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Elliot sat at his desk for several moments letting the information Huang had just shared with him reel in his mind. His partner was hurting more then she was letting on. Hurting enough she was taking strong pain medications and not telling him anything. He needed to talk to her and he needed to talk to her now…
Elliot stood up from his chair and walked over to the elevator, his eyes widening slightly when he saw no trace of her. Hitting the button repeatedly like it would make it come any faster he finally gave up on it as he ran down the stairs to the garage where he found her sitting in her white SUV, her head resting on the steering wheel, her body shaking with sobs. Knowing she would still be very angry with him for asking questions he preceded with caution.
Tapping gently on the window she looked up, her face not filled with anger and annoyance like he thought it would be but filled with hurt and pain. Tears ran in streaks down her face as she motioned for him to enter the car.
"I'm sorry," he told her as he shut the door behind him. "I shouldn't have asked questions but I was worried," he began.
"Its fine," she interrupted as she used the back of her hand to mop away her tears, "just leave it alone everything is fine."
"No it's not, Liv. I talked to Huang and he told me what those medications were used for."
She whipped her head towards him but he was undeterred by the look she gave him. "Why are you taking these pain meds?"
"That's none of your business."
"You're my partner and my best friend and I can see that you're hurting but you won't tell me why and it..." Elliot sighed as he hung his head, almost ashamed of the words that were about to leave his mouth. "It scares me to know that you're in pain and you're not talking to me about it."
"I don't need to talk to you," Olivia said harsher then she had intended. "This is my problem, my nightmare. Talking about it for 10 minutes over a pizza and beer isn't gonna help this time. There's nothing you can do to help me so please just leave me alone."
Elliot shook his head. "I can't do that. Please, Liv." His voice lowered considerably and he reached out to grab her hand but she pulled away before he could. "Let me help you."
Tears flooded her brown eyes once more as she turned to look at him. "You can't help me… no one can."
The two detectives stared deep into each other's eyes for several moments before Olivia turned away from her blue eyed partner.
"Liv," Elliot began softly but Olivia interrupted him again.
"Get out."
"I can't do that. Not until you talk to me."
Olivia sniffed and nodded in what appeared to be understanding before she turned to him again. "Fine… then I'll leave."
"Olivia, wait!" Elliot cried as she opened the door and hurried out of the car ignoring his calls to her slamming the metal door behind her.
He sighed leaning back in the finished leather seat watching Olivia leave the parking garage. He knew something was amiss with her and even if it cost him the best friend he ever had, he was going to figure out what it was…
"What the hell is this shit?" Samuel demanded as Fin and Munch led him into one of the interrogation rooms with his hands cuffed tight behind his back, his slight Spanish accent growing heavier the angrier he became. "My lawyer got me bail on those drug charges, what the hell am I doing back in cuffs?"
"You need to start talking about that room we found under your basement," Fin snapped as he threw the man into the chair.
Samuel used his legs to steady himself in the uncomfortable metal chair. He scoffed and narrowed his dark brown eyes in confusion and threw his greasy mop of long brown hair back away from his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about, man."
Fin slapped a folder in front of him and slammed it open, holding the pictures that CSU had taken of the room hidden under their basement. "We found your nasty ass room underneath your basement you tried hiding from us," Fin spat. "The thing had more rats and cockroaches in it then an alleyway!"
"I bought the house three years ago from a friend of mine. I had no idea there was any hidden room underneath the basement!"
"Dungeon is more like it," Fin spat as he pulled out more photos. "Handcuffs with dried blood on it, raggedy ass blankets and cots, it stunk so badly down there I almost puked…"
"Look, man, I'm telling you I don't know about any damn room you're talking about! Alright you're loco, man!"
"So the fresh but cold fast food came from where?" Munch asked as he took a seat in front of him. "Did it just magically appear there?"
Samuel licked his dry lips and shrugged. "I don't know. Look people go in and out of that house all the time. Half the time when I ain't even home so go bug one of them!"
