As they made their way towards the elevator, Amanda's phone buzzed once more.
"Rollins," she said into the phone, as she turned away from the other two.
"That was my mother on the phone, she and Noah finished shopping. She was getting an ETA on us, so I just told her to take Noah back to my apartment. He's familiar with it, and I figured she'd be more comfortable moving around it," Barba told Olivia, who smiled appreciatively at him. "Thanks. Tell your mom I'm sorry I'm dumping this on her," she apologized sincerely, and Barba shook his head. "You're not dumping anything on her, she loves it," he assured her, as he put an arm around her shoulders, and rubbed her arm soothingly.
"That was Fin, Carisi sent him the information the school had on the foster family. Savina was right, they boarded a plane to California last Friday, and they just boarded one for New York," she informed them, anger lacing every word that came out of her mouth.
"There's gotta be something that we can charge them with," Olivia all but pleaded with Barba.
"We can," he confirmed. "I'll get you a subpoena for their arrest, let airport security and TSA agents know to pick them up as soon as the plane lands," he ordered, and Rollins nodded.
"In that case," she started. "Liv, you take my car and go talk to the social worker. Barba, can you drop me off at the precinct before you go get that warrant, so I can take Liv's car and go talk to the jurors?" she instructed, and they both nodded.
She handed Olivia her car keys, and Olivia told her that she will find her own keys on her desk.
Olivia walked up to a man hunched over a few files in a small cubicle. "Lieutenant Benson, NYPD," she introduced herself, showing the man her badge. "I'm looking for Linda McNamara."
The man silently pointed her towards a woman on the opposite end of the room, her shoulder-length black hair pulled back into a ponytail, as she talked with another man. Olivia approached her, doing her best to push down the guttural need she suddenly had to punch the woman. She still remembered the day Trevor Lanagan walked into her office and told her that social services were investigating the incident with Noah's lungs, and his rib fractures. And the condescending tone of the social worker as she informed her that her absence from Noah's bedside would be noted in the report. Even though she didn't leave him alone, he had Lucy and Mrs. Amaro with him, but no, she couldn't give her a break. But because the girl was a teenager, the social worker was more than happy to do the minimally required of her. After all, the girl was in the Beaumont Academy, what more were they expecting of her.
"Linda McNamara?" Olivia called, as she finally came to a stop behind the woman in question, who immediately turned around at the mention of her name.
"Yes?" the woman nodded in agreement.
Olivia got the first good look at her face, she was a bit younger than her, but she saw the toll her work took on her.
"Lieutenant Benson, Manhattan SVU. I need to ask you a few questions about one of your cases," Olivia repeated the all too familiar line, once more showing the woman her badge, who immediately nodded in understanding. "Is there somewhere more private where we can talk?" Olivia asked, and the woman ushered her to a closed conference room.
Once inside, and the door closed. Linda turned to Olivia, her concern evident as she asked. "May I ask which one of my cases you're referring to?"
"Savina Matthews." Even as the name rolled off her tongue, she could feel the bile rising once more, as her throat clamped up.
"What about her? Is she in any trouble?" she asked in concern, and even Olivia had to admit that it was genuine.
"Before we get to that, why don't you tell me about her," Olivia suggested, and the woman obediently obliged.
"She's been my case since she was four, her parents died in a car accident," she recounted.
"No living relatives?" she wondered, and the woman shook her head.
"They weren't her biological parents, and apparently the father's family didn't approve of the adoption, so they made it perfectly clear that they didn't want her. And the maternal grandmother was in her seventies, with a wide range of diseases, so the courts didn't see her as fit to take care of a toddler. She passed away when Savina was ten." She elaborated.
"So do you know who handled the original adoption?"
"It was done through a church. St. Augustine in Sheepshead Bay," Linda answered simply, completely unaware of the effect the words had on Olivia. Her eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of the church, and an all too familiar ache returned.
Linda, completely oblivious to Olivia's turmoil, continued on with her story. "She was abandoned on their steps, and the nuns gave her to the Matthews. Apparently, the mother was a member of the congregation, and had often talked to the sisters there about adoption."
"When was the last time you spoke to her?"
"I called her Monday right after school, she said she was on her way to the community center near her building, where she volunteers. I asked her if she needed anything, and she thanked me," Linda explained. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but you still haven't told me what this is about," she demanded.
