No copyright infringement intended - to my great sorrow, I do not own these wonderful characters. Thank you for your reviews and follows, I really appreciate the support. I'm pretty new here, so it means a lot!

TUESDAY

The next day started off more positively - Elliot ignored the ringing of his home phone, taking a mental note that the voicemail light had been flashing since the night before. He had been awake for two hours, oddly unable to get back to sleep despite the exhaustion he felt.

He turned on his answerphone.

"You have two messages," said the electronic voice, "Message One, sent Monday, at Seven pm."

"Elliot, its Kathy, we need to talk - call me back."

"Message 2, sent Tuesday, at 8pm."

"Elliot, please stop avoiding me, I don't want to communicate through lawyers! Can we just talk this through together? Come on Elliot, I need you to sign and we need to discuss the house. Just call me back please, this is only hard if we make it that way."

"End of messages..."

Beeeeeep.

Content that he had not missed a message relating to any of the kids, he grabbed his keys and left the house, feeling somewhat triumphant that he was going to make it out of the house and get to work on time that day.

PRECINCT

As soon as he exited the lift he could tell it was not going to be a quiet day, and he had conflicting emotions about that. He hated the silence in his apartment - he wasn't used to being alone, but the activity in the squad room only meant other people's pain.

The day before had been full of pain - interviewing the child - albeit not directly, rather watching Olivia interview the child. It was still hard to listen to though.

They examined crime scene photos, and together with the girls statement it painted a very grim picture. He didn't want another day of taking on board a child's grief - it felt too hard to deal with, too raw. He knew if he had to do it, he would though. He silently prayed for a lead - something to chase, away from the bloodied living room where a five year old watched her mother brutally violated and left for dead.

His prayers were answered straight away, and his spirits lifted.

As he walked over to his desk, he didn't have time to sit down as Olivia approached with two cups of coffee in takeout cups. She handed one to him.

"We're headed straight out - a threatening email was found on the vics computer - Munch located the sender, an ex boyfriend."

Elliot gave a small smile, glad to have a suspect to chase.

"Thank me later then!" Munch joked as Elliot and Olivia began to walk away. Olivia looked back and gave him a small smile of gratitude - before turning back and leaving with Elliot.

Olivia had found the previous day draining, and just hadn't been able to switch her thoughts off when she had got home. Talking to the little girl, gaining her trust and helping her open up and describe something no child should ever see, was draining emotionally - Olivia was therefore equally as relieved as her partner to have a suspect to bring in.

They sat in the car, Elliot in the driving seat, a comfortable silence between them, but both preoccupied with the case - it was always that way when a child was involved. They both wanted justice, but equally they knew what ever justice was ultimately metered out, it would never really be enough. All they could do was their best, for the child.

"Should be there in 10 minutes," Elliot said.

"Kathy called me last night," Olivia said.

"Kathy? Why?" Elliot asked, surprised.

"She said she's been calling you and you're not getting back to her. She asked me to tell you to call her today," Olivia said, a gentle edge to her voice.

"Ah...yeah, I have maybe missed her calls...a few times. She shouldn't be calling you though, sorry Liv, I'll call her."

"Why aren't you returning her calls?" Olivia asked, regretting asking almost as soon as the words left her mouth. It was clearly an issue Elliot had to work through.

Elliot gripped the steering wheel a little harder, and accelerated as he noticed the light ahead was still green.

"You want the truth?" he asked.

"Why not?" smiled Olivia.

"Damn it," he cursed as the light changed and he was forced to wait in the traffic.

"Thought I'd make it," he said, watching the road ahead.

"So...why?" Olivia asked

"Is 'I don't know' a crappy answer?" Elliot asked, looking at her.

"Call her, El," Olivia said gently.

"Well.." Elliot began as the lights once again changed, and they were on the move again,

"I have to eventually."

Olivia turned to look out of the window, and Elliot glanced at her as they drove - he didn't want to think about the complications of his failing marriage, or face the messiness of the life he and Kathy had built together for twenty two years falling apart. He wanted to just steal a glance at Olivia, smile at her, thank her for her concern, for talking to his wife when he wasn't even prepared to. God, Olivia was amazing, he could face the outcome of his impending divorce, hell he could face anything as long as he had her at his side.

Concentrating on the road, he turned left and continued towards the suspects place of work.

OFFICE BUILDING OF SAMUEL MCKINLEY.

They walked into the non descript office building, and after speaking to the desk clerk, they were soon in the elevator and on their way to the suspect.

