Disclaimer: They. Are. Not. MINE! And this chapter's a long one, so get comfortable.
CHAPTER EIGHT
DOINK-DOINK
Caroline burst back into the precinct the next morning with a fire no one had yet seen. Her eyes were blazing and she looked as though she wanted to strangle someone. Munch looked up from his desk, unfazed.
"Stress ball?" he offered, holding his out to her.
"Where is he?" she demanded. Her hair was back from her face again, this time in pigtails. She looked adorable. "Where's George Turner?"
"In the interrogation room. Are you sure you're okay to be here?"
"He lawyer up yet?"
"No. Apparently he confessed to being a little rough with Alan, but he won't say anything about Jessica or his wife."
"Define 'a little rough'. A little rough like poisoning him?"
"He said he pushed him around once or twice because Alan's a problem child, but everyone else we've asked says he's a saint."
"Let me talk to him."
"Elliot and Olivia are taking care of it."
"Just Elliot," said Olivia's voice from behind them. "I had to leave."
"What happened?" asked Caroline.
"He called me 'sweetheart'. Pissed me off."
"Schmidt," said Cragen. "Do me a favor. Go to Alan's school. See if anyone knew about domestic abuse. We get another witness, we might be able to get Turner to confess to abuse at least."
"Okay."
"John, go with her."
"Captain," said Elliot from the door of the interrogation room. "I need a break. Munch, you want to take over?"
Munch looked from Elliot to Cragen to see where to go. Cragen hesitated.
"I could go with her," said Olivia after a moment.
"Fine. You ladies go check it out."
Olivia and Caroline left and Munch stood up. He took a deep breath and entered the interrogation room, hoping to resist the temptation to bash Mr. Turner's head in.
In the car, Olivia took Elliot's advice and tried to be friendly to Caroline. She found that, despite everything, Caroline was quite sweet and easy to talk to. In fifteen minutes, Olivia learned that Caroline had originally wanted to be a writer of detective novels but discovered that she wasn't satisfied putting away fictional criminals. She went into Homicide because her father had been a detective in the same unit. After he passed away a year prior, she had made plans to transfer.
"Wow," said Olivia as Caroline finished this last bit of information.
"Yeah. What's your story?"
"Child of a rape, decided to go into NYPD, came to Sex Crimes. That's pretty much it."
"Yeah, well, what about…"
"What about what?"
"You know…"
"No, I don't."
"Your partner."
"Elliot? He was in the Marines and –"
"No, no, I mean what's up with the two of you?"
"You mean together? Nothing."
"Really?"
"Really. We're close, but not romantically so."
"It's just hard to believe. You two would be a great couple."
"You're not the first to say that, but neither he nor I feel that way about each other. We're partners, that's it."
"Well, that's nice to see you two are so close, though. You obviously have each other's backs. I guess since I don't have a partner-partner…you know, an official one yet…I guess I don't have that. My partner in Albany was kind of a jerk."
"How so?"
"Always took all the credit, made it seem like I wasn't fit to be a cop, and anytime he made a mistake, somehow it was the fault of me and my braids."
"Yeah, that sounds like a jerk to me."
"There's the school," said Caroline, pointing.
They got out of the car and went into the school. A gaggle of teenage boys looked Olivia and Caroline up and down, making gestures towards them and smiling. Caroline approached them.
"You guys know Alan Turner?" she asked.
"Why? You interested? Or is your mom?" said one smart mouth, gesturing to Olivia.
"The law's interested," Caroline retorted, showing her badge.
"Damn! You're a cop?"
"Detective Caroline Schmidt. This is Detective Olivia Benson, who is far too young to be my mother. Do you know Alan Turner?"
"Yeah, I know him," said another boy, much more politely than the first. "He's a friend of mine. Is he okay?"
"Why don't you come with me and we'll talk privately?" said Caroline. A couple of the boys chuckled and made that "whoo…" noise that annoyed Caroline greatly. "Oh, would you grow up?" she snapped at them.
As they went to find an empty classroom, Caroline turned to the boy she was leading.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Jeff Honnaker," he said.
"Okay, Jeff. You're not under investigation or anything, but I wanted to ask you some questions about Alan's home life. Anything you can tell us."
The three sat down in the classroom that Olivia had located. Jeff toyed with his uniform's tie while he spoke.
"Alan doesn't get along with his dad."
"They fight a lot?"
"Yeah. Alan came to school one time with a black eye. He said he got it playing baseball, but I knew. I told him to tell someone."
"Did he?"
"No. I almost did, but then he said he'd take care of it. I believed him. Did Mr. Turner hurt him again?"
"We're actually more concerned about what happened to Alan's little sister," said Olivia.
"Jessica?" said Jeff. "Yeah, I heard about that. She was a cute kid."
"Yes, she was. Do you think Mr. Turner could have done that?"
"Yeah. Once Alan called me from his room. He was crying and he said that his dad was raping his little sister in the next room. He said he had a knife."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
"Alan said not to. He said they were getting out of there anyway, but not to call the police until they were safe."
Jeff's eyes filled with tears. Olivia handed him a tissue. Caroline's cell phone rang.
"Excuse me for a second," she said, standing up and answering. "Schmidt…"
"She was such a sweet kid," Jeff went on. "I went to their house a couple times. When Mr. Turner was away on business. Alan loved her so much. We all watched a movie and Jessica fell asleep in his lap. I just don't understand what would make someone want to kill her."
"That's what we're trying to understand," said Olivia. "Is there any other information you can give us?"
"Yeah. The day Jessica died, Alan called me and said that he was scared. I told him to hang in there…I knew he and his mom were trying to get away. He was staying at my house. I said that he'd be okay. He said that no, he wouldn't, because his sister was dead. He came back to my house a few hours later and his mom went with his dad to see Jessica in the hospital."
"He knew Jessica was dead before his parents even got to the hospital?"
"He didn't know for sure. He said he could feel it, though."
"That was Munch," said Caroline. "They found Melissa."
"Okay. Jeff, thank you very much for all your help," said Olivia. She handed him her card. "You call me if there's anything else you can tell us."
"I will."
Jeff left the classroom.
"Where's Melissa?" Olivia asked Caroline.
"In a dumpster on 113th Street."
