So sorry for the long wait. Had the chance to get out of the country for 2 weeks. Was planning to keep writing but I just got occupied exploring the new enviroment. This is the first of two conjoint chapters. The 2nd one will soon be up.
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Amanda had been really satisfied with the daycare Fay had been in since she was just an infant and she'd tried to stay away from the pressure parents often got to get their children educated very early on. But it was the daycare that had started to hint that perhaps Fay was longing for more challenges. The school had a very open politic when it came to their classes before grade school, they went by the child's development more than the age which was good in their case since Fay was a November child and in any other school might have been kept back because of that. Amanda was lucky that Fay never showed any sign of the complications that could come with being born premature. Now that her speech slowly started to catch up there was nothing Amanda worried about. In the development area that was.
Amanda worried constantly about all the freaks she knew roamed the streets and car accidents and fires and everything else she imagined happening to her and her daughter. This was thoughts though that Amanda managed to push down most of the time, only leaking out in nightmares or when she had a bad day.
Fay's nursery school had a well developed arts & crafts department. They used arts and crafts in almost every subject. That fall Amanda and Fay visited the preschool class just to see how Fay fitted in. As they sat in on a gym class Amanda hadn't been able to hold Fay back from joining in when the kids got to build geometric symbols with their own bodies, having to work together to build bigger forms. It wasn't the first time she'd seen how well her kid interacted with others but it made her just as proud every time she got to witness it. And the gym teacher had told Amanda it wasn't a problem and the other kids had loved having a new and younger kid with them. Amanda knew her daughter had one very helpful attribute, it wasn't just grown-ups who got drawn into her daughter's blond afro, kids loved it too. It made her stand out from the crowd and then with that enchanting smile she could get anyone hooked within a second. Seeing her daughter try and make her body bend like her very own triangle just settled what she and the school already felt – Fay was ready.
Fay didn't even seem to need Amanda around as she explored the class room on her own with her new teachers and her soon to be new classmates. Amanda didn't have a problem with her daughter's independence since she knew that back home Fay still craved plenty of mother and me time. It was decided Fay would join her new class next term and they would get her some special aid starting now to help her speech along. They all believed though that she would pick the language up even faster by joining the older kids. They would be right even though the speech would be a little behind for another few years. Fay had a habit of mispronouncing certain words and she got them twisted in sometimes funny ways. Fin of course thought it was sweet how she asked for pancakes with bluebabies instead of blueberries. Same with strawbabies. But Amanda reminded him it wouldn't be as sweet in college. Fin just replied Fay would never be that old. And it was saying things like that you remembered when tragic hit.
They were getting close to Fay's third birthday when Amanda got that phone call from school that no parent ever should get. It was actually Cragen who took it since the school's principal had failed to reach Amanda but expressed how urgent of a matter it was. Cragen walked out of his office and asked Liv who was sitting at her desk which interrogation room Amanda was in. He knew she and Fin was interrogation a suspect. Liv gave him the right room and Cragen quickly walked down the hall. He found Nick watching outside the window.
"I need to interrupt," Cragen said and knocked on the window without even checking where they were at. He open the door and got greeted by two surprised, leaning towards angry sets of eyes and one scared looking set on the suspect. Cragen called Amanda out and she quickly came over. He grabbed Amanda's arm and led her down the hall a bit. Fin came out too and closed the door behind him to shut the suspect out. He looked to Nick for an answer to what was going on but Nick just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. They both looked over at their captain who'd now let go of Amanda's arm but was still standing very close to her.
"Fay's school called," Cragen told Amanda and she immediately felt chills running down her back.
"What's wrong?" she asked and was surprised she was able to as she'd felt her throat close shut.
"She's missing. Someone grabbed her over the fence. Police are already there though. There's an Amber alert out," Cragen spoke firmly but fast as he wanted to give Amanda as much information as he had so far. Amanda felt all blood leave her head and she felt cold all over. Her eyes went from Cragen, over his shoulder onto Fin who was standing a few yards away with Nick right by his side. Fin could tell by her vacant eyes and sudden pale face that something was very wrong.
"We'll find her Amanda," she heard her captain say just before her knees gave way. Cragen saw her fall and grabbed her as both Fin and Nick jolted to their side. Cragen managed to keep Amanda upright and Fin was soon there to help him keep her that way.
"What's wrong?" Fin asked and looked from Amanda to Cragen as he could tell Amanda wasn't in a state to talk right now.
"Someone grabbed Fay from her preschool. There's an Amber alert out," Cragen told him and Nick who were both eagerly waiting to get answers to what was going on.
"What?" Fin asked shocked but Cragen didn't have time to fill them in more as Amanda gasped for air with a long and ghastly shriek that made Fin's blood freeze as realization hit him. She grabbed for his shirt and he felt her entire body shake violently as he let her into his arms. Her shriek muffled against his chest. He'd seen her dying, he'd seen her right out of birth and surgery and he'd seen her having a panic attack but it was nothing close to this. He knew this wasn't the time to shut down and he couldn't let her either. He grabbed her and pushed her away a bit.
