Williams Residence
Apartment 3B, Spring St., Lower Manhattan, NY
Monday, January 13
"I knocked, she didn't answer…I panicked and grabbed the spare key out of my jewelry chest." Mrs. Williams sobbed, speaking fast. "When I opened the door, I didn't see her…but I noticed the scarf hanging from the fire escape. I got closer to the window and there she was just lying there on the fire escape. She tried to hang herself but it looked like she couldn't do it and just choked herself instead."
"Detectives, can we see you over here for a second?" An EMT asked, motioning them over to the window. They nodded and headed over.
"What is it?" Olivia asked.
"I'm no doctor, but I know enough to figure out that she didn't kill herself."
"She was murdered?"
XxxxX
"She was definitely strangled with the scarf." Melinda said, holding up the blue, red-stained fabric. "The scarf was thick enough to hide the large bruise that was just forming on her skin. It left a ring. But she's at the hospital now, the EMTs managed to revive her. It's not uncommon to be brought back after a while…she's lucky. She should be resting up about now."
"I also did a kit on her, and she was raped again; there was some vaginal tearing. The perp took care of himself first with a condom, so no fluids were found. The second time was with a sharper object, something metal. I can't be sure of the exact tool. But the perp was kind enough to stop her watch at the time she fell unconscious…3:38pm. She was already gone when he took care of his needs."
"So he's not opposed to necrophilia," Elliot said, looking uncomfortable.
"The perp kept her alive for so long, why wait for now to try and kill her?" Olivia asked.
"He must have found out that she confessed. So now we definitely need to find Clallum."
"Oh, before I forget," Melinda walked over to the counter with the scarf and condom wrapper. She picked up another bag and walked back over to the two detectives, "Though it's not in my department, the note was given to me when she was brought in." Melinda said, pulling the note out from the bag and unfolding it. She handed it to their gloved hands and they examined it quickly.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Elliot asked, confused.
"I used my microscope because it seemed a little off to me and I noticed that the handwritings don't match at all," she explained, handing them a paper from her homework folder, "so she never wrote this suicide note. Though I'm pretty sure you already knew that after what I just told you."
"So the perp wrote it for her."
"And from what I can tell, they have a similar script, however, they were just a little careless with trying to make it match. Whoever it is, they're a professional at recreating another's handwriting…possibly a credit card or identity thief who signs others signatures so it goes unnoticed more often than not when they're ordering or buying something."
"James…" Olivia and Elliot said in unison.
XxxxX
Residence of James Lauff
Apartment 8A, 175th Street, Queens, NY
Monday, January 13
"James! Open up! It's Detectives Stabler and Benson!" Elliot knocked loudly on the door, listening for a moment to hear if James was going to answer. "James!" He looked over at Olivia as she readied her gun; he followed in suit and stood back, kicking the door open.
No smoke filtered out this time, there was no sound. "James?" Olivia called, stepping into the living room. There was a shuffle from up above their heads and Elliot ran for the stairs, "James! Can you hear us?"
"Liv!" Elliot yelled from the upstairs floor, "I found him! Call a bus, quickly!" Olivia ran up, stopping only a few feet behind her partner as he kneeled down next to the young man lying on the ground.
"This is Detective Benson, we need a bus at Apartment 8A on 175th Street, south in Queens." She called it in, getting a response back immediately.
"James? Stay with us, we've got a bus on the way," Elliot said, trying to keep the man awake. His breathing came out in short rasps as he nodded. His head fell to the side and Elliot did his best to keep him up. "Looks like our perp tried to rid us of another piece of evidence."
"He didn't succeed this time." There was another loud shuffle and they turned in time to see a black coated figure exit out the fire escape.
"Don't let him get away!" Elliot cried as Olivia took off after him.
"Fin! Pull the car around! There's a suspicious person exiting through the fire escapes in the side alley! Don't let him get away!" Olivia said over the talkie, chasing him down the same route.
"Copy that," Fin replied. He jumped out of the car, spotting a person running out of an alley, "Hey! Police! Stop right there!"
"Fin he's getting away!" Olivia yelled, trying to speed up.
"We need back up!" Fin said into his talkie, "We need every alley, fire escape, and escape route blocked off!" They turned the corner and the figure was gone, "Where the hell did he go? We were just behind him!"
