How Does it Feel?

Chapter Twenty One

Disclaimer: As I said before, I don't own the show, the characters, or anything else except original characters (i.e. my killer from earlier chapters) and the story in itself. It's not much, but it'll do.

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The next few days consisted of nothing but moving in and getting everything unpacked. Once everybody was settled in to the new house they agreed to have a house-warming party, nothing extravagant, Munch and Fin would come, as would the captain, Alex, and Huang and the kids could each invite a friend or two. All in all, there would be roughly ten to twelve people there. Olivia wasn't looking forward to making food for so many people, especially when she wasn't that good of a cook in the first place, so Elliot volunteered to make hamburgers and hotdogs and they would just eat out on the back deck. The party was set for Saturday, it was Tuesday.

Olivia and Elliot were in the middle of a big case, a twenty six widowed mother was raped and left for dead while her two year old son slept in the room across the hall, only to wake up in the morning and find mommy bleeding to death. They had been called in on the case the day before and ever sense trying to search for any clues, since the mother was in a coma due to a severe concussion and blood loss. The little boy, Caleb, was staying with his aunt in the city while waiting for his mother to wake. It didn't seem that she had a boyfriend, or had one in the past, since her husband had only been dead a few short months. She was a 2nd grade teacher and was going to night school, so they decided that the best places to look were at the school where she taught and the community college that she took her journalism courses at.

Their first stop was the elementary school; it was a private school, very pricey. Talking with the principle had proved useless, she had only been employed there for a few months and he wasn't the type of boss that cared about his employees, rather the money that he earned. All he could provide them with was her room number, the teachers that he saw her sit with at lunch, and the name of one woman that she was normally other. Other than that, he had a busy schedule and could not be bothered with speaking to the police. He just wanted to know when she would be coming back to work.

"Elizabeth Turner is in a comma," Elliot had spat out at the man. "The doctors aren't sure if she's ever going to wake up."

"Oh," the man had said without a hint of sympathy. "I should hire another teacher, then?"

Olivia placed a hand over Elliot's discretely, knowing that at that particular moment he would probably like nothing more than to rip the pompous ass' head off. He looked over at her, his eyes burning, but held his fury in.

"Mr. Hunt, where we you between the hours of 2 and 4 on Monday morning?" She asked coolly, not letting on that she to would like to jam her fist down his throat.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked her defensively, "Am I a suspect?"

"It's a required question, Mr. Hunt," Elliot assured him, finally able to speak without his anger showing. "Just so we can exclude you."

Hunt sighed, "I was at home, asleep."

Olivia nodded; she had expected an answer on those lines. "Can anybody corroborate that?"

"My wife," Hunt said, writing down a number on a blank sheet of paper from his desk. "Her name is Julie. She's a receptionist at a firm in the city," he handed the paper to Olivia. "Call her anytime."

She nodded, taking the paper. "Thank you, sir. Is there any way that we could talk with this Miss Bishop that you spoke of earlier?"

"I'll call her down," he replied, pressing a buzzer. "Miss Bishop, could I see you in my office, please?"

"Right away sir," said a young, feminine from the other end of the phone.

"If you could wait for her in the hallway I have a meeting in five minutes," Hunt explained, motioning at the other door in his office. "Parent of a trouble making fifth grader. It's very important."

"Of course," Olivia said, letting go of Elliot's hand and standing up. He followed suit, his hand finding its way to the small of her back as they exited the room. Subtle touches as such had become a normal part of their daily routine; it had started immediately after he had returned to work. "So," Olivia said when they were a safe distance away from the principal's door. "It's not uncommon for married men to use their wives as an alibi, most often they'll do anything their husband says." She opened up the piece of paper that Hunt had given her, "Julie could be a loving wife who will do whatever her husband wants her to."

"You think it was Hunt?" Elliot asked, grabbing her arm and pulling her further down the hallway away from the classrooms.

"He doesn't seem to upset by the fact that one of his employees was brutally raped and nearly died." She said with a shrug, "He looks good for it."

"Let's keep our options open for now," he told her, looking over his shoulder. "But, I would like to get somebody to call his wife, see what she says. If he was going to call her for a warning he would have already done it by now, but who knows."

