From Hell To Heaven
A/N Ok, so I'm going to begin with 2 apologies. Firstly, I noticed how many typos there were in my last chapter, really annoyed with myself lol but as I said before I'm doing it manually. (Though I'm surprised how I managed to miss that many. o_O) Second of all, I was suppose to post this yesterday but I was out all night and didn't have change to get to a computer. But I'm posting it now, the first thing I did when I got home from college.
Thank you to Kristy6, Hutch917, EOforevertogether and courtneylovejason for reviewing, comments were all welcome and made me smile. Thank you to Katmor, Charming SVU Angel and courtneylovejason for adding me to story alerts, also made me smile. and thank you to XenaTwin who added me to her favourite stories list. :) You all made my day.
Finally, just a quite thing, Olivia's been under a lot of pressure recently (Thanks to moi, not sure if I should smile at that fact :/) so I've had Olivia crying and hanging off Elliot (Jealous XD) lol This chapter shows more of her anger come out, and is a good release of emotion for her. After this I'm changing my approach to how she's feeling, Badass Benson is returning lol
Warning: There is a use of a certain swear word (B*stard)- I use curse words a lot (much to my mum's annoyance) but I'm also aware that not all people appreciate language like this. It won't be blanked out further in the story so I wanted to warn those you would prefer not to read it, at your own discretion.
Chapter 8- Revelations
Elliot returned to the squadroom to see Olivia stood close to the board of photos and notes, a frown on her brow and the redness around her eyes was paling. Fin was a few paces behind her, his arms folded across his chest as he looked at the board, or watched Olivia, Elliot couldn't tell. He stepped up beside her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Elliot offered.
She considered for a second. "If she was somehow to do with what happened to me, to send a message...why specifically her? Or maybe she was just an unlucky woman. Wrong place, wrong time?" she asked, finally meeting his eyes.
He turned away and reached over to his desk, retrieving a file and then rejoining her. Olivia glanced behind him as she watched his movements and spotted Cragen talking with Melinda. Both of them had concerned frowns and Olivia briefly panicked Melinda had betrayed her trust. She felt something touch her arm, causing her to jump from her thoughts.
"Liv? I said 'are you ok?' " Elliot said, retracting his hand from her elbow, looking apologetic.
"Oh. Yeah. So what have we got?" she distractedly asked, peering down at the file that lay open in his hands.
"Victim, Martine Olivia, aged 36, not married as far as we know; no ring found on the body. Criminal record; arrested twice on drug possession, though served no time due to lack of evidence," he said, frowning a little. "But also collared a few weeks ago when she was 'found in a parked vehicle performing sexual acts on a paying customer', This woman was a hooker." he added with raised eyebrows.
"Could possibly explain how she got out of those drug charges. Very easy for a distracted cop to 'misplace' the evidence." Fin offered, though he didn't smile.
Olivia wanted to smile at his joke, but she couldn't quite force it. "She was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time." Olivia said, her eyes focused on the portrait photo of Martine on the autopsy table; her face was pale and smooth, stripped of make up and falsities. Her hair was pulled back from her face. She looked almost angelic. Olivia knew she should feel guilt rising in her chest, feeling the blame of this woman's life on her hands, but she didn't. The rational side of her brain was overpowering, telling her that she wasn't the one to grab this poor woman. She wasn't the one to take her life from her. She wasn't the one to blame at all, just another victim. Again, she thought with a touch of sadness.
There was a pregnant pause as Elliot debated whether to reach out and touch her in reassurance, but something in the back of his mind told him it would not help.
"Hey," a voice said, as Cragen strode towards them. "Melinda just gave me the report for the dead woman; she was hit in the head, but not before being severly beaten."
"What?" Olivia asked in confusion. "How can she have been beaten if she has no bruises?" she asked, indicating towards the portrait photo on the board behind her.
