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A/N: thank you to all who reviewed but one more thing!
To flamers - no one is forcing you to read this story, it's fanfiction and if you don't like it or don't agree with aspects of it, then don't review! Or if you must make a comment, give advice, don't just put the story down, it makes it really hard to keep updating and some people like this story!
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In the Back of My Mind
Chapter 4
In a Puff of Smoke
"You want to do what?" Alex asked her friend, wringing the shower water out of her hair as they walked back to their cabin.
"I'm going to find out who hurt that girl!" Olivia repeated, wiping her sweating palm on her baggy sweatpants.
Alex stared at her silently for a moment, "Isn't that dangerous, I mean, if she really was raped, then someone out there had no qualms about committing another felony."
"Elliot's offered to help me," Olivia muttered, feeling her courage start to falter. Alex was amazing at knowing when to pursue something and when to let it drop.
Alex smiled shyly, "I'm going to help too, I just don't know what I can do for you!" she shrugged softly, "I don't know anything about criminals or cop procedures, that's your area of expertise, I'm into prosecuting myself!"
"Yes," Olivia cheered and grabbed her startled friend in a bear hug, "Thanks Alex!"
Fin approached the two of them, hands jammed in his pockets and whistling.
"Elliot has enlisted me in your crusade against rapists," he shrugged and glanced at him friends, "Apparently Alex is stuck too?" Olivia growled at him released Alex.
"Fin, either find a partner, or stick your head in a hole." Olivia grinned playfully. "Monique Jefferies is looking for a partner, so is Brian Cassidy."
Fin thought for a moment, "Monique's hot, but I don't need to clash our personalities. Where can I find your ex?"
"He's at the ball diamond chucking balls at Casey, I swear, that girl has a killer swing!" Alex answered, peeling her gray and pink sweater off.
"Melinda and George are talking already," Olivia added, "They're trying to figure out why Melanie, and what we are looking for in our guy!"
Alex ran a hand down one of her two braids, "I'll grab Casey, she's a whiz with legal matters," with that said, Fin and Alex jogged down the dirt path towards the ball diamonds.
Olivia sighed, step one was to talk to the victim again, Melanie had moved into the counselor's cabin and had yet to talk to anyone. Mary, her leader, brought her meals to her and let her use the separate bathrooms. The girl was a wreck both emotionally and physically. She wasn't able to tell the Police what had happened but she had been able to spill to Olivia before. Maybe she'd tell again.
Elliot joined Olivia outside the cabin Melanie was currently occupying and knocked softly on the wooden door.
"Come in," a soft voice choked.
Elliot pushed the door open slowly and Olivia walked towards Melanie who was curled up on a bunk.
"Hey," she said, gently holding Melanie's hand in hers, "I don't want you to worry, okay?"
Elliot stood back and watched the exchange between the two girls with amazement.
Melanie brushed away a stray tear, "I blew it." She sobbed, "I couldn't talk, and I didn't want to tell them anything. I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide."
"Shh," Olivia whispered, "I'm going to do everything I can to help you, but I need to ask you something." Melanie nodded slowly, her eyes flitting to Elliot's form leaning against the wall. "Don't be scared of El," Olivia soothed, "His dad's a cop, and he's my partner."
Melanie relaxed slightly when Olivia indicated her level of trust for the boy.
"What do you want to know?" she whispered,
"Did you fight back at all?" Olivia eased into her question, not allowing a disapproving edge into it. "It's alright if you didn't!"
Melanie shook her head, "I scratched at his arms and chest with all my might, but it didn't help at all."
Olivia's eyes glinted, "Thank you Melanie, is there anything I can get you?" the helpless girl shook her head no and Olivia stood and turned to leave with Elliot.
They closed the door quietly and started down the steps.
"We got something important," Elliot stated pulling out his cell phone to call George.
"Our guy should have scratches along his arms and chest." He added once he had hung up.
"He'd probably want to hide them, wear a rash guard while swimming, makeup on his arms, a long sleeve shirt!" Olivia spoke, Elliot nodded in agreement.
"George said he'll be nervous about contact with guys and should act predatory around girls."
Olivia grinned and unbuttoned the bottom button on her sleeveless blouse. Elliot stared.
"What are you doing?" he coughed out, red creeping into his cheeks.
Olivia tied the ends of her shirt together and smiled. "We are going to play a game of soccer."
