Chapter 4: What are Friends For? Part II

Author: Evelien Michaels

Title: Whatever the Case May Be

Tuesday December 28

OLIVIA'S POV:

I rolled out of bed when my alarm clock blasted me awake at 6:30 in the morning. The only thing I could think about was what Mr. and Mrs. Patterson told Elliot and me. Gabbie wasn't as innocent as she seemed; she was a liar and that was what angered me the most. I tried to give her compassion towards the loss of her best friend, and in turn she lies to me about being involved in the same way of life Tanya had entered in.

After turning off my alarm, I fixed myself some coffee, which tasted worse than usual. I suppose it was because of the kind of mood I was in, but I couldn't really tell. Realizing that it was already almost 7:00, I ran into the bathroom and began brushing my teeth. The sound of the electric toothbrush moving throughout my mouth was almost loud enough to drown out my angry thoughts about Gabbie, but I could still hear my mind screaming "How could she lie to me like that?"

I sighed and spit out my toothpaste and watched the blue foam swirl in circles as it drained down the sink. My outfit had already been laid out and I slipped into my clothes quietly trying to think of something us to focus on. In the next room, I watched as Kristin emerged and pulled a box of Pop Tarts out of the pantry. I felt bad for waking her up so early during the holiday season, but I knew she was used to it.

"Hey mom…" Kristin yawned as she put the Pop Tarts into the toaster. "Getting ready for work?"

"No I felt like taking a stroll around the building…" I smiled and looked up at her once I finished looping my belt in place. She was still wearing pajamas, and her hair was sticking up in odd directions, but she returned my smile.

"Be careful mom… I don't want anything bad to happen to you…" she grabbed a plate and placed the Pop Tarts on it before taking a seat on one of the stools in the kitchen.

"Honey you know I'll be ok… I'm more worried about you… are you sure you'll be alright?" I snatched a brush and began applying blush to my cheeks.

"Mom I'll only be alone for about an hour or two… it's Tuesday remember? Tuesday's are State Orchestra practices…"

"It's Tuesday already?" I joked as a knock was placed on the door. "I'll get that…"

"Alright…"

I was surprised by who was standing behind the door; it was Elliot. He smiled at me and his brilliant blue eyes lit up and made me melt inside. "Hey! I wasn't expecting to see you so early! Do you want to come in?"

"Sure, thanks Liv. Hey Kristin! How are you?" I enjoyed the way he treated my daughter. She thought of him like a father, and that in itself made me smile. She never had a father and Elliot was the only man who ever loved her. He cared for her like I did his children; we loved them like they were our own.

"I'm fine Mr. Stabler! How are you?" she pulled her long black hair into a bun and put her plate into the dishwasher. Then she ran over to him and gave him a giant hug like a three year old would. I laughed at the way she acted… she was so mature… and yet so immature at the same time.

"I told you a thousand times Kristin, you can call me Elliot! Now is it alright if I talk to your mother?"

"Sure… that's alright with me," she walked away and disappeared into her room, but we could still hear her say, "Talk to ya later Elliot…"

"So what's up Elliot? I'm not used to seeing you this early in the morning… are you alright?" I gazed into his eyes that were like two huge concrete walls blocking me from his emotions and thoughts.

"Let's sit down…" he said walking over to the couch and taking a seat.

"Elliot now I know something's wrong… talk to me…"

"It's the kids…"

"Are they alright? Did someone get hurt?"

"No… Kathy's trying to take them from me…"

"What? What do you mean?"

"She trying to get full custody of them… she says that I can't take care of them because I'm never at home… she can't do this to me Liv… it's not fair…"

"You look at me Elliot Stabler," I spoke grabbing his shoulders like he had done to me when I was upset, "There is no reason why she should do something like this to you and believe me… she's not going to win… your kids care about you Elliot… I care about you too… so hear me out… no judge is going to take your kids away from you Elliot… ok?"

"Yeah… thanks Liv…"

"Anytime…" I smiled. It amazed me how a strong man like Elliot could break down to the point where he was almost crying. I never had seen him like that, even after his divorce with Kathy had been finalized.

"Well I think it's almost time for school…" Elliot was quick to get away from the situation and headed straight for the door.

"Our children are lucky… they get to sit at home watching MTV while we go to a year round private school… oh joy…"

"Sucks for you!" Kristin hollered from her room.

"Let's go have a chat with Gabbie…" I followed him out the door, anxious to have another chat with Gabbie and praying that she wouldn't lie to us this time.

