CHAPTER 2

16TH PRECINCT
TUESDAY, JUNE 11TH
9:00 A.M.

Cragen walked out of his office to find his team sharing coffee and teasing insults – another typical day. He noticed that Elliot seemed a little more like himself lately and made a mental note to ask Olivia if she'd finally gotten him to talk things through. "All right, children. Settle down. Fin, Munch, I've got an ugly one for you. Sacred Heart Home for Children."

Cragen caught the look on his detectives' faces. "No, nothing happened to the kids, but that doesn't make it any easier. We've got two nuns murdered and a third raped and left for dead. Like I said, it's a really ugly scene. CSU and the local uniforms are already there. Get down there and see what you can find out. Take Huang, if he's available. I want to nail this psycho."

"Elliot, Olivia, there's a couple of new leads on your Eastside Peeping Tom to run down later, but I want you over at the hospital now. The sister who survived was taken to Mercy. So get there sooner, not later."

MERCY HOSPITAL
11:00 A.M.

"Detectives? Sister Mary Katherine made it through her surgery. She's in her room and starting to come to, if you'd like to talk with her now," the surgeon paused, fixing Elliot and Olivia with a stern look. "I know how important it is for you to get her statement quickly, but she very nearly died. Her body is still in a state of shock and exciting her or upsetting her could be very dangerous. Kid gloves, okay? Get what you need to catch this monster, but do it gently." The surgeon directed Olivia to room 1273. Elliot stayed behind to get the complete medical report, and to allow his partner to establish a rapport with the victim first.

Olivia knocked softly on the door, before stepping inside. "Sister Mary Katherine? I'm Detective Benson with the Special Victims Unit. Do you feel up to talking?" The battered figure on the bed nodded hesitantly, and Olivia sat down next to the bed. "Can you remember anything about the attack? Start at the beginning, but take your time. It's okay," she said in her most soothing voice.

"I woke up early, to check on one of the children who was sick last night. I was walking towards the children's dormitories when I heard something strange coming from one of the storage rooms. I heard voices, then a struggle. I opened the door and saw Mother Superior falling to the floor. There was blood everywhere and then I saw him." Her eyes widened in shock. "No! Sweet Jesus, NO! IT'S HIM! HIM!" The nun began scrambling back in her bed to escape, dislodging her IVs and disturbing her freshly stitched wounds. Her panicked eyes never left the doorway.

As the young nun's hysteria rose to a fevered pitch, Olivia whirled to face the door and saw Elliot standing in the doorframe, dumbfounded. He quickly stepped out of the room as a barrage of nurses filled the room to calm their now-sobbing patient and to treat her fresh bleeding. The surgeon ran over to Elliot, demanding to know what happened.

"I have no idea, Doc. I was just about to enter the room and she lost it. I mean, sometimes that happens with rape victims, they can't be around men without freaking out. I'm really sorry."

Olivia joined them in the hallway, explaining, "They've sedated her again and re-bandaged the worst of her wounds. Doctor, why didn't you warn us that she was too traumatized to see my partner?"

"Warn you? Detectives, Sister Mary Katherine has been surrounded by male doctors and uniformed cops since she came in this morning. That's the first time she's reacted like that to ANYONE!"

SACRED HEART HOME FOR CHILDREN
11:30 A.M.

Detective Munch was not a particularly religious man, and definitely not Catholic, but what he had seen this morning truly turned his stomach. Whether you are religious or not, there just always seemed to be something sacred and untouchable about a nun. Apparently the perp didn't feel the same. He turned away from the savaged body of Sister Mary Elizabeth and stepped out of the Home's main administrative offices. He crossed the corridor to where Dr. Huang was comparing notes with one of the CSU techs. "So, Doc," Munch interrupted, "you got a feel for this guy or what?"

"John, I've examined both murder scenes. Each shows signs of extreme aggression on the part of the perp..."

Munch interrupted, "Really, Doc? Extreme aggression, huh? And here I thought our psycho just tripped and fell knife-first onto them about 30 or 40 times." He raised an eyebrow at the psychologist's obvious observation.