"We have to go," he said as he almost shook her a little. She nodded though and all four of them started to walk hastily down the hall towards the squad room. Fin kept a steady hand on her upper arm. He couldn't shake off some horrific pictures that went through his head as he thought of possible scenarios on what could have happen to their daughter.
"Okay we're all going down there, I'll call ahead to learn who's in charge," Cragen said. Liv rose from her desk as she saw them all coming rushing down the hall.
"Fay's missing," Nick let her know and it took her a second to register. She looked at Amanda who was already on her way towards the gate but stopped as she realized she needed her jacket with her car keys in it. Cragen had rushed into his office and came out with his coat in his hand. Fin had grabbed both his and Amanda's jackets and met Amanda as she turned back.
"Are my keys in there?" she asked Fin and he helped her search her pockets.
"Let us drive Amanda," Liv said as she wasn't sure Amanda should be driving right now.
"No, I need my car, her things… I have things in there for scent and all," she rambled and made Liv's eyes tear up as she understood where her head was at.
"We'll find her," Nick said as he came up to them ready to head out of there.
"I'll drive," Fin said when he had Amanda's car keys in his hand and he met Amanda's eyes briefly.
"Let's go," Cragen said to get them all going. They all almost took off sprinting.
When they got downstairs Fin and Amanda sprinted over the yard to get to her car. The others took to the left as Nick led them there.
"I'll tail you," Nick yelled after Fin as he and Amanda ran over the pavement. Cragen followed Liv to Nick's car and they got in as soon as he open it for them. Nick knew he had to hurry to stay on Fin's tail. He heard the screeches of the tires on Amanda's car as he speeded out of there. Cragen, who sat in the passenger seat, got on his phone to find out who was in charge of Fay's abduction from the school premises. Both Liv and Nick kept their eyes on the car ahead. Both of them was thinking about Amanda but none of them really wanted to know what she was thinking right now.
Amanda was thinking about the last time she'd seen her daughter earlier that day. Fay had waved goodbye at her mommy but already turned her head around to something going on inside. Always so curious, eager to get to school to explore and learn new things. Amanda had seen that tiny form disappear inside. The last glimpse being of the hem of her skirt and the back of her foot with those stripped tights and brown boots. Usually it was the hair and her bright smile that left her eye the last but this morning it had been the skirt and the tights, for once color coordinated. Neither one of them really cared if something matched or not when it came to the girl's clothing. Comfort had preference and with such a colorful school she fitted right in whatever she wore. Had it been a premonition? That today of all days she'd taken extra notice to what she was wearing so she now could tell the police what to look for?
"Oh God," she panted and covered her mouth with both hands. Fin looked over at her. He saw the tears forming in her eyes. He reached over and grabbed her hard. Grabbed a whole fist of her shirt and held on until the car skidded and he had to put both hands back on the wheel again.
"We'll find her," he almost screamed as he stared straight ahead.
In the other car Nick gasped a little as he saw the car in front of him skid a little. He met Liv's eyes briefly in the back mirror. Cragen was on the phone with the man in charge of Fay's case. As he hung up he let Nick and Liv know it was a young male and a young female that had been sighted but the descriptions so far was vague. Fay had been playing with a group of kids her own age and getting three year olds to talk wasn't the easiest they all knew. Cragen reached out and held on to the handle above his head as Nick skidded through a curve. He was trying hard to keep up with Fin which wasn't easy at the speed he was going.
The people in the back car all felt a bit relieved as they saw Fay's school. Liv had let them know since she'd been here once dropping off Fay. She recalled that morning now. Even though the circumstances hadn't been the best Liv had enjoyed that night and morning so much. Fay waking up from her nightmare only to fall asleep on Liv's arm a little while later. And the tiny girl had been tired in the morning but still alert enough to interact with. Such a gentle and cute kid it stung a little in Liv's heart now that she recalled why they were all there.
There were plenty of police cars gathered and a lot of people buzzing all over the place. Nick parked next to Fin and they got out and followed Fin and Amanda as they rushed up to the main gate.
A teacher alerted sergeant Chad Weston that the missing girl's mother had arrived and Chad turned to look at her. He'd worked plenty of missing kid's cases by now but he'd never get used to that frantic look on the parent's face.
"Amanda Rollins?" he asked as she reached him and she nodded, looking as though she was out of breath. He'd been unsure if he should have used 'detective' but he figured she was here foremost as a mother right now. The fact she was a detective would hopefully get them through the procedure quicker though.
"Sergeant Chad Weston," he said and quickly shook her hand and then grabbed Fin's just as hastily.
"What do you know?" Fin asked in Amanda's place. Chad saw a familiar face as captain Cragen approached. He was accompanied by another male and female. They greeted each other quickly with a nod as Chad spoke.
"Approximately 40 minutes ago a young male in his 20s jumped the fence on the back and handed your daughter over to a young female, 20s or younger, on the other side of the fence. They were seen running away by a teacher of the school."
"Mrs Beasley from 3rd grade," an older lady jumped in and let them know. She'd put her hand on Amanda's arm as she approached them and Amanda had put her hand over hers as though she was familiar with her. Fin would later learn she was the principal.