Olivia nodded and pulled out her cell phone, as she dialed Munch's number a short, dark haired woman walked up to them and introduced herself as Miss Bishop. While Elliot began talking with her Olivia walked off, giving Munch the details on their talk with Hunt. "I don't know, Munch," she told him. "He seemed so cold, he even wanted to know when Turner would be back to work. Not many people are concerned with things like that when they find out somebody they know was just raped." She sighed, "He's got an alibi."

"Wife?" Munch questioned on instinct.

"Yeah, I'm going to give you her number so that you can call." She glanced down at the paper, "It's 555-9822, her name is Julie Hunt. She's the receptionist so she'll probably be the one to answer."

"I'm on it," he assured her before hanging up. Olivia walked back to where Elliot was talking with Bishop.

"-I don't know of anybody who would do this to her," the woman was saying, "she's never told me of any enemies. I don't know, maybe we weren't as close as I thought we were."

"Do you know if Elizabeth had a boyfriend?"

"Heavens no," Bishop said, disgusted at the idea. "She loved Brad with all her heart, when he died she was devastated."

"I thought that Elizabeth didn't start working here until after her husband died," Olivia pointed out, standing next to Elliot. "Did you know her before?"

Bishop nodded, "I was the one who told her about the open job. When Brad died Elizabeth took a break from work, to be with Caleb. Her sister helped her with the finances. It wasn't even two months ago when the old teacher, Mrs. Robertson, retired and her position was open. Liz had spoken of going back to work a few days before that and I told her about the opening. She was thrilled about it, it was close to her apartment and Caleb's daycare center, it was the first time she had been somewhat happy since Brad died." Bishop sniffled, "I don't know how much help I'm going to be."

"It's alright," Olivia told her. "Do you know what she did Sunday night?"

"Nothing, she stayed home with Caleb. We talked around ten about a field trip that our two classes have scheduled for tomorrow, she seemed fine."

"How has everything been at work?" Elliot inquired, "No problems with any of the teachers?"

"Not really." Bishop replied, "She's been kind of sore with Mrs. Wade, one of the fourth grade teachers. I guess that one of Mrs. Wade's students has been teasing one of Liz's, and she said something to her about it. I'm not sure, it's nothing major. Kids will be kids, right?"

Elliot smiled, "Don't I know it. What about with the principle, Mr. Hunt? Has everything between them been going well?"

She shrugged, "Who knows. Mr. Hunt doesn't really like to get involved with the teachers, he stays locked up in his office for must of the day." A look of disgust passed over her face, "When he does venture out of his hole the only thing he does is make innuendo's and bad jokes, and he hardly ever talks to the male teachers, that should tell you something right there. I don't know how Jules puts up with it."

"You know his wife?"

"Oh, yeah. Julie is a wonderful person. She comes to all the meetings and talks with the teachers, much more friendly than Mr. Hunt is." Bishop smiled, "The other day Jules told me that she was going to file for divorce, seems Mr. Hunt doesn't know how to keep it in his pants or how to keep his mistress a secret."

Olivia and Elliot shared a look; an entire silent conversation passed through their eyes in the course of five seconds. "Thank you, Miss Bishop," Olivia said, pulling out her card. "If you need anything, call that number and ask for Detective Benson."

Bishop took the card, "Thank you, I will." She started to walk off and turned around suddenly, "Oh, I almost forgot. The other day I overheard Liz talking with Mr. Hunt about taking some time off, her sister is getting married soon and her wedding is on a weekday, Hunt didn't seem very happy about it and threatened to fire her if she took any time off so soon after he hired her. I hope that helps."

Olivia nodded, "Thank you." Bishop smiled slightly and took off down the hallway again.

"I don't know about you, Elliot," Olivia said, turning to face him. "But I think that we need to learn a little more about or friend Mr. Hunt."

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"What'cha got for us," Elliot asked Munch, sitting down at his desk.

"I called the wife, Julie Hunt."

"Continue," Olivia urged, sitting at her desk as well.

