An Eye for an Eye
Chapter 2
"Find anything yet?" Olivia asked her partner, who, at that moment, was searching up a car registration.
Elliot shook his head, "It's completing the search now," he typed another few words into the computer and waited.
Olivia Benson strode around Elliot's desk and leaned over his shoulder, watching some files pop up before a picture of a blue sedan appeared
"It's an old BMW," Olivia pointed out a small symbol on the hood of the car. It was a circle, split into quadrants which were alternately colored blue and white. The car itself was a grayish blue, the paint a bit faded and chipped in some places.
Elliot used the computer mouse to pull up a small prompt window on the computer. "Let's see who own this baby," he muttered, typing a security code into the box. "And enter!" he turned around to smile at Olivia, whose eyes were fixed to the screen.
"Registered to a Jane Thompson," she read quietly, the movement of her mouth, seemed to drag Elliot's attention away from her face.
Elliot typed in another security code and brought up a bio of Jane. "It's our mother!" he said in a half whisper.
"The car following the couple was Virginia's mother's car?" Olivia shut her eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing headache coming on, "My God!" she mumbled, opening her eyes.
She stared for a moment straight into her partners clear blue orbs; apparently he had stood up while she was collecting her thoughts. Their lips were only a couple of centimeters apart and Elliot could hear his partner's ragged breathing.
"Benson, Stabler," an unwelcome voice forced the detectives to jump apart. "Mrs. Thompson, is being let off with a warning, do you want to talk to her before she leaves?" Cragen was standing in the door of the interrogation room.
Elliot was the first to speak, "Yeah cap, we need a word with Jane!" he watched Cragen leave for his office before he turned to his partner. "If she so much as touches you, I will personally kick her ass all the way from here to Hawaii!"
Olivia rolled her eyes, "El," she half laughed,
"I will Liv. I'm not letting anyone hurt you!"
"If she slaps me again, you'll have to beat me to her. And boy, will she be one sorry bitch!" she chuckled softly before taking the few steps towards the interrogation room door. "You coming El?" she placed a hand on the door knob, watching her protective partner jog over to her.
Mrs. Thompson was seated at the metal table inside, staring dejectedly into the mirrored side of the one way glass. She had pulled her hair back into a tight knot and had obviously reapplied her make up. Her fingers danced over the table top as if she were playing a piano. She glanced up when the door closed behind the detectives.
"Hello Jane," Elliot said leafing through the file in front of him. The woman's head jerked up. "Yes we do know your name," Elliot said in a deadly low whisper.
"What kind of car do you drive?" Olivia asked, drawing Mrs. Thompson's deadly stare away from her partner. "It doesn't happen to be an old blue BMW does it? Maybe with the plates, EYE 246?" Olivia clenched her fists behind her back, incase the suspect struck out at her.
Mrs. Thompson fixed a lazy eyed smile on Olivia. "Detective Benson, why would it matter what sort of car I drive, I can tell you already know it's registered in my name!" she chuckled darkly.
Olivia glanced at Elliot and saw the raw anger in his emotional eyes. His body had stiffened and his fists were clenched, his teeth probably gritted in hatred.
"Weren't you ever taught to respect your superiors?" Elliot sneered at the woman and Olivia could see a fight brewing.
Mrs. Thompson threw her head back and laughed, completely ignoring detective Stabler's question. Olivia jogged around the table and put a steady hand on her partner's arm. She grabbed the file that he had set down and dragged Elliot out of the room.
"Don't let her get to you!" Olivia tersely stated, slamming the file into Elliot's hands. "I'm going to check on Mr. Thompson again. Do you want to come or not!" her voice was edging on murderous but Elliot decided to take his chances with her.
"Of course I'm coming with you!" he grabbed his coat and followed Olivia down the stairs and out of the station house.
Olivia pulled her car keys out of her pocket, "We are taking my car!" she stated, not giving Elliot time to argue before she had climbed into the silver CR-V.