"We have a sketch artist coming to sit down with mrs Beasley. Faith was with a group of four other kids when they grabbed her and we have the four kids set up in different rooms with teachers and each with a police that are familiar to talk to young kids. Their parents are on their way too to help out. So far we don't have much from those kids though. Two eight year olds saw everything too and we're talking to them as well, and of course we're questioning everyone on the premises," Chad finally had to take a breath.
"No other teacher's were out?" Fin asked with an angrier tone than attended.
"Yes but none of them saw it happen, only their backs as they ran down the street," Chad informed him. The principal looked very guilty.
"I'm so very sorry Amanda," she said but Amanda couldn't really handle her right now.
"What can I do?" she instead asked Chad.
"We have a vague description of the outfit she wore today so if we could go through that," Chad left room for Amanda to nod, "we got a recent photo of her so it's already out all over the city. She has no allergies right? No medication?" Amanda shook her head.
"I have to ask, there's no mention of Faith's father. Is it possible he's behind this?" Chad had to ask as it was very common a non-custodian parent was behind a child's abduction. Amanda's eyes never even went towards Fin.
"You can rule him out," she just said and Chad nodded. The fact Amanda was a detective made him trust her.
"Could it be linked to any of the cases you're working? Any threats made?" Chad had to ask this too. Amanda tried to think hard but slowly shook her head meanwhile. She looked towards Fin who shook his head too.
"We'll rule it out, assume it's a stranger for now," Cragen jumped in. A large car had driven in that caught Chad's eye.
"The canine unit is here. Do you have anything of Faith's that we can use?" Chad asked.
"Did she have blanky with her?" Amanda turned to the principal.
"Ms Delroy? Susan?" the older lady called out and Amanda only now noticed Fay's teacher and teacher aid was nearby. They came over quickly. Ms Delroy gave Amanda a quick hug. While Amanda had been able to collect herself the staff were all teary eyed and visible affected by the events.
"Faith's blanket, did she have it out with her?" Amanda already knew the answer to the principal's question and the two teachers also shook their head.
"Never outside," Susan said.
"Can you get it?" Amanda asked and Susan immediately ran inside to fetch it.
"She sleeps with it, it will work," Amanda let Chad know.
"Okay let's get you inside to get down what Faith wore today," Chad said.
"I'll go with the K9," Fin said and Nick jumped in on that. Olivia quickly decided to stay by Amanda's side as Fin was leaving.
"I want to see where she was taken," Amanda said as Chad guided her up on the school premises. He nodded and with Olivia and Cragen following they took a walk around the school. Olivia looked up at the window and saw kids in many of them, curiously peeking out on the commotion outside and all the blue lights. Some reporters, or perhaps it was just regular people with cameras, had gathered too. Of course it was exciting for the kids. They couldn't grasp the horridness of it all. A child was missing. A child they knew. Susan came running by them with Fay's rugged blanky in her hands.
Chad had introduced detective Lexie Ambrose to her as they started walking. She'd been taking notes by Chad's side the short time Amanda had been there.
"Can we just go through what she wore, it's important to get that information out there," Chad asked as they reached a calm part of the lawn. Amanda nodded and stopped as Chad put a hand on her elbow. Lexie was ready with her tablet to get the information straight out on the Amber alert.
"Okay," Amanda said as she took a deep breath and thought back to this morning. That wasn't such a good idea though cause a lot of emotions came crashing down and her eyes immediately teared up. Olivia was quickly there with a comforting hand on the back of her arm.
"You can do this," she whispered and Amanda took another deep breath to push down the emotions for now. Liv let go of her as Amanda gave her a quick nod and it looked as though she'd been able to collect herself. No one would blame her if she fell apart but it was obviously better if she could stay collected a while longer.
"She wore this like cotton tee dress, dark pink with brown trims. Trims around her neck and arms. Short sleeved," Amanda gestured with her hand to show them, "with a printed owl on her chest. Brown owl with white eyes. She had brown and dark pink striped tights. Brown leather boots, with zippers on the insides. She needs help with the zippers." Amanda's voice stocked up a bit. She gathered herself quickly though.
"If she was outside she should have been wearing her jacket. It's a Frugi, that's the brand, a snuggle fleece. We just bought it. It's reversible, on one side solid brown and on the other brown with white dots. With a hood. Snap buttons at the neck."
"Lex can you show Amanda the photo just to make sure it's up to date," Chad asked and as soon as Lexie had punched something in she held up the screen so Amanda, Liv and Cragen could see it. Amanda's hand went to cover her mouth. It wasn't the sight of her daughter's precious face that had frightened her but the large printed letters above it. AMBER ALERT.
"Is it current enough?" Chad asked and Amanda managed to nod. She hadn't noticed both Cragen's and Liv's hand had gone to her back as an unconscious gesture to show their support. It wasn't easy for either of them to see the poster but they knew it must be ten times harder for Amanda.
They kept walking to the back of the school. Immediately they saw an area that was marked with yellow tape and uniforms guarded the scene.
