Chapter 2: The Judge

Officer Warren couldn't believe what he saw, a message that he hoped he would never see. 'She is One'.

Three months before: -

04:00 hrs

Olivia Benson often spent nights at her desk; sometimes she would spend days at the precinct, sleeping in the crib before even venturing a foot inside her apartment. It wasn't because she didn't want to go home; often she felt she couldn't. Not until a case had been solved. And the worse the case the longer she stayed. She knew she wasn't the only one who did this, often on one of her little sleepovers she would see Munch. On the odd occasion even Stabler too, but being married it was hard for him to stay. He got enough stick for the job as it was. The long hours, the calls in the middle of the night.

She didn't envy him at all, although she did sometimes feel jealous that Stabler had someone to go home to. Someone to curl up with in the middle of the night. Someone who could try and tell him that the world isn't a dark and evil place.

But deep down she knew that for Stabler to have been married for so long was a miracle. In there line of work it was hard holding down a relationship. It came with the territory.

She was pulled back into the real world with the blaring of the phone ringing on her desk. She reaches over and grabs the receiver; it feels worn and cold in her hand.

'Detective Benson Special Victims Unit, ok will be right there'.

She places the receiver back into the handset. She grabs her coat and starts to head for the door, whilst dialling Stabler.

05:00 hrs

Stabler would be lying if he wasn't a little pissed at receiving the call from Olivia. He'd been having an amazing dream that Kathy and the kids weren't mad at him. And for once the world seemed like a happy, nice place to be. But in reality they hated him spending so much time on the job. And as the years passed the worst it got. Kathy was always on at him to retire. He just didn't feel ready yet.

He'd managed to beat Benson to the crime scene, and seeing as she was closer to the area than he was he thought this odd. Her call had directed him to what appeared to be a derelict warehouse with some wasteland just behind it. Shivers went tingling down his spine, not just because it was cold outside. Just because he knew in his gut that this one was going to be a horrible one. Years at doing this job told him that this was going to be one of those crimes that always stays with you.

Reaching into his inside pocket of his jacket he grabs his cell. He proceeded to call Benson to see where the hell she was. After a few rings he heard the familiar husky voice.

'Liv, where the hell are you?' I'll be there in 20 seconds'.

With the flick of the phone closed he started to make his way over to the wasteland behind the warehouse. As Stabler rounded the corner he could see his partner talking to the Medical Examiner Dr Warner.

'So Doc, what we got?' As he had already suspected, the look on Warner's face said it all. That what he was about to hear and see would be horrible.

'Not a nice one detective, on preliminary examination we have a blonde female in her twenties. No ID on the body. From what I can see she was badly tortured prior to death. There are signs of possible rape, I'll no more once i do an autopsy'. With that she walked away from the two detectives to give them the time they need to look at the crime scene.

Benson signalled for her partner to follow her, she headed towards an area which was cordoned off with the distinct yellow tape often seen at crime scenes. Lying on the floor was the body of a young woman, she was laying on her side.

His gut was right, what lay before him was the tortured body of someone's daughter. He felt sick to his stomach looking at her. From the expression on the poor girls face he could see she had suffered terribly. All he could think about was what if this had been his daughter. Sometimes he really hated this job more than anything in the world. But someone had to stop all those sick bastards out there and lets face it he was good at his job.

He wanted to turn away, he didn't want to look in detail what had befallen this poor unfortunate soul, but he had to see. He started at her legs, her ankles were raw he could see ligature marks. There were gashes and bruises all over her thigh. He couldn't clearly make out her chest due to her laying on her side. Her exposed arm was bloody with more ligature marks on her wrist. Dark purple bruises covered her neck. Whatever rage her murderer had felt towards her, looked like he had taken it out on her face. Beaten to a bloody pulp, beneath all the blood and torn skin he found it hard to even see a face.

That was it he couldn't stomach anymore he had to turn away, he felt like he was going to be sick. The bile rising in the back of his throat. He took in huge breathes of the cold morning air which help to steady his stomach.

'Come on El, lets get out of here'. Benson gently touches her partners arm to nudge him back into reality. She knows how he feels, because she is feeling exactly the same.

07:00 hrs

The city is starting to awake around them, a new day has come, another day of wonder and opportunities. But not for one unfortunate soul, not for the Jane Doe in the city morgue.

The detectives both sit in silence as Stabler drives them to the morgue. 30 minutes before they had received a call from the ME Dr Warner. Whilst examining the girls body she had found something that they really needed to see.

Benson always hated the morgue, something sad about the place. She appreciated that this was the last place for the dead to still have a voice. To tell the living what had happened to them and hopefully catch and punish those that had harmed them. It was still sad knowing though that families were missing or waiting for loved one to come home and that they never will again. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she realised the car had stopped. They had arrived.

As soon as they turned to walk down the too familiar corridor that leads to the morgue. Dr Warner was already waiting for them outside the room. This was unusual as she never normally did this. As they approached her they could see from her face that something was terribly wrong.

