A/N: A shout out to SVUSHIPPER4EVER! Glad you liked the first chapter and that there is more stories to tell of our dynamic duo. ;) Thanks!
Chapter 2
"Spinelli! You wanna tell me why we've been called out to a crime that appears to have solved itself?" Elliot asked as he and his partner arrived at the front of an apartment building in Harlem. It was Monday morning, and they hadn't even had time to head to the precinct before the crime scene. He was thankful that Olivia already had coffee when he picked her up at her apartment.
"Well things are a little off…" the officer from the twenty-third precinct admitted. He was an experienced beat cop who loved his job.
"Is that your rookie?" Munch asked as he peered over his glasses at the young man puking into a trash can nearby.
"There's a lot of blood. Poor guy. It's only his second crime scene," the African-American man said.
"Slow down. We were told it was a domestic. No one said anything about blood," Olivia gave him a look as he led them into the building. They walked up to a second-floor apartment and he lifted the crime scene tape for them. It was obvious that the door had been busted down. Once all four detectives were standing in the living room, Spinelli walked them back to the bedroom.
"Wife, Mrs. Smythe, shot hubby, Mr. Smythe, in the family jewels. The downstairs neighbor, Miss Holden, called nine-one-one when she heard the shot and the screaming," he explained. The seasoned officer had been right; the bed was covered in blood.
"Was he sleeping when she did it?" Fin asked.
"Far as we can figure. She wouldn't let us in, so we had to break down the door. I think she wanted him to bleed to death. See she didn't just hit his parts. She also managed to nick the femoral artery. If he hadn't stuck a finger in his leg, he probably would have been dead when we got here. Even still, the paramedics aren't sure he'll make it," Spinelli frowned.
"Ok so what's off?" Elliot wanted to know.
"We had to clear the apartment before the paramedics could come inside," the officer moved out of the room down the hall to the next bedroom.
"It's a kid's bedroom. How are stuffed animals weird?" Olivia raised an eyebrow. There were two four-tiered shelving units along the left wall that held a variety of animals. Some were obviously more recent such as Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon" and Minions from "Despicable Me", while others looked old like something a mother would hand down to a daughter.
"It gets weirder. When I swept in here, just past the animals, look at the wall," Spinelli said. Olivia moved into the room, in between the twin sized bed and last the four-tiered shelf full of furry critters, and mounted on the wall next to the shelving unit, was…
"A Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering? The last name on it isn't Smythe, it's Sherman," she was confused.
"Then look at the desk," the officer indicated with his chin.
"A book on how to write your ABCs and…" Olivia picked up a picture frame that sat on the desk.
"Are you trying to tell me the one with the degree and the stuffies is this girl in the picture, in between the Smythes?" She asked, handing the photo to Elliot who showed Fin and Munch. The picture showed a couple that looked older but not old enough to have a daughter of the age that the younger one appeared to be.
"She has to be in her late twenties. She's living at home, has stuffed animals, and is learning to write her ABCs? Something is definitely off here," Fin was just as concerned as the others. He studied the picture a little more and then said,
"She doesn't look anything like them. They're tall, almost six foot, and she's short, just over five feet maybe. Mom has red hair. Dad has blonde hair. So how does their daughter have brown hair? And that's just the stuff I don't need CSU to check."
"Worse still, she wasn't in the apartment when we busted the door down. I've put out an alert for a vulnerable adult, using the other photo I found on the desk. Officer White took the photo down to the precinct to make sure that it goes throughout the tristate area. The bigger issue is something I think you need to see the living room, like actually look," Spinelli headed back out into the living room and they followed him. The four studied the room.
"There are no photographs in this room," Munch noted.
"Sparsely furnished," Elliot said, realizing there was no television and no computer. Just a couch and a chair with a coffee table.
"No books or other reading material. No coasters for drinks. Why bother to put furniture in the room, if you don't even use it?" Olivia frowned.
"I'm not sure I want to check the kitchen or the bathroom," Spinelli admitted.
"We better do that," Elliot said.
"You guys take the kitchen," Fin said. They quickly split up and Olivia made a beeline for the fridge. The living room was open into a little dining room, where the kitchen was more like a galley, next to the dining room. The refrigerator was right there in the opening to the kitchen.
"This could only be considered a bachelor's fridge. Nothing but condiments and beer," she said.
"The trash can is full of takeout containers," Elliot reported before opening the oven, which was at the end of the kitchen, next to the garbage can.
"It looks like yours. Nothing but cobwebs in here," he frowned.
"There's no real dishes or silverware in here. Paper plates and plastic silverware," Olivia checked the cabinet next to the fridge.
"What the hell was going on in here?" Elliot moved next to her.
"I'm getting a bad feeling," his partner swallowed.
"Well, it's official. I'm glad I didn't eat breakfast," Munch announced exiting the bathroom.
"What'd you find?" Spinelli asked.
"Bathroom trashcan is full of used condoms and tissues. Worse still, there are only two toothbrushes. Someone was sharing?" He asked.
"Yeah, that's disgusting," Olivia involuntarily shivered.
"Were they keeping the condoms in the bathroom?" Elliot gave Munch a look.
"Nope. Only birth control pills, for Mrs. Smythe, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hairbrushes, and monthly supplies for the ladies," the elder detective said.
"Have CSU bag the hairbrushes and toothbrushes. We need to see if we have a comparative sample of DNA to confirm our missing lady's parentage," Olivia suggested. Before anyone could do anything, there was a shout from the bedroom.
"You guys gotta see this!" It was Fin. They all made their way into the room and there to find CSU tech Bobby Hines and the detective.
"Well, you found the TV," Olivia commented.
"Yeah, that doesn't exactly give me a warm fuzzy," Fin pointed to the DVD player.
"Where are all the DVDs? Wait, why would they have a DVD player but not real plates or silverware?" Elliot asked, already afraid of the answer.
"That would be because they're hiding their collection under the bed along with the condoms. They're labeled with names but there are probably fifteen of them with one name on them…" Bobby stopped talking. There had to be at least fifty DVDs, so this was so much bigger than what they thought.
"What's Mrs. Smythe's first name?" Olivia asked.
"It's Linda," Spinelli said after checking his notebook.
"I don't have a Linda in here," Bobby checked.
"What was the name on the degree?" Elliot wanted to know.
"Stephanie," his partner swallowed hard. She could tell by the look on Bobby's face that what he was about to say next was going to make her stomach turn.
"Her name is the one…" he couldn't even finish the thought.
"Bag it all. Where is this woman?" Munch asked.
"We've got her in a radio car outside. Sergeant Bradford was going to try and see if he could get anything out of her, once we found out that we had someone missing. I've got unis canvassing the neighbors," Spinelli explained. Elliot nodded and clapped the man on the shoulder.
"Well done," he said.
"I want to talk to this woman," Olivia told them.
"I'm sure the Sergeant will be glad to get her off his hands. Between the apartment and her behavior, we were all creeped out," the officer said.
"Fin and I will take the photo from the desk and see if Kenny can work his magic down in TARU. We need those DVDs analyzed too," Munch spoke up.
"I pity the poor bugger that has to watch those videos," Spinelli said.
"I'll help TARU," Olivia told them. Bobby handed her the case of DVDs and then she headed out of the apartment to see if she could speak to Linda Smythe.
"She going to be ok?" The officer was concerned.
"She will be. Once we nail these bastards to the wall," Elliot reassured him.
To Be Continued…