Chapter 3: What are Friends for? Part I

Author: Evelien Michaels

Title: Whatever the Case May Be

SATURDAY DECEMBER 26

OLIVIA'S POV:

I climbed out of my car and rushed to the scene still in my midnight black v-neck dress that I had worn to my friend Margie's birthday party that I reluctantly had to leave because of this new case. My stiletto heels clanged on the asphalt as I approached the Captain.

"What happened to her?" I asked, carefully squatting down in my dress that rose above my knees.

"Nice dress Liv…" Elliot smiled, joining me on the cold ground.

"Shut up El…" I elbowed him in the shoulder and rubbed my arms, wishing I had been smart enough to take a coat before venturing out into a freezing December night.

Cragen cleared his throat and we turned around to face him. "Sixteen year old Tanya Patterson was shot once in the head. There are no other signs of physical abuse, but the M.E. pulled her file from the hospital and apparently she was diagnosed HIV Positive a few months ago. That's really all we can do until the morning. Olivia, Elliot I want you to go to her school and talk to her friend Gabbie. Here's a picture of Gabbie… we found it in her purse."

"This girl's only sixteen?" Elliot questioned, surprised. I was thinking the same thing. She was dressed like a hooker and it scared me to think that our children could grow up just to be like her.

"It's scary isn't it?" I stated, picking myself up off the ground and brushing off my dress. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Captain… bye Elliot…"

As I walked back to my car, I could feel Elliot's eyes watching me until I closed the door. I waited until I saw him get into his car before leaving the scene. It was already almost midnight and the party was probably over, so I decided to drive home and make sure Kristin was alright… I could call Margie in the morning.

I fell into bed and closed my eyes, trying as hard as I could to get the image of the bloody teenager out of my head.

MONDAY DECEMBER 27

OLIVIA'S POV:

I sat on the stone steps leading to the Edison High School, patiently surveying the streets for Elliot's car. The morning still had the biting chill from the previous night, but this time I was prepared and wearing a trench coat. The school was private, and very small. It was an older building and all the students I had seen entering it were dressed in uniforms. It didn't seem like the kind of school a prostitute would attend, but then again every place is full of surprises.

Elliot finally pulled up to the curb and parked his car. His breath made a small cloud of air as he greeted me. "Good morning Olivia!" He called, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"I never thought I would have to go back to school…" I smiled, captivated by the sparkle in his eyes this early in the morning.

"Let's go Liv… this should be interesting…"

We made our way into the building just as the bell sounded, releasing students from homeroom. The homerooms were alphabetical, so we knew that Gabrielle Adams's locker would be near the front of the building. Students rushed about us, exchanging looks of confusion. Alas, we saw a short fake-blonde haired girl emerge from the classroom. She was wearing a heavy amount of make-up and two huge silver hoop earrings.

"That's definitely her," Elliot said holding up the photograph Cragen had found the last night of Gabbie and Tanya.

"Let's go have a little chat…" We walked up to her as students filed into their classrooms. I touched her shoulder lightly and whispered, "Can we talk to you for a moment?" Elliot flashed his badge and the girl turned to us startled.

"What's this about? I'm going to be late for Algebra!" Gabbie tried to break away from us, but Elliot grabbed her arm and twisted her towards us.

"Listen, we'd like to take you outside so we can talk to you in private…" He spoke quietly to her and led the way out the door.

"Gabbie," I started sitting once again on the stairs, "did anyone tell you about Tanya?"

"No!" Fear was reflected in her eyes and I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to tell her about her best friend's death, "What happened to her? Is she ok?"

I stroked her arm comfortingly and told her what had happened last night, "Tanya was shot last night… she died at midnight…"

"No! No this couldn't have happened!" Gabbie screamed and rested her head on my collarbone, sobbing unceasingly. I looked up at Elliot, sympathy in my eyes. He looked away from the two of us, hating how our jobs could make others so upset. He stated that he was going to go talk to the principal and left the two of us alone to talk.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but it's really important that you tell us about your friend… Tanya would want you to bring her killer to justice… I know it hurts, but please just help us out…"

"Tanya was my best friend… she was the only friend I felt like I could trust… how could someone do this to her?"

"Was there anyone who had a reason to do something like this? Did Tanya have any enemies, or people who would like to see her dead?"

"Tanya was really popular at school… especially with boys… don't get me wrong… Tanya was a really smart girl, but she just had a problem controlling her wild side…"

"You mean she slept around?"