"We have a CSI team coming to look for prints on the fence. Unfortunately its common kids climb on it and walk along the railing so the hopes of us finding a decent print isn't high I'm afraid. But we'll try," Chad informed them as they approached the fence. Amanda's stomach turned a bit as she thought of the fact her daughter had been playing here not even an hour ago and now she was God knows where. Chad kept talking and pointing to where the other kids were standing and where the abductors took off. Amanda's eyes went to Fin though that she saw coming down the street on the other side of the fence. He was following a man and a dog. Amanda saw Fay's blanky in Fin's hand and her throat hurt. This couldn't be happening.
Chad had noticed he'd lost Amanda's attention and followed her eyes to the K-9. They watched as the K-9 officer got his partner ready. He took the blanket from Fin and held it to the dog's snout. He immediately started barking after he'd taken some sniffs on it and then they were off. Fin and Nick fought to keep up with the officer and his dog and they were followed by another few uniforms.
"Let's get inside so we can listen in on their progress as we get going on the rest," Chad said and steered Amanda back to the main building. They'd gotten a room set up for their equipment and Chad's team was all set up in there by now. He left Amanda and Liv with Lexie right by a radio as he asked if he could borrow Cragen outside for a minute. Chad wanted to rule out this being linked to Amanda's job and get permission to put a trace on her phone in case there would be a ransom demand.
Meanwhile Fin and Nick followed Officer Javier and his partner, a 6-year-old German Shepard called Danz down the street. Nick kept his eyes partly upwards to look for street cameras that could help them. They had a guy with them in uniform that was talking in to his radio as they went, giving whoever it was on the other side information on their whereabouts. Nick pointed out a street camera to him, he nodded and then gave directions and orders to get the frames from it. They crossed the street at the lights. This wasn't a busy neighborhood. It was mostly a residential area and since it was the middle of a workday not many were outside. They went down another two streets, then down an alley.
Nick couldn't spot a single camera and he wondered if the abductors knew this. If that was the case they could be dealing with professionals. Fin feared the dog would lose its trail in the alley. Perhaps that's where they had their vehicle waiting? But Danz kept going and they reached a rather busy street with some shops and a café. Unfortunately this is where Danz seemed to lose his trail. He went up and down a little out on the street and uniforms helped keep cars away from them by gesturing them past. Danz took his trout off the ground and starting sniffing the air.
"They probably jumped a car here, I'm not sure he'll be able to take us any longer," Javier said. Javier kept the blanket and tried getting Danz to get the trail back as the rest spread out around the area. Uniforms stopped people on the street and asked if they'd seen the child on the Amber alert. They had lots of print outs with them. Nick and Fin headed into a store on the corner and walked straight up to the counter.
"Have you seen this girl in here?" Fin asked and held up a poster. The overweight guy behind the counter took a good look at it.
"No, I don't think so," he said with a sad face.
"Are you sure? Only like thirty minutes ago or so?" Fin asked wanting desperately to pick up a clue. The guy shook his head.
"How about a young man or a young woman with a hoodie?" Nick asked.
"There was a guy in here with a hoodie only like twenty minutes ago," the guy informed them. Fin's interest rose again.
"Yeah? What did he look like?"
"Well he had a hood on so I couldn't really see his hair and all but he was like twenty something. Average height but scrawny looking even in the hood. He had a barbell in his eyebrow. He bought a pack of smokes and a candy bar."
"Did he pay cash or with card?"
"Cash," the guy said and Fin couldn't help but sigh loudly.
"Is that working?" Nick asked and pointed to the camera above his head.
"I'm afraid not, it's just for show," he said and again Fin moaned.
"Anything else you can give us? He kidnapped a child," Nick said and the guy looked even more miserable as he shook his head.
"Did you see where he took off?"
"Out and left, that's all I saw."
"And you didn't see a girl in a hoodie or this little girl?" Nick held up his flyer. The guy shook his head.
"Thanks," Nick said and they headed back out after Nick had left a flyer for the man to put up in his window. Javier and his dog were a little bit up the street and they started to head over there. There was a fruit stand on the other side of the alley and an elderly, black man sat in a plastic chair beside it.
"Excuse me sir, have you seen this little girl?" Nick asked and handed the man a flyer. He obviously had bad eye sight as he brought the flyer right up to his nose and squinted.
"You bet your heart I have," he said though and he got a smile on his face. Fin's eyes popped wide open.
"When?"
"Just now," the old man said.
"You're sure?" Nick asked.
"My eyes are not what they used to be young man but that blonde afro and that adorable smile did not escape them," he said with that authority only a man with that voice and the wisdom that lay behind it could claim.
"Did you see the people she was with?" Fin hoped for a miracle. He shook his head though and looked down for a second before he raised his cane and pointed with it.
"She was right there on the curb, a slender person had her on his or her shoulder. The girl waved at me, I wanted to give the girl an apple," the man looked to his side and the deep red apples that was piled up on the table, "but she was too far away and they didn't hear me, me thinks."
"You only saw one person with her?" Nick asked.
"First one and then another one, that one was male I know. He came over and handed the girl something that looked like a candy bar. An apple had been much better for her."
"Did you see where they went?"
"They walked over to the curb there," again he pointed with his cane, "the man had a cigarette and gave the other one one too. You should not smoke that close to a child. After a while a car pulled up. It was blue. They got in and that was that."
