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Elliot pulled up to Dalton's Cafe where Olivia walked out holding two large boxes of doughnuts and two cups of coffee. He immediately got out of the car to help her.
"Thanks El! I thought I'd surprise everyone this morning. Dalton's has the best doughnuts in the city," she explained as she placed the boxes in the back seat.
Elliot placed the coffees in the car's cup holders, "Well, you only think that because you haven't tried Adrienne's yet."
"Until you get me a box, Dalton's still my number one. So, how's Dickie? Is he feeling any better?"
He smirked, "He loved getting the picture of Thea in that red dress but he's upset that I didn't get one from the back."
"Oh Dickie, what a guy thing to say," she chuckled as she shook her head while having a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Kathy and Kathleen agree with you. Kathleen slapped his arm and told him not to objectify Thea."
"Go Kathleen!" Olivia proudly nodded.
He scoffed, "Anyway, Ross called me this morning, and he said we're getting the service and maintenance records from all the victims' schools today. Maybe we'll find a connection?"
"I hope so, Savant wasn't much help."
"I don't know Liv; he annoyed Thea, that's always fun to watch."
Olivia chuckled as she teasingly slapped his muscular forearm; he couldn't help but smile.
With a medium size white paper bag in his left hand, Bobby strolled into the bunk room and walked over to Thea's cot. She sat up and crossed her legs.
"Good morning, I got you waffle balls," he sat down on the cot next to hers.
"For last night?" Her arms were folded.
He slowly nodded, "I..I shouldn't have said that about you. You weren't flirting. You're friendly, open and welcoming to everyone. I misread that moment between you two and I'm-I'm sorry. And I didn't mean to upset you, I was speaking without thinking. You may have noticed that I tend to do that, frequently."
She sighed, "You do, but thanks Bobby and I didn't mean get so angry. It's just that…when you said I was flirting with Lupo, it set me off because I wasn't and it reminded me of the four times I've asked guys out."
Surprised, his head slightly leaned back, "You have?"
"Yeah and they all ended in utter disasters which is why I haven't told you until now. One guy had a fetish for Asian women, the second one hated everything about geek culture, the fourth guy was a sicko who only said to yes to me after he found out that I work in SVU. He wanted me to tell him all the gory details about the rape victims I deal with. Those three guys didn't make it past the first date." She glanced down at the floor.
He felt for her but he had to know, "What happened with the third guy?"
She returned her gaze to him, "Galen, he's the second serious relationship I've been in. Admittedly, I've only had two. Anyway, he had serious self-esteem issues and he hated that I was a detective because of the hours. So, when I had the night off, I went to his place to surprise him but he…he was already there – in bed with two women."
A deep exhale escaped his mouth as he reached out and briefly gripped her forearm, "I'm sorry, Thea. It's his loss and you deserve to be with a good man, not someone who treats you that way."
A grateful grin came to her lips at the feel of his hand on her, "Thanks but it's not your fault. I don't know, I guess the law of averages doesn't apply to me. I mean, I broke up with Galen almost a year ago. And I've gone on plenty of dates since then but I haven't been interested in any of the guys. That's why I've taken a break."
Bobby looked at her and tried to find the right words to comfort her. It was a struggle. He hadn't fared any better when it came to his love life. In fact, it had been years since he's been on a date.
Her shoulders lifted then dropped, "At least Jacorey and Galen weren't like my dad. I have over a decade of therapy under my belt so…I at least dodged that bullet."
He nodded, "Well, that's actually really good. Kids-um, people raised with abusive parents, a fair amount of them continue the cycle, you broke out of it."
"Yeah…wow, this is such a cheery conversation."
They both chuckled and he decided to lighten the mood.
He itched his ear then admitted, "I uh, I listened to the audio and watched the video from Shock and Awe last night."
She saw the little grin on his lips and didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing her irritation, "And what did you think?"
"You were really convincing and impressive as Sinara. If I didn't know you, I would have fallen for Sinara just like Savant did..." He revealed to her. However, he wasn't going to admit how much of a turn on it was to see her be so confident, seductive and forward.
Thea wasn't expecting that answer, "Uh..Ooh, well, I took real time to create that persona and for the record, that's the first time I've used that line."
He cocked his head to the left, "It was smart, there isn't a guy on this planet that would have turned you down."
She saw the glimmer in his dark eyes and briefly looked away as she spoke, "Well, that's Sinara, not Thea."
Bobby put down the bag and started to fiddle with his hands, "Yeah, but Lupo seemed to like both. And I'm not saying this to upset you. I'm a detective and a profiler but I'm also a man. Thea, he's attracted to you."
