The next phone number turned up a homosexual who was not very pleased at being woken in the middle of the night but when Elliot calmly explained who he was and what was going on (in moderate detail of course) and the fact that Elliot had left the church as well, the man co operated. But he had no information to co-operate with and he lived in Florida.
The third phone number turned out to be the interesting one. A man picked up the phone.
"Hi," said Elliot, "I'm sorry to be calling at this hour, but my name's Elliot Stabler. I'm with the NYPD, I'm calling to speak with a," he squinted at the paper, "a Colin Chapman." He was prepared for an irritated response, as it was four in the morning. He got a dial tone. The person had hung up. There were many possible scenarios. The first one was that it might not have been Colin Chapman and maybe the person thought he was a prank caller. It could have been Colin and he could have thought Elliot was a prank caller, or he could have realized, if he's the one, that the police were on to him. The next phone call Elliot made was to the Captain. With many groans and moans the Captain agreed to come in and Elliot met him at the precinct.
"This had better be good." explained the captain when he entered his office.
"It is," said Elliot, "I have a new lead."
"So"
"This guy knows me, right?," said Elliot slowly, putting all the information in order in his head, "All those notes were from someone named C. Well, I went home and dug up some information from my catechism classes. There were three people with the surnames beginning with C. One was a woman who's since changed her name and has an alibi. The next was a homosexual who has since left the church and lives in Florida. Then the third was a Colin Chapman. When I called and asked for him the person on the other end of the phone hung up." The Captain thought this over.
"Do you really expect me to go on this?"
"C'mon Captain, think of all of those people." Don sighed.
"Judge Fig owes me a favor, plus, he's a friend, he shouldn't be too mad if I call now." *********
An hour later, Elliot, Don, Munch and Fin were standing outside the Chapman residence, search and arrest warrant in hand. They had rung the bell once, twice, and were ready to force their way in. A woman appeared on the other side of the door and peeked through the peephole.
"Who are you?" she asked. Cragen held up his badge.
"NYPD, are you Mrs. Chapman?"
"Yes," said the woman softly, opening the door.
"Is your husband home?" The woman broke down sobbing and the detectives led her to a couch in the next room.
"Where is he?" asked Fin.
"He left," she replied.
"When?" asked Elliot.
"About an hour and a half ago, someone called and he hung up, changed his clothes and left. He just told me not to talk to the cops." Elliot cringed, had this man shot Olivia?
"May I use your phone?" asked Cragen.
"Yes, go ahead," said the woman, "if he's done something bad I want to help."
"Thank you," said Munch.
"Okay," said Cragen, returning to the group, "I've put an APB out on Colin Chapman. Now all we have to do is wait and search this house." They showed the warrant to Mrs. Chapman who let them have full range of the house while she rested on the couch.
**********
Olivia woke up to the insistent tapping of the morning nurse.
"How are you this morning?" She asked. Olivia blinked, trying to comprehend what she was asking. When she realized, she did a mental check that all her parts were intact.
"Yup. I'm all here," she said with a small smile.
"Great. I'll just do your blood pressure and then we'll get you some breakfast."
"When can I go?"
"The doctor has to take a look at you, but I'd say you'll be out by noon. Do you have someone to come get you?" The nurse looked down at her gently. Olivia cringed with guilt, thinking about Elliot.
"Yeah," Olivia replied as the nurse tightened the B.P. Cuff around her arm.
"One-ten over seventy-five," murmured the nurse, writing the measure down on the chart, "Great. I'll be right back with your food."
**********
The search of the house complete, Elliot went back into the living room to talk with Mrs.Chapman. She was already being interviewed by Cragen, but he interrupted.
"Mrs. Chapman, does your husband own a gun?"
"Yes. A handgun," she said.
"Where does he keep it?"
"Beside the bed, in the dresser," she replied. Elliot pulled Cragen aside.
"We didn't find any guns," he informed.
"He took it with him. Where did he go?" Cragen wondered. Just then, his phone rang. Elliot went over to Munch and Fin, who were talking quietly. They looked over at Cragen, who was pretty angry about something, talking very loudly.
He hung up. "Elliot, come with me. You two stay here," he said.
"What's going on? Where are we going?" Elliot asked.
