Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order SVU. This is my first story about SVU so it may not be too good, but I hope you like it anyway.

The Slippery Culprit

She and her boyfriend were just coming out of the movie theater at a touch after midnight. They walked hand in hand to her boyfriend's car, and got in once they reached it.

"I really liked that movie," she said. She was a beautiful brunette with brilliant blue eyes, and she had a voice that sounded like an angel. "I loved the way those lasers from the alien machines fired at the crowd. They were dazzlingly real."

Her boyfriend smiled. "I wouldn't want them coming here, I can tell ya that right now."

They had just seen Steven Spielberg's new version of War of the Worlds. Both had been dying to see it, and they figured they might as well see it together.

"The only thing about it I didn't like was how every now and then the cast overexagerated their lines. I mean seriously, we'd get the point if they just talked normally so why overdue it?"

"You'll have to talk to Spielberg on that one hun." He replied.

Fifteen minutes later, he parked the car in front of her home. It wasn't a very big house, but it seemed bigger due to the way it was designed. There were four windows, two at each corner of the house in front, and two more directly above them indicating that that was the second floor of the home. Both he and she were upset that the day was about to end.

"Well honey," he said. "I guess that's it."

"I guess so."

"Honey, I had a great time tonight." He sounded so smooth.

"Me too."

He bent over to her and gave her a kiss on the lips. She reciprocated the kiss.

Thirty seconds later she pulled away from him, opened the door and got out of the car. She faced him one more time and said, "Call me tomorrow okay?"

He nodded, admiring her beauty. "Okay. Talk to ya later."

She closed the car door and walked to her house, fiddling for the keys in the process. She reached the door and inserted the golden key into the keyhole to unlock the door.

No sooner had she pushed the door open, a hand with a wet napkin tightly covered her mouth. She fought for her life, trying to pull away the hand from her mouth and trying to step on the persons' foot. Unfortunately it was all in vain. Seconds later, she collapsed. The culprit then pushed her into the house and closed the door behind him...

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An hour later, police cars littered the driveway and the street in front of the house. Police officers were moving left and right, trying to figure out what had happened there.

Minutes later, a car pulled up in front of the house and parked. Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson stepped out, Stabler from the drivers' side and Benson from the passenger's side. They then walked over to the officer in charge of the investigation. "What happened?" asked Elliot.

The officer explained. "We received a call five minutes ago about a rape and murder case." He gestured towards the brunette lying dead on the stretcher, the lower part of her body showing. "The victim was sixteen year old Danielle Solstice. According to the call we received, she had been raped and then murdered. After that the culprit left and here we are."

"Who made the call?" Asked Olivia.

"Danielle's mother, Rita Solstice," replied the officer. "We're questioning her in the kitchen, you want to help out?"

"Sounds good." Elliot said, exchanging looks with his partner.

The two detectives followed the officer into the kitchen. Inside, police officers were questioning a woman who appeared to be in her early forties. Once the officers finished talking to her, the two detectives walked over to her.

"Rita Solstice?" Olivia asked. She nodded and Olivia continued. "I'm detective Olivia Benson," she gestured her head towards Elliot, "and this is my partner Elliot Stabler."

Rita's face was weary, and both detectives understood fully well why. "Hello."

Olivia continued. "We need to talk to you about what happened here. Can you explain what happened?"

Rita nodded through choked tears. "I had come home about ten minutes ago. I didn't think Danielle was here because she was going on a date with a boy named Thomas Jefferson," she stopped, seeing the surprise in their faces at that name. "He's named after the third U.S. president. He and my daughter have been going out for almost a month now."

"This boyfriend, has he had any abusive or violent history?" asked Elliot.

Rita shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of. Danielle always spoke very highly about him. If he were hurting her in some way I'm sure she would have told me about it."

"Where were they supposed to date today?"

"They had both wanted to see the new version of War of the Worlds so they went to see that."

This time Olivia asked the question. "When did you find Danielle?"

The tears almost overcame Rita, but she managed to hold them. "I came home and went to my room for a little relaxing on my bed since I'd been out all day. After that, I went to the bathroom. Then I figured I'd make her bed for her since she was going to be out late and no doubt tired-" No longer could she overcome the tears, she started crying.

Olivia gave her a tissue. Rita thanked her and then continued, pausing in between sniffles from the crying and every now and then trying to stop from crying again. "When I went into her room, I... I found her lying face down on the... the blood covered bed half naked. At first I couldn't stop screaming... then I... I got a hold of myself and called 911."

Elliot and Olivia nodded sympathetically.

"Will your husband be home soon?" asked Olivia.

Still trying to hold back tears, Rita replied. "My husband was stationed in Iraq for the last year. He always wrote until... he was killed in a bombing by the insurgents there two weeks ago. Neither me or my Danielle were the same since."

The two detectives looked sympathetically and admirably at her. Though Olivia was heartbroken by Rita's story, Elliot was more of the above than his partner. He had been in the marines when he was younger, so he knew the anguish that Rita was going through. Then to add the death of her daughter, Elliot knew that words could not possibly describe the pain she was feeling. "Do you know Mr. Jefferson's address?"

Rita shook her head.

"Okay." He extended his hand out to Rita. "Thanks for your help." Rita extended her hand also and shook his hand. In seconds, Elliot let go and Olivia did the same.

"Please catch whoever did this." Rita pleaded.

"We will." Olivia replied. "Thanks again."

The two detectives turned and left. Once they got outside, they spoke about the case.

"You think that this Jefferson raped and killed her?" Asked Olivia.

Elliot shook his head. "My gut is telling me no, but as you know I have been proven wrong before."

As they walked, detectives Odafin Tutuola (also called Fin) and John Munch approached them.

"You two find anything?" asked Elliot.

Fin and Munch shook their heads. "Nothin. Whoever this is sure knew how to keep the crime scene clean." replied Fin.

"Okay then," Elliot said. 'This isn't going to be as easy as I thought.' "Fin, you and Munch go find out what you can about this Jefferson; Olivia and I will drive back to the precinct and see if we can find any other cases like this one to help us out."

All four detectives agreed. They each got in their cars; Munch and Fin in one, Elliot and Olivia in the other and then drove off.