Latch Key
Chapter Two
Elliot Stabler's Home
Queens
7:45 PM
Olivia sighed as she stirred the vegetables sautéing in the pan on the stove. Dickie and Elizabeth were just finishing up their homework and they were now setting the table for dinner. Olivia made a roast, some potatoes, and some stirred vegetables.
Her migraine was so bad, and she just wanted to lay down. Dickie and Elizabeth were quiet for that very reason. When she and Dickie got home, she told the twins to get started on their homework and to study before she went upstairs to change.
She had some of her things at Elliot's house and his things at her apartment. She changed into a pair of sweatpants and put on a tee shirt.
Elliot came into the house via the back door.
"Hey dad," Dickie said quietly, all activity stopping. "I'm sorry I got in trouble."
Elliot went over and hugged his son. "I'm not upset. Olivia called and told me what happened. Next time, just don't even give those kids the time of day. It's not worth you getting suspended, okay?"
"Okay," Dickie said.
"Better ice your eye son," Elliot said.
Dickie grinned and went back to setting the table.
Elliot went over to Olivia and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"How'd it go?" He asked and she winced.
"Migraine," she said, her eyes closed.
"Sorry," he said. "Why don't you go lay down and I'll serve dinner, which smells really good by the way."
She grinned and then headed upstairs.
She was so glad to finally hit the bed and she put the pillow over her head. Her head was pounding, and she felt pressure building, and her neck and lower back were tight with tension. Her stomach twisted in knots with nausea and she groaned.
There was nothing strong enough in the world to take away her migraine. The only remedy was to lay down, drink plenty of water and juice, and sleep in complete darkness.
Not only was she in pain, but she was also embarrassed. She knew that going to Dickie's school was a bad idea. She should have insisted on Elliot going instead of her. Then again, Dickie would have been disappointed and he probably wouldn't want to confide in her for anything else. She supposed that it was a good thing, but she didn't mean to lose her patience so quickly.
Elliot walked into the bedroom quietly, and he went over to the bed and laid down next to Olivia, lifting up the pillow a bit.
"You okay?" He whispered.
"No," she sniffled. "I haven't had a migraine in years."
"I'm sorry baby," he whispered. "Did you take something?"
"Nothing strong enough," she whined. "I just have to ride it out."
Elliot sighed and put the pillow down and then he caressed over her back. He massaged her lower back, and she moaned under the pillow.
"By the way," she sighed. "The meeting was a disaster. I just made things worse."
"Dickie doesn't think so," Elliot chuckled. "I'm sure you were great. He really trusts you now."
He lifted up the pillow and she raised her eyebrows.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah," Elliot said with a smile. "Want some dinner?"
"God no," she said, pulling the pillow back over her head again.
"Okay, just rest," he said as he got up.
"Kiss me," she said softly.
He chuckled and lifted the pillow and kissed her. She grinned as he kissed her lips and cheeks and nose.
"Thank you," she said before she pulled the pillow back over.
Elliot got up and went back down stairs.
Dickie and Elizabeth were still eating and Elliot fixed his own plate.
"Is Olivia okay?" Lizzie asked. "She told us to be real quiet."
"Yeah, she has a migraine," Elliot explained. "Just keep it down for tonight until she feels better."
Elliot sat down and began to eat his dinner. Despite what Olivia said, she was a good cook. She got no complaints from him or the kids. He understood that she could be so self deprecating, and he didn't know how to remedy that. He wasn't sure whether all of his love for her in the world cure that.
I love her, why haven't I told her that yet, he wondered. I wanted to tell her upstairs, but I didn't want to make her migraine worse.
"Dad?" Dickie inquired.
"Yes?" Elliot answered.
"Is Olivia going to live here?" Dickie asked, throwing Elliot for a loop.
"No," Elliot said. "I mean, what gave you that idea?"
"Because, she's always here," Lizzie broke in. "She's like a mom. Why don't you marry her?"
Elliot choked on his water and picked up the napkin.
Dickie and Lizzie looked at each other.
"Uh," Elliot cleared his throat. "Listen, things just don't work out like that."
"You love her, don't you?" Dickie insisted.
"End of conversation," Elliot said firmly, and the twins grinned, looking up. "And don't go harassing Olivia about it either and dropping hints. It'll scare her."
"Why is it scary?" Lizzie asked. "It'll be cool having two moms."
"Enough," Elliot hissed. "We're not getting married, she's not moving in, end of story."
The twins looked down at their plates.
"At least she's a good cook," Dickie mumbled, earning him a glare from his father.
They finished eating dinner and cleaned up as quietly as possible, then the twins went into the family room to watch television.
"Lights out at ten thirty," Elliot reminded them before he kissed each of their foreheads. "And don't turn the TV up too loud. Goodnight."
