Residence of James Lauff
Apartment 8A, 175th Street, Queens, NY
Saturday, January 11

"James Lauff, open up!" Elliot yelled, banging on the front door, "It's the police, we're here to ask you a few questions." There was no response, and Elliot called for him again, "James!"

"What do you want?" Came a girl's voice as the door flew open. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the smoke filtered out into the hallway. The detectives tried their best not to choke on it and composed themselves quickly.

"Uh, who are you?" Olivia asked.

"Alison Dunn," she replied, throwing her cigarette butt onto the floor. The main hall looked like an ash tray; they could only imagine the rest of the apartment. "What do you want?" She asked again.

"We're looking for James Lauff, do you know him?"

"No, I'm just here in his apartment keeping it cozy," she retorted sarcastically, leaning against the door frame. Her eyes wandered downward and Elliot cleared his throat, bringing her attention back up.

"Look, we need to speak to James," he said impatiently, "Is he here for not?" The girl rolled her eyes and looked back into the living room as a male voice called for her.

"He's busy…"

"Well this is important," Olivia replied, following her partner past the girl into the apartment.

"Hey what the hell are you doing man? You can't just barge into his apartment!" She yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are? The cops?"

"Actually yes," Elliot said, smug. They stepped into the living room where more smoke assaulted their senses. There was another girl sitting down next to him, smoking two cigarettes at once. She didn't even look old enough. "You James Lauff?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Detective Elliot Stabler, this is my partner Olivia Benson. We need to ask you a few questions about Samara Williams, do you know her?" Elliot asked, holding his badge out.

"And if I do?"

"Look, you're from Brooklyn, stop acting like you're from the Bronx and get up. If you know Samara Williams you need to tell us now."

"Alright, alright. I know her," James said, standing up, "why do you need me?"

"For questioning. We need you down at the precinct for a statement, can you do that for us?" Olivia answered.

"Is she dead?"

"Not yet, but if you don't help us she might be."

"She was beat up then?"

"That's part of it, now are you gonna help us or not?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, yeah sure," James nodded, "Ali, stay here I'll be back in a little while." They headed for the front door and Olivia lingered for a moment, pulling Elliot to the side.

"He doesn't have a scar on his face."

"Dead end," Elliot sighed, "but he still knows her, maybe he knows something Jason doesn't."

"That's a shot in the dark, El."

XxxxX

"So, how much do you know Samara Williams?" Elliot questioned, sitting down across from James.

"I know she used to be friends with my little shithead of a brother. Something happened there, but I didn't really care to know what. She used to come over after school with him; Samara was a geeky little thing…always quiet unless she was with Jason. Samara used to get bullied until Jason stuck up for her; I called him out on liking her, one time in front of her, he never gave me a straight response, but he didn't deny it either."

"Okay, so Jason had a crush on her?"

"A lot of guys did once she got into seventh grade," James smirked, "chest grew, curves filled out…she was a hot piece off a—,"

"Don't talk about our victim like that. We're not here to listen in to your sick fantasies."

"Hey man, I'm just giving you what you asked." Jason hissed, "And they weren't just mine…clearly." Elliot looked pissed but Olivia cut in.

"James, can you just back up to the bullying…did anyone stick out the most? Maybe they went after her more than the others?" Olivia asked, redirecting the conversation.

"I don't remember. I didn't hang around with little kiddies. I spent most of my summer get high and partying that year. Samara and Jason were little seventh graders. I was a senior in high school; haven't you people heard of social suicide?"

"Well we heard that you were a brilliant kid in high school," Elliot commented, "What happened? Because you sound an awful lot like my teenage daughter right now with that social suicide crap."

"Hey I didn't agree to coming down here so you could make commentary on my life, man." James snapped, leaning forward in the chair, "I'm telling you what I know about Samara, you want me to stop?"

"You can stop whenever, but I'll have to charge you with withholding evidence." Elliot said dangerously low.

"You can't do that to me, I didn't hurt her. I barely even know her, she's just the little dork that used to hang around my brother."

"Did anyone stick out that was potentially hurting Samara more than the others?" Olivia asked again, holding Elliot back some. James and Elliot glared at each other for a moment longer before James sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know…I don't remember," James said, calmer, "All I know is, her 'friend'—uh, Marissa…Melissa? –something close to that, was meaner than usual. Started caller her a slut because she thought Samara was banging the whole eighth grade once things started filling out." James cut his eyes at Elliot before continuing, "The damn girl was still a virgin until the next year."

"Are you saying she had a boyfriend?" Olivia asked.

"Nah, she didn't have a boyfriend at all…she went crying to my mom one night; she said she was too afraid to tell anyone else. Jason was with friends and I got home from college for the holidays. She said some guy attacked her and tore her clothes off, you know, down there. I knew what she meant…she was raped."

"Do you know by who?"

