Chapter 25

The next morning, Elliot and Olivia headed down to forensics before heading into the precinct. They were hoping that the techs had had some luck with the DNA and fingerprints from Kevin Nickell. CSU tech Bobby Hines was there, at his desk, and he greeted the detectives.

"What do you have for us Bobby?" Elliot asked after saying hello to him.

"Well, I'm not sure it was what you were looking for, but it does seem that your guy's prints were already in the system," Bobby explained.
"They were? We ran all of the names Connie gave us and none of them popped," Olivia was confused.

"That would be because our police assaulting man's fingerprints match a Kevin Barber," Bobby said before picking up a manila folder off his desk and handing it to her. Olivia flipped through the file as the tech continued,

"He's got a sheet for petit larceny and shoplifting."

"So, no breaking and entering or assault?" Elliot wondered.

"The petit larceny charge came from his stealing his neighbor's new TV and entertainment equipment. Seems the delivery guys got the apartment number wrong and he didn't correct him. It wasn't until they returned later in the day with a few patrol officers that Kevin fessed up," Bobby said.

"Definitely not the brains behind the operation then," Olivia shook her head.

"I wouldn't think so especially since his fingerprints showed up at your apartment. I've run the other prints but no dice. Maybe our guy just hasn't gotten caught yet?" Bobby shrugged.

"Well, they had a gun. Does Kevin have a license? Petit larceny is a non-violent misdemeanor. It would technically be ok for him to have one," Elliot said.

"No license for Kevin but that does bring me to the bullet. The doctors were able to remove the one that hit Sally Walden and it had enough of it left that I could run the striations through the system. The gun had been used before. A store owner was shot during a robbery where the perps got away with just a few candy bars and a twelve pack of beer. I'm guessing that the original intention was to just scare the store owner, not shoot him. If these guys were hardened robbers, they would have at least tried to pry open the cash register," the tech told them.

"So maybe this second guy has just been lucky that Kevin has gotten caught rather than him," Olivia said.

"Well, no one would rat on their friends for shoplifting. That doesn't usually end in a long prison sentence, sometimes the convicted don't even go to prison and just pay restitution," Elliot frowned.

"Looking at the whole picture, how does Linda fit into all of this? How would she have known these two?" His partner asked.

"That is a good question," Bobby said.

"All right so we have Linda, who kills Alan. The two of them kidnapped Stephanie but not really because the Uncle knew about it. Linda gets arrested and not long after the Uncle is murdered. Then we have two goons who tried to break into your apartment and get at Calvin, but they end up shooting Sally. Something is missing and it's more than just our second guy," Elliot shook his head.

"It always confused me that Linda didn't try and run after she shot Alan. I mean even if he survives, they'll be caught for what everyone else would have considered a kidnapping. All she did was try to hide the stuff in the apartment," Olivia said.

"That still has to be the key. Our other guy has to be on the videos or in the receipts or something," Elliot said.

"Connie ID'd everyone that we saw in the videos," she pointed out. Her phone buzzed and she quickly pulled it out of her pocket.

"Benson," she was quiet for a few moments, but Elliot could see the change in her expression. Whatever was going on it wasn't good. Olivia thanked the caller and then hung up.

"We need to get to the precinct," she said.

"What's going on?" Bobby was concerned too, given her change in demeanor.

"The Captain wants us down at the precinct, now," Olivia told them, her face was starting to turn red.

"Come on, let's go. Thanks Bobby. Call us if you get anything else," Elliot said as the two left the lab. He wanted to press his partner on what the Captain had said but he could see the rage from before was slowly building again. Her emotions had been less bottled since Jenna. He didn't see it as a bad thing, but Olivia wasn't thrilled. She didn't want everyone to know what she was thinking or feeling – it had been a defense mechanism and a good one when she first started in the department, as she was one of the few women recruits. Now he worried her spilling over emotions could make her more like him – volatile, even though she didn't mean it. He promised to keep an eye on her for the Captain, but he wouldn't ever tell him his inner thoughts. Olivia didn't deserve any more scrutiny after what had happened.

"I need a few minutes," she suddenly said as they climbed into the car. Olivia was clenching her fists on her thighs.

"Before we leave?" Elliot wanted to know. He didn't want to rush her. She just nodded and took a few deep breaths. This was a deeper rage than before; he knew because he was pretty sure her fingernails were going to draw blood from her palms. Doing the only thing he could think of Elliot reached across the seat and put his hand over her left fist.

"Stephanie crossed paths with Kevin as they were leading him away to head for central booking. She had a panic attack and Huang had to sedate her. They called for EMS," Olivia finally spoke after a few minutes.

"That son of a bitch," it was Elliot's turn to get pissed off. He fired up the engine and whipped the car out of the parking lot and onto the street.

To Be Continued…