"Oh my God are you kidding me? Isn't it enough you ruined my life already? I can't believe you people!" Gabbie was evidently upset that we were coming back to talk to her, but I was angrier. I was still extremely irritated that she would lie to the police; especially because that was something I would never dream of doing.

"It's nice to see you too Gabbie… now I know how important your schoolwork is to you, but we really need to talk to you…" Elliot smirked and pulled her into the empty cafeteria.

"So tell me Gabbie, why on Earth did you lie to us yesterday?" my tone rose and I watched the little hairs on her arm stand up. She didn't understand that what she did was wrong, but between Elliot and me, I think we could easily get the message across.

"I'm sorry detectives… I was just so ashamed of what I did… are you going to tell my parents about this?" She seemed afraid of us, but I firmly believed that she was just putting on an act.

"I thought you didn't want to be part of that kind of lifestyle… so tell me the truth Gabbie…" I stared into her eyes, watching to see what her eyes would tell me.

She glanced over her right shoulder before answering with, "We needed the money for clothes…" I knew she was telling us what really happened this time. She looked to the right which I was told meant that she was telling the truth.

"If your parents are anything like Tanya's I don't think that getting money for clothes would be a problem…" Elliot stated, almost shouting.

"Calm down Elliot…… Gabbie, Tanya's parents told us that they caught you drinking with Tanya and an older man… tell us his name Gabbie…"

"His name is Byron…"

"Byron what?"

"Byron Keller…"

"Byron's the man Tanya was living with isn't it?"

"Yes…"

"So where does he live?"

"I dunno…"

"Stop lying to us Gabbie!" Elliot stood up to face her, losing his patience with this girl and more than tired of her lies.

"Ok, ok… he lives on 21st… can I go now?"

"Yeah… you can go now…"

We hurriedly climbed the steps to his apartment and I immediately pounded on the door shouting, "Mr. Keller open up! It's the police!"

After a few moments we heard a man roll out of bed and wander over to the door, muttering to himself. His gray hair was a mess, and he wasn't exactly what we were expecting him to be. He glanced from my partner and rested his eyes on me, sending shivers up and down my spine and making me squirm. "Is there something wrong detectives?"

I grabbed Elliot's arm before he could lunge at the man for checking me out. Silently, I laughed to myself and rolled my eyes.

"Do you mind if we have a chat Mr. Keller?" he asked, forcing is way inside the apartment.

"Byron… and what about?" he winked at me and gestured that I come inside. I grimaced, but followed him in anyway.

"Tanya Patterson…" I told him picking up a picture of the two of them.

"Tanya! Is she ok? I haven't seen her in days! Is she hurt? Is that why you're here?"

"Well Mr. Keller… Tanya was murdered Sunday night…" I whispered, barely audible.

"WHAT!"

"I'm sorry for your loss… but hasn't anyone told you already?" Elliot questioned sitting down in a plaid loveseat.

"No… how could this happen?" he began crying, but to me it just seemed like he was pretending to act like the worried parent. I watched him sit in the seat across Elliot before joining my partner on the sofa.

"Byron," I spoke, breaking the silence, "we know Tanya was living with you… do you know why someone would do this?"

"Tanya was a good person… very beautiful…"

"So, when she ran away, why did you decide to take her in?"

"I needed help with my new business…"

"Business?"

"Yes, I own a small movie business and she agreed to work for me…"

"What kind of 'movie business'?"

"Listen everything we do is legal!"

"Anyone at the job argue with her?"

"No… nothing serious at least, she was very well liked… however, one young lady did fight with her a few times…"

"And her name is…?"

"Gabrielle… Gabrielle Adams…"

"Thank you for your time Byron…" Elliot rose from the sofa and helped me up as well. We closed the door behind us and traveled six flights of stairs down to our police car.

I sighed heavily and stared into his sparkling blue eyes, "You know what we have to do now…"

"Go back and talk to Gabbie…"

"This girl is really starting to frustrate me…" I stated opening the passenger door and climbing into the seat.

"Oh I'm way past frustrated… believe me…" He started up the engine when my phone began ringing.

"Benson…" the captain's voice was on the other line, asking where the two of us were. "Captain we have to go back to the high school and speak with Gabbie… mmmhmmm… yeah I know we're wasting time sir, but it's not our fault! She's the one who keeps changing her story… mmhmm… yes… yes… ok… alright… goodbye…"

"Somebody's not too happy with us…"

"If Gabbie lies to us again, I swear I'll…"

"Come on Liv," Elliot chuckled, "let's go talk to the little demon…"

By the time we got to the school, Gabbie was already waiting to get on the bus, and sitting on a bench at the bus stop.

