Title: One of Their Own
Author: SVUFanatic611
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Disclaimer: SVU and its associated characters are not mine.
---
Norman Thomas High School
Same Day (December 5, 2003)
-8:17am-
Olivia Benson's POV
"What do you want? I thought I answered all your questions," the little weasel said in a defensive tone.
"I've only got a few more," I replied. I was trying to be as polite as I possibly could. He was probably the missing link and I couldn't to afford to lose his information just because I decided to PMS on his ass.
"I don't wanna talk to you or that partner of yours."
"One: he's not my partner and two: he's not going to be talking to you. It's just you and me."
"I don't know…"
"You know, Phillip, it looks really suspicious when a person won't talk to the police when it could clear him…especially if he says he's innocent," I tried to persuade him. If I didn't talk to him and get something, I didn't know where to go next.
He looked at me, trying to make his decision. I hope he didn't pop a brain cell trying to think too hard.
"Alright, I'll talk to you, but if that guy shows up, I'm through."
I don't know why this kid was so scared of Munch. Oddly enough, I guess John did make a good intimidator when he wanted to. It's always the quiet ones, I guess.
I lead him to Mrs. Johansson's office and we both took our seats.
"Alright, Phillip, where were you yesterday between 5pm and when we came to your house?"
"Home," he answered with an annoyed sigh in his voice. I wanted to kick the crap out of him right then and there; he was already getting an attitude.
"Is there anyone who can corroborate that?" I hoped 'corroborate' wasn't too big of a word for him.
"I was home since four and my mom came home around 4:30."
"Phillip, I'm going to be honest with you. It's not looking good for you right now."
"Whad'ya mean?"
"Well, everyone I've talked to said that you were beginning to get aggressive and possessive with Kathleen and that you were pretty pissed when she broke up with you. That doesn't mean anything good in my book."
"I already told you. I was pissed for a little, and then I realized that I could do better than the bitch."
"Before we go any further, that's what got you in trouble with the other detective. She has a name. Use it. In case you've forgotten, it's Kathleen." I don't normally do that. Normally, I don't care what language they use. I'm not their mother and if they have a problem with another person, that's their problem. However, I was not about to stand there and listen to someone else call my partner's daughter a bitch. Maybe it was in respect for Elliot.
After he didn't say anything, I went on. "Now, did Kathleen ever mention to you someone that was bothering her?"
"Well, other than the occasional teacher that got on her nerves, no, she didn't."
"Any teacher that really got to her?"
"Well, there's one, Mr. Joe. He was her pre-calculus teacher."
I hated how he used past tense, but I couldn't dwell on it. "Yeah? What did he do?"
"Well, Kathleen is really smart, but math has never been her strong point. She talked to him about changing out of honors into a regular course, but he said that she was just refusing a challenge and pretty much pressured her into staying in the class. She asked for his help in trying to understand some of the material, but he said that it was her problem if she was struggling. He was constantly looking down upon her and condescending toward her. He hates women."
"So, it's safe to say she didn't like him."
"Yeah, she hated him."
"This Mr. Joe have a last name?"
"Blake."
"Do you think Mr. Blake would hurt Kathleen?"
"Well, maybe…"
I was in no mood to beat around the bush. "You're going to have to be more specific."
"Well, he's kind of an aggressive guy in general. He's a no-bullshit kinda guy. One time, he got into a kid's face because he didn't turn in his homework. The most he might've hurt Kathleen was emotionally, but I don't think he kidnapped her."
"What classroom is Mr. Blake's?" I asked. I was not about to let the judgement of a sixteen-year-old affect my job. I still had to talk this teacher.
"Room 145. It's next to the blue bulletin board. But, I can tell you right now that he didn't touch Kathleen."
I looked up from my notebook. "How can you be so sure?"
"I just…He's not capable of kidnapping…he hates kids…girls specifically. He wouldn't kidnap one."
"Leave that part up to me. Thanks for your time, Phillip."
"Yeah, no problem."
We both stood up and as I reached for the doorknob, he said something.
"Detective?"
"What is it?"
"I really hope you find her. I know I'm not the best person, but she didn't deserve what happened to her."
I felt his remorse was probably fake and he honestly didn't care what happened to Kathleen, but I just nodded. "I'll try my best to find her."
We both made our way out, and as we stepped out, I saw Munch waiting for me. Phillip scampered off in the other direction back to class and I approached him.
"So, how's the rodent?" he asked.