Elliot firmly knocked on the door to apartment 5C before a man answered the door. He was wearing a Yankees baseball cap and had a clean cut beard. Elliot watched the man look his partner up and down before grinning like a cat about to pounce on its prey.
"I'm detective Stabler, this is my partner detective Benson, are you Mr. Thompson?" Elliot was unsure of why he stressed Olivia being his partner. It probably pissed her off, and no doubt she would kick his sorry ass later that day.
The man in the baseball cap smiled politely, "There is no Mr. Thompson here. He moved out 6 months ago. I'm Barry Jerkins I live her with my girlfriend Jane and her daughter Ginny." He smiled at Olivia again.
"May we ask you a few questions Mr. Jerkins?" Olivia stepped in front of her partner and flashed her badge at the man.
He nodded and stepped to the side allowing the two detectives to squeeze past him into the apartment.
"Can you tell us about the relationship Jane has with her ex-husband?" Elliot asked, keeping his eyes on Barry.
Mr. Jenkins nodded, "They aren't on friendly terms. Steve was a nice guy, had loads of cash that he insisted on saving for Ginny when she went to college. It was all put into her bank account. Jane felt that even though Steve was going to single handedly pay for Ginny's college tuition he should also pay child support. They went to court and Jane lost. Apparently the judge ruled that Ginny had access to 13 million dollars for when she needed it and didn't need any more financial support from her father."
Olivia smiled and opened her mouth for another question, but Elliot voiced it for her. "Do you know who the money would go to if something happened to Virginia?" Olivia shot a glare at her partner.
Mr. Jenkins simply smiled at the partners. "Where do you think it would go?" he asked quietly, "To her parents."
"But, Virginia's parents are divorced, which one would get the money?" Olivia pressed the subject. This could be their motive.
Barry Jenkins gave her a weird grin. "Ginny lived with her mom, that's who it all goes to!"
The two detectives stood up, heading for the door but Barry stopped them. He handed Olivia a slip of paper and smirked at her.
"Here gorgeous," he whispered into her ear, "Call me if you need me!" he chuckled slightly and Olivia tucked the paper into her pocket.
"Oh trust me," she whispered back, "We will!" with that said, she wrenched open the apartment door and she and Elliot walked down the hallway and back to her car.
They got into the big Honda and Olivia began to drive away from the apartment. Elliot could see the anger and frustration written on her face and he wanted nothing more than to make it all go away. Just as Elliot was about the reach out a comforting hand to his partner, his cell phone rang.
"Stabler," he answered, trying to keep his voice low so as to not disturb Olivia,
"We found fluids Elliot!" Cragen's voice said over the phone. "We also have finger prints on her leather skirt. We ran the prints and found a match, guess who has a rap sheet?"
"Liv, we need to head back to West End High!" Elliot instructed after he got off the phone with Cragen. "Danny Spade's fingerprints were on our victim's leather skirt."
Olivia swung her car onto a side street and grinned. "One step ahead of you boy!" she whispered before getting out of the car and jogging up the school's front steps.
Olivia saw Daniel hanging by his locker, a tear streaked face and his backpack full of books. "Daniel Spade," she called, walking up towards the terrified teenager.
"She's dead! The principle told me, he said I should get some rest," the boy babbled, new tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Danny, we need you to come to the precinct and give a DNA test." Olivia had no sympathy in her eyes and the boy nodded, "Come on, we'll give you a lift!"
The car ride was pretty much silent except for the constant sniffling of the heartbroken boy in the back seat. Elliot was driving and Olivia was searching Danny's backpack.
When they reached the precinct, Elliot took the boy to take a DNA sample while Olivia paced. Alex Cabot, the district attorney, walked through the squad room and into Cragen's office. Olivia kept pacing. A couple long minutes later, Elliot reappeared with the boy.
"What's the verdict?" she asked, about ready to collapse with exhaustion.
Elliot held Danny by his collar and grimaced, "A perfect match."