"Her face was unharmed but below that she was covered in bruises. The attack was focused a little more south than her face, if you catch my meaning." he said with a cool expression. "Melinda said if she hadn't been murdered, she would have needed reconstructive surgery."
"Was she raped?" Elliot professionally asked.
"Yes," Cragen said, briefly checking the file. "Severe internal damage suggests a brutal, violent attack."
"Bastard." Olivia swore under her breath, returning to face the board again. She had tried not to see her own photos but now they were unavoidable. She began shaking her head. "These aren't connected; they can't be."
"Actually, they can, and most probably are." a soft voice informed. George Huang was meeting them at the board. His eyes flitted across the images and then landed on Olivia.
"How is that possible? The two incidents are completely different and..." Olivia argued.
"I agree they are, but that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't connected. The first attack," he said, stepping up towards Martine's images. "...Was angry, incredibly so; the rage was barely controllable. When people are so enraged that they lash out, they don't usually fixate on one particular area of the body, their anger just tells them to administer as much pain as they can upon the object of their aggression, as a way of release. But in this attack, the violence was aimed at her groin area. Coupled with the vicious rape, I think this is a case of a hate crime, so to speak. The perpetrator has such a hatred of women that he fixated on the one thing that distinguishes them from men."
"And how does this relate to Olivia?" Elliot interrupted.
"This woman was the object the perpetrator used in place of Olivia. He's sending a message. He wanted show how much hatred he feels towards her and yet use it as a threat. The point of this attack was not to hurt Olivia, but to control her. He was showing what he could potentially do to her. But when it came to actually having access to Olivia, he didn't act upon it in a display of dominance, showing he could hurt her if he wanted, could make her suffer and be under his control. We can even see this in his control over the crime scene. He chose where to leave the first victim and how she was left. When he attacked Olivia, setting out her gun and badge was a flair of arrogance; an attempt to show superiority over her profession. The fact that she's a Detective, usually the one in power, and yet he controlled her, would have been a major turn on for him."
"So he was raping her and it was the control that was the turn on? You kiddin' me?" Fin asked with a frown of disgust.
"Fin, you know as well as I do, sex crimes are hardly ever about sex." Huang refuted.
"Will you stop talking about me like I'm not here! This wasn't a sex crime!" Olivia interrupted. "He didn't do anything to me!"
"But he did to Martine Olivia, and as she represents you; in his mind, he has hurt you. There are definite sexual undertones though; the positioning of the body, the removal and arrangement of clothes, he wanted you to feel dominated and vulnerable Olivia, to show you he has power over you."
"Great! A sexual, violent deviant wants me! Lucky me! Oh, wait, maybe Martine's the lucky one, I mean he did choose her first, huh? Maybe I should be jealous I'm only his second prize!" Olivia exclaimed sarcastically, though Huang showed no change in his expression.
"You're not the second prize Olivia, this whole situation is about you. He has fixated on you for a purpose; to hurt you or make you suffer, maybe even revenge."
"And we all know who would want revenge!" she yelled again. "Why are we sitting here looking at crime scene photos when we could just go after that bastard?"
"Liv," Elliot began.
"No! Look!" she yelled, yanking a picture of herself roughly from the board. "Look at it!" She thrust the photo in to his hands and he grudingly surveyed the image that was already etched in to his memories, despite his attempts to remove it. "Look at how I'm positioned. My hands, they're behind my back, as though they were handcuffed." She looked at Fin, and he understood immediately what she meant.
"'Livia, we can't know for sure if-"
"Oh come on Fin, you know as well as I do that he was livid at me for bringing him down. You saw the same fury in his eyes that I did!"
"Actually, Liv, I didn't get that close to him to see the look in his eyes." He had intended his comment to calm her, see another side of the arguement, but it merely enraged her further.
"Well then I apologize that you didn't get to experience an evening with Lowell Harris!" she yelled, causing herself to shudder as she finally said his name out loud. "Believe me, you're not missing much!" she continued to yell. How could he even throw that in her face? Did he really not understand how it had made her feel? The effect it had had on her?