"Night dad," the twins said in unison.
Elliot went upstairs and to his bedroom where Olivia was now lying on her back, out like a light. She was snoring a little and he grinned.
He took off his shirt from work and pulled on a tee shirt, then he went into his bathroom to change his pants.
Once he was comfortable, he roused Olivia.
"Liv," he said softly. "Liv, get under the covers."
She groaned and waved him off. "You get under the covers. It's hot."
With that, she went back to sleeping like a log and he sighed and got into bed. Olivia put the pillow over her head again.
"Night babe," Elliot said.
"Unh," she said in response.
Casey Novak's Townhouse
Upper Manhattan
9:00 PM
"John, I can't believe you recorded The Colbert Report over The Closer!" She exclaimed as she got up from the couch and stood in front of the television. "What the hell did you do to my Tivo?"
"Nothing," he said defensively.
"I thought you said you didn't know how to work it?" She asked, in a tizzy.
"I don't," he sighed as he got up and put his hands on her hips. "The truth is, I threw a couple of books on it by accident and it got all messed up."
Casey pouted like a little girl, and John grinned. She really did have a baby face.
"You know I like that show," she whined. "I hate it when you do things like that."
He kissed her pouting lips and cupped her breast.
"No," she whined. "Don't fondle me right now. Why do you do that? It doesn't make me feel better."
"First I've heard," he smirked, looking at her over the rims of his glasses. "It's worked before."
"Well, now it's not," she fussed as she went into the kitchen. "I love you, but you've got some bad habits, babe. Grabbing my chichis when I'm angry is topping the list."
John chuckled.
"I find it interesting how women nickname parts of their anatomy," he chuckled as he perused her cluttered kitchen table.
"Yeah?" Casey giggled. "You should hear what Olivia calls hers."
"No thanks," he said, flipping through her neatly written out opening statements on legal pads. "I have to work with her, you know."
Casey came over to him with a pint of ice cream. "Why're you looking at my notes? Something on your mind?"
"Mine and Stabler's case," he explained. "An eleven year old girl killed her two siblings, then tried to kill herself. Dad was killed on the job, and mom's MIA."
She looked at him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said. "But this girl, she's been through a lot. She was raising herself and her siblings."
"I'm sure my oldest brother remembers what that was like," Casey grinned. "Me and my little brother had some good times. It's amazing how many annoying things you can do for kicks."
John leaned in and kissed her.
"I'm sure you'll be handed the case file on your desk a couple of days from now," he said.
Casey sighed and shook her head.
"She's only eleven?" She asked.
John nodded.
"Branch will be breaking down my door tomorrow," she remarked.
1-6 Precinct
SVU Squad Room
9:00 AM Thursday
John walked into the squad room with a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich, which Casey prepared for him. The squad room was alive with a little activity, but it was mostly clerks. His other colleagues were either on vacation or at home.
Cragen came out of his office.
"Morning John," he said, looking at his watch. "You're not on 'til ten thirty, what gives?"
"Just felt like being prompt," John shrugged.
"Or, something's up," Cragen said as he sat on the edge of the desk. "It's the kid."
"Eleven is a complicated age," John remarked.
"Well, eleven was…wow," Cragen chuckled. "Seems like a lifetime ago."
"Yeah," John sighed.
Cragen noticed that John was deeply disturbed by something.
"C'mon," Cragen said. "I could use a breakfast sandwich myself."
Emily's Bakery
Two Blocks from the 1-6 Precinct
9:45 AM
Cragen picked up his sandwich and cup of coffee and paid.
"I swear, talking to Jennifer was like talking to myself at that age…" John sighed as they sat down. "Wiseass. She uses it as a defense mechanism, just like I did. She hates the world. She's tough."
"Anything on the mother?" Cragen asked as he fixed up his coffee.
"Not much," John reported. "The manager said that she was going on about some videotape and how she was going to sue ACS."
"That's a damn good lead, John," Cragen said. "That sounds like a lot to me. Believe me, when an irate parent threatens to sue ACS, they know about it."
"Jasper said he didn't take her seriously," John said. "And the kid didn't let on about any visits from a social worker."
"Why would she?" Cragen asked as he opened up his sandwich. "She would want to protect her mother."
"But that's the thing," John said. "She played it cool, but she was bitter. Sounded like she didn't like her mother much anyway. Jennifer told me that her mother wanted her to call her Sharon instead of mom."
"So, Sharon Zimmerman's a free spirited, lax parent," Cragen said. "Look, John, I understand that you're trying to get into this girl's head, but sometimes, things are what they are. Perhaps Jennifer is just a disturbed young girl who needs help, despite her issues with her parents."