"No, Samuel, we're bugging you!" Fin snarled as he pulled out another picture. "We're bugging you because it's YOUR house! Hair and blood was found down there and we got it on good authority you had fifteen little girls living down there who somehow magically vanished!"
Samuel narrowed his eyes and turned back to Munch. "Where's my meja? I wanna see my Sophia now!"
Fin scoffed and a look of disbelief over shadowed his features. "You ain't getting your hands near her."
"She's my daughter!" he shouted. He went to stand up but Fin shoved him back forcibly into his chair.
"Sit down!"
"No! Tell me where she is! I have every right to see her!"
"Like hell you do! Now tell us about the girls or I will bounce your sorry ass back to Cuba!" Fin threatened the man.
"You wouldn't," said Samuel with a smug grin on his face
"Watch me" Fin growled flipping his phone open and began dialing numbers.
"Call them, but you are under the impression I know something important, so you wouldn't compromise that." His grin spread even wider as he smirked up at Fin.
Fin nodded in agreement before he kicked the seat from under him.
Samuel let out a spew of curse words in a language neither could understand as he fell and hit his head against the table.
Munch got up from the table and grabbed Fin by the shoulders and hurried him out of the room shutting the door behind them.
"What the hell was that?" Cragen shouted at his two detectives.
"He fell," Fin said darkly.
Cragen shook his head in disbelief before he pointed at the man who was struggling to get back up from the floor without the use of his arms. "You do realize even the stupidest lawyer in the world isn't gonna believe that right?"
"He tried to get up after I told him to remain seated and he fell. Ain't that right, Munch?"
"That's right…ish," Munch said with a careless shrug.
Cragen rolled his eyes and sighed but decided to ultimately let it drop as he turned back to the man behind the one way mirror. "He's not gonna talk to you now, you know that right?"
"He shouldn't be talking to anybody since he asked for a lawyer," a man's voice rang from behind them dripping with superiority.
All three turned towards the doorway and their eyes landed on the man who had spoken.
His dark blonde hair was slicked back neatly against his head and his dark brown eyes was filled with a cold callousness that sent a shuddering chill through the three veteran officers while a smug grin played on his lips. His suit was more expensive then all of their weekly paychecks combined and on his wrist shone a large diamond encrusted Rolex.
He couldn't have been more then forty and to call him handsome would have nearly been an insult to his looks.
"I'm here for my client, Samuel Gabriella." His voice matched his features. Rich and smooth with a posh English accent sent chills up their spines.
"And you are?"
"Alexander Parrish," he said with a smirk. "Attorney at law with Henshall and Langan. Now if one of you wouldn't mind telling me why my client is back in interrogation mere hours after he was released on bail for another charge?"
"Kidnapping," Fin spat.
The man nodded and they glared at him as a look of mock concern was painted on his features. "Oh how terribly tragic. Did you see any children at the house? If no then last time I checked you had to have a person in hand to call it kidnapping."
"We found blood and hair down there."
Alexander shrugged. "A meaningless gesture. Since when is consensual rough sex a crime?"
"Your client claims he didn't even know that room existed."
"That's not to say some of his vile friends didn't."
Munch glared at the man from behind his darkened shades. "We also have an eye witness."
"Wonderful. And I presume this witness is reliable and not, just off the top of my head, a scared frightened seven year old girl who's in the middle of a brutal custody war?"
"How the hell do you-."
"Lucky guess. Now if you're done harassing my client and since he's not under arrest, I'll be taking him home."
The three detectives glared at Alexander who simply smirked before he went in the room shutting the door behind him.
"I don't like him," Fin muttered darkly as he watched Alexander help Samuel up from the chair.
Cragen nodded in agreement as he pulled out his handcuff keys and remained silent as Alexander led him out of the room.
Alexander handed him to Cragen who swiftly undid the locks on his cuffs. "This cut on his head-."