As they stood side by side in the elevator, Olivia's thoughts were filled mainly with the case - the different angles they would approach the interview from and what kind of person Sam McKinley was. Her thoughts briefly turned to her partner and best friend, who was clearly struggling with his divorce and all the issues that would surround that. She hoped that he would open up to her and let her help him in whatever way he needed, but neither of them would be able to take the time to deal with any personal stuff until the attacker of the little girls mother had been found. They could not change what had happened - never take that horrible violent scene from that little girls mind, but at least they would be able to tell her that she was safe and didn't have to be scared that he would come after her too.

Olivia and Elliot entered the office, which contained ten desks spread over a large open plan area, and after asking at the first desk they were quickly pointed in the direction of Samuel McKinley. On their approach he looked up and when he realised they were approaching him, he stood up quickly.

"Samuel McKinley?" Elliot asked, showing his police ID.

Samuel McKinley panicked. He turned and ran towards the rear of the building and Olivia and Elliot took off in pursuit. They soon caught up with him, and shouted for him to stop, but he was trying hard to reach the fire escape which was at that point, a few yards ahead of him.

"Stop! Police!" Olivia shouted.

Elliot reached him first and grabbed him, slamming down to the ground with him as he attempted to stop him from running further.

Samuel Mckinley was still putting up quite the struggle and managed to wrench an arm free and take a swing, connecting with Elliott's jaw.

Olivia reached them and used her body weight to push him further to the ground, placing a knee in his back. They soon had him cuffed, and pulled him up.

"You've got nothing on me, you can't arrest me!" He shouted.

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions Mr McKinley - but assaulting a police officer is a pretty good reason to arrest you," Olivia smirked.

"Why'd you run?" Elliot asked, rubbing his jaw.

"I have the right to remain silent don't I? Then I have nothing to say," Samuel smiled smugly in response.

PRECINCT

Olivia stood against the wall, while Elliot sat at the desk across from Samuel. He spoke only to confirm his name, but would not answer any other questions. He had refused offers of food or drink, but had eventually accepted a bottle of water. He was remaining determined in his silence however. They were aware that time was running out, but were getting nowhere. A knock on the window disturbed the stalemate within the interrogation room, and Olivia and Elliot exited to see Casey Novak.

"We have two hours, then we have to let him go - he hasn't asked for a lawyer?" Casey asked.

"No, I was sure that would have been the first thing he said once we got him in," Elliot said.

"What about his prints?" Casey asked.

"The heats been cranked right up, he went hours before accepting a drink. He caved eventually," Elliot said.

"There was DNA from bodily fluids, and prints at the scene- he wasn't careful at all. Prints from McKinley are being run now, if he's good for this, we'll know soon," Olivia added.

"Already done guys," Munch said, as he approached with Cragen.

"We don't have a match with the crime scene," he continued.

"He's not our perp," Cragen said.

"He's not our perp, but he's still not going home: Samuel McKinley, outstanding warrants for drug dealing charges, and skipping bail. That's why he neglected to come along nicely with you," Munch said.

"There's been another murder, same M.O. Melinda's on the scene and puts the time of death just 6 hours ago," Cragen continued.

"While our esteemed drug dealer here has been enjoying our hospitality," Munch said.

Olivia sighed looking back at the suspect through the mirror.

"He's not the attacker then. I hoped we could tell Sarah it was over now." Olivia said, disappointed.

"Killer, Olivia." said Cragen.

Olivia and Elliot both turned to look at him.

"Madeline Thompson died an hour ago," he continued.

Olivia closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall, taking a steadying breath. She opened her eyes and looked at Elliot.

"Guess I won't be telling Sarah it's over then," she said sadly.

APARTMENT OF CONNIE CLARKSON

Olivia and Elliot entered the taped off apartment, greeting the officer who was stationed at the door. As they entered they could not miss the blood smeared across the walls in long streaks.

Melinda Warner approached them, carefully taking off blood covered gloves, as she walked over.

"Someone with a considerable amount of blood on their hands, basically placed their hands on the walls on either side of this hallway, their palms against the surface, and ran their hands along the length of the walls. There are clear bloody hand prints over there, by the living room, and the blood is thinner towards here by the doorway, when the blood was mostly wiped from his hands on to the wall. There are smears of blood like patterns by the body."

"The bastard enjoyed this," Elliot said, as they walked into the living room.

"It gets worse in here," Melinda said.

The detectives looked around the living room and immediately understood what Melinda meant. The room had been trashed - furniture turned over, ornaments smashed, curtains ripped, and on the couch, lay the victim.