After a beat, she replied, "If your observations about him are correct - then he's free to ask me out - but I'm not sure I'd say yes. This break from dating has been really nice. Now give me a damn waffle ball, Bobby!" She pointed at the bag while her lips curled up.
He laughed as he held out the bag towards her. She retrieved a waffle ball, popped it into her mouth then stood up. He followed her lead.
She told him, "I need to take a shower; hold on, there's some lint on your shoulder."
Bobby watched her brush his left shoulder with her right hand while he thanked her.
When Bobby returned to the squad room, Eames walked up to him and took a waffle ball out of the bag.
"Bobby, where's your tie clip?" She asked him before eating the sweet fluffy treat.
He looked down at his dangling tie; he was annoyed, amused and impressed as he said, "Thea."
A dry chuckle escaped her full mouth.
After Elliot and Olivia arrived at the squad room everyone thanked her for the doughnuts. Then Captain Ross walked into the bullpen holding a sheet of paper. He announced that the killers had sent packages to One Police Plaza but that latent and CSU were processing them for fingerprints and DNA. He handed the sheet to Barek, it was a copy of the note attached to the packages.
Ross turned to Goren and Eames, "The killers used Mercury Messenger."
Eames groaned, "We know that courier service, to call them shady would be a massive understatement. They don't have security cameras; you don't have to show them ID. And they take cash, debit and credit, no checks."
Goren stated, "They're one of the most preferred courier services among drug dealers."
"Of course they are. But I still need you and Eames to go there and find out if any of their employees can ID who sent the packages."
Eames nodded, "We're on it, Captain."
She and Goren gathered their things and left the room.
Munch walked over to Ross, "Captain, CSU just got back to me, they couldn't find any fingerprints, boot prints or any other evidence at the Lidos' apartment."
"Thanks for the update Munch, the chief's just gonna love what little we have. Here's hoping we catch a break today. Excuse me," Ross said when he heard his office phone ring.
Logan looked up from his small stack of papers and asked Barek, "What's going on with that note?"
Barek slowly shook her head, "Nothing much. It's only declarative statements. Each one reveals details that only the killers would know but that's all. There's no personality behind it."
He shrugged, "Oh well, here's hoping we get something when latent and CSU are done with the packages."
Elliot and Olivia were able to find a connection between the four elite private schools the victims attended. An IT company called The Nerd Elites worked at all four schools and three technicians were involved on those jobs. Two of those technicians were a married couple who had been on vacation. They had been in France for the past eight days and were currently flying back to the states. The third technician was a 29-year-old man named Ian Fitz; he had hazel eyes and short curly brown hair. Olivia and Elliot arrived at his and his girlfriend's apartment.
An amber-skinned 26-year-old Asian woman welcomed them at the front door, "Detectives, I'm Maurissa, Ian's girlfriend. Would you like something to drink?"
Olivia shook her head, "Thanks but we're good. Where's Ian?"
"He's in the living room which is right this way." Maurissa pointed to her right and led them down a small hallway.
Ian stood up from his computer desk and had a folder in his hands as he walked over to them, "Detectives, I know why you're here and let me just save you some time. For the past two nights, Maurissa and I have been at her parents' home up in Lake Windemere. Here's their contact information."
Maurissa commented as she placed her arms around him, "My parents adore Ian but they wouldn't lie for him. Their neighbors can also confirm that we were there for the past two days. We just got back this morning where we also went through some toll booths."
Ian stated, "And I'll hand over my phone and computers so that your technicians can go through them. For my work computers, you'll have to ask my bosses because it's their property."
The detectives accepted his folder and were surprised at Ian's cooperativeness.
Elliot said to him, "All right, we're gonna stay here until our tech guys come to get your computers and phone."
Ian nodded, "Good, we'll be in the kitchen if you two need anything."
At Major Case's bullpen, Captain Ross informed the detectives that the victims' parents have allowed CSU to go into their late children's bedrooms to take photos and to collect journals, calendars and day planners. The photos and personal effects would be arriving soon. He was about to return to his office when Goren and Eames walked over to him with a sketch.
Eames explained, "Captain, we talked to Rudy Brooks from Mercury Messenger, he and our sketch artist came up with this."
Ross arched his brow, "I don't think anyone could look more skeevy than this guy."
Goren nodded, "According to Rudy, this man was short, a little taller than Eames', in his mid to late twenties and that long black hair, it was a wig. Rudy saw him adjusting it before he left the store."
His partner added, "He also paid in cash, they weren't new bills so we can't trace them and he's never been seen there before."
"Great, well at least I'll have something to show the Chief. Thanks Detectives," Ross said then he saw Elliot and Olivia walk in, "Stabler and Benson, do you have anything with TARU and Ian Fitz?"