"Not too helpful. He denied he kidnapped her, but mentioned a teacher. He says that he probably didn't do it, though. How was the locker hunt?"
"Not too good. I went to the front office to get her locker number, but when I found it, it was pretty empty. No books, just an empty shelf and a couple pictures on the locker door."
Crap. But what did that mean? Did she switch lockers; maybe decide to share with someone? But if she did, why?
"Well, let's go talk to this teacher and see what he has to say," I said. We would figure out the locker thing later. I walked up to the woman at the front desk, asked where I could find Mr. Blake and, after some wandering, we finally got to his classroom. He was on his break and sitting at his desk, looking at papers.
We knocked and invited ourselves in. "Are you Mr. Blake?" I asked.
"Yes, who wants to know?"
"I'm Detective Benson and this is Detective Munch. We're from Manhattan Special Victims Unit. We need to talk to you about Kathleen Stabler."
"What about her?"
"Sir, where were you last night from 5pm to 7pm?"
"With my girlfriend. I treated her to dinner then we went to her place."
"What's your girlfriend's name?"
"Susan Marks. What is this all about?" he asked, his voice getting demanding.
"Mr. Blake, Kathleen Stabler was kidnapped last night," Munch answered for me.
"Kidnapped?"
"Yeah."
"But, why would you want to talk to me about that?"
"We heard you and Kathleen didn't exactly have a relationship filled with respect; that she wanted out of the class, you wouldn't let her and you pressured her to stay."
"I'm sorry, Detectives, but that was blown out of proportion by whatever student told you that. She came to me, telling me that she wanted out of the honors class. Now, Kathleen is a bright girl, but I knew if she applied herself, she could pull off a B average for the quarter. She just wanted the easy A and when I told her this, she got defensive. I made a proposition. I asked her to stay in my class for another month, but she would have to study and work hard. If she wanted to leave after that month, I wouldn't put up a fight. She agreed."
"Did you help her with any of the material she was having trouble with?"
"She never asked. But, I can see why she wouldn't. If any of my students ask me for help, I require them to stay after school. From what I hear, she's some prima ballerina. I don't think she was willing to give up rehearsal for her studies. I saw Greg Dean helping her in study hall I monitored."
"Did you notice any behavioral changes with Kathleen?" Munch asked.
"Actually, I had. I saw her hanging around with people I normally wouldn't associate her with. But, it might be because she was dating Phillip O' Brian. He's Mr. Popularity."
"You knew she was dating Phillip?"
"I may be old, Detectives, but I'm not completely blind. He was all over her during the study halls I monitor."
"Do you remember any names of the people she was hanging around with?"
"Let's see…Siobhan Fanning, Shayna McKinney, Maggie Steins, and Lacy George."
"Where can we find them?"
"I believe they're all in gym class. They're slick girls who had their schedules changed so they were always in the same class."
"How do you know?"
"I double as the junior class guidance counselor."
"Well, thank you for your time Mr. Blake."
Munch and I made our way out of the class.
"Well, that wasn't completely useless."
I guess he was right. We did get at least four names, but I had a feeling none of them knew anything about this. "Yeah, but we still have to corroborate Phillip's alibi, as well as Joe Blake's."
"Yeah, how did his alibi turn out?"
"I have to call mommy in order to confirm, but I'm beginning to think he didn't do it."
We reached the gymnasium and when we walked in, we found most of the girls playing a heated game of volleyball, but then my eyes wondered to the four girls in the back, who had their own versions of their P.E. uniform on. They all had their shorts hiked up to their asses and their shirts were cut and tied to show off their stomachs. It brought back bad memories of my own high school gym class.
I guessed those four girls were the ones we were looking for. We approached the coach and asked for the girls. My guess was right; those were the girls. We pulled them out of class and talked to them. They didn't have much to say. Kathleen was a nice girl, good student, funny, and she was dating Phillip O' Brian for about a month. Nothing new. No behavioral changes, didn't mention anyone bothering her, didn't seem abnormally stressed. Again, nothing new. We were getting nowhere.
After we talked to everyone we could, we left, got into the car discussing the different people on the way, trying to eliminate people or trying to find someone, and headed to the precinct. We arrived and found at least fifteen cameras and reporters outside.
"Detectives!" they screamed at us, moving toward us. "Can you comment…" "What have you heard…" "Do you have a suspect…" "Where is Detective Stabler…" filled the air. Munch and I made our way through the crowd and finally made it inside the building where we left the rest of them outside.
"Who the hell leaked to the press?" I practically yelled at Cragen as Munch went to confirm the alibis.
