty as ever.

  Lakira Baca : I wish I had me a little hideaway.

  Kat Tamin : Let me help. I could put you in touch with some people, get you off the street.

  Lakira Baca : I could hole up there for a while, just me and my friends.

  Kat Tamin : Listen, Lakira, we arrested him, but I'm gonna need you to come back down to the courthouse to speak to the ADA.

  Lakira Baca : I don't know. Every day I tell myself, "You're a beautiful human, Lakira" even though your family says it ain't so. Even though people stare at you like you're some kind of puzzle they don't want to put together. And now you want me to stand in front of a bunch of strangers, and talk about being raped with a goddamn flashlight?

  Kat Tamin : I get it, but it won't just be strangers. I'll be there. Look, you decide what you can do, okay? Just know that I think you're one of the strongest people I've ever known.

  Lakira Baca : Okay, but I'm doing it for you. I'm not expecting no fairy tale ending.