From Hell To Heaven
A/N WOW I had a massive response after the last chapter. I'm so thrilled; it's nice to know everyone liked my EO scene ^_^
I want to say thank you to EOforevertogether- You wrote a massive review for the last chapter and gave lot of positive feedback. But you also gave critique which is awesome x
I want to thank spacekitten2700, courtneylovejason, maerae93 for your reviews, always smile when i see your names pop up. And maerae93, it's nice to know someone else is swamped in work too lol your review made me smile and helped improve my writing x
I want to thank Princess of Pirates (luv the name btw lol) and WinterWhirls for adding me to story favourites, I'm honoured lol.
And also to beckstabler8685 for adding an author alert, I'm humbled you want to follow my work.
But this time a special thanks goes to WinterWhirls- (Added author alerts-favourite authors- story alerts and several reviews :O wow!) I was having difficulty writing, not exactly Writers Blcok because I knew what I wanted to write but I was struggling to get it down on paper. I wanted to focus so much on EO but the situation doesn't allow it, i.e it's difficult to have EO Luvz when they're discussing dead girls. :/ I was starting to allow the negative thoughts in so I decided to look back at the stats of my story (as a confidence boost)) so I open the site to find loads of alerts. All your alert were an incredible confidence boost at, coincidentally (Rule39 for any NCIS fans too ;)) , when I needed it most. You spurred me on to finish another chapter that I am very pleased with given my reservations at the start xx
Ok, so this chapter is more involved, discussing results and reports, thinking over how (whoever it is lol) is doing what they are, ie how did they get in, any evidence they left etc.
Chapter 12- Explain
Elliot sat at his desk; he was letting Liv sleep in; she needed rest and she couldn't argue about not needing sleeping if she already was, he figured. He placed his hands behind his head, smiling broadly as he recalled the night before. Her deliciously smooth skin. Plump lips. Beautiful brown eyes. Million dollar curves. Everything he had desired for so long. He let his mind think over the faces she had pulled; causing him to smile at the memory that he had caused that pleasure. He stopped himself before he needed another cold shower. The first had been when he'd woke to find Olivia's naked body still sprawled over his own naked body; and he knew it would be inappropriate for him to share his visible excitement with his collegues in the squadroom.
With a heavy sigh, he rubbed his face and stood up before the board pinned with photos; his fantasising would not help anyone but himself. His eyes landed on the image of Olivia, lying on the floor, her eyes closed. She was pale, even through her honey-tanned skin. He felt a surge of guilt.
"I'm sorry," he said, intently focused on the image. "I'll protect you this time. I won't let anyone hurt you."
"Aw. I had no idea you cared so much." came a sarcastic voice.
Elliot spun as Fin and Munch entered the squadroom, wrapped up in coats, gloves and hats.
"You worked the nightshift too?" Elliot asked.
"Hell yeah," Fin proclaimed, as if it was obvious. "You think I'm letting him sit his boney ass down when some creep's tailin' Baby-girl?" he asked incredulously, ignoring the raised eyebrows from Munch. Elliot chuckled as Munch headed for coffee.
"Want some?" he offered. He may as well have been asking if they wanted a cavity search.
"Definitely not." Elliot curtly responded, returning to his desk. Munch looked towards Fin. Fin merely frowned, looking at Munch as though he'd gone insane.
"My insides are frozen but I still ain't drinkin' that crap!"
Munch shrugged. "Suit yourself." he muttered.
Elliot turned to Fin, who was removing his extra layers. "Anything helpful come from last night?" he said hopefully.
"You kiddin' me?" Fin responded, finally pulling off his gloves and rubbing his hands together. "We scoped everyone in Liv's building, no one saw a thing. Little old lady thought she heard somethin'-"
"And then proceeded to tell us of the couple in 4F," Munch interrupted, returning to his desk with a coffee mug. "Apparently, they're very vocal in every sense of the word." He looked at Elliot over his glasses as he pulled off his hat, coat and gloves.
"Down, old man," Fin chided with a look of disgust. "Except there was no couple in 4F, it ain't even been rented out yet."
"So she's crazy." Elliot sighed, disappointed.
"More cats than pigeons in Central Park." Munch replied, sliding in to his seat and reclining.