"No. She didn't see him, but she knew he was older than her, maybe by two or three years."

"He was a high school kid then?" Elliot asked.

"I said two or three years didn't I? She was in eighth grade…makes him in at least tenth or eleventh." Elliot's jaw set, but he remained quiet.

"Can you think of anyone? Anyone at all?" Olivia asked, "Did you know any of the kids they went to school with? Maybe someone mentioned hurting Samara?"

"I don't know." James finally said, "I don't remember anyone saying anything about raping her."

"So if you knew about the first time she was raped, why didn't you say anything?" Elliot interrogated, walking around the table to the windows. James turned around to face him.

"Because it wasn't any of my damn business."

"Alright," Olivia said after a moment, "thank you, James. We'll set you free in a few moments. El, can I see you outside for a minute?" Elliot nodded and followed Olivia out. "Ms. Lauff never mentioned Samara telling her about the first time she was raped. She acted like she didn't even know about it."

"Why would she try and hide that kind of information?" Elliot asked, "She seems to care about Samara a lot."

"Maybe we should go and ask her."

"And maybe this time we'll ask her about where her husband's disappeared to."

XxxxX

Lauff Residence
131-04 125th Street, Manhattan, NY
Saturday, January 11

"Ugh not again..."

"Well if you had been honest with us the first time, ma'am, we wouldn't have needed to come back." Elliot said.

"What do you mean? I already told you all that I knew!" She said, outraged that they were accusing her. "I'm sorry if we weren't much help but this his harassment!"

"Why didn't you mention that you already knew about the first time Samara was raped?" Olivia asked slowly.

"I didn't know she was raped at all!"

"Well your son, James, says otherwise." Elliot responded, "So either he's lying, or you are. If you hold any of this information back you can be charged with withholding evidence."

"I'm not withholding any evidence! I don't know what you're talking about! Leave now or I'm going to sue the NYPD for harassment." Ms. Lauff yelled, slamming the door shut.

"What do you think?" Elliot asked, heading out. Olivia shrugged for a moment and sighed.

"I think she knows more than she's letting on. For one, James mentioned that she already knew about the first rape." Olivia said, "If we can get a hold of her ex-husband then maybe we'll find out more."

"We can ask Samara too; she never mentioned it either, but if she told Ms. Lauff then she would have to know."

"We'll start with her."

XxxxX

16th Precinct
Manhattan, NY

"It's too soon…you're not here because you found the guy, right?" Samara guessed, leaning back in her chair.

"Correct," Elliot said, closing the door, "We need to know what you told Jason's mother the first time you were raped."

"H-how do you know about that?"

"James told us," Olivia replied, "when we questioned him."

"You talked to James? But how did he know? She told him, didn't she?"

"No, James said he overheard it when he returned home that night." Elliot answered, sitting down next to Olivia, across from Samara. She backed up some, cowering back.

"I didn't even know that he was there." Samara finally said, biting her lip. She tried to think back to that night but she couldn't remember seeing or hearing James come in, "So he eavesdropped on me…typical James."

"Why do you say that?"

"He was a perv ever since he hit puberty."

"Yeah, well he's still one now," Elliot commented, "just not your pervert, so he's been ruled out."

"I know James wouldn't do that," she said with a sigh, "he has his share of sick fantasies, but he's not 'rapist low'." Elliot nodded, crossing his name out on the pad and looking up at the girl.

"We need you to tell us about that night…anything you can remember, Samara, will be helpful," Olivia said, folding her hands in front of her; they waited for her response, giving her time. Samara knew now was the time to be honest, she couldn't get in trouble for anything. She was the victim here, and she didn't do anything wrong. She was the last person she ever thought would be somebody's target but it seemed that this vulture got off on covered up, brainy girls. She knew girls at her school who were slutty, but they didn't ask for rape and she sure as hell never did.

"I was walking home from the library," she started, slowly brushing her bangs back from her eyes, "It was around nine-thirty because I remember being told by the librarian that they were closing for the night. I was only thirteen…it was stupid of me to walk home at night instead of call for a ride. It was October third, I think…kind of chilly but a thin-jacket type of weather. I don't think I put my jacket back on that night, it just kind of draped over my arm. He grabbed it from me about a mile from the library and pulled me into some bushes near the coffee shop…I didn't have enough time to scream; he wouldn't allow me too, either. He held a knife to my throat and told me that if I screamed he'd kill me. I think the knife had his initials engraved in it; it was only a pocket knife, but it was sharpened pretty well. I let him do it…I—um, I was a virgin then…so it hurt, a lot. After he was finished with me, he told me to behave and that he would be watching me. He said that if I left the town he would know, and that he would just follow me and kill me."

"What about afterwards? When you went to Jason's house?"