"A blue car. Anything else you can give us on the car? Two doors? Four doors? License plate?"
"Four doors, they got in in the back. My eyes could not spot a license plate I'm afraid. I do believe the driver was male though, much heavier built than the cigarette man."
"Did you see if they dropped their cigarettes before they got in the car?" Fin asked thinking they might get dna from them if left behind.
"My eyes did not spot that I'm afraid," the man grinned.
"Thank you sir, thank you," Nick said and they headed over to check the curb. There was a few cigarettes stumps around and Nick asked a uniform to collect them all just in case. They headed over to Javier who informed them Danz had lost his trail and they unfortunately couldn't be of more help. Nick told him they had a lead though and thanked them. Fin called some of the uniforms over and told them they were searching for a blue, four door car with a male driver. Nick added they should search the street for cameras, there had to be at least one that had caught that blue car.
Missing 1 hour
Meanwhile Amanda had lost a little hope as she heard the man on the radio call in that the K-9 unit had lost the trail. Lexie suggested they would check in on how the interrogations with the kids were going and they headed down the corridor. A couple of the parents had reached the school and was now helping out getting their kids to remember what they saw. They didn't get much out of the younger ones though. A boy told them a man had jumped the fence, he'd been like Spiderman. He'd picked Fay up and thrown her over the fence. It felt though as the throwing part could have been exaggerated a little, at least Amanda hoped so.
A sketching artist was working with one of the eight year olds. They had already done the male and Liv had a closer look on it. It wasn't that detailed unfortunately. The hood was most prominent, the face slim with not many characteristics. They were working on the female and unfortunately it looked as it was going to be very similar to the male. Face was squarer though but she had no eye or hair color, just like the male figure. His hoodie had been dark blue and hers dark green.
Another sketch artist was in with mrs Beasley and they had a little more detail. Both individuals had turned back at her as she yelled at them as they walked down the street. So apparently they hadn't taken off running. They both had very fair skin. She thought the woman was blonde but she hadn't seen the hair on the male. He had blue jeans though and boots. The kind mrs Beasley had seen skinheads wear. That got Amanda a little worried. She thought of the kids that had been with Fay. A girl with white skin and then three boys. One of them was much darker then Fay. Had it been a racial thing wouldn't they have taken him instead? Once out in the corridor Amanda had to voice her concern.
"It couldn't be a racial thing could it?" she asked Lexie who looked uncertain.
"We should bring it by Chad just in case," she said and led them down the corridor.
Some time passed with nothing much happening. Fin and Nick came back and got on the task to find images of the blue car. Tips were coming in to the hotline that Munch had help set up back at the squad room and they struggled to check up on every single one that was phoned in. But they would still do it because this was one in their family. Of course every missing child got attention but they would lie if they didn't admit they were working extra hard on this case. Everyone wanted Fay back with her mama as soon as possible.
Back at the school Amanda was pacing a corridor when she finally got word they found the car on a street cam. Cragen had tried to get her to sit down from time to time but she'd kept pacing and he too felt relieved when they finally got something to go on.
The car was registered to a Neil Bodine and Fin, Nick and a couple of uniforms went over to his address. Mr Bodine was 28, a New York native and had some minor drug charges on his rap sheet. He lived near-by so they got there in just minutes. His car was parked on the street, nothing seen through its windows. While Nick pounded the front door, Fin had a uniform punch the trunk open just to make sure Fay wasn't in there. He was relieved she wasn't in there though and then got over to Nick. They had men on the back of the two level residence house, Neil was on the lower level though. They were just about to break through the door when a uniform alerted them he saw Neil coming down the street. Nick and Fin got up on the curb and spotted Neil just as he looked up and spotted the commotion outside his house. Neil dropped the plastic bag he was carrying and bolted into an alley.
"Get inside," Fin ordered some uniforms as he took off after Nick. They were in the alley just in time to see Neil dodge to the right on the other side.
"Don't lose him," Fin yelled after Nick as he felt himself struggle to keep up, "he's all we got." Nick heard him and had no intention of loosing this guy. He was heavier built then Nick, still with pace under his feet though. Once Nick got eyes on his back though it was no way he'd let him vanish. Neil was the only link to Fay they had and Nick knew how important it was to catch him. A street and another alley later Nick were only a few feet behind Neil. He hadn't pulled his gun yet but he would not hesitate if he felt Neil was about to get away from him. He'd yelled for him to stop a few times but Neil hadn't even looked back, leaving Nick not at all aware of his state of mind other than he was trying to run from something.
Nick was getting ready to tackle Neil down but got saved as he took a wrong turn and Neil knew he had nowhere to run. Neil immediately got his hands up and started to plead he'd done nothing. Nick told him to get down on his knees and he cuffed his hands behind his back without paying attention to how rough he was. He quickly got the flyer of Fay out and held it up to his face.
"Where is she?" he was still a little out of breath. Neil looked at the flyer with big, scared eyes.
"What?" he just said and looked confused on Nick.
"Where's the kid? What have you done to her?" he yelled in his face making his eyes if possible even bigger. Two uniforms had joined them and one of them was waving at Fin who came around the corner just now.
