A/N: I forgot I was making my chapter headings bold. My bad. I will remember from now on. Maybe. None of you care about that minor inconsistency, right?

Chapter Thirteen

"Sorry, Liv. I had to make a call," Casey said, rejoining Detectives Benson and Stabler. "Any word from Fin and Munch?"

Olivia shook her head, "Not yet."

She and Stabler were pacing and hovering by their phones. Fin and Munch had taken the warrant to the Caper apartment where they hoped to find whatever was used to make the cuts on the victims. Warner said it was probably a one-inch blade like a box cutter. Finding a box cutter in an apartment wasn't enough for an arrest warrant, which is what they all really wanted. Finding condoms also wasn't reason to arrest a sixteen year old boy, unfortunately. Used condoms would work. They needed other evidence, things that could belong to Amelia and Lindsay, things that connected this boy to those little girls without a doubt.

Elliot eventually stopped his pacing and sat on the corner of Olivia's desk. He crossed his arms and looked at Casey, "How was dinner?"

"Fine."

"Dinner? Oh God, were you on a date? Did we interrupt your date? I've never known you to go on a date..." Olivia's attention perked.

"I was just getting dinner with Alex. Relax. We have more important things to worry about that me having a meal with a colleague." She retorted, smartly.

Elliot shrugged his broad shoulders and then said to Olivia, referring to Munch and Fin, "Maybe we should've gone with them. We'd have found something by now."

"I know..."

...

"We gotta stay in the boy's room, Munch..." Fin called out to his partner, who was rummaging in the kitchen. "If we find a damn knife in the kitchen it won't do us any good." Fin had rummaged through each of Alan's dresser drawers and found only clothes and one tit magazine.

Munch sauntered in and looked around, "Looks like a normal boy's room. He's not even into video games or rock music."

"I think that makes him a little bit abnormal, Munch...like he's tryin' too hard to be really normal."

"Interesting..." The older man looked at his posters, all of which were sports related. He had no pictures of swimsuit models or anything like that.

"Would you look in his closet or something. Quit standin' around."

"I'm just trying to get a feel for this Alan kid." Munch then got down on his hands and knees and began pulling things out from under his bed, "He has a few comic books. Not even interesting ones."

"We're not here to assess his taste in shit, Munch!" Fin yelled, frustrated from his search. He went into the closet and immediately said, "There ain't a damn thing in his closet except clothes and shoes. It's like this fuckin' room is staged."

Munch stood and yanked the boy's blankets back from his bed. It was neatly made and the comforter was plain blue. Too plain. Everything was too plain. Too deliberate for a sixteen year old boy, unless he had OCD and was the most boring boy in the world, or his parents were super controlling. Munch looked under his pillows and in his pillow cases, typical hiding places and then he exclaimed, "Jackpot!"

Fin poked his head out of the closet and saw that his partner held up a pair of little girls' pink panties between his rubber gloved fingers. "Bag it!"

"Maybe the kid keeps his box cutter and rope on him?" Munch then suggested and looked into his trashbin.

"And condoms. I already checked in the trash."

"The girls were both so meticulously cleaned...no hair, no fiber, no fluids..."

"This room is also meticulously cleaned."

Munch nodded, "And these damn panties are clean. Most pervs like the panties used."

"We need to talk to this kid and his parents. Where the hell they at?"

"Probably some sort of sports game," his partner responded, lifting up a pair of soccer cleats. "Looks like this kid also plays a couple things."

"Works at a restaurant, plays sports, and goes to school...and he still has time to date twelve year old girls and cut out their eyes."

"Where could he do all of his cutting?" Munch pondered, "Definitely not here. There's no sign of blood anywhere."

"I'll check the bathroom. Maybe he does it in the tub. I'll swab the drain." Fin exited the room.

Munch continued his exploration of the room until he made his way to the stack of books on the boy's desk. He flipped through a few of the text books and then shouted, "We've got a home schooled boy, Fin!"

"One of the parents have got to know something then." He returned to the room holding a bag with the swab from the drain, "Nothing obvious in the bathroom."

"We've gotta talk to these people. All we have are some clean panties."

"You wanna call the house or me?" Fin asked.

"You think this is enough to bring the kid in?"

"If we can ID these panties as Lindsay's."

Munch nodded, "It's so damn awkward to ask parents about their kids' underwear. I'll do the honors of calling Borden and Frederick if you'll call the captain. We'll have Warner check for DNA on them too, just in case."

They stuck a notice on the door and headed out, wishing they had found something more in that immaculate apartment.

...

"I guess you all don't need me then," Casey latched onto her purse and headed for the door, hearing that Fin and Munch only found a pair of what appeared to be new and clean girls' panties in the kid's pillow case - not enough for an arrest warrant unless it could be established that they belonged to Lindsey or Amelia, which would take some time. He might just be a perv who liked to snuggle with girls' panties before he went to sleep...or jerk off in them. He could've just bought them himself. She doubted it, but that was how this shit worked with the legal system.

"Hey, hey!" Elliot yelled and went after her, "You want a ride?"

"No, I don't want a ride. I'll take a cab home like a normal person. Hell, maybe I'll take the subway to mix it up."

"Are you sure about that?" He was extremely apprehensive about her going alone.

"I'm totally sure. Nothing has happened in days. Borden is done being a child and has more important things to worry about."

Elliot groaned, "Alex has-"

"Alex worries too much," Casey said and headed out the door before he could finish.

Throwing his hands in the air, Elliot gave up with a groan, "That woman is impossible."

"I know," Olivia nodded and slumped at her desk, "We need to catch this guy."

"We will, Liv..." He joined her and patted her on the back, "Cup of coffee?"

"May as well."

"Staying here tonight to stare the evidence board and hope for an epiphany?" He joked.

She looked up at him and chuckled, "I suppose so, or I don't feel like going home."

"Want me to stay too?"

"No, no...you go home," she urged. "You've barely been home in the last week."

He raised an eyebrow and headed for the coffee. He had a lot on his mind and added Olivia's strange unwillingness to sleep in her own bed to the mess. She was probably just hellbent on solving this case, or she really wanted overtime this week, or something like that. It was likely the first option. As he poured her a cup and himself a final half cup before he went home and to bed, his phone vibrated. It was Casey.

"Come the hell outside, right now!" She yelled, the moment he answered.