6
Olivia took a deep, slow breath and let her thumb hover over the green phone icon, closing her eyes. She was sitting in her Datsun and had overcome the initial shock of the blood match, had handed the kids over to Jonathan, and was now sitting here, in the parking lot, knowing what she needed to do.
It had to come from her. After all, she was Alex's wife and heavily involved in the case. But, even after being a detective and having to inform family members and loved ones when people had gone missing, been abducted, was normally routine protocol, the fact that Alex was her wife, her soulmate, the love of her life, made it a million times worse. Besides, they needed to know. If Olivia waited any longer, things would become difficult to explain in the worst case scenario and tempers would flare from the brunette withholding information about something so close to all of them.
She tapped the screen and then took another deep breath as she placed it against her ear, waiting. Three rings and then the line picked up.
And Olivia instantly lost it upon hearing her mother-in-law's voice, so chipper, so familiar.
"Hello? Olivia? Is that you?"
Olivia's lower lip trembled then and then she attempted another breath, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "Hi, Cathy…"
"Olivia…what is it? Is it one of the children? Is it…" a tiny gasp, "…is my Alex OK?"
Olivia shook her head. "No, Cathy…she's…um…she's missing."
"Missing? What do you mean, Dear?"
"She was in the park with the kids yesterday morning and then she was…abducted." Olivia waited.
And there a was a silence then, a small whimpering, muffled, as though Cathy was covering the mouthpiece with her hand.
"She's been taken?" Cathy Cabot cried. "By whom?"
A case we had thirteen years ago. We think a family member, or the son, is seeking revenge."
More whimpering now, this time audible. Cathy gasped. "And the children? They were there? Are they OK?"
"The kids are all fine. A little shaken up and confused and upset, but they weren't harmed. They went to a neighbor's house like they knew to do."
Another silence, sniffing. "I'm glad they're OK," Cathy whimpered. "But my Alex…was she hurt?"
Olivia closed her eyes, not wanting to explain too much and upset the elder Cabot. After all, they didn't have much as of yet. "They did find her blood on the concrete in the park, so it's possible she was struck and coerced. There's…uh…there's also footage from one of the cameras and she's seen being put in a car…"
"Well, then you can find her, Olivia." Cathy's voice was hopeful, matter-of-fact. "Right?"
"It was a dead end. Car was abandoned, no fingerprints, no blood, no cameras. Someone covered their tracks and wiped everything down or they used gloves."
Olivia shut her eyes tightly, holding her forehead in her hand.
For a moment, she forgot who she was talking to, reminding herself that this was a civilian, the mother of her wife who was missing, not another detective. She realized she needed to back off of the details with Alex's mother.
"I'm coming there, Dear. Right away. I'm coming to be with you…with the kids…with her…" Cathy whimpered.
And Olivia felt her tears once more, the obstruction in her throat, the sickness in the pit of her stomach. "Cathy…I'm gonna ask that you stay in Southampton. Jonathan is at our house now and Casey is coming over later on when he has to go to work. I promised them I'd be home tonight, so…" Olivia shook her head.
The silence through the phone was revealing, but Olivia didn't want Cathy Cabot to come out to the city just yet. She wanted to wait a little while longer and if she saw the need, she would let her know.
"I know that you know what's best to do, Olivia. You're a wonderful detective and if you want me to stay here and you think it's what's best…that's what I'll do."
Olivia half-smiled. "Thanks, Cathy. It's just too soon to start really…" She didn't know what she wanted to say, but knew she wanted to remain hopeful and for Alex's parents to remain optimistic, as well.
"Let me know if you hear anything, Olivia?"
Olivia smiled then. "Of course, Cathy. You and Jonathan will be the first to know. OK?" Olivia raised her eyebrows. "And by tomorrow…if we haven't…" Olivia cleared her throat, "…if we haven't found her, I would like you to come here…be with the kids…with Jonathan…"
"OK, Dear. Please let me know…I'll be praying for you…all of you to get through this and return my beautiful daughter safely." She began crying then. "Goodbye…"
"OK, Cathy…" But the call was already ended and Olivia pulled the screen away from her face and looked at the disconnected call.
She tilted her neck to the left and to the right, letting out a few pops and then took another deep breath, noticing Fin's charcoal gray, Chrysler 300 Sedan off to the side. She also saw Carisi's white, late model Toyota Camry, and Rollins' small, red, Toyota truck. And with all of her people here, the squad all assembled, it was time to get to work and find her wife and bring her home.
She yanked on the handle of her car, grabbed her purse from the passenger seat, got out and closed it, and then headed inside, ready to solve a case that was the most important one she had experienced in her life.
