Chapter 6

"Elliot… Elliot…" the detective jolted awake to find Munch shaking him, "You didn't go home?" The elder man asked. He'd found Elliot leaning over his desk, his left cheek had an imprint of his left palm in it. It had looked mighty uncomfortable.

"What time is it?" Elliot asked, sitting himself up, rubbing his eyes, and cracking is neck.

"Earlier than it needs to be, so about seven am," Fin had already made his way to the coffee machine to start up a fresh pot. There were used to coming into the precinct around nine unless a case dictated otherwise.

"You need a shower. Why'd you spend the whole night here?" Munch pressed.

"I was waiting for Liv. I was kind of hoping she had something," he admitted.

"You shower and change. I'll try and give Liv a call and find out where she's at," the Sergeant promised. Elliot nodded and headed toward the cribs and his locker, thankful that Liv had convinced him to keep an extra set of clothes, some shampoo, and a toothbrush and toothpaste inside his locker. While he didn't have a lot of hair to wash, the shampoo could double up as body wash, every once in a while. It was just something that made him smile because Olivia was always looking out for him especially since he couldn't count on someone bringing him what he needed from home. Once the items he needed were retrieved, he headed for the men's shower.

"What do you s'pose Liv found, since she isn't here?" Fin wondered, handing his partner a fresh cup of coffee.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't what we expected. She'd have been back by now if she had," Munch frowned and quickly punched the button that Olivia's number was stored in. He had barely gotten to the second ring when they heard the ringtone nearby.

"Is that you?" Olivia asked as she walked into the bullpen.

"Yup," Munch hung his phone up.

"You get any sleep Baby Girl?" Fin asked, heading back to the coffee machine to get her a cup of the hot liquid.

"That would be a 'no', but I'll take coffee as a substitute," she smirked as he handed her a disposable cup of coffee.

"I just had to kick Elliot into the locker room for a shower and since you're wearing the same outfit as yesterday, I'd suggest you do the same. It's going to be another long day," the Sergeant told her.

"Maybe not as long as you think. Is the Captain in?" Olivia asked.

"Not yet but he had an early meeting at One PP anyway," Munch explained. She nodded and collapsed into the seat at her desk.

"Since we need to wait for Elliot, go take a nice hot shower. It'll help keep you awake," the Sergeant said. Olivia heaved a sigh and both men could tell that she was bothered by something.

"I brought bagels," Kenny announced as he walked into the bullpen.

"Now there is something that can put me to sleep, carbs. Save me one. I'm heading for the shower," she turned and smiled at him.

"Yes ma'am," he smiled back and set the bagels down on her desk so that the three of them could descend on the breakfast food.

Olivia opened the door to the cribs only to find Elliot coming out of the locker room door, smartly dressed in a new suit. She couldn't help but smirk and he smirked right back, watching her going to her own locker. He walked up next to her and she handed him her clean outfit along with her little hygiene kit.

"All nice and clean?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, but having dirty thoughts," Elliot smirked.

"Save those for later," she chuckled, taking her things from him. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he watched her walk toward the ladies locker room, her hips swaying. You're killing me woman; he kept those words to himself and exited the cribs.

Twenty minutes later, Olivia was back walking into the bullpen. The team had been assembling everything they had on the board. It was too early in the morning to get any leads, but they needed to be ready, going over everything they knew, and wanting to make sure they were all on the same page.

"So, what did you find in the videos?" Elliot asked. He had saved her a sesame seed bagel and had put cream cheese on it for her. Her stomach growled and she grabbed up the paper plated from her desk, sitting down on top of her desk before biting into the fresh baked good.

"Not what you'd expect, which is why Rena and I spent most of the night going through all the DVDs," she explained, after swallowing her first bite.

"That must have been fun," Kenny said. He was standing next to the white board with a write-and-wipe marker.

"The DVDs with Stephanie's name on them would seem to be benign on their face. Our victim, Alan Smythe, recorded their sessions but all they showed was him helping Stephanie with her writing, math, reading, and science," Olivia told them before biting into her bagel again.

"So, no hanky panky," Munch was confused.

"Well, there was hanky panky just not Alan with Stephanie. Far as I can figure, Alan had a voracious sex drive. The DVDs show him engaged in a variety of sex acts – threesomes, twosomes with both men and women, but you know what it doesn't show? None of the DVDs show him and Linda sweating up the sheets," she said.

"So perhaps the motive for killing him is jealousy?" Fin wondered.

