From Hell To Heaven
A/N I know I've not updated in a VERY long time, but good news, my exams are finally out of the way, I'm going to update as regular. I'm aware you may have to read the chapter before or something to refresh your memory, I'm not offended if you have to, I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot about it completely.
I don;t know if you even remember writing these reviews, but thank you to maerae93, spacekitten2700, DeLene, lou3174, svuobsessed2011, courtneylovejason and SteffieDawn. My apologies for the long wait x Also thank you to windsor69 for adding me to favourite stories, and DeLene for adding to favourite author. As always, I'm humbled by your comments, you are all a major encouragement. Consider this chapter for you guys, the ones who keep reading and put up with my sporadic updates :P
This chapter picks up straight after the last one. Don't want to spoil anything, but I love Fin's timing in this chapter :P Second, the word count for this chapter is longer than usual, mainly because I wanted to fit a lot in to it, but also to try and make up for the hiatus. Hope you like it.
Chapter 21-Warrant
Olivia burst in to the cribs and immediately started pacing. Elliot slipped in through the door as it almost slammed shut, quietly closing it instead.
"Liv-"
"I was him. He did it." she said, though he wasn't sure if she was saying it to him, as she shook her head and paced.
"Olivia," he tried again, stepping closer.
"It was Max! I'm certain of it!" she yelled, striding back and forth, a hand now on her hip.
"Liv, I know what a gut feeling is like, but at the minute there's no evidence to prove-"
"Oh, come on, Elliot!" she interrupted in disbelief. "Don't defend him." she warned.
"I am not defending him, I'm just saying- don't get ahead of yourself, don't get tunnel vision on this. If you focus too much on Swanson you forget to watch your own back."
"That's what you're for." she said, finally stopping in her tracks.
"I know, I know, but-" he reasoned, with a slight smirk. "But we've got to be smart about this; you go hounding Swanson and he'll run straight to his Captain for cover. We need evidence that places him at the scene, something airtight or he'll wriggle out of it again." Elliot moved towards her, sliding his strong hands up her arms and wrapping them around her back. "We'll get him, it's just going to take time." he assured.
"We?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah, well," he replied sheepishly. "I think it would be irresponsible of me to let you take the lead on this one without adequate backup."
She would have chuckled but it was replaced with a deep sigh.
"I know this is tough, Liv, I get it-"
"No, you don't." she insisted. "All those people I've helped and the one time it matters I can't do anything about it."
"One time that matters? So all the cases you've solved and victims you helped, they didn't matter?" he asked doubtfully.
"You know that's not what I meant, of course they matter!" she insisted. "I just meant, that after all the people I've helped, I can't help myself."
"Yes, you can, 'Livia." Elliot insisted, hugging her tighter as he felt her begin to tremble. "You're doing it right now, you're working the case and trying to catch that bastard."
"He called me 'fish'." she said in a shaky voice.
"I heard Liv, and I know what that means," She held still, 'I don't remember telling him about that. Has he been speaking to Fin?'
He stood holding her, her head resting gently on his strong chest, using his heartbeat as a regulator for her breathing, refusing to get upset again.
"I don't want to get in to this," she insisted. "We shouldn't be wasting time up here." She leaned away from his chest, wiping her eyes.
"I just don't want you to get hurt." he said almost inaudibly, taking her by surprise.
She gave a reassuring smile. "I promise I'll try my hardest not to get hurt."
"That's real comforting, Liv." he said sarcastically. He decided not to point out that she already had been hurt.
"So, about tonight-?" she began, trying to move the conversation to a lighter subject.
"Backing out on me? Need to wash your hair? Studying?" he asked in a constant stream of cliche excuses.
"No," she grinned. "I was going to ask what you had planned."
"Well I thought we could go for a carriage ride through the park, then dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town and then swing by my place perhaps."
"Really?" she asked skeptically. "I feel a 'but' coming on." He smirked. 'So perceptive,'
"But...I thought Central Park wouldn't exactly be romantic given-given recent events," he said, dodging the topic. "And the fanciest restaurant in town needs to have reservations months in advance."
"So?" she led.
"So, I thought we could go the movies."
"Old school." she joked.
"Aren't I just?" he chuckled.
"I'd like that. But, swinging by your place, that's still on the menu, right?" she teased, bringing herself back closer to his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Definitely." he said a little too quickly. "It'll be the highlight of my evening."