Elliot would have smiled but instead he tried not to tense at the reference. "So it was a big waste of time."
"You tellin' me." Fin frowned.
"Not a total waste." Cragen said, striding in alongside Melinda. "I got the forensics back from Olivia's apartment and Melinda here has her finalised report about the victim."
Elliot immediately jumped up, eager for answers, eliciting a comment from Munch. "Someone's bright-eyed today, even without my miracle coffee."
Elliot ignored Munch and looked towards Melinda. "Well?"
She didn't even need to open the file she had in her hand. "Martine Olivia, 36, killed by blunt force trauma to the back of the head; significant damage to the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain. This led to intercranial bleeding and subdural hematoma; an open fracture of course."
Elliot gave her a blank look, most words he understood, but then others he didn't. "Open fracture?"
"The fracture broke through he skin, consistent with the volume of blood found on her clothing."
"Could it be possible that the perp intended to do the same to Liv but didn't manage enough force?" He asked, seriously hoping he was wrong.
"Absolutely not," Melinda confirmed, allowing Elliot's stomach to unclench. "The amount of force put in to this blow couldn't possibly have been accidental; whoever did this is intended to kill this woman, if they wanted to do the same to Olivia they would have. Their plan was definitely not to kill Olivia that night."
He let out a heavy sigh. "Ok."
Melinda continued. "She severly beaten; almost every inch of her skin was covered in bruises, particularly the genitals. All were inflicted post mortem, as if that's a conselation. Only her face was left untouched, my guess is they wanted you to be able to indentify her."
"Wait, this woman was a hooker right? Is it possible she stepped out of line and her pimp was sending a message? Maybe Olivia collared him for some reason a while back."
"Nah, I doubt it." Fin disagreed. "If a pimp wants rid of one of his girls he'd target her face, not avoid it; hooker can't work if her merchandise is all smashed up."
Elliot nodded, "So what about the rape?"
"Overkill; she was already dead, I don't know what they hoped to achieve." Melinda shrugged.
"Well, Doc, after more than 25 years on the force not even I have been able to get inside the mind of psychopaths."
Melinda smiled a little at Munch's comment, glancing at him briefly.
"Wait to go Genius," Fin responded. "But I think Stabler was after somethin' a bit more scientific."
"Come on guys, stay focused." Elliot chided.
"I'm determining a foreign object." she said.
"Wait, a second, you don't sound too certain there Doc." Elliot frowned.
"Well, there was spermicide present but I doubt the rape was committed physically by the perp. My guess is he used a sex toy of some kind."
"And they say romance is dead." Munch muttered.
"So this guy would rather not use his own junk?" Fin asked rhetorically. "I'm no Huang but I'm guessin' that shows insecurity issues."
"Oh, so now you're the genius?" Munch joked, again looking over his glasses at Fin, who merely sarcastically tilted his head in response.
Elliot glanced at them in anger but otherwise ignored them. "Ok, so we got no DNA from that. What else you got?"
Melinda put aside Elliot's bluntness. "I looked at her liver, definite signs of alcohol abuse. And her lungs indicate a chronic cough, most likely from sleeping outside in the cold so frequently, it's common among homeless bodies that get brought in."
"Homeless?"
"Most probably; she was dirty, not just from the attack, her clothes were filthy. Her hair was washed but her scalp shows signs of neglect; she had lice. And despite being painted, her toenails were overgrown."
"Wait, can't you get trace evidence from under her fingernails?" Cragen hopefully asked.
"I tried but her fingernails had be roughly clipped short, they even bled."
Elliot cursed under his breath; one thing he hated was an educated criminal.
"I did get something, but I doubt it helps to find who did this; I found a crystalised substance on her skin. I had it tested; it's a cleaning agent more commonly used to purify water, like Chlorine, but unscented."
"That don't make sense." Fin remarked.
"Well it's frequently used in outdoor water features; she could have washed herself in a public fountain." Melinda said, disregarding the look on disgust on Fin's face.
"What a delightful woman, I'm sure she had a successful business going." Munch muttered but then continued, setting his legs crossed on his desk. "I made a call to a friend,"
"Any particular friend or another crackpot from a conspiracy site?"
