Chapter 2 - Carisi

Doing his best to keep engaged with Jesse's enthusiastic chatter, Carisi kept an eye on Amanda, who had begun to look unnaturally pale and rattled within moments of taking the phone. She met his gaze, her blue eyes wide with worry.

"Yes, okay. Of course we'll stay together tonight. Are you sure you don't need me to—" Amanda nodded as she stood up from the table, not taking her eyes off of his. "Okay. Please keep me in the loop. Thanks, Liv."

"Girls, I'll be right back. Keep eating, okay? I got us a little something for dessert." The girls chatted happily as he joined Amanda in the living room.

"Henry Mesner escaped!" she whispered frantically. Carisi took her gently by the shoulders, his ear tingling as he remembered the last time he'd seen the young psychopath. He'd nearly suffered catastrophic hearing loss when Henry had stabbed him in the ear with a pencil right there in the courtroom.

"What? How?"

"He was being transported to a new psychiatric facility this morning, and there was a car accident. He was gone by the time emergency services showed up, and there's no trace of him."

The thought of Henry roaming around freely was a blood-chilling one. "Oh my God. Where do they think he went?"

"His sister would be an obvious target, but Henry doesn't know where Ruby is, and he's not likely to find her very easily. They've got eyes on Cora, the girl he was involved with, in case he goes to her. Liv says they have reason to believe that he might come after me and the girls." Amanda's expression mirrored the horror that Carisi felt. When Henry had been released on parole after being put away for 8 years for attempted murder, he had taken photos of Jesse in the park and given her a stuffed animal he'd named after a dog he'd killed as a child. There had been evidence on his phone that he'd been stalking Amanda and her daughters. After raping his former psychiatrist's daughter and murdering most of his family, he'd been locked up in a psychiatric facility until deemed ready to stand trial.

"Because of the photos?"

"His psychiatrist says he talks about me and the girls. What the hell are we going to do?"

"We'll figure it out. It'll be okay." Carisi pulled her into his arms and could feel the tension in her body as she leaned into his embrace. For the first time in a while he wished he still had his badge so that he could get out there and start hunting the little bastard himself, but he knew that she needed him here now. He may not be a cop anymore, but as long as he drew breath Henry Mesner wouldn't be getting anywhere near Amanda Rollins or her daughters.