Olivia sat at her desk making herself comfortable; she opened Bella's diary after breaking the lock. She always hated reading a victim's diary, because it felt like she was invading their privacy; but she knew she had no choice. Flicking through the pages of Bella's diary, Olivia became more and more concerned for Bella and her safety even though she knew it was too late to save her.
"Elliot, listen to this." Olivia said, "'My dad thinks he's something special because he paid his way to Mayor. I really want to scream out what he's really like. If anyone knew what he did to me, he'd be run out of town."
"Does she specify what he did?" Elliot asked.
Olivia shook her head, "I haven't seen anything so far, but I'll keep reading." A few minutes later, Olivia almost choked as she read Bella's diary. "Oh God, Elliot I think we have enough to pick up Richardo."
"What have you got?" he asked.
"Bella says here, 'My dad dragged me by my hair into the basement. He took of his belt and wrapped it around my neck until I blacked out. I woke up with no underwear on, I don't know what he did but it hurts like hell.' Bella must have gotten Frankie to take these photos." Olivia showed Elliot a set of photos.
"How can anyone do that to their child? If anyone touched my kids I'd kill them."
Olivia sighed, "I don't know what to say, I'm going to call Alex."
"We've got enough to arrest him." Elliot snapped.
"I'm not sure we do." Olivia said keeping her calm. "We have her diary and some photos, all that proves is someone hurt her, not who."
"You sound like Alex now."
Olivia let out a laugh, "That's because I know what she's going to say. We have enough to talk to him, but I don't think we can hold him."
Elliot shook his head, "He doesn't know that."
Elliot and Olivia picked up the Mayor, they made an effort to keep things on the down low, but it was hard with the amount of people around him.
Back at the one – six, Elliot entered the interrogation room, Olivia was already in there flicking through a file.
"Mr Richardo, you've been thrown into the middle of our investigation, we need to get to the bottom of a few things." Olivia said seeing Elliot join her.
"So I'm not under arrest? I can leave at any time?" he asked.
"You're not under arrest." Elliot said.
"So who has put me in the middle of this investigation? That creepy little kid who was crushing on Bella?" Richardo spat with distain.
"Actually, your daughter did." Olivia said, she pushed the photos of Bella's injuries in front of him, but held back the diary entry.
Mr Richardo's face twisted as he relived the moment he hurt his daughter. "I..." he tried. "She couldn't have told you, she's dead."
"Mr Richardo, why did you hurt your daughter?" Olivia pressed talking to him like he was a victim rather than a perp.
Tears rolled down the man's face, "I couldn't control her anymore. My little girl was growing up into a monster. She got involved with that girl, she told me she loved her and I lost it. Ever since then, every time I saw her face, I wanted to hide her away; but I couldn't."
"Hide her where?" Olivia asked again.
"I would put her in the basement, I just wanted to make her see that she wasn't in love."
"Why?" Elliot asked breaking his silence, "Why is it a bad thing for your daughter to be in a same sex relationship?"
"Because it's wrong!" the Mayor screamed slamming his fists down on the table. "It's disgusting! That girl putting her hands all over my daughter, she deserved to die!"
"Who deserved to die?" Olivia asked shuffling in her seat a little.
"That Frankie girl. She's vile."
Olivia turned to Elliot, "Can you get Mr Richardo a drink of water." Elliot left the room, Olivia looked at the man who once looked strong and composed, "Sir, take a few deep breaths, no one here is disagreeing with you, we just want to help find who murdered your daughter."
"I know you do. Look, I would punish Bella for seeing that girl, and those pictures prove it. So charge me with whatever you're going to charge me with, then please, let me go home and grieve for my baby girl."
Elliot entered the room with the cup of water, he placed it down in front of Mr Richardo. "You okay?" he asked him.
"Fine thank you."
"Look man, I know we can be a bit tough, but this is all for your daughter, you understand."
"I do. So just do it." the Mayor downed the cup of water and left it on the table. "Are we done?"
"We are." Elliot said, "Albert Richardo, you're under arrest for child endangerment and aggravated assault against a minor."
As Elliot read Albert Richardo his rights, Olivia made a call to Alex. She dialled the number and waited for Alex to pick up.
