Chapter 14

"Did you get any sleep last night? You look terrible."

"Thanks." Olivia yawns yet again and Brian shakes her head.

"Mrs. Rose came in about ten minutes ago, claims her daughter's been raped. I wanted to wait for you to get here before talking to her. They're sitting at your desk." Olivia nods, following Brian to her desk, where she sees a woman and her roughly eight year-old daughter are sitting.

"Mrs. Rose? I'm Detective Olivia Benson and this is my partner Detective Brian Carter."

"Please, call me Sarah. This is my daughter, Lucy." Olivia pauses for a fraction of a second before taking the hand Sarah has offered her and smiling.

"Are you alright staying out here while I talk to your mom?" Olivia asks Lucy, who nods. She doesn't look sad, nervous or scared, but there is something off in her expression that Olivia can't help notice. "Don't worry, we won't be long."

Brian and Olivia lead Sarah into an interview room. Sarah and Olivia sit down across from each other while Brian stands in the corner. Olivia is glad she has chosen to watch rather than participate; she doesn't have high hopes for Brian's 'bedside manner'. "Sarah, you believe your daughter has been raped?"

"I know she was." She's clearly distraught.

"How do you know?" Brian asks. Completely devoid of compassion or even interest, but the statement is simple enough that Sarah doesn't notice.

"She hasn't been applying herself at all in school lately. She wants to be a doctor, and she's always tried very hard. I talked to her teachers and they say she's not socialising with the other children, even though they all seem happy to have her back at school."

"She's been out of school?"

"She had leukemia, but she's in remission now. We caught it early." She smiles and Olivia manages to return a faint smile. This story is starting to sound more and more familiar and Olivia's stomach is churning. Benefit of the doubt, innocent until proven guilty – Olivia keeps repeating these phrases in her head but they both sound ridiculous. Stupid, stupid, stupid sounds much more accurate.

"You still haven't said what makes you so sure," Brian says.

"When she was at the hospital she developed a close relationship with her doctor. At first I thought it was great, since she really doesn't have any male figure in her life, but I found out her was visiting her at night in the hospital, after his shift. And now I find out she's calling him at all hours of the night on her cell phone. She was fine until I told her she couldn't talk to him anymore. He's taken advantage of my daughter and I want him arrested."

"What's his name?" Olivia asks. 'Right, as if I don't already know,' Olivia thinks.

"James Madison."

Olivia nods and excuses herself. Unsure what else to do, Brian follows her to the crib, where she collapses on one of the cots, her hands over her face. "Something wrong?" Brian asks.

"I know him."

"Madison?"

"Yeah. He's..." my boyfriend, "a friend of Elliot's."

"Just because the mom accuses him doesn't mean anything. Sounds to me like she's in denial of her daughter's depression and she's looking for someone to blame. Let's talk to the girl before we make any conclusions."

"He has a history of abuse."

"He's been accused before?"

"No, he was sexually abused as a child."

"Well...that still doesn't mean he's guilty." Olivia just drapes her arm over her eyes and shakes her head. "If you were so worried about his past you shouldn't have slept with him." Olivia sits up suddenly, but Brian is already heading back to the squad room.

When Olivia arrives back at her desk she sees Sarah standing next to her daughter, who is still seated in front of Olivia's desk. "Sarah, do you mind giving me a few minutes alone with Lucy?" Sarah looks nervous, but she nods and gives her daughter a reassuring smile. Olivia leads the girl to the interview room and closes the door behind them.

"I know what my mom thinks," Lucy says before Olivia can even sit down.

"Is it true?"

"Of course not, my mom just hates him."

"You've been calling him at strange hours."

"I can't sleep."

"Lucy, do you ever talk to your dad?" Brian sits down on the corner of the table and Olivia can't help being a little worried. She really shouldn't judge Brian without ever seeing her conduct an interview, but she can't help feeling uneasy.

Lucy shakes her head. "No. He left so long ago I don't even remember him."

"And your mom's never had a steady boyfriend." It's phrased like a question, but it clearly isn't.

"No. It's not like there are men parading through the house, though; she mostly keeps them out of the house."

"Dr. Madison is the first man who's ever really cared about you." Lucy nods. "And when you got better, you didn't want to lose that." Lucy nods again. "Is that why you've been so upset? Not sleeping?"

Olivia expects Lucy to nod again, and clearly Brian does, too. Instead, Lucy shuts down completely, and neither Brian nor Olivia can get anything more out of her. It takes some convincing and some dirty looks passed over Lucy's head, but Olivia finally convinces Brian to leave, and she is alone with Lucy. "Lucy? I know you're upset. But if someone really is hurting you, I can help you."

"No, you can't."

"It's my job to protect children, and I work very hard."

"I don't want your help. You're going to put him in jail. You can't put him in jail!"

"Lucy...are you in love with him?"

"Look at me! No boy is ever gonna love me!" She crosses her arms on the table, rests her head on her arms and begins to sob. Olivia strokes her hair gently, wishing she could strangle the man who did this. Too bad she's also in love with him. Crap.