Elliot answered first, pulling a paper from his desk. "Crime lab got an ID from the fingerprint. Mitch Hollett, age eight, believed to have been abducted by his father, Drew Hollett, eleven months ago. We're waiting on records from NCIC. They say the guy's got a criminal history, including assault and battery and making terroristic threats."

Olivia jumped in. "And, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent us this photo of the child."

She walked across the room, handing Cragen an 8x10 of a young boy with short brown hair and blue eyes.

Cragen sighed. "What's the story with the mother?"

Elliot shrugged. "Parents were divorced and shared joint custody. Now Mitch…he lived with her. The current address is listed in Plattsburgh, NY. No answer at the house overnight, so local authorities are trying to contact family members…see if we can locate her. She might just be out of town for the holidays."

"And the father?"

"After the last custody hearing in January of this year, he took off with his son during a weekend visit. Since then, he's been good at covering his tracks. No trail of credit card receipts, no trace of his social security number being used....I'd say the chances are good that the Drew Hollett has been using an alias since he abducted the kid last year."

Cragen looked at both of his detectives. "What's your next move?"

Olivia sat down on the corner of her desk. "We'll need to head back to the mall…see if security cameras picked up anyone matching the descriptions of Drew or Mitch Hollett."

Elliot looked at his watch. "Mall's not open yet, Liv. Besides, what are the odds that those cameras store any video that's not more than a day old?"

She looked at him quizzically. "The odds are small…but it might give us something to go on. Right now we're just playing phone tag."

Elliot walked back to his desk, frustration obvious in his body language. "Our best option is to get a trace on the phone records for the number Mitch Hollett left on that paper. Even if it's disconnected, it'll let us know what he's been up to. We can figure out who Dad's been in contact with."

Cragen stepped between them. "Olivia, get in contact with mall security. I'll send Munch over there with a description of the father and son. Stabler, my office."

Elliot went first, and Cragen shut the door behind them.

"What part of 'you don't move on anything until you come to me' didn't you understand?"

"Captain, that kid has been a hostage for eleven months. His father has a history of abuse. That kid left that note for a reason."

"And that gives you the right to wake up half the state of New York to look for him?"

Elliot was seething. "You thought I would sit back and do nothing? This is the first substantial lead in this case since this kid disappeared."

Cragen's voice held no emotion. "And if you would've sorted through this rationally, instead of charging head first into everything, we could've had a court order for those phone records hours ago. The only thing you're allowing yourself to see is a family torn apart and a father who abused and abducted his son."

Elliot sank down into a chair. "And that's not supposed to piss me off?"