"Detective Benson." Alex greeted, "What can I do for you?"
"We've arrested the Mayor."
"You've done what?"
"He confessed to physically assaulting his daughter. I'm sure he raped her too, we've got his DNA from a cup of water; I'm going to run it down to DNA now and get a rush on it."
"Have you got something to compare it too?"
"Bella conducted her own rape kit when she thought her dad raped her. In the diary entry, she placed a tampon in a clear bag and wrote that it had semen on it. Hopefully it will be a match to her dad, then we've got him on rape too."
"Are you any closer to finding her killer?"
"I have a gut feeling it's her dad." Olivia confessed.
There was silence on the end of the phone as Alex took in everything Olivia said. "Your gut is usually right Olivia. I hope this time it isn't."
"Me too." Olivia said softly hanging up the phone, she headed down to the lab and put a rush on the DNA.
Ellie sat in Olivia's apartment feeling lonely, she sat down and picked up a book she had been reading for over a week. She loved Olivia like a child loved their mother, but felt sad at the distance between them since Elliot had come on the scene. She felt pushed away, resentment and a little jealous at the same time. Ellie read the same page four times and not once did she fully take in the information in front of her. She threw the book on the floor and wrote a text to Olivia debating whether to hit the send button or not. She packed her clothes, after ten minutes of packing, she decided it was better for everyone to leave. She took one last look around the apartment before leaving.
Olivia's phone went off in her pocket, she had just shared her news with the squad room. Getting her phone out she saw Ellie's name on the screen. Unlocking her phone she sat at her desk expecting it to be a cute little text about what she wanted for dinner, but she was wrong. Very wrong.
'Olivia, you saved me, took me in and believed me when no one else would. For that I'll always be grateful, but you have the chance to have a real family with Elliot, and I don't feel like I fit into that. I know you have work to do, and with a boyfriend in the picture, working long hours, I just don't fit into this picture anymore. Thank you for taking care of me. I've left the key to the apartment on the coffee table. All my love, Ellie. X'
"Oh God." Olivia said picking up her coat, Elliot called after her, but Olivia wasn't listening. She was scared, worried and panicking about Ellie. Although Olivia knew she had a right to be happy, with or without Elliot, she wanted happiness with Ellie. Olivia threw the car into drive and slammed her foot down on the accelerator speeding towards her apartment. She ran up the stairs, threw open the door and called out Ellie's name, she was greeted with silence. Pulling out her phone, Olivia dialled Ellie's cell phone in the hopes she'd taken it with her, it rang and rang then finally went to voicemail.
"Elliot!" Olivia shouted down the phone, "Ellie's gone, she sent me a text and left the apartment, I need you to track her cell phone number."
"Calm down Olivia, I'm putting the trace out now." Olivia waited impatiently, she closed her apartment door and went back down to the Crown Vic badly parked outside her apartment building. "She's on the north side of central park, she's not moving."
"Thanks." Olivia said shutting off the call. Olivia flipped the switch in the car, sirens and lights filled the streets as she blazed down them at high speeds. Parking the car, again badly; she ran through the park with her radio in one hand and phone in the other. Stopping a little, she tried to catch her breath. She scanned the park and saw Ellie, she walked over to her taking the time it took her to walk to compose herself.
"Ellie." Olivia said softly sitting down opposite the young girl.
"I don't want to talk." Ellie said softly.
"Okay then, listen." Olivia sighed softly, her hair blowing in the wind as she spoke. "Sweetheart just because Elliot is a part of my life now, doesn't mean I don't want you in my life. I told you, I want you to be comfortable and happy with me; if you don't feel like that then I'm doing something wrong. I can cool things off with Elliot, I..."
"Just stop! You can't put your life on hold for me. I'm not your daughter, why would you give all that up for me?"
Olivia reached out her hand to hold Ellie's; "I want you to be," Olivia thought for a moment, "Ellie, I want you to be a part of my family. If I had a daughter, a baby of my own, I'd want her to be strong just like you. Regardless of Elliot and I having children in the future, I want you to be my child now."
Ellie's eyes lit up, glistening as she blinked away the tears; "You mean it?"
"I do." Olivia said smiling softly.