A/N: More explanation on the Baltimore connection, and something else that will come along at the end of this chapter...and that's about it.
"You know, I find it extremely amusing that you can't run away this time."
The voice was a familiar one. In fact, it was the same one that had haunted her in dreams for the past thirty-two years. She had always thought that she would never again come face to face with the man who had left her and Phoebe to die in that apartment. But apparently, she'd been wrong. And before she could say anything else, the voice continued.
"You always were the headstrong one. My boys tell me you've been giving them trouble."
"Your boys can go to hell," Kathy replied flatly. "Don't tell me you expected me to go down without a fight."
"No, I quite expected you would fight, especially with your children involved." The voice paused for a long moment, and then, "I've been looking for you for a long time, Katie."
"Don't call me that."
"I suppose it would bring back bad memories for you, but I call the shots here."
"And you're a twisted old bastard. What do you want from me?"
"The same thing as before, only now that you're older, I suppose it should be different."
"You're sick."
"And you're the only one who's ever made it out alive."
A hand pushed her hair back out of her face, and just like that, the blindfold came off. Kathy blinked, once, only to find that the room was still dark, but at least now she could see.
"Where are my kids?" she asked, unable to keep her voice from shaking. "What have you done with them?"
"Your children are fine, Katie. Physically, anyway. Emotionally, I'm not too sure about."
"I want to see them."
"And you will, when the time comes for me to release you from these restraints."
"What makes you think I'd run?"
"I know you, Katie. You ran then, and you'd run now."
"I'd never leave them."
"Admirable sentiments, but hardly true; the human instinct is to find the way to survive."
"I am a mother, Sam. My instinct is to protect my kids from the likes of you."
"So you do remember me."
"You made it impossible to forget." Kathy glared in the general direction that the voice was coming from and continued. "You've been haunting me for the past thirty-two years, it's not something that slips the mind."
"Then you haven't forgotten what I told you."
"If you touch him, you will have an entire department coming down on you, not just SVU. Leave him alone."
"Cooperate with me, and your dear detective won't come to any harm."
"That's blackmail."
"True, but it doesn't leave you with much of a choice, now does it?" Sam trailed off for a moment, and suddenly snapped his fingers. Lights came flashing on as he picked up where he'd left off. "You and Phoebe always were the most stubborn pair I ever had."
"You deserved every bit of hell that we gave you."
"You're still very much the same."
"I like to think I haven't changed."
Silence. For a while, Sam seemed to be contemplating something, and it made Kathy nervous. After a long moment of silence, she spoke again.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, warily. Sam gave her an amused look.
"We're going back to where all of this began," he said. "That's what I'm going to do."
"Kay, I think I've got something."
There had been one knock on the door, and then it had opened. Kay looked up from a file that she'd been reviewing, a faint but tired smile crossing her face when she saw who was there.
"Come in and close the door," she said. "What'd you find?"
Mike Kellerman stepped into the office and closed the door, leaning back against it as he held up a folder.
"Missing person's report from 1975," he said. "Matches the description of Katherine McCormack that Munch and his radio car partner got when they found her in '76."
"What was the name of the girl in this file?" Kay asked.
"Her name was Katherine Annello," Mike replied. "Nine years old when she went missing. Neighbors said she was home alone when a meter reader came by, and when one of them went over later to check on her, she was gone."
"You find out who was the primary on Phoebe Mitchell's murder?" Kay asked. Mike nodded.
"Yeah. It was Gee. My old lieutenant, Nathan Pearson picked it up on the arson squad's side."
"All right...any luck tracking down Katherine McCormack?"
"Still working on it. Should have something by the end of the week; right now, everything I've heard says that she moved to New York in 1980."
"Reliable source?"
"Yeah. I tracked down a few of her old friends and they all told me the same things."
"Talk to the Annellos?"
"No. I haven't been able to find them, but I did track down Phoebe Mitchell's family. They're still in Annandale. My partner and I were going to head down there to talk to them as soon as I finished talking to you."
