Chapter 6

Olivia wiped away the tears that had started to fall again. "He turned into oncoming traffic. The truck didn't have any time to stop."

She started to sob and Elliot moved to sit beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and just let her cry. He'd seen Olivia upset before, but never like this. It was almost a relief to finally see her let her emotions out. She was always so strong, Elliot sometimes worried her bottled up emotions would explode and no one would be there to help her. He was glad he was there to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Elliot," Olivia said, sitting up and wiping away her tears.

"Don't be. You don't ever have to apologize for being human, Olivia. I'm just glad you finally let it out."

"Don't you mean you're glad you got the juicy secret out of me before anyone else?" Olivia said, smiling.

"Of course." Elliot grinned at her. The time for being serious was over; he could sense that. Olivia needed to joke with him now and he was happy to help her.

"Olivia, in my office," Cragen said when he saw Olivia.

Olivia sighed and followed her captain into his office. When she closed the door, Cragen spoke, "You know that guy?"

"Yeah." There was no point in denying it, she decided.

"It doesn't look good for one of my detectives to have a personal relation with a suspect."

"It was a long time ago, captain. We had bitter falling out and he's pissed about it, that's all."

"It doesn't sound like that to me. Just stay away from him. I don't want you working this case but another little girl just came forward, and I need everyone working to together to get this guy. I want you and Elliot to interview her. But Olivia, be careful, I want you at arms length on this case."

"No problem." Olivia left the room and told Elliot about the little girl they were supposed to be interviewing.

SVUSVUSVUSVUSVUSVU

"Amanda, do you like to play at the park a lot?" Olivia asked the little girl. So far everything was going well. Amanda seemed happy to open up to Olivia. Elliot stayed out of the room as usual, letting Amanda and Olivia connect one on one.

"Yes. Annie takes me there every day."

"And what do you like to do at the park?"

"Play on the swings, they're my favourite. What's your favourite?"

"The swings are my favourite, too." Olivia knew it was important to take the interview slowly so they could get as much information as possible without really upsetting Amanda. "So when you go to the park is there someone you like to play with?"

"I always find friends to play with," Amanda said cheerfully.

"Amanda, have you ever seen a man at the park?"

"Yes, there are lots of daddies at the park."

"Have you ever talked to a man at the park?"

"Yes, I threw my ball over the fence and a man gave it back to me. He said I should be more careful. He played catch with me, he was really funny."

"How many times did you see this man?"

Amanda scrunched her face in concentration, then said, "I dunno, lots of times."

"Do you know his name?"

She giggled, "I called him Mr. Scruffy."

"Why did you call him that?" Olivia said, smiling, keeping her tone light.

"Annie said he looked like a scruffy dog and I told him. He said I should call him Mr. Scruffy." She laughed again.

"Can you tell me what he looked like?"

"His hair is really messy. And he has messy hair on his face, too. His clothes look all dirty, but he smells good, kinda like my daddy. My clothes always smell bad when they're dirty." She spoke as if it was some great mystery she just couldn't figure out. Olivia smiled despite the situation.

"Did Mr. Scruffy ever ask you things like your name, where you live, where you go to school?"

"Yes, he asked me what my name is."

"And what did you say?"

She laughed, "Silly, you know my name!"

Olivia couldn't help but laugh. "I know, but did you tell him your last name?"

"No."

"And you didn't tell him about your school or where you live?"

"I told him about my friends and about my mommy and daddy. Is that bad?" She looked up at Olivia, worried.

"No, of course not. Amanda, did you ever see the man outside the park?"

"No."

"Would you recognize him if you saw him again?"

Amanda nodded. Olivia took her hand and led her back to the SVU squadroom and into the room attached to the interrogation room where Travis was still sitting on a 24 hour hold. "Mr. Scruffy!" Amanda said as soon as she saw him.

"Doesn't prove anything, she has nothing but fond memories of him," Elliot said once they Amanda had left with her parents.

"I wanna talk to him," Olivia said.

Elliot looked at her, stunned. "Are you sure?"

"I really don't think he did this, El."

"It's been 20 years, Olivia, people change."

"You don't believe pedophiles can change."

"No, but maybe he could control his urges until losing you set him off." Elliot kept his voice down, knowing that everyone was listening.

"I'll be fine, Elliot." She walked into the interrogation room and sat down.

So far it's 11 chapters, but there's still plenty more to come. Click the little purple button and let me know what you think!