"I wanted to go home, but I felt so ashamed that I just couldn't. So I went to Jason's house…I knew he wouldn't be home that night; only Ms. Lauff was supposed to be home, so I went there and explained the situation to her. I was in so much pain and I was terrified that I didn't know what to do. I think I was in shock." Samara confessed the entire night, like it had just happened; she felt sick all over again and asked for some water. Olivia returned with some water and they continued the investigation, asking her about the other times. "Um, the second time he raped me was in my own home. I woke up to see him sitting on my bed, watching me. He stroked my face and whispered some vulgar things, before I heard him loosening his belt. He got on top of me then and…he shoved his hand down my pants," she sobbed, rubbing at her eyes furiously, "my parents were out for their anniversary…I knew they wouldn't be back for a few more hours. I just prayed that he would kill me…when he didn't, I just thought about being anywhere but there. When it was all over, he left and said I did a good job and that he would be back. I asked my mom if I could change my room because the way it was before just brought back too much from that night."

"What did you do with the sheets?" Olivia asked.

"I threw them out…I took them with me to the dump and cut them up, scattering them across the place. I couldn't look at them." Samara answered, shaking her head, "The third time, he had a friend of his make my own principle call me out of class; his friend took me from school and told the office that he was taking me for my gynecologist appointment. I really wanted to die…it was so much information that they didn't need to know. They looked at me like I was some fourteen year old whore." She let out a shaky breath and continued slowly, "His friend got me into the car and took me to an abandoned warehouse. He handed me over to the guy; wearing his mask again. This was the only time I saw him in daylight. While he was raping me he told me that I was a bad girl for leaving New York because my family and I had gone to Hawaii for a vacation. We had been gone for over two weeks. After he was done, he beat me up and left me there to bleed. It took every muscle in me to stand up despite the pain and I walked all the way home and cried for hours after that. I was fifteen that time."

"Okay, this is really good, Samara." Olivia said reassuringly, "can you explain the next two times and give us any other details on the guy?" She nodded and went on.

"The fourth time he beat me up again because my mother took me shopping in Boston; we took the train up there for a day. He made me leave my clothes on, but he put his hand down my pants and he used something that was sharp…I don't know what the object was. I was in so much pain but he took the cries like I was enjoying it." She blinked away more tears and sighed, "He raped me just before my parents came home and then he fled, telling me to behave and that if I left the state one more time he'd kill me for real." Samara said, "I found his threats empty because he left me alone for two years until he came back about week ago and raped me in one of the school stairwells. He locked the doors so nobody could get in. Our school's security sucks, and that's probably just my biased opinion but I don't think I'm wrong. It's taken every ounce of courage to leave my room and come here. But I had to tell someone."

"Does he use protection every time?"

"Yes…he says he doesn't need his little whore getting pregnant; he needs me to perform well." She cringed visibly and dried her eyes again.

"So no seminal fluids any of the times he's raped you." Olivia concluded; Samara nodded.

"I tried screaming for a teacher because he didn't have his knife that time, but he beat me to keep me quiet. He left after that and I went through the rest of the day saying I got into a fight. People believed me, but they made fun of me. I told me parents the same story and they asked why I didn't report it…I claimed it was because I dared the person too and that I would have been equally blamed. But they know the truth now so I don't know if they'll believe me if there's a next time. You know, the sickest part was that some of the guys said they were the ones who beat me up, just for the glory and ego-boosts. They wouldn't care that I was raped."

"Well there's not going to be a next time, Samara," Elliot promised, "we will catch this man." Samara laughed dryly.

"This man? He's anything but, detective."

"True," Elliot smirked, closing the pad and standing up, "we'll be back in a little while, you can wait out here with the other detectives if you'd like. My partner and I need to ask a few more people some questions."

"Detectives?" They turned back to the girl and she smiled slightly, "thank you." They nodded and headed out into the main room.

"Get anything more out of her?" Munch asked, turning away from his computer to face Olivia and Elliot.

"She was definitely more of a help this time," Elliot said, throwing the notebook down on his desk; he flipped through it, nodding approvingly.

"You got the entire story out of her, I see," he said.

"I think she now wants this perp locked up just as much as us," Olivia said, covering a yawn as she spoke.

"A little tired, Liv?" Fin teased, hanging up on the conversation he was engaged in only moments ago Olivia rolled her eyes at him, but nodded.

"We've been going back and forth all day," she said.

"Yeah, I think Ms. Lauff owes me a tank of gas," Elliot replied, glancing over at Olivia who agreed with him, "if she had just told us the whole story in the first place we wouldn't have had to bother her three times already."

"Well, it's not the last she'll see of us I'm afraid," she answered, rubbing her tired eyes, "because she's still linked to this and we may need her to testify if we can find the perp and close this case."

"So far, nobody knows about a scar-face," Elliot sighed, sitting down at his desk.