"You two mind finding Lieutenant Pearson and asking him what he remembers about the case?"
"We'll take care of that, too. He retired a few months after Gee did, but he and his wife are still living here in Baltimore. You need us to do anything else?"
No answer came. Kay seemed to be thinking of something else, and it was for this reason that Mike waited. After a long moment, she nodded.
"Yeah," she said. "I need you and Whitmore to keep this under the radar. The bosses aren't going to be happy if they find out I asked you guys to help with this. You don't have any open cases right now, do you?"
"Nah. We'd just closed the last one when you came around," said Mike. "Besides, if it keeps Munch out of trouble, it's worth it, no?"
"Couldn't agree more," said Kay, absently. "I'll take Meldrick with me to go and talk to Gee. You keep me posted, huh?"
"Will do," said Mike. "Let me know if you think of anything else."
And with that, he was gone. Still somewhat distracted, Kay reached for the phone on her desk, dialed a familiar number, and waited. After three rings, someone answered, but before he could say anything, she did.
"What d'you think about taking up a cold case with me?" she asked. On the other side of the line, Meldrick Lewis laughed.
"You're joking, right?" he asked in reply. "The hell do you want to go chasing after old cases for?"
"Because Munch asked me to," said Kay. "He's in some kind of trouble, but he wouldn't tell me what it was, and now he's got me and Kellerman chasing after a thirty-two year old case."
"Munch called you?" said Meldrick, sounding startled. "What'd he do?"
"I don't know. He just asked for our help. Thinks this old arson case might be connected to the one he's working now."
"Arson, huh? Did he give you any details?"
"One girl died in the fire, the other made it out, and Munch and his radio car partner found her. We're trying to track her down to see if we can find a connection between that case and the current one."
"You know who the primaries were?"
"That's actually what I was calling you about. Gee was the primary on the murder. They never caught the guy."
"And you want to talk to him about it."
"Well, yeah, Meldrick, that would be the idea. You up for a chat with him, or are you too busy?"
"City ain't gonna stop bleeding on its own, Kay."
"Is that a yes or a no? I'm leaving now, so if you want to come, meet me downstairs, huh?"
"Yeah, I'll be there. Give me ten minutes, I got something to sort out."
In the background from his side of the line, Kay could hear one familiar voice and one not so familiar. She laughed. "I told you he'd start turning into Frank," she said.
"I don't wanna hear it. I've got a hard enough time tryin' to keep Bayliss from killing his latest partner as it is," Meldrick replied. "Ten minutes."
"Ten minutes, then," said Kay. "If you're late, I'm leaving without you."
There was no reply. Meldrick had already hung up on her, which was what she'd expected. Now, she turned to look down at the folder that Mike had left with her. Opening it, she was met by the smiling face of a nine-year-old girl whose fate no one seemed to know. Katherine Annello had last been seen two days after her ninth birthday, on September 18th, 1975. That had been thirty-three years ago. The fire hadn't happened until a year later.
"This doesn't make any sense," Kay muttered to herself, staring down at the picture and the information in the file. "Come on, Munch, what'd you get yourself into this time?"
But the question that was being asked in Baltimore wasn't likely to be answered anytime soon...at least, not in any way that would give any sort of comfort to those down in Charm City who were handling that side of the case. As it was, up in New York, the Feds had held off on making any actual decisions, but the Special Victims Unit had not. At the present moment, they'd just kicked their way into an apartment that for all appearances was empty, but they knew better. A call had come in, telling them that they would find something there, but what it was they would find, none of them knew.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
John and Fin's voices were the first two to come echoing, from the main room and the kitchen. Elliot and Olivia, on the other hand, had gone back towards the bedrooms, guns drawn. A muffled sound came from the bedroom at the end of the hall, causing both detectives to move into positions on opposite ends of the hallway. Olivia pushed one door open with her foot, and made a motion to signify that it was empty; Elliot did the same to another room, and the two of them moved together to the last one.