"Yeah… her parents were really upset when they found out… you could imagine how angry they would have been… she ran away from home awhile ago…"

"So where is she staying now?"

"She's living with some older man… I'm not sure where exactly… she never told me…"

"Did Tanya ever try to get you involved in the kind of 'lifestyle' she was living in?"

"I told her that I would rather concentrate on my schoolwork than spend all my time with boys."

"It's important that we talk to her parents… do you know where they live?"

"Yeah… I can write down their address for you…"

"Thanks for helping us Gabbie… if you ever need to talk to someone, just call me. Here's my card."

I followed Gabbie back into the building and told her teacher why she was late for class. Then I turned down the hallway to find the principal's office. Elliot was obviously done talking to the man and was waiting for me outside of his office.

"Ready to go?" I asked, handing his jacket to him.

"Go where exactly?"

"Tanya's parents' house… apparently Tanya ran away and was living with an older man… maybe they can tell us where to find her place…"

"Well let's go then…"

"So what did the principal tell you?" I questioned Elliot as we traveled towards the upper eastside.

"Tanya had been a straight A student until the end of the first semester when her grades showed a horrible decline… he was worried about her and called her parents, but they wouldn't answer. He also noticed that she began wearing a lot of make-up and not always wearing all parts to her uniform… you could imagine what he meant… so anyway what did you get from Gabbie?"

"Well I already told you about the older man, but Gabbie said that there were a lot of men in her life…"

"You mean she was…?"

"Yeah… Gabbie told Tanya that that kind of lifestyle just wasn't for her… Elliot…"

"Yeah?"

"Their house is the second on the right…"

"Well here we go…"

Elliot knocked on the door and a short, heavyset woman opened the door with a get-out-of-my-face expression spread across her face.

"Whadda ya want?" the woman asked. She smelled like smoke and liquor and made my nose wrinkle up as we pushed our way into the house.

"We need to talk to you about your daughter?" I told her flashing my badge.

"My daughter? I think you're looking for Mrs. Patterson…" she answered.

"And you would be?" Elliot asked picking up a photo of Tanya and who we assumed were her parents.

"The cleaning lady…"

"Where are Mr. and Mrs. Patterson?" I questioned walking into the foyer and gazing up at a gold ceiling and a crystal chandelier. My mouth hung open and Elliot had to pull me upstairs and away from the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.

I followed Elliot down the hallway and stopped at the last door. He knocked and called to the people inside, "Mr. and Mrs. Patterson… can you open up… we need to talk to you… this is the Police…"

There was a moment of silence before the father opened the door and invited us into Tanya's room. I realized that Gabbie must have told her parents about her death already… it was the only excuse I could think of. The way Gabbie explained it, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.

Mrs. Patterson had been crying for awhile, I could tell by the redness of her eyes. They were a couple in their late forties, and obviously rich and most likely very strict and proper.

"If this is about our daughter, we already know…" Mr. Patterson informed us.

"We know that she ran away with an older man… do you know why she left?" I seated myself on Tanya's computer chair and stared at Elliot as he scanned the room, looking at the trophies Tanya had won. There were awards for winning the spelling bee, science fair, math competitions, and poetry contests. I was amazed how an intelligent girl like Tanya could just through herself into a world of prostitution. I feared about my own daughter. Kristin was just as smart as Tanya… what if she made the same horrible mistake Tanya had made? The thought made me sweat with fear.

"About four months ago my wife and I caught Tanya smoking and… and drinking… we firmly believed that Tanya couldn't really be doing these things. We went to consoling and it worked well for awhile, but then we found her at a bar drinking… and… and…"

"Mr. Patterson it's ok…" I tried to sound reassuring, but I already knew what he was going to say.

"She was stripping… she used fake ID to get into the bar… when I found her, I couldn't believe it was her… I couldn't believe it…"

"About a month ago I found a pile of money stuffed in the corner of her underwear drawer. Tanya came home early that day and caught me in her room… I asked her where the money came from and she told me she had been 'working' and getting paid quite a lot… it made me sick…" Mrs. Patterson declared quietly.

"When you caught her drinking Mr. Patterson… who was she with?" Elliot inquired, fixing his eyes away from the ribbons and trophies and onto the quiet couple sitting on the young girl's bed.

"Most of the time it was with older men…"

"Well was there anyone else?" I asked, jumping up from the computer chair I had been sitting on.

"Yes… Tanya's friend, Gabrielle Adams."