Captain Donald Cragen drummed the fingers of his right hand on the display board in his squad room, impatiently awaiting the return of his detectives. In his left hand, he clutched a piece of paper he was intending to share as soon everyone had arrived. He was clutching the copy of the paper, more exactly; the original had already been sent to the crime lab for analysis. He could predict what the results would be. Positive for Paige's fingerprints.

He glanced over the pictures of Paige's six victims, including Emma Anderson, for whose murder he had been due to stand trial. All the photos displayed the smiling faces of beautiful young women that SVU hadn't been able to save. No comfort to be found in those smiles. His gaze traveled to the next row of photos – Marcia Baron, Trevor Langon, Judge Petrovsky – and he was struck by the contrast. Two plain, older women and a man. Cragen secretly hoped that Paige would strike at one of them; they were under surveillance, protected. The other alternative was unpleasant to consider. There was no way he could assign a protective detail to every attractive college girl in the city.

As his attention was drawn to the empty space where two other photos should have been posted, the ones he had refused to put up on the board, Cragen was reminded of the third, even more terrible alternative. The manila folder on the case had been emptied of its contents and was now lying in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet he rarely opened, but it still contained two white-bordered, black-labeled photos bearing the names "Olivia Benson" and "Elliot Stabler." These were the two potential victims about whom he was most concerned. He would have locked them both in his office and stood guard at the door until Paige was recaptured if it were at all feasible. He turned from the board, pacing past their desks and wondering why they were taking so long to return.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Olivia finally walked into the squad room, chatting amicably with Eckerson. Cragen was glad to see them getting along so well. He'd been extremely wary of partnering them again, especially after the way things had gone down during the Baxter case, but he'd had no other option. He couldn't keep Elliot and Olivia together, and he couldn't partner Olivia with Healey. SVU regulations, in chivalry's last dying gasp, prohibited partnering two women for reasons related to their safety. Despite his support for equal rights, Cragen didn't oppose the somewhat archaic rule; he simply didn't like the thought of the sex offenders they saw every day having any contact with women. He cringed behind the one-way mirror every time a perp or a suspect being interrogated looked at Olivia or Casey as if she were his last meal. Such was the nature of working in sex crimes, but he didn't have to like it.

He pushed his thoughts away as he remembered why he was glad to see Olivia back and asked, "How'd it go with Marcia Baron?"

Eckerson answered, "She was a little wary of the escort at first, but Olivia managed to convince her that it was a good idea. I think she felt better about the whole situation when we left." He sounded like he was trying to reassure Olivia rather than convey useful information.

She had sat down on her desk and was now staring at the photos on the board as Cragen had been doing a few minutes before.

"Olivia, you okay?"

"Yeah, Cap." Her voice was heavy, sad. "I just wish there was something more we could do for Marcia. She didn't even have anyone she could go stay with. I was almost ready to tell her she could have my couch until this was over."

Cragen was touched by his detective's compassion, but the conversation didn't go any further due to the simultaneous arrival of Munch, Fin and Elliot. Eckerson asked the most obvious question before Cragen had the chance, "Where's Healey?"

Elliot didn't mince words. "She ditched me at the courthouse. Decided that she needed to check in with all our potential vics personally. Real piece of work, that one. Thanks for bringing her along, Eckerson."

The Marshal didn't even react to Elliot's slight, but immediately crossed the room while cursing and dialing someone on his phone.

Cragen called Elliot's attention back to the case. "Did Petrovsky give you any trouble?"

"She wouldn't have if Healey had kept her big mouth shut. Cap, that lady's got the people skills of a rabid raccoon. Pissed off Petrovsky almost as much as she pissed me off. I say we let her roam the streets and let animal control pick her up."

Cragen allowed Elliot to berate Healey mainly because he regretted having to separate him from Olivia, which he suspected was the real reason for Elliot's foul mood. "Fine Elliot, you can hate Healey all you want, but your still stuck with her 'til this is over. Munch, Fin how'd it go with Langon?"

Fin's assessment was candid. "Little worm's scared shitless. Practically begged us to protect his sorry ass. He's probably cowerin' under his desk right now."

Munch gave his partner a critical glance before filling in more details. "Trevor Langon graciously accepted a police escort for the duration of the investigation and gave us the assurance that he would let us know immediately if Paige tried to contact him. He seems to be under the impression that Paige will, ah, I believe he mentioned decapitation, and that was the friendliest part of the threat. If we need to reach him, he'll be at a suite at The Plaza that his firm thought he should move into, for security reasons, of course."

"All right, so all our potentials are set up with protective details. Now I'm sure you're all wondering why..."

Cragen fell silent as, across the room, Eckerson's phone conversation had devolved into a shouting match. "I don't care what you thought was necessary, just get back here Healey or I'm calling Perry and you won't be chasing the bad guys for a long fucking time!" He snapped his phone shut and stormed back over to the group. After regaining his composure, he seemed to notice that all eyes were on him. "She's on her way back here right now. I've found that threatening her with a call to the boss usually gets her back on track." He sat down next to Olivia on the edge of her desk.

