Chapter 8

"Hi Stephanie, my name is George," Doctor Huang walked into the small interrogation room about an hour later. He'd rushed over as quickly as he could after receiving Elliot's call. Then the detectives had brought him up to speed regarding how they found her and that Linda Smythe had started to talk but once Munch and Fin got to a certain point, she clammed up and wanted a lawyer.

"Hi. I'm meeting all sorts of people today," she smiled from the far end of the table. Her teddy bear was sitting upright on the table next to her left elbow.

"I bet you've had quite the busy morning," he was leaning against the closed door. Olivia and Elliot were standing inside the Captain's office, listening on the little speaker and viewing through the one-way glass. Munch and Fin were making sure that Linda was being sent back to Central Booking and the Tombs. The Sergeant had made sure that she'd be transferred to Rikers as quickly as possible.

"May I sit down?" Huang asked.

"Yes," Stephanie smiled. The FBI agent nodded and sat down in the seat nearest the teddy bear.

"Who is this charming little fellow?" Huang wanted to know.

"This is Ted E. Bear. He and I have known each other my whole life," the mentally challenged woman was still smiling.

"Oh yeah? How long is that?" He inquired.

"Thirty years or so I've been told," she said.

"So you've been told?" Huang wanted to probe that a little more.

"I don't remember so good," Stephanie admitted.

"I heard you were in an accident," he said.

"I was," the woman's demeanor shifted. Where once there had been a smile, now there was just a somber look. She reached for Ted and she pulled him close.

"We don't need to talk about that. What we do need to talk about is how you ended up with Alan and Linda," Huang explained.

"Alan is nice. He's trying to help me," the smile came back to her face.

"What about Linda?" He asked.

"She's not nice. I make her mad," Stephanie was once again deflated.

"You make her mad? I find that hard to believe," Huang said.

"I'm stupid and I can't do things," she told him.

"You're not stupid. What happened to you is not your fault. You're doing the best you can," he reassured her before asking, "What would Linda do when she was mad?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Stephanie said. Elliot looked at Olivia. He could see that she was clenching her fists; her anger was on the rise. Putting his hand on her shoulder, wishing her could hold her closer, he said,

"We already have Linda in custody. She's not getting away."

"Where was Stephanie? Linda had help to get her out of that facility and she had help keeping the secret. Alan may have helped with those but who had Stephanie prior to Alan's death?" Olivia wanted to know. He nodded. Linda had definitely taken Stephanie somewhere because she didn't seem to know that Alan was dead.

"I know that it can be difficult to talk about, but I only want to help," Huang's words pulled them back to the room.

"Help?" Stephanie was questioning his motives.

"Yes. I know that you were living in a nice place with people taking care of you before you moved in with Alan and Linda. Why did you move in with them?" The forensic psychiatrist asked.

"Linda said that they were going to help me. My Uncle said it was ok," Stephanie explained. This time Olivia looked at Elliot. He went out of the Captain's office and found Fin.

"Hey, has James Lorigo showed up?" He wanted to know. Elliot had called him but had had to leave him a message. Typically, they would wait to speak to a victim like Stephanie until she had family member there but since they wanted to keep her out of sight from Linda and they worried that there was someone else out there who had helped Linda, it didn't seem prudent.

"Not yet. I was just about to try and call him again," Fin said.

"Don't. I want a check run on him," Elliot told him.

"What's going on?" the former narcotics detective asked.

"Stephanie just said that Linda told her, her uncle said it was ok that she go with her," Stabler said.

"Couldn't that just be a line?" Fin was skeptical.

"That was the first thought until you told me he wasn't here. Stephanie's been missing a year. He rushes down here to tell us all about her but when we actually have her, he doesn't show up?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"I'll run the check," Fin nodded.

To Be Continued…