"You tell me!" he retorted, causing me to check my tone.
"The only people we told were school personnel."
Before the conversation got any further, the phone rang.
"Cragen, Special Victims Unit," he answered. "No, I'm sorry, we don't have a comment at this moment." And with that, he hung up.
"Press?"
"What else?"
"Who could've told?" I asked, wanting to kill whoever did.
"Let's forget about them. If school personnel did tell, they obviously have no facts of the story. What did you get from the school?"
I wanted to be able to tell him we were closer to finding Kathleen, but I couldn't. "Nothing much, Cap'. Munch is on the phone right now confirming the alibis of the ex-boyfriend and a teacher."
"Teacher?"
"Yeah, we heard they had a confrontation. I don't think he did it, though."
"Guess what?" Munch asked, hanging up the phone and getting up from his seat. I was still in no mood to play around.
Cragen and I looked at each other. "We give up."
"Something about that Blake teacher rubbed me the wrong way, so I looked to see if he had any priors."
"And…?"
"Bastard's been charged with rape and domestic abuse."
"Did he do any time?" I asked.
"The women conveniently dropped all charges."
"What about his alibi?"
"I called Susan Marks, his girlfriend, and she says that they did go to her place, but they went out to an early dinner, and he left around five, the same time Kathleen was kidnapped."
So, this guy kidnaps her over a little argument about changing classes? "Well, what about Phillip's alibi?"
"Mom confirms it."
"Well, let's bring Blake in," Cragen said. "Ask him politely and if he refuses, use force."
"Captain, we don't have enough to cuff him," I said, trying to make sure that Don knew exactly what he was saying.
"He doesn't know that."
"The brass will. Aren't you just a little worried of what they might do?"
"Listen," Cragen said, looking me and Munch in the eye. "This one is for Elliot. If I, or any of us for that matter, had any kids, he'd do whatever he could and bend as many rules as he possibly could stand if one of them went missing. I have no trepidations about that. So, I'm going to do the same in return."
We nodded to each other and I understood what he was saying. We needed to get Kathleen back, no matter what it took and if we did get in trouble in the process, we'd deal with it…as a team. The only thing that mattered was this girl.
"Now, get out there and come back with Blake."
Munch and I grabbed our jackets, and as I turned around, a girl stood in the doorframe. She looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Gabby?" Munch asked. Thank God he remembered. "What are you doing here?"
"There is something I need to tell you, but I didn't know if I should or not when you guys were at the school."
"What is it?"
"I heard you went through Kathleen's locker," she answered politely.
"Yeah, we did. Is there something you wanted to tell us about that?" I asked putting a hand on her shoulder and looking into her eyes.
"That's not her locker anymore. For the past two weeks, she shared one with me."
"Why?"
"Because her locker was right outside Mr. Blake's room. And after what happened…"
"What happened?"
"He threatened her."
"What do you mean he threatened her?"
"It was one time after class. See, during class Mr. Blake said something really degrading that was directed toward women. Well, Kathleen stood up to him and said something back. After class, he took her aside and said that if she ever did that again, he'd make sure to do something about it."
"How did she respond?"
"She didn't believe he would do anything, but she still didn't want to be around him. She asked to be in different classes not because she couldn't do the work, but because she hated being in his class. He told her if she didn't stay in the class, he'd do something drastic."
I looked up from the girl who was about to cry and turned toward Cragen.
"It's all the more reason to bring him in," he said.
I turned toward Gabby. "Did you skip class to come here?" She nodded. "Well, how about Detective Munch and I give you a ride back to school? Thank you for coming here."
We began to walk out when Cragen spoke up.
"Guys, remember what I said."
"Cap'? What do we do about the press?" Munch asked. I was actually wondering the same thing.
"Just do what you've been doing. Ignore them and don't tell them anything unless I've authorized it. Oh, and Gabby?" he started as the girl turned around. "I'd really appreciate if you didn't say anything to the press or talk to anyone about what you just said to us. Do we have your word?"
Gabby nodded. "Yes, sir, you have my word."
"Thank you."
We walked out and braced ourselves for the bitter cold wind and even more bitter reporters.
---
A/n – well, sorry this is long, but I didn't know where to call it off. I hope
you're enjoying this…my next update should be pretty soon…Thanks to all those
who have reviewed so far. You guys are the best. To quote Singing Daisy, "SNAPS
FOR THE REVIEWERS!" I love saying that too…well, until next chapter, adios! -Jessica