Elliot walked into the precinct feeling better than he had in a long time. The previous day's time off had allowed him to do some of the things he'd really been missing, like spending time with his wife and children. He'd surprised everyone by walking into the house just before three and staying not only all night, but for breakfast in the morning too.
He had neglected to tell them about the protective detail, which had been across the street every time he'd parted the curtains slightly for a discreet look. He was torn between continuing to ignore them and offering them dinner or a snack. Or the bathroom. Or maybe the little TV in the basement. After all, they were sacrificing a night with their families so he could have one with his. He'd ended up ignoring their presence and making a promise to himself that he'd do something nice for them, send a fruit basket to their precinct or something, once the case was over. He could always ask Olivia for suggestions.
The thought of his partner reminded him of the twinge of guilt he felt for leaving his colleagues to work the investigation. He'd felt it from the moment he'd left the day before. He hoped they'd all managed to get the down time, if not the restless night of sleep, that he had had. As he pushed the front door of the building open, he spotted Munch waiting by the elevator. "Hey, John."
"Morning, Elliot. My, don't you look chipper. Maybe I'll have it out with Eckerson today and see if I can take the weekend off."
"It wasn't like that…" Elliot stopped before he could really get into his explanation when he saw that Munch was grinning as he stepped onto the elevator. Elliot followed, saying, "I shouldn't have left, but Cap offered and I just, I couldn't say no. I mean, who knows how long it's gonna take us to catch this guy?"
"Hey, relax. Cragen sent me home the minute I got back from Lincoln Center, and he probably sent Olivia, Fin and Eckerson home when they were done at One PP. We all got a good night's sleep."
Elliot knew that if he could see behind Munch's tinted glasses the same tired look and little dark circles that he had seen in his own reflection while shaving would be evident. He made a joke instead. "How much time off do you think you'd earn if started a brawl with Healey?"
"Just when I start to feel like I'm developing faith in humanity I meet someone like her. You know she showed up at the scene yesterday? Out of nowhere, she's jumping out of a cab screeching about how someone should have called her about the body. I shouldn't complain, I guess, because she left after a tough two-hour workday. She might put in a full six today." He sighed dramatically as the elevator doors opened.
"It could be worse."
John paused and turned to Elliot. "What, you think she might be planning to shoot me? Then visit me while I'm in the hospital?"
"Worse. Maybe she wants to be Mrs. Munch number…what are you on, six, seven?"
"If that were the case she'd definitely end up planning to shoot me. Though, come to think of it, I'd probably beat her to it." Both men laughed as they walked into the squad room.
Glancing around, Elliot was immediately sobered and alarmed. A second board had been set up behind Olivia's desk, and it was already covered. More importantly, Olivia wasn't in yet. He weakly greeted Fin, who looked more ready for the gym than for work.
Munch didn't seem to be affected by the atmosphere Elliot felt in the room. He replied to Fin's nod of acknowledgement by saying, "And a fine good morning to you, my peculiarly punctual partner."
Fin was clearly not in the mood for teasing, answering, "I'm gonna smack you if you start gettin' cute with me, John."
"The hostility. I'm just noting that you're not usually here before me."
"Easy to be on time when you never leave."
Elliot found his voice. "You slept in the crib? Olivia too?"
"Yup. And Eckerson. We wanted to get a little research done so we could get goin' first thing." He gestured toward the second board but said nothing more.
Elliot glanced around, still feeling nervous. "So where is Liv?"
"Don't worry, I was perfectly safe in the shower, if you don't count the constant threat of mildew attack." He turned and was relieved to see her grinning at him, wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt. Eckerson, also casually dressed, was standing right behind her, close enough to revive Elliot's sense of disquiet. She continued, softening her voice as she asked, "How was your night at home?"
"It was good," he replied truthfully. "But I feel more guilty about it than I did, knowing that you and Fin got stuck sleeping in the crib." He pointedly left Eckerson out.
"Hey, when you're single a bed's a bed. You needed some time with your family. Nobody faults you for that, El." She placed a comforting hand on his forearm, giving it a squeeze before moving to her own desk.
His eyes followed her as he tried to decide if there were something different about her. She seemed…more relaxed? Less downcast? His gaze shifted quickly to the board as she caught him staring. He waved his hand, saying, "It looks like you got a lot done last night."
The expression on her face took a moment to move from curious to serious. "You're not gonna believe half the stuff we found out."
An impolite voice interrupted the conversation. "Now is that because it's actually hard to believe or because we'll find it hard to have faith in the reliability of your research methods?"
Elliot's eyes were again fixed on Olivia as she turned, tilted her chin up and said, "Since you're such a gifted investigator, Healey, you can be the judge."
For the past two days Elliot had thought Healey was taller than Olivia, but he now realized that they were about the same height. Something in Olivia's demeanor had changed, something that was making her stand taller, stand up to Healey. Eckerson suddenly stepped behind Olivia, placing his hand at the small of her back. "Don't you two think it's a little early for this?"
As Olivia turned to smile at Eckerson and brush his hand away, Elliot was hit by a sudden revelation – they'd slept together. He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came. They'd spent the night in the crib. And they were acting comfortable rather than awkward. He took a moment to convince himself that Olivia's changed demeanor was a result of making progress on the case rather than anything to do with Eckerson.
