(About fifteen minutes ago))

It had been a long, strange, uneventful morning. Elliot drove back to the station house in quite a stupor, twice being jarred back to reality by the shrill honking of angry horns.

He staggered into the squad room and made a beeline for the coffee, proceeding to down three Styrofoam cupfuls before he realized—

"DAMMIT why is it always de-caff?"

Fin looked up at this cry of outrage, having just sauntered into the room himself. "Problem, Elliot?"

"You bet there is." The man growled, glaring mutinously at the coffee pot.

"Talk to me people." The Captain stuck his head out of his office, glaring from one detective to the other, "Did you guys make any progress with our mystery child?"

"It's hasn't even been an hour since you sent her off, Cap'n…" Fin had a hard time keeping down a grin, "Take it easy…we'll get to the bottom of this. She can only hold out her charade for so long."

"It's trying my patience!" The Captain said shortly, disappearing back into his office.

"Join the club." Elliot muttered, ripping open a pack of sugar and dumping it into his mouth.

At that moment a tall, well-built rather nervous looking young man came strolling through the front doors, practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his heels. He looked as though he hadn't slept well in three days…

"Hey!" Fin saw the man and headed towards him, "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Yes!" The man ran nimble fingers through his hair three times in quick succession, probably a sign of anxiousness, "I saw the East Side raid on the TV, and I just knew…I just knew…my daughter was out there on that side of town skateboarding and…she hasn't come home…"

"Hang on a minute…" Elliot forgot his coffee predicament, and crossed the room as well to stand by Fin, "Pretty girl, dark hair, brown eyes…speaks Spanish…"

"Yeah, that's her!" He brightened, "Rachel! You-You found her! Is she safe—"

"How old are you, thirty?" Elliot looked skeptical, "Pretty young to be a daddy. You're Caucasian, she's Columbian…what are you trying to pull?"

"She's adopted, and I'm thirty five!" The man pleaded desperately, "My name is Sam Roth, I adopted her through Saint Bethany's, check it out really her name is Rachel Roth, she's fifteen—parents gone…"

"Why don't you come over here and we'll check this out…" Fin said cautiously, waving the man over, "Where did you say you worked…"

While Sam Roth anxiously gave out his info, Elliot fished his cell out of his pocket and called Olivia, "hey you'd better get down here…"