Disclaimer: That witch didn't want my voice when she had me sing. In fact, she asked me to leave and send the money for the broken windows via check. Well Dick Wolf hasn't seen the last of me. I'm currently working with the Phantom of the Opera and installing a chandelier in his office. There's no way this plan will fail…
Now onto the Meat and Potatoes
Lizzie
Leads and plans
Max returned at five minutes after midnight. Again, Stabler thanked him and passed off the note. Once again, Munch and Fin had decided to keep to themselves. Once Max was gone, Stabler was going to venture up to their room because all three men were starving. Stabler hoped he'd be able to find a local establishment open at this hour.
Max gave Stabler a visual update on Benson when the detective inquired.
"She fine. A bit tired, but fine. And always anxious but that to be expected."
With this piece of good news under his belt, Stabler walked Max to the elevator before heading down to Munch and Fin's room.
"According to Max, Liv's doing fine. I think we might be home in just a few days."
"Damn!" Stabler and Munch turned to Fin.
"What's up, partner?"
"Cragen."
With that word, Munch gave a low growl and muttered, "damn, I forgot too."
Stabler looked from one detective to the other.
"Something you wanna fill me in on?"
Fin walked across the room and picked up his coat. He fished in the pockets before pulling out two plane tickets.
"Munch and I were supposed to fly home today."
Stabler groaned. "Call Cragen and tell him you changed your minds."
Munch grabbed the tickets and proceeded to tear them in half.
"Actually, Cragen ordered us home. He said that since you and Benson plus Fin and me are gone, the work load has started to add up. He's said that you obviously didn't want to be found and that he would try to save your job. The only way he'd let us stay is if he knew that we had found you."
Munch held up the pieces of the tickets. "And so we aren't going to tell Cragen, yet."
While Stabler could believe that John Munch would do something like this, Fin Tutuola was more by the book.
"I'm in, too. But first, I'm hungry. Let's find some chow before we do anything else."
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Nine fifteen. Cragen had been watching the clock for the past fifteen minutes. There was still no sign of Munch or Fin. While Cragen could believe Munch just deciding not to show up for work, Fin was a different story. At ten minutes after, Cragen had called both men's homes. Now he was calling cell phones.
Nine thirty. Neither detective had answered his cell phone so Cragen called the home phones again.
Nine forty five. Cragen grabbed his coat and headed for the door. He decided to hit up the airport, see if the men had boarded their plane. On his way out the door, Cragen saw Huang and Novak seated in an interview room with five folders spread out in front of them. It was a strange sight and Cragen almost stopped to see what they were up to but decided to head for the airport. He now had four detectives missing and that was far more important than whatever Huang and Novak were up to.
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Stabler, Munch and Fin had taken advantage of a situation that looked to be leaning in their favor by sleeping in. Stabler wanted to buy plane tickets home but Munch had advised him otherwise.
"They're watching your transactions, Elliot. If they see one, than it'll draw attention to yourself."
While Stabler had disagreed, he had decided it was futile to argue with Munch and agreed to wait.
As the sun began to set, Stabler began to keep his eyes out the window. Max should be arriving any moment with a new letter from Benson. With any luck this letter would give them the information that they needed to lock up Yaburov forever, maybe with a potassium chloride cocktail in his future.
Sure enough, same as the past few nights, Max arrived at twenty minutes past ten. He was sporting a black eye and seemed to be out of breath. His nose looked like it was broken and there was dried blood on his face. When Stabler saw him, he pulled Max into his room despite the younger man pleading otherwise.
"What the hell happened to you," Stabler inquired while he wetted one of his towels and handed it to Max to sponge himself off.
Max shook his head but accepted the towel. "I no want to speak about it."
Stabler led Max to a chair and helped (forced was a better word) him sit down. He than took the seat next to him.
"Max, I know who did this to you I just need to know why."
Max now had tears coming to his eyes. "I no can say. Wish I could but can't. I leave now."
He stood up and Stabler couldn't think of what to say that would convince him to stay. Once at the door, Max handed Stabler his towel, which was now covered with dried blood.
"Sorry," Max muttered and headed for the elevator.
"You'll be back around midnight right?" Max stepped into the elevator before shouting back his reply.
"No, her letter say everything. Sorry."
