The next day didn't go much easier than the previous for any of them, and Rafael was one of the few who got any sleep at all that night. The entire squad worked quite late, but Rafael wasn't able to do anything to help them at that point. Unfortunately. While Rafael was dealing with hearings and meetings, the SVU squad was still dealing with the Allison Taylor mess, no longer holding out much hope that they'd actually find the four-month-old baby girl alive.
It didn't help that the school district was once again changing plans, suddenly deciding to change the platform on which they were doing the remote teaching. There was some security concerns it seemed and they were supposed to switch to Microsoft Teams for the interim. It wasn't a big deal, but just complicated things slightly.
As for the Taylor mess, Allison wouldn't admit to knowing anything about her daughter Mackenzie's whereabouts, and they couldn't seem to get any leads.
Still, Carisi and Tami paid a visit to both Allison's father Mike and the ex-boyfriend, Jason. Rollins went to talk to Evelyn and the neighbours, but everything ended in yet another dead end.
Rafael got into a little spat with Devere during that as the woman had wanted to hold a press conference and turn everything into a media frenzy. After getting the woman to stand down, he went back to managing his files.
He was a bit antsy, wanting news about the infant, but managed to get some work done before running down to the 1-6 to more or less hound them for information he could've easily gotten over the phone.
"No DNA from Mackenzie Taylor," he said with no little amount of irritation slipping into his voice as he spoke. "Or hair. Or tissue."
"Allison's prints are on it, though," Rollins said. "That's something."
He eyed the blonde detective. "Iffy! Allison's weren't the only prints on the shovel. Tamin and Mike Taylor's were on it as well And plan old dirty. Nothing unusual by and stretch of the imagination. He sighed. "Did CSU have anything to say?"
"Look for yourself," the captain suggested, passing him a folder mere seconds later.
He scanned the pages quickly and looked up at the others. "Montgomery's report... the only thing that stands out is the high levels of nitrogen."
Officer Tamin eyed him. "Come again?"
"Plants," Rafael explained easily as more than a few people around him were visibly confused by where his train of thought was going.
"What are you thinking?" Olivia inquired, giving him a sideways smile. He'd obviously piqued her curiosity.
He shrugged slightly. "Levels this high..." He gestured to the file. "The area would have to have tons of vegetation."
He saw a lightbulb go off in Fin's eyes. "Like a forest or park."
He dipped his head slightly. "Exactly."
"You're thinking Mackenzie was buried somewhere near a park?"
He glanced at them. "If you guys have any better theories, I'm open -"
"You don't think that's a little risky?" Officer Tamin inquired. "I mean, parks usually have people coming and going at all hours. It's just too risky, even for a kid as dense as Allison is."
"They're all closed down right now," he pointed out. "She'd have more privacy."
Tamin nodded, but still didn't seem completely convinced. "I guess."
"I say we look into it," Carisi said. "It can't hurt."
"I agree," Rollins said, "but guys, it'll take weeks to investigate every one of the sites located near the Taylor home."
"Well, Allison may be a selfish brat, but she's not a psychopath," Rafael pointed out. "She would have been scared."
"So.." Carisi started.
"So, she would want to bury Mackenzie someplace familiar," he said.
Olivia nodded. "Someplace where she felt safe."
"We just have to find out where that is," Fin said with a sigh.
Rafael gave the sergeant a sideways look, and was about to respond when Olivia spoke. He was only half paying attention as he was still wracking his brain. "Kat, Carisi, go talk to Allison's parents," Olivia ordered. "Rollins, go talk to Jason."
"On it," Tamin chirped, going to grab her keys off her desk.
"Wait!" Carisi said, getting everyone's attention. "Where does a lone parent take their kid to play?" They all eyed the blond. "Okay, 'Manda, where do you always take Jess and Billie to play?"
"The park in my neighbourhood?" Rollins replied hesitantly.
"Tompkins Square Park," Olivia chimed in after a moment. "That's near her parents' home where she grew up and she still lives in that area."
He smirked. "We should still talk to the parents, but Carisi, I think you just volunteered to lead a canvas of the park."
The blond rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
He was about to retort when his phone buzzed. Rafael pulled his phone out, sighing when he saw the call display. "It's our D.A." He gave them a pointed look, waving his phone slightly. "This should be short but not sweet." Nobody wanted a missing child on their head, and Rafael wasn't looking forward to the conversation he now had to have. Especially now that, given the shovel and tarp, it looked as though they were dealing with a homicide. He shook his head slightly before finally answering his boss's call. "Hello. This is Rafael Barba speaking."
The phone call with Jack McCoy didn't last long, and was summed up easily be one simple question: Why haven't you charged the mother yet?
Once that unpleasant phone call was over, he headed back to his office and returned a couple of other phone calls before diving into the rest of the stack of files on his desk.
It was almost six o'clock when Rafael got a call from Olivia letting him know that the canvas of the park had turned up the body of an infant who'd been buried back in a small section that was mostly just trees and more trees.
They'd found Mackenzie, for whatever that was worth.
"Arrest her," Rafael grumbled. "She can stay in the Tombs over night."
"Fin and Tamin are already headed her way," Olivia said, tone matching Rafael's own frustrated one. In their line of work, this was a win, but it wasn't really a win. How could it be when a little girl had lost her life?
"Good," he said with a sneer.
Ending the call, he tried to focus on his work. He couldn't focus as well as he needed to though, and by six thirty that evening had called it quits. Needing a breather, he threw on his suit vest, grabbed his keys, and headed home to his family.