"We are?" Elliot asked, scratching his neck.
Olivia nodded. "NJ is scrimmaging and we are going to go get some dirt on possible guys."
She grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, starting to drag him down the path to the soccer fields. Elliot put up a minimal fight, and allowed her to rub his knuckled gently with her own fingers. He watched her hair move slowly in the sunlight, waves rippling down her back from under her red bandana.
"Anyone with long sleeves, who comes onto you, am I right?" he joked, sending her a shit-eating grin.
She smiled back, "You read my mind!"
"Are you gonna play with the guys or cheer from the sidelines?" Elliot poked his friend gently in her side.
Olivia glared at him, "I know you're kidding," She answered, poking him back, "I've been playing soccer since I was allowed to go to central park alone."
Elliot furrowed his brow, "When was that?" he stopped walking to stare at her, he had only ever been allowed out alone once he turned thirteen, and even then he needed friends with him.
Olivia smiled, and continued to pull him down the path, "Um, I think it was when I turned three; Fin would know for sure, he was usually there too!"
Elliot stared at her for a moment before regaining his composure.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him. Olivia felt her body pressed up against his and could feel his warm breath against the bridge of her nose as he stared down at her.
"What would have happened if someone had grabbed you when you were little?"
Olivia's eyes sparkled as she smiled sweetly up at Elliot. Before he could move, she swung the wrist he was holding down in an arch. Elliot's grip slipped and she stepped to the side, kneeing his groin gently enough that when he bent over it wasn't so much out of pain as it was out of nervousness that she would try it again. "Almost done," she whispered, taking her foot and sweeping it into Elliot's shins. His feet went out from under him and Olivia straddled his back, twisting one arm uncomfortably.
"The poor bastard wouldn't know what had hit him!" Olivia stated, loosening her grip on Elliot's arm but not letting go.
"You're damn right about that," Elliot added, caressing his arm after Olivia had helped him to his feet.
OOO
"We got nothing!" Olivia told Alex, flopping onto her bunk and throwing her arms over her head. "Two boys wearing long sleeves, both took them off after ten minutes, no scratches whatsoever."
Monique groaned inwardly and took a long gulp from her water bottle. Casey tossed a softball into the air and then caught it in her bare hand. Kathy ran a brush threw her bushy, blonde hair.
"I talked to Melanie," she stated, pulling elastic around the ponytail. Melinda glanced at Kathy, "She didn't say anything about what happened to her, but we talked about her puppy, and her new baby brother."
Alex creaked the door opened and allowed the four guys to follow her into the cabin. Brian Cassidy had a pair of dark sun glasses on, a large red Hawaiian print shirt, and a wicked grin.
He slumped into the wicker chair in the corner and pushed the dark lenses onto the top of his head. Letting his eyes flash to Olivia. "We talked to some of the girls down at the lake. Some surfer boy is hitting on dark haired girls."
Fin crossed his arms, "Melanie had dark hair, kind of like you Olivia. Our guy only hit on 'special' girls," he paused to let his words sink in.
"What do you mean by 'special'?" Casey asked, pulling her t-shirt away from her sweaty skin.
Brian smiled slyly again, "He means girls who flirted with any member of the opposite sex."
"Anything besides that?" Alex asked, letting George help her slide down from the top bunk.
Fin shook his head slowly, "Nope, no name, just blonde hair."
Monique rolled her eyes, "So we have a chat with every guy with blonde hair who hits on dark haired girls? Fun!"
Olivia sat up from the bed quickly, looking very excited. "We could plant a decoy," she whispered, "Draw this guy's attention and see what happens."
"No," Fin and Elliot spoke at the same time,
"It's too dangerous," Elliot stated, his concern evident in his eyes,
"We don't know if it will work, we don't have time to waste!" Fin pointed out, they both knew Liv would have to be the decoy. She was the only girl that matched their suspect's preferred looks.
Olivia hoisted herself to her feet and glared at both teenagers. "We also don't have a choice." She stressed, "We need to follow every lead we get!"
George Huang cleared his throat and everyone turned to glance at him, "Olivia's right, we do need to follow every lead we get," Elliot and Fin stared him down silently, "But we also need to know more about this guy before we risk someone getting hurt."
"That's why Stabler and Cassidy are going to find out if these girls remember what our 'john' was wearing at the time." She smirked darkly, "Then we turn on the heat."
tbc…