"Didn't you say yourself that Jennifer is hiding something?" John insisted.
Cragen licked his thumb. "I say a lot of things, but I thought about it," he said. "How many cases have we seen when a hard luck kid comes along and it turns out that they're just very troubled?"
"Too many to count, but that doesn't mean we write them off," John said. "I know where this girl is coming from. It's a scary thing to have to suddenly wake up and realize that being a kid is a luxury you can't afford."
Cragen nodded. "You had to fend for yourself as a kid?"
John sighed. "One day, me and my brother came home from school. It was normal for my mom not to be there because she was working. Well, it got really late, and she hadn't come home yet. So I called. She wasn't at work, she wasn't at the local watering hole, and she wasn't at my aunt's house either. I got worried. She was gone two days, and when she came back, she acted like everything was hunky dory."
"I'm sorry John," Cragen said.
"Yeah, well our home life wasn't as kosher as our meat," John sighed and Cragen chuckled.
"Check the lawsuit angle," Cragen advised John. "If Sharon Zimmerman was planning to sue, then ACS definitely would have known about it."
ACS Headquarters
1:32 PM
"Yes, we all knew about Sharon Zimmerman," Theresa Marquez explained as she picked up a few files. "I told my boyfriend that woman would be the death of me."
Elliot nodded as he and John walked with the young woman around to a bank of file cabinets.
"So, she was bothersome?" Elliot asked.
"Goodness, you have no idea," Theresa huffed. "She was in here ranting and raving every two months. The woman was manic as I don't know what."
"Were you the caseworker for the Zimmerman children?" John asked.
"For about six months until it got kicked to the bottom of the list," she sighed. "Sometimes, I hate the way this office operates. I really got to know the kids. They were sweet, but guarded. Didn't really like me around much, though. Especially the eldest one, Jennifer."
"So, have you ever removed them from the home?" Elliot asked.
"No, but I've threatened it," Theresa sighed. "Now I have a feeling that I should have if you're here…what happened?"
"Um, Jennifer Zimmerman killed her two siblings then tried to commit suicide," Elliot said.
Theresa's face paled and she went over and sat down.
"I knew I should have stayed with them," she said. "I don't know why, but I really liked those kids. They grow on you sometimes."
"It's not your fault," John said to her. "You are one of the few social workers that actually checks up on their kids. It's not your fault."
"It is," Theresa said as she got up and headed back over to her desk. "Sharon Zimmerman was unstable, and she was hanging out with some guy…drug addict. She got hooked on sleeping pills, but I told her that she needed to seek psychiatric help. She told me about her husband getting killed, and her bouts with depression…I felt for her, but she wouldn't get help. She would leave her kids home alone for days at time at first, then, it would be for weeks. She was always there when I checked up on them."
"Did she ever mention anything to you about a videotape?" Elliot asked.
"No," Theresa said. "You'll have to talk to James Matheson. He took some of my cases, including the Zimmermans."
"Where can we find him?" John asked.
"Um, he's at lunch right now," Theresa said, looking at her watch. "At True Urban's. He eats lunch there everyday. Tall guy, dark hair, glasses, and he has a mole on his left eyebrow. Can't miss him."
True Urban New York Eatery
2:00 PM
Elliot and John walked into the chic eatery. They scoped the room and they found the man and approached him.
"James Matheson?" John inquired.
James looked up at the detectives. "Yes, how may I help you?"
"I'm Detective Munch, this is Detective Stabler," John introduced. "We're with the special victims' unit."
"Special victims'?" James asked, as he offered the detectives a seat. "What's going on?"
"Are the Zimmerman children being handled by you?" Elliot asked.
"Yes," James said as he put some pepper over his salad. "For about a year now. What happened?"
"Jennifer Zimmerman killed her two siblings, then tried to kill herself," John explained. "And their mother is nowhere to be found."
James sighed and sat back in his chair, taking off his glasses.
"Oh my God," he said. "I can't believe this is happening. I thought they would be fine."
"Have you heard from Sharon Zimmerman?" Elliot asked. "Look, we need to find her. She needs to know that two out of her three children are dead and one's in the hospital."
"She just left me her work number," James said. "She's usually home when I visit. She's good at that."
"Did she ever mention anything to you about a videotape?" Elliot asked.
"Videotape?" James asked. "I never heard anything about a videotape, but I heard that she was planning to sue ACS. Rumor has it that she's got a pretty strong case, which is surprising. A lawyer actually listened to her line of bull. If she was a good mother, her kids wouldn't be in my file cabinet."
"So, you think she's a bad mother?" John asked.
"Not a bad mother," James sighed. "Just…uninvolved. She was too wrapped up in her own problems, and her kids were left to deal with it in their own way. Kind of sad."