Munch ignored fin. "He's a cop in Washington-"
"The capital; how convenient." Fin muttered.
"-he ran our vic for me; came up with a second file."
"You mean that other-other file you're always bangin' on about?" Fin remarked.
Munch ignored him with a sideways glance, speaking a little louder. "He said he couldn't find an address or a bank account-"
"Well, you don't need a bank account if you got no money." Fin interrupted.
"Finally something productive." Munch muttered, causing Fin to glare at him. "Only thing she does have is a criminal record; arrested several times in her late teens for public disturbances, but it was more likely so she could get a place to sleep at night. My friend said she was so determined to be arrested she once punched an officer when he informed her he was only giving her a caution. Nothing since."
Melinda nodded. "Makes sense; I think she was probably a runaway; came to New York and got caught up in prostitution. Her dental work is poor but not terrible; there are no rotated teeth, suggesting she had a brace as a child. Yet there are needle marks between her toes, toxicology detects presence of Heroin; I assumed from the scars on her feet that it was long-term addiction."
Elliot let out a deep sigh, folding his arms across his broad chest. "Fantastic; a dead hooker, a trashed apartment and still no closer to figuring out who this dirtbag is or what he wants."
"Sorry, but that's all I've got for you. In the meantime, I've got a morgue full of bodies that aren't going to investigate themselves." She said, but a slight frown of concern. "Keep me posted?" she asked John, who gave her a curt nod. After a moment she departed.
She turned on her heel and strode out. Olivia strode through the other door as Melinda turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
"Was that Melinda?" she asked, stuffing her arm in to the over-sized sweater.
"She brought her finalised report." Cragen confirmed, he handed her his copy as she muttered to Elliot.
"Why didn't you wake me?" she muttered to Elliot as she flipped open the file.
Elliot shrugged, his arms still folded across his chest. "You needed to sleep."
Olivia sighed as her eyes skimmed over the file, picking out certain words to fill her in. She didn't like what she was; but determinedly she reminded herself, this wasn't her fault.
"We were just about to go over the lab results," Elliot said.
"Mhmm," Liv mumbled, heading towards the board, though she didn't stop reading. The others followed her, standing in a half circle around the board.
Cragen handed Elliot the file with a significant look. "I've got a few calls to make." Elliot resisted the urge to sigh and curse as he realised what Don meant.
"Fine." El shortly replied, once again showing his disapproval of the situation; that animal didn't deserve to leave his cell at all; if it was up to Elliot he would be on 23-hour lockdown. Cragen disappeared to his office, with a pissed look from Munch and Fin; Elliot assumed they weren't too happy either.
"Ok, so, the lock-" he hesitated, Liv was still frowning down at the file from Melinda. "Liv,"
Her head shot up. "Huh? Wha-oh, yeah, sorry, I'm listening." She closed the file and placed it on her desk.
Elliot didn't mind if she was listening or not, she could always read the file herself if she preferred; but he didn't want her burying herself in the details of a female victim's attack and murder when it was suppose to symbolise her.
"CSU said the lock was untouched, so the perp must have had a key." Elliot read, before turning to Liv. "You had your locks changed,"
"Yeah, but- that doesn't explain how they got a key." she replied.
"Who'd you give keys to?" Fin asked.
"No one, I only have two keys, mine and-and El's." she said, blushing slightly.
"Well, I'm hurt, Olivia," Munch joked. "You had a slumber party and you didn't invite me? Shame, I have a HelloKitty sleeping bag." Fin rolled his eyes but Olivia smiled.
"Actually John," she said, her embarressment abating at his humour. She glanced at Elliot who was chuckling to himself, ignoring the glares from Fin. "When I oversleep, Elliot can let himself in and get my lazy ass out of bed."
Elliot couldn't remember a single time he had done that; but then again he wouldn't mind if she was dressed how she was this morning, or more accurately, not dressed. He smirked.
"What's got you all-smiles, Stabler?" Fin accused with suspicious eyes.
"Anyway, getting back on topic," El dodged. "You said you lost your key at the gym?"
"Yes, " she confirmed. "I put all my things in my locker but when I got home I was missing my key; I assumed it had somehow slipped off the keychain." Elliot remembered, he'd had to drive across town to let her in to her own apartment and get a copy cut for her.