"Sounds good." she said, leaning closer.
"Sounds very good." he said, capturing her lips.
An instinctive fire erupted within her body in a burning need for him. His hands were already gliding across her curves and her heart was leaping in response. Their lips fought for dominance. Her breathing hitched as his fingers trailed under her shirt and up her stomach, and the door opened- 'Wait what?'
"Oh, I see how it is." Fin said with a smirk as Olivia and Elliot jumped apart.
"Fin," Elliot said in surprise, glancing at Olivia. "Olivia was just a bit upset after the interrogation so-"
"So you thought your lips would help her feel better?" Fin interrupted with an amused expression.
'The last thing I need is more office gossip about me.' Olivia began in panic. "Fin, we don't want anyone-"
"I didn't see anythin'." Fin interrupted, with a wink. "I just thought you should know, the report for April Benson's here."
"Already?" she asked.
"Melinda put a rush on it for us after what she found last night." Fin said, referring to the CO badge in the victim's panties.
"I'd better go and-" Olivia trailed off, pointing to the door and glancing awkwardly at Elliot, who she was surprised to see, was not the same shade of red she was. Olivia hastily ran her fingers through her hair and straightened her shirt as she headed out the door.
Elliot made to follow but Fin stood in his way.
"Are we going to have a problem?" Elliot challenged; he didn't give a damn what Fin thought of his relationship with Olivia and he couldn't care less to hear it.
Elliot tried to pass again but Fin's hand presses him back on his chest.
"I don't like to be touched." Elliot said firmly, a frown appearing on his brow.
"And I don't take any pleasure in touchin' you, believe me," Fin countered. "I just wanna give you a message." he added.
Elliot stepped back and huffed, expecting a lecture.
"You hurt Olivia and I'll hurt you." Fin said bluntly.
"Oh really?" Elliot mused.
"Yes, really. You may think you're the only one around here who cares Stabler, but Baby-girl's like a sister to me. So you make her happy and you'll have no complaints from me."
Elliot thought about challenging Fin on why he thought he cared what he thought, but he couldn't deny that he admired the protective streak Fin was displaying, especially if it would keep Olivia safe.
Elliot cleared his throat. "While I don't like you insinuating that I even could harm Liv, I appreciate the sentiment. On Olivia's behalf, at least."
"I'll take that as a understandin'." Fin said. His scowl loosened as he gave a lopsided shrug. "'Bout time you two hooked up anyhow."
Elliot chuckled as Fin headed back out the door with his usual strut. He and Fin weren't exactly 'friends' but they were a team, and they looked out for each other. Elliot couldn't complain; the more people watching Olivia's back the better, even if he did prefer to do it himself.
xXx
Elliot and Fin headed to the squadroom side by side, for once, in a mutual respect. Elliot didn't miss Olivia's curious glances in their direction. She was already busy tacking new papers and photographs to the board, alongside her own and Martine Olivia's. April Benson's last photograph was pinned up, her skin pale and eyes closed.
"You got the report?" Elliot said, Fin diverting off to his own desk.
"Yeah," she answered, a small frown appearing. "Doesn't make much sense though; this attack was very different from mine and the first victim."
Elliot didn't like how she grouped herself with the victims, even if it was true; he hated to see her weak and helpless, and yet that's when her boundaries were lowest; she let him in.
"How so?" As he skim-read the file the differences were already jumping out at him.
"Well for starters the women are completely different. Martine Olivia was dirty, unwashed, her hair was greasy and she was a hooker. April Benson was clean, her nails were clean and her clothes were pressed. She was a cop, for Christ's sake."
"So they were just chosen for their names, like Huang said." Fin interjected.
"What? The perp just happened to attack two women with the same name, one less than 100 yards from me and the other around the corner from my precinct?" she asked with growing doubt and skepticism. "Fin, come on, the mere chance..."
"I didn't mean they were chosen randomly, the perp must have picked them for their names."
"You think he tracked them down somehow?" Elliot considered.
"Records!" Olivia suddenly exclaimed as the idea jumped to mind. "Max is a cop, so he can look at my file, see when and where I went to Academy. It would be easy enough to see who went there with me."
"Ok, so they got the same name, that don't mean they're connected; one was raped, the other wasn't even assaulted." Fin rebuked.
