Chapter 15

Olivia blew a breath through her teeth. Doctor Huang had called for a break, allowing Kate and Carl to see their family member. He suggested that they order lunch and that maybe discuss getting Stephanie a therapist back where her family lived. The FBI agent got on his phone and sat down at Kenny's desk to get to work.

Elliot watched his partner as she sank down into her chair at her desk. He could tell that emotionally she was drained. It was something she used to hide better but since Jenna, she didn't try as hard to hide it. That's why he hated what he had to say next,

"TARU broke the encryption. There's proof that…" she didn't let him finish.

"Someone hurt Stephanie," she said. Elliot just nodded. Something must have happened in the interview.

"Who's reviewing the files?" The brunette wanted to know.

"Fin and Kenny are going to go through them in the empty interrogation room on laptop. Munch has a guy that will try and decode a spreadsheet. It's not encrypted but its weird notations and some sort of number chart. Maybe people who she was selling videos and photos to or selling…" again she cut him off.

"Selling Stephanie to," Olivia's emotional drainage had seemingly ended, being replaced by rage.

"Might help us find this Doug that Stephanie mentioned," Elliot said.

"If he's smart, he already left town. We could not get more out of Stephanie regarding him. She refused to talk about him, like he was some sort of government secret…" something struck her and the link between her and her partner was working because Elliot looked at her.

"She's protecting him," he agreed with her thought.

"It took a while for her to admit that Linda was doing things to her. She couldn't really describe them, her brain… it was too much to process and we'd been pressing her as gently as we could for over two hours. She just cracked and started to cry. It was enough for both of us. So, if this Doug was doing the same thing, you would have thought that she would have said something," Olivia said.

"So, what does he mean to her?" Elliot wondered.

"We need to find out how this Doug is related to Alan or Linda. I can't imagine they'd willingly let their kidnap victim go to someone else's house. Not when there's a chance that Stephanie could spill the beans," she frowned.

"He's gotta be in on it or maybe a friend of Alan's? We have no proof that Alan ever hurt Stephanie. Is it possible he didn't know what Linda was up to? He had to know about the kidnapping but not necessarily that Linda was abusing her. We need to talk to someone about the kind of guy Alan was. Maybe he thought he was really helping Stephanie; we did find that paperwork in James' place. That reminds me, I gotta bug the forensic accountant," Elliot said. He reached for his phone, but Olivia stopped him.

"Maybe an in-person visit is warranted," she said, the look in her eyes told him, it was an excuse to get some fresh air. Elliot nodded and stood up. They grabbed their coats and were about to head to the door of the bullpen when a woman and a man walked into the room.

"Can we help you?" Olivia asked, stopping in her tracks.

"I honestly have no idea where to start," the woman spoke and Elliot noticed that she was firmly grasping the man's right hand with her left. She appeared to be in her sixties; she had graying brunette hair and stood about six inches shorter than the younger man she was holding onto.

"Ok, why don't you sit down, and we'll start with the easy question – what is your name?" Elliot offered the woman a chair next to his desk and Olivia offered the chair next to hers to the man.

"My name is Amy Pearson. This is my son, Doug," the name almost made Olivia jump out of her seat.

"Doug?" The younger man hadn't said a word and it was then that Olivia took a closer look at him. She wasn't sure but she could feel something was off.

"He called me all in a panic. Saying that Stephanie was missing. Then I remembered the vulnerable adult alert. Somehow Doug knows her, but I have no idea how," Amy admitted.

"Doug, how do you know Stephanie?" Olivia turned her attention to him.

"Doug, you need to answer the detective," his mother pressed. Doug just shook his head – an odd thing to do for a man that age. Elliot pulled Amy aside and asked,

"What's wrong with him?"

"He has an autism spectrum disorder. He's high functioning and lives in a community of others like himself. He has his own apartment, but he can be socially awkward get really absorbed into his favorite things. He's really been doing better with the communication training and behavioral therapy. I was so happy to see him socialize better. As you can imagine, this shut down has me very nervous," Amy explained. That's when the door to the small interrogation room opened. The detectives weren't paying attention until Stephanie excitedly said,

"Doug!"

To Be Continued…