"Please tell me back up got him…" Olivia replied, catching her breath. Fin buzzed in another call; their worries were met when they were informed that no suspicious figure tried any escapes, "Someone's got to be harboring him…he couldn't have just gotten away and slipped by the back up."
"And we can't get a warrant for all of these apartments and shops without a solid case."
"Dammit." Olivia sighed. Elliot came down, out into the street. His hands were covered in James' blood, along with his shirt.
"What the hell happened?" He asked, wiping the blood off with a small hand towel an EMT gave to him.
"Your perp's one hell of an escape artist," Fin said, looking around the street.
"How did you let him get away?" Elliot demanded.
"We weren't trying to!" Olivia replied, her tone forceful, "We were right behind him and then someone evidently let him into a building. The back-up says that nobody suspicious tried escaping on any rooftops, fire escapes, alleys, or gateways." Elliot's phone rang then, and he picked it up quickly with a snappy tone of voice. "Who was that?"
"Captain. And he's pissed, so we're in for it when we get down to the precinct," Elliot answered, closing his phone. He shoved it back into his pocket and sighed, "We're both gonna get it now."
XxxxX
"You clearly have no case now!" Cragen yelled, pinching the bridge of his nose; he was frustrated and angry, "The girl's in the hospital…yes, someone tried to kill her, I'm well aware of that," he said, stopping Elliot before he even added his response, "Someone tried to kill the Lauff boy, too, and you let him get away. I understand that you have a good amount of evidence," he said, slightly calmer, "but this case will not get past the DA unless you have the suspect in custody. Right now, you only have leads and whether those leads are resourceful or not doesn't matter to a grand jury. We need our evidence to be backed up a hundred percent. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes," both Elliot and Olivia said quietly.
"If you can't find the suspect within the next seventy-two hours, then I'm closing this case."
"You can't do that!" Elliot cried, "This girl was raped, we can't just drop her case. Who's to say he won't succeed in killing her the next time? Do you really want that reflecting on the Manhattan NYPD?"
"If you don't stop letting your emotions handle the job, then you can't be on the case." Cragen said slowly, "I need you two to be focused. You're my best detectives, I don't want to see this case close just as much as you don't, and I definitely don't want to see that young girl murder but if you can't handle it and find this perp, then it's out of my hands." They nodded one last time and exited the office quietly. Elliot turned to face Olivia then and sighed heavily.
"Whoever's trying to kill off our witnesses doesn't want to be found. He, or she, is very good at keeping their name off the record and their hands clean."
"All the more reason to work harder, El," she said, "We need to find them quickly." Her phone rang for what must have been the ninth time that day. "Detective Benson…we'll be right there. James wasn't so lucky. They had to put him into medical-induced coma. The mother's down there and from what I could here, it looks like Jason just arrived."
XxxxX
"You just had to involve my son in this mess!" Ms. Lauff yelled, glaring at the detectives as they entered the room.
"Mom, it's not their fault." Jason interrupted.
"Shut up Jason!" She growled, "If you hadn't interrogated my son he wouldn't be in here like this! Jason could be next!"
"We didn't put your son here, Ms. Lauff," Olivia said, "Someone is trying to eliminate the witnesses so his or her case can't go to trial. Samara was recently attacked; she was dead for no more than ten minutes before the EMTs revived her. James is still alive, doesn't that give you some hope that he'll be able to walk out of here alive?"
"I don't want to see you people around us again, do you hear me?"
"Yes, we're sorry we bothered you," Olivia nodded, "Come on, El." They left the room sooner than they had hoped; this wasn't anything new, they knew this routine all too well.
"Well that was pleasant," Elliot said as they reached the lobby.
"Yeah, she hates us and thinks we tried to get her son killed." Elliot could see this deeply affected his partner. She wanted nothing more than to help the poor girl down the hall. They couldn't do that without the help of the people who knew her around that time. "You should go home, it's getting late and Kathy is probably waiting for you."
"I told her not to wait up. We can't let this affect us, Liv," He said softly, "You heard what captain said—,"
"I know, Elliot!" Olivia hissed, shaking her head, "I'm fine. I'm not letting it affect me, I just don't think she's telling us everything and with her excluding us from doing our job this case will be dropped and the perp's gonna walk. Samara's not going to trust anyone to help her out if we can't catch him. We need to do something."
"We could charge her for obstructing justice—,"
"We can't charge everyone on this case. There's always something to charge them with, yes, especially when they're keeping us from doing what we have to but the judge won't want us to waste his time."