"Olivia, you know that's not what I meant. All I know, is I spent a lot of time around that guy and I didn't get the slightest feeling he was dodgy until it was too late. That man is good at hiding his thoughts and feelings..." Fin reasoned.
Olivia lunged at him, causing Elliot to barge past Huang to secure his arms around her waist as she collided with his chest in attempts to get at Fin. Her arms lashed out as she spoke, trying to make contact with Fin. "You bastard! He is not a man! He is a monster!"
"Liv, calm down! Come on Liv, take a breath!" Elliot instructed, wrapping his arms securely around her to hold her away from Fin, who hadn't moved through the ordeal. The only change was the now apologetic expression on his face.
"No, get off me!" she yelled, struggling against Elliot's unbreakable grip as he held her securely. "Let me go!"
"I'm not letting you go, Liv. Calm down, just calm down." he soothed, feeling her movements slow.
"No, get off me." she sobbed, finally stopping and falling against his chest. He relaxed his grip but only slightly, to prevent hurting her. "Let go. Let go." she continued to sob, but soon, the hitting of her fist against his chest began clutching of his shirt. And she attempts to push him away were now gripped fists to keep him close. Within seconds, her head fell against his chest, unashamedly sobbing and cascading tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she repeated over and over, her voice breaking from emotion.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Olivia. Just take a deep breath, I'm here." Elliot comforted. But it was not to him she was apologising. She shook her head and repeated it again. Finally, it reached the intended person.
"Baby girl, you know we'll always be cool." Fin replied, knowing she had merit for her outburst. "Maybe I'm the one who should be apologisin'."
After a few moments, Elliot led Olivia away, to the couch upstairs, to get some sleep, despite having been unconscious for an undetermined amount of time. When he returned a few minutes later, Cragen, Fin and Huang were already in discussion.
"This man is a narcissist; he's convinced of his own power and superiority; he believes he's smart enough to evade police."
"Could that be because he used to be one? Sort of." Elliot asked, adopting a wide stance and folding his arms across his chest.
Huang sighed. "Elliot, if you're asking if Lowell Harris could have done this, then the answer is 'yes'." Elliot's stomach dropped. "But that doesn't mean that it's definitely him. There is an unfortunate amount of people I have treated who are just as capable of committing crimes like these. I suggest you don't focus on Harris just yet, search out as many suspects as possible."
"No offence, Doc, but how about you leave the police work up to us." Elliot bluntly said, before striding away, rejoining Olivia upstairs.
"Don't mind him, you know he gets cranky when he doesn't sleep." Fin retorted to Huang, passing a sideways glance in Elliot's direction.
"I am more than aware of Elliot's behaviour." Huang conceded.
"So what say you, Doc?" Cragen asked. "Who fits the profile?"
"The perpetrator is most definitely someone who knows Olivia, though she may not know them, at least not directly. And they most definitely hold a grudge against her, most likely for something she did to them, or they hold her responsible for. I recommend searching for white males, aged anywhere from 25-45 years old. They have anger issues, though they may not be immediately apparent. They will have an air of confidence about them, be able to appear charming if they wish and yet, at the drop of the hat, be infuriated and incredibily aggressive."
"So just about every caucasian American with stress issues." Fin retorted. "Including Harris."
"Huang's right, Fin. Don't point the finger too soon. But this is the best lead we've got. Check up on Harris, I want to know everything; you know the drill." Fin immediately nodded and headed towards his desk.
"And call Munch. Have him tell CSU to do a final sweep of the area and then pack up, get any evidence to the lab, ASAP." Fin nodded again as he already had the telephone in his hand, dialling Munch's number.
A/N Woah, Liv, lol major freak out, I know. How did I do with Haung? I'm really happy with fin in this chapter, can imagine his expressions which made me giggle lol. Anyway, review if you can. xx
