Chapter 12.
"You let him go?" Stabler yelled at Alex.
"We didn't have enough to take him to court!"
"Uh, what about the knife with our victim's blood on it?"
"He's claiming that he found it, a few blocks away from the crime scene."
"Can he prove that?"
"Not any more than we can prove he's lying. I'm sorry Elliot, we have no case."
"Okay. Okay. We'll subpoena Emerson, use the text messages."
"Those messages are nothing. Yes, they're freaky, but we have no idea where they came from."
"He knew her name!"
"That wouldn't stand up in court. And even if it did, that just proves he was following her. Not that he killed those girls." Stabler walked over to his desk and pulled out the files. He hunched over his work and started muttering.
"There's gotta be something we missed..."
Olivia sighed. "So where do we go now captain?"
"Back to root one. We may have been going in the wrong direction all along. The only lead we have that isn't directly related to Emerson is that fruit spray. Look into that stuff again."
"When I tested the visa from the first victim, I only looked for prints and blood. I had it run for more specific samples, and guess what turned up?"
"That fruit spray stuff."
"Exactly. I also found samples of it around our victim's mouth, and in her teeth."
"The perp probably left some over when he shoved the card down her throat."
"Or, she consumed some fruit that hadn't been washed all the way."
"Oh..she was a customer at the Fruit Shack. I'll get Elliot to take a picture to show around."
Stabler and Munch stood outside the store asking anyone if they recognized the girl.
"Hey! That's Stacy!"
"You know this woman, sir?"
"Yeah, she used to work here."
"Used to?"
"She quit a few months ago. She got accepted into Hudson. What happened to her, is she okay?"
"Let's talk somewhere else." Elliot and Munch lead the man around the building to an empty alley.
"What's your name, sir?"
"I'm Sean. Sean Greene."
"Sir, how do you know this girl?"
"I told you, she used to be my co-worker."
"She was found dead two weeks ago."
"My God…Stacy? What happened?"
"That's what we're aiming to figure out. What's her whole name?"
" Stacy Reed. She was a real nice girl."
"How old was she?"
"Not any older than 21. I invited her out for drinks once, but she told me she wasn't legal."
"Mmkay, did she ever have any run-ins with the owner?"
"Paul? No, they were real close. Why? What did that bastard do to her? I'll kill him!" Sean's face turned red and his fists clenched. Stabler raised an eye brow to Munch, who laid a hand on Sean's shoulder.
"Now, wait a minute son, why do you think Paul did something to this girl?"
"Because of Mandy!" Sean said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Alright, alright, who's Mandy?"
"This girl, she used to come in here a lot. Pretties girl I've ever seen. Smart too. She went to NYU. Paul would always try to talk to her, he always tried to get her to go out with him to lunch, coffee, you know..but she always declined. But then one day when he asked her to dinner she snapped at him. She said that she was seeing someone and that she'd never go out with him. When she left he was real upset. I heard him muttering things about how 'that bitch was gonna pay.' After that, she didn't come back in."
"And you think he did something to her?"
"I know he did! That guy couldn't take 'no' for an answer."
"Isn't it possible that she doesn't come in anymore because she's tired of dealing with him?"
"That's what I thought, but we're the only place for blocks that sells naturally grown fruit and doesn't use any artificial treatment. I had a conversation with her once about it. She was a locavore, she complained that this was the only place that she could find good fruit."
"Alright, Mr. Greene, would you come down to the station and look at some photos for us?"
Munch laid a sheet with six pictures in front of Sean.
"Are any of these Mandy?"
"No."
"Do you recognize any of these woman?"
"These two girls," Sean pointed to the third and fifth photo, "They're regulars. This one is Raquel something. I don't know the other girls' name."
"Did either one of them ever use a credit card?"
"I don't know. I don't usually work the register. But, I can get you the records."
"Let's go." Munch and Sean left Stabler to go fish the credit card records.
"Have we made any progress?" The captain questioned Elliot.
"Yeah. We've got an employee, Sean Greene, who IDed our first victim as a Stacy Reed. About 20 years old, student at Hudson. He recognized the second two victims, IDed one as Raquel. Munch is getting the credit card receipts to see if we can find a match. He doesn't know the third victim, but he says she's a regular. Captain, he also talked about a girl named Mandy. Said she disappeared after she rejected Marsden."
