Title: "Telling"
Author: Honey Johnson
Pairing: N/A
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After a report of incest made by a fifteen-year old girl, The SVU team investigates.
Disclaimer: The characters of SVU are not mine. Other characters are mine, but Dick Wolf's Law and Order SVU inspired them and the story.
Complete or To Be Continued: To Be Continued.
"This is it." Fin said, double-checking the address for Walter Simmon's apartment off East 35th between Lex and Third, ground floor. Once Olivia had updated Cragen on the status of Ashley's injuries at the hospital, Casey promptly got a search warrant for Ashley's father's apartment. They were looking for anything related to Ashley's rape and abuse or the whereabouts of Marlena Jimenez.
The place was small and less than immaculate, made smaller by the presence of Elliot, Fin, Munch and two other officers. Crammed with photographic equipment, first Elliot and then Munch nearly tripped over folded tripods wobbling awkwardly in corners. Elliot looked primarily for anything related to Marlena and found a pink hairbrush full of long dark hair behind a bathroom cabinet.
"Hey look at this." Fin called Munch over to a box of photographs he'd found in the closet.
"Looks like you found the family photo album." Munch commented as they scanned the photos, several clearly of Ashley undressed, blank fear her consistent expression. There were other photos of a few other teenage girls, but the only other girl they recognized looked like Marlena, Ashley's cousin.
"There's a lot of blood in this rug." One of the officers in the search shined a light on a brown shag rug on the bedroom floor. On closer inspection tiny specks of blood were trapped in the grooves of the hardwood floor between the boards.
"Bag it." Elliot gestured to the rug.
"Perhaps Warner will be able to tell us if it was stained on one incident or multiple times." Munch said. Elliot sighed as Munch handed him a photo of a dark-haired girl bound, gagged and bleeding from cuts on her legs. "This guy's a sadist." Munch said.
"Pervert." Fin said, disgusted.
"What's this?" Elliot had pulled up a loose piece of carpeting from the closet floor. Underneath was a trapdoor that led to narrow metal stairs. The unpleasant odor of basement mold and chemicals wafted upwards as soon as the door was opened. Elliot went first, flashlight in one hand and the other ready to draw his gun. Fin and Munch followed.
"Smell that?" Fin asked.
"It's a darkroom. I hated photo-journalism." Munch confirmed by pulling a light switch, a dim red light revealing photo enlargers, bottles and trays. Strings of photographs hung across the room like clotheslines.
"Same subjects." Elliot said. His cell phone rang and it was Olivia. "You're back at the station with Ashley? OK, I'm coming back. Yeah…we need to ask her some more questions. I'll show you when I get there. No, no sign of him yet."
"If Simmons shows we'll pick him up." Fin said. Elliot nodded, taking a box of photographs with him as he climbed the narrow stairs.