Olivia answered him, "TARU confirmed Bernard's theory that our victims' cellphones were cloned. So, that explains why Savant's number showed up in their LUDs."
Elliot released an aggravated sigh, "They also found personal photos taken from our victims' phones but they were planted on Ian Fitz computers and cellphone. Apparently this person did this from Moldova, Belarus and Romania. Captain, I am damn tired of being jerked around by some computer nerd."
"You and me both, Detective. Thanks for the update. Now I have to tell the chief the good news...which isn't much." Ross said before returning to his office.
Thea walked up to Olivia and handed her a folder, "Hey Liv, CSU dropped this off while you and Elliot were at TARU. It's the analysis of the vomit found in Emma's bathroom."
"Thanks Thea," Olivia nodded at her as she opened the folder.
Elliot looked into the folder, "Did they get anything?"
"Well, it's from a male and it doesn't match Emma's DNA so none of her male relatives are involved. They also found medications in it, certolizumab pegol and methotrexate."
Lupo stood up and walked over to them "I know those…my cousin, Jake, he takes them. He has ankylosing spondylitis and polymyositis."
Olivia blinked and said, "He has what?"
"It's basically arthritis of the spine but it can affect other parts of the body. And polymyositis is an inflammatory disease that causes muscle weakness. Is there anything else in the analysis?"
"Yeah, traces of ginger and turmeric."
"Jake also drinks ginger and turmeric tea because they're anti-inflammatories. They help manage his pain."
Goren sat on his desk and shared his thoughts, "Those medical conditions, it would make it hard for someone to strangle another person to death."
Barek nodded, "It would. And there were two ligature marks on Emma's neck. One was barely visible. So, the alpha or another one of pack member actually killed her because Coffee and Rum was too weak."
Bernard said, "Rodgers did say Emma had the most rohypnol in her system. Maybe her rapist had to drug her more because he was too weak to overpower her?"
Goren said, "Emma also had hesitation marks. Coffee and Rum, he's the weak link of the group, literally."
Barek walked over to her fellow profiler, "And Emma's house was the only crime scene. This pack, they could have used all of the victims' empty houses as their crime scenes but they didn't, it was only Emma's."
Elliot commented, "Emma's room was a total mess, chaotic."
Goren theorized, "Coffee and rum probably set the alpha off. They went off script and attacked Emma in her home instead of just kidnapping her like they did with the others. He's-he's new to this and he literally couldn't stomach it."
Olivia took in her colleagues' insights, "That would explain why he either dropped the knife or it slipped out of his pocket. Coffee and rum, he's the screw-up of the group. We need to talk to the Captain. Thanks guys."
Elliot gratefully nodded at their colleagues as they both headed for Ross's office.
Every detective put on their gloves once they saw Officer Cordova walk in carrying a large box. He followed Bobby's instructions and set it on his desk. Bobby reached into the box and started handing out the colored shoe boxes to his fellow detectives. Eames took the dark blue box from his hands. He handed Logan a red box. Olivia grasped the green box and thanked him. Bernard carried an amber colored box to his and Lupo's desks. Thea happily accepted a purple box.
Olivia reached in and removed a bottle of wine from her box.
"That's not fair, why do El and Liv get the fun box?" Thea joked.
Olivia grinned, "Relax Thea, it's an empty bottle, wine from Portugal. And there's a handwritten 2X on it."
Elliot shared, "We also have number birthday candles and orange peels with black markings on them, in five separate numbered envelopes. There's also a drawing…half of a, what is that?"
Bernard peered at the small piece of paper in Elliot's hand, "Half of a claw? Like on a lobster? This looks familiar.."
Elliot handed him the paper, "It's all yours Bernard."
Eames stated, "Well my box has numbered envelopes and paper roses of different colors."
Barek said, "Speaking of flowers, I have a red paper lily with a blue gem center, a short white apron with gold embroidered letters, SCC, a photo of zeppoles and a calendar page, the month of January."
Lupo told them, "We've got part of a torn white banner with black lettering that spells RATTO, a red patch embroidered with gold leaves and flowers and green felt."
Munch spoke, "In our mega mystery box there's numbered envelopes, each one has a random items like cotton, leather, paper, wood, dry fruit, iron, wool, bronze, pottery…"
Eames ran a hand through her brown hair and released an exasperated sigh, "Great, we have multiple pieces of a puzzle."
An enormous smile touched Goren's lips, "You say that like it's a bad thing."
She saw how eager her partner was, "Nerd."
A few minutes later Officer Cordova returned with CSU's photos of the victims' bedrooms and their personal effects. Logan and Thea were pinning the photos up on one of the rolling bulletin boards. He paused when he saw photos of Jackson, Liam, and Abby's bedrooms.
