Family Portrait: An SVU Story
Ship: Elliot/Olivia
Disclaimer: All things SVU belong to Dick Wolf
Author Note: Thank you so much for all the reviews you guys. A little E/O in the chapter read into it what you will and leave your opinions as to whether I should take it further. The new A.M.E Greg Harvey is character from my own head.
Chapter 2 Tight Lips
En Route to Pegasus Motel
February 14, 2009
11:31 pm.
Olivia normally sat in the front passenger seat of the '99 clunker as her partner took the greatest pleasure in teasing her about her overly cautious driving but tonight Elliot gave up the keys without the usual wrestling match. Attributing this to the late hour Olivia slid in and quietly began to drive following the directions Warner had given her. The silence made the otherwise quick drive seem to drag. Once she had reached a red light Olivia turned toward her distraught friend
"Date didn't go so well?" she asked.
The sound made Elliot jump and his head slammed on the car's roof. "Damn it," he grunted.
"Didn't mean to startle you." A slight smirk played on Olivia lips.
"Yes you did." Elliot tried to stay angry but his façade quickly faltered into a smile. "What makes you think the date was bad?"
Olivia cocked her head. "Well let's see, she was so excited when you guys left for Lucinda's but when you came back for you badge and gun she practically pushed us out the door."
"The date went fine," Elliot assured her. "We wanted to stay out later remember? Well she did the movie was her idea. Kathy's just pissed off that I have to do a late night case on Valentine's Day."
"With me," Olivia added.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Doesn't take a genius El," she laughed. "Warner ruined her plans to be alone with you. On of the reasons she was happy to get out of the house with you was because she knew I was going to be at the house with Eli. In her mind I spend more time with you as you partner than she does as you wife and it bugs her."
"My whole profession bugs her it always has. Look I don't want to talk about Kathy. Can we just focus on the case we have to work on please?" Olivia nodded knowing that conversation was quickly pushing Elliot to his breaking point.
It was going to end soon enough she realized because if the gaudy 'Pegasus' sign wasn't a clue that they had reached their destination, the strained face of a fellow NYPD member definitely confirmed it. The woman's eyes lit up in recognition and she waited while Olivia pulled into the parking lot behind an apartment complex before closing half the distance between them. "Stabler, Benson good."
"Melinda what are you doing here?" asked Benson genuinely surprised.
"I called you."
"Well yeah but I thought you would send another person out to meet us. You hate the cold don't you? "
"Now more than ever," the curly-haired medical examiner laughed.
"What's the story here?" Stabler inquired hoping to settle this quickly so they could all get warm.
"Didn't you tell him?" Warner raised her eyebrows at Benson who shrugged. "Just as well. You two have to see this for yourselves." She led them around the back of the building continuing to explain. "I'm sure you can imagine that the guests who stay at this place are pretty used to making noise complaints."
"A neighborhood like this may not have been the best place to build such a"—Stabler glanced at the dilapidated shack—"charming motel."
"So charming that someone decided to give this little guy one of the places best suites remarked Warner stopping at the back dumpster where one of her assistants was conducting an exam on the bundle. Feeling a new presence the assistant turned around.
Warner smiled. "Detectives Benson and Stabler this is Gregory Harvey our new A.M.E."
"Call me Greg," the baby-faced man requested. "It's nice to meet you detectives."
"Likewise, I'm Olivia."
"Elliot," Stabler chimed before turning to Warner. "And the little one," he asked pointed to the portable exam table.
"Baby Boy Doe, five pounds, three ounces, nineteen inches long."
"How old is he?" Benson questioned trying to calm the fury that was boiling within her.
"No more than four of five weeks," answered Warner. "My guess is mom had the baby, realized after a while she couldn't care for him, and made the dump."
"Who the hell could do that to an innocent child?" Benson cried. "Even if she didn't want him, there's adoption and Save Haven programs plenty of humane options that could at least give this boy a chance at a decent life."
Stabler unclenched his fists enough to take the child and gently lifted back the edge of the baby blanket. "My God," he seethed. "He's shivering!"
