Pure and Simple
Chapter Seven
1-6 Precinct
SVU Squad Room
6:05 AM Wednesday
Mindy took the coffee Elliot offered gratefully and sipped at it, hoping that it would wake her up. She'd been on edge and running from place to place all night, thinking while she was at it. Her shoulder was sore from lugging her bag around, and her arms had bruises on them from where she was carrying the picture frame of her family. The last thing she wanted was her dear brother's death and she feared for the life of her sister and her son.
Olivia came down from the loft with some yogurt and fruit. Mindy took some fruit gratefully and nodded her thanks.
"Mindy, I know that you're tired and scared," Olivia began softly, sitting down at her desk. "But we have to ask you a lot of questions. We'll try to get through them as quickly as possible so that you can go ahead and rest."
"You're welcome to use the ladies dressing room to freshen up and sleep in the crib," Cragen offered.
Mindy stared into her coffee.
"Will I be safe here?" She asked in her thick accent.
"Yes you will," Elliot assured Mindy. "Now, we need you to tell us about what happened at Hanson's Market on Saturday morning."
Mindy looked up at him with fear in her eyes.
"No, I can't," she said, shaking her head. "I came here because I need help finding my Peter. I don't care about-"
"Mindy," Olivia broke in. "The only way we're going to be able to help you is if you help us. We don't know anything about the people that took your baby. Now a little girl named India is missing, and we think it may be the same people. Mindy, we don't know where to start unless you tell us about what you saw at your store Saturday."
The woman sighed and looked away, mumbling something in Greek that neither the captain or the detectives could understand. Finally, Mindy conceded.
"Both Peter and my sister, Serena are missing," she began. "Here is a picture of us. The one with the longer, darker hair, that is my sister. And I know who took them, that is why I came here. The people that took my family and that little girl…they are after me."
"Who's after you Mindy?" Olivia asked.
The young woman began to cry and she got up and gathered her things.
"No, this is a mistake," she cried. "He'll know that I came to you and he'll kill me too unless I go back to him…"
Olivia felt herself getting frustrated and she stood up and put her hands on Mindy's shoulders.
"Mindy, we can't help you if you don't help us," she said firmly. "If you want to get your son back, then you need to tell us who is doing this so we can put them away so they can't hurt you anymore."
Mindy sighed and wiped her tears.
"When I first came to this country, I thought that I was going to be happy," she began, sitting back down. "Back in Greece I met a man there and he convinced me and my sister to move to America so that she could go to school and I could begin a career."
"What's his name Mindy?" Elliot asked.
"His name is Quentin Iberson," she explained. "I feel so stupid now for trusting him. He told me lies, so many lies. He made me work as a stripper and a cage girl in his night clubs. He was just using me for his own selfishness."
"Is Quentin Iberson the father of your baby?" Olivia asked.
"Yes," Mindy said, now full of anger. "He promised to protect me, he said that he loved me. The only reason I have Peter now is because he forced himself on me. He-he does horrible things to the women he hires. He forces them to take drugs, he forces them to work in his clubs, abandon their families. He knows that we have no place else to go if we don't do what he says."
"Tell us what happened Saturday afternoon at Hanson's Market," Cragen said.
Mindy sighed.
"It was a slow day," she began. "You know, a few people here, a few people there. I was stocking up when a young business man came barreling in, gathering up things and throwing them on the counter for me to ring up while he went to the restroom. Then, another man came in, and I wasn't paying much attention. He walked around the store and I paid him no mind still. Then he went to the restroom."
"The business man had tossed me his credit card and I swiped it for him, but it was declined, so I went to the back and knocked on the door. I heard crashing and the mirror breaking and grunting and groaning. So I pushed the door open and that's when I saw the other man's face."
"Who killed Greg Thomas, Mindy?" Elliot asked.
"In the Greek newspaper, we always have reports about Russia and Chechnya fighting," she explained. "Always something about the Russian mob…well anyway, there is a man who is a skilled assassin called 'The Hand' because he kills with his bare hands. His name is Dmitri Grotevsky."
"And would you be able to describe him to a forensic artist?" Cragen asked.
"No," Mindy said.
Before the detectives had time to be disappointed, she spoke up.
"I can lead you right to Quentin and Dmitri."
Quentin Iberson's Home
Saratoga
7:00 AM
India watched as the baby next to her in the oversized bed began to squeal and flail his arms and legs in the air. She didn't know anything about babies except that they were fragile and needed parents. She leaned in and rubbed the baby's belly, hoping that would soothe him.
She looked around the luxurious room. There were toys, a TV, some books scattered around the room, and there was a small lamp that illuminated only a small portion of the room. The baby continued to cry, and India didn't know what else to do for him.
She got up out of the bed and picked up a book and began to read it to the screaming baby.
"Shh," she whispered. "It's okay."
