Disclaimer: I don't own SVU. I do, however, own this plot, so please don't steal it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

DOINK-DOINK

"Good morning, detectives. Sorry to keep you waiting," said Phillip Cornell as he greeted Elliot and Olivia. "This is such a terrible situation. I hope I can help."

"We hope you can, too," said Elliot. "Now, did you know Maria Sedivi personally?"

"No. Well, not really. I said hello to her at the reception, but there were so many people there, I barely had time to have conversation with anyone."

"Did you notice anything suspicious?"

"No, I really didn't. Everyone seemed so nice and very happy. My lectures are always well-received."

"Okay. Mr. Cornell, this is just a formality, but where were you between eight and nine o'clock that night?" asked Olivia.

"Well…eight o'clock until, I suppose, eight-fifteen or so, I was in the reception, and then after that I was on my way back to my hotel. The lecture was early because so much of the audience is disabled. They need time to get where they're going. Anyway, I went back to my hotel around eight-fifteen, eight-twenty, had a late dinner around nine, and went to bed."

"Can anyone confirm that?"

"Plenty of people. Some of the employees saw me here before I left."

"What about when you were riding to your hotel? Did you take a cab?"

"No, I walked. It's only a couple of blocks to the lecture hall from here."

"And when you had dinner?"

"I ordered room service for me and my wife."

"Where's your wife?"

"Out shopping, I imagine. She's never been to New York before and she wanted to take in the sights."

"Okay. Thank you."

Elliot pulled out a picture of Daryl Sedivi and handed it to Cornell. "Do you recognize this man?"

Cornell looked at it for a moment. "No, I don't think so."

"You're sure you didn't see him at the lecture?"

"No, I've never seen him before. Is he the one who did this?"

"We're not sure. Thank you for your time, Mr. Cornell."

Cornell saw them out. Once in the hall, Olivia turned to Elliot with a funny look.

"What?" asked Elliot.

"It's two blocks from here to the lecture hall. It doesn't take forty-five minutes to walk it," she said. "He could have done it."

"Well, we'll check out his alibi. Let's see if room service remembers him."

DOINK-DOINK

"Phillip Cornell? Yeah, I remember him. Big lecture guy, right? Always happy and saying stuff like 'have a blessed day'. My day ain't been blessed since I was baptized."

Elliot and Olivia had ventured down to the kitchens to question the hotel employee who had delivered dinner to Cornell the night of the attack. He was a loud Italian man with a mop of curly hair.

"You delivered dinner to his room around nine o'clock Tuesday night?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah. Well, more like nine-fifteen or something. We were a little backed up."

"Who placed the order?"

"I don't know. I didn't take it. You might ask Marilyn over there," said the employee, pointing. "I just delivered."

"Who took it from you?"

"His wife. Sweet lady."

"Did you see him in the room?"

"Nah. I left as soon as she took the food."

"Okay. Thanks."

Olivia and Elliot went over to the woman who had been identified as Marilyn. She was taking an order as they approached.

"Two orange juices…and a cheese Danish…and blueberry muffins. All right. Thank you. That'll be right up."

Marilyn hung up the phone and turned to the detectives.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"We were just wondering about the order you took from Phillip Cornell's room on Tuesday night," said Elliot. "Did he place it or did his wife?"

"Cornell…oh, yeah. His wife did. Seemed like a lot of food for one person, but she said her husband was on his way."

"Did you see Cornell come in at all?"

"No, I was here. Ask the front desk manager."

Olivia sighed and went to talk to the desk manager. A moment later, she returned, shaking her head.

"Airtight alibi," she said. "Desk guy remembers Cornell coming in around eight-fifteen."

"Great. So who do we go to next?"

"Who else? Daryl Sedivi. Let's see how he feels when he finds out he didn't silence Maria."