Disclaimer: Dick Wolf and NBC own the rights to these SVU characters. I merely play with them when I can!

Author's Notes: Only two more chapters after this to go! Yay….well…maybe not. Thanks for all your support in your reviews, I'm so glad you're all enjoying it! I've started writing another fic, so there'll be at least two more after this one. If you're lucky, I might have a 'review competition' of sorts, and have some of you star in my fic as offender/victim/character in another capacity…how exciting. Anyway, enjoy! Read and Review pretty-itty please!

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Thursday, 9am

The ME's office was buzzing with activity despite the early hour. It seemed like every psycho in New York was out at about, the Medical Examiner's working overtime. Melinda was no different.

She looked up at them wearily as they entered the lab, "morning Detectives," she gestured with her scalpel, "I have all three bodies in the one room to make my life a little easier."

Elliot and Olivia nodded in understanding, "anything different with our second victim?"

Melinda shook her head slightly, removing her latex gloves. She threw them into the bin under the sink and washed her hands thoroughly, before moving to the desk and pulling up the file for Olivia.

"I already told you that the first two victims tested positive for Versed," she paused, pulling the sheet from Madeleine Hughes' face. "Well victim number three did as well, and it's the same medicinal strain. With sedatives as strong and as rare as Versed, there is a particular strand of the drug that is symptomatic of the producer. All victims had the same, so the batch and producer are too"

Elliot nodded, "can we find out who it was sold to?"

Melinda nodded, "the company name is Peerson's, here in Manhattan. Now, I got a list of names for you of those that have ordered Versed, in any quantity. But I think you may find what I have on your third victim more interesting"

Olivia looked up from the file, "what is it?"

"I scraped under her nails like I did for the Wilcox's, and found something," Elliot looked hopeful, "It's not skin cells, but cleaning product. I found it in her hair as well"

Elliot's eyebrow rose, "what does it tell us?"

Melinda turned the pages of the file in Olivia's hand, who read from it, "the cleaning product has a level of the chemical Ammonium Nitrate with a strength found only in those sold to institutions like hospitals, office buildings..."

"Or schools," Elliot finished, turning from the bodies in front of him. He instead pulled out the list Melinda had printed out for them, scanning it quickly.

Melinda nodded, "the cleaning product has a level so toxic, it would be negligible to sell it to private domains; lawsuits would be rife. So they only sell it to those that have more expertise in how to use it"

Olivia nodded, "so it's a link to the school, but nothing definitive?"

Melinda nodded again, "it's only circumstantial, she could have picked it up from any Government building; highly unlikely, but still a possibility. Your other two victims were from the same school, so that contracts the chances again. This information should help in narrowing down where your primary crime scene is."

"Thanks Melinda," Olivia said, sighing as she placed the file back on Melinda's desk. Before she could make it to the exit, Elliot's arm had reached out to stop her, "Elliot?"

"Liv, look," he thrust the list under her nose, pointing at a name somewhere in the middle. Her eyes widened.

"Damien West"

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"I knew he was hiding something," Olivia said, pulling on her seatbelt angrily, "and not just women's underwear"

Elliot snorted as they sped back towards the school in Queens.

"Need the siren?" Olivia asked.

Elliot smirked, "hit it"

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The receptionist visibly recoiled as Elliot and Olivia stormed back into the office.

"He's in building four, room 5," she stuttered, before Olivia or Elliot even opened their mouths.

"Wise move," Olivia said, "where's building four?"

Walker sighed; Elliot noticed her hand trembling, "go straight out. Turn right. First building you come to, third room along"

Olivia leant put her palms flat on the ledge, "we'll talk to you later,"

Walker's eyes widened, "why?"

Olivia gave a cold smirk, "we don't have time to talk about your little affair," Walker's face went pale, "but it might come up if you fail to cooperate," Olivia turned to Elliot, "what do you think the school's policy is on married teacher's sleeping with other staff members?"

Elliot pretended to think about it, "Probably fire their ass. Tell every school in every borough about the illicit affair. It'd be extremely hard to find work again."

Walker shifted in her chair, her discomfort extremely apparent. She opened her mouth but no sound came out, so she cleared her throat loudly, "I'll tell you anything. Just keep my name out of it. If my parents find out…" she stopped, her eyes tearing up.