"He's got a mild case of hypothermia," Greg spoke up. "You'll also see a few red fingerprints a bit above his diaper line. " Stabler shifted the blanket so Benson and Warner could see from over his shoulder. Massive red hands stood in stark contrast to the child's pale skin almost encircling his small waist.
"He needs more treatment than we are able to give him in the back of a bus," Warner declared. "This is definitely hospital territory!"
Olivia's heart broke for the little boy who on top of what she assumed was a very traumatic little life, would now have to deal with bright hospital fluorescents and a roomful of unfamiliar masked doctor. She vowed she would be the one to give him justice. "Elliot and I will see what the guests can tell us."
Warner motioned to Greg telling him to climb into the back of the bus with the little boy while she finished filling the detectives. "The night maid found him about an hour ago," she informed them. "A call was placed to Animal Control by someone by the name of Williamson, they called Cragen."
"Guess Williamson is the one we start with," said Elliot heading toward the motel's front entrance. Olivia shrugged her steps quickly synchronizing with his.
"They really need to hire a gardener," she remarked as she stared at the weeds crawling up the west-facing side of the edifice.
Elliot laughed. "Maybe when you and I done talking to Williamson about the case you can make some recommendations."
"Ha, ha, very funny!"
"I thought it was." The motel's front door squeaked as Elliot pushed it open leaving them standing in the reception area where an employee was slumped in his chair sleep-induced drool trailing onto the oak desk.
"Lovely," muttered Olivia. An equally repulsed Elliot grabbed the shoulder patch of the man's cheap suit and roused him.
"Put the coffee beans over there and leave me alone," the man murmured.
"Excuse me sir?"
The man blinked a few times now fully awake. "Can I help you?" he asked clearly disgruntled at the interruption.
"Actually you can," answered Olivia. We received a call a little while ago from someone with the last name Williamson. Do you recognize that name?"
The man perked up. "I should, it's my own." He leaned over to shake hands with them. "Samuel Williamson, night manager here at the Pegasus. Thanks for coming so fast although I wish I could have spared you the trouble. One of our maids—Alisa Santiago—swore there was a rabid raccoon in that dumpster out back. That girl should thank her lucky stars she can clean so damn good or I would fire for her constant complaining. I was afraid she would start a ruckus with the guests if I didn't call over at Animal Control."
He stopped when Olivia cleared her throat. "Mr. Williamson, my name is Detective Benson and this is my partner Detective Stabler."
"We're from SVU," Elliot continued. "And we're going to have to speak to Alisa."
Williamson mood change before the detectives could blink. "What did that wop bitch do now," he grunted.
"Listen you…" Elliot did even know this girl and was getting so upset on her behalf that Olivia decided she had better step in. "Mr. Williamson," she cut in. "We need to speak to Alisa because we want to see if she has any information on a baby dump in the area we are investigating.
"Well I'm sorry but the cleaning staff is shorthanded tonight, I can't spare her. I pay my maids to their job and I expect them to do it from the time the clock in to the minute their shift is over. Now if you'd like to come back in a few hours—"
Olivia stifled a derisive laugh. "I don't think you're in any position to be making orders."
"This is my establishment I can do whatever I want and like hell is a skinny bitch like you gonna stop me."
A furious blush crept up Elliot's neck. "Listen buddy," he hissed sidestepping Olivia's attempts to block him. "The baby in question was found lethargic in your dumpster. We need to talk to Alisa to see if she has any clue who may have put the baby there. If I were you I would let the one person whose evidence could exonerate me talk freely to the police. But if you would rather do this the hard way we could always slap you with an 'obstruction of justice' charge."
Williamson shook his head, his face turning an odd color. "Fine, wait here!"
"We have dealt with a good old fashioned male chauvinist in a while," Elliot chuckled dryly leading Olivia to a ratty overstuffed couch. "Did you see the color his face turned? And I think it was more about being furious at his maid than worried about the child whose life she saved."
"I wonder why no other female employee has ever reported Williamson for the way he treats them," said Olivia.