"Okay, Olivia, you can punch me after saying this—do whatever you want—but I'm your partner in crime her and I'm going to say it." Elliot said, shaking her by the shoulders some, "You're letting this case get to your emotions, whether you'll admit to that or not. I let my work get to me too, but we have to push that aside and do what's right. Now what's right to you?" They were silent for a moment before she sighed.
"I want to punch you," she said quietly, "but something's telling me that's a wrong choice. I think we need to talk to Samara again, once she's awake. There's got to be something she knows about this person, they wouldn't attack her continuously if it weren't something personal."
XxxxX
"Samara, can the detectives have a word with you?" The nurse asked, peering into the room. Samara nodded and the woman stepped aside to let them in, "twenty minutes, I'll come back to give you your meds shortly."
"Hello detectives," Samara mumbled, her voice came out raspy.
"Samara, how are you feeling?" Olivia asked, sitting down next to the bed. Samara shrugged.
"Okay I guess. I mean, aside from being dead and all…you know…"
"I know we've asked you this a lot but we really need you to think about any details that you might have overlooked or just put in the back of your mind."
"Like what?"
"Well…how about any tattoos?" Olivia suggested, "Did your attacker have anything on his arms or his face that you might have caught a glimpse of?"
"I mostly shut my eyes," Samara replied. She then closed her eyes as though she were reliving it, but she was thinking harder, "…erm…I think I remember a tattoo on his wrist. Uh, the inside of his thigh too."
"Okay, that's good. Could you see what they were? Did they say anything?"
"The one on his thigh was a Chinese character, if that helps. I don't speak Chinese so I don't know what it said…the one of his wrist was a number I think, like a phone number."
"Did you know any of the numbers?" Elliot asked.
"Well, the area code. I knew those numbers. The others, not so much. I know it consisted of at least three sevens." Samara answered, "I remember seeing the number on my way to Jason's that first time…but I didn't see it on my attacker's wrist then. I think it's his, but I'm not sure."
XxxxX
They pulled up to the curb across the street in front of James' apartment; they needed more answers that they knew they would no longer get from the family; they still had the warrant from the previous encounter. "There's a girl on the steps." Elliot looked over to where Olivia pointed and the girl was watching them; she was smirking as she waved at them.
"I see you watching me, detective!" She called. Elliot was about to step out when Olivia pulled him back.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Olivia asked.
"Going to say hi," Elliot replied, with a smirk of his own. Olivia's jaw dropped slightly and she punched his arm.
"You do remember you're married right?" She questioned, "And that she's half your age. Probably not even legal."
"I'm kidding, Liv," Elliot laughed, "But either she moves from that stoop or she screws up our investigation. Either way, I have to talk to her. I'm too loyal to Kathy anyway."
"When you're not undercover," Olivia teased, "you're my work husband."
"And you're my work wife," Elliot said, "so if you stop nagging at me like a real one," Olivia rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna ask her to move away from the crime scene." They both stepped out and walked across the street, walking closer to the apartment building.
"Hello," the girl said, biting her lip. She glanced up at Elliot in an attempt to be seductive; he brushed it off but his eye caught sight of her tattoo, "What can I do for you?" She took a drag from the cigarette she was holding before throwing it on the ground.
"What's that number for?" Elliot asked.
"What? This?" She pointed to the tattoo on her wrist; Elliot nodded and she smirked, "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to give that number out. Maybe you should come back with a search warrant and maybe we'll talk."
"We'll today must be our lucky day," he said, handing her the slip of paper, "now let's talk about that number, huh?" She laughed and unfolded the paper.
"Sorry, still can't issue it out." She replied, "Besides, this is a warrant for his house…not for the number."
"Just tell me."
"You'll have to do better," she said, "now, suppose I ripped this paper up right now? Would you arrest me?"
"Let's see, what would the charges be for that one, Liv?"
"Well, I'm no attorney but I know enough about the law to tell you that you'd be charged with obstruction of justice, for one. You'd lose some rights because when you're handed a search warrant you're supposed to remain silent and stand aside. But my partner and I have our legal ways of getting this answer out of you. Also, since that number is linked to our case you could be charged with contempt."
"That seems like a threat, detective," she replied innocently, "Why, I haven't done anything wrong."
"What's it gonna take for you to give us that number?"
