The dark alley ways of New York City were littered with trash. In the safety of a nearby doorway a young teenager was huddled into a corner trying her best to make it through another rainy night. Her night had been pretty uneventful that was all going to change. For the worse. She could hear to people arguing.

"Please, stop I promise that I won't tell anyone!" the person's voice was shaky. A distinct tone of fear was evident.

"Shut up. I didn't come to hear you talk." the sound of a slap echoed throughout the alley.

The young girl whose home now was the streets clutched her bag close to her in fear. Not daring to move an inch out of fear for what would happen if she was noticed. The argument carried on for several minutes until several gun shots ended it. Not getting a chance to react to the situation that had unfolded before her a dark figure pinned her against the brick building their eyes were that of a murderer.

"You didn't see or hear anything. If your thinking about going to the cops don't because the results might not be favorable." he proceeded to smack her around so she would get the message. "Talk and you'll end up like her ya hear!" he gave her one last taste of what would happen if she talked before taking off.

Shaking she collected her belongings and slung her bag over her shoulder she would return to the one place that she truly felt safe. St. Anne's.

The next morning a worker from a restaurant came out into the back alley to dump a few missed trash bags from last nights clean up. Taking only four steps out of the doorway her tripped over the bullet riddled body sending the bags crashing with a loud clatter. Hearing the commotion from inside the restaurant his boss came out ready to yell at him but stopped when his eyes caught sight of the body.

"Get inside and call the police!" his boss stood there staring at the body. And who said that the restaurant business wasn't full of surprises? he thought to himself before returning inside.

The detectives of the special victims unit were assigned to this case because there were obvious sexual elements to the crime. The sheet that covered the body of the victim hid the horror that lurked under it. Things did not look good at the moment.

"Either no one saw anything or no one is willing to talk." They've had to deal with cases like this before in the past somehow they made it through.

"We'll at least big brother is watching." Munch stated at he pointed up to the cameras the city had recently installed.

Elliot and Munch were sent to go view the tapes while Fin and Olivia stayed behind to investigate the crime scene with the ME.

While viewing the security tapes there was one spot in particular that really caught detective Stabler's eye. On the girl's back pack there was a small pin he knew that he had seen it somewhere before. Racking his brain it hit him like a ton of bricks where he had seen it before.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" Munch asked confused.

"St. Anne's".

Back at the crime scene Olivia and Fin were going over the details of the crime with Warner. The body was that of a young girl presumed to be in her late twenties to early thirties.

"Who ever did this didn't want her living I've counted six different entrance wounds." Warner said as she looked the body over.

Standing over the body Fin noticed a number had been written on the girl's wrist.

"What's that all about? Number one what?"

"First victim?"

"No way was this a first timer. It's too neat to be someone with no experience." interjected Melinda.

"You mean this guy had other victims out there that we don't know about?" Fin was displeased at his realization.

"Cragen is gonna love this!"

"That's just great! This guy has other victims out there and we have no idea where they are?"

"Munch and Elliot are looking at security tapes now."

"Alright what do we know?"

"Vic's name is Shannon Taylor. Cause of death six gun shots to the chest."

"Yeah, our victim had a number written on her were thinking that he might have other people in mind with the same fate."

"Number, what number?"

"On the vic's wrist a number had been written identifying her as number one."

"Alright see if anything matches in the database go back as far as you can" Cragen wiped his hands over his face trying to erase his tiredness.

Unfortunately there would be nothing that would come close to this crime. They were now playing whole different ball game.

St Anne's had become a well known and trusted place for runaways and the lost soul of New York. The young teen who had witnessed the crime had taken refuge there where she knew that she would actually be safe for the night. Several cases Sister Peg had assisted them with and today would be no exception. They had gone to her several times mostly because she knew the working girls. Sister Peg greeted Elliot and Munch though she had little contact with the older detective.

"Detectives what can I do for you?" she asked making up a new bed.

"Were looking to speak to someone who's a witness to a crime we're investigating." Elliot showed Sister Peg a photo of a girl her purple dyed hair fell just below her jaw. Sister Peg knew right away who it was.

"Ah that would be Alley Cat she's been coming here for several months now. I doubt she's going to talk to you though."

"Why?" Munch peered at her over the top of his glasses as he always did.

"In the several months she's come here she's hardly said a word."

"She's kind of a mute." said a girl that was helping make beds.

That was all they needed now was something to make their case even harder. Now their biggest hurdle was going to end Alley Cat's silence by gaining her trust.