"I've done nothing," Neil said.
"You had her in your car dumbass. Where is she?" Nick smacked him over the head just as Fin stepped up beside them.
"Where is she?" Fin yelled into his face and grabbed a hold of his sweater.
"I don't know, I done nothing. I promise," Neil sounded scared as Fin pushed him up towards a pile of debris by the wall.
"You know, you had her in your car, you prick. Tell me where she is or I swear to God I'll make you a headless prick," Fin was out of breath and angry, and that combined with his usual exterior Neil felt as though he was being roughed up by a thug.
"I just drove them, I have no idea what's going on," Neil pleaded.
"You drove who?" Fin yelled.
"Joe and some chick and some kid. I don't know," Neil sounded as though he was about to cry. Nick tapped Fin's shoulder lightly. He had a hunch Neil was actually telling the truth and they would probably get more out of him if they just asked him without threats. Fin wanted to beat the guy up though but finally let go.
"Who is Joe?" Nick asked once Fin finally let go of Neil completely.
"I don't know. He's a friend of a friend. I don't know him that well at all," Neil tried to explain.
"But you drove him?" Nick asked.
"He has my number I guess. He's been to my place a few times, he called, needed a ride," Neil shrugged his shoulders.
"The chick, the girl, he was with, do you know her?" Nick asked but Neil shook his head.
"And they had this girl with them?" Nick held up the flyer to his face.
"Yeah, the chick was holding on to her. I thought it was her kid you know?"
"She's not. She was abducted from her school a little over an hour ago," Nick informed him and Neil looked honestly distraught.
"Did they hurt her?" Fin asked and his tone was completely different even Nick shot him a look to make sure he was okay.
"No, not at all. She had a candy bar. I really thought she was the mom you know?"
"We need to know Joe's last name," Nick said. Neil shrugged his shoulders.
"I really can't tell you, he just hangs around, I haven't really spoken to him. He's weird. I don't know what to tell you, I just don't like being around the guy," Neil tried to explain.
"Why? Weird how?" Fin asked.
"I don't know what to tell you. Just weird, you don't know how to talk to the guy you know?"
"You said he was a friend of a friend. Who's the other friend?" Nick asked.
"That's Ike. Mike's his real name," Neil looked a little brighter now that he could contribute with something.
"Would Mike know Joe's last name?"
"I think he would, I think Ike mentioned something about the two of them going to school together back when."
"Can you call Mike and try and find out Joe's last name and his address?" Nick asked and Neil nodded. Nick helped him get the cuffs off while Fin asked where he'd dropped them off. Neil got them the name of a mall near-by.
"They talked about getting something for the kid, they didn't say what though," Neil said as he got his phone up.
"When was this? When did you drop them off?"
"Like half an hour ago or so," Neil said and Fin immediately got on his phone to call Liv. They needed to send people over to the mall.
Nick put his hand in-between Neil and his phone to get his attention.
"You can't tell Ike what's going on, we don't want him to warn Joe okay?" Neil nodded in agreement and Nick felt as though he could trust him even though he wasn't ready to trust him a 100 % just yet. They waited as Neil hit dial and brought the phone up to his ear.
"He's not picking up," Neil said after a while, "I'm gonna try another number." He got back into his address book and Nick stepped to his side to have a look just so he wasn't up to any funny business. He saw 'Ike's job' on the screen though and figured it was all good.
"Hey, is Ike around?" Neil asked once someone finally picked up. Neil gave them a nod to let them know Ike was coming. Fin had a hard time standing still and Nick noted he was pacing a little as they waited. Nick was also concerned. He couldn't imagine what ordeal Amanda must be going through back at the school. The not knowing. Just plain awful.
"Hey Ike, it's Neil," Nick got interrupted from his thoughts as Neil spoke.
"Yeah. Cool. Hey, you know Joe? Slim Joe yeah. What's his last name yo?" Neil made a pause, "Kemper. Joe Kemper. Cool." Nick wrote it down on his pad, a uniform near-by said the name into his police radio.
"You have his number? Or address maybe? Yeah, I drove him this morning and he left something in my car, thought I could bring it by," Neil tried to sound cool. There was some silence, they weren't sure if Ike was speaking or what was going on but then Neil started throwing out numbers and Nick wrote them down. He said an address too and Nick quickly wrote it down.
"In Flatbush? Okay, thanks man. Talk to you later," Neil hung up and Nick gave him an appreciating nod.
"Good job," he added. Fin was getting the address into his phone's gps.
"What did the girl, the chick look like?" Nick asked meanwhile.
"Blonde, young, blue eyes. Cute," Neil raised his shoulders a little.
"Did you get a name?" Nick asked but got a no.
"It was a short drive you know. He seemed a little on edge. Asked if I know where they could get some baby stuff and then if I could drive them there."
"On edge? Like high?" Fin cut in. Neil got wary.
"Common Neil. A kid is missing here, we can't be bothered with anything else. Speak out," Nick said.
"Okay, yeah he seemed high," Neil admitted.
"Did you sell him anything?"
"No, I asked but he said his girl was packing."
"And you're sure you hadn't seen her before?"
