First of first, thanks so much for the encouraging feedbacks! Here is the first chapter, if you like it (or not) please don't hesitate to keep it flowing :) I also apologise if my English is off from time to time, it is only my second language. Thanks in advance for any constructive criticisms and impressions!
The piece of paper landed on Fin's desk before he even had a chance to realise that she was back in the squad room. He raised his gaze from the laptop, surprised to see what the Sergeant just dropped in front of him.
"You promised to pay for his new suit or something?"
Olivia stared at him, with this look of contentment proper to someone who just got her way.
The rest of the team turned towards her, the same hint of surprise in their tired eyes. All of them had been desk bound for the past three days and four nights, breaking their backs to find enough concluding evidence for the ADA to deliver the precious pass.
So deep in the whirlwind of sleep deprivation, it was almost too good to be true.
"Let's just say Barba finally got his priorities straight. He gave us the green light to search Leighton's cabinet and the house."
Benson glanced at the detectives, waiting for some kind of reaction. Carisi and Amaro's spots had disappeared under a mountain of Chinese takeaways and coffee cups. Fin's paperwork pile was as thick as the next Martin's opus, and the look on each of their faces was so emotionless it was almost worrying.
"Let me guess: no press involved or SVU is back on the radar?"
She stared at Nick, not in the least amused by his what it'd probably thought would be some clever piece of cynicism. Election years were rough enough as it was for her squad. If she had to do any more convincing today, Benson knew it, she'd start hitting the bourbon.
Or one of them. And considering the latest developments, Amaro took the top of the list.
"The doctor Leighton is one of the most renown paediatric surgeon in the country. He gravitates in the highest spheres of the medical international community and has been practicing for more than twenty years. If anybody got hang of it I will not hesitate to hold you accountable."
"Great. Now how do we find the rest of his victims?"
The question caused the Sergeant to sigh as heavily as she possibly could to make it obvious she'd had enough.
"See that's the good thing with search warrants, Carisi. They give you access to all the information you need."
"Even if we get all his files for the past twenty years, some of these kids will be grown adults now. They will have moved states, change names maybe…. We might have to make public announcements."
Olivia turned back to Fin. If she needed someone to count on, it was him. And she could. To bring about the blind she already asked to she hadn't found any satisfying answers for.
Her hands were tied, and so were theirs.
"No press. I want this son of a bitch behind bars by the end of the month."
She'd heard the testimony of the two alleged victims who came forward spontaneously. One of them claimed molestation which had occurred more than ten years ago and was now a twenty year old woman. Too late for prosecution. For the other, an eight year old girl, the DNA wasn't there. Leighton was virtually untouchable thanks to his status. Most of his colleagues and hospital staff had remained silent.
She didn't have time for details any longer.
Still addressing Tutuola, Olivia put an end to the conversation.
"Carisi and Amaro, you're heading to the house. I want all the rooms, all the closets searched with a comb."
"You got it Sergeant."
Before she could continue, the two detectives were heading to the elevator.
"Fin, you're in charge of the cabinet. Take Constantinescu with you."
For the first time since she entered the room, Levana seemed to notice the boss's presence. Her big brown eyes stared at Benson the way they would have if she'd just saw some sort of poltergeist.
"I thought I wasn't allowed to leave this desk."
Benson observed her briefly. Her undercover mission from last month had left them with a dead pimp and two buyers injured. All from the trigger of the poor little thing that was her newest detective.
So much for damage control.
"Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are. But I need all my heads on this case."
Without further ado, Benson addressed Fin one last time loud enough for Constantinescu to hear.
"Don't let her out of your sight."
On this, the Sergeant retreated to her office. Levana grabbed her belongings, not without giving her darkest glance to the closing door.
Fin let it go. In the three years she'd been with them, the girl had had more undercover works than most of them during their entire time on the job. Surely this situation was to be expected. But his neck wasn't on the chopping board if they happened to screw up.
"Ready to roll, kiddo?"
Morgan Stanley Children Hospital- Cardiology ward
He'd spread out the task has wisely as he could. While Constantinescu was reviewing the files, Tutuola took on himself to question the staff in the adjacent room. After the secretary and the surgical nurses, he was talking to the anaesthesiologist of the ward. The woman was giving him the exact same depiction of the doctor he had heard repeatedly for the past two hours.
"The doctor Leighton is one of the most dedicated man I have ever worked with. He takes great care of all his patients."
"So you've never witnessed anything off with him? Any behaviour with the kids that might have looked a bit strange?"
For the fifth time since they came in, Fin flipped the pages of his pad. Until now, it was just a long list of repetitive statements.
"Of course not! I don't know what the girls have told you. The doctor would never hurt any of those children."
"You know sometimes, things can get a bit out of hands. All these young girls he has been in contact with, some of them teen agers… It's easy to get carried away. Everybody makes mistakes."
"Not doctor Leighton. These accusations are absolutely outrageous."
"Detective Tutuola?"
He turned around. Levana's head was sticking out from the ajar door.
"Not now, Constantinescu."
On this, Fin went back to his witness.
"Do you have any recollection of the time Julie and Kendra spent in doctor Leighton's care? Anything they might have misinterpreted?"
Before she even had the chance to formulate an answer, his partner interrupted the practicioner.
"Detective, my apologies. But I need a word with you."
Fin managed to hide his annoyance from the anaesthesiologist. Not willing to create any more tensions in the room, he stood up from the couch.
"If you'll just excuse me a minute, Mrs Jones."
He joined Levana in the cabinet and shut the door.
"What the hell is wrong with you, kiddo? You don't burst in when I'm talking to a witness."
She had re-decorated the floor with all the files she could put her hands on. Ignoring his criticism, Levana had kept her nose in one of them, eyebrows frowned.
"This you want to see, Fin"
She handed him the papers. He quickly scammed through it, turned the first page. His eyes stopped moving.
All of a sudden, he turned mute. For a good couple of minutes, they stood there in silence, before Levana took on her to fill the awkward blank.
"The mother of this little girl, is she not this Georgia cop you guys used to work with?"