Chapter Five

Elliot opened the door to find his son sitting there, gurgling away in his car seat, and instantly wondered what the hell was going on. Kathy hadn't called to tell him he was bringing him over, so this was highly out of the blue. He picked up his child and brought him into the apartment. He placed the car seat on the table and handed the baby to Olivia. ''I've got to call Kathy. She's not here, and she hasn't called saying that she was bringing the baby over here.''

Olivia held Eli close to smell his baby scent. She wondered what had happened. El was right, that was odd that Kathy hadn't called. She looked to Fin. ''What do you think this is?'' She asked him.

Fin looked to Elliot, who was getting pissed. He hadn't been able to reach Kathy on her cell. ''What do you think happened, El? This could be Harris. He knows you and Olivia are together, and if he thinks Liv's his, he could have decided to take Kathy to get you out of the picture.''

Elliot called Kathy's house phone one more time, and didn't get anything. He pissed. ''What if Harris and his mystery man killed her and it was in front of my son? What if Dickie and Liz were home?'' He tried to keep himself from crying. He was too mad to cry.

Fin said, ''Let me find out. You need to stay here with the baby. Just in case something happened, Eli's going to need you here. You're not supposed to be back at work anyway.'' He said this for Liv's benefit, because he and Elliot shared a look, which meant that they both knew that Fin was going to be the one to check this one out.

Olivia shook her head. ''No, if he's not going just to keep an eye on me, then he can go. I can take care of myself. Harris won't get in here again.'' She knew that Elliot was just trying to keep her safe, but it was so damn annoying.

Elliot shared another look with Fin, and then turned to Liv. ''Livvy, Fin's right. I need to stay here. You are hardly at your best, you just got out of the damn hospital, and that son of a bitch is the one who put you there. He put us both there. If something's happened to Kathy, the kids are going to need us, and we won't be able to be there for them if I'm working on this. It's not just to take care of you.'' He hoped that would work. He didn't want her to figure out that he and Fin were keeping something from her. It was for her own good, but she wouldn't see it that way. To his shock, she accepted that.

Olivia nodded. ''I guess you're right. I have to say, though, it's likely that something did happen to her, because why else would Eli be here and she not have called?'' She looked to both Fin and Elliot, both looking worried and silently agreeing with her.

Fin headed out to Queens, calling John on the way. He pulled up in front of Elliot's ex-wife's home and got out. Almost immediately, he saw the body and tried to keep his insides from coming out. He checked her to make sure she was dead, and then called the Captain and CSU. Then, while he was waiting for them to get there, he headed inside to make sure that none of the other kids were home. Thankfully, they were not. He headed back outside and sat down on the porch. He called John back. ''John, it's me. Kathy was killed. I think Harris and Rook did this. Especially since Rook was askin' 'round about El.''

Munch was inclined to agree. He was on his own way to Queens. ''I agree with you. I spent the day talking to guards from Rikers and trying to pinpoint where they might have gone and got nothing, so there was no way that we could have stopped this. All we knew was that he was asking around about Elliot. We couldn't have predicted that he was going to kill Kathy.''

Fin replied, ''I know, it just kills me that we haven't been able to stop 'em. Oh, yeah, did I tell yo' that the reason we think this is because Eli was on Liv and El's doorstep?''

Munch figured Fin was tired, because he had. ''Yeah, you did. Do we think that it could have happened in front of him?'' He hoped not. Eli was just a baby, but that could case trauma in later years.

Fin said, ''Yeah, that is a possibility, in fact, that's probably what happened, 'cause I checked out da house, and no one else was here. It looks like she was outside gardening, and they got here out here. Eli was probably sitting nearby, 'cause he was in his carseat when he was dropped at El and Liv's.''

Munch said, ''Well, hang tight, I'll be there soon. CSU will probably beat me there.'' They hung up and he concentrated on driving.
He was right, CSU arrived about twenty minutes after they had hung up. Fin was sitting quietly on the porch, looking really pissed off. He hadn't wanted to move, he couldn't see Kathy as well from where he was sitting. CSU went to work, and a few minutes later, Cap and Munch showed up. The reporters weren't far behind. He got up as Munch approached. ''So, what's our next move, John?'' He asked.

Munch said, ''I'm not sure.'' He went over to Warner, to ask her what she thought the cause of death was. ''So, Melinda, what do you think killed Kathy?'' He asked.

Melinda said, ''I think it was probably a knife, and she hasn't been dead long. Maybe an hour or two. I'll know more once I get her to the lab.'' She stood up and lowered her voice so only Munch could hear her. ''Were she and Olivia at odds?'' She didn't really think that Olivia had killed her, but she had to ask.

