Disclaimer: I think we both know what goes here. NOT MINE!

CHAPTER SIX

DOINK-DOINK

Out in the freezing New York air, Caroline took a few deep breaths and smiled widely. Her cheeks were already becoming rosy from the cold.

"Why so cheerful? We're about to investigate a rape," said Munch as they climbed into his car.

"You try balancing your time between the squadroom and waiting rooms for a week and you'll learn to truly appreciate the sweet smell of pollution."

"Why the waiting rooms?"

"Eh, I've had some doctor's appointments lately. Just follow-up stuff."

"From the Picrotoxin thing?"

"Yeah."

"How bad were you poisoned, exactly, to have to do all that?"

"Just badly enough, apparently. John, turn here."

"I know how to get there. But really, you were fine the next day. What else could they have to worry about?"

Caroline started to say something, then stopped and just stared out the window for a moment. Munch didn't know whether or not to push it. He didn't have to decide, though.

"We're here," he said as they pulled up in front of the college. There were far more police officers than they had expected.

"Detective Schmidt," said Caroline to the nearest officer, flashing her badge. "This is Detective Munch. SVU. What's the entire NYPD doing here?"

"Party in a dorm room. A police officer was nearby, said he'd seen someone running out of the building, and went in to investigate. He flashed his badge to a girl, she let him in, and she got raped."

"So obviously not a real officer," said Munch.

"Hope not!" said the cop. "Girl's in her room if you want to talk to her."

"Thanks."

"Well, that sounds familiar to me," said Caroline. "Poses as someone important to get in. There wouldn't be any sign of forced entry."

"We have to see Hayley before we make any decisions about an M.O."

"One thing," said Caroline. "Wernberg."

"Yeah, I thought about that, too."

"Not Catholic."

"Nope."

"What is it with men and Catholic girls, anyway?"

"That's out of the blue."

"Just wondering."

"It's lust for the unattainable, mostly," said Munch.

"I don't get it."

"It's the little plaid skirts, mostly."

"Men are so gross."

"Yeah," Munch agreed.

"Ugh. Little plaid skirts. Ugh," said Caroline under her breath. Munch held back a laugh.

"It's the truth."

"You're a pervert."

"Am not. I personally prefer a nice Jewish girl," said Munch, smiling a little.

"Smart man," said Caroline.

"Here's Hayley's room."

Caroline knocked. "Hayley?"

Hayley opened the door. She had a terrible shiner on one eye and a split lip. She had been crying and wore a dark red terry robe.

"Hayley, I'm Detective Schmidt and this is Detective Munch. Can you tell us what happened?"

Hayley let them in. Caroline and Munch took in their surroundings – Hayley's side of the room was decorated with various Hebrew phrases and a poster saying "Chai Five" over her bed. On a calendar on her desk was marked the time of each sunset on Friday evenings.

Hayley sat on her bed and hugged her pillow. "I was having a party. My roommate and I invited the other performing arts kids over for a hall party. It was a lot of fun. No alcohol or anything, but apparently some guy brought drugs. I told him to get out or I'd call the police, so he took off. Everyone was leaving anyway. So they all went home and about an hour later there was a knock at the door and I opened the door just a little. A guy showed me his badge and said he was a plainclothes detective looking for evidence on a drug bust or something, so I let him in."

"Where was your roommate?" asked Munch.

"She went home with her boyfriend. She always does on Fridays," said Hayley with slight disgust.

"You don't approve?"

"I'm one of those abstinence people," she said. "We're few and far between."

"Yeah," said Caroline. "What happened when you let him in?"

"He closed and locked the door and turned off the lights. Then he pushed me onto my bed and said if I made a noise, he'd kill me. He hit me really hard when I tried to get him off, so I just stopped fighting. And…well, you know what happened then. And he just left."

"Okay. Have you taken a shower since then?"

"No. I know what that can do."

"Good. Did you get a good look at him?" asked Munch.

"Sort of. He was pretty tall…He had dark hair. Short. It was too dark to really see his face very well."

"Do you remember a scent or anything? Maybe you saw a scar or a tattoo?"

"Um…well, he didn't really smell like anything. I wasn't really thinking about it. But he had a scar or a tattoo or something on his arm. I couldn't really see it."

"We're going to get you to the hospital for a rape kit and then I'll ask you some more questions, okay?" said Caroline. "You're doing great."

"Thank you. Will you come with me?"

"Sure. Do you want to take some clean clothes with you?"

"Yeah," said Hayley shakily, standing up.

"I'll be right outside."

Caroline and Munch waited outside her door.

"You hear that? Sounds like him to me," said Caroline immediately.

"Yeah, it's definitely him. I smelled the urine."

"All three girls are pretty, young, and religious. But now he's mixing it up religion-wise, which could make it much harder to find him."

"He's gotten three girls in two days. It won't be that hard."

Hayley came out of her room, still in her robe, holding some clothes in her arms. Caroline put an arm around her shoulders and led her down the stairs as Munch followed.