"Well, it seems that Julie started to get tired fairly early that night, almost immediately after eating dinner, she and her husband had been having problems so he opted to make her a fancy meal. Anyway, she went off to bed around 9 p.m. and slept like a log. However, she said that around 5 in the morning she woke up because the dog was barking. Her husband wasn't in the bed. After getting up to see what was going on she found her husband in the kitchen. He told her that he was thirsty and had gotten up for something to drink. She went right back to sleep." He shrugged, "It's not much, but her alibi is shaky. It won't hold up in court, if it comes down to that. What did you find out about Hunt?"

"No priors, guy's clean." Olivia sighed, "He just seemed so...."

"Guilty," Elliot finished for her. "He wasn't nervous or anything, but the way he talked and the looks he gave, he didn't care one bit that that woman was raped and almost died. He was more concerned with finding out if she would need to be replaced." The earlier anger flashed in his eyes, "I could have hit him he was so obnoxious."

"He fits the sociopath profile," Huang said, coming out of nowhere and making Olivia jump slightly.

"Jesus," she exclaimed, "how do you do that?"

He shrugged, "Hunt is the classic sociopath. Fits in with society, cold and seemingly unemotional. If you do bring him in, I'd like to talk to him."

"So, you think he's our guy?" Elliot asked, rolling up the sleeves on his shirt.

"It's a likely idea. He's in close contact with her everyday, they weren't on good terms, his wife is thinking about leaving him. He's desperate and isn't in control with his life anymore, he could have raped Elizabeth to feel like he was in control of something."

"But is it enough to get a warrant for his DNA?" Olivia asked, leaning back in her chair.

"No," Elliot replied. "Not yet. But, we bring him in for further questioning, tell him that we need to know more about her work day and things like that. We catch him, in something, anything. Get him to boast, feed into his ego." A smile spread across his face, "If he's the kind of guy who likes control he'll give it up."

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"Sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Hunt." Elliot said, handing the man a glass of water. "This won't take long."

"Call me George," he told him. "And I've got plenty of time, what is it you needed to know?"

"Just more about Elizabeth's work day, anything that you can remember." Fin told him, Olivia had opted to stay out of the questioning, and they figured that having Fin there would feed into Hunt's bravado, get him to confess to feel macho.

Hunt shook his head, "There' really nothing more that I can say, except for what I told Detective Stabler and his lady partner. I didn't speak with Ms. Turner very often."

"Right," Elliot said, nodding. "You said so, but we were just wondering. Anything, no matter how insignificant, like her mood. Did she seem distressed the past couple of days, did she come in asking for any time off ... things of that nature."

Hunt nodded, "She did ask for two days off for the week after next, but I told her that until she worked here for a longer amount of time that could not happen. She was upset by it, but understood."

"Did she say why she needed those two days off?"

"Her sister is getting married. She was supposed to be the matron of honor."

Fin sat down across from Hunt, "Sisters don't get married very often, you couldn't bend the rules for such a special occasion? It would be the only respectful thing to do."

Hunt held his head high, "The rules are the rules."

"Right," Elliot agreed. "If you want your employees to respect you, you can't let them walk all over you, can you?"

"Exactly," he said looking over at Fin. "He understands."

Fin narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips, saying nothing further on the subject. "Your wife," he told him, "doesn't give the best alibi ever."

"I wasn't aware I needed an alibi," Hunt said, unfazed.

"You don't," Elliot reassured him, "What Detective Tutuola means to say is that your wife was passed out the whole night, so she can't exactly vouch that you were there the whole night. You made her dinner?"

He smiled, "Yeah. We haven't sat down in awhile to eat. I thought it would be nice."

Elliot nodded, "I used to do things like that for my wife."

"What changed?"

"We got a divorce, my fiancée though, we have the same hours so I really can't surprise her often. It would be nice, though. You're wife seemed to appreciate it."

"Oh, she did." He boasted, "I'm a wonderful cook."

"Me," Fin said, "I couldn't cook to save my life."

Hunt's back straightened. "It requires a lot of time and talent." He looked over at Elliot, "About Elizabeth ... I don't know what else I can tell you."

"I'm sure there's something." Fin said. "Just keep thinking about it."

"Your wife," Elliot said, changing the topic. "She's busy a lot?"

"Her boss couldn't find his way out of a paper bag," Hunt said with a grunt. "He's always calling her into work because he can't find a file or he needs to the number of one of his clients. I don't understand how the idiot can be such a prominent lawyer."