Munch met her gaze head on. ''Of course not. Well, there had been a little bit of animosity lately, because Elliot and Olivia are together, but she was just getting home from the hospital. Melinda, she didn't do this. We think it was most likely Lowell Harris and his mystery man.'' They were going to great lengths to keep Rook's identity secret. They wanted to keep it from Liv at all costs. They didn't want her worrying about the case.

Melinda nodded. ''OK. I just had to know. I'll call you and Fin when I find out more.'' She headed back to her car, so she could head back to the lab.

Munch went back to Fin. He didn't want to betray Melinda's confidence, but he had to tell him, because it was so laughable. ''Hey, Fin. Guess what Mel just asked me?'' He said, in a low voice.

Fin looked at him a little curiously. ''What, did she ask you out or something?'' He asked, making his partner laugh.

Munch smiled. ''No, nothing like that. I couldn't get so lucky. No, she asked me if Olivia and Kathy were at odds.'' He watched as Fin registered this information. ''Like Olivia could have done it even if she hadn't been coming home from the hospital.''

Fin said, ''John, we know that Olivia didn't do this. You didn't have defend her to Melinda.'' He changed the subject. ''So do we have any idea where Rook and Harris would have gone? We have to get them, John. I don't want Olivia to always have to look over her shoulder.''

Munch nodded. ''I know, Fin. You don't have to stress the importance of this to me. I want to get these guys just as badly as you do. One of my best friends was in a coma and the other had his head nearly bashed in with a baseball bat. I understand the situation.''

Fin said, ''OK, calm down, Munch. There's no reason for us to be fighting about this. We just need to find Harris. So, back to my question. Do we have any idea where they might be?''

Munch shook his head. ''No, we don't. And before we tell Elliot, we'd better.'' He wasn't looking forward to telling Elliot what had happened to his ex-wife. He wasn't so sure that they should put it off, however.

Fin seemed to have read his mind. ''I think we should tell 'em now. I mean, Dickie and Elizabeth could be coming home at any minute. I want to tell Elliot and Liv so they can deal with the kids. Let's go. We just won't tell them anything about Harris and Rook. Oh, and John, I filled Elliot in on Rook, what we know, but I didn't tell Olivia. I know yo' know we weren't planning on it, I'm just reminding yo'.'' He hoped John wouldn't take that differently than what he meant and get angry.

Thankfully, he didn't. ''I know, Fin. It'll be cool. Let's go. I'll follow you back to Manhattan.'' They headed off to make the long drive to El and Liv's apartment. This wasn't going to be easy.

Elliot and Olivia were watching Eli gurgle away in his car seat. Elliot was going to go and get some things from Kathy's when they knew what was going on. He was preparing himself for Kathy's death. He was sure that it had happened, more sure than he had ever been about anything in his life, except wanting to be with Olivia. They hadn't said much since Fin had left. Olivia was watching him, wondering what was going on in his head. He had to be worried about Kathy. She was, too.

Fin used his key and they entered the apartment. Elliot and Olivia looked up in surprise. ''I didn't want you to have to get up or whatever. I wasn't sure what you were doing.'' He explained.

Elliot's eyes had already filled with tears, and he looked very stoic. ''She's dead, isn't she?'' He asked, as Olivia wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder.

Fin nodded. ''Yeah, I'm sorry, man. We are pretty certain it was Harris. His mystery man was goin' 'round asking questions about Elliot.'' He hadn't wanted to mention that, because then Olivia would know, but it was out of his hands. Olivia would have asked why Harris had killed Kathy. It couldn't be helped.

Olivia's own eyes filled with tears. ''He's not going to stop until I'm dead, is he? Now he's going after the people close to Elliot to get to us, to get to me. I can't let this happen.'' She sobbed on Elliot's shoulder and he wrapped her in his solid embrace.

Munch tried not to let his emotions get the best of him as he sat down in the armchair next to the couch. ''Listen, Liv, I want you to stay here with Elliot, and Eli now, and you guys be here for him and his siblings. I want to catch Harris, but I don't want you anywhere near him when we do. We're going to catch him, Liv. But I need you here. I need to know you're safe or I won't be able to be my best.'' He could feel his eyes filling with tears as he spoke.

Liv pulled back from Elliot so she could look at her friend. ''John, I will do whatever you need me to do.'' She squeezed his hand, and wiped her eyes with her other hand.

Fin said, ''We're going to get going. We have to go and see if we can find 'em, there's a couple of leads we can follow. Come on, Munch.'' He wanted to get going and find these bastards. He didn't want to ever see Liv in that kind of pain ever again.