"Gabbie," I said lightly tugging on her arm and pulling her along with the two of us, "we need to talk."

"Now what? Haven't I been through enough with you people?"

"Spare us the drama Gabbie, you know that until you tell us the truth we're going to keep coming back here…" Elliot watched the boys in her class wink at her before getting on the bus and she waved to them as if saying that she wasn't in trouble with the police. Gabbie was trying to pretend like she didn't give a shit about the investigation or anything we were doing, but I wasn't going to let her win me over.

"What do you need to know?" she asked challenging my eyes.

Elliot finally found his way into the conversation after all the students had filed into the bus. "Byron Keller, what do you know about him and his business?"

"Just that Tanya was living with him; I didn't know he had a business."

"Strike one… nice try though… you worked for him Gabbie," I concluded accepting her duel and loving the surprised look on her face when my eyes fired back at her.

"Ok, so what… I didn't do anything wrong…"

"So what exactly did you do?" Elliot cut in, sensing the tension between us.

"You know… we did little skits and stuff…" I watched as she peered over her shoulder and waved to a boy walking across the street.

I cleared my throat and regained her attention, "What kind of 'stuff'?" Her feet instantly became her eyes' new target, rather than my face. She was clearly a drama queen and was definitely playing the part.

Slowly, her head lifted, tears filling her eyes, and rested it down on Elliot's shoulder as she began openly sobbing. A wave of envy shot through my body as I stared her down, not feeling an once of sympathy towards her. "Who does she think she is?" I asked myself.

"I said that I didn't want to do it… but I needed the money and couldn't find any other jobs… besides they made it sound like it was so awesome…" she stared at me once again and I felt myself giving in, though I tried hard not to break down.

"Gabbie… it's ok…" her head was now resting on my shoulder and I was patting her back, trying to calm her down. My thoughts were on Elliot and how he was going to tease me later. I hate how I feel so concerned for these people who frustrate us.

"We need to…" Elliot started before I interrupted him.

"I know Elliot… call Casey…" I watched him walk back to the car and radio the captain. "Yeah Cap… get Casey down there ASAP…"

"I gotta go…" Gabbie whispered pulling away from me like nothing happened.

"Call me if you need me," I added handing her one of my cards with my work number on it.

We walked in our different directions and I once again joined Elliot in our car as Gabbie disappeared around a corner.

"Casey here yet Cap?" I asked walking into the precinct and pouring a cup of coffee.

"Be careful… it could be Munch made…" Elliot whispered in my ear, making my serious face crack a huge smile and I stuck out my tongue at the thought of drinking Munch made coffee.

"She'll be here soon…" I heard the Captain shout, breaking our little flirt session, or whatever you want to call it. Cragen was constantly acting like my father, especially when I was around Elliot…

"So what's going on?" Munch suddenly appeared and stared me down before I finally poured him a cup of coffee.

"We need Casey to get us a search warrant…" Elliot said taking a seat atop his desk.

"Already? For who?" Fin turned the corner and plopped down with a bag of doughnuts that Elliot and Munch immediately attacked.

"Byron Keller," I stated scowling at the amount of fat they were shoving into their bodies, "the man our vic was living with."

"Do you think he could have done this?" the Captain asked, coming out of his office and shutting the door behind him.

"I dunno… that's not why we need the warrant though…"

"Then why do we need it?" Casey inquired, stepping into the precinct.

"Hey Case… why don't we sit down and talk about it…" I smiled and followed Elliot into another room where we could talk privately.

"So tell me about this Mr. Keller…" Casey questioned.

"About a month ago Tanya ran away from home and moved in with him…"

"Well he sounds ok…"

"But in exchange for a living space, she had to do work for him…" Elliot started.

"Doing what?" Casey interjected and looked at both Elliot and me, "Do I want to know?"

"He makes movies…" I confirmed simply.

"Movies?" Casey raised an eyebrow at my straightforward statement.

"Movies…" Elliot declared.

"Didn't he know she was only sixteen?" Casey inquired leaning back in her chair.

"Evidently not…"

"Well… is that all we got?"

"No… he was also found smoking and drinking with Tanya and Gabbie…" I added, hoping that our evidence would be enough to get him for something.

"Not to mention taking them to strip clubs…" Elliot also supplied, hoping that piece of evidence would help the case too.

"So we won't be able to arrest him for murdering her, but we can get him for possession of kitty porn…"

"Do you think it's enough?" I asked after a few moments of watching Casey ponder.

"I'll get you that warrant…"

"Thanks Case," I smiled before she left the room.

"That's what I'm here for."