Chapter 22

"All right everyone! Let's calm down! You're here because you knew Alan and he's dead! He left a mystery behind and if you don't want to be charged with anything, you'll cooperate!" Captain Cragen yelled at the group of people who had been brought into the precinct and would not calm down. With Connie's help, they had found almost everyone in the videos. That meant there were almost ten people milling around and extra officers had been called in from downstairs to corral them.

"What are you talking about?! Why are we here?" One man demanded.

"You were friends of Alan, correct? How about Linda?" Cragen asked. That made them all quiet down for the moment.

"She killed Alan and we all know it," a woman said.

"Yes well, instead of confessing, Linda has clammed up. We need to know if one of you saw something. Something that would make Linda kill poor Alan," the Captain explained. It wasn't totally the truth, but they didn't want to spoil the surprise just yet.

"Ok so Ralph Kenda, you're up first with Detective Stabler. Lisa Channing you're with Detective Benson. Susan Rosnak, Detective Briscoe would like a word. David Tyler, please see Detective Tutuola. Christine McCarthy, Detective Munch is waiting for you. Last but certainly not least, Andrew Lawrence, please step into my office. The rest of you will be kept company by these nice officers. We'll try and get to you as quickly as we can," with that the Captain watched as the detectives took their charges into different spots to interrogate.

"Ok Ralph, we're going to start with your friend Alan. You guys really got along huh?" Elliot asked. He had pulled the man into the interrogation room, hoping that he could get more info from the man who appeared most on the films. The detective took the seat that put his back to the two way mirror.

"We were consenting adults," Ralph said. He was a tall, lanky man with dark brown hair.

"Yeah, but you see not everyone was. Did you know about Stephanie Sherman?" Elliot slid a picture of her across the table.

"The name doesn't ring a bell but the face… I met her once at Alan's. She was a sweetie. Definitely something off with her because she seemed like she was our age," Ralph said.

"Stephanie has a traumatic brain injury which caused her to revert to the age of a ten-year-old. See she was at a group home and then she just poof disappeared. Somehow, she ended up at Alan and Linda's little sex pad," Elliot told him.

"Look, she was never part of what we were doing. The only reason I met her was because Alan said he was running behind when I got there. He took her somewhere. Said she was heading to a friend's place. I just waited for him. Connie was running behind that day too," Ralph said. Elliot looked at him – Ralph was completely relaxed; there were no signs of deception yet.

"How well do you know the others in the little group?" The detective wanted to know.

"Alan, Connie, and I worked together. I met some of the others, but I mostly only hung out with those two. On the occasion that I didn't, stick with them, we really didn't spend much time talking… if you know what I mean," the man admitted.

"Right. So, you didn't know about Stephanie. You didn't happen to know about her uncle, would you?" Elliot wondered.

"No. Why?" Ralph seemed confused.

"Did you know that Linda was busy keeping records of who was coming and going from the apartment? Also, how in the heck did Alan afford that place and his own place?" Stabler decided to try a different tack.

"I did not know about Linda. I never really liked her. She has issues… as for the place, we each paid for a piece of the rent, since we were all using it," the answer came easily, no having to think about it.

"Issues?" Elliot was hoping that this was something he could use.

"She'd get angry quite easily. I have no idea how she managed to keep her job at the group home. I mean she had no patience and she liked it rough. I've never met a woman who would…" this was the first time he stopped and seemed unsure how to continue.

"Look I'm no prude. You'd never survive in this unit if you were," Elliot said.

"Well… she liked to use toys. I mean I'm all for having fun by yourself, but it seemed like she used the toys more than she had fun with other people. Also, she liked to watch. It was her idea to start videotaping in the first place. Then she got mad when we didn't show off what our mommas gave us," Ralph explained.

"That explains that one video. We couldn't figure out if you guys were being taped without consent or what was going on. How do you know that Linda liked toys so much?" The detective asked.

"Yeah, the rest of the videos, we bare all. I guess it was kind of silly to hide. It's not like we hadn't seen everyone naked before. As for Linda, well… I usually liked to be with Alan and Connie or if not with both, then one or the other. One time, Linda came up to me and said that she didn't understand what enjoyment there was to be had when a man was using her back door. I have no idea why she phrased it that way, but I knew what she meant. Anyway, Alan apparently would do all sorts of stuff, but he refused to do that with her. I think I figured out why. I told her if she wanted to find out, I'd be more than happy to oblige. Honestly, I thought maybe she was feeling left out since Alan was getting quite a bit of sex and I had no idea if she really was. She agreed and we started to goof around first but almost like it was an extension of her, she grabbed one of her vibrators… I mean she basically didn't let me try and do anything near her front. She only wanted the vibrator up there and me in the back. She wanted me to hit her, which is not my bag. The whole experience was just weird," Ralph admitted.

"Sounds like it. We know that Linda is capable of murder. You think anyone else in the group is? The kidnapping of Stephanie was out of character for Alan, right?" Elliot changed topics.

"I couldn't see it but like I said, I don't really know most of the group. As for Alan, if he was worried about Stephanie and her safety, he would have done anything to make sure she was safe. He's like that with all of his patients. I have no idea why that would mean he'd need to kidnap Stephanie. I mean there had to be a better way than that," the man said.

"Well hard to commit fraud when everything seems on the up and up. We're thinking Linda had her hand in that too," Elliot told him.

"There is one of the guys who is close with Linda, that wasn't Alan. His name is Kevin. I saw him out there earlier," Ralph told him.

"Then I'll make sure to ask him some questions. Thanks," Elliot smiled; this might be the lead they needed.

To Be Continued…