From Hell To Heaven
A/N Thanks to lollipop781 for adding to story alerts and favourite stories, and also kande mathews who added to favourite stories. Thanks to Amber77, courtneylovejason, SteffieDawn, lou3174, spacekitten2700 and new shining star- Lady Riss for all your fantastic reviews, you all spur me on and keep me encouraged xx
I intended to post this sooner but got a little sidetracted. I have come up with an idea for my next story, I got so caught up I had written the first chapters before I realised I hadn't finished this chapter lol
Chapter 23- Captured
Olivia awoke the next morning in a flurry; eager to get back to the precinct and throw Max in jail. Elliot, it seemed, was not as motivated in the mornings and only opened his eyes when she tore the covers off of him. "You're going to pay for that Benson." he teased, stretching his arms above his head.
"Like to see you try." she muttered back, already heading out of the room.
A quick pit stop at the coffee store for a caffeine boost and they were set. And bagels for Olivia- Elliot insisted she ate something. Olivia merely rolled her eyes, wanting to drive straight to work and get stuck in.
xXx
Olivia watched Max through the mirror. Fin and Elliot were either side of her.
"Sure you can handle this?" Fin asked; she didn't even spare a glare at his doubt.
"She'll be fine." Elliot vouched.
She had her hands full of evidence bags, all of which she would use to back Swanson in to a corner. As soon as she entered the room she saw his greasy hair, sweat-dirty skin and crumpled shirt.
"Let me guess, you avoided the showers?" she asked, lowering in to her seat. "I hope you were comfortable in your cell because you're going to be seeing a lot more of one."
"Like Hell, I am," he dismissed, retortingly.
"You lied to me."
"What?"
"You lied to me." she repeated. "When we first met you said your name was Harris Maxson."
"People call me Max." he shrugged.
"That's because it is your name." She slid an evidence bag in front of him. "Copy of your birth certificate. 'Max Joseph Swanson.'"
"So?" he shrugged.
"So, that tells me you came in to my apartment having already planned this whole charade. You already knew about Lowell Harris and your scheme for revenge."
He remained silent, his eyes giving nothing away.
"Pleading the fifth?" Still he said nothing. "Ok, I'll tell you what I know. You and Lowell Harris cooked up this plan to kill me, I'm assuming he's still pissed for being busted by a woman,"
"You don't know anything." he refuted.
"Oh, I do," she stated. "I know a lot more than you think. And I probably also have a lot more friends in high places than you do." He scoffed. "My friends stayed up over night running tests for me. And can you guess what the results said?"
"'Simon says?'"
"They say that the latex gloves we found hidden in your apartment have DNA on them from the first victim, Martine Olivia. That's her name, by the way, in case you didn't stop to ask before you raped her." Olivia goaded.
"I didn't rape anybody." he denied, with a cocky lean of his head.
"Well the evidence says you did. You took extra effort, right? To buy gloves that were a different brand to what you're given at work, so they couldn't be traced back to you? Pretty smart." She saw the almost microscopic twitch of his lips in a hidden smirk. "Except you slipped up." she said smugly, sliding three baggies in front of him. "The gloves, the recipt from the company, and your bank records. In an attempt to hide yourself, you bought high grade forensic latex gloves. The company who produces them have their insignia stamped in to the glove at manufacturing, which means we traced it back to the producers. And what do you know? We found your card details in the list of buyers. Did you really only buy five pairs? Because usually their buyers buy in bulk of up to 20,000 pairs. Such a small order kind of stands out; bit of a bonehead idea, don't you think?"
He stayed quiet once again, but she saw the beads of sweat building on his brow.
"I don't know anything about this, Detective," he said firmly, his breathing a little hitched. "I don't even know this man, you're talking about."
"Yes, you do."
"No, I-" She slid a bag in front of him that halted his denial.
"Recognise this? You should. It's the yearbook you got at the end of high school, remember?" She flipped in a few pages, showing a picture of Swanson as a teen; leaner built, a few spots but well cared for hair, a trait that had obviously continued over the years. "'Stay in touch, Max-buddies til the end.' Remember who wrote that?"
"No." he denied, his eyes flittering across the page.
She turned a few more pages, to a half-page image of Swanson and another boy, that was undeniably Harris. He was much younger, but his skin was not spotted like the other kids, his hair was not greasy or slimy, and his smile was not leering. But his eyes were unargueably evil. "That's you and Harris, with a caption 'inseparable' below it. Now tell me you don't know him!" she challenged. She saw him lick his lips nervously as she closed him in to a corner.
"You're his player, Max. He controls you like he controls the women he hurts. You are nothing to him but a puppet to do his bidding."
"That's a lie."
"Really? I'm sure he told you to find me, right? Told you to get to know me and get in my apartment? Learn the layout and snatch a key? I don't think he told you to lure me in to sex though, did he, he'd want to be himself?" she dared, hating how it sounded in her own voice.
"AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET THAT!" he burst. "You don't understand! He's had everything his whole life; the grades, the family, the girls! And you took that away from him!"
"Yeah, he gets girls; by raping them in a prison! It's not like they can escape him!" she yelled back.
"That's not true! You lied! He told me so himself!"
"So you saw him afterall?"
"After I saw it in the paper I went to visit him, pulled a few strings to get in off the record. He told me everything!" he sneered, trying to make her embarressed. "He told me how you wanted it, how you led him down in to the basement!"
"I led him?" she asked increduously.
"You wanted it right then and there! Til some screw comes running in and breaks it up." he said, nodding along to his false truth.
"He's manipulated you so blindly..." she muttered, shaking her head.
"You don't know shit; we're gonna get you so bad you won't know what hit you! You're going to be dead before the weekend's out!" he threatened, getting to his feet, leaning across the table. "I'm going to slit your throat so slowly you'll see yourself bleed all over the pavement!"
The door opened and Elliot stepped in. "Enough." was all he said, but Olivia could see the look in his eye; she could either walk out or he'd drag her out. She conceded and gathered the evidence bags. As she strode to the door she glanced back at Swanson, who had now dropped back down in to his chair.
"You're arraignment won't be until Monday so you'll be spending the weekend in custody."
Swanson frowned before realising he had just inadvertently confessed to the whole thing. "Motherfu-!"
Elliot closed the door. "You ok?"
"Why'd you pull me out?" she challenged.
"Because I didn't want you hearing those things. Here, get some coffee and eat something." He took the evidence bags, indicating for her to head to her desk. She watched as he disappeared around the corner; she assumed to lock all the evidence back up. She had already drank her coffee on the way in so she slyly reached over and pinched Elliot's. It was pretty strong but it would be undoubtably better than John's. She pulled open her draw and found the bagels- which she had told Elliot to toss in the trash, insistent she wasn't hungry- and felt particularly thankful. She smiled and tucked in to one, reclined in her seat. 'Got the case sorted before the weekend, I deserve a medal!' she kidded.
She finished up her bagel and dusted off the crumbs as she saw Huang hurrying in.
"George?" She hadn't expected to see him here.
"Olivia, I need to talk with you immediately."
"What's this about?" she asked, getting to her feet.
"Your case, quite literally your case." he said in a fumble, obviously panicking over something.
"Ok."
xXx
She had led him upstairs in an attempt to get some privacy. She sat as he paced.
"Elliot sent me over the file of your suspect, Max Swanson. I decided to do a full profile and I'm a bit concerned over what I found."
"Which is?" Elliot asked, striding in behind him.
"His character is volatile, aggressive but not narcissistic like you would expect. He's calculating and manipulative, but equality as susceptible to manipulation himself. He's a dedicated follower, eager to please those who command him."
"Where's this going?" Elliot asked.
"The attacks- the first was brutal, rage driven-"
"Doctor, we know all this."
"The second attack was different!" he pressed on. "There was no outward acts of violent acts,"
"She was strangled."
"Yes, but not beaten like the first victim. Nor was she raped, not even assaulted! The MO's are completely different, the behaviour and thinking processes that would have been present for each attack are almost opposite."
"What are you trying to say?" she demanded, causing him to stop pacing and look at her.
"To have done both these crimes Max Swanson would have to have a personality disorder; be able to completely change his patterns of thought and behaviour, but his medical and psychological assessments in his jacket have routinely come back clear."
"So the shrink missed it," Elliot shrugged.
"No." Huang refuted. "This disorder would have been so noticeable that his collegues would have noticed, Olivia- you would have immediately noticed as soon as you spoke with him-"
"Ok, so he doesn't have a disorder, how about he's just plain crazy?" Olivia shrugged. "Anyone is capable of violence, even on varying levels."
"Olivia, please listen, Max Swanson did not do these things, he couldn't have." Huang argued.
"He just confessed everything, it's an open-shut case!" Olivia stated in annoyance.
"Then he must have an accomplise!" Huang yelled, out of character.
There was a moment of silence. Olivia stood up.
"I have gone through hell to get to where we are, I am not going to stand here and let you give the Defence cause for dismissal."
She marched out in frustration. Elliot stood up, but George blocked his path, by no means intimidated by Elliot's height.
"Elliot, please, listen, who ever is trying to hurt Olivia could still be out there. She's not safe."
"She is with me."
"Then let us hope you're with her when this person comes looking for her. Because they are not going to stop."
A/N :O Did you really think I'd get Swanson and leave it at that? XD So Olivia's in denial, Elliot's just trying to protect her, and who knows who else is watching her. I love this chapter, of course Swanson knew Harris, two peas in a pod I'd say lol I'm working on the next chapter, I really want to stay on time with posting, I know I take too long to update. Anyway, what do you think? Still a few issues to address (such as the note) which will be in the next chapter. Tell me what you think xx