Cragen resumed, "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you back. Well, fortunately or otherwise, we have a lead." He waved the paper in front of them, watching five curious pairs of eyes follow the movement. "This was delivered by a courier while you were out." He was met by silence as he tacked the note to the board. It was written in a too-familiar, spidery hand.

Hello Stars –

I hope you aren't watering heaven just yet. My Promethian efforts of creative destruction have left me smiling at my work. A Tyger and his symmetrical kin will show you.

Patience and Fortitude,

T.

After allowing his squad a moment to read the text, he asked, "Well, I think it's pretty obvious that it's from Paige. Any ideas people?"

"The bastard's already killed someone."

"We don't know that yet, Olivia." Cragen tried to stay positive for his guilt-ridden detective, but had already come to the same conclusion himself. Everyone in the room knew exactly what Paige was capable of doing.

"He says he's smiling at his destruction." She stood, pointing at the words for emphasis. "You think he just shredded his old tax returns? He sliced up some poor girl's face!" She perched angrily on the edge of her desk next to Eckerson, who, in a gesture that seemed out of place, gently squeezed her shoulder.

Elliot offered, "Tigers? The zoo, maybe?"

From his seat at his desk, Munch cleared his throat. He waited until all eyes were on him before he began speaking. "At the risk of revealing the rotting corpse that is my social life, Paige has left whatever it is he wants us to find at the New York Public Library, main branch on 42nd and 5th. "

Cragen held his enthusiasm back, "How are you getting 'library' from this note?"

"Look at the spelling – it's T-Y-ger, not T-I-ger."

"And this tells you...what, exactly?" Eckerson questioned. "Paige didn't run his note by an editor before sending it?" Cragen had to agree with the Marshal. He didn't see where Munch was going with his explanation either.

Olivia seemed to be catching on, however. She turned to Eckerson and clarified Munch's point. "Paige is very detail oriented. How many detail-obsessed people do you know that would make a simple mistake like that?"

"So the spelling is intentional." Cragen turned back to Munch, who was smiling in a self-satisfied way. "And why is that saying 'library,' John?"

"All roads lead to the library. I was there a few nights ago and I just so happened to wander into one of the special exhibit rooms. Guess what's on loan from the William Blake Trust?"

Silence reigned as everyone thought for a moment. Olivia suddenly burst forth excitedly, "Tyger, tyger burning bright in the forests of the night!"

"Bingo. Find the poem, solve the clue."

"Little problem John. I'm sure you could find it in any library in the city. Why does it have to be this one, specifically?"

"Elliot, much like analyzing a poem, you have to look at the whole rather than focusing only on the details." Munch sighed with practiced tolerance. "Olivia, if you would kindly continue with the next lines of the poem."

"Uh...I got lucky with the first two, John. Maybe you should enlighten us."

"Ah, what are they teaching you girls in finishing school these days? The line is 'What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry.'" He sat back in his chair, looking pleased with himself.

Fin didn't let him enjoy the moment. "Don't look so smug. You just Googled the text. You're readin' it off the screen. So you want us to notice that crap about 'symmetrical kin' then?"

"He's taking 'symmetry' from the poem, but who are the Tyger's 'symmetrical kin'?" Munch was speaking in a tone that Cragen would have expected from a college professor.

Eckerson spoke for the first time since joining the meeting, "The lions on the steps!"

Munch was on a roll and refused to be stopped. "And not to put too fine a point on it, but does anyone know the names of our two marble friends?"

"Would they be Patience and Fortitude?" Cragen knew that his pride in his squad was coming through in his tone, but didn't try to hide it.

"As named by Fiorello LaGuardia."

Cragen could see that Munch was now showing off rather than deciphering and decided to end the game, despite the fact that it would mean sending his detectives into the line of fire again. "So, is there some reason you're all still standing around instead of on your way to the library?"

As his detectives took his hint and filed out of the squad room, he caught the beginning of an interesting conversation between Munch and Fin.

"How d'you know so much about the library, anyway?"

"I happen to enjoy visiting the library. It's quiet, I get to be alone, and you can take things without paying for them and not face an arrest."

"I'm gonna take you to Knicks game or somethin' when this is over. This library you like so damn much sounds too much like bein' in the hole at Riker's."

Cragen decided he would take his whole squad to a Knicks game after they had caught Paige. In the back of his mind, something told him that he might not get the chance. The premonition was gone as soon as it had come, but it left a bitter taste in the back of his throat.

He walked slowly back into his office, shutting the door harder than was necessary. He sat down to call Healey and notify her that she should head to the library instead of the precinct, but his hand paused in mid-air as he reached for the receiver. He found he couldn't take his attention away from the file cabinet where he had hidden Olivia and Elliot's photos. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out the only thing he knew would get his mind off the danger his detectives were in, placing it on his desk.

The staring contest lasted for twenty minutes. Eventually, the unopened Stolichnaya found its way back to the bottom drawer, but Cragen was terrified by how close he had come to blinking.

A/N: Sorry about the end of the chapter missing. I finished writing and saved to a disk, but I uploaded the version from the hard-drive, so the last bit was AWOL. Thanks to Olivia26 for bringing it to my attention.