Lyrics from "Father" by LL Cool J

I swear to tell the truth and nothin' but the truth...
So help me god
I just felt like telling the story of my life
Felt like, maybe somebody could be inspired, you know?
We all feel pain, we all go through things
But it's time to overcome all that

If your plane crashed in the water and everybody died
Would you drown on purpose or try to survive?
I was born handicapped my arm wouldn't move
They called me a cripple pops caught an attitude
Beat my moms smoked lye drove trucks
My moms had a miscarriage, he didn't give a fuck
He sniffed some coke, come home
Beat up on my moms cause she's talking on the phone
Come on

Moms got tired of the beatings said, yo, we got to go
Packed up her bags we bounced out the do'
She said, I ain't taking these whipping's no mo'
I wanna live to see my little Todd grow
I remember tear drops on my pops face
Looking down at me standing on the staircase
Handsome brother with a smooth goatee
Makes me wonder why he act so ugly, you feeling me?

My pops got drunk when me and my moms bounced
Swigged some jack dan', sniffed up a ounce
Grabbed the shotty left long isle for queens
Possessed by a demon... a devil it seemed
I was too young to understand the risk
When your moms come home off the midnight shift
She turned around heard the shotgun click
My pops said, you think that you could leave me?
He blasted my moms in the back
She fell down screaming I can't forget that
My grandfather tried to close the do'
He got shot ten times in the stomach yo, for real

"The guy was a fucking bastard."

"Tell us how you really feel," Munch deadpanned.

David Watson shrugged. "I fucking hated him, made my life miserable. I was just a kid you know? All kids get into a bit of trouble every know and then."

Jeffries consulted her notes. "Yeah, but we heard you got into more than just a 'bit' of trouble Davey. Burglary, assault, possession of stolen property, possession…"

"What, some weed? Pffft," he said, waving his grease-stained hand in dismissal. "Fucking bullshit. He just wanted to harass me. Besides, half that shit was after the bitch bought it."

They were standing in an auto body shop where Watson was a mechanic. Unlike the police station when he first got to town, no one here paid Munch or Jeffries any attention. It was Watson and his friend, Richard Skylar, who had fought with Stabler that night after he prevented them from vandalizing a building. Skylar was currently doing time on a grand larceny charge.

"So you threatened to kill him, then what happened? Munch said, prodding him along.

"He took out his night stick and whacked me in the shoulder blades with it," he said with a scowl. "When I hit the ground, he put his boot on the back of my neck and pressed down real hard and twisted it, like he was grounding out a cigarette or something. Shit hurt."

"Maybe he didn't take your death threat too lightly Davey," Munch said.

David shook his head. "No, you don't get it about him. That was like the 18th run-in we had with that guy. He was crazy. He got off on pain, seeing you suffer or humiliating you. One time, he arrested this chick, made her strip down to nothing, then put her in the back of the squad car and drove around town, hitting all the spots where people hung out. Another time, he busted my boy's nose for nothing. Nothing, just standing there. Said 'That's what you get for looking at me.' He had to go to the hospital."

Jeffries and Munch shared a look. "None of this was in his file," Jeffries said. "Why didn't anyone file a complaint?"

David spit. "Are you fucking serious?" he asked. "What good would that have done? Cops out here, especially back then, got away with everything."

"So you told the police back then you and Skylar went back to your mother's house after Stabler let you go. You didn't come up with a plan of revenge, lure him out of that police station? Maybe make him pay for all the times he harassed you and your friends?" Munch suggested.

"Back to my moms house," David repeated, rolling his eyes. "That's what we did."

Munch and Jeffries nodded then headed towards the door. David called out to them. "Look, it was only matter of time before the dude was going to get it."

The partners turned around. "Did you hear about something before hand David?" Munch asked.

"Naw," David said, shaking his head. "But he pissed every a lot of people off. Even his son beat the shit out of him one time."

That got their attention. "Which son?" Jeffries prodded.

