Laila's Room, Rivers' Apartment

7:45 A.M.

Olivia walked into a room that seemed to be split in half. Half was painted dark purple and seemed to be a teenager's. There was a desk wih an I-Mac computer, turned off, a bed with sheets the same color as the wall, and pictures of various rock bands and actors taped tacked to a bulletin board. The bed wasn't made and there were articles of lcothing strewn across the floor.

The other side of the room was painted bright pink, and there were shelves filled with toys and children's books. A small bed, made up in frilly white sheets, was pushed to the far corner. A white table with four white chairs was in the middle of the room. Laila sat at this table, coloring happily in a coloring book. Olivia walked over to her with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Olivia," she introduced. "O'm one of Nellie's friends."

"I'm Laila. I'm Nellie's bestest little sister," Laila responded, picking up a red crayon and scribbling over the page with it. Olivia's smile widened a little.

"That's good, because I need to ask you a couple questions about her. Is that okay?"

"All right."

"Is this her room, too?"

"Yeah, we share. But it's okay, she doesn't mind," Laila assured her. "She likes to share with me."

"Because you're her favorite sister?"

"Yep!" she piped up, happily.

"Tell me about your family."

"I have a mommy, and a brother, and Nellie, of course, and," her voice dropped to a whisper and she leaned forward, as if telling a secret, "I have two daddies."

"Really?" Olivia said with child-like eagerness. "What's that like?"

"It's fun! My daddies are really nice to me, and I get to have two houses."

"That's neat. Do you like both you're daddies?"

"Yeah, but I love this daddy most."

"Why's that?"

Laila shrugged. "Jeffie, my other daddy... Nellie doesn't like him anymore," she explained. "But I don't know why. He's real nice to me."

"Do you share a room with Nellie at your other house?" Olivia asked.

"No," Laila said, shaking her head. "Jeffie says Nellie needs dome time eo be sepitated from everyone else. But Nellie doesn't like being alone. She told me so."

"Does she tell you a lot of things?"

"Uh-huh!" Laila said proudly. "She says I'm her... um... com-fah-daint. But," she admitted, "I don't really know what that means."

Olivia grinned. "Don't worry, it's something good." Laila beamed. "Laila, did Nellie ever give you a reason why she didn't like Jeff? Think real hard for me."

Laila screwed up her face in dramatic concentration. "I... don't think so. But once, I woke up in the middle of the night, and Nellie was cryin'. When I asked her how come, she said, 'Jeff.' Just Jeff, like it esplained ev'rythin'! I told her, real tough like, to tell me ezacly what was goin' on, but she wouldn't." Laila heaved a great sigh, then tilted her head, curiously. "Are you gonna 'rrest him for makin' her cry?"

Olivia winked. "We'll see."

James's Room, Rivers Apartment

Interrogation Room

2:00 P.M.

Elliot wandered into a small room painted blue with a bed, a blue toy chest, and a little boy sitting in the middle of the floor doing a puzzle. The walls were lined with shelves with other tows, and there was a ceiling fan with baseball bats on it. Elliot smiled at the sight of them. Dickie had begged him a couple years ago for one just like that...

He turned his attention to the little boy.

"Hey, James," he greeted. "I'm Elliot.

"Hi," said the little boy. He motioned to the puzzle. "Wanna help?"

Elliot smiled. "Sure, why not?"

"Is your friend talking to Laila?"

"Yep," Elliot confirmed. "Their talking about Nellie. I'm Nellie's friend."

"Are we gonna talk about Nellie, too?" James asked, shyly.

"Probably. Do you want to?"

"She's my favorite sister... who's not a twin," he corrected. Elliot smiled again.

"Do you live with Nellie?"

"Yeah, she lives here and at my other dad's house."

"Have you ever seen your stepdad... hurt her?"

James dropped his puzzle piece and stared at him. His eyes were slightly fearful, but also defiant. Elliot immediately knew he had seen something. Before Elliot could ask anything, James blurted out, "I love her!"

"That's good," Elliot said, kindly.

"And she loves me."

"Yes, she does," Elliot agreed. "Very much."

"So, I'm not allowed to tell."

"Tell what, James?"

"She told me not to! I can't! She'll be mad at me!"

"James, you could be helping her," Elliot persisted. "Besides, I'm her friend. It's okay if you tell me."

