Chapter 2
"All right, what have we got?" Elliot flashed his shield and pushed aside the crime scene tape to where Fin stood.
"Elliot, sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night. You heard from Liv?"
"Nah, not since last night. We went out for drinks. I didn't expect to…damn, I forgot to call her."
"Yeah, well, she probably won't answer her phone anyhow. I've been tryin' for about an hour. Then I decided to drag your ass out of bed."
Warner looked up from where she was examining the body. "Female victim…severe bruising of the wrists and pelvis. Cuts on the chest and neck, and…" Melinda paused for a moment as she pushed aside the jacket to reveal a deep bruising pattern. "Ligature marks on the neck."
"She was strangled. Any idea what the murder weapon was?"
"There's a small rectangular impression etched in the skin right here. My guess, he used a belt. I'll know more when I can get her to the lab, but…" She hesitated for a moment.
"What?"
"Well, the markings are too narrow to be a man's belt, and it obviously doesn't belong to her." Warner nodded at the dress the victim was wearing.
"All right, so we have a woman on her way home from a night out on the town. Perp sees her, corners her in the park, rapes her, then…chokes her with some other woman's belt. That doesn't make any sense. Maybe it's a dump job?"
Warner came up behind him. "There's something else, Elliot. ID in her wallet says her name is Leslie Carlton. The name doesn't ring a bell, but Fin found Liv's card tucked behind it."
Elliot paused, the confusion on his face evident. "We've worked everything together the last few months. I don't recognize the face or the name."
"Look what we got here." Fin crossed back over to Elliot, dangling a black belt with a silver buckle from his hand. "Perp left the murder weapon."
"Let me see that!" Elliot's words cut through the night with an unaccustomed edge to them.
"Damn, Elliot. That's the last time I wake you up."
"Melinda? Does that look familiar to you?" Before she could respond, he had his phone out and was dialing frantically.
"What's going on, Elliot?" Fin turned to Melinda to see a similar look of apprehension registering slowly.
"Damn it. She's not answering. Melinda, how soon can we have prints back on that?"
She was already dusting for fingerprints. "We don't know for sure, Elliot, but we're going to find out." Her lips were twisted into a grim smile.
"What the hell is going on?" Fin turned from Melinda to Elliot with growing concern.
Elliot's head was in his hands. "This doesn't make sense. That's Liv's belt. I know it is."
Fin drew in a sharp breath. "Elliot, go. I'll secure the scene." He picked up his phone and dialed quickly. After a moment, he spoke. "Captain, sorry to bother you. We may have a problem."
With every muscle in his six foot and one half inch frame trembling, Elliot leaned on the button in front of him. The accompanying buzzing seemed to only agitate him further, but he clung to the button as if his life depended on it. The harsh, bitter laugh that escaped from his lips was swept away by the sounds of the awakening city. What good was controlled access entry if it couldn't protect Olivia? Hell, what good was he as a cop if he couldn't even protect the one woman who relied on him more than anyone else? He swallowed hard.
Come on…answer already.
In the back of his mind, he was praying that she would come to the door, pissed off that he had woken her in the middle of the night telling him that of course, it wasn't her belt. He could hear her voice chastising him…Come on Elliot. Do you know how many people in New York have the same belt as me. It doesn't prove anything.
But the cop in him knew that it didn't fit. She didn't just ignore her phone. And her business card didn't just appear in the wallet of a dead woman who was strangled with a belt exactly like her own.
He had already tried to call her again, and his heart twisted in his chest when his worst fears were confirmed. There was no answer. He cursed to himself for not calling her earlier that day when Dicky and Elizabeth left. He hadn't wanted to tell her he still hadn't slept. He hadn't wanted her to know that the case had still been in his head.
Her words flashed back to him, and he felt numb to the core. Okay, but if you get busy with the kids, don't worry about it. I'll always be here another time.
If something had happened to her, no one had even noticed because he hadn't been ready to face her again. He'd tried to convince himself that he had just forgotten, but he knew better. She was missing, and he hadn't noticed. Hell, if it hadn't been for this case, no one would have noticed she was gone until Monday morning when she didn't show up for work. He was sickened at the thought.
His reverie was interrupted by the sound of the door whipping open. "Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea what time it is?" A balding man stood at the door, his arms crossed over his chest and a piercing glare in his eyes.
