Another weekend at the office

Chapter 1

Saturday around 10.15 pm: Squadroom.

" I can't believe we're finally done for this week" Elliot grumbled, stretching his arms behind his back, at the 3 colleagues sitting in front of him.

"If somebody had told me about all the paper work a cop needs to do, i would have given a second thought before applying for the Academy" Fin said nodding back to Elliot.

"Oh come on Fin, think instead how empty would be your life without me." said Munch while reaching for his coat. Olivia smiled for the first time after 5 hours in which she only had to report all the dark details of the cases they worked on during the past week.

"So where are you guys going? She asked tidying up her desk

"Me and my half" Fin said glancing at Munch "are going to Chauncey's. Are you two coming?"

" Noh, i really don't wanna listen to some drunk cop whining about his career, thank's anyway" Olivia said " and for me, Saturday is "pizza evening" with Kathy and the kids" Elliot added.

" Alright then, see you on Monday. Let's go, i'll be your number… whatever, your next wife for the night Munch".

Munch reached for the door and kept it open for Fin giving him one his smirks, "ladies first."

Elliot and Olivia grouped all the file folders spreaded around and brought them in Cragen's office.

Olivia came out the office for first and was surprised when she saw the front desk agent Jerry Dawey.

Elliot, whom just exited Cragen's office, said " Hey Jed, we're about to leave, is something wrong?". "Come in" Dawey said, addressing to somebody in the corridor. " I told her to come back tomorrow morning, that some detective would be on shift, but there was no way of stopping her."

A girl came through, giving an annoyed look at the agent "i need your help, you work on the sex crimes right?" "Yes, ok, please take a seat. Jed we'll take it from here, thank you." Said Olivia approaching her desk followed by Elliot.

The girl was on her 20's, she was wearing the Hudson University sweater, jeans and a shoulder bag.

" So what's your name? " asked Olivia after she took her notepad.

" Joy Dale, 22, staying on campus at Hudson but living in Westfield New Jersey" the girl said in a single breath.

Elliot let Olivia conduct the interview " ok, how can we help you, Joy ?"

"My best friend, my room mate was kidnapped yesterday" she quickly went through her bag and pulled out what turned out to be a mug shot " by this guy, Dixon Flynn and…"

"Wo wowowo" interrupted Elliot "why don't we slow down a bit, where did you get that photo?"

" in the internet, in that web site where all the sexual predators are mapped out."

"ok, you have proof it was him to kidnap your friend?"

The girl was caught off-guard and dropped her gaze at her feet while Elliot and Olivia met eyes.

"Ok let's start from the beginning, one pace at the time." proposed Olivia, "First, what's your friend name?"

"Hailey Hughs" whispered Joy taking a long breath, annoyed.

"When did you last see her?" continued Olivia

"Yesterday evening, we had dinner at Cindy's Diner, we drank a bit with some friends cause we were celebrating for a passed exam. I left early."

"What time?"

"Uhm 10.30 maybe, I went back to our dorm, i wasn't in the drinking mood and i am not "the party girl."

"When did you notice that Hailey was missing?"

" When I woke up this morning around 8.00. She wasn't in her bed, I tried to call her but her cell was off. So I went to our friends and asked if someone got back with her…but nobody did or remembered when she left."

"Maybe she went home to tell her family about the exam, where does she live?" Elliot asked

"No, her parents live in Rhode Island"

"Alright what about those friends, anyone with a house nearby? Or a boyfriend?

"No and no, why don't you just accept the fact that somebody abducted her?" Joy raised her voice.

Olivia gave Elliot a dirty look "we're just following every possible lead. Many times people party, get a little high, go have fun somewhere and forget to warn about where they're going and when they'll be back."

"Well, not Hailey!"

"Ok then, tell us about this man. Why do you think he abducted Hailey?"

"He wanders around campus almost everyday, usually he sits on a bench with his sandwich and beer and stares at the girls walking in front of him. We didn't know he was arrested before for abuse of 2 students upstate. I found out about him this afternoon in the internet, I supposed he lived nearby and when I clicked on that red dot in the map I couldn't believe my eyes, it was him, in a mug shot, I panicked cause I thought… I haven't seen him for the whole day…I printed everything and came here."

Elliot was now at full attention, he hates those worms that use schools and universities as hunting fields.

After a few seconds of silence he prompted " We can't do nothing for tonight, we don't even know for sure if Hailey was kidnapped and if this guy is in the story. We can't start a case from an assumption and.."

"This is no assumption! He did this, he's been staring at us everyday, what do you call it…mm..studying the preys habits, movements?"

Olivia butted in "I know Joy, but it's 11.00 pm and we can't go on a witch hunt. I promise you that tomorrow we'll go talk to this man. In the mean time I'll release your friend description to the patrols and if she's on the streets the agents will eventually see her and accompany her back to the precinct. That's all we can do at the moment.£

Joy nodded at the detectives without too much belief

Elliot seeing her lack of conviction, put his hands on the girl shoulder "We'll do our best to find your friend, now you need to go back on campus and get some sleep. This is my card, you can call me any time tomorrow and I'll tell you if we got some news ok?. Now I'll get an agent to drive you back.

"Ok" said the girl a bit relieved "Thank you"

When Joy left with an agent, Elliot and Olivia were fixing at Flynn's mug shot.

"If she was actually kidnapped it's already been 24 hours"

"Olivia you know that a missing person become a case after 48 hours. You yourself told Joy we can't go on a witch hunt. This should go straight at missing persons."

"So the caring "look-me-in-the-eyes-and-I'll-give-you-hope" Elliot I just saw, was only a way to not waste any more time…" Olivia dug.

Elliot was ready to talk-back when Olivia left the squadroom.

TBC