Chapter 5
As they both expected, the teachers and students were little help. Their list of suspects was narrowing down fast and none of them looked promising. The hours seemed to be flying by and with each passing one the detectives became more and more irritable.
"You should at least try to sleep," Olivia said to Elliot. She was sitting on a cot in the crib and he was lying on his own cot next to her. He was on his back with an arm over his eyes, but she knew he wasn't sleeping. She could see his jaw muscles twitching as he counted down the hour their captain had forced them to take away from the case. His exhaustion was more emotional than physical, between his continued bickering with Kathy and confusion about Olivia.
"Forget it, I won't be able to sleep until this case is over. What about you? You're just as sleep deprived as I am, if not more." He lifted his arm away from his eyes to look at her.
Olivia shrugged. "I've been through worse."
"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Elliot asked, putting his arm back in place.
Olivia looked over her shoulder at the clock. "Half hour," she said.
"I feel like a damn kid in detention."
They were silent for a while, until Olivia's curiosity finally got the best of her. "How are things going with you and Kathy?" Elliot groaned. "That good, huh?"
"She…" thinks I'm sleeping with you, was what he wished he could say, but somehow he just couldn't make himself say it. What would Olivia think if he did? Would she think that was just as ridiculous as he did? Did he want her to think the idea was ridiculous? He was tired of the incessant questions. "She's just fed up with the long hours here and the lack of communication at home. We're…having a rough time, that's all."
Nodding, Olivia didn't really believe Elliot but decided there was no point in prying any further. He was still lying to her, so he obviously wasn't ready to tell her the truth. He would eventually, though, if she waited long enough; he always did.
Cragen appeared in the doorway. "Olivia, we got a possible I.D. on Madden's partner. I want you and Fin to check him out."
"What about me?" Elliot asked, sitting up.
"You need to cool off. Get some sleep, Elliot, you need it." He left the room before Elliot could argue.
Before she left the room, Olivia turned back to Elliot. "He's right. Try to get some sleep. Or at least stop clenching your jaw like that, you'll get a cramp." He smiled and she returned it before leaving.
"What about that guy you were supposed to meet before the Madden case came in?" Fin asked Olivia while they drove to the address of the man they thought might be working with Madden.
"That was my fourth time cancelling on him. I'm surprised he lasted that long. We always talk about my love life, what about you?"
"Nothin to talk about." Olivia couldn't tell how he felt about that. She couldn't read him the way she could read Elliot, and the road gave him a convenient excuse not to look at her.
They drove the rest of the way in silence. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't the same calm silence Olivia often felt with Elliot. She couldn't help noticing the difference, and wondering what exactly made it so different. Too tired to think much about it, she dismissed it as nothing more than years of working side by side. They had to trust each other completely with their lives on a regular basis, and those sorts of experiences were bound to bring people together.
Her job was the main reason her relationships failed. Even the greatest men can only be cancelled on and stood up so many times before they call it quits. No matter how many men she cycled through, Olivia hadn't felt any real connection with anyone for a long time. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt connected to anyone. Elliot was the only man in her life she had any connection to, and she doubted that would change anytime soon. Sometimes she doubted it would ever change. And what happened when one of them left SVU? It was bound to happen sometime, probably in the not-too-distant future, and what then? Would they still see each other? Olivia couldn't help worrying about it.
They got out of the car after pulling up to the right apartment. Fin led the way up the stairs and paused at the top. "We can't just ring his doorbell, how we gonna get in?"
"Ring someone else or wait." They didn't have to wait at all, though, because a young woman showed up just as they were talking.
"Can I help you with something?" She asked, looking first at Fin and then settling her gaze on Olivia.
"My partner and I need to get inside," Olivia said, showing her badge.
"Oh, uh, sure." She climbed the stairs, standing between Fin and Olivia to unlock the door. She headed to her apartment while Fin and Olivia headed for the stairs and to the third floor.
In the hallway Olivia and Fin walked slowly and cautiously, their guns held at the ready. They took their positions on either side of the door and then Fin knocked loudly. "Police, open up! We got a warrant! Open up or we'll break down the door!"
When there was no answer the detectives exchanged a nod, then Olivia stepped forward and kicked the door as hard as she could, sending it flying open. Had she been with Elliot he probably would have done it himself. Elliot liked to kick in doors even more than Olivia did, and they both laughed about the cheap thrill it provided. With Fin, she wasn't sure he cared at all.
Fin went in ahead, gun held ready to shoot, and they spread out through the apartment. When it was clear, they lowered their guns. "He's gone," Olivia said, looking around. The apartment was empty of all valuables, and the closet had been completely empty when she searched it.