For her own part, Healey pointedly ignored Olivia's challenge and paused to run her eyes over the squad, her glance seeming to linger on Eckerson. She addressed him, along with Olivia and Fin, "Well, don't you three look professional."
"Casual Friday," Fin stated nonchalantly.
Before Healey could comment further, Cragen emerged from his office. "Okay, people, we've got a lot of ground to cover this morning as far as bringing everyone up to speed." He gave everyone a moment to gather and settle around the boards before going on. "All right, we got some solid evidence from the scene yesterday, and hopefully it's gonna be what we need to catch this guy. First off, the car that dropped the body. Eckerson?"
"The video from the ATM gave us the make and model, plus the plates, and the eyewitnesses gave us the color. The plates were stolen, so they were no help, but we know we're looking for a blue 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. There's about thirty registered in the area, and of those, the only one that looked suspicious was registered to an 'Eli Page.' The spelling is different, but we think there's a connection, because this particular Jeep used to be mine." He looked at Olivia as he finished.
Elliot picked up the line of reasoning. "Paige is trying to get into our heads with the notes, so he's the kind of planner who would get Olivia's ex-boyfriend's car to mess with her."
"That's what it looks like. We've got a name an address for the guy who owned the Jeep before Page, so hopefully he'll be able to give us a description at the very least."
"Olivia, Eckerson, you two are going to pay him a visit this morning?" Cragen asked.
"Yeah. He's out in Far Rockaway, so we'll be gone 'til at least noon." Olivia didn't sound nervous. Elliot wondered how she was staying so calm, knowing that Paige had done enough homework on her to find out about her past with Eckerson. Hell, he, Elliot, had only found out two days ago that they'd been engaged. It was incredibly troubling to think that a homicidal maniac knew more about Olivia than her own partner.
Elliot came out of his slight fog when he heard Healey ranting, "Wait, firstly, if the guy is that far out why don't you just pick up the telephone, and second, if the plates are stolen, how do we even know this Jeep is registered? The name could just be a coincidence, because, from what we've seen so far, it doesn't seem like Paige would be stupid enough to register his body-drop mobile."
"He didn't," Fin practically spat. "His accomplice did. The Jeep changed owners in 2002 when Paige was already behind bars. Sonny boy apparently ain't quite the chip off the ol' block."
"Excuse me?" Healey puffed her chest out and squared her shoulders. For a moment, Elliot expected her to charge Fin.
Cragen replied before anything could happen. "Relax people. To answer your questions Healey, Olivia and Eckerson are driving out there because they tried calling yesterday but only got a machine. And we got some interesting results from the DNA."
"You didn't mention DNA," she said huffily.
"Olivia, since you explained the ME's report so clearly to me last night, why don't you handle this part."
"Sure, Cap'n." Elliot was again struck by his partner's renewed self-confidence. "Warner ran the samples from under Marina Vasquez's fingernails. She found Paige's DNA and the DNA of an unidentified related male. Now, based on the similarities between the samples, the accomplice is a son that Paige conceived with his mother."
Elliot consciously stopped himself from gasping. He glanced at Munch, who looked just as taken aback by the news as he, Elliot, was. He was abruptly reminded of the true nature of working at SVU – no matter how many strange, sickening scenarios they encountered, there was always something just as bad waiting around the corner. Only Healey had a vocal reaction. "This is a joke right? A sick one, if you ask me."
Olivia ignored Healey's comment and pressed forward, trying to get through all the information before any of it had an opportunity to really sink in. "Terry Paige's mother, Judith Paige, died in '98 at the age of 68. Based on her age and Paige's age, we figured that the accomplice has to be between 19 and 41."
"And how exactly did you come up with those numbers?"
"With basic addition and subtraction, Healey." Eckerson's voice held a combination of frustration and mockery. "It's the range between which he could start having kids and she couldn't anymore."
"Oh. So we're just going to use this to completely ignore the eyewitness account?"
"The nut vendor's story? There's no evidence to support that Paige is working with a woman. We've got the DNA to prove that."
"And we always believe DNA." Healey suddenly smiled. "So we're looking for two men and we have DNA on the one we don't know. I guess the NYPD isn't quite as incompetent as I had originally worried." She smirked in a way that Elliot could only describe as greasy. He decided he preferred her when she was yelling. Or not there.
Cragen seemed slightly uncomfortable as he said, "Yeah." He shook his head. "Okay, so Olivia and Eckerson, you two can get going. Call in if you find anything. The rest of you work on finding out anything you can about Judith Paige and her younger son."
As Elliot watched Olivia put her coat on, he wished she were staying at the station so they could talk. He missed working with her every time they were split up, and this time was worse because Terry Paige was clearly focused on her. He wasn't even being given the opportunity to watch out for her. He didn't feel jealous exactly, just…left out, like she was doing something in which he wasn't involved and about which he wasn't informed. Not that he needed to keep tabs on her. It was just impossible not to worry.
He turned back to his desk as she left, hoping for a quiet morning.