A/N: Sorry it's been so long! This shall be the final chapter. I never expected it would take this many chapters to complete, but here we are at last. Please review like you all have so miraculously done! Thanks so much!
Chapter 7: The End Is Just the Beginning?
Olivia shut her eyes. "Where's the boy?"
"What boy?" the balding detective asked, clearing his throat.
"You know -- her brother, uh, Bobby," Liv clarified, gesturing through the window. "I left him with a couple of uniforms at the scene and haven't seen him since."
The older man dropped his eyes. "I guess no one told you then."
"Tell me what?!" Olivia demanded. She twitched as Munch placed a hand on her shoulder.
The detective rubbed his hands together and anxiously glanced at his partner who had just joined the group. "Well, when we sent a detective over to pick up the boy for questioning, we were redirected to the hospital."
Liv's eyelids nearly flew back into her skull as she stepped forward, ripping herself from Munch's grasp. "What?! Why?"
"Now I just want to make it known that any of us could have made the same mistake and --," the man began.
"What the hell happened!"
The detective sighed as he looked at the fury etched on her face. "Well...they took him back to their precinct after y'all went to the hospital. When they first pulled up, they saw you holding him at gunpoint, so they knew he must have been involved in the shooting somehow, so you can't really blame them --"
Liv narrowed her eyebrows. She held back the urge to challenge the last thought.
"--and their caseloads are really heavy -- as are everybody's these days -- so they just stuck him in one of their holding cells. But, you see, they didn't have any ones empty at the time and they assumed he was a would-be cop-killer so they didn't really make the best decision on which tank to cool him in. They put him in with some drunk who didn't like the way he looked at him."
Olivia felt like the wind had been knocked out of her -- again. "I told them to take care of him." The rage in her voice couldn't be masked.
The man tried to lighten the mood. "Well, he's basically fine. Face is a little messed up, but he only needed two stitches. No real damage done."
His partner joined in. "Yeah, coulda been worse."
Fin sent the two a withering stare, and they shrugged helplessly in response.
Liv attempted to rub away the throbbing pain from her forehead. "Where is he?"
The detective said nothing, but pointed towards the closed door of a third interview room. Olivia set off in the direction and slowly pushed open the door. The boy briefly glanced up at her from his seat at a table, but just as quickly refocused his gaze to the wall opposite the door.
"Bobby?" she ventured in a thin voice.
The boy gave no indication of whether or not he had heard her.
Olivia walked to the table and pulled out the chair across from the boy. After sitting down she tried again. "Bobby is your name, isn't it?"
The boy did nothing but turn his head even farther away from her.
"You told me earlier that you thought Jill was going to hurt you. Can you tell me why, Bobby?"
The boy remained a statue.
"Look," she said bitterly. She was finding it difficult to hide her frustration. "I know I said nothing would happen to you -- and I'm sorry that I was wrong -- but I really, really need your help right now. Believe me, I wish I didn't, but my partner is lyin' in a hospital bed unable to move and I have no other choice. Can you understand that?"
She paused for a few moments, waiting for any response. None came.
Tears began to work their way into her eyes as she continued. "The doctors say he may never walk again. And...and..."
She trailed off and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "My partner -- Elliot's his name. My partner is a good guy -- a great guy. He doesn't deserve this; his family doesn't deserve this. Oh, God -- his family. He has four children -- five. They have a baby on the way. Two of them are about your age. You and his son Dickie probably have some things in common."
Bobby didn't even shift his weight as she pled her case.
"Bobby, I need your help. I need you to tell me about Jill. Without you I have nothing. I have no proof -- no justice for Elliot, no justice for his family. Hell, no justice for you. Please, please help me out, Bobby. I don't care that you accidentally shot Elliot -- neither does he, but whoever did the second time -whether it was Jill or not-- did it on purpose. They don't care that he can't walk. They don't care that he nearly didn't make it at all. They wouldn't even care if he died. But I know you do, Bobby. I know you care about what happens to him -- what happens to his kids. So please, please tell me what you know. You don't even have to look at me, I could leave the room if you want me to and you could tell someone else. But please think about it, okay?"
Again, she was only met with silence.
Olivia waited a few minutes and then pushed herself away from the table. "If you change your mind, you'll know where to find me."
With that she turned and left the room, pulling the door shut softly behind her.
She felt the compassionate stares of her colleagues upon her face as she blinked away her tears.
"Don't worry," Fin assured her. "He'll come around."
Liv shook her head. "No, he won't." She dared only to whisper for fear of her voice breaking. "I promised him everything would be alright."
Munch had no time to wonder whether the latter thought pertained to the boy or to Elliot before Olivia spoke again.
"Do we have anything? What about the other witnesses? I heard the old man telling the uniform it was Jill."
The balding man's younger counterpart answered. "He did, but his wife didn't see anything, and the other woman thought it was the boyfriend who shot your partner. No way to tell which one'll be more reliable on the stand."
"What about the gunshot residue your friends were threatening him with earlier?" Munch ventured.
"No good. Like he said, he could have just fired that warning shot. And if Jill had it, it just proves she either touched the gun, which all of the witnesses corroborate, or was in the vicinity when it was fired. Can't even be called circumstantial."
"What about surveillance footage? My partner's always goin' on 'bout Big Brother. Musta seen somethin'."
Munch glanced at Fin, and a flicker of pride appeared on his face. His countenance became somber again with one look at Olivia.
The older detective spoke up. "Well, lab techs are still workin' on that front. So far we have the footage from the cafe across the street, but their camera is one that rotates, so a considerable portion is missing."
"Lemme guess -- the chunk missin' is the actual shooting?" Fin knew the answer before the words even left his mouth.
"Yep," The man nodded. "You'd think the way it went down -- middle of the day, two cops on the scene -- that there'd be a whole crapload of evidence, but there just isn't. The D.A.'s office is chompin' at the bit for blood, don't get me wrong, but it'd sure be nice to hand it all over gift wrapped and on a silver platter."
Olivia stood rocking on her heels, taking it all in. She walked over to where she could see the two suspects. The boyfriend looked distraught, his head was in his hands; but Jill looked as though nothing had happened. Olivia couldn't understand it -- she had appeared so frightened in the shop, but perhaps that was only an act. Or maybe a trick of the imagination -- Liv had expected the reaction and had therefore seen just that. Whatever the case, Liv could take no more. She shook her head and spun quickly on her heels.
Munch and Fin looked up to just catch glimpse of her rushing past on her way out the door.
---------------------
Once outside, Olivia slowed her gait considerably. She didn't know where to go. She couldn't go back in there at all, or to the SVU squadroom -- it would feel too empty. Her apartment wasn't any more of a comfort to her than a cold subway car, and none of the local bars seemed appealing. Perhaps the hospital was the best option. She wasn't ready yet for Elliot, but she knew soon enough she would have to face him.
Olivia wasn't sure what to say. She needed to know how to tell him that everything had been her fault. She had been the one who had made them stay later at work than he had wanted to finish paperwork that could have waited until the morning. She had been the one who had insisted on getting the cake herself and left him unprotected. She had been the one who failed to notice the cashier's involvement. She had been the one who chose the chase over the safety of her partner. She had been the one who betrayed the trust of the one person who would be able to help them sort through the lies.
The wind picked up and leaves danced across the sidewalk in front of Olivia as she walked down the street.
She wasn't sure of anything at the moment, except that she had been the one responsible, and she would have to be the one to tell him.