Twisted, Chapter Four

Please review :)

"So far, we've hit a million dead ends. How do two kids just disappear?" Stabler wondered out loud, crossing out the leads that they had followed up on so far.

"I still think that the parents don't have anything to do with it," Olivia said. "That other kid would have said something or acted a bit more scared if his father had murdered his brother and sister."

Elliot opened his mouth to argue with her when they noticed a teenage girl timidly walk their way.

"How can we help you?" Munch asked her.

"Um, the secretary lady downstairs told me this is where I needed to go with information on those two that are missing?"

"Here, take a seat," Fin stood up and offered her his seat.

"Okay, well…I was reading the newspaper, the local one, and it had an article on this. In it they said that the parents weren't suspected because they were there all night and Brad hadn't said anything to them…." She trailed off, looking at them hesitantly.

"Go on," Olivia urged.

"So, like this was really hard to do, but Brooke was my best friend in high school, and I've always thought her dad was mean. But I was at the store late that night getting some juice for my mom, and Mr. Locke was there. This was, like, at midnight. I definitely saw him. He walked around the store a lot, like at one point he was in the cleaning aisle, and then he'd be looking at cookies. Just all over the place. I don't think he hurt them…I guess…but it just seemed weird that the newspaper would say that he hadn't left all night when I know he did."

Cragen immediately sent Olivia and Elliot over to the Locke home. The father was talking to a reporter. "We need to talk. Now," Elliot demanded, grabbing the man's arm and pulling him into his home, where Brad sat at the counter playing a game.

"What the hell? Haven't I talked to you enough?"

"Yes but this time we're going to try talking about the truth. Maybe you should tell your son to go to his room or something," Olivia said coldly.

"My son can stay and listen. I haven't done anything wrong. He can be here to learn about what railroading means," Mr. Locke snarled.

"Someone sounds paranoid. I guess I'll do your parenting for you. Brad, how about you go outside and play?" Elliot said, smiling at the boy who hadn't been paying the trio any attention.

"Whatever," he mumbled, standing up and walking out without even looking at them.

"Don't tell my son what to do. Why the hell aren't you out there looking for my kids? Nice to know that our taxes pay for the police to tell my non-endangered kid what to do."

"We don't know if he's not in danger," Elliot said, smirking.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Olivia looked over and saw a newspaper on the counter. She grabbed it and flipped through it real quick until she found the article the teenage girl told them about. "The father of Brooke and Bennet, Jason, reports that police are looking at a variety of leads. One unidentified police official remarked that Jason and Dana have both been cleared as suspects. 'We have no reason to believe that either parent has anything to do with these abductions. Neither of them left the residence last night and were believed to have been sleeping at the time the children went missing,'" she read before slamming the newspaper on the counter.

"So?" Jason demanded.

"You need to come down to the station. We have a few questions for you," Elliot told him.

"Am I under arrest? Doubt it. No, I'm not leaving my home while my kids are missing. Brad needs me. Dana needs me," Jason refused.

"Fine. We can do this here," Olivia looked at Elliot, who shrugged in agreement.

"We have someone who says that they saw you at the store around midnight the night your kids went missing," Elliot said.

Jason stared at the two of them for a few seconds and then rolled his eyes. "Seriously? I didn't know I had to report every time I took a piss!" He turned into the kitchen and started pouring himself a drink.

Elliot stomped over to him and pushed the glass out of the way, causing Jason to spill alcohol everywhere. "What the f-"

"Your CHILDREN are MISSING. If on the night they went missing you went out to check the damn mail I want to know. If you went to the backyard to get something from a shed, I want to know. I want to know every time you breathed funny, you got me? What the hell were you doing out at midnight?" Elliot screamed.

"Look, me and my wife aren't in the best place right now. I needed a breather. We had a fight and I ran out. I didn't know that my kids were gonna go missing or I would've made sure I stayed in my house with my thumb up my ass rather than gone out," he hissed, looking around. "Now get out of my house. Quit coming here and trying to get shit on me. I didn't kill my kids. Brad didn't see anything. Get the hell out!"

Elliot noticed Brad had walked back into the room. He leaned in to whisper to Jason, "I know you had something to do with this, you prick. I will be back. Hopefully with a warrant." He smiled at Jason as Jason glared at him.

Elliot and Olivia turned around to leave, but right before they walked out the door they stopped in their tracks.

Walking in was a teenage girl who was obviously bleeding from her head. She barely managed to make it in the door before her legs crumpled and she slid to the floor.

Elliot stooped down and touched her neck. "She barely has a pulse..Call for a bus!"