Outside Looking In
Olivia had been asleep for two hours before she heard her cell phone go off. Not even bothering to turn on the light, she'd picked up her phone and answered, and as many times before during her career in SVU, she'd jumped out of bed and gotten dressed, and notified the other detectives about the call.
It was 2:30 in the morning when they reached the hospital, the unis were waiting by the front desk to report in to the sergeant what they'd gathered so far.
"We got two calls from the same area, the first one was for a car crash," a young rookie told Olivia, "someone else called a few minutes later to report a possible sexual assault."
"Get an ID on the vic?" Olivia asked.
"No purse, no driver's license, we figure she's about 18, we found her in a daze, she didn't seem to have any idea where the hell she was, she was also equally oblivious to the fact she nearly plowed the car into a crowd of people at a block party."
"Get the ID off the registration?" Fin asked.
"Get this," a female uniform cop told them, "it was reported stolen around the same time of the crash. Wherever she came from, she took somebody else's car, which incidentally was originally parked half a mile from where she crashed. The owner was partying with some friends."
"They left the keys in the car?" Rollins asked in disbelief.
"Nobody ever said New York was the city of intellects," she answered.
"The partygoers decided to give her a piece of their mind and about ripped the door off, then they saw the blood on the seat and running down her legs, somebody called it in," the other uni added, "They thought it might've been from the crash."
The woman officer told the SVU detectives, "I know rape when I see it. The doctors are doing a kit right now."
"Has she said anything since being brought in?" Olivia asked.
"Bits and pieces, still can't get a name off of her. On the ride over in the ambulance, she did say she wanted her father," the female cop said, "but with no name to go on, her phone is God knows where and she couldn't remember the number…"
"Okay, we'll take it from here," Olivia told them, "Carisi, you and Rollins go with them back to the party and start canvassing the area, see if anybody saw anything before the crash, see if anybody knows this girl."
"Right, Sergeant," Carisi nodded.
"On it," Rollins said.
"Excuse me," Olivia flashed her badge to the nurse at the front desk, "Sergeant Benson, Detective Tutuola, SVU, we need information about a young woman brought in earlier, a possible rape victim. Can you tell me what exam room she was taken to?"
"Just a moment," the nurse said.
"We just finished the rape kit, got her settled in a room for the night until we can get back all the test results on her," the doctor told Fin and Olivia, "got a cop coming to take the kit to the lab right now."
"In the meantime what can you tell us about her?" Olivia asked.
"Brutalized," he answered, "Lot of bruises, lot of handprints, a possible concussion, for what it's worth, whoever did this was very single minded, no evidence of oral or anal penetration, little comfort there. The silver lining is it shouldn't be hard to find this guy."
"Why?" Olivia asked.
"We were able to collect semen samples, the bastard that did this didn't bother with a condom," the doctor told them, "pray he did something before and his DNA is on file."
"More like pray somebody got around to putting it on file," Olivia said.
"She tell you her name?" Fin asked.
"Alexis, no last name."
"The unis who brought her in said she was asking for her father," Olivia said, "Did she tell you his name?"
"No, but I wonder if that might have something to do with what she has been saying," the doctor said, "Even before we did a tox screen, all she'd say was 'not my fault, I'm not drunk, I didn't take drugs'."
"Cops at the scene said she was dazed," Fin said, "either she was date raped…"
"Or the trauma of the rape sent her into shock," Olivia finished his thought.
"I know you have to question her about what happened, and I'm not going to stop you," the doctor told them, "but I'm warning you in advance, don't expect much. We still have more tests to run to determine the total amount of damage, and until we know the full extent of what happened to her, we're not going to know if she'll even be able to tell you, or remember herself. I…" the doctor got a strange look on his face.
"What is it?" Olivia asked.
The doctor reached under his coat and felt his pockets. "My phone's gone, I…"
Olivia's eyes widened as it dawned on them what must've transpired in the exam room.
"She stole your phone?"
"Maybe she remembered Pop's number," Fin said.
"Oh boy," Olivia sighed. She told the doctor, "we'll see what she can remember. Thank you, Doctor."
They walked away from him, and once they turned the corner, Fin commented, "Girl's a pickpocket, this should be interesting. Think she picked that up from her dad?"
Olivia ignored the question and only said in response, "We know how well interviews go when a parent in disbelief shows up."
"Yeah, they show up and the kid shuts down," he agreed, "usually because she was doing something that she wasn't supposed to."
"Yeah, so let's find out what she can tell us before somebody tries to censor it," Olivia told him.
On their way down the long and winding corridor, Olivia asked Fin, "So you think she was telling the truth about not being intoxicated?"
"Could be practicing her story for when Daddy Dearest comes down," he responded, "we've seen it plenty of times."
"They don't realize lying about any part of their attack jeopardizes the chance of them getting justice," Olivia said.
"Some people can live without justice easier than they can their parents' respect," Fin replied.
"You don't really believe that," Olivia said.
"Not about what I believe," Fin told her, "If they didn't believe it, we wouldn't have these problems when we investigate."
"And then they wouldn't have the problem of cheating themselves out of the chance to get closure by facing their attackers in open court. It's hard enough to do as is, it's harder when you sabotage yourself by lying and the defense can use it against you to create reasonable doubt," Olivia added.
"Preaching to the choir, I always told Ken growing up 'if you get in trouble, get a lawyer, but if you get in trouble with me, don't lie'. This should be the room down here," Fin said as they turned another corner.
They heard the elevator ding as it reached the floor, and they just happened to see who stepped out of it.
"John Buchanan," Olivia addressed the defense attorney, "What're you doing here?"
The man whom Olivia had testified before on cross-exam many times in court, clearly was not on top of his game tonight. He looked like he hadn't slept, and his clothes were disheveled, clearly a sign he'd been gotten out of bed and had hurriedly dressed. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was just as surprised to see them there as they were to see him.
Despite his appearance, he was perfectly coherent as he told them, "My daughter called and said I had to come and pick her up. They told me this is her room."
"Your…daughter?" Olivia felt her eyes bug out.
The defense attorney looked at Olivia, then at Fin, and did a double take. "Wait a minute, what are you doing here?" the expression on his face suddenly changed as he demanded to know, "What the hell's going on?"