Olivia rolled her eyes, "relax, you'll ruin your make-up. At the moment, we're more interested in Mr West," Walker visibly relaxed somewhat, "but you better believe we'll be in touch"

Olivia turned on her heel, Elliot at her side, as they descended the stairs of the main building – this time in one piece.

They reached the room Mr West was teaching in with minimal issue, a wrong turn at one point sending them in a mini-circle. He was in amongst a group of rowdy five year-olds partaking in an art a crafts class. His back was to them, and he hadn't noticed their presence.

One of his students however, had, "who are you?"

Elliot and Olivia looked down at a young girl pouting up at them.

Smiling, Olivia crouched down, pulling out her badge, "my name's Olivia, and this is Elliot, my partner"

The little girl craned her neck to look at him, giving him a gap-toothed grin, "is he your boyfriend?"

Olivia's cheeks flushed. A grinning Elliot took over, "we're police officer's sweetheart, and we just need to talk to your teacher OK?"

The little girl nodded, turning back to Olivia, "Boys have cooties anyway," she scurried away before Olivia could respond, and began to tug furiously on his shirt sleeve, "Mr West, s'cuse me, police people have come to see you. Have you been naughty?"

Mr West's smile at the young girl faltered somewhat, "thank you Jasmine," he turned to the Detectives, "no I haven't been naughty"

Elliot shook his head, "you know you shouldn't lie"

The little girl nodded her head emphatically, "your nose will grow long like Pistachio's"

Olivia chuckled, as Mr West navigated his way carefully through the classroom towards them.

"Look, if this is about the affair, it's over. We decided…"

Elliot put up his hand, cutting him off, "we're not interested in that at the moment. We're more interested in a purchase you made about a month ago"

West looked at them, a confused frown creasing his forehead, making him look a lot older, "purchase?"

"Don't play dumb. Your credit card and your credentials were used to purchase vials of Versed from a Pharmaceutical company about four and a half weeks ago"

West's frown deepened, "the paralysis sedative?"

Olivia's eyebrow raised, "you seem to know a lot about it"

West nodded, "from Med-College. But I've never actually been in possession of it"

Elliot gave him a disbelieving look, "well, your credit card receipts would suggest otherwise"

West turned to look at Elliot, "you found my credit card?"

Olivia and Elliot exchanged a look, "what do you mean, 'found it'?"

"About two months ago it went missing," West explained.

Elliot pulled out his notepad, "did you report it missing?"

West shook his head, "no, I assumed Vanessa had taken it"

Olivia's jaw dropped, "your mistress?" West flinched at the choice of word Olivia made, "did she tell you she'd taken it?"

West shook his head, "but she's done it before," he sat down in the nearest chair, level with Elliot's knee, "but I don't understand why she'd buy drugs with it. Especially something like Versed."

Elliot looked at the top of West's head which was resting in his hands, "are you sure she even has it?"

"Or it was stolen," West suggested, looking up, "I can't have lost it anywhere other than here on campus. It's the only time I take it out. The day I noticed it was missing, I had used it that morning and it was missing that afternoon when I assumed Vanessa had taken it"

Olivia was giving West an incredulous look, "you let her go through your wallet just like that?"

West shrugged, avoiding her judgmental gaze, "it keeps her quiet and happy"

"Hush money" Elliot spat.

West shook his head vigorously, "Vanessa's never going to say anything. Her job's at stake too. She likes pretty things. It all works out"

Olivia tried to overlook this guy's arrogance, "would she try to frame you?"

West gave a half-smirk, giving Olivia an even look, "Detective. She's pretty, but not very smart"

West was acting as though he'd made the cleverest observation, but the withering looks that Elliot and Olivia were giving him made his smile drop considerably.

Elliot put his hands on his hips, "in any case, we need to find your credit card," he paused, rubbing the end of his nose with his hand, "does anyone apart from Ms Walker have access to your office"

West rose from the mini-seat, chewing his lip thoughtfully, "well, in theory all the staff has access; accompanied students as well"

Olivia remembered Melinda's findings, "Does the school have cleaners?"

West nodded, "Of course. They're in every afternoon"

Elliot pulled out his notepad, "do you know the name of the company that the school employs?"

West shook his head, "but I do know someone who can help," he paused, looking at them expectantly.

Neither Elliot nor Olivia felt much like playing along. West noticed and his shoulders dropped, "Ms Walker would have their file in the administration office along with payroll information. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to oblige"

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Thursday, 4pm

Cragen and Huang stood against Elliot's desk as the detectives ran through the investigation's progress.

