Chapter Seven

/Herman P. Alexander Private School, Thursday: 12:25pm/

Olivia had a plan. Whether it was the smartest plan, she wasn't entirely certain, but it was a plan nonetheless. Alex was, no doubt, going to be furious if she found out what Olivia was about to do. The only thing that she could hope would be that the DNA she was about to snatch from Michael would be a match to the blood samples Melinda had at the medical examiner's office. This was a huge risk that she was taking, but she had a hunch so strong that she couldn't overlook it...especially since he seemed to have such a hold on Alex. Surely, Alex would understand. Eventually.

Dark eyes stared at the clock on her watch as she leaned against the brick siding of the school. Lunch would be over soon and that's exactly when she had to get into the school. There was about five minutes left on the clock before the bell would ring, so he had to be finishing lunch right about now. Olivia turned on her heeled boot to head into the school with her hands already slipping the latex gloves on. There was no doubt about her intentions; she planned to ambush him. Sliding her hands into her pockets, Olivia slipped them into ziplock bags to prepare for her covert mission. After signing in at the front desk, she turned the corner into his hallway and headed to the last door on the right, "Mr. Jennings' Class" written on construction paper taped to the classroom door. A smirk tugged on Olivia's lips as she slowed her pace to a stop as she stepped up to the doorframe, head peeking in to see if Michael was in there. The dark-haired man sat at his desk, finishing a sandwich, Coca-Cola can beside the wrapper. Bingo. Time to go to work.

"Mr. Jennings?" she asked as she stepped into the classroom, gloved hands purposely held into the pockets of her jackets. Michael looked up, an expression of pure irritation on his face the moment Olivia stepped inside.

"What do you want? More accusations?" he snapped, throwing down the crust of his sandwich onto the wrapper. "I have class in a few minutes, so whatever it is, make it quick." Oh don't you worry. I will, Olivia thought as she walked toward his desk, a soft smile on her face. She was doing her best to remain friendly for the sake of forcing him to let his guard down.

"No, actually. This will only take a minute. I wanted to apologize for my actions the other day. I shouldn't have verbally attacked you the way that I did." Michael laughed, though Olivia could have sworn there was a snarl in the midst of it as he stood up, throwing that Coca-Cola can into the trash beside his desk. Gotcha, you son-of-a-bitch, she thought, but kept her gaze focused on him.

"You're damn right you shouldn't have, Detective Benson. I could have your badge for behavior like that. I'm amazed that you haven't lost it already if that's how you treat citizens of New York." Michael's eyes narrowed a little, that smug smirk curled on his lips. If he wasn't such a cocky bastard, he might have been considered handsome. Olivia only nodded a little, taking on the persona of the ever-so-humble cop.

"You're right, Michael. I shouldn't have let my personal feelings get in the way of work."

"Personal feelings? Yeah, I thought you might have had some lesbo hard-on for Alex. Makes sense, considering your man-hating tendencies." Who the hell did this guy think he was? He was making it incredibly difficult for Olivia to remain calm. He was lucky that her hands were locked in those ziplock bags, or she would have broken his nose. Instead, she slipped past him to lean against the corner of his desk. She would do just about anything she had to in order to get that Coke can he'd discarded.

"Well, I just came to make sure there weren't any hard feelings. I won't hold any grudges against you for your insults if you won't hold any grudges about me taking your DNA," she replied as her hand slipped out of her pocket, ziplock bag on her gloved hand as she reached down to scoop up that soda can, only to take the other gloved hand and turn the ziplock bag inside out, sealing the untainted evidence in her hand. The stunned look on his face was one that Olivia would have loved to take a picture of. She slipped those gloves off and shot him a small wink, pushing off of the desk to walk past him.

"You bitch! You can't take that!" He immediately pushed forward to snatch the bagged soda can away from her, but she lifted her hand away to keep him from doing so.

"Oh, but I can. You threw it away and discarded your can, which is practically consenting to a DNA test. Should've been smarter about that one, Michael." Olivia shot him a mockingly apologetic look as she stepped out into the hallway just as the bell rang for the children to return to their classrooms. Her eyebrows rose a little, that winning smirk on her face as he stopped immediately, knowing that he couldn't fight her with children scattering down the hallways to return to their classes.

"Don't look so upset, Mr. Jennings. You'll see me again soon." That's a promise, she thought as she turned away to walk out of the school before the hallways were flooded with children. Olivia had to get back to the Medical Examiner's Office before school got out. They needed those results and fast.

/SVU Precinct: Thursday, 4:30pm/

Olivia dropped off the soda can hours ago and now sat back at her desk, fingers gingerly resting against her forehead as she watched the clock. She needed those results to pick this man up before anything else happened to another victim. He could have lashed out and taken another child, or even gone after Alex. The image of Alex's emotionless face from earlier flashed in her mind. Was she still here in the office? Straightening up, her hand immediately reached for the phone, dialing that number she'd memorized so long ago. She listened to the ringing of the phone until the voicemail picked up and stayed on the phone just to hear Alex's confident, relaxed voice.

You've reached the voicemail of Assistant District Attorney, Alex Cabot. I'm currently unavailable or on the other line. Please leave your name, phone number and reason for calling and I will return your phone call as soon as possible. BEEP.

"Uhh, hey Alex. It's Liv. Just...calling to see if you're all right. Give me a call back when you get this, okay?" I love you, she thought to add, but hung up the phone instead with a long sigh. As soon as she ended the call, her phone rang, causing Olivia to jump to snatch the phone back up.

"Alex?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Olivia. It's Dr. Warner. I have the DNA results back from that soda can you brought in. It's a match to the blood found underneath Erin's fingernails and to the blood found in the girl's bathroom." That was the best news Olivia had received all day.

"I knew it. Thanks, Melinda. Can you send that paperwork over?" Olivia was already scrambling to pick up her things so that she could leave.

"Sure. I'll send it right away."

"Thanks." The call was ended as she tossed the phone onto the desk while slinging her leather coat on. Right at that moment, the door opened to the precinct with Elliot walking in. Olivia quickly met him at the door, causing alert to flash in his gaze.

"What's going on?" he asked, stopping abruptly in front of her. Something was going on and the urgency in which Olivia was reacting meant that it was a big deal.

"We got him. I went down to the school today before their lunch ended and grabbed Jennings' Coke can out of his trash. Took it down to the ME's office for testing. Michael Jennings' DNA matched the blood under Erin's fingernails. We have to pick him up before another little girl gets killed." Elliot's face paled and his smile faded, causing Olivia's heart to pound deep within her chest. That wasn't a good sign.

"What is it, El?"

"He called Alex around then and told her he had an emergency and needed to see her. She left soon afterwards." The blood rushed to Olivia's head when she realized that her bold move to get his DNA had come with risks. She just didn't realize that the price to pay would be one that was too costly. Her decision to confront him would end up putting Alex's life in danger. Now there was only one thing to do.

"We've gotta get her back."