Olivia stepped off the elevator sipping her coffee. It was the first day in two weeks she'd actually gotten to go home before midnight and not have to come back in four hours later. She had never been so relieved to wrap up a case.
Not to mention the secret thrill that she felt knowing that she had wrapped it up while in charge. She knew she was good at her job but every collar she made now as acting CO helped her confidence. It was still hard to think of herself in her new position.
She noticed the not-so-subtle staring the moment she walked into the squad room. When she passed Rollins desk, the detective was trying not to be caught giving her a grave expression. Olivia shot her a quizzical look as she passed but didn't stop.
She was surprised for a split second to see Fin inside the office. He wore a grim expression on his face. She groaned, sliding her jacket from her arm and hanging it up.
"Please, don't tell me there's a problem with the Anderson case," she said dryly, referring to the case they'd just wrapped. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I was just getting used to the idea of sleeping."
He didn't smile back.
"I take it no one has talked to you," he said.
He sounded deadly serious. More serious than she thought she'd ever heard in the eleven years they'd worked together.
"About what?" she replied. Her tone sobered when she saw his expression of dread and she thought again about the stares she'd gotten coming in. "Did we get a new case?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he walked over and shut the office door. A knot formed in her stomach.
He turned to face her again. "You should sit down, Olivia."
"Just tell me what's going on," she demanded.
He took a deep breath. "I got a call last night from a detective named Brown, from Queens Homicide," he said. "He told me he had just taken a murder suspect into custody and that the name came up in the system in connection with us."
Her brow furrowed. "Who is it?"
He swallowed. "Elliot."
Her face went white. "What?" she said.
Fin watched Olivia struggle to compose herself. He knew what she was feeling on some level as he had also been shocked when he saw the paper. But on another level...there was no way he could feel like she did because he hadn't had a bond with Elliot like she had.
He hated to tell her more but knew he had to. "It gets worse," he said.
She mentally shook herself. Her brain was going in a million different directions.
"The crime scene was Elliot's address," he said gravely. "Kathy Stabler and all 5 kids were murdered."
She felt her guts churning. The thought that came to her mind was horrifying but she prayed it wasn't true.
"Why do they think he did it?" she asked.
Fin swallowed. "Because he told them he did."