"You don't worry that maybe there's something more going on between them," Fin suggested. "Maybe that's why he's always calling her."

Hunt half growled at Fin, "My wife is faithful."

"Really?" Fin asked, "We heard that she was going to file for divorce."

"Who told you that?" he demanded. "They lied."

"I don't know," Fin said. "I think maybe you made dinner for her because you were desperate and wanted something to keep her with you. That and it was an easy way to get a knock out pill in her wine."

"Why would I need to knock her out?" Hunt asked, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

"I don't know," Fin said. "Maybe so she wouldn't notice you sneak out of the house so you could rape Elizabeth Turner."

Hunt chuckled and looked over at Elliot, "Do people actually believe his crazy ideas?"

Elliot's expression didn't change and he didn't answer. Hunt looked back at Fin.

"I did not drug my wife," he told him as a matter-of-factly.

"You think that if we test her blood for any traces of drugs it will come back positive? You know most stay in the system for a couple of days."

Hunt didn't reply.

"Your wife was leaving you," Elliot said from his seat in the corner, "That was bad enough. But then Elizabeth had to go and ask for some time off. Like you said earlier, the rules are the rules, they can't be broken. Only, she didn't take it so well. Her sister was getting married, she was going to be the matron of honor, her son was going to be the ring carrier, she couldn't miss that. Either you let her off for those days or she was going to quit. She couldn't let that happen, you had to show her that breaking the rules was not allowed." His voice remained calm and understanding through his speech, though on the inside the urge to break the guys nose had been festering.

"Bitch threatened to leave me," Hunt growled. "Nobody leaves me."

"Your wife was going to," Fin said. "What about her?"

"Julie would never leave me," he spat out. "She's too much of a chicken to even think about it."

"But Elizabeth wasn't," Elliot agreed. "So you showed her."

A grin spread across Hunt's face, "Her door wasn't even locked, I just walked right in."

"Then?" Elliot asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Her room was easy enough to find, it's only a two bedroom apartment, her son's room has his name on the outside. I just slipped in, she didn't even wake up. Even when I tied her up, she still slept. When I slapped her though, she woke up then. She tried to scream, but I had already taken care of that. When I was done I just left and went back home." His eyes sparkled with the memory, "The rules are the rules, she knew that. There are consequences, nobody leaves me."

Fin leaned back in his seat; "We're going to have to arrest you now."

Hunt stood and held out his hands. Fin took out his handcuffs and snapped them on his wrist, "George Hunt, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you can not afford an attorney one can be appointed to you...."

Elliot followed as Fin took Hunt out of the room, but stopped and went to talk with Olivia and Cragen, who were standing behind the tw0-way mirror. Alex and Huang were with them.

"Well, that was easy." He sighed, standing next to Olivia. "Fin is taking him to be booked. No doubt he'll call a lawyer, who will no doubt try to throw the confession out."

It was Alex's t urn to sigh, "Whoever he gets probably will, but there was nothing wrong with that confession. He wasn't under arrest, he knew that he could leave at any time, he chose to stay. You don't have anything to worry about."

"Alright," Cragen said. "You've only got about ten minutes before shift is up, why don't you guys just pack up and go. Tomorrow there's going to be a lot of paperwork to be done."

Olivia sighed, "Oh joy." She walked out of the room and Elliot followed, his hand once again finding its way to the small of her back. She looked up at him with a smile.

"Well, that was interesting. What's this about wanting to surprise me with dinner?"

He smiled, "I was just feeding into his ego."

"Right," she agreed. "Sure you were."

Laughing, he slipped his arm around her waist, and they walked out of the station together. "Since we're actually off on time today," he said as they got into their car, "how about we go out to eat."

"I don't know," she replied. "I hear you're a great cook who likes to surprise people with dinner."

"Kathleen could take the twins to see a movie," he suggested. "Give us some time alone."

A grin stretched across her face, "I like that idea."

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A/N: Good God, that chapter was not supposed to be that long! Hope I didn't catch anybody off guard, it was at least 1,000 words more than my norm. Anyway, so maybe this isn't going to be ending as soon as I thought it would. But, I doubt it will go on much longer...