Olivia, Munch and Finn were left to stare at each other dumbly, wondering what had just happened.
"Well," Munch started with a sigh, "you're going to have to go through Elliot's desk and find out what was on that tape." He spoke as though this were a sad inevitability.
"Who, me?" Olivia asked. "I'm not going through Elliot's personal stuff. He'll fill us in tomorrow."
Olivia didn't completely believe these words even as she spoke them. She imagined that Elliot would probably come in early the next day and dispose of whatever he had been delivered before anyone else got there, and the subject would never come up again.
"Anyway, whatever is going on with Elliot, that's his business, not ours."
As Olivia said this, she crept around to Elliot's desk and almost reverently opened the drawer where he had deposited the tape recorder and the packaging materials.
"Olivia, wait. Think about this." Finn warned, but he was too late. Olivia had already extracted what she wanted.
"If either of you tell him I did this, I swear I'll get you." Olivia pulled the earphones on and pushed the play button.
"What is it?" Finn asked, his curiosity overcoming his own misgivings about intruding on Elliot's privacy.
Olivia leaned into the earphones, pushing them against her head, concentrating on the sound.
"I don't know; some music. Wait. I know this song. It's from that musical, The King and I. It's the one about getting to know you."
Munch smiled wryly.
"I figured Elliot wouldn't care for musical theater, but I had no idea."
Just then, even though she had no direct knowledge of what this song meant or where it came from, Olivia intuited that it must be connected to Janine. Somehow, this tape and its accompanying message had been sent, either by Janine herself or at her direction, to remind Elliot of something. In short, the package had been sent to mock him. She knew all this with unassailable certainty. Disgusted, Olivia pulled the earphones off in the same manner that Elliot had. She then took the gesture one step further and smashed the tape player to the floor with a crash that made everyone in the room turn to look.
"That bitch!" Olivia croaked, not caring who saw or heard her.
Munch and Finn leaned back in their chairs, as shocked by the spectacle as anyone.
"Hey, you should be careful with those things. Cassette tape players are getting hard to find."
Olivia turned slowly in response to Munch's comment.
"It's from her." She said.
No other explanation was necessary. Munch sucked in a sharp breath and held it for a long moment.
"Are you sure? How do you know?" Finn asked.
"I know." Olivia answered, as she ripped through the packaging to find a note. It read, "I'm sorry. Please let me talk to you one more time." The note was unsigned, but Olivia knew as completely as she knew the sun would rise in the East that it was from Janine.
Over two years had passed since Elliot's ordeal and things had gotten more or less back to normal. There were still some days here and there when Olivia could see something eating at Elliot, but that had been true before his abduction. And now, this: a cassette tape and a message from Janine, asking him to visit her again. Olivia could not let this pass.
"I'm going to go see her. She and I are going to have a little talk." Olivia hastily began gathering some items and otherwise clearing her desk.
"This is Elliot's situation." Finn said. He's a grown man; he'll work it out. Let him deal with it in his own way."
"I will." Olivia said. "Just as soon as I let her know exactly what's going to happen to her if she tries pulling something like this again."
"Okay, okay. I'll go with you. Just don't beg; it's embarrassing." Munch said. Olivia ignored Munch but also didn't try to stop him, and he had to rush to catch up with her as she made her way outside.