Background, Chapter Nine

A/N: I suck at updating :( I'm sorry! Feel good, though. It's 1 AM and I'm definitely delaying writing an English and government paper. And yes, I've stocked up on energy drinks and caffeine-filled Ice Breakers! This chapter is very dialogue-heavy.

"Basically, for the first two months of this, Kayla talked about being bounced from place to place. From that teacher's, which she doesn't say much about other than what we read earlier. She said she left after a week and a half because she didn't want him getting in trouble. She told him originally that she needed a place to stay while her parents were out of town to stay with her grandmother to help deal with the grief of the other girl's death. After she left, she told him they came back early. Hmm...Stayed at Adam Brooks' house like he said, Liz's house for a couple of days at a time every couple of weeks, benches in the park, various other places," Finn explained to Cragen, Elliot and Olivia about thirty minutes before Allen was scheduled to arrive.

"Okay, so this English teacher. Any suspicions on him?" Cragen asked.

"I didn't get that kind of vibe from him. He seemed genuinely upset that Kayla was dead," Elliot offered.

"Yeah, but why not mention that he had let her stay with him for a week?" Olivia pointed out. "Not mentioning it has to point to some kind of guilty conscience."

"He knew how it would look. I guarantee you if we confronted him about it and didn't say anything about having proof, he'd admit to it. Of course he feels guilty. Maybe he realizes he could have saved her had he reported the situation to D-FACS. There's no reason for her to lie in her journal; had anything happened she would have written about it."

"I still think it needs to be looked into a bit more. Go on," Cragen instructed, nodding at Munch.

"Two months ago, she was walking in the rain, trying to decide where to go when Allen pulled up beside her. He offered her a ride. She said after a few days of him seeing her walking in the rain, and giving her rides to a few different friends' houses, he asked what the deal was. She broke down and told him everything and he offered her a place to stay, originally just for a couple of days and then he was going to take her to the police. Apparently he was really nice and it was going good and she asked him if she could continue living there-that she would do 'anything'-clean, help pay. She didn't want to go to the police because she didn't want her brothers to be taken away or anything like that. He agreed. After a few days, everything started going down hill."

Cragen took a picture of Allen and Tomas and put them under "suspect" headers, under a picture of Kayla.

"Allen should be here any minute. Don't tell him about the journal. Start reading it a little bit at a time if he continues to deny. Munch, Finn, go see Mr. Tomas at his house. I'll call Casey and ask her to start preparing a warrant for Allen's house."

Allen walked in with a smug grin. "I hate it when they do that," Olivia remarked.

"What?" Elliot asked, beckoning Allen to come towards them.

"Come in with that smirk. But, we're about to wipe it off. So that'll keep from me from wanting to bitch slap it off right now."

Elliot led Allen in, motioning for him to have a seat.

"I hope I don't have to be here long, detectives. I have things to do," Allen said, pretending to be bored.

"Don't tell us. You have another underage girl you're ready to beat at your home? Am I right?" Olivia asked, crossing her arms across her chest. The guy's smug look still hadn't faltered.

"Now, now. Let's not accuse teachers of such things. What exactly am I here for? Like I said, I'd never heard of this girl before she was killed."

"That's funny. We have three witnesses who saw her going to your classroom multiple times," Elliot produced a sheet with the names of Mr. Tomas, Liz and Adam marked out.

"Tutoring, maybe? I tutor dozens of kids a week; a lot of them not mine since I'm the only second level teacher there right now. I wouldn't recognize her."

"'Kayla hadn't been coming to lunch so I followed her one day and saw her going into Mr. Allen's room and close the door.'"

"You got me. I sacrifice my lunch time-a time when I get to socialize with people who aren't oozing with self-righteousness little brats-to help tutor kids who can't stay after school. Damn me!" Allen knocked on the table before motioning for them to continue.

"Most teachers don't actually refer to their students in that way. So how often did you skip lunch to, hmm, tutor students?" Elliot asked.

"I don't keep track. And by the way," Allen leaned in and winked, "is it really a bad thing that I got Kayla to skip a lunch? I mean..." he blew up his cheeks and rubbed his stomach.

Elliot glared at him. "Do you think this is a game? A teenage girl was beaten to death, and you're making jokes? You're really innocent. Oh, and by the way, what'd you go to prison for? And, while we're coming clean, what's your real name?"

Olivia, who was letting Elliot take this one as she jotted down notes, noticed that Allen grew slightly stiff.