"He fell," Fin snarled, daring Samuel to contradict his words in front of him.
Alexander scoffed in disbelief. "I'm sure. Well, Detective, I'd keep an eye out so that you don't 'fall' anytime soon."
Fin's eyes widened for a hair of a moment before he narrowed them at the attorney and stepped forward. "Was that a threat, counselor?"
"Oh don't be absurd, Detective" Alexander said with a laugh. "I don't make threats. I just keep promises."
"Your clients free to go," Cragen barked, stopping Fin from saying anything more. "Take him and get the hell out of my precinct."
With a final smug grin from both of them Alexander and Samuel walked out of the hallway with all three men staring coldly after them.
"Prick," Fin snarled deep in his throat. "If that bastard is brave enough to take me on, he better be prepared for what happens afterwards!"
"No one is taking anyone on." Cragen's voice was low enough so only Munch and Fin could hear his words. "Just avoid him if he comes back to the precinct. Now I want you two to get over to CSU and sit on them until they come back with DNA on the blood and hair you found in the basement, you understand me?"
Fin and Munch nodded wordlessly before the trio headed out to the bullpen.
Cragen spotted him first and his eyes narrowed in hate.
"Get the hell away from there!" Cragen shouted as he rushed over to Alexander who was flipping through a file on Olivia's desk with Fin and Munch right on his heels.
Alexander quickly shut the folder and took a step back from Olivia's desk while the three of them ran in front of it.
"What the hell do you think you're doing looking through my detectives files like that?" snarled Cragen, "those are private case files!"
He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Relax yourself, Captain. Just seeing if there were any wrongly accused men in need of counsel.
"We're all set, thanks," said Munch dryly.
Alexander glowered at Munch for the briefest of moments before he turned back to an amused looking Samuel.
"Samuel," he said with a small bow. "After you."
They both turned towards the door way when they saw someone who made them both stop dead.
A woman who was no older than thirty with soft brown eyes and long brown hair that was braided in a plait down her back stood in the doorway. A loose fitting pair of raggedy jeans hung low on her waist and a form fitting white tank top with a red flannel jacket over top of it completed the measly outfit.
She had the face of someone who had once been extraordinarily beautiful but who was now aged with stress.
Samuel narrowed his eyes at her and a fierce growl grew deep in his throat.
The woman spotted him and her eyes widened with fear and she froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
"You little bitch!" Samuel snarled before he ran full speed at her.
Fin and Munch took off like a shot after him and Fin tackled him to the ground while Munch ran over gently took the frightened woman by the shoulders and led her away from the fray.
"You're under arrest," Fin snarled as he wrenched his hands behind his back.
"For what?" Alexander demanded as he went up to the pair. "Because as far as I know he never laid a single hand on that woman."
"Please," the woman pleaded as Munch led her to his desk, her meek voice laced with tears. "Please, Samuel, I just came to get my daughter."
"You're not fucking taking her!" he roared as he struggled against Fin's grasp.
"She's mine!" she sobbed. "Please just leave her alone! You've hurt her enough!"
"Samuel, let's go," Alexander demanded as he grabbed his arm and hauled him away from Fin and headed towards the elevator.
"You're dead, you bitch!" Samuel yelled as he allowed himself to be pulled away. "You fucking hear me? You're dead!"
The young woman collapsed into the chair and covered her face with her hands as she began to sob. Fin raced over to her while Munch grabbed a box of tissues off of Fin's desk and handed her one.
"Wh- why can't he just leave me alone?" she cried through her tears as she shook her head. "I don't understand it! He HATES Sophia!"
"Are you Sophia's mother?" Fin asked softly.
The woman nodded and dabbed her eyes with the tissue. "I'm Carla Hernandez; I got a call from a captain Cragen saying my daughter is here. Why didn't you tell me that Samuel would be here as well?"