"Alright. You and Liv, find Stacy's kin and make notification. I'll run the database for another murder fitting our M.O."
Taylor woke up late. She lay in her bed while everything came rushing back to her. She was glad to be done with it all. She did have the nagging feeling that something still wasn't right: they still hadn't caught the person who had been stalking her for God knows how long, but she pushed all negative thoughts away. She got up and took a shower. She stood under the hot water for at least half an hour, letting all of the worry and stress of the case flow down the drain. She got out feeling a much better than she had since she got to New York. She decided to go visit the LaGuardia campus. She hadn't seen it in person yet, and she didn't want to wait until the fall semester started to see the school she would be attending. As she left her building and began the short walk to the high school campus, her heart rate sped up. She was safe, she kept telling herself. She was around tons of other people, in broad daylight. But as she got farther and farther away from her safe haven apartment, she couldn't help but to worry more and more. Maybe she shouldn't have told the detectives to screw off? No no no, she would be fine. She laughed at herself. She needed a drink.
She reached the campus and walked around, surveying the outside and grinned in approval. She tried the doors, but of course, they were locked. She walked around the block a few times, trying to calm her nerves. She knew a little alcohol would do the trick. She remembered the long nights back in El Paso. When her mother didn't come all night, and Taylor was home worrying. She would always have a few shots to take the edge off. She knew it was wrong, but it worked. She wondered where she should go to get some though. She knew she couldn't pass as 21, but she could charm any half-witted vendor into giving her anything she wanted. She'd done it before.
She walked until she came across a rundown liquor store and casually glanced in. At first look, it appeared to be closed, there were no other customers in, but she could see an old Indian man behind the counter. Perfect. She walked in, avoided the man's nonchalant glance and walked toward the champagne aisle. If she was going to break the law, she was going to be classy about it. She picked two bottles she recognized from her mother's liquor cabinet, and then one that just had a neat label. She took the three bottles and set them down on the counter. The man looked at her and did a double take. "ID?"
Taylor smiled, flashing all of her pearly whites. "Just ring it up," she broke eye contact to read the man's name tag, "Abdul." The man regarded her for half a second more with wide eyes and slowly scanned the bottles, never detaching his eyes from Taylor's chest. He announced the total and Taylor paid in cash. She stuffed a $10 in the tip jar and gave the man one last smile before turning on her heels and leaving with the stuff. She grinned again as she stepped back on to the sidewalk and made her way home. Just the thought of getting drunk pushed the worries from her mind.
The captain approached Liv and Elliot who were discussing a new case and slapped a photo down on the desk.
"Amanda Avery. 23. Found beaten to death in an alley in Texas four weeks ago. She was naked, just like our victims, with one exception. She was wearing a class ring."
"Okay, so Sean was telling the truth. But Marsden didn't kill her-at least not yet- she was just in Texas. And that's when he got her. He must have been there watching Taylor! What part of Texas?" Elliot was quickly drawing his own conclusions.
"Do you really have to ask? El Paso."
"Of course. Do we have a picture of the ring?"
"Yes. The El Paso cops are sending the actual ring over. They haven't been any more successful than we have. They wish us luck." The Cap handed Elliot an enlarged photo of the ring.
"If Mandy was in her twenties and attending university, why was she wearing her high school class ring?"
"She wasn't. I spoke the EPD M.E. She told me it was shoved on post mortem. Mandy had gained her freshman fifteen, and the perp had to use excessive force to get it on her."
Elliot looked up from studying the photo. "Burges High School. Where have we seen that before?"
Liv's heart tightened. "In Taylor's file. That's her old school." Olivia wasn't even surprised. She had begun to accept the fact that all roads led to Taylor.
A bottle and half a pizza later, Taylor lay dazed on the couch, watching reruns of Judge Judy. She prided herself on being a responsible drunk and always stayed out of the public eye when she was in the this condition. She knew she'd feel like shit in the morning but as of that moment, she felt wonderful. For the first time in weeks she felt safe. She didn't even jump when she heard two crisp knocks on the door. She considered letting it go, but they were followed by two faster knocks. She grumbled and opened the door to reveal Olivia. She squinted up at the cop.
"Ohhh my God. I swear you people…you just don't take 'no' for an answer!" She tried hard to stand up straight and not slur her speech.