"Have you tried her school? Maybe some of her fellow students might know a scar-face. Friends?"

"Jason even said Samara doesn't have many friends," Olivia said, "she's a social outcast to them. Most of them made fun of her for claiming her rapist beating her was a school fight with another student. Some of the kids even said they beat her up for laughs. She's so ashamed of this whole thing and believes that those other kids won't even care that she's been raped."

"You think they'll say she was asking for it?"

"Possibly. Those other kids are brutal to her, with the insults alone."

"Though no one else has touched her?"

"She never mentioned any school fights besides her rapists'."

"No cat fights in the bathroom? No hall run-ins? Nothing like that?" Fin asked. Olivia and Elliot shrugged.

"I figured she would have brought them up when she spoke about them." Olivia said.

"Unless 'It didn't come up' is a common excuse among these people," Elliot stated.

"I doubt it…but maybe we should ask her again?" Olivia suggested, turning to her partner. He thought about it for a moment and nodded, "it couldn't hurt to at least ask and check."

XxxxX

"Samara, we need to know if you've recently been in any fights at school." Olivia stated. Samara glanced at the two curiously.

"You think someone at my school did this to me?" She questioned, "I don't mean to impugn your work, but I think I would know. I mean, someone walking around with a huge scar on their face would be a dead ringer, don't you think?"

"Well, you said that the kids bully you, it only seems natural that we should look into that, wouldn't you agree? It could be a good lead." Olivia explained, "Plus, people have many ways of covering things up."

"Wouldn't that get tiresome after two years?" Samara asked, "he had the scar the third time he found me. I assumed he got it from another one of his whores."

"You're not one of his whores, Samara," Olivia said in a strict tone, "you're a victim. You didn't give him your consent, you're not a whore." Samara was stunned by her tone but nodded, sighing.

"I think he rapes more women though," she said carefully, "I don't believe I'm the only one he sees. I've just been a main victim for a while."

"Well, once we find him, we find the other women and we help them too."

"Okay," she nodded, standing up, "can I go home now, with my parents? I'm really tired and I don't think I have anything more."

"We still need to know about any kids from your school."

"Oh right…" she said, sitting down again, "Um, I haven't been in any real fights with another student. I've been insulted in the halls and stuff…notes in the locker and that crap, but I haven't been in any fights. I've gotten threats about fighting, but they don't really put those words to actions."

"You can't think of any names?"

"No…but one of my friends, Amy Henderson has heard some things that she's told me about. Maybe she knows something."

"Okay, thank you Samara." Olivia nodded, "you can go home now if you want. We'll call your parents tomorrow morning if we find anything more."

"Thank you again, detectives," Samara said, standing up; she left the room and met up with her parents at the elevator. They left, leaving the case now to the NYPD.

"Pick up on the case tomorrow. I think you've got everything you can get for today," Cragen said, "Go home."

XxxxX

"More kidnappings," Kathy sighed, turning away from the tv as the kids ran into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Not many in Manhattan lately," Elliot said, "though that doesn't mean they don't occur. The NYPDs of Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens take care of their cases." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and sat down across from her.

"Hey dad, aren't you on the Samara Williams case?" Dickie asked. Elliot's eyes shot up to his son's face in question.

"Yes, how did you know about that? The case just started yesterday."

"Well I know her. Samara's in my history class," he replied nonchalantly, "but I overheard you telling mom about her last night."

"I only mentioned her name and briefly what happened, you know I'm not allowed to discuss any further into my cases," Elliot said, "so why are you asking?"

"I was just curious. I know Samara so I wanted to know," he said defensively.

"Can I talk to you in the other room?" Elliot asked standing up, heading into the living room. Dickie followed him, waiting for the string of questions he was expecting. "So you know Samara." Dickie nodded, "What do you know about the kids who bully her?"

"Not much…they call her queer, a freak."

"Do you know of anyone who'd want to hurt her?"

"Uh, well Andrew Clallum mentioned something about screwing her brains out but he's a perv who'll do anyone and get off from any girl." Dickie replied, "Sara Dryer has said somethings about beating her up until she can't walk."

"Nobody with a scar on their face?" Elliot questioned, glancing behind his son to make sure no one was listening in. Dickie shook his head.

"Sorry dad, nobody with a scar on their face." Elliot nodded.

"I'll see what I can pull from them. Go get ready for school. Don't speak to Samara about anything, got it?" Dickie rolled his eyes but nodded and went upstairs to get ready. Elliot walked back into the kitchen and Kathy turned to face him, looking towards the stairs as their son walked away.

"Everything okay?"

"I think Dickie may have just given me some leads." Elliot said; he wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her for a moment, "I love you."

"I love you too." Kathy smiled, "Will I be seeing you tonight, or no?"

"Depends on how this case goes. If not, don't wait up." Elliot replied, kissing her briefly once more before leaving for work.