And then he was gone. Shrugging, Stabler ran to Munch and Fin's room. When they opened the door for him, he ripped the letter open.
"Hopefully this will be the last one. I'm kinda worried though."
"About Liv?"
Stabler shut the door and took a seat on Fin's bed. "No, about Max. I think the poor kid needs to get the hell out. He was sporting a black eye and a bloody nose. Something tells me that since he's always sneaking out, Yaburov might think he's the rat. I tried to convince him to stay but he just took off."
Munch shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it, Elliot. The guy probably got a bit mouthy and Yaburov lost his temper. You said he slapped Liv around just because she told him she would be a bit late."
"Yeah," Stabler let that thought trail off. Munch was probably right.
"Anyway," Fin had taken a seat on Stabler's right while Munch took the left. "What's Liv got to say?"
Stabler tore into the letter and held it out so all three of them could read it simultaneously.
Elliot, Evans has a violent past so he should be one of the remaining five. I was able to find a picture of him among Yaburov's things. I wanna give it to you but I think that they suspect Max so I'm not sending it with him. Meet me at Vinogradov's, a bar just a few miles from Yaburov's estate, at three this morning.
Liv
This letter brought a grin to Stabler's face. While he trusted Max he wouldn't believe Benson was okay until he saw her himself and tonight he would. She had a picture of Kendal Evans. All they had to do after that was fax the picture to New York. Once they had it in their grasp, Novak and Huang would arrange for his arrest, the women would be freed and than they would arrest Yaburov and spring Benson.
"Mind if we come with you?" Munch questioned. "Fin and I haven't seen Liv since she vanished. I, personally, would love to see her."
Stabler didn't see anything wrong with this and agreed. "I'm sure she'd love to see the two of you as well."
Before returning to his room for a quick nap, Stabler grabbed his cell phone and called Novak.
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George Huang's head was pounding. He and Novak had been sitting in this interrogation room for close to two hours looking through profiles, trying to decide how best to find five warrants based on their evidence.
"If we don't get anymore info, we'll be dead in the water."
Huang knew Novak was right. They needed a description of the perp before anything else could happen."
"Casey, I'm exhausted and you're exhausted. Let's grab a quick bite of supper and then we can come back. I've gotta get rid of this headache."
Novak agreed so she and Huang grabbed their coats and headed out the door. Right as they reached the elevators Cragen, who had just returned from an outing looking agitated and apprehensive, stuck his head out.
"No one is going anywhere! We've just had a suicide from the Hyatt Hotel on Time Square. They believe she was raped."
Novak and Huang exchanged looks.
"Jefferson and Phillips, you have the case."
Todd Jefferson and Steven Phillips both grabbed coats and headed for the door. As soon as Cragen was back in his office, Novak and Huang followed them down in a separate elevator.
"Didn't Elliot mention that Office Ulmer from the UK meeting Liv through a suicide?"
Novak nodded as they quickly exited the elevator, left One Police Plaza and hailed a taxi.
"Hyatt Hotel, Time Square, quickly."
As soon as they were en route, Novak turned to Huang. "Yes and while it's a long shot, you never know if the two are related."
They hit a traffic jam six blocks from Time Square. Novak was fidgeting and on the edge of her seat.
"Damn lunch time traffic," she muttered. Finally, she pulled out her purse, threw thirty dollars at the cabbie and climbed out.
Huang muttered their apologizes but followed the ADA.
"We can walk from here."
The two had jogged the last few blocks, Novak doing so in heels. Her feet would be killing her tomorrow but right now that wasn't important. She had to know.
Phillips and Jefferson were already on the scene as was CSU. Phillips looked up when he saw Novak and Huang approaching.
"Ms. Novak, Doc, what's going on?"
Novak wasted no time. "What about the vic? Do you know anything about her?"
Phillips led the duo over to a sheet covered corpse.
"It's ugly, Counselor, but you're free to look."
Huang squatted down and pulled back the sheet. The girl looked to be in her early to mid teens. She had blond hair and only seemed to be wearing a skirt that barely covered his backside. She was topless and Huang assumed that had her face not been mangled by the pavement, she would have been quite lovely.
Novak looked away and toward Phillips.
"Got an ID on her yet?"
