Chapter 15 - Cragen

I just wanted to add a little, um... warning onto this chapter. Orginally, it was going to be a special appearance by Huang, but I realized trying to get in the mind of a psychiatrist would be going in way over my head. So, I've just got Cragen talking to him. Now for the warning. I have absolutely no idea what I'mtalking about when it comes to this, so this is really just my imagination working in Cragen and Huang's conversation, no actual facts or anything. Just my pathetic attempt at pretending, so don't take it too seriously...

Lyrics by Jimmy Wayne - The Rabbit

The coffee's still sittin' in the pot
His temper's hot
And she knows he's just lookin' for a reason
As he comes stormin' down the hall
She wishin' there was a hole to crawl into
But there isn't…

Cragen

As I stared at the commercial sized tub of Red Vines sitting on my desk, I became lost in my own torrent of thoughts. It was only the day after Olivia had given her statement, and I was no closer to figuring anything out than I had been then.

There was a strict ASAP put on the DNA tests we were having done, but it would still be later this afternoon when they came back. I didn't need them though to know what they would say. In my mind, I could no longer question Elliot's innocence. Everything had cleared him of any possibility of being anywhere near the attack. Well, everything aside from what Olivia claimed.

Finding out that she was, as much as I can't believe it myself, lying, was more of a blow than having to accuse Elliot of rape. But the thought that refused to allow me any silence was why had she lied? Her statement had me completely believing her, even as I played the tape again and again. She obviously believed herself, because she'd never have been that convincing had it been an outright lie.

I knew enough to know when something was out of my league. That's why I had called George Huang in. He was the physiologist and one to turn to for this type of thing. It took myself a bit of persuading myself to tell him though because I wanted to keep all of this as concealed as possible. I could keep the list of those who knew the events of the past 72 hours on one hand and if it were my choice, it'd remain at that.

"Thanks for coming," I casually greeted Huang as he appeared in my doorway.

"Sure." He gave a slight nod of his head as he entered my office, reflexively closing the door behind him.

"Did Fin tell you everything?" I had asked my detective to fill him in on everything he needed to know, just because I didn't want to. I was really heavily relying on Fin lately and I knew it. I didn't like having to lay all of the responsibility on one man, but he was the only person capable of working on this aside from myself.

"Yeah." He sat down across from me, a professional, collected expression on his face.

"Is there anything you can tell me that doesn't have to do with Olivia lying?" I jumped right in.

"What makes you so sure she's not?" Though it was an innocuous question, asked only for informational purposes, I felt myself taking offense.

"Because this doesn't sound like a woman trying to purposefully destroy her partner." I leaned over and pushed the play button on the old tape recorder sitting in the middle of the clutter on my desk.

It made a static noise before rolling the tape. Olivia's voice came on first."I was asleep in my bed when a noise woke me up. I didn't think anything of it though. I just went to go back to sleep."

"Do you know what time this was?" Munch's voice interrupted her."Mid-night. Then I saw a shadow in the doorway of my bedroom. It was pitch black, so I couldn't see anything but his outline. I went for my gun, but I realized I had left it in another room." There was a pause before Olivia's tearful voice came back. "So then I yelled out. I asked him what he wanted, but he didn't say anything. I got out of my bed and tried to run into the bathroom, where my gun was. But he ran after me and grabbed me. Then he threw me onto my bed. I tried to fight back, tried to get away from him, but he held me down anyway. I started screaming and kicking him, and he started punching and kicking me. Then he managed to hold me down while he pulled his pants off, and then mine." There was another long pause after her voice trailed off. "Then he was inside of me." There was a small sob from Olivia. "He didn't say anything the entire time. He just held me down and hit me if I tried to fight back. Then a car drove by my window. I saw his face."

"Who was it Liv?" John's voice softly came on.

"It was Elliot…" Her voice faded into another sob.

"Then what happened?"

"Then he finally got off of me and he left the same way he came in."

"When did he leave?"

"About one-thirty."

A soft click signaled that the tape was over. I reached out and pushed down the stop button. I studied Huang's face, almost hearing the wheels in his head spinning.

"So what do you think?"

"Well," he debated with himself. "She obviously believes it was him."

Well thank you for that little burst of inspiration. "But I think the DNA's going to contradict her."

He mulled that over a minute or so before answering. "Just because someone believes that something is so, doesn't mean that it is."

"Meaning that she's telling the truth?"

"Meaning that she's telling you her truth."

"But why would she think that it was Elliot if it wasn't?" I stood up and walked over to the side of my desk and sat down there.

"There could be a couple reasons. The person could have almost brainwashed her."

"Brainwashed her?"

"He could have purposefully done or said something, or he could have done something without knowing that sparked a memory of Elliot in her mind."

"So she was subconsciously brainwashed?" I found that a stretch.

"Or, there could be a really simple explanation."

"And that is?"

He shrugged. "The guy looked like Elliot."

"So we're looking for an Elliot look-alike?"

"Maybe. What I can tell you for is that the guy you're looking for is probably has the typical domestic abuser profile."

"Why do you say that?"

"Did you hear her description of the guy? She tried to fight and he just beat her into submission. He wants control of women. He'd probably just been turned down by his girlfriend or got into a fight with her so he takes it out on her."

As I listened to Huang, I realized that I'd never looked at the guy beating her. Yet as I did, what he was saying made sense.

--XXX---

"You wanted to talk to me Cap?" Fin poked his head into my office.

"Yeah." I beckoned him in with my hand. "Close the door."

"What is it?" He stood in front of my desk with his hands in his pocket. I could sense the slight worry in his expression. It was a look that adorned the faces of most of the detectives I'd call into my office without a reason.

"I wanted to discuss Olivia's case without Munch knowing about it."

"That's probably best," he remarked, the worry evaporating.

"I talked to Huang. He said that the perp probably has a domestic abuser profile and a violent past."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you don't think it was El anymore?" I shook my head. "And Huang say why she'd lie?" I repeated the conversation I'd had just a few minutes ago.

Once I had just finished talking about the perp being turned down by his girlfriend, a look of understanding flashed through the detective's eyes. "So you want to go around her apartment and see if we can find anyone that happens to resemble Elliot?"

I nodded, impressed that he'd just read my mind. "But I think we should wait until the DNA comes back." As if on cue, the phone in my office. "Captain Cragen," I answered. After a minute of listening to the voice on the other end, I thanked them and hung up.

"DNA?" Fin asked.

I answered his question with a question. "You want to tell John?"