"May I continue, Detective? As I was saying, they show signs of extreme aggression but it appears planned. Controlled. Organized. We aren't talking about a psychopath here, but a sociopath. He's smart, too smart. He harbors a real grudge against nuns or religious figures in general. And, he obviously wanted something from them. There are no signs that this was random. He came to this specific place and killed these specific nuns for a reason. I just don't know the 'why' yet."

"Information," Fin said, joining the group as Dr. Huang finished his description. "I just spent some time with one of the administrative assistants that works here. Turns out the storage room where Mother Superior was sliced is where they keep their old adoption records and case files from pre-computer days. She told me the entire room is neatly lined with boxes of these files. Only it isn't anymore. When I was in there checking out the vic, I saw a bunch of boxes pulled from the shelves. After talking with the assistant, I went back and re-checked. Sure enough, the late 60s and early 70s were all stacked on the floor. 68 is missing entirely. Our perp's looking for someone that used to live here."

Munch pondered Fin's new information briefly before asking, "So he kills Sister Mary Elizabeth to find out where the files are kept and kills the Mother Superior after she helps him find the right one? Okay, that tracks. So what about Sister Mary Katherine?"

Dr. Huang replied, "The younger nun? She's another story. The MO with her was different. She wasn't part of the plan. She must have just wandered by after he killed the Mother Superior. He already had the information he came for and he could have let her go, but he took the time to play a while. Guys, I'm afraid Sister Mary Katherine was just for fun."

He kept to the edges, blending into the background business of the bustling crime scene. A few of the uniformed cops nodded their hellos, and he resisted the urge to slice them open and play in their entrails. With a smile that he hoped was convincing, he returned their nods and moved on toward where he'd offed the senior nun. As he approached, he saw the detectives, deep in conversation, and he quickly turned to exchange mock pleasantries with a passing CSU tech. He couldn't get caught now, and the detectives were too quick to notice changes. He heard the Asian man's description of the younger nun as "just for fun" and a smirk played around the corners of his mouth. Fun didn't describe the rush he got from having that fine piece. He lingered another moment, savoring his memories, then swiftly departed before any of the detectives noticed him or his renewed arousal.

STABLER RESIDENCE
9:45 P.M.

Despite the gruesome details of their new case, Elliot wasn't feeling too terrible. He had kept busy all day, and Olivia lived up to her threat, er, promise and had showed up at his place with a bottle of wine and a DVD. They'd worked together on a quick meal and settled in on the couch to watch the movie. He picked up the DVD case. "Aw, Liv. Are you kidding me? Miss Congeniality again?"

"You need to laugh and it's funny. Besides, you always want an action flick." She kicked off her shoes and snuggled in to 'her' corner of the couch. "This one's got action and fun."

"Uh-huh. And I suppose the FBI agent in the Speedo has nothing to do with how much you like this film," he smirked at her.

Olivia feigned innocence, "What? There's a Speedo in this film? I had NO idea." He laughed and she grinned at him. "Besides, what's one little Speedo compared to an entire swimsuit competition?"

"All right, all right. You win. Put it on."

Sometime later, a laughing Elliot turned off the DVD player and gathered up the empty wineglasses. "Thanks, Olivia. I really appreciate you giving up your evenings the last couple of nights. It really has helped. I guess I just needed to reconnect with someone."

"Hey, partner, don't get all sappy on me now," Olivia grinned. "You aren't the only one tired of eating take-out for one. Besides, I had nothing better to do."

"Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it." Olivia slipped her shoes on and walked over to him. Resting her hand briefly on his forearm, she said, "For real, Elliot, this has been fun. Wanna do it again tomorrow?"

Their shared smile confirmed the date.

He stood in the shadows, watching and waiting for his target to appear. Across the street, the front door of the apartment building opened and his pulse quickened. There. As he watched, a man wrapped a stunning brunette into a tight embrace. He released her and stepped back inside as she started down the street. Interesting. This was going to be a hell of a lot more fun than anticipated. An evil smile spread across his face as he quickly revised his game plan to include this new player. He stepped from the shadows and put his plan into action.