As she read, she heard footsteps down the hallway and she gasped. When the steps went past, she let out a sigh of relief. Just because India was just five years old, didn't mean that she wasn't a resourceful little girl. She always resolved that there had to be some place to hide, some idea to have, some place to go to always remain safe.
She didn't feel safe around the man that had taken her away from her grandmother. She wished that Olivia would come for her and keep her safe.
The baby had stopped crying and now he was about to go to sleep.
India just knew that there had to be a phone somewhere.
1-6 Precinct
SVU Squad Room
8:00 AM
Elliot rubbed the back of his neck to relieve some of the tension as he walked back to the squad room. He had just taken some aspirin and downed a bottle of water in hopes that his tension headache would go away. The precinct buzzed with a flurry of people going in and out, shuffling paperwork, and of course answering phones that were ringing off the hook. All at eight in the morning.
As he walked, he noticed someone familiar sitting in one of the waiting rooms.
"Maureen?" He asked.
She turned, and her eyes registered that of surprise and of being caught.
"Dad," she said, smiling nervously. "Hey."
"Hey, what are you doing here? Don't you have class?" Elliot asked his daughter.
"Oh, yeah, our professor cancelled," she explained.
"Okay, but that still doesn't answer the question as to why you're here," he said, getting worried. "Did something happen? Are you okay?"
"Dad, I'm fine," she insisted. "I just brought my friend here to file a harassment complaint."
Elliot felt the tension in his neck and shoulders all over again as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"In the narcotics division?" He asked.
Before Maureen could get anything else out, Chris called her name.
"Maureen what are-" he stopped when he saw Elliot. "Oh my God. Mr. Stabler."
Elliot looked between the two of them, and he felt like he was going to completely go insane.
"You're a detective?" He asked Chris almost too quietly.
"Yes sir," Chris answered, looking down at his feet. "I transferred to the narcotics division six months ago."
Elliot nodded.
"Okay," he said before turning and walking away.
"Dad, don't do this," Maureen called. "Dad!"
Elliot walked into the squad room in a furry, ignoring Olivia's inquiry and sitting at his desk, rubbing his forehead.
"Elliot," Olivia tried again. "What the hell is going on with you?"
"I just found out that Chris, the man that's about to marry my daughter in a month, is a detective in the narcotics division," he chuckled bitterly. "In the same precinct. I feel like I'm in a fucking bad sitcom with people waiting for it to get funny."
Olivia just stared at him.
"Why are you so calm about this?" He asked, taking deep breaths to relieve the tight feeling in his chest.
"Well for one, I'm starting to understand why Maureen didn't tell you," she began, crossing her arms over her chest. "And two, that is so low on our priority scale right now."
Elliot sighed.
"Alright," he conceded. "You're right. I'm sorry."
Just then, Munch and Fin walked into the squad room.
"Cragen called us, he said that you have Mindy Varlos here," Fin said as he sat down at his desk.
"Yeah, she's getting freshened up," Elliot said, calming down a little more.
"So, what'd she give us?" Munch asked.
"Well, we have two main characters," Olivia explained looking through her notes. "A Quentin Iberson, and a Dmitri Grotevsky."
Fin stood up.
"Quentin Iberson?" He asked. "I remember that name."
"From where?" Olivia asked.
"Me and a couple of other guys down in Narc meet once a month to unload," he began. "We toss names around and remember old cases that really got to us. The last time one of my good friends mentioned Quentin Iberson. He said that he's one of the worst domestic traffickers he's ever seen. He's got it all: night clubs, a partnership in a shipping company, and former officers from INS to smuggle in his women. Before they can catch him, the guy makes everything look legit while he's sitting in jail. One phone call does a lot for the bastard."
Cragen came out of his office.
"I ran Quentin Iberson's name through the system," he announced. "He has several complaints filed against his for domestic violence and harassment, but the charges were dropped when the women who filed them either pulled the plug or up and disappeared."
"Sounds like a real prince this guy," Olivia huffed. "Is there anything about child abuse, attempted kidnapping?"
"Nope, nothing," Cragen said. "Look, I'm bringing Narc in on this before they get wind and get territorial. If Mindy can lead us to him, she'll lead us to India the baby, and the drugs. She'll bust this thing wide open."
"That's only if she's willing to cooperate," Elliot said.
"Still, what is the connection?" Munch asked. "I mean, from brutal murders to abducting children?"
Olivia began pacing.
"I'm no psychologist, but, maybe we've been looking at this the wrong way," she said. "What if this isn't about the drugs? I mean, yeah Sherona Anderson and Greg Thomas were carrying the drugs on them, but I don't think they were mules. I'm thinking that this is about taking back something…possession even."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Cragen asked.
Olivia sighed.
"I don't know, it's just a thought," she said before leaving the room.