"What you thinkin', Stabler? Someone snuck in while she was benchin' and took her key?" Fin asked with a frown. "A bit unlikely if you ask me."
Elliot shook his head. "This guy is willing to kill to get to Olivia, sneaking in to a gym is not going to be a big deal." He glanced in concern at Olivia; realising how harsh he words could be taken. But she hadn't batted an eyelid, she was simply shaking her head.
"There's no way to check that; my gym only has security cameras in the cafeteria and that's only because one of the staff was stealing things."
"That's it?" elliot asked incredulously.
"They said it invaded people's privacy." she replied.
"Finally, someone who agrees with me." Munch muttered.
"Yeah, they must be few and far between, huh, Munch?" Fin retorted.
"Anyway," Liv poitedly said, hoping to avoid a dispute. I was intending to change the locks but I had the new lock and set of keys on the table beside the door for almost five days before I got round to installing it."
"How many new keys?" Fin asked.
"Three, I had one obviously, El did and I left the other one-" she hesitated.
"What?" Elliot asked, a frown appearing.
"I left the other one one the table beside the door incase I lost mine." she finished.
"And?" he asked in confusion.
She thought back, to when she'd first stumbled in to her apartment, no key on the table. "And the key-"
"-Wasn't there." Elliot anticipated, sighing. "Ok, so they got in through the door," Elliot began, deciding not to dwell on the mistake, or Liv's mistake as she would assume it to be. "Techs said, besides the bedroom, the apartment was pristine; no prints, nothing was moved elsewhere."
"No prints?" Liv asked in confusion. "They tore up my bedroom! What did they do it with, their elbows? There has to be prints."
"They had gloves." Elliot said, pissed by how lame that excuse sounded. "Apparently 'the residual powder of their gloves had a molecular structure indicative of a high end product'."
"Ok." Olivia said slowly, wrapping her head around what he had just said.
"A criminal has access to that kind of equipment and you're telling me there's no government conspiracy?" Munch asked rhetorically, shaking her head.
"Man, what does rubber gloves have to do with the President?" Fin asked with a complete look of disbelief.
"I'll have you know-" Munch began.
"Moving on," Elliot cut him off. "We did find hairs-"
"DNA?"
"Getting to it, Liv." he promised, seeing her apologetic look, with a slight smile on his face for her eagerness.
"One hair was a match to our victim, Martine Olivia, the second was unknown. Relatively short and dark brown, almost black, in colour." Liv's chest gave a squeeze as she thought of his hair- short, almost black. "Lab guys said both hair's were in the Telogen Phase, er-" Elliot fumbled over the science as he read the relevant passage. "Ah- says here the hair fell out naturally, not pulled out; suggests they could have been transferred to Liv's apartment from the suspect."
Olivia cleared her throat, trying to maintain her composure. His hair was the right colour, right length, in her apartment. How could that be? she questioned.
"What about the paint? Is there anyway they could use that to track-" Munch began.
"Paint?" Liv interrupted. She looked from Munch to Elliot, who was now staring daggers at John. "What paint?" Elliot hesitated, rubbing his jaw. "Elliot, what paint?" she asked more firmly. She noticed his grip tighten on the file. She snatched it from his hand before he stop her.
"Liv, don't!" But it was too late, she had found the photograph of her bed, the mattress removed and exposing what was hidden beneath.
"This-this is at my apartment?" her eyes still intent on the photo, reading the words that were directed, like blades, at her.
Elliot sighed, taking the file back; though she didn't argue, she'd seen the photograph now. "Yes." his tone full of confession. "Under your mattress."
"I can see that Elliot! Why didn't you tell me?" she flared, turning her blazing eyes upon him.
"There wasn't a right time." he said simply. He saw her thinking everything over in her head at a hundred miles an hour. He was right; the car trip was filled by them arguing, sort of; the night before had been filled with them making up and "hey, someone wants you dead" isn't the best way to hello in the morning.
"See what you gone done now?" Fin said to Munch.
Before Munch could defend himself, or roll his eyes, Olivia was speaking. "No, it's fine, really, I'm fine, let's keep going." She took a breath, wiping her forehead, feeling the heat that had gathered. "John's right, is the paint trackable?"