"I didn't know, Mrs. Hernandez, I'm so sorry," Cragen apologized. "We thought we'd still have him in interrogation?"
"Wha- what did he do?" she asked as she looked between the detectives.
Fin bit his lip before he cleared his throat and spoke. "Kidnapping. Your daughter told us he had fifteen young girls hidden in a room beneath his basement. When we found it we found hair and blood and evidence he did have people living there but no children."
Carla's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Oh my god. I… I knew he was into the drugs but kidnapping? Oh god do you think he could have hurt my Sophie?" she finished as fresh tears made their way down her face.
"She said he didn't and we believe her," Munch assured her with a comforting smile. "Now, Mrs. Hernandez, could you think of anything, anything at all, that would lead you to believe your husband was kidnapping little girls?"
Carla shook her head as she wiped her unfallen tears away. "No but I mean we don't live together and we only stayed together for a year after Sophia was born. We've been in and out of courts ever since and he never lets me see his house, he always drops her off and picks her up. Please, officers," she pleaded as she wiped more tears away. "I swear I don't know anything more. I just want to take my baby home."
Munch turned towards Cragen who gave a curt nod and disappeared into the crib.
"I promise I'll call if I think of anything," she said as she stood up. "And please don't be afraid to call me if you need anything. I'll do anything to keep him locked up and away from my daughter."
Fin nodded in understanding and handed her his card. "If you need anything," he told her as he gently rubbed her shoulder. "Please don't be afraid to call me."
Carla managed a teary smile and looked into his eyes and a teary smile fell on her lips. "I will. Thank you, officer."
"Fin Tutuola," he said with his own smile.
The two held their smile for another moment before Cragen reemerged with an incredibly tired Sophia holding onto his hand.
"Where's Olivia?" Sophia muttered as she rubbed the tired from her eyes.
"I got someone better," Cragen told her as he pointed towards her mother.
Sophia looked to where he was pointing and a beaming smile threatened to overtake the young girls face.
"Mama!" she cried as she ran towards her.
Carla let out a joyous cry and sprinted towards the young girl and picked her up in her arms and hugged her as tight as she could. A sob escaped her as she buried her head in her daughter's hair and embraced her tighter. "I missed you so much, my angel," she whispered softly, kissing her on the top of the head.
The trio of detectives looked on with smiles on their faces as Carla turned towards them still holding onto Sophia as tight as she could. "Can I take her home now?"
"Of course," Cragen said with a smile and another nod.
Carla let out a joyful cry and without another word or glance towards them she left the precinct, holing her daughter tight in her arms
"Pick up," Alexander muttered darkly into the ringing phone as he waited for Samuel to emerge from the restaurant bathroom. "Come on, pick up the damn phone!"
After two more rings a voice that belonged to the person who frightened him to death finally obeyed his command. "What?" was their only short and annoyed answer.
"I got something to tell you," Alexander muttered softly so that he was not overheard by anyone else. "You know those older girls we've been getting rid of?"
"What about them?" the voice snapped and Alexander held back a whimper of fear.
"They got picked up by somebody. Manhattan SVU to be exact."
"Damn it!" the voice snarled. "Don't we have anyone on our payroll there?"
"No one."
"Shit. Okay who's investigating them?"
"I don't know I didn't get that far. All I know is that it's Manhattan SVU who's got it and I think some chick is the one investigating them if the pictures on the desk are of her."
The voice on the other end sighed loudly and Alexander held his breath, praying he wouldn't be punished for his lack of information.
"Keep an eye on them," the voice demanded and Alexander let out an inaudible sigh of relief. "Make sure whoever it is doesn't get to close."
"What do I do if they start digging?"
The voice let out a cruel, cold, merciless chuckle. "If she or anyone else from that squad starts digging to deep you know what to do with them, Parrish. DON'T disappoint me."
With those final threatening words and a tiny beep, the heartless person on the other end of the line hung up their phone…
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