The door went flying backwards as Elliot kicked it open, coming off the hinges and falling back against the wall. The muffled sound came again, this time from the closet.
"I've got it, Liv," Elliot said, without turning to look at her. He moved forward, well aware of the fact that she was still behind him, gun still drawn, ready to cover him if the need arose. But there was no need. As soon as he opened the closet door, someone came tumbling out, bound at the hands and feet, gagged and blindfolded. Muffled sobs came, one right after the other, and showing no sign of stopping. Elliot put his gun back into its holster and dropped to his knees in front of the girl.
"It's all right," he said, quietly, gently taking her by the shoulders. "We're here to help you. Liv, go find John and Fin; tell them we've got someone."
"You sure?" Olivia asked, putting her own gun back into the holster. Elliot nodded, already working to untie the ropes binding the girl.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Call for an ambulance while you're at it; she's going to need to be checked out."
Hearing this only made the girl panic; she tried to pull away from him as Olivia left the room, but couldn't quite manage.
"You're all right now, sweetheart, no one's going to hurt you, I promise," he said. Another muffled sob came. He reached out to take the gag out of the girl's mouth and wasn't surprised when the sound only grew louder. She fell against him, and he put his arms around her, holding her there as she finally spoke.
"Thank God," she said, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush as she tried to calm herself. "I thought...we thought...Daddy, what took you so long?"
Startled, Elliot pulled off the blindfold, only to find himself looking straight into Kathleen's bloodshot eyes. Her hands now free, she reached up to wipe at her face, sniffling.
"How'd you find me?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Where's Mom and everyone else, did you find them, too? Where's Eli?"
Elliot didn't answer. Instead, he sat and hugged his second child closer to him, afraid that if he let go, she would disappear. She hugged him back, tightly, somehow sensing that his silence meant that the rest of their family had not been found.
"Eli's fine," Elliot said finally, "He's at the McKendries' now. How did you get away?"
"I didn't. They left me here." Kathleen looked up at him and wiped at her face again. "They took everyone else, didn't they?"
"I don't know, honey, but they aren't here anymore. How long have you been in that closet?"
"Two days." A slight shudder passed through her and she closed her eyes. "I thought...I thought they were gonna kill me, but they just left me there."
Olivia appeared in the doorway, about to say something when she noticed who it was that they had found. "Oh, my God, Kathleen," she said, crossing the room in a few short steps. "Are you all right?"
"Physically, yes," said Kathleen, her voice shaking now. "I don't know about anything else though. It's just...I don't know."
She cut herself off as tears filled her eyes again, turning so that her face was hidden against Elliot's shoulder. He looked up at Olivia and sighed.
"What'd John and Fin say?" he asked.
"Ambulance is on the way," she said. "We'll follow you guys to the hospital. They didn't find anything else."
Elliot swore quietly under his breath, and glanced at Kathleen, who was still holding onto him.
"They've changed their MO," he said. "The family from Albany, they gave all the older kids and the mother back at the same time."
"I know," said Olivia. "We're going to have to let the Feds know about this. I'll get Fin to come with me to take care of it after we..."
She trailed off, then, and an awkward silence filled the small room. She motioned out towards the main room. "I'll go talk to him."
And with that, she was gone, leaving only father and daughter alone there. Neither of them moved, or said anything. It was almost as if they were afraid that it was some kind of illusion, but the presence of others let them both know that it wasn't."
"Kat, we've gotta take you to the hospital," Elliot said finally, leaning back so that he could look Kathleen in the eye. "They're going to check you out there, and then we can go home, all right?"
Kathleen nodded, mutely, without letting go of him. He reached up to push her hair back out of her eyes.
"Everything's going to be fine, kid," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Everything's going to be fine."
But whether or not he said these words to reassure her or to reassure himself, he wasn't sure...and he didn't think he wanted to find out, either.