"Not yet," the younger officer answered. "We're still trying to find out where she came from. Alice Jones was staying in room 542 and said she was out on her balcony when she saw a falling body. She knows it came above her so we're checking all the rooms above her. There's three of them but we're certain that she's a prostitute so someone was with her."
Novak nodded and returned to Huang. "What do you think?"
Huang pulled himself to his feet but not without recovering the victim.
"She's very young and that's a common sign with trafficking. Most young victims are actually sold to a pimp by their families for money. This girl looks young enough since she's not old enough to attend an American university."
Novak shook her head and struggled not to hate the world. Who would sell their daughter into sexual slavery, she thought angrily.
Huang seemed to have read her mind. "Her family was probably starving, Casey. Don't judge them too harshly."
Novak knew Huang was right but that still didn't keep her from being furious. Her parents would have kept her even if it meant eating out of the garbage.
Phillips came over a few moments later.
"Counselor, Doc, we found room 842 empty but the hotel desk has it registered to a Jack Hobbs. He paid with a credit card and we're running his name through the system. We should have an address and a picture shortly."
Novak and Huang thanked Phillips before retreating.
"There's also something else you should know." Both Novak and Huang turned back.
"The girl was a virgin. She must have known what he was about to do and jumped."
"Do you suspect foul play?" Novak knew it was wise to cover all bases.
"Nope, we found her clothes in a trash can just behind the hotel. CSU's dusting for prints. We're hoping to know whose they are shortly."
Novak gestured to a little pub right across the street.
"You said you were hungry and this is the place to be."
While Huang didn't know if he could hold down food right now, he had to try. He didn't want his headache turning into a migraine if they had a chance at nailing a child molester and catching Kendal Evans.
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The alarm on Stabler's phone went off at two in the morning. At first he felt groggy but soon realized who he was about to see and all fatigue vanished. Pulling on clothes and grabbing his key, Stabler headed for Munch and Fin's room. They were both awake and ready to go.
It was a mile and a half to the bar and the men decided to hoof it. They chuckled and joked most of the way, partly because it helped decrease the tension and also to keep each other awake.
They reached Vinogradov's around two forty five and proceeded inside. Deciding that seclusion was best, Fin chose a table in the back. The three men sat down and ordered drinks, Stabler making sure to order a second beer for Benson.
"She'll probably need a few more than that," Munch added as their beers were served. "Maybe we should order another round for ourselves and save these four for her."
Stabler snorted into his glass, which he had already started to down.
"She'll probably get trashed once we're back in the States."
Munch, with a smile on his face, raised his glass. "To finding Liv, solving the case and getting the hell out of here."
"Cheers!" Both Fin and Stabler raised their glasses and drank deeply.
"Do you gentlemen mind if we join you?"
Stabler's blood ran cold and he choked on his beer. He spat it back out and reached for his gun. A hand on his shoulder made him stop.
"There's no need for arms, Detective Stabler. We can chat peacefully."
"Who the hell are you?" Fin was glaring at the gentleman standing behind Stabler. He had blond hair but it was the broken nose that gave him away.
"Would you care to introduce me to your friends, Detective Stabler, because I have yet to meet them?"
Stabler stood up, turned around and came face to face with the man he would have liked nothing better than to kill where he stood. However, seeing the bastard here only hit home that the situation had gone horribly wrong. Deciding that for matters of finding out more of the situation, Stabler decided to humor the question.
"Vasyl Yaburov, this is Detective John Munch and this is Detective Odafin Tutuola. Munch, Fin, this is Vasyl Yaburov. Please, would you and your posse care to join us for a drink?"
A smile curled onto Yaburov's face but it didn't become him. "We'd be honored." He walked over and took the seat between Stabler and Fin that had been reserved for Benson.
"If this seat isn't taken, I'll just sit here."
Munch, who was sitting across from him, fixed Yaburov with a cold look. "Actually that seat is taken."
Yaburov gave a cold chuckle and took a long drink from the cup. "Olivia won't be coming so unless this place is for someone else, I'll take it."
"No one could ever know me. No one could ever see me. Seems you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me. Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with. Someone I'll always laugh with. Even at my worst I'm best with you."
The Rembrandts – I'll Be There for You
Author's notes: Hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a blast at home with my family. Tomorrow's my 21st b-day and I have two tests so I'm not sure I'll get an update up. I'll do my best since I understand that this is a cliffhanger. Hope to see you tomorrow