"Could be but I think what we found on the last DVD was what bothered me the most," Olivia paused and Elliot could tell that her anger was beginning to boil below the surface.

"Linda must not have known about Alan's camera. She brought Stephanie into the bedroom and made her sit on the bed. The woman then begins to berate Stephanie and hit her. I don't know what was worse, the fact that Linda was hitting a mentally challenged woman or the fact that Stephanie didn't defend herself," she said.

"What had Linda all worked up?" Munch asked.

"She thought that Alan was sleeping with her. I mean you could tell by the look on Stephanie's face she had no idea what Linda was going on about. That's when Linda said she'd teach her for sleeping with her husband. She went to the nightstand but that's when Alan walked into the room. He demanded to know what was going on. Linda looked like she'd gotten her hand caught in the cookie jar and stormed out of the room. Alan went to Stephanie and checked her out. He apologized for Linda's behavior and promised that he would talk to her. That was the end of the DVD. I'm not sure why Alan kept it but perhaps he hadn't had time to throw the disc out? He must have been expecting company because he wouldn't have had the camera on all the time, catching mundane everyday goings on," Olivia frowned.

"We're assuming that Linda didn't know about the camera. What if she did? We never found the computer that Alan had to have been using to burn the DVDs. The camera wouldn't have that capability," Elliot wondered.

"You think she wanted to get Stephanie admitting on tape that Alan was busy ruining her innocence?" Kenny asked.

"We have to assume that whatever was in the nightstand was something that Linda was about to use. Did CSU go through it?" Munch wanted to know. Kenny grabbed up the list of items retrieved from the apartment off of the board.

"CSU says they found remotes for the TV and DVD player, an alarm clock, and…" Kenny swallowed.

"And…?" Olivia pressed.

"Sex toys including…" he didn't get to finish as Fin cut him off.

"I think we all know what Linda had in mind," he said.

"I think we do. I also think it's time we take another run at Linda. If we show her that we know more than she thinks, she might crack like an egg," Elliot suggested.

"She refused to crack when we told her we were upping the charges to murder," Fin wasn't so confident.

"Yes, but we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes and now we know that it was possible Linda sanitized some of the crime scene. CSU searched that apartment top to bottom looking for the computer but never found it. It has to still be there somewhere," Elliot said.

"I'll get Linda brought back in here. She has some 'splaining to do," Munch grabbed his cell phone.

"I'll get ahold of CSU and head back to the apartment," Kenny said.

"We've got to find Stephanie. Who knows where she is or who could be taking advantage of her? I mean Alan seemed to really care for her so while he was busy getting his rocks off, would he leave her in the next room? Where was Linda while he was doing all of that?" Olivia gave Elliot a look.

"Where you able to identify any of Alan's sex partners?" Elliot wanted to know.

"Rena is trying to run faces through facial recognition but that could take forever. He had thirty-five DVDs, some with multiple partners on them," she heaved out a sigh.

"You think Alan was an addict or did he just have one heck of a sex drive?" her partner wondered.

"If he was a sex addict, I don't think he would have been able to keep his hands off Stephanie or Linda. The camera would allow him to relive every moment of those acts, but I think we all know that playing with oneself isn't always as fun as playing with a partner," Olivia said.

"Well, I guess that depends on the partner. Did you see Alan use the toys the CSU found?" Elliot asked. He spun around in his chair and took the list that Kenny had set down. Handing it over to his partner, he watched as Olivia took stock of the toy list.

"We didn't see him use any. Kenny, is CSU running the DNA on the toys?" She wanted to know when the young detective got off the phone.

"They wanted to see if they could match any DNA on them to the toothbrushes. Since Linda was arrested and Alan is dead, they are using those samples to check the samples against. Two techs are going to meet me at the apartment in twenty," he explained.

"Good luck and keep us posted," Elliot said.

"You got it," Kenny smiled and then headed out of the bullpen doors. Munch hung up his cell phone and announced that Central Booking was transferring Linda back into their custody. They would be there within the hour. That's when Olivia's desk phone rang.

"Benson," Elliot watched as the look on her face changed, "Thanks," she said before hanging up. Quickly standing from her desk, she announced,

"There's an early morning soccer game in Central Park. One of the college kids thinks that the lady that showed up at the field is the one from our announcement. They're keeping her busy until we get there."

"You and Elliot go! Fin and I will handle Linda," Munch told them.

To Be Continued…