"Liv, public records-"
"I know Elliot but just suppose." she pleaded. He was going to argue tha tpublic records are accessible by almost everyone, or in other words, it might not be Max. She didn't have the time or the energy to waste arguing so she pressed on.
"He got the records and tracked April down through...the phonebook." She knew it sounded like she was grasping at straws.
Elliot could see her need to be right, he granted her that chance. Besides, she hated when he argued the thruth and he wanted to stay in her good books. He pulled open his bottom draw and pulled out a copy of the phonebook; more useful than first thought. He flipped to 'B', aware of Olivia eager for answers by his side.
He sighed. "She's not in here, Liv. No one under the name April Benson." He passed her apologetic look.
"Anyone could have made an inquiry." she tried again. "Go in to any precinct and ask for her; get her badge number and where to find her. Then all he had to do was wait for an opportunity."
She waited, watching Elliot as he crossed his arms and watched her back.
"Ok," he finally conceded.
She passed him a grateful look.
"But hold up," Fin interrupted, striding to the board. He tapped a piece of pinned up paper with his pen.
"April Benson wasn't raped, you can't overlook that to fit with a suspect, Liv."
"They were in an alleyway, he didn't want to risk getting caught." she challenged.
"He can stalk and beat a cop, kill and rape a woman, murder another only to get stage fright?" he asked skeptically. "'Sides, women have been raped in far more public places than an alleyway."
He had a point and she knew it, but she didn't want to admit it if it meant a step back from Max as a suspect; the more they opened it up for discussion the more likely they were to find holes that Max could slip through. Elliot could feel her frustration rolling off in waves; he could read her like a book, even when it was closed as she often was.
"Ok, look Liv, why don't we go back to the file, focus on the facts before we speculate?" he offered, careful of his wording that could easily be constrewed by a pissed off Benson.
After a moment she defeatedly grabbed the file. "Fine." She gave a sigh. "Cause of death- asphyxiation. The suffocation was not due entirely to lack of Oxygen. The rebreathing of exhaled Carbon Dioxide contributed to airway restriction. Victim would have lost consciousness within approximately a minute. It was most likely a plastic bag or material was placed across her face, evidence found in the throat concurs. Bruising around the mouth suggest a hand was also held in place." Liv continued to skim read.
"Bastard covered her mouth so she couldn't even scream." Fin said with a look of disgust.
"Explains why no one heard anything." Elliot said, watching Olivia buried herself in the horrific details. She suddenly flipped over a page in urgency.
"What?" Elliot asked as he saw her frown.
"Melinda said she found green plastic in the victim's throat-"
"So? She must have bitten down on the bag." Fin shrugged. His phone rang and he excused himself. "Tutuola."
"All the bags in the dumpster were black refuse bags." she stated to Elliot.
"He took it with him." Elliot said, finally catching on.
Fin hung up. "You better call Casey; that was CSU, the badge Melinda found in the victim's panties matched the badge number issued to Lowell Harris." His eyes didn't wander from Olivia's. "And it gets better; fingerprint was found on the badge."
Olivia smiled triumphantly. "I'll call Sealview." She reached for her phone.
"It's not Harris' print, Olivia." Fin called.
"Well then, whose the Hell is it?" she demanded, phone still in hand.
"Max Swanson's."
xXx
Nearly 45 minutes later, Olivia, Elliot and several uniformed officers were waiting outside Max's apartment. Olivia paced from wall to wall between the width of the corridor, eager to rummage through Max's things to find the hard evidence she needed.
"How long does it take to get a piece of paper?" she demanded. Elliot didn't answer, he'd learned that sarcastically answering a rhetorical question did not go down well. "Come on." she whined under her breath.
Elliot's phone rang. Olivia spun to look at him. She waited eagerly.
"Fin? Yeah...and?" Their eyes met as she searched for signals. Elliot hung up. "Break it." he commanded. A uniformed officer stepped up with a heavy, red enforcer and blasted the door open. Olivia immediately headed inside, determined to nail with SOB.
She strode confidently in to the apartment, already beginning to spot potential hiding places. Elliot was hot on her heels.
"Olivia, wait, no." he called. "You can't be seen to collect anything from here, Liv, you know that." he said, stepping in to line with her.
But she wasn't listening, she was already heading for a cabinet. "If you touch anything it gives Swanson reasonable doubt." Elliot challenged.
