A/N: A shout out to SVUSHIPPER4EVER! Thanks so much. :)
Chapter 7
They were reading the letters that Vivian had sent for thirty minutes when Elliot's phone rang. He excused himself and took the call out into the hallway. Olivia and the Chief kept reading when they heard his voice raise through the closed office door.
"That can't be good," the Chief said.
"Probably not," Olivia frowned.
"I can't imagine you'd talk to your Captain that way," Hall said after a moment or two. While they couldn't hear or understand all the words, the tension was not as easily hidden.
"No, that is probably his soon to be ex-wife," Olivia admitted.
"It's the job. You don't work regular hours or have regular days off. You miss birthday parties, plays, and games," the elder man nodded. Olivia nodded back.
"Forgive me, but what is SVU doing handling this case? Doesn't seem like something a specialized unit would do," the Chief pointed out.
"Vivian and Calvin were part of a case that we worked. When Albany called to say they think that they found Vivian, we had to follow through," she told him.
"I mean no offense, but the way Calvin talks about you, I think it's more than that," Hall gave her a look. Calvin was part of a program at his school. The program allowed kids to see what it was like in different careers so they could choose their path forward in life. After the program was over, Calvin talked to the Chief about being able to form a junior officers program. Since the police department was so small, the Chief had said that he'd allow Calvin to come down to the precinct and help out with tasks – things that had nothing to do with handling evidence or answering dispatch calls. So, the young boy made copies, kept the coffee pot full, delivered mail, and just did general things around the precinct.
"What do you mean?" Olivia was surprised; not knowing about the way the Chief was having Calvin help out.
"Well he says how he wants to be a detective like Olivia, and he says that he wants to help people like Olivia. At first, I figured it was a schoolboy crush. You helped him through something, and he imprinted on you. It was understandable. It wasn't until Ethel said that coming here was the only thing that brought him out of his shell, that made me wonder," the Chief said. Olivia heaved a sigh and looked down at her lap.
"Look, it's obvious that you care about him and he cares about you. I can't see Ethel handing these pieces of work over to you otherwise," Hall waved the letter he'd been reading around. Ethel had been right to keep them from Calvin. Some of the letters seemed to have been written while Vivian was high. Others described what she'd been doing with other people – it was like she had no idea how inappropriate they were. It was clear that her judgement had more than gone out the window. Before Olivia could say more, Elliot walked back into the room.
"Sorry about that," he said.
"Everything ok?" The Chief asked.
"Long story," Elliot shook his head.
"We've got a spate of that going around. You two notice that this Jose keeps coming up in these letters?" Hall wondered.
"I'm going to need to wash my brain out with soap after this one but yes that name does pop up in the few I've read," Olivia said. Elliot did a quick flip through his.
"At least five times but never a last name," he reported.
"Ok so it's a place to start. I'll see if I have any Jose's in my system," the Chief said, turning to his computer.
"I'll call Detective Marie Gavronski over at Albany PD and ask if they have someone that might be tied to that drug house," Olivia told them. She grabbed her cell phone and Elliot began to paw through the pile of letters left in the box. He shook his head. There were at least fifteen more letters to sift through.
"Marie is on it. She said to let her know if we find anything else," Olivia announced once she was off the phone.
"Should we ask Calvin for the tame letters? Maybe even in those Vivian could have said something that will help," Elliot wondered.
"I don't want to take the last part of his mother away from him. Let's finish these letters and then if we need to, then I will try and broach the subject with him," Olivia was still hoping to shield Calvin from the worst of it.
"We may not have a choice but I'm putting on a fresh pot of coffee if we're reading more of those letters," Chief Hall told them.
"Yeah it's going to be a long night," Elliot said.
To Be Continued…