"Savina was grabbed Monday night, held captive for four days, and viciously raped and tortured," Olivia hissed through gritted teeth. She wasn't necessarily angry with Linda, but it was all she could do not to sob at the constant heartbreak Savina's life seemed to be.
She saw the other woman's face blanch, as she blindly reached for a seat behind her, and plopped down into it. "Oh my God!" she whispered in disbelief. "Is…..is….s…..is she okay?" she stuttered, and Olivia almost scoffed at the ridiculous question.
"She's alive," she alluded. "She has a concussion, broken ribs, burns and cuts over most of her body," she listed hoarsely, barely able to hold back the tears.
"How the hell did the Solearno's not inform me that she was missing?" she growled angrily.
"It might be because they didn't even know!" Olivia snapped, and Linda looked at her in confusion. "They've been away since Friday, and apparently, they have a habit of doing that," Olivia spat her explanation, and Linda started shaking her head.
"I knew they weren't the most affectionate of foster families, but to leave her alone!" she mumbled in disbelief.
"I don't understand how the hell did they pass their home studies? Don't you guys vet these families?" Olivia chastised angrily.
"Of course we do, but they were the only family that lived close enough to the school that was willing to take a teenager," Linda defended her actions. "The older Savina got, the more difficult it became to find a place for her. She's not a trouble maker, but the second she got that scholarship to the Academy, I knew she couldn't stay in a group home. The scholarship had strict rules, and she needed a suitable environment to help her keep it." she continued.
"How long has she been with them?" Olivia nearly barked.
"Since Spring."
Olivia's eyes widened, and her heart ached. She had tried to become an adoptive parent before, and got turned down, but those two idiots passed! How the hell was this fair? How the hell do you keep a person in your home for almost a year, and still treat them that way? She had made up her mind about adopting Noah a month into it.
"She's been living with them for almost a year, and they don't even bother to take her with them on vacations?" she whispered in disbelief.
"Lieutenant, they were foster parents, they had made it perfectly clear that they had no intention of adopting. And in my experience, when a family like this agrees to take older kids, and makes it clear that adoption is not an option, they're in it for the money." Linda explained sadly, and that only served to fuel Olivia's wrath.
"And you let them?" she bellowed.
"They put a roof over her head, they had decent jobs, and they don't abuse her. And in cases like Savina, anything is better than a group home," Linda claimed, and Olivia was doing everything in her power to fight the urge to strangle both Linda and the Solearno's with her bare hands.
"I'm gonna need her file," she fumed, and the other woman nodded, before hastily exiting the room, and leaving Olivia to her dark thoughts.
The drive back to the precinct was as hazy as the one she took that morning back from the hospital. She had been an SVU detective for sixteen years now, and the child cases still got to her. Especially this one. And it wasn't just because of the Lewis factor. Neither did it have anything to do with the abandonment component that reminded her of how she got to Noah. No, it was because of another secret that she had kept buried for the longest of times.
She stalked through the doors, and barely spared a glance at any body as she made her way to the bullpen. She was glad when she found it empty, Fin, Amanda and Carisi hadn't returned yet. She made a beeline for her office, and shut both the door and the blinds behind her, before she collapsed in her chair. The file she got from Linda McNamara was lying on the desk, with a picture of a radiantly smiling Savina looking back at her. She traced her fingers over her smiling face, lingering for a moment on her eyes. They say the eyes were the portal to your soul, but there was something about those particular set of beautiful brown eyes that called to her. She hadn't even realized she was crying till a tear fell on the picture, and her vision got blurry.
She looked up at the sound of a knock on her door, and she quickly wiped away at the tears, turning in the chair away from the door, as she ushered whoever on the other side in. The door slowly opened, as she finally turned back to face her visitor. A tearful smiled pulled at her lips, her eyes watering up once more when she saw Barba standing there. The door firmly closed behind him, as he slowly walked over to the desk.
He wordlessly wrapped his arms around her shoulders, as she buried her face in his chest. His hand came up to her head, where he stroked her hair soothingly. "He's gone, Liv." He stated firmly, and felt her shake her head.
"It's not Lewis," she mumbled dejectedly, her voice muffled by his shirt and body. He didn't say anything, simply waited for her to continue once she was ready. But to his surprise, all she did was turn her head slightly, as she reached for the file and opened it. He followed her finger as it settled on a specific part of the page. His eyes immediately closing in understanding, and softening even further, as he looked down at her sadly. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm sorry baby," he fought back tears as he whispered those words into her hair. "Do you wanna go visit her before we go home?" he asked, and she merely nodded.