Alex closed her eyes to rest them after having stared at the ceiling once more for a little while. From the same microwave clock, she knew it was a little past ten and she also knew that she had been here almost twenty-four hours. Aside from the being rolled like a burrito and being tossed somewhere in upstate New York, her mind had also concocted a few more scenarios of her demise while she lay awake after Raul had left and Rosa had made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, texting on her phone and continuing to glare at her.
Some other outcomes she had imagined: washing up in the East River after being tossed in there with an anvil attached to her ankle, or she might be buried inside a wall of this very apartment—something SVU had already had experience with—and the favorite one she had come up with so far was being chopped up in a million pieces and being made into a tasty pozole, her bones being given to the dog, Frankie, that she now realized she had yet to see again.
Alex felt the bottom hem of her navy sweat shirt being lifted and she opened her eyes to find Pedro there. She eyed him and clenched her jaw before she then jerked violently in her ropes. "Don't touch me!" she gritted.
He only smiled, sat next to her, and shook his head before slowly letting his forefinger begin tracing a line along her belly, eyes on her as he did so.
She let a rough breath out of her nose and looked up to the ceiling.
"Come on, lady…a little something? A smile? Something to get me in the mood?"
Alex looked at him then. "Are you fucking serious?"
"Yeah…I'm serious," he oozed, now letting his right hand cup her inner thigh and beginning to travel upward. "I bought the condoms, Baby…" He took a long strip from his pocket and waved them in the air.
Alex's body went violent then and she struggled, letting every ounce of energy she had inside of her jump, pull, push and she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Help!" Her neck strained as she yelled, "Help! Someone help me!"
Pedro's large, rough hand clamped over her mouth then, squeezing. He shook her face as he clenched it. "Shut up!"
"What's happening in here?" Raul questioned.
Panting, her eyes filled with tears, Alex pursed her lips together and looked at Raul who was entering the room in a hurry, zipping his jeans up.
"Why is the bitch screaming?" He adjusted himself and then buttoned the top of his jeans and then began to fasten his belt. "I told you to make sure she doesn't make noise." He looked at the two of them, then at the condom packages on the bed, and then back at Pedro. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"I-I told you, bruh…I was gonna get condoms and then do this bitch…" he stuttered.
"What do you want? Fucking candles, too? Set the fucking mood?" Raul came toward Pedro then and pulled him up, the larger man's hands going up.
"I wasn't gonna do it, Raul. I swear. I was just gonna…" Pedro was sweating now, his face filled with fear.
Raul shoved Pedro onto the sofa, the entire piece of furniture moving a good foot from the force, and then Raul pulled a gun out—the same gun from the park—and pointed it at Pedro.
"I told you that this bitch is gonna stay there, like she is, for as long as I feel like it." Raul moved in close to Pedro, leaning over him and grabbing his neck with his left hand, gun pressed to his forehead. "Are. We. Clear?"
Pedro nodded quickly, beginning to cry, and Raul let go of him, pushing him backward slightly and returning his gun to the back waistband of his jeans.
"Good. Because if I have to pull you off of her one more time…" Raul threatened, pointing, "…Dios ayúdame."
Alex swallowed then, feeling her own brow now covered in sweat and she closed her eyes, feeling her body begin to wrack with sobs, every second that passed, every minute in that cramped apartment, feeling like pure hell.
And it took everything inside of her to give her mind the strength and fortitude to make herself believe that this wasn't the way it was going to end for her. She closed her eyes and began to ask for help, beg for mercy, and to receive the physical resilience to lead her out of this situation and back into the arms and the world of the people who loved her.
Olivia looked at the headline of the newspaper that Fin had just dropped onto her desk:
Missing ADA, Wife of NYPD Detective
Olivia scanned the beautiful photo of her wife before she let her eyes read the first words:
NYPD detectives scoured the James Michael Levin Playground in search of clues in the disappearance of Assistant District Attorney Alexandra…
Olivia took her glasses off and stared at her partner incredulously. "How did they get any information about this? We've been tight-lipped the whole time."
"You know how it happens, Liv," Fin started. "Someone sees us there, next thing you know it's a story."
Olivia shook her head, lifting the top corners of the front page again. "It…shouldn't have gotten out." She narrowed her eyes, mouth opened. "How did they even know…" She shook her head, "…never mind." She let go of the paper and took a deep breath and released it, rubbing her face with both hands, elbows on her desk.
It was eleven o'clock and Olivia was getting more than frustrated. There were over three-thousand people with the last name Zapata, five-hundred sixty in the Bronx borough alone. Narrowing their search through records, they couldn't match any babies born thirteen years ago to Raphael Zapata and had to assume that the baby took his mother's name.