"Prison? Real name? You guys are getting a little too creative. And while WE are at it, why exactly aren't you interviewing this kid's parents? If her home life was oh so bad, you'd think her parents might have had something to do with it."

"How'd you know that? You don't know Kayla, in case you forgot."

"The media!" He snapped.

"The media hasn't released any information about Kayla's background because no one knew about it," Olivia pointed out.

"Are we done here? I didn't do anything to this kid, I've never gone to prison, and my name is indeed Wyatt," he stood up just as Cragen entered and asked Olivia and Elliot to join him in the hallway, requesting that Allen sit tight and gave him a soda to drink.

"Melinda just called, she finished the autopsy. She found something interesting."

"What? Did something else kill her?" Olivia asked.

"No. She was definitely beaten to death. But she was also about six weeks pregnant. We need to stall long enough to get that can from Allen, get the fingerprints, and run them to find out who he really is. Also, get his gum so we can get DNA."

Finn and Munch arrived at Tomas' townhouse, not that far from where Kayla's family had moved to.

"Yes?" He answered the door after a swift knock from Finn.

"Trey Tomas? We're Detective John Munch and Detective...Finn. We have a few more questions for you about Kayla."

Trey moved out of the doorway to let them enter. His home was a mish-mash of furniture with an exercise bike planted in front of the TV, which was turned to the news.

"Um, have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?" Trey asked, obviously nervous. The pair declined the drink but sat, and Munch took out his notepad.

"Do you have anything to add about Wyatt Allen?" Finn asked first.

Trey thought for a moment before shrugging. "Just the stuff I told the other two. I warned him, told him that's now rumors got started. He just laughed and told me to mind my own business. Other than that, no. I tried to stay clear of him. I always got a bad feeling from him."

"Like what?"

"I don't know how to explain it. Just how his students talked about him. I try to get close with my students, in an appropriate manner...So they know I'm there if they need to talk. He tried too much to be there friend, talking to a few of them after class about sex, and his youth. Which is okay to a certain extent, but not to where you make them feel uncomfortable. No one ever stayed after twice. I thought he was inappropriate. No one ever accused him of anything, but I didn't think it'd be too long."

"Do you think he had anything to do with Kayla's death?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, I can't say. I don't like him, but I don't see him murdering a child. Especially how people were saying she was...Beaten up so badly. Then again, I don't see how anyone could murder a kid, so...I will say that the thought has crossed my mind."

"What about your relationship with Kayla? Was it always appropriate?" Munch asked.

"What 'relationship'? She was my student. Once she stayed after and seemed to want to say something, a few weeks ago in fact, but I was dealing with something else and she left."

"I don't think that's all."

Tomas looked at them for a little while before looking away. "I let her stay here. For a little over a week. She told me her parents would be gone."

"How'd she approach you? And why didn't you say something before?"

"She seemed real embarrassed about it, but now that I think about it, I guess she had slept outside by that time. She was waiting outside my door one day when I got home from the school. Said her other plans fell through, and that she would understand if I said no. I couldn't just let her go wondering around Manhattan streets at night. So I said yes. But nothing was ever inappropriate about it. I let her sleep in my bed the first couple of nights and I slept on the couch before she insisted that she take the couch. I made sure she did her homework. I signed a field trip sheet for her. Over the weekend I had to go visit some family member and she stayed and just cleaned up a little bit. She was embarrassed about it all. I told her she could stay for as long as she needed, then one morning I got up and she was gone. I asked her about it at school and she said she didn't want me getting in trouble. I didn't say anything about it because I knew how it would look! Here I am, accusing Wyatt of being inappropriate and I let a student stay with me," He was visibly upset. "I knew something was wrong but I did nothing about it. I tried turning it into social services twice after I saw bruises on her and they turned a blind eye. I loved Kayla, the way a brother loves a sister or a father a daughter, not the sick way that Wyatt acts. Please. Believe me. I would never hurt a kid."

Munch and Finn exchanged a brief look before rising. "Look, we believe you. But do understand that we might have to call you to the station for more questioning."

Trey barely nodded. He led them to the door and as they walked out he pled his case once again. "I wish to God I had pushed the social worker harder. I wish I had realized at once that it wasn't a little spat between a teenager and her parents. I wish I had confronted Wyatt harsher, followed Kayla, gotten her to open up to me. I regret this all. I might not continue teaching. This has ruined me."