Chapter XII
Corner of 36th and 7th
Thursday, September 21th, 2000
1:24 PM
As I approach the girl, with Olivia at my side, she heads toward us, looking a bit nervous.
"Hey," Olivia greats.
"Hi" She replies.
"How are you?" I inquire
"I'm good, mainly because my parents still haven't found out."
"You're probably going to have to tell them eventually." Olivia says
"But, we can be with you when you do, and if anything bad happens, we'll help you figure something out." I follow up.
Olivia asks her about school and other non-pertinent things, wanting to give her the safety of the precinct to ask her about the real things.
As we approach the building, I tell Liv to wait with Lily downstairs for a few minutes so I can clear the squad room, to shield her from the man who may very well be her attacker, and preserve whatever evidence may come from any of the three.
1-6 Precinct SVU Squadroom
Thursday, September 21th, 2000
1:34 PM
I enter the bullpen, and see two uniformed officers at the coffee machine.
"You two," I point "Come here."
They're so green they don't question it, probably assuming I'm a detective.
"I need you to move him" I point to Jorha "out of here."
"Should we put him in the cell?" The male officer asks, with a cracking voice.
"God no. We don't really have grounds to hold him, he's waiting on someone in interrogation, I really don't want to have to try to convince a judge that it was justified, just throw him in the interview room."
"Wait, are you not a detective?" asks the female officer.
"I'm the ADA assigned to SVU."
"So, do we have to do what you say?" this question coming from her partner who appears to be going through puberty.
"What Alex says? Yes." Cragen shouts, exiting his office.
The children attempt to escort Jorah to the storage closet masquerading as an interview room but he begins to flip out. The captain and I step in, him because it's his job, me because this is a shit storm waiting to happen, rookies and yelling tend to end with ambulances and incident reports.
"Let go of him. He's not going to hurt you." Cragen says in his disappointed father tone.
"What's the matter, sir?" He then asks, this time using a tone he reserves for attempting to play politics with my bosses. I say attempting because he almost always loses.
"I need to stay near him, we're always supposed to be able to hear each other. I know I can't hear him from there but it's the closest I'll get." The kid explains.
"We could put him in observation. I'll have Olivia and Stabler stop questioning Malachi, it's not going very far anyway." He whispers low enough so only I hear.
"If you're sure you're not going to anything more from him, go for it, but please keep them from communicating, based on his reaction to this, if Malachi is go for it, so is he." I whisper back.
Cragen gets started on making the arrangements, and I go down to the lobby to retrieve Lily and Liv.
Office of Captain Don Cragen
Thursday, September 21th, 2000
1:39 PM
"So Lily, what did you want to tell us?" Olivia asks, sitting on a chair that was in front of her captain's desk, that she pulled to face the sofa Lily and I have positioned ourselves on.
"Well, I, uh, I lied when I said that I didn't know who- who- who..." She begins to cry
I carefully wrap my arms around her, and feel her body relax.
"Take your time, it's okay." Olivia coos.
After a moment she pulls herself together. She takes a deep breath, and tries again.
"I know who, who, uhh," This time, rather than getting over emotional, she just seems to be searching for a word to use that isn't as violent as rape.
"Who hurt you?" Olivia leads cautiously, not wanting to corose her.
"Yeah... yes, ma'am. He, he uh he's one of my father's missionaries, Malachi. I thought he was a good guy, he seemed so nice..." she snuggles in tighter.
"How well did you know him?" Olivia asks, having been questioning him prior and from what she had heard, she wouldn't have known him well enough to be describing him like this.
"He was kinda a friend, I guess, I mean, he wasn't really supposed to talk to me, but sometimes when he'd come over to talk to my dad and he was busy, he'd sit in the living room with me and talk while he waited. Jorah was there, too, but he was working on learning spanish, so he'd do that while he was waiting. I found it funny that only one of them was learning a language but as my dad said, New York has no common tongue. We became friends, but he'd pretend he barely knew me because he's not supposed to hangout with non-missionaries. We haven't lived here very long, and I don't have many friends. He said some of the church rules weren't true. So I told him. That's why he hurt me. I was wrong."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I told him I was into girls. Right after I told him, he said he'd help me change. I told him I didn't want to change, he said that I had to, that it was the only way I could be saved. I stopped talking to him after that."
"I take it your parents don't know." Liv says.
"No." She answers.
"Did you see him do it?" Olivia asks.
"No, but I think I heard his voice."
"What did he say?" I feel her shiver as the words pass my lips.
"He.. He" her voice hitches, her breathing gets rapid, tears stream down her face.
At this point I realize that she is definitely having a panic attack. I remember what Huang taught me, so I untangle my arms from her balled up body.
"Olivia, can you get a paper bag, and see if Huang is available?" I keep my voice low, my tone calm.
"On it." She matches my demeanor and walks out of the office.
"You're okay. You're safe. No one can hurt you." I tell her.
I continue talking to her until Olivia comes back in with a lunch sack and the short psychiatrist, who is carrying a bag.
"Here, take deep breaths into this." I instruct.
She breathes slowly, in and out, eventually becoming calm.
"She might feel shaky or tired, or both, but she'll be fine." Huang informs us, and then exits the room.
A few more minutes pass, and then Lily speaks.
"I'm sorry about that. This usually only happens at night."
"Don't apologize, you couldn't help it. Do you want to stop?" I ask
"No, I think I'm okay now." Her lips quiver "After he... finished, he said, "There, I just made you a real woman, not one of those demonic dykes."
Tears pour down her cheeks.
"It's okay. It's okay" I coo.
"Thank you Lily, and let me give you a sheet with some information about counselors who can help you with the panic attacks. They won't tell your parents." Olivia says, rummaging through Cragen's desk, then pulling out a paper and handing to Lily.
"You'll need to testify in front of a grand jury, and then at trial, if he doesn't plea out. Can we call your house to let you know when we need you? We won't tell anyone anything about him."
"That's fine."
"Do you want to go home now?" Olivia asks, anxious to get into interrogation.
"Yes please."
"I'll give you a ride, I can drop you off a block away if you want." I tell her
"Thanks"