"What do you have?"
"Alright," Elliot finally said, yanking the girl up by her arm; she protested loudly but he put the handcuffs around her wrists, "are you going to tell us now or do we have to bring you down to the precinct?"
"Why don't you try your detective schemes on someone who gives a damn?" She retorted.
"And why don't you just answer the damn question?" She sighed loudly, obnoxiously.
"Fine, it's for the members of our cult." She replied, "Like an I.C.E. type of number…it automatically connects back to our cult leader."
"Oh yeah, who's that?"
"You got your answer, now let me go." Elliot didn't like it, but he unlocked the handcuffs and back away, heading back to the car.
"How much do you want to be we know who's on the other end of the line?" Olivia asked, getting into the passenger's side.
XxxxX
When Elliot and Olivia stepped into the precinct, they failed to notice it was almost completely deserted. The lights were off except for the few in the hall and the ones in Cragen's office, "Looks like he's still here." He spotted them through the window, looking more tired than usual. He stepped out of his office slowly, shutting the door behind him.
"Munch and Fin left about an hour ago," he said, "I don't want to tell you this because the case is already stressful enough, but it is in fact your case, I don't suppose there's a way around it."
"What happened?"
"It seems our perp is a sociopath." Cragen replied, "Not even twenty-four hours after his last attack and he's already gone after another."
"Who did he attack this time?" Olivia asked, outraged, "He's trying to obliterate this case! Now that's definitely obstruction of justice!" Elliot nodded in agreement but returned his attention to Cragen.
"He went after Sara."
"Is she alright?"
"The EMTs brought her to the hospital about twenty minutes ago," Cragen answered, "weren't you two down at Mercy General earlier?"
"Yeah, but we went to get something to eat, we've been working nonstop all day," Elliot said, "Looks like Kathy's not going to see me until tomorrow night."
"You should go home," Olivia said again, "I'll head down there and—,"
"Liv, this is our case. You're not doing it alone," Elliot said, "believe me, as much as I'd like this mess to be over and go home, I'm not letting you take all the credit." He was teasing and Olivia smirked in response. "What do you want us to do, Captain?"
"I want you to head back down to the hospital and make sure she's alright. She's our leading witness on this case, we need her." Cragen ordered, "I'll have Alex get her a court-order of protection tomorrow morning." They hadn't even taken their coats off as they headed back out and drove down the familiar streets.
"First Samara, then James, and now Sara. Neither of the girls probably wants to testify. James can't. We have no prints from the perp and we still can't find Andrew Clallum." Elliot sighed, frustrated. He pinched the bridge of his nose, deep in thought. "Whoever it is, or if it's him, he's really trying to keep this case from going to court."
"So basically, we no longer have a case if this all falls through." Olivia said, shaking her head in disappointment, "What are we missing?"
"The son of a bitch," Elliot said.
"We're going to need to find Andrew, now more than ever."
XxxxX
Mercy General Hospital
Tuesday, January 14
Elliot stepped up to the front desk first, holding up his badge, "We're back."
"How can I help you this time detectives?"
"We'd like to see Sara Dryer, she was just recently brought in about forty-five minutes ago. Let me just check and see if she's awake, wait one moment." The nurse disappeared for a few minutes before she came back and confirmed that Sara was alright to see them. "You can go in."
"Thank you." They went down the hall, unsure of how badly the attack was. When they turned into the room they didn't expect it to be as bad as it looked, "Sara, we heard about what happened." Sara bit her lip, nodding slowly. She looked nearly close to tears and let one slip before she drew in a large, shaky breath.
"He tried to kill me," Sara said, looking away from the two detectives to glance out the window, "I don't know who he is, but I did get a look at his face…well, the part that was unmasked."
"Sara, did he rape you?"
"No, but a few more seconds and he might have," she replied, "I kicked him between the legs and ran. I stopped behind a dumpster and called the police from a cellphone I pulled out of his jacket pocket…" This caught their attention, giving them a large swell of hope in the case.
"You got his phone?"
"Uh yeah, the EMTs took it and put it in the locker they gave me."
"Was it a disposable phone?" Olivia questioned.
"No, I don't think so. It looked like one of those TracFones or whatever they're called."
"Where's the locker they gave you?" Elliot asked, "If we get that phone than we can nail this perp. What's the number?"
"Um, locker eighty-seven I think."