"I'm not gonna get in trouble?"

"No, sweetie, you won't."

"Well... okay. I guess I can tell. It was a long time ago, though."

"How long ago?"

"Before last Christmas," James informed. "I 'member 'cause my mommy keeps our presents in Nellie's closet, and I was in there looking at them. Nellie caught me."

"Did she get mad?"

"No, she started laughing and said I was silly. But then somebody knocked on the door and she looked... strange."

"Strange how?"

"Um... worried. And scared."

"What did she do next?"

"She asked who it was and the person on the other side said something."

"Do you remember what the person said?"

"No, but it made Nellie more afraid. She told me to stay quiet and closed the closet door, but not all the way. I could see a little bit."

"What did you see?"

"Jeff, he's my other daddy, came in, and Nellie was scared. She kept saying something... 'Please, not again' or something like that. And Jeff just kept shaking his head and saying something like... like something mean, but I can't amember..."

"That's okay."

"But I do 'member, Jeff got really angry because Nellie was still saying no, and he pushed her onto the bed and she just layed there. And he started taking off his clothes."

"What did you see next?" Elliot pressed.

"Well, at first, I closed my eyes. You're not apposed to watch people take clothes off," he informed Elliot, as if Elliot had done just that. "But I opened them when I heard a noise."

"What kind of noise?"

"Like, the bed creaking."

"What did you see when you opened your eyes, James?"

"Jeff was on top of her, and they were moving up and down," James described. "It looked like they were wrestling, but I think he hurt her."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she was crying. After a while, though, Jeff got off her and put his clothes back on. I watched that time. You're allowed to watch people put clothes on, you know," he told him.

"Of course you are. You're not in trouble," Elliot said, smiling. "Do you remember anything else?"

"Um... no... I don't think so... 'Cept that she told me not to tell, because she didn't want people to know she'd been cryin'."

"All right, thanks, James," Elliot said. "You helped a lot."

"Is Nellie gonna be okay?" he asked, shyly.

"Yes," Elliot assured. "She's gonna be just fine."

August 7, 2004

The Hospital

12:00 P.M.

Munch was walking down the hallway toward Nellie's room when he heard someone yelling. As he ran closer, he caught the words, "... not going to sacrifice my marriage because my daughter's a whore!"

When he got to the door, he ran into Chairmaine Grey leaving the room. He ignored her when he saw Nellie crying on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. He went to sit down next her.

"What happened?" he asked. Nellie looked up at him.

"Go away!" she cried.

"Not until you tell me what happened."

"I t-told Mom who did this to me," she began, still sobbing, "and she doesn't believe me! She doesn't believe her own daughter!"

To Munch's surprise, she fell, as if collapsing, onto his chest. More as an instinct than anything else, Munch found his arms closing around her as he let her cry into his shoulder. They sat like that for a few minutes. The only sound in the room was Nellie's sobs.

Nellie pulled away, wiping away a tear. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be."

"Did you get him?" she asked, trying very hard to breathe evenly.

"Yeah," John answered, "but he's not talking. We had him in the room for three hours, but his lawyer wouldn't let him speak at all."

"Figures," Nellie said, sarcastically.

"He's a coward," Munch told her. "We'll get him in court. We've got the D.N.A and your testimony, so..."

"What do you mean, my testimony?" Munch looked at her, puzzled.

"You're our lead witness, Nellie," Munch said. "I thought you knew you were going to testify."

She thought about this for a moment before asked, slowly, "Will he be there?"

"Yes, he'll be in the courtroom, but he won't be speaking to you."

Nellie looked straight at his face, and for the first time since Munch had met her, there was nothing but fear in her eyes. It made her look younger and more innocent. John would have though helpless, but he had a feeling she was anything but.

"I don't know if I can do that, John," she said, her lip quivering, slightly.

"Hey, Nellie, it's gonna be all right," Munch assured. "I'll talk with the People's Attourney, see if we can make a case without your testimony."

"Y-you'd do that?" she asked. He nodded. "Why?"

"Well, it would make my life easier," he explained. "I wouldn't have to argue with you."

Nellie grinned. "Well, I am on the debate team."

"So I'm never going to get you t do anything, am I?" he joked.

She laughed. "Nope, not if I can help it."