Reinventing the Wheel
Chapter 11
"You're not coming with me," Elliot said sternly, looking down at his partner at her desk.
"Yes I am, it's my case." She said in an equally stern tone of voice.
"Our case," he reminded her.
"I've been stuck at this desk forever, El. I've been letting you do all the legwork, obeying the doctor's orders, going to physical therapy…throw me a bone." She pleaded, giving him a look she knew he couldn't say no to.
He threw his hands up in the air, "Fine. You win."
She sat up a little straighter in her chair, thoroughly pleased with herself. "And then we can grab lunch on the way back."
"Only if you behave yourself," he jokingly threatened.
They arrived at the sprawling campus of NYU and made the long trek in to the Alpha Zeta fraternity house. Olivia enjoyed the scenic ride through the campus while Elliot grunted at the unexpected workout of pushing Olivia's chair up and down the hilly campus. They arrived at the frat house and Olivia was disheartened to see that there was a long staircase leading up to the entrance.
"I knew you shouldn't have come with," Elliot told her.
"I can make it up the stairs." Olivia offered.
"Yeah right. Stay here." He ordered.
Olivia watched as Elliot bounded up the stairs and entered the house. Once inside Elliot began knocking on doors questioning everyone he encountered about the wild party there about a week ago.
"What's your name?" he asked authoritatively to a scrawny looking guy.
"Billy."
"Okay Billy, what can you tell me about the party you guys had here last week?"
Billy looked around guiltily, "Uh, what party?"
"Don't play games with me Billy you won't win."
"Alright alright we had a party. So what?"
"Did you hear that a girl got raped at that party?"
"No…." Billy answered, unconvincingly.
"What do you know?" Elliot asked forcefully.
"I just heard some stuff…" Billy answered vaguely.
"Elaborate."
Billy began to explain but Elliot's mind wandered to how Olivia was doing at the bottom of the stairs.
Olivia wheeled herself back and forth in front of the entrance of the frat house, her own form of pacing.
An athletic looking student came bounding up the hill towards the frat house and tried to evade Olivia parked at the entrance.
"Are you always so polite?" Olivia asked, mockingly.
"Oh sorry, didn't you see there," he lied.
"What's your name?"
"Who's asking?" he asked snottily.
She pulled out her badge, "Detective Benson, Special Victim's Unit."
He shifted his weight, clearly nervous. "I'm Ryan."
"Ryan what?"
"Ryan Tripp."
"Were you at the party last week Ryan?" she asked as she rolled closer to him.
"Yeah we all were."
"Did you hear that a girl was raped at the party?"
"Yeah right." He smirked.
"You find that funny?" Olivia asked steadily getting pissed off.
"No but lots of girls hook up with guys when they're drunk, feel guilty about it the next morning, and cry rape. No one had to force themselves on anyone." He explained.
"Well she couldn't consent if she was drunk…or drugged." She threw at him.
"You know this is all very interesting but I have a chem midterm I need to study for," he said trying to get up the stairs past her.
"Well we're not done yet." She said with authority. "My partner and I need to ask you a few more questions….Elliot!" she yelled to him upstairs, hoping he would hear her. Ryan freaked when he realized that there was a partner in this equation, not just a lone female cop in a wheelchair. He frantically looked around realizing that Elliot was in the house. Olivia knew he was about to do something stupid, probably run, in which case she wouldn't be able to catch him.
"Elliot!" she yelled again, louder this time.
Ryan looked down at Olivia in the chair and a cold smirk crossed his face. He got behind her and gave her chair a forceful shove in the direction of the hill before sprinting away in the opposite direction. The chair was gaining speed as gravity pulled it down the hill. Olivia tried to stop the wheels but they were going too fast for her to break them. She tried to steer but only ended up veering wildly out of control before the chair ran into the grass, toppled over, and she was thrown from it.
Elliot was still upstairs when he heard a crash outside that he knew in his heart was Olivia. He flew down the stairs and out of the house screaming for her. "Olivia! Where are you?"
Olivia was stunned to find herself on the grass at the bottom of the hill. She turned her head to see that the wheelchair was lying at least 10 feet away from her. A spasm of pain shot through her back and she took a deep breath. Mustering her strength she managed to roll herself over and shakily stand up.
"Elliot!" She yelled to him. "I'm down here, I'm fine. Get the kid!"
Elliot wasn't about to leave her at the bottom of the hill and go chasing after a kid until he saw for himself that she was alright. He wildly looked around and noticed a kid running in the opposite direction. He knew Olivia would hate him for it, but he had to check on her first. He sprinted down the hill to find her and was stunned to see her standing next to her wheelchair that had clearly toppled over.
"What the hell are you doing? What happened?" he asked with great concern as he reached her and hooked his arm around her waist to steady her.
"Detectives!" a voice called from the top of the hill. They both looked up to see who it was. A campus security officer was approaching them dragging Ryan next to him.
"Is this yours?" he asked.
"Arrest him!" Olivia shouted as she went to walk up the hill.
Elliot restrained her, "Cuff him and call an ambulance."
"El I'm fine, really."
"You flew down a hill in your wheelchair with a back injury," he tried reasoning with her.
"And I was able to stand up afterwards," she countered. "Please. I just want to collar this scum." She pleaded.
He looked into his partner's eyes and was relieved to see her passion and intensity was back.
"You're sure you're alright?" he asked seriously.
"I promise, I'm fine." She said, almost beaming.
He picked up the chair and carefully helped her lower herself into it before pushing her back up the hill.
"You just made a BIG mistake," he spat at Ryan. "HUGE."