"Maybe he doesn't give them reason to. Williamson could have some twisted vendetta against Alisa," Elliot guessed.
His partner shrugged. "That may be, but let's just play the devil's advocate and say that there is no outside reason for bad blood between Williamson and Alisa. This may be the normal dynamic for him and his female employees and if that's the case and the male employees didn't say anything it's either because Williamson is shutting them up or they are too dimwitted to notice anything's wrong.
Stabler considered. "Going with your theory I'd pick the shutting up option."
"Not necessarily. Lots of people turn a blind eye to this sort of thing El why do you think the city needs a unit decided to speaking up for victims?"
"A pirate with two eye patches could notice something's wrong Liv." Laughter broke the thick tension in the room but the detectives' smiles disappeared abruptly at the sound of a small, scared voice.
"You want to see me?" The voice seemed even smaller when Olivia and Elliot saw the grown woman it came from. Alisa Santiago was a slight Italian woman in her thirties. Her unlined face appeared even younger due to the look of childlike fear in her eyes. Gazing at her Elliot saw his children, who in their younger years used to make him check their closets for monsters.
"My name is Detective Stabler Alisa," said Elliot calmly trying not to spook her further. "My partner and I know how busy you are so we'll just ask you a few questions about what you saw tonight and then we'll let you get back to work, okay?"
The maid nodded although she didn't look thrilled with the prospect of getting back to work and with a boss like Williamson Olivia couldn't blame her.
"Is the bambino all right?" Alisa asked suddenly.
"He's fine thanks to you," Olivia smiled warmly. "They running tests on him just to be sure but he'll come out of this no worse for the ware."
"I'm glad."
"So are we," agreed Elliot. "And we really want to get justice for the little guy. But unfortunately the person who did this is still at large." Alisa's eyes widened.
"We were wondering if you could tell us exactly how you found him," Olivia added.
"Not much to tell. I just come in for my shift at ten and I take the trash and there baby is in dumpster. I scream because that's the last place I expect to find baby."
Olivia nodded. "And you didn't see anybody nearby that could have put the baby there and then made a run for it?"
"No, I see no one I swear. They probably were long gone. Baby looked cold. He was snuggled up in trash."
"Asleep?" inquired Elliot. His kids had fallen asleep in some very strange places before.
"Awake but very quiet. When I scream he stay quiet but reach out for me like I'm his mamma. I get scared and tell Mr. Williamson to come see what's in dumpster. He say 'Don't be stupid' Say it's probably just raccoon or other animal."
"And that's all?" pressed Olivia.
"Yes I must get back to work now."
"If you remember anything else…" Olivia handed over her card which Alisa pocketed then rushed away. Realizing there was nothing left for them in the grimy little inn the two detectives returned to their car wishing they could've gotten more information for the two hours of sleep they'd lost.
"I'm really starting to hate that Williamson guy," said Elliot as they got in the car, Olivia gladly letting him drive. "But like the saying goes 'those with tight lips have something to hide'"
Olivia raised her eyebrows. "I know what you mean," she replied. "It seems like Alisa was on the verge of saying something we could use, realized she'd been in deep trouble with Williamson and clammed up again." They were headed back to Olivia's apartment when Elliot's phone rang Olivia reached for it
"Warner," she whispered to Elliot when he raised her eyebrows.
"Speaker" he hissed looking at the road again. Olivia complied.
"Stabler?" The M.E.'s voice crackled on the other end of the phone.
"We're both here," answered Olivia.
"I need you guys down here. There's news on Baby Boy Doe."
Elliot frowned. It was already two in the morning. It looked like he was in for another of Kathy's rants about waking up in the morning to an empty bed. That thought should've made him want to get home to her but oddly enough it had the opposite effect.
"El, are you ok?" His partner looked at him with worried eyes.
"Fine just tired."
"Go home and get some sleep," Olivia offered putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I can do one hospital visit on my own."
He shook his head. "Thanks but I don't think either of us will get any decent sleep until we know that little boy is in the clear."
Olivia nodded in understanding before speaking into the phone. "We'll be right there, doc."