Elliot swallowed hard and flashed his shield, relieved to find that the super had finally answered the door, but dreading what he would find inside. "Detective Elliot Stabler, NYPD. I need you to let me inside apartment 2F." Without another word, he ignored the shock on the man's face, pushing past him as he raced up the steps. His feet traced the path he had taken many times before, but never with this impending sense of dread. He pounded on the door when he got there. "Olivia!" He hesitated only a moment before turning to the man who had followed him up the stairs. "I need you to open that door for me now."
The super fumbled with the key ring already in his hand until he found the right one. He unlocked the door and immediately stepped back. The sheer raw panic the detective emanated was unmistakable, and the super was not about to get in his way. Elliot drew his gun and pushed the door open. When it swung open, he blinked in the sudden darkness. He walked forward cautiously and reached for the light. The room filled with a soft light, and he relaxed his grip on his gun slightly. "Olivia?" He didn't expect an answer, but he knew he had to try. It took only moments for him to realize that no one was home. Without Olivia's presence, the rooms seemed cold and empty. He walked back through the apartment slowly, looking for any detail out of place.
"Looks like maybe she had other plans for the night." From where he stood in the doorway, the super nodded at both the un-slept in bed, and the abandoned glass of red wine on the coffee table. His insinuation was clear. She was a single woman who had gone out for the night and went home with someone else. Elliot refused to believe it. He knew that the call from the Bennett case had come in late at night, but Olivia had still been up. She had responded to the call in record time. The only other sign of life that he could see was where she had come home at some point to throw together a change of clothes before heading back to the precinct.
He turned to the super, his eyes burning. "Just go…" He almost didn't recognize the hoarseness in his own voice. If she had not been back since the Bennett case, she had not made it home Friday night after she left Maloney's. He started to shuffle through her dresser drawers. When he hadn't found what he was looking for, he turned to her closet. Nothing. He felt a pang of guilt as he rummaged through her stuff. He was invading her privacy…what the hell would she say if she found him here, if the super had been right. He crossed over to the blinking answering machine and pushed the button. Fin's voice sprang to life.
Hey, Liv. Trying to reach you on your cell, but no answer so I thought I'd try you at home. Call me. I know you're off for the weekend, but I caught a case, and there's something you need to see. Oh yeah, and we're a little short-handed. Munch called in yet again…another bout of anthrax or something. Anyway, call me. I'm going to see if I can reach Elliot. The machine beeped at him again. You have no more new messages. Check erased messages…
He didn't listen. He reached for his phone and dialed Fin. "Apartment's clear. It doesn't look like she's been home." His voice still sounded hoarse to his own ears.
"All right, Elliot. Come back to the house. Captain's here, and we dragged Munch in. Warner's at the lab now running prints. I left CSU to finish canvassing and processing the scene. I don't see much that's going to help us, but O'Halloran says he'll call if they find anything."
Knowing that there wasn't anything that would help them here, he stood up. He was already on his way out the door. "I'll be right there."
Olivia's eyes fluttered open slowly, and she tried to blink back the crashing pain that coursed through her body. She tried to pull herself up on her elbow, but found that she was unable to move. After a few moments, the cloud in her head began to clear and she realized that her arms were trapped over her head. The silver bracelets binding them together glinted and seeing the image in their reflection, she whipped her head up. "Morning sweetheart." He bent close to her, tenderly tracing the outline of her cheekbone. She jerked away. As she did, she felt a white hot pain shooting through her wrists. "Careful. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
"Where am I?" Her voice was barely audible, and he leaned closer to hear it.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of you."
"I can take care of myself." She tried to remember what had happened, but everything was a blur. She remembered going to Maloney's, remembered telling Elliot not to wait for her, and that she wanted to walk home. Vaguely, she could remember someone else talking to her--someone she knew. But after that, everything was fuzzy. How much had she had to drink? Had someone followed her home when she left? A quick glance down confirmed what she had already felt. Her gun was missing from her belt. But it wasn't the only thing missing. Olivia's eyes widened in shock as she looked at herself for the first time. Her knees instinctively curled up to her chest as she realized just how vulnerable she was.
His lips curled into a satisfied smirk at the sudden look of recognition on her face. She read the expression in his icy eyes and shivered. Why couldn't she remember what had happened? Olivia buried her face in her knees, not wanting him to see her until she could gain control over her emotions. Bitter tears stung her eyes and blurred the image that was forever embedded in her memory.