Chapter 23

"Where's Stabler?" Munch asked as he went over to make a fresh pot of coffee. Well if that liquid he made could actually be called coffee, that is. He'd finished up with his interviews and was hoping they could all convene, breaking down what they found out.

"Liv is watching Elliot through the glass. He's got a guy named Kevin Nickell in the interrogation room," Fin explained as he took a seat at his desk.

"He's been in there a long time," Kenny admitted from his spot at his desk.

"So we may have something huh?" Munch was hopeful.

"Didn't get much out of your interviewees?" Cragen asked as he exited his office.

"Nothing earth-shattering or even weird – well weirder than sharing a sex pad, that is," Munch said.

"Me too. Nothing seemed out of place and none of the people we ran had a record. So if their sociopaths, they haven't gotten caught before," Kenny spoke up.

"Well there is something this Kevin knows that has Stabler's attention," Fin pointed out. The Captain nodded. There was a commotion near the interrogation room and they quickly leapt from their spots to see if they could assist.

"What happened?" The Captain demanded as Elliot was hauling Kevin Nickell to the holding cell. The black eye that prisoner had didn't go unnoticed.

"Kevin here decided that he was going to try and run out of the interrogation room. On his way out, he took a swing at Liv, when she tried to stop him," Stabler explained, throwing the man into the cell and shutting the door.

"Baby Girl, you all right?" Fin went up to Olivia, who was massaging her jaw, with her left hand. There was a bruise starting to form.

"I think I dodged most of it or he has a very weak punch. Either way, I got him," she admitted as Fin looked her over. He noted her knuckles didn't seem bruised but she kept flexing her right hand.

"I'll get a couple of bags of peas," Kenny offered before dashing over the break room freezer. He'd taken it upon himself to put a few in there that were way past their "good by" date. Munch pulled out the detective's seat as Fin lead her over to the chair and Olivia sat down.

"He's lucky you weren't in full Benson attack mode," the Sergeant smirked.
"He's lucky that El didn't mop the floor with him," Olivia chuckled but then grimaced. Kenny ran back into the room and handed her the two bags of peas. Fin helped her put one on her knuckles while she held the other one with her left hand up to her face.

"We don't have a first aid kit?" Cragen gave him a look, figuring there had to be actual ice packs around.

"It um… got used up…" Kenny didn't say that the last time they had one was back when Olivia had been forced to shoot Jenna. The NYPD hadn't replenished the kit much like they hadn't provided a new coffee maker.

"Right. I'll get on the horn with One PP on that one. First, since Kevin went ahead and assaulted an officer, what were you talking about?" Cragen wanted to know as Elliot moved back to his partner. The detective checked her over while she huffed.

"Elliot," Cragen tried to get him to focus. Stabler nodded and turned toward the group, leaning against Olivia's desk.

"So Ralph Kenda pointed me in the direction of Kevin. Seems that Linda spent a lot of time with Kevin and he liked spending time with her," he started.

"So Linda kills Alan to be with Kevin?" Fin wondered.

"According to the people I spoke to while Linda was technically with Alan, she really preferred to be alone," Munch said.

"An excellent cover because Kevin admitted that he and Linda are in a relationship. He also said that he had no idea she was going to kill Alan," Elliot explained. The Sergeant nodded and the other detective continued,

"So I asked him about Stephanie. He said that Linda told him she was using Stephanie to fleece money out of Joseph Lorigo. He'd only found out because she'd made the off-hand comment that Alan was too weak. When Kevin asked what she meant, Linda said that Alan would have taken care of Stephanie whether they got paid or not."

"And he knew Stephanie's Uncle's name because Linda shared it?" Fin raised an eyebrow.

"Not sure. When I asked how he knew the name of a dead man, he ran out of the room," Elliot said.

"All right, now that he's been formally arrested. Let's get his prints and DNA to forensics. Maybe when we show him how much we have him, he'll roll on his buddy," Cragen told them.

To Be Continued…