"The older one. They got into a fight outside of Willie's diner. The kid put a hurting on him. I heard it was fucking awesome."

"When was this?"

David threw a gesture. "I don't know…maybe a week or two before he bought it."

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"Yeah, they roughed each other up real good," the old man said. "It took four guys to pull them off of each other."

Jeffries and Munch were too busy chomping to answer right away. "Is it normal for dads to be having drag out, knock down fights with their kids around here?" Munch asked around his mashed potatoes.

"Who knew you could get delicious southern fried chicken in Upstate New York?" Jeffries asked in wonder, spearing another piece from her plate.

Mr. Willie smiled. "That's an old recipe dear, rather famous around these parts," he boasted. "But to answer your question, Byron Stabler got into a lot of fights around here."

"Really?"

Mr. Willie made a show of looking over his shoulder. He leaned in. "You know, I don't really like to speak ill of the dead…"

"It's okay," Munch and Jeffries said in unison.

"But Stabler had himself quite a temper…I heard he used to knock his family around…there were some rumors he was running around in the streets…the guy just wasn't very popular around here."

"Did you ever think the abuse allegations were true?" Munch asked. Damn. Poor Elliot.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "I really liked the family, the mom and the kids. Elliot was a star around here, a great athlete. Everyone loved him, so different than his father. But they never seemed happy around the father. And he was…there was something off about him."

"Meaning…"

"He was cold mean."

Munch and Jeffries looked at each other. "As opposed to hot mean?" Munch asked, somewhat sarcastically.

The old man shifted his feet. "We've had our share of violent men in this town, beat up their kids, wives, dogs, whatever," he said. "But most of the time, alcohol and drugs would get these guys going. But with Byron Stabler…he never touched any of that stuff. The devil made him mean."

The two nodded. "So, what started the fight between Byron and his son?" Munch asked.

"You know, I have no idea. I never thought to ask," Mr. Willie admitted. "I would have never known they were fighting if the girlfriend wouldn't have ran in screaming."

Munch and Jeffries heads snapped up. "Girlfriend…Benson?"

"Yes, Olivia, nice girl, very respectful," Mr Willie smiled. "She moved away along time ago with her mother. I always thought it was odd…"

"Odd…?" Jeffries asked.

"Well," the old man seemed reluctant, "you know I don't like to gossip…"

The detectives were losing patience. "Anything you can give us will help. You've been such a big help so far."

The compliment satisfied Mr. Willie. "Well, it was rumored that Byron was … 'in a relationship' with Olivia's mother. These are just rumors of course," he said quickly.

"Really?" Jeffries' look of shock mirrored Munch's own.

"Yes, so I always thought it was odd that Olivia was dating Byron's son…I mean, wouldn't that have been…awkward?"

Munch and Jeffries finished up their conversation with Mr. Willie, thanking him profusely for his help and promising to leave a big tip. Alone, Munch and Jeffries stared at each other across the table.

"Get the fuck out. This is like reading a Danielle Steel novel," Jeffries finally said. "So what do we got?"

"Byron Stabler was a sadistic bastard that got off on humiliating and hurting others. I'm starting to think his killer deserves a medal instead of a life sentence."

"Besides that."

"I have a newfound respect and understanding for Elliot."

"Okay, besides that."

Munch ticked off the facts. "Olivia and Elliot were together. So apparently was Byron and Serena. We can assume if he abused his family and his perps, he probably abused Serena, maybe even down to Olivia. So that means his family, Serena and Olivia, plus every skel he ever came into contact with had a motive to kill him."

"Ugh, no wonder they couldn't solve this case," Jeffries said. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples. "You really stepped into this one John. My head is starting to hurt."

"Well, the pain is about to get worse Monique."

She opened her eyes. "What?"

Munch was staring out the window, his mouth agape. "Shit. Look."

Jeffries turned around and looked outside. Leaning against their rental car was Elliot and Olivia.

XXXXXXX