"I'm not here about the case. I just wanted to talk. To you. I wanted to talk to you." Liv was nervous. Just like the case with Simon, she just couldn't stay away. She spent her whole life, not really knowing where she came from, and alone. She had spent her whole life wishing for siblings to share her burden with, and then she'd found Simon, and now Taylor! She couldn't just let them pass without talking to them.
"Well, where's the admiral?" The admiral? Olivia was now confused.
"That other one. He's the one that usually harasses me." Liv had to smile at that one.
"Detective Stabler's not here. I told you, I wanted to talk to you, but not about the case."
"Well, I dontwannatalk to you!" Olivia raised her eyebrow at the rushed speech. She then realized that the alcohol she had smelled while knocking on the door was not from the apartment across the hall, but from Taylor.
"Taylor, have you been drinking?"
"Have you?" Taylor knew it probably wasn't in her best interest to mouth off to a cop in her drunken-underage state, but her inhibitions were seriously lowered, and she couldn't find it in herself to care. She tried to close the door in Liv's face, but the detective stuck her foot out.
"Taylor, do you know how dangerous this is?"
"Do you know how dangerous this is?" Taylor mimicked Olivia in a mock authoritative voice.
"Taylor, what happened? Why would you do this?" Liv didn't know what to do. Should she be Detective Benson or older sister Liv?
"You happened!" Taylor dissolved in giggles and disappeared into the apartment, leaving the door open. Liv took this as an invitation and stepped in. She looked into the kitchen and saw an empty champagne bottle on its side on the counter. Had the girl really downed a whole bottle by herself? That was impressive. She wondered into the living room where Taylor was watching a court bailiff escort a woman screaming about someone being her "baby daddy" out of the court room. Taylor lazily flicked her hand toward the screen and looked up at Liv. "Look. It's you!" Liv sat down on the sofa.
"No, I'm a detective, not a court officer. Why are you watching this trash?"
"I hafta prepare myself."
Liv quirked an eyebrow. She knew it was wrong, but people were the most truthful when they were drunk. She took this opportunity to probe Taylor. "Prepare yourself for what?"
"You people…are going try an' make me go back to live with my mom." Olivia laughed. Taylor thought watching staged custody battles was going to help her if she was going to have to fight to keep her emancipation revoked?
"Ah sweetheart, we're not trying to mess with your emancipation. And even if we were, I don't think this would be too helpful." That comment earned Olivia a glare. "But even if we were, would it be the end of the world to go back to live with your mom?
"Yes. She hates me."
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you."
"Olivia, were you telling me the truth? When you told me about Marsden?"
"Yes…" Olivia didn't. Understand where Taylor was going with this.
"Then you know she hates me." Taylor's glassy brown eyes met Liv's hard ones. Liv realized she was talking about being the product of a rape. Liv reached out to touch Taylor's leg, but the girl shrank away and remembered that she was supposed to be mad at the detective.
"Why are you in my apartment?"
"Why are you drunk?"
"I told you! You people are the reason I drink!" She threw the remote down.
Olivia stifled another laugh. Now Taylor was acting like a 40 year old pissed off drunk. Taylor got up and walked towards the kitchen. Liv stood and caught her by the arm.
"Ah ah ah. I believe we've reached the cut off for tonight." Taylor yanked her arm away and reached for the bottle opener.
"If you stop being mean, I'll share." Olivia pulled the opener and bottle away from the girl.
"Taylor, no. Why are you doing this? There are better ways of coping."
"Dude. Don't you preach to me. Seriousssssly. This stuff was expensive, I know you want some." She made a grab for the bottle but the detective pulled it just outside her reach.
"Evil troll." Taylor pouted for a second and moved to the fridge, and produced a third bottle. She began fumbling with the cork.
"Taylor, put that down now." Taylor began prying the cork up.
"Taylor, I'm not going to allow you to drink right in front of me." The girl didn't pay Olivia any mind. Olivia didn't know what else to do. She couldn't contain her detective side long enough to reason with the girl.
"Taylor Emerson. You're under arrest for minor possession and consumption of alcohol." She jerked the bottle out of Taylor's hands and then proceeded to cuff them behind her back. She dragged a stunned Taylor back to the living room and threw her on the sofa. Liv had no intention of taking the girl in, she just wanted to scare her, and get her to listen.
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