"Our first two victims are Matthew and Fiona Wilcox," Munch began, pointing at their faces smiling down from the over-sized board in the middle of the precinct. "They were reported missing Monday afternoon by their mother after their sport's coach informed her that they had missed practice. Their bodies were found that night by two late-night exercise freaks. Both victims raped, both douched and no trace evidence left behind"

Elliot cleared his throat, "there was a footprint of a male size ten hiking boot. It had been raining, so the mud was a clear canvass; definitely the doer's"

"One of the doer's," Olivia interjected.

"Second victim was a Madeleine Hughes. Found in Central Park, a couple of miles away from the first scene. Reported missing Tuesday evening, found early Wednesday morning by two early morning joggers. This time, the perp left behind a cleaning agent in the victim's hair. ME report says it's from a product sold exclusively to Government buildings and institutions that clean on a large scale. Madeleine was also raped and douched," Munch finished with a sigh, folding his arms.

Fin pushed off his desk, "Warner ran a tox-screen on all the victim's. It came back positive for Versed. So our victim's were incapacitated, kidnapped, raped, murdered and dumped. Ballistics came back with the make of our murder weapon – a 9mm."

Huang nodded, "but that's not what makes this crime so distinctive?"

Olivia shook her head, "these guys have set up these crime scenes to reflect situations from fairytale books. The first was Hansel and Gretel, and the second was Snow White," she sat back, "complete with bread crumbs and a red apple"

Huang raised his eyebrow in interest, clicking his tongue, "this has been planned meticulously," he moved towards the board with the crime scene photos, "the props, location, and lack of evidence. This has been in the works for a while. This is too unique a signature for them to be first timers. But did you run it through vi-cap?" Huang asked, turning to the Detectives, who nodded, "They've probably spent their entire adult lives conceiving this fantasy. I'd say the manifestations of childhood abuse are being exorcised," he finished.

"The fairytales," Munch breathed, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

Huang nodded, "this is a message to a mother and father figure"

"What sort of person are we looking for," Huang turned to the camera footage that Morales had provided them with. The female's face was slightly blurred, but the male's remained hidden by the darkness.

Huang pointed to the female in the photo, "I'd say that she's the dominant player in this setup," he moved his finger across to the shadow of the male, "and he'd be the submissive. I think he'd be in a low-paying job, semi-social. The female, on the other hand, would be in more of a high-level job. Authority figure. They've either had abusive parents or experienced abuse at that level," he turned to the Detectives and Cragen, "and they won't stop until you catch them"

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Or until they get through the whole book," Munch quipped.

Cragen ignored Munch, "we think the teacher's in the clear?"

Elliot and Olivia shared a look, "I think the only reason he was so nervy was because of the affair he was having with the receptionist," Elliot gestured to the image on the board, "and that's not Vanessa Walker."

Olivia nodded next to him, "my gut isn't screaming at me that it's him," the corner of her mouth lifted in a half-smile, "even though I really didn't like him"

"Well, maybe you had more of a reason than you first thought," Fin said from behind his computer.

"Really?" Olivia asked, making her way to Fin's desk.

"You said he left that school in Albany for his family?" Fin asked.

"Yeah," Elliot answered slowly, "his wife began a new job"

"Well this is telling us something completely different," Fin said, moving to the side to allow Olivia to read the screen.

Her face dropped, looking up at Elliot, "Precinct in Albany reported complaints by parents on behalf of the students. Said he had been acting 'inappropriately'," she returned her gaze to the screen, scrolling down, "doesn't disclose what that was; only that the school made him leave, the charges were dropped and the families were offered monetary repayments when they reached an agreement"

Elliot's tongue clicked angrily, watching as Cragen answered the phone on his desk, "Bastard never mentioned that"

Olivia straightened, making her way back towards her desk, "we need to speak to him again"

Elliot nodded, rising from his chair, as Cragen got off the phone.

"Call just came through from Stevenson Primary. One of their students failed to make afternoon roll-call. No-one's seen her since."

"Damn it," Elliot said, slamming his palm flat against his locker.

Cragen pushed his hands into his pockets, "Elliot, Olivia; head over to the school and question this guy. Munch, Fin; there are units heading over to Central Park now, join them. Let's just hope this kid's wandered off down the road"

Munch shook his head, "and not ended up as part of this couple's twisted fairytale"