Benson was the first to talk, 'What's wrong?'. Already she could feel her muscles start to tense. The deep pangs of uncertainty were starting to rise in the pit of her stomach. Something had troubled Dr Warner, she could see it in her eyes.

At first she didn't know how to start, what she had seen had troubled. But she had a job to do and trying to sugar coat her findings was a waste of time and it would be disrespectful to that poor girl lying on her slab. 'Finger prints came back from the Jane Doe as Amanda Fisch. She's been missing for two months, detectives I must warn you that what happened to that girl is unpleasant and frankly terrifying'.

The detectives had never seen her this upset after an autopsy before, they all had seen some upsetting and terrifying things in this line of work. But now there minds started to race over and over again with thoughts and possibilities of what could have happened.

'Maybe it is better if I just show you', she signalled for Benson and Stabler to follow her through the two swinging doors that lead into the morgue room.

The Morgue always had that clinical antibacterial smell mixed in with a hint of bleach. Another reason why Benson didn't like morgues. The Smell just seemed to always linger on the back of your throat even hours after leaving the building.

Stabler made is his way around the table to be stood next to Amanda Fisch. He could see that Warner had done a good job in cleaning away all the blood and dirt that was on her. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done about her face. He imagined that she was once a beautiful girl, but now that had all been taken away from her. Her face had been beaten with such ferocity that her nose was virtually flat against her face. Her cheekbones looked liked they had been smashed into her skull as well as her eye sockets. The only thing he could think of was that he hoped she had died fast and quick.

Warner could see that both detectives were starting to feel uncomfortable, no matter how many years on the job this never got any easier, for anyone.

With her clipboard in her hand she started to talk through all the injuries she had found on Amanda Fisch. 'Amanda Fisch sustained horrific injuries, whilst alive and before her death'.

'Torture?' Benson said.

'Yes, from my findings I would say she had been repeatedly tortured since she went missing, there are signs of some kinds of burning, from what I don't know, but my best guest would be a solding iron of some sort'.

'Sick Bastard', Stabler almost shouted this out as he could feel his blood starting to boil.

'It gets worse im afraid' She glanced to Stabler then back to Benson before returning to look at her chart in her hand. 'As-well as broken ribs she has a broken left wrist, fractured femur and several lacerations across her body, I believe these were part of the torture as they were not life threatening'. She moves closer to Amanda Fisch's head to talk the detectives through it. 'As you can see her face is in pretty bad condition, I cannot find any evidence to show that any weapon was used to do this. In my opinion this was done by someone's fists.

This shocked Benson to hear this 'Jesus Christ, how is that even possible?'.

She turned to face her colleague and friend. 'Unfortunately Olivia it doesn't take much pressure or force to do this to someone. There's a lot of rage and anger in this, sadly this isn't what killed her'. She gently lifts the girls head and turns it to the side. Revealing the deep indention in the back of the girls recently shaved skull. 'This blow here is what finally ended this poor girls suffering, I found particulates in the wound, I sent them to trace. My guest is that he hit her head against a concrete floor until she was dead'.

Stabler was the first one to ask, 'He?'

'She was raped, repeatedly, how many times I couldn't say but there was some vaginal scarring, so it seems likely he raped her from the start. I also found traces of semen which I sent to trace, we got a hit in CODIS, but your not going to like the results'. She was trying to find the way to tell the detectives that the only lead they have is a dead end.

Stabler and Benson just looked at each other with a confused expression. How could they not like this, the sick twisted bastard that did this to this girl made a mistake. He left some of himself behind which made an arrest and a conviction that much stronger.

She had been an ME for nearly two decades and even the results confused her. 'CODIS found a hit, a Randy Newman, however he's been dead for the past ten years'.

That was it, the bomb they had waited to hear. Stabler grabbed the chart from her hand and had a look himself, as if this made it make more sense. Benson just didn't understand how this was even remotely possible. 'How can that be, did you double check the results?'. She hated asking that question as it sounded like she didn't trust her findings.

She was used to people asking questions when they didn't understand how something could happen. She took it in her stride, after all she knew that Benson was just doing her job. That's what made her friend a good detective. 'Yes, I had them triple check the sample I sent them, came back each time as Randy Newman'.

The morgue fell deafeningly silent as Benson and Stabler were trying to process the information that she had just gave them. How could this be, a dead guys semen found in a murder victim. This just didn't seem real. They didn't know it yet but another bomb was about to be dropped, one which they wished they would never see.

She walked silently to the left side of Amanda, she placed her hands on the bit of material covering her breasts and abdomen. She could feel the detectives looking at her, wondering what she is going to show them next. 'It gets worse, he's here'. She pulls back on the material to reveal the horror underneath.

Exposing Amanda's breasts reveals bruises and bite marks but that's not the most horrifying thing. Lower down on her abdomen are the words they dreaded. SHE IS ONE. She was right, he is here. The serial killer is here in there city and there's not much they can do.

THE JUDGE has arrived.