"I'm going to go get the phone, you stay here with her." Elliot said, leaving the room in a rush. He stopped one of the EMTs in the hallway, nearly demanding the key to the locker. "I need that key. The phone's not hers; it's evidence." When the other man saw how desperate Elliot was to get the key, he resigned with a nod and went through the keys on his chain before handing them over to Elliot.
Elliot took off for the lockers, searching until he came up to number eighty-seven. He jammed the key into the lock, turned it, and flung the locker door open. The phone sat on top of her clothes; he picked it up with a plastic glove and put it into an evidence bag. On his way back to the room, he handed the keys back. "We've got him now," Elliot smirked as he stepped into the room, "that was some helpful fast acting on your part." He praised the injured girl and she smiled weakly.
"I'm really tired, can I go to sleep now?"
"Of course, thank you again Sara," Olivia said, offering her a smile before they left the room.
"We'll drop this off with the lab and see if they can get any DNA," Elliot said, "I think we may have this case finally. Capt'll finally let us handle the rest now."
"Given that it's the perp's real phone and not a disposable," Olivia objected.
XxxxX
"Good news," Melinda said, bustling into the precinct the next afternoon, "We have a match on the DNA from the phone, and I think you're going to like this."
"What do you have?" Elliot asked.
"This perp's prints were already in the system from earlier charges; a few identity theft, one grand theft auto, and one assault charge. Sara's prints were all over the phone as well, but your perp is none other than Andrew Clallum. He was wearing gloves during the assault, but he's used that phone on a daily basis, bare handed." Elliot and Olivia glanced across their desks, satisfied with the results.
"Any idea where we can find him?" Olivia asked.
"I've been doing some digging," Munch said from his desk, "And it looks like he's still registered at Regis High School, despite all of his absences. But he also still lives in the upper Manhattan. Apartment 5J on 25th Street."
"Pick him up," Cragen ordered.
"Gladly," Elliot replied, standing up.
XxxxX
Clallum Residence
Apartment 5J, 25th Street, Manhattan, NY
Tuesday, January 14
"Police! We're coming in!" They barged in, kicking the front door open forcefully.
"What the hell are you doing? You can't barge in here!"
"This warrant says we can," Olivia replied, handing the woman the slip of paper, "Ms. Clallum we're looking for your son, Andrew. Is he here?"
"Andrew hasn't been here all day."
"Where is he?"
"The hell if I know, he's eighteen I don't care what he does now."
"Where is he?" Elliot demanded again.
"He's been at work since six this morning," she said with an aggravated sigh, "Do you have a warrant to search his work too or are you just gonna barge in there and arrest him?"
"Not yet," Elliot replied, "we're searching for the weapons he used on two witnesses and a post-victim he tried to murder. If you don't mind," he brushed past her to the second floor, with the woman right on their heels.
"My son is not a killer! How dare you just accuse him! You have no evidence!"
"We have forensic evidence, ma'am." Olivia replied, stopping her from taking a step into the room, "And we have his cellphone that the victim managed to grab from him while he was attacking her."
"Someone probably stole his phone off of him!" Ms. Clallum yelled, "Why aren't you out there looking for him? He could be hurt!"
"We will be out there looking for him once we find the weapons." Elliot stated in a hard tone, trying to keep his patience with the woman, "Please don't make this harder; your son is already in a lot of trouble. If you stand in the way of our job you will be held with contempt."
"Mom?" Elliot ran past everyone in the hallway with Olivia right behind him, "Mom what's going on?"
"Andrew Clallum?" Olivia called back, entering the kitchen where he stood like a deer in headlights; he took off out the front door, "He's running! Everyone outside now!" Police flooded out of the house and chased him down the street as he sprinted around a corner. "Don't let him get away this time!" Elliot sped up, almost able to reach him.
Andrew's foot caught on to a nearby cart and he nearly tripped; Elliot grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed the kid into the wall. He pulled the handcuffs out of his pocket and tightened them around the boy's wrists, "What the hell man! I didn't do anything!"
"Yeah, that's why you ran away," Elliot rasped, pulling him backwards so he was standing upright, "Why don't you try telling that to a jury. We've got you now." Olivia caught up then, watching as Elliot dragged him to the car, "Andrew Clallum, you're under arrest for the rapes of Samara Williams, and the attempted murders of Sara Dryer, James Lauff, and Samara Williams. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one with be appointed to you."