A/N: A shout out to SVUSHIPPER4EVER! Glad you liked it. :) Thanks!
Chapter 4
"So, what can you tell us about Stephanie?" Olivia asked as she set down a cup of the swill that Munch called coffee in front of the man who had entered the precinct a short while ago. With Munch and Fin in the first interrogation room, Olivia and Elliot had directed James Lorigo, Stephanie's Uncle, into the second interrogation room.
"Things have been so messed up since the accident. I wish I could have taken care of her on my own and then this wouldn't have happened," James heaved a sigh, wrapping his hands around the hot, disposable cup. He was an older gentleman; his once dark hair was turning white and shades of grey. Lanky and standing at just over six foot tall, he did not move with much grace, a noticeable limp the source of the problem.
"Well start at the beginning. The more we know the better. We all want this to end in finding Stephanie and bringing her back," Elliot said.
"Four years ago, Stephanie was travelling with her folks upstate to see her sister, Kate, and brother-in-law, Carl. It's a long drive back to Buffalo and they would usually take the train to avoid the hassle of driving. Except this time, they drove because they intended to help with some remodeling on the house that Kate and Carl had just bought.
"They were just outside Binghamton when they hit a traffic jam. The tractor trailer driver behind them had fallen asleep and was coming up too close to the barely moving traffic. The semi plowed into them, forcing their pickup truck into the minivan in front of them. The minivan slammed into the back of a school bus. My sister, her husband, the driver, and front passenger in the minivan died at the scene. The two little kids in the minivan died the next day at the hospital; their child seats had been installed properly but the force of the impact did a lot of damage to their little bodies. The worst injuries on the school bus where broken bones. The car in front of the bus was crushed almost up to the back of the driver's seat, luckily, he and his passenger were mostly just dealing with whiplash, bumps, and bruises. The driver said he wasn't sure why he thought he could stop the bus as it came at him, but he said he turned the wheel so the tires wouldn't be straight and he was basically standing on the brakes, trying to protect a second minivan in front of him. That van was full of kids with one adult driving; they were on their way to a soccer game.
"They had to extract Stephanie from the pickup with the jaws of life. She was barely breathing. She died on the way to the hospital, but they were able to revive her. The doctors weren't optimistic about her chances and put her into a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling in her brain. They believe the force of the impact slammed her head into the seat in front of her, which on one hand was good, because her body was limp, not having anticipated the impact of the semi. Had she stiffened up, they figure she would have snapped her neck.
"The coma wasn't working and they had to operate. Stephanie died on the table but once again they were able to revive her. That time it took almost three minutes and the damage to her brain was done. She would be in a hospital bed for another three months, battling everything that happened to her – the death of her parents, her broken bones, and the fact that her mind wasn't working right.
"After her release from the hospital, she went to a rehab facility where she learned how to walk again without assistance, how to eat with silverware, how to brush her teeth, and how to take care of herself. Basically, the rehab facility said that the best Stephanie would ever do was living in a group home. Here she had an engineering degree and she would never get to use it ever again. One of the nurses explained that she'd be stuck; an adult body with the brain of a ten-year-old. The only way to help her was to constantly reinforce her skills. Help her to write, to read, and to do easy math problems. They even recommended giving her books with crossword puzzles and word searches," James heaved a sigh and took a sip of coffee. The beverage was lukewarm, but he didn't say anything. Olivia's heart broke.
"Kate and Carl wanted to take Stephanie in. They thought that maybe with Carl's healthcare that they could get her treatment covered. However, the best family plan he could get access to, had a high deductible of about five thousand dollars. What's more, Kate found out she was pregnant. I couldn't take her in, so the group home was looking like our only option. Stephanie's job had kept her on their healthcare plan, her boss had said they'd use her leftover vacation time to pay for it but once that was up, they'd need to shift her to COBRA.
"The truck driver's insurance was forced to pay out millions of dollars to everyone. Luckily, I was able to put what remained after taxes into a special account. The money goes toward her COBRA, which thankfully covers most of her care. However, I'm not sure it'll last the rest of her life and disability barely covers the groceries," James explained.
"So where was she staying prior to her disappearance? How'd she leave the group home?" Elliot pressed.
"The group home was at one-ninety-three Ninth Ave. They were good people and doing the best they could. Stephanie was allowed to bring some items from home, the care workers thought it might help her memory if she was surrounded with familiar items," James told them.
"So, she had the stuffed animals before the accident?" Olivia wondered. James smirked slightly.
"She collected them. There are a lot more of them. I've been storing them at my place," he said.
"The good folks at the group home somehow let her leave with all of her stuff?" Elliot was confused.
"That's where things get complicated. A year ago, one of the care workers was told that Stephanie was being transferred to their second location at five-thirty-eight west one-fifty-sixth street. So, she helped Stephanie pack up and say her goodbyes to everyone there. The lady who picked her up had an ID badge that was right, she had paperwork that looked legit. No one thought they needed anything more. Two hours later when the care workers called to see how Stephanie was handling the transition, they had no idea what they were talking about," James was close to breaking. The coffee was now stone cold and he no longer held onto the cup. What he said regarding the kidnapping lined up with the missing persons file Captain Cragen had procured.
"You're going to find her, right?" He asked.
"We're going to do everything we can. This has helped us a lot, but we need to know if there are places that Stephanie likes to go to. That she might head to, that would make her feel better," Olivia told him.
"I can think of a few," James nodded. Olivia handed him a pad of paper and a pen and the man quickly wrote a few places down.
"I'm going to get extra patrols over to these places," she smiled slightly and stood up to leave the room.
"You should probably call Kate and Carl. They'll want to know," Elliot reminded him.
"She still lost. I don't want to get their hopes up. Why are you guys involved anyway? Shouldn't the detectives from missing persons be handling this?" The thought was just dawning on him that something had to be more awry than they were letting on.
"We're helping them since she apparently escaped from her kidnappers. As a disabled person, she falls under our purview," he lied. They hadn't seen the DVDs so maybe it wasn't a lie despite where the seasoned detective and his partner's minds went. He just couldn't bring himself to say anymore at this point.
To Be Continued…