Logan pointed at the photos, "I think I got something! Look at the tickets, white and silver with a blue rose. There's a hashtag EMWB. I saw this on a flier at Carnegie Hill Academy. It was on a tack board next to the library."
Lupo picked up his memo book and flipped it open, "Pamela and Ben Shaw told us that Jeff was saving up his money so that he could rent himself a tux for an upcoming dance."
Olivia nodded, "I remember looking through Emma's Facebook profile; she had been posting pictures of ball gowns with that same hashtag."
Eames typed on her laptop, "Eden Manor's Winter Ball. It's a formal gala that supports The Tancheroen Foundation; they provide housing, education and financial support to homeless single mothers. Tickets are only available to seniors at Carnegie Hill Academy, Pemberton Prep, The Appleton School and Liberty Prep. It's happening this Friday."
Munch interjected as he held up the purple box, "Sonofabitch. These aren't random items; they're wedding anniversary gifts by year! It ends at the 25th year!"
Eames dryly stated, "Leave it to the guy who's been married four times to figure that one out."
Bernard's dark eyes grew large as he looked at Munch, "Four times?!"
He shrugged and smiled, "What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic."
Munch's comments elicited a few laughs from his peers.
The gears in Goren's mind were turning as he approached the rolling white board and removed a marker's cap, "Eames, tell me how many roses are in each of the numbered envelopes?"
"Twelve, ten and eighty-three."
As she spoke, he wrote down the numbers and put forward slashes in between them. He pointed at the date, "This is about an anniversary, Eden Manor's Winter Ball."
Eames typed then nodded, "That's the exact date of the winter ball at Eden Manor of that year."
Goren spoke, "Except look at the crime, excluding Jeff, there are five victims, five stab wounds in their hearts and they were all raped."
Elliot leaned back in his chair as he briefly closed his eyes, "Twenty-five years ago, a girl was gang raped by five guys at that dance."
Shaking her head, Eames said, "No, two of them were. The knife at Emma's has a daisy with a blue gem center and Barek, your box has a lily with a blue gem center, right?"
Barek nodded as she held up the red paper lily, "Yeah and the zeppoles, they either have a special significance to the victims or their rapists, maybe both?"
Eames replied, "It wouldn't surprise me. But the original victims, they're probably sisters, redheads with blue eyes. Lily and Daisy."
Olivia commented, "My friend Kelly is a redhead with blue eyes but she's obviously not one of the victims. I bring her up because those are recessive traits. She married a black-haired and brown-eyed man and joked that none of their kids would look like her. Except her youngest one is like the mini version of her while her two oldest kids look like her husband."
Barek stated, "That makes sense, sisters seeking revenge for a horrible crime committed against them 25 years ago."
Goren spoke, "One of them took real care of Jeff's body at the dump site. He was on his side and covered with a blanket. It was maternal. One of the sisters, she has to be a mother. And those scents on our victims, they're all masculine. She's a mother with sons."
Logan dryly commented, "Yeah, she's a real June Cleaver."
From her seat, Thea looked at all the boxes as she fiddled with her Batman necklace, "Everything represents something significant, so why are the boxes colored?" She looked at her necklace and then started typing on her laptop.
Captain Ross was speaking on his mobile phone as he entered the bullpen. After he hanged up, Goren and Eames updated him on what they discovered. He patiently listened and nodded.
Thea quickly removed a sheet from the printer and walked over to him, "Captain, here's something else that connects this to the victims' fathers; the color of each box represents their birth month meaning their birthstones! Look!"
Captain briefly squeezed the bridge of his nose then released a long puff of air, "So, just to be clear, your theory is that our victims' fathers raped two sisters twenty-five years ago at this winter ball and now these sisters are seeking revenge?"
Goren replied, "With all due respect Captain, you've been here for three years, you've heard motives that are just as profound and those turned out to be true."
"I know Goren but these are powerful men, they're not gonna take too kindly of being accused of rape and they're not going to cop to it, especially if there's no evidence."
Olivia said, "The statute of limitations ran out years ago, we can't arrest them for this!"
"No but they can sue us and the NYPD for slander. The chief and the DA aren't going back us until we have more evidence that connects all of them. And you've all interviewed them; each father has denied even knowing each other. I'm sorry, but you need to give me something more before we put our jobs and pensions on the line." Captain Ross told them before walking out of the room.
A collective groan came from the detectives until Lupo's phone rang.
He stood up and put on his coat as he spoke to Bernard, "That was Sarah Breckeridge, she wants to talk to us."
Bernard copied his actions, "All right, maybe we can find out what connects her husband to the other victims…we'll be discreet of course."
"We always are, B." Lupo said as they walked out of the squad room.