"Not in the least; commerical product, available at any hardware store throughout New York, probably further."
"Great." Fin muttered. "This guy may be a dirtbag but he's been learnin' enough to cover his tracks."
"Unluckily for us." John muttered back.
Cragen opened his office door and leaned out, "John, I need you in here." Then disappeared back inside.
John sighed and stood up. "All I need; the night shift with Tutuola and then a lecture from the Boss." As he headed towards the office, Elliot turned towards Fin.
"Hey, Fin, think you could go er-" Elliot suggested "-check something." he finished lamely.
Fin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Sure. I'll go do some filin'. Or take a leak. Or step outside. Or go for my lunch break. Any of those 90s cop show cliches good for you?"
Elliot shrugged as Fin stood up and made to leave. "Whatever works for you."
"Great." Fin muttered as he left the room.
"El, what is it?" Olivia asked, trying to catch his eye, when she finally did, she knew it was bad. "What?"
"They tested your panties." he said, noticing a minor flush appear in her cheeks.
"And?"
"They got DNA." Olivia's eyes dropped from his. "They found semen, Liv; not on all of them but...I guess that doesn't make much of a difference." He watched her intently, seeing her chest rise and fall rapidly. He glanced in to the file, making absolutely sure he'd read it right.
"The DNA they pulled...was a match. To-"
"Harris." she finished, knowing exactly what was coming as soon as he had brought up the subject. She waited for what felt like an eternity for him to confirm what she already knew.
"Yeah."
She wrapped an arm around her stomach, gasping for breath, before covering her mouth with her hand. Within seconds Elliot brought the trashcan to her and she grabbed it from him just in time to empty the contents of her stomach in to it. 'Great, first I cry all over him, now I'm puking in front of him. Way to go, Liv.' she thought to herself sardonically. 'How sexy is this? He's going to run a mile now.'
She felt his strong hand rubbing circles on her lower back. He had dropped his file, carefully pulling her hair from her face. "It's ok, Liv, it's ok. Take a breath," he encouraged, seeing her gag as there was so little to throw up.
After several long seconds the tightness in her throat passed and she sucked in a hugely needed breath. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be silly, Liv, it's perfectly ok; I've done worse in front of you right?" he joked, trying to make her feel better. She half heartedly smiled, taking a few more shallow breaths to compose herself.
After a few moments she let out a sigh. "I'm ok now, my stomach-I just-"
"You don't have to explain." was all he said.
She shared a smile with him. She leaned away from the trashcan and grabbed Munch's coffee mug from his desk. She took a mouthful and swirled it round her mouth; anything other than the taste in her mouth was an improvement. She spat the coffee in to the trashcan also; it may have changed the taste but that didn't mean she was willing to drink it.
"Well it's nice to know someone appreciates my coffee." Munch called, striding from Cragen's office. Olivia thought for a second he'd upset him, but he passed her a sly wink as he reached for the trashcan. "Allow me." He headed, she assumed, to janitorial, as Elliot turned to her.
"When was the last time you ate?" he asked, no hint of humour in his voice.
"Er-"
"We're going to lunch." he said, giving her no chance to argue, unsatisfied that she couldn't even remember when she'd eaten.
"But-"
"I'm driving." he said, already reaching her his jacket. She looked at him but then returned his warm smile. "Come on, I'll buy your desert." She couldn't miss the seduction in his voice, it sent a warm tingle down her spine as she recalled his firey blue eyes from last night.
"Well, how could I say no to that?"
A/N I included a bit of science in this chapter (Science nerd here lol) but I tried to keep it as understandable as possible for those who don't study textbooks ^_^ I love the Fin/Munch in this chapter, I write what amuses me (Those you've seen the quotes on my Profile will understand what I mean) and how can Munch not amuse someone lol
I already mentioned finding it difficult to put appropriate EO in to this chapter, but the next chapteer sees a nice scene for them, a bit of EO filler leading up to the scene with Harris. Do you think I over did Liv's reaction to Elliot's revelation about the lab results? When I write it seems to stream straight from my head to the paper and it wasn't until editing that I considered how plausible it was. Oh well, hope you liked it. x
(If there's anything you're confused about feel free to message me and I'll gladly explain it more clearly for you.)