"Yeah, never," Neil said. Before they left Nick made sure Neil would sit down with a sketch artist to get a better phantom picture of the female. Some uniforms would sit with him until the sketch artist would be there and Neil gave them permission to search his car and dust for prints. Then Nick and Fin headed over to the new address they'd been given.
Missing 1 hour 30 minutes
Cragen had sent Liv and Amanda to the mall meanwhile. He figured they'd work quicker without him and he stayed behind with Chad to run what had become the command center. Fin had left Liv with Amanda's car keys and she drove them over to the mall. Liv caught Amanda throwing some glances to the back seat and as she caught Fay's car seat in the back mirror she figured that's what caught her attention.
"We'll find her," Liv said and tried to sound more secure than she felt. When they parked outside the mall uniforms had already sealed all entrances and one of them let Liv and Amanda pass. They didn't even have to flash their badges so Liv figured she'd met him somewhere at some point. Another uniform was talking to a lady and her teenage daughter as they wanted to exit. He was writing her contact information down just in case but she said she'd seen no little girl in the mall with anyone today.
A guard hurried towards them, introduced himself as Scott and told them he would get them to their office to look through the footage of the past hour. They got in an elevator and Liv could tell Scott was throwing curious looks at them.
"I heard it was a cop's kid. You know him?" Scott asked. Liv felt like smacking him even if he didn't ask it in any vulturey way.
"It's my daughter," Amanda said without looking at him and Scott looked as though he put his foot in it which he in a way had. The elevator dinged and they all got out. Scott used a key card and got them through a heavy door.
"NYPD?" someone asked even before they could see him.
"Yeah," Liv shouted out.
"I think we missed him," they saw the man who was talking and he looked miserable as he said this. He was wearing the same uniform as Scott.
"He left already?" Liv asked and got up to his side so she could see the TV-screens. There was a wall with them in front of him. Amanda came up on his other side.
"Yeah, that's him right?" he pointed to a screen and froze it as a slim, male figure lead Fay out the doors. He was holding on to her hand and pulled Fay forward as she dragged a little behind looking back over her shoulder. Amanda let out a little gasp and covered her mouth with her hand quickly. So close but yet so far away, the thought was heart breaking.
"Can you give her a chair," Liv pointed to Scott, figuring he could do something good at least. Scott quickly got a chair and Amanda sat down next to the screen guy without fussing about the special treatment.
"It's just him? No woman with him?" Liv asked.
"I've just found this, let's go back through the footage," the man said and he backed the tape up slowly. Four sets of eyes looked over twenty screens. Thankfully not many people were in the mall at this time and it was easy to spot any movement.
While Liv and Amanda were at the mall security center Nick and Fin arrived at Joe Kemper's apartment in the Flatbush area. He had a small one bedroom apartment that he rented. They had his driver's license photo and his rap sheet. Just like Neil he also had a few minor drug charges. Joe's rap sheet also consisted of a stolen car, an assault and two trespassing charges. He was 25 years old, was originally from New Jersey and currently worked part-time as a bike messenger. His parents were alive, he had two younger siblings and nothing they got on him would explain why he suddenly up and took a minor from a school premises. Of course Fin knew what was on the paper wasn't always the whole story. This guy was a tweeker. Who knew what crazy idea had sprung to his mind?
They knew the chances of finding him, and Fay, in his apartment wasn't great since they'd just got word they'd been at the mall in Williamsburg about half an hour ago. Nick and Fin had discussed staking out Joe's place in hope they would end up there but they couldn't take the risk of waiting. They all knew the statistics when it came to finding missing children. They needed to find Fay as soon as possible and therefor they now charged into Joe's apartment.
It was empty as expected. They went through the place in hopes of finding photos of the female so they could get a name on her as well. Fin was going through the kitchen while Nick was doing the bedroom. They had two of Chad's detectives with them going through the rest of the apartment and they had uniforms outside keeping an eye out for Joe. Fin had no luck in the kitchen, finding nothing that could help them in the search for Fay. He was checking the small freezer just in case when Nick came in and claimed his attention. Fin could tell just by looking at Nick's face he came bearing not so good news.
"What?" Fin asked and only noticed then that Nick was holding something in his hand. He seemed reluctant to share it with Fin though but then handed him a pile of photographs. Fin's stomach turned as he started to go through them.
"She could just be looking young," Nick said in an attempt to ease the situation. While going through Joe's drawer he'd found a stack of photos that looked innocent at first but as he got down the stack it changed. The single motif was a young girl that undressed in front of the camera.
Fin had to stop looking as his blood started to boil. He'd seen hundred, probably thousands of photos like this over his years in SVU but right now all he could picture was Fay ending up like this and it was too much to bare.
"Fuck," Fin gasped and turned the stack of photos over in his hands so he didn't have to look at the images.
"It doesn't have to mean anything," Nick tried but didn't believe it himself. When it came to one of their own the worst case scenario always sprung to mind.
"You need to bag these," Fin said to one of Chad's detectives that had entered the kitchen as he'd heard the little commotion in there.
"And we need to get more men in here, turn the entire place upside down," Fin managed to get back to cop-mode and figured they needed to really investigate the possibility Joe was into child pornography.
