One of Our Own

Chapter 21

A/N: Please read and review!

Side Note: Sorry it took so long to get this to you! My muse took a vacation, but she's back now ... at least I hope she is :) Don't have too many more chapters to go. :)

Disclaimers note: Law and Order Criminal Intent isn't mine. Please don't sue me!

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Chapter 21

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The next day, when Olivia and Elliot arrived at work, Bobby and Alex were, once again, already there.

"How long have you two been here?" Elliot asked.

"A little over an hour and a half." Alex said.

"Do you two ever sleep?" Olivia asked while handing a coffee cup to her partner.

"On occasion." Alex said grinning.

By 8am, everyone but Fin and Munch were there. Ross hoped they would be back by this afternoon because there was a whole lot of paperwork to be done.

"I've been hiding from the Chief of D's for a couple of days, but he's managed to track me down. So, if I'm needed, I'll be in my office with him and Cragen." Ross said going out the door.

The morning was spent looking through the remaining folders. Goren was looking at the definite pile as it got bigger and bigger. He then started working on a time line, hoping that if he put one together, something would jump out at him as to who this person might be.

When lunch time came around, they all just ordered in. By 1:30 pm, Benson and Eames started working on the search again because their gut was telling them that the cases they had found so far that were definitely done by the same perp, were not all of them.

Around 2pm, Gorens' phone rang.

"Goren."

"Thank you, we'll be right there."

"That was Rogers. She's finally ready for us." He said to Stabler.

They both rose and headed towards the ME's office.

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Wheeler and Logan emerged from the workroom around 2:30 pm.

"I swear, any more files and there won't be any where for us to sit." Logan said as he handed the few file folders that were not a match to Wheeler to put back where they belong.

"Well, we've already searched New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Ohio. I'm searching Vermont and she's searching West Virginia, so if you'd like to take a break from staring at paper and stare at a computer screen for a while, we could use the help." Olivia said.

"Sure, why not." Wheeler said heading towards her computer after the files were put away.

"Uh ... no thanks. The stores surrounding the victim's places sent over copies of their receipts and copies of their surveillance. I thought I'd take on the daunting task of starting to look through those." Logan said as he headed back into the work room with some boxes.

"Have fun." Eames said.

Logan shot a glare at her as he closed the door behind him. He sat down and picked up the stack of receipts that Quick-Mart had sent over, which was the store closest to where Anills lived. "This is going to be like looking for the worlds smallest needle in the world's largest hay stack." He muttered to himself. "If the needle even exists." He added groaning.

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Fin had already testified and was waiting in the lobby while Munch finished up his testimony.

When Munch did finally emerge from the courtroom, Fin was hanging up his cell phone.

"I hate defense attorney's." Munch said.

"So do I. Let's head back. Perkins wife called with some information."

Munch nodded as the two detectives walked out of the court house.

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Goren and Stabler walked into the ME's office where Roger's then led them to Sally Anills body.

"Detectives, either I'm getting to old for this job, or I need a vacation. I can't believe I missed this." Rogers said as she handed Goren a folder.

Goren passed the folder to Stabler and went straight to the body to get a good look himself.

"This ... was easy to miss." Goren said. "Was there anything in the wound?"

"I swabbed it and on the inside I found soap and shampoo. The brands are in the papers."

"Okay. What are you two talking about?" Elliot finally asked, tired of being kept in the dark.

Goren looked up at Elliot as if he just remembered he was even there. He moved over so Elliot could join him and Rogers.

"You said that Anills wasn't hit over the head, she was strangled." Goren paused for a minute as Stabler walked towards the body. "Turns out ... she was both."

He stopped and stared at Goren.

"The blood that CSU found had to have came from somewhere, and since head wounds bleed ... a lot, it made me curious."

"I don't remember anything about a head wound in the autopsy report, it would have said so if she had one."

"She has one, it's right here." Goren said pointing to a place on the lower part of her skull that was hid very well by her hair.

"How big?" Goren asked looking at Rogers.

"About ½ an inch wide and even though the wound looks as if it was done by a knife, it wasn't, unless it was a modified one, because it doesn't look like any type of kitchen or pocket knife I've ever seen."

"How in the hell did this get missed?" Stabler asked, completely beside himself.

"The killer," Rogers said, "used flesh colored stitches to sew her up. I sent them to CSU. And when I originally checked her head, her hair had hidden the stitches from sight. They weren't even raised. That was the best suturing job I'd ever seen done on anyone." Rogers admitted while she still kicked herself mentally for missing the wound.

"But she was strangled." Elliot said determined not to let that aspect of the autopsy report go.

Goren was very frustrated by now. Eames would have already understood. "Look, I'll ... I"ll explain it to everyone upstairs all at one time."

They had started to leave when Goren stopped and turned to look at Rogers. "Oh ... and you're not old." He winked at her.

"Why thank you detective!. You know, you better tell Detective Eames to hold on to you. Saying things like that might get you stolen." Rogers said grinning as she stood in front of a sink drying her hands off.

Goren felt his cheeks flush. "Sorry Rogers. I'm a one woman kind of man."

They both laughed leaving Stabler to look at them oddly.

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Author's Note: I asked one of my doctor friends if this type of wound was possible. After I assured him I wasn't planning on committing any crimes, he told me it was. It's hard to explain it on paper how I see the wound. Hopefully you get the general gist of it. LOL