"You think he's still got her somewhere?" Fin asked.
"Wherever he is, he's not coming back here."
"What spooked him?"
"Maybe he's just paranoid. We checked the records on Madden, he's had no visitors since his arrest, and he hasn't made any phone calls other than to his lawyer. I doubt he cares enough or even knows enough to warn Connors."
Fin called CSU, but he and Olivia both knew they wouldn't find anything. When CSU arrived, he headed downstairs with Olivia. "I haven't eaten all day, I'm gonna go grab something. You want anything?"
"Nah, I need to take a walk or something, clear my head. You go, we'll meet back at the car." She nodded and they headed off in opposite directions.
Fin was the first one back to the car. He'd been gone about half an hour, and he wondered where Olivia had gone to eat. Was she getting fast food? He wondered if she would go to an actual restaurant and thought that would be a bad idea considering they were still going against the clock on a kidnapping case. Half an hour to refuel was alright, but any more than that was pushing it. After waiting for almost 20 minutes, Fin took out his cell phone and called Olivia. When she didn't pick up, he called Cragen.
"Fin, where the hell are you? You said you were gonna be gone half an hour, tops. You two have been working hard, I cut you some slack, but get your asses back here!"
"So Liv's not back yet?"
"What do you mean, she's not with you?"
They both came to the same conclusion at the exact same time. "Shit."
"What's going on?" Elliot had been pouring coffee when Cragen's phone rang and had heard his half of the conversation while sipping the bitter drink. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was talking about Olivia; he was talking to Fin, and Olivia was the only 'she' Cragen would expect Fin to be with.
"Stay there, maybe she just lost track of time, we're all exhausted. Do you know where she went?" Elliot was listening with his breath held now. He watched Cragen nod and then say, "Alright, we'll check it out." He hung up.
"Where'd she go?" Elliot was already putting on his coat while Cragen went to get his own.
"She didn't say. We'll just have to search the area."
They met up with Fin, sitting on the hood of the car he and Olivia had been riding in. He pointed them in the direction she had gone and both men headed off, Elliot in the lead. They checked out every restaurant, café and fast food joint they came to on the street, then backtracked and searched through streets branching off one they had come from, deciding Olivia must have turned somewhere. Finally they found a small bistro Elliot knew Olivia visited on occasion, and he approached one of the waitresses he remembered from a previous lunch with Olivia.
"Hey, New York's finest! You get V.I.P. service, what can I get you?" The young woman smiled brightly at Elliot and Cragen.
"I'm looking for my partner. Did you see her in here today?"
"Yeah, she came in here for some pasta, said she was in a hurry but she just couldn't turn down a plate of pop's finest. I told her she gets the V.I.P. treatment and pop whipped her up a plate on the house."
"How long ago did she leave."
"Well…she came in about an hour ago, she was here for maybe 20 minutes, so I guess about 40 minute ago."
"Did you see anyone in here acting weird, maybe watching her, anyone follow her out?"
"James was keeping a pretty close eye on her, but he always does. He's a regular, comes in here every day, and he's had his eye on her since she started coming in. But he's a real sweetheart, too shy to talk to her. I keep him updated whenever she tells me about her status, but the poor guy just doesn't…"
"Did he leave when she did?"
"Yeah, left the money on the table and just left. I figured he just wanted to talk to her without all the customers watching. What's this all about?"
"You didn't notice anyone else?" Elliot asked, ignoring her question.
She shrugged. "I was watching James, I wasn't paying attention to anyone else. A bunch of people left shortly of Olivia, a big group of people that came in together. Maybe someone else slipped out, too, but no one that registered."
"Did she head in that direction?" Cragen asked, pointing in the direction they had come from, which is the way Olivia would have gone if she were heading back to the car.
"No, other direction. There's an alley shortcut back there to the main road, if she was heading in the direction you guys came from she probably took the shortcut."
"What's James's last name?" Elliot pulled out a small notebook and pen.
The waitress sighed. "Bolton. But he really is a sweetheart, Detectives. If something happened to Olivia, he didn't do it."
"We still need to investigate him," Cragen said. "Do you know where he lives?"
"Not a clue, sorry."
"Do you have any security cameras?" Elliot asked, putting the notebook away.
"No. We're just a little bistro, pop doesn't think they're necessary. Too much money for something we'll never use, he says. Is Olivia in trouble?"
"Thanks for your time." Elliot left the bistro without answering her question and Cragen followed, knowing it was best to give Elliot his space. He didn't have to be sleeping with Olivia to be worried sick about her.