Olivia stopped dead in her tracks, considering. She didn't want to be the reason Swanson got off on a technicality. Again.
"If I find anything, I'll call you straight over." she muttered to him as the uniformed officer filed past. He could tell from her stalling that she was waiting for an answer.
"Ok."
She pulled a fresh set of white, latex gloves from her pocket, snapped them on and headed straight to the cabinet. Behind her the uniformed officers were scoping out the others rooms, weapons drawn. Elliot stayed in the main room, his gun out, but watching over Olivia.
A chorus of 'clear' echoed through the rooms. Elliot holstered his gun and headed over to Liv.
"Anything?"
"Books, DVDs and..." she hesitated as she lifted a stack of adult magazines from the bottom shelf. "Disgusting." she muttered and she dropped them to the floor. She crossed the room to a small bookshelf. She yanked books from the shelf, one-by-one, shaking them by the covers. Once they revealed nothing she disregarded them to the floor, like the magazines, producing a thin dust cloud from the unvaccumed carept. Elliot watched on.
"Detective," came a voice, a uniformed cop. "Would you like us to begin searching the other rooms?"
"No." Olivia said, before Elliot could answer.
She continued demolishing the bookshelf, pulling it over and checking nothing was taped to the underside.
"Detective, the search would go a lot faster if-"
"I said no!" she yelled, rounding on him. "Get out." she demanded, pointing to the door.
The uniformed officers were gathering in the main room at the raised voices. They looked to Elliot.
"I said get out. Now!" she ordered, agitated that they thought she needed Elliot's permission.
They hesitated but slowly edged towards the front door. Olivia dropped her arm and watched them exit. Once they shut the door she turned her attention back to the shelf, but as she saw it knocked over and spilling its contents, she looked around again. The apartment itself was quite bare, besides the television and its assortment of gadgets.
"Liv,"
"I'm fine Elliot; there's enough people involved in this as it is, I don't need sloppy rookies messing up the search." she answered irritably.
She pulled the TV from the stand, causing the screen to smash and scatter glass across the stained carpet. Elliot frowned; perhaps she was a bit too worked up, but then again, criminals had been known to hide drugs, money or evidence within the back. She kicked over his games console, which Elliot knew- from Dickie's constant moaning- was very expensive; Kathy had spitefully beaten him to buying it, in an attempt to be the more favourable parent.
She stomped on the plastic controllers, watching as the buttons flew off in all directions. Elliot could see the satisfied gleam in her eyes. He knew it was probably over the top, she knew there wasn't anything hidden inside them, she was just gaining a little justice for her photos, her jewellery, all the memories he had destroyed and tainted by what he had done. Elliot shed his jacket and laid it over the back of the couch. He folded up his sleeves, noticing the appreciative smile she was giving him.
"I'll check the couch. Why don't you have a look in the other rooms." he offered; he didn't want her getting cut up by the- more than likely- rusty couch springs, especially not while she was so worked up.
She nodded and headed to the bathroom. Her first impulse when she entered was to heave; filthy beyond belief, he had clearly never thought of tidying up after himself. He didn't have a wash basket, his dirty clothes were piled in one corner-festering in dust and mold-she didn't even dare shift them with her foot. The window was grimy, as was the walls and shower curtain, which- from what she could see- used to be light green. The tiles were stained, the sealant was browning and the tub itself had stains in the bottom, which she could only guess came from not emptying the dirty water after her had bathed. She didn't understand how such as clean person could have such a dirty home. She yanked open the crack-mirror-doors of his medicine cabinet, it held only a blunt razor, a half empty bottle of shower gel and and empty aspirin container. She turned on her heel in frustration, she was determined to find what she needed.
She booted open the door to his bedroom. He hadn't bothered to make up his bed this morning, or even change the sheets in a while she guessed. The covers were tatty and frayed at the corners, stained- she didn't even want to think about what those stains might be-, the pillows unbelieveably thin and aged.
She spied his closet, half opened. She forced the door open as it caught on the matted carpet. Her skin crawled at the idea of living in such dirty conditions. She yanked the cord of the bulb above her head, which blinkered and finally came on so dim that it made little difference. Several boxes were piled up on a shelf, his shoes were dumped haphazardly in an assortment on the ground and his clothes- surprisingly- were on hangers. She proceeded to tear his clothes out, not caring if they snagged on the bent and sharpened ends of the hangers. She threw them over her shoulder, allowing them to fall where they made. Once the few hangers that remained were bare she grasping at the boxes, pulling them and allowing them to burst open as they hit the floor. She rummaged through desperately, it was surprising how often people hid things in their closet in the misapprehension that no one would look there. Her fingers trawled across old sports awards, newspaper clippings and- again, she noted with a roll of the eyes- adult magazines. She kicked the box aside and pulled down another.
