Chapter 16

There was a knock on the hospital door and Olivia bade whomever it was to enter. She was reading through the text messages she'd received from Fin. There was a missing woman and there was no way to know where she was as the APB had come up empty so far. However, they did have a name of the woman who'd been kidnapped – Molly Sanders. No one had seen the kidnapping but when she didn't report to work, a coworker swung over to her place to find the front door had been damaged and the first floor apartment a mess. He'd quickly called the police and the hunt was on.

"Hi Liv," Olivia looked up from her phone, surprised to find Maureen Stabler standing there.

"Maureen, please have a seat. What brings you here?" the detective figured that getting out of school hadn't been easy. While she was looking at colleges, Maureen still had to finish her junior and senior years in high school.

"I wanted to make sure you were ok," the eldest Stabler child said as she sat down in the chair next to Olivia's hospital bed. While Elliot had told her that he'd told the kids about her being in the hospital, she figured there was more to it.

"And you cut class to do it?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"It's only study hall and I'm hoping Mom doesn't find out," Maureen admitted.

"What's going on sweetie?" Now Olivia was concerned. Cutting study hall was one thing but coming to talk to her instead of her mother was another. Maureen took a deep breath and said,

"Mom is getting paranoid again."

"You think her medicine is out of whack?" Olivia asked.

"Well that's thing, I'm not sure it's a medical problem. Kathleen has been acting up lately and I think Mom is concerned but she refuses to say anything," Maureen told her.

"How does that make your Mom paranoid?" The detective was confused.

"I think she's concerned about the custody arrangement if there is something wrong with Kathleen and she didn't notice it fast enough," the teenager explained.

"What do you think is wrong with Kathleen?" Olivia wanted to know. She could understand Kathy being secretive if she couldn't understand her second child's problem. They all knew that Kathleen had not taken the divorce well and had always been more of a rebel than her older sister.

"At first I just figured she was struggling with the divorce but now, I really have no idea. Some days she seems like two different people," Maureen heaved a sigh.

"And you didn't say anything until now?" Olivia was a little concerned.

"Mom has been pulling a lot of doubles lately and Dad had to skip our visitation because of this case you guys are working. There hasn't been time to track either one down, truth be told, I wasn't sure how they'd react," she said.

"All right. You let me worry about it and get back to school. I don't want you getting in trouble," the detective told her. Maureen stood up and gave her a gentle hug.

"Thanks Liv," she smiled when she pulled back.

"You bet kiddo. Tray and have a good day," Olivia smiled back.

"When do you get out of here?" Maureen asked.

"Hopefully tomorrow. The doctor joked that they are going to have to name a wing after me if I stay much longer. Seems I've run out of stamp spaces on my frequent visitor card," Olivia joked. Maureen chuckled and said goodbye. Olivia watched her go and was about to check her phone again when it rang. She picked it up and found it was Elliot.

"Fin and Munch are in hot pursuit of the stolen car but we have no way of knowing where Molly is," he quickly told her.

"I hope she's in that trunk, otherwise…" they both knew what she meant. It was possible they could be looking for another body dump.

To Be Continued…