"Was she killed in the same way as Madeleine Thompson?" Olivia asked.

"She was beaten, there are defensive wounds, and she was raped, but this time it's considerably more gratuitous. Most of these knife wounds were inflicted after her death. There are deep cuts across her body - my initial thought would be that death was caused soon after her external cartoid artery was severed, causing exsanguination. She would have died quickly from massive blood loss - but a lot of this damage had to have been carried out after her death," Melinda continued.

"We're dealing with a real psycho here," Said Fin, as he entered from another room in the apartment.

"What do we know about her Fin?" asked Olivia.

Elliot's cell phone rung, and he stepped back slightly to answer it.

"Stabler," he began, and listened partially to the person on the other end of the phone, while also listening to what Fin had discovered.

"She's single, no children, neighbour says she's lived here for five years, works long hours, so they didn't know her well, but said she was friendly, always said hello. I'm looking through her mail and seeing what else I can find," Fin said.

"Thanks Munch," said Elliot, as he put his phone back in his pocket,

"Munch has been comparing financials for both vics, nothing significant came up. They were both single women, both working in jobs they had held for several years, financially sound. The perp possibly thought that Madeleine Thompson lived alone, as he didn't look for her daughter during the attack," Elliot said.

"So we know who he targets, but we're no closer to finding out who he is, or if he is going to kill again," Olivia sighed.

"Or what's motivating him to rape and kill these women," Elliot added.

"We'll go through her phone records and emails, we gotta catch a break here soon," Fin said.

Olivia looked at her partner, as Fin continued his search of the victim's apartment.

"I'm going to see Sarah, she needs to hear about her mother," Olivia said quietly.

"I'll drive you Liv," he said.

Later that evening, Elliot pulled up outside Olivia's apartment off the engine, he turned to look at her. It had been another trying day. Olivia had wanted to tell Sarah about her mother's death personally. He understood why - Sarah had only felt comfortable with Olivia, and had opened up to her, sharing the horrific details of something that would haunt her forever. He knew the toll that would take emotionally on Olivia however. She hadn't spoken about it when she came back from visiting Sarah, but had immersed herself in the limited leads they had.

"How you doing Liv?" He asked quietly.

Olivia sighed.

"I'm fine El, I just need to rest, and get back to work tomorrow, so we can get moving on finding some real leads.

"Wanna get some take out?" he asked.

"I'm not hungry, I just need to sleep," Olivia replied,

"It's 10 PM, we both gotta eat, let's order something, eat, then we can both call it a night," Elliot suggested.

"OK El," Olivia sighed.

They remained silent as they walked up to Olivia's apartment, both immersed in their own thoughts of the case. Elliot glanced at Olivia, as they climbed the stairs - he wanted her to talk to him, share how she was feeling, offload some of the grief she had taken on from the little girl, but he knew getting her to open up would not be easy. He was relieved that she had agreed to get something to eat however, it meant that at least he could stay with her for a bit longer, make sure she didn't skip dinner, and wasn't alone with her thoughts - which he knew would be filled with her own self blame, however misguided that was. She had promised that child that they would catch the guy, that she would be safe, but another woman had died, and she had spent over an hour with Sarah, informing her of her mother's death and no doubt feeling responsible for not being able to tell her that her mother's murderer was still out there, still hurting women. She could not tell her that she was safe yet, and he knew that Olivia would be struggling with that. He just wanted to be there for her, and hoped she knew that he always would be - if she would just let him in.

As they approached her apartment, Olivia suddenly stopped.

"Hold on," she said cautiously.

"What's wrong?" Elliot asked.

"The door," Olivia whispered.

Elliot looked at Oliva's front door and noticed that something had been spray painted on the door. They both drew their guns and approached cautiously.

Olivia placed her hand on the door and pushed slightly, realising that it was open, she glanced at Elliot and they paused, listening for any sound inside her apartment. When they were satisfied that they couldn't hear anyone inside, Elliot nodded and they both entered quickly aiming their guns. They did a quick sweep of Olivia's apartment, and once sure the apartment was clear they both returned to her living room,

"Nothing seems disturbed," Olivia said, confused.

"Why break in, take the time to spray the door outside where they might get seen, but not take anything. This doesn't seem like a burglary Liv."

Olivia walked out of the door, Elliot following her. She pulled the door closed to get a closer look at the graffiti - in red was sprayed a single number.

"Five?" Olivia said.

"Why five?"

Elliot stared at the door, an uneasy feeling creeping up on him.