"Liv. You OK?" Fin was closer now.
She smiled and rubbed her forehead before looking up at him. "No."
"I know, Liv. I can't imagine what you're going through. That girl…she's your life, your other half…"
"She's my whole, Fin…" Olivia began playing with her steepled fingers then, pads running along pads, her eyes glazing over. "I keep imagining the worse possible thing…what I went through with Lewis and…" Olivia swallowed then, feeling her eyes begin to well with tears, "…I just lose it…" she whispered.
"Something will turn up soon, Liv. Something has to."
Olivia sniffed and took a deep breath then, just as a couple of knocks were heard and her office door swung open. It was Dodds.
"You got anything?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.
"I'm…" he started, before looking at Fin. "Can I have a moment to talk to Detective Benson?"
"It's Benson-Cabot and has been for—" she corrected automatically before stopping herself.
Fin held his hands up and then coolly walked out of the office, closing the door behind him as he eyed her through the glass, that charming smirk on his face.
Dodds waited until Fin was gone and had walked out of sight before continuing. He put his hands in his pockets and looked at her, studying her.
"Did they find anything else in the park? Anything we missed? Anyone call with any tips?" Olivia placed her glasses back on and lifted the lid of her lap top.
After a few moments of him not saying anything, she took her glasses off and looked up once more.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to be on this one."
"I already heard it from Fin. I'm fine."
Olivia stood then, taking her phone from her back pocket and checking for anything—messages from Jonathan, her kids, Alex? Nothing.
"You're too close to this case, Detective Benson…"
"Jesus!" she hissed. "Benson-Cabot. Why is it so hard?" She looked at Dodds and saw the steeliness, the domination that always seemed to be there, and she stared him down before stating calmly. "Please call me Benson-Cabot. That's all I ask…" Olivia felt her eyes fill with tears then, once more, not able to keep her mind from her wife when she said their name aloud. She swallowed and willed more away but they came nonetheless.
"You're not OK and you need to be clear-headed for this. You can't intertwine emotions and screw something up."
Olivia ground her teeth as she continued to look at him.
"And I have to ask you a question," he began, looking back and forth between her eyes, his face close.
"Ask." Her voice was low, raspy, controlled.
"It's procedure in disappearances. And you know it. So...I don't want you to get—"
"Mad?" she smiled. "Chief, nothing about this case is procedural. I realized that twenty-four hours ago. But…" she sneered, narrowing her eyes, "…go ahead and ask. I can't guarantee I won't…react, though…"
He continued to watch her, the same cool, chauvinistic expression on his face he always had. "Were you and your wife having any…problems? Did you have a fight? Anything to cause her to maybe need to take a few days to regroup and collect herself?"
Olivia's top and bottom layers of her teeth became one and she felt her nostrils flare, her breathing coming faster. "With all due respect, Chief, my wife and I were…" She swallowed, feeling her face contort with pain, "…we were…she's my..."
And at that moment, her knees gave out on her, buckling beneath her as Chief Dodds caught her and helped her back into her desk chair.
"Detective Benson…Cabot…" He let go of her then and stood erect. "Take this time at home to be with your kids. We'll be working on this so you don't have to…"
"I have to be here!" she whimpered. "The kids have school on Monday…I can't sit at home…I'll go crazy."
She thought then of her wife possibly not being returned before Monday, either, and that would mean the chances of finding her were slim to none.
She covered her face with her left hand and stood, moving toward her office door. She needed to get out of there and go somewhere private because the emotions that were about to come out of her wouldn't be anything she would ever want anyone to see. Not even Fin.
She placed her left hand on the doorknob and turned it just as Fin did the same on the other side. She gasped, her hand over her mouth, just wanting to flee this situation, this weak moment.
"Call came in from Central Park security," Fin said calmly.
Olivia's mouth opened then, eyes wide.
"Some kid, tryna get his ball out of a tree, and some glasses fell out with it. Same place where the blood was."
Olivia gasped and began crying behind her hand.
"The woman who called recognized the glasses from the newspaper photo."
Olivia placed her other hand over her mouth, as well.
"Liv, I think they might be Alex's glasses."
Olivia gasped again and then realization hit her. She widened her eyes and opened her mouth, the hope rising inside of her.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Detective?" Fin questioned.
"Prints."
"That's it," he smiled.
And, as if everything in the world depended on it, Olivia grabbed her blazer from the back of her chair, took her keys from her desk drawer, and adjusted her gun and badge as she followed Fin out the door, off to, hopefully, finally place one of the last pieces of this tortuous puzzle into place.