"We're going to the hospital to get Olivia. One of the rookies assigned to the abortion clinic blabbed to the press. We've got a crowd of fanatics outside the hospital saying that Olivia should have died, too."
"Shit," Elliot said. "Do you think our guy's there?"
"Could very well be," Cragen said as they got in the car and took off. When they got to the hospital, the crowd of people was being held back by a few officers. Elliot flashed his badge and they let he and Cragen through. The crowd shouted at them, unsure of what was going on. There were over a hundred people there.
"Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment protest," Elliot commented. He took one of the officers aside and showed him the picture of Colin Chapman they had taken from his home. "I want you to keep an eye out for this guy. If you see him, arrest him." The officer nodded in understanding.
**********
"You didn't do anything wrong." At first, Olivia thought the voice was her conscience, but then she realized it was the old woman dying of cancer. She turned back from the window and came to sit on the end of the woman's bed. "It was a tough choice, but you didn't do anything wrong," she repeated again weakly.
"How do you...?"
"I heard you talking with your.....boyfriend? Husband?"
"My partner." The woman extended her hand and Olivia took it in both of hers.
"I know what it feels like to give up a child. People don't think it's the same to have an abortion. People think women just do it because they can. Because they're careless," she began, pausing to cough.
"I was careless," Olivia replied. "Aren't you Catholic?" She asked, remembering the priest the night before. The old woman laughed abrasively.
"No. My son is Anglican. He's still hoping I can be saved." Olivia smiled. "But I had an abortion when I was younger than yourself. It was illegal then, but I was lucky enough to find a safe doctor to perform it. I was unmarried and I wanted to go to university and get a good job. A child doesn't always fit with a career."
"But what if the people down there on the street are right? What if I really did take a life?"
"I guess I'll find out pretty soon if God is going to hold a grudge," she joked, "But you can't worry about it forever. After I had my operation, I couldn't stop thinking about what would've happened if I would've kept it. Could my child have been a new Einstein? Or a football star? Just be thankful for what you've got," the woman said calmly, a twinkle in her eyes.
"What?" Olivia asked at her mischevious look.
"Well, for one thing, you've got a stud for a partner," she whispered, elbowing the younger woman, who turned to the door to see Elliot standing there. Both women started laughing and Elliot stood there awkwardly. Olivia stood up slowly, regaining her composure. She patted the woman's hand.
"Thank you so much," she said sincerely.
"My pleasure, sweetheart." Olivia padded over to the ward door in her crazy hospital booties and gown.
"How are you doing?" Elliot asked. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard, pressing them both against the doorframe.
"Feeling better, Detective Benson?" Cragen asked. They pulled apart.
"I didn't see you, Captain," Olivia said, somewhat embarassed. "I'm just waiting for the doctor to say I can go."
"We talked to him. If you feel up to it, we can get you out right now."
"Well, just let me get changed," she said, retreating back into her area and pulling the curtain around it.
"Elliot?" She called out.
"Yeah?"
"Where'd you go running off to last night?"
"We think we found the guy who shot up the clinic," he said.
"Who is it?"
"Colin Chapman. We went to catchesim class together," he explained. "The guys are over at his house with his wife, but he's MIA." Olivia pulled the curtain back and hugged Elliot, just holding him with her head on his shoulder.
"Did you know him very well?"
"I don't even remember him, but it's scary to think that I could've turned out like him. I could've hurt people like you."
"You couldn't have, Elliot. This guy's a psychopath," she said, understanding exactly what it was like to feel inherently violent.
"And those hundred people outside?"
"They're misguided at worst," she reassured. I saw on the TV this morning that there was a candlelight vigil at the abortion clinic. There were just as many people there, if not more." Elliot rubbed her back before drawing away.
"Come on," he said, "Let's get out of here." And both of them thought about how close they had come to losing one another.
**********
Sorry about you guys who are waiting, but it won't be the last time, unfortunately.
Fran - Keep your fingers crossed for the next part of that SVU/CI crossover.
Maud - Thanks for your nice compliment. It's fun writing a compilation.
Kate Anderson - Parents just don't understand, do they? My mom thinks that I watch SVU because I have a deep-seated desire to commit depraved acts of violence. Stay with us!