A pistol and box of ammunition clattered out and on to the floor. She knew as soon as she saw it that the gun had never been cleaned, the grip was laden with dirt from general use- the accumulation of transfer from hands that had held it. But also that the presence of such grime indicated that it hadn't been used recently. She huffed on. She lifted the final box, smaller than the others, down in a hurry with an overriding need to find something burning within her. She flipped off the lid and fell to her knees in a final triumphant sigh. She smiled as she surveyed the contents. Newspaper clippings- her own face shining up at her. Yellow sticky notes, heavily creased, but legiable, with her address on, her badge number, and her cellphone number. She lifted them out of the way to see what was underneath. A pair of white, latex gloves. Her smile broadened.
"Elliot!" She heard his hurried footsteps, aware of how uneven her voice sounded.
He burst in to the room, her back was to him as she knelt on the floor.
"What's wrong?" he urgently asked. She smiled up at him, noticing the confusion expression that now formed on his features. She slid the box over to him.
"Have I got tunnel vision now?" she challenged. He helped her to her feet.
"You were never in this room, you didn't find this, you didn't even see it." he said firmly, knowing she could be accused of planting; bias and finding evidence without a witness present.
She merely nodded, surprised at how blissfully happy she was; she finally had the bastard. Something caught her eye, she picked up the lid to the box; written on the underside, scrawled in pencil was "Bitch now you die". She handed it to Elliot.
She saw his frown deepened, his thinking face, she recognised. Her handed the lid back to her and headed across the room. She had avoided the bed so far, or in other words, avoided the filthy sheets, but Elliot tossed the mattress without bother. She stepped up and saw that the bed did not have panels underneath like hers did, it was a solid base. And hidden there was a black refuse bag. Elliot, who already had his gloves on, gripped the bottom and upended it. From the bag fell a photoframe and a book. She frowned but as she stepped closer she realised what it was. It was a year book, listing all the people in the same year at highschool. Elliot flipped over the photoframe. The glass had been removed, but it wasn't empty. Olivia's Police Academy Graduation photo was held within. Circled in thick red pen was Olivia, much younger, yet still as beautiful; her hair a lot shorter. A few rows up and along, was another woman circled in the same way. April Benson.
Before Olivia could comment Elliot had already picked up an unsealed envelope. "To besotted and evidence." Elliot pulled out the folded paper, trying to touch it as little as possible. Olivia's already growing frown deepened as she read the stream of seemingly nonsence words.
"loW evil On ideal, fiery unhinged hesitator, yeah up profound voyeur. Beaten tumorous vigor. Tame creepier heroes hazy hot gluttonize hot shut up. wholeSome weary voucher he's the hero's elaborate bag of wind. -CO"
"What the hell?" she muttered.
"This guy trying to write Shakespeare or something?" he asked rhetorically. He set down the evidence, hoping someone from CSU would be able to make more sense out of it.
But he didn't miss the sender- "-CO". He doubted it was a coincidence. 'When will her nightmare end?' he silently pleaded to himself.
A/N Well? Worth the wait? :/ I had very little dialogue in the search scene; I wanted to focus on Olivia, and that the search for her was more of a justice and personal experience. I deliberately wanted Max's 'home' to be disgusting, I initially wrote it as a really nice place, possible suspicions about how he can afford so much on a cop's salary etc, but then I thought that actually he wouldn't be able to afford much of anything, and the apartment is a bit of a metaphor- we see Max (at the start) as a bit of a 'gent' (using the word lightly), he's clean and polished, Liv says herself that he's 'perfect'. But then we see the apartment and the real him and see that's it's disgusting, dirty and should be avoided. Final thing, don't worry if the note in the envelope is confusing and makes so sense, it's deliberate- it will be explained in the next chapter. The reference to Shakespeare- as I was writing the note my friend looked over my shoulder and actually asked if I was writing Shakepeare (because it was so confusing, not good XD) so I HAD to put that in. lol xx