Just then, they heard noises coming from outside, and she pulled back from his embrace to pull herself back together. She had barely managed to wipe away the smudged mascara and eyeliner, when a knock came at her door. She nodded at Barba, as she took a sip from the water bottle she had stashed in one of her drawers.
"Come in," Barba called out, and the door immediately opened to reveal Fin, Amanda, and Carisi. Or her Merry Men, as Barba sometimes refered to them.
They all filed into the office, closing the door behind them once more. The tear tracks wasn't lost on any of them, and they wanted to give their lieutenant some privacy.
"What did you guys find?" Barba inquired.
"Well, Lewis's jury was mostly guys, only about five women were on it. We spoke to three of them, all of which had solid alibis. We're missing two, one has been in Paris on her honeymoon for the past two weeks, and the other one is the juror who helped Lewis escape," Fin declared.
"Not to mention, she's the only one who matches the description Eddie gave Carisi," Rollins interjected, before Barba could object to them immediately blaming the one juror who stood against them during the Lewis trial.
"What description?" Olivia demanded.
"Eddie said that while he waited for Savina to climb the stairs, and give him the okay, a woman knocked on the lobby door, she had loads of grocery bags, and thanked him for helping her. He said she headed to one of the ground level apartments, but that Savina called out that she was inside before he was able to see which apartment she entered. We checked with residents of that floor, and no one had gone grocery shopping that night. Not to mention that Eddie said she had red hair, and pale skin. And the residents of that floor, are an elderly couple, an African American one, and a middle aged Ukrainian woman," Carisi justified their argument.
"Did Eddie get a good look at her face?" Barba asked, and Carisi shook his head.
"No, said he didn't really pay much attention, because he was keeping his eye and ear attuned to Savina."
"And based on something the three other women said, we spoke to a couple of the men on the jury and they told us the same thing," Fin started.
"Which was?" Olivia urged.
Just then, both Fin and Amanda's phones buzzed, and after a quick glance at it, they both looked at each other.
"Is someone going to include us on the big secret?" Olivia quipped.
"That was Melinda, she said she's got something for us, and wants to see us urgently. So Carisi, why don't you head on down, and we'll catch up?" Rollins suggested, ignoring the questioning look she got from Fin.
Carisi nodded, and swiftly opened the door.
"Chief!" he exclaimed, and once again Amanda and Fin shared a look.
"Detective," Dodds greeted, as he made his way towards the office.
"Lieutenant, any update on the case?" he asked, and Olivia nodded.
Fin and Amanda took the opportunity to slip away from the office. "We'll see what Warner has for us," Amanda hurriedly explained.
Olivia could tell that they were all trying to hide something, but she was not sure what it was.
Dodds closed the door behind the other three, and turned around to face Olivia and Barba. Olivia took a deep breath to calm her nerves, felt Barba squeeze her shoulder in support, before she started filling Dodds in on the events of the past couple of hours. She knew that with the Lewis angle, 1PP were going to be keeping an even closer eye on her, and her relationship with Barba, so she figured frequent meeting with the chief was something she should expect for the duration of the case.
Once the other three were clear from the office, Carisi looked at his partners and asked. "Someone wanna tell me why we're acting like we just committed a crime?" he dead-panned and Fin couldn't help but chuckle.
Amanda was already at the elevator, when she turned around, and nearly growled her explanation. "Melinda's got something for us, but she didn't want Liv to come with us."
"Why?" he asked, as they all stepped into the elevator.
"I guess, we're about to find out," Fin replied, as the doors swiftly slid shut.
So two chapters in two days. I'm on a roll, and if my week keeps going as planned, I should be able to update again within the week.
Thank you to all who reviewed, PMed me, and followed.
Let me know what you guys think.
Also, can anyone tell me what happened to Casey and Alex? I watched Season 13 and they were in it, but then season 14 rolls around and it's Barba! Not that I'm complaining, but was it ever mentioned where they had gone.
Also, in many of the ffs I've read, people refer to Barba as El Tiburon, and I was wondering if someone can tell me where that came from? Is it the fandom or what?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Keep the reviews coming :)