"Hey, Nick," Fin said as they were about to leave the apartment to go check out Joe's work. Nick turned and looked at Fin.
"Don't," Fin started but had to take a second to think through it, "just, don't mention this to Amanda. The photos. Don't tell her just yet." Nick didn't like the idea of keeping things from anyone on the squad but he got why Fin might want to and after a slight hesitation he gave Fin a nod.
Over at the mall security center they had tracked Joe and Fay the short time they had spent in the mall. There were no sign of the female. Neil had dropped them of at the curb and he'd seen them head over the parking lot towards the mall. The girl had been in the woman's arms the last time he saw them but when they reached the camera at the entrance of the mall Joe was holding on to Fay's hand and the two of them were alone. They'd gone a floor up to the food court and Joe had bought Fay a pretzel that she didn't seem interested in so he'd taken a bite instead before he tossed it in a trash can. They'd hung around by the escalators for a while. Fay had put her nose to the glass and watched people on the lower floor.
Liv had seen, through the corner of her eye, how Amanda's eyes teared up as she watched her daughter try and connect with people by waving to them. If only Fay had been able to tell someone she wasn't there on her own free will, if only the old lady that waved back to her from below could have helped her get home again. There were so many 'what ifs' going around Amanda's head she missed Liv asking her if she was okay and only snapped out of it as she felt Liv's hand on her shoulder.
"You okay?" Liv asked with great concern in her eyes. Amanda managed to nod and then focused back on the screen.
The still unnamed security guard had found all footage as they traced back on the cameras and he now played it all from the very beginning. Joe and Fay entering the mall, going up the escalators, buying a pretzel, watching people on the lower level and then taking the escalator back down again. Joe didn't pay Fay much attention, he did hold her hand up and down the escalators and at times as they strolled. He had bought her a pretzel but then eaten it himself. Amanda wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not that he didn't seem that interested in Fay. But then they'd headed into the bathroom. The gents. They didn't have a camera in there and too many minutes later they came back out, Fay not wearing her jacket any longer. What could have happen in that bathroom scared the hell out of Amanda. Out of Liv too but she managed to keep it bottled better. And then Joe headed back outside with Fay and since the mall didn't have cameras outside that was all they got.
Since Amanda had learnt Fay was missing she'd been going back and forth from feeling completely empty to being able to focus on the task of finding Fay. As she watched her daughter leave the mall on that TV screen she was back to feeling completely numb and that's why it was so good that Liv was able to take charge. She let Amanda know that they would go down and have a look inside that bathroom and then they would head outside and see where they could've gone. Scott brought them down to the ground level again and they headed towards the bathroom. They passed the escalators and the glass railing where Fay had waved from and Amanda's eyes went up there.
Liv noticed she lost the sound of Amanda's steps behind her and she slowed down as she threw a glance over her shoulder and saw where Amanda's eyes had wandered off to and what was slowing her down. She made sure Amanda didn't get too far behind but she kept walking towards the bathroom. Amanda caught up as they reached them and Scott held up the door and let them go in there alone. Amanda scanned the rectangular room with her eyes as Liv checked the four stalls by one of the walls. She backed out of the second one a little slower and Amanda's face crumbled a bit as she saw Fay's jacket in her hand. Liv came over and handed it to her. Amanda wasn't sure what to do first and just stood there holding it in the air a bit away from her. But then she brought it in to her chest and took a deep a breath as she apparently had been holding it. Liv put a hand on her arm but Amanda shook her head. No, this wasn't the way she wanted her daughter back. Not piece by piece.
"I need us to find her," she was able to say and Liv nodded.
"Common, let's go outside and see where they could've gone," Liv said and lead them back outside. They found their way out by tracing Joe's steps on the camera and Liv had a look around once they got outside. It had looked as though they headed left once out the doors and there was a small diner right next to the mall.
"Let's go there and see if they've seen anything," Liv suggested and they headed over there. Amanda followed Liv over, still with Fay's jacket pressed tight to her chest. Once inside Liv quickly found a waitress and she showed her the flyer. She showed her Joe's license photo that she had in her phone and also the still fuzzy sketch of the female abductor.
"I just started my shift but Rose over there at the counter has been on since this morning, perhaps she's seen something?" the waitress suggested and they headed over to the counter to a middle age woman with glasses and short cut hair.
"Excuse me," Liv said and held up her badge, "we're looking for a girl that's missing." Liv held up the flyer and the woman immediately got a smile on her face. She took the flyer from Liv and smiled as she eyed it over. As her eyes went over the letters above Fay's head though her mouth quickly went downwards.
"I saw her, she was right there," the woman pointed to the glass window where Fay had pressed her hands and nose not even an hour ago. Both Liv and Amanda had followed her finger and for a brief second Amanda actually saw Fay outside the window. She held in a sob as the image disappeared from her eyes.
"They took her?" the woman asked and Liv nodded.
"She was abducted from her nursery school two hours ago. Can you tell me who she was with?" It was the woman's turn to nod.
"A slim, rather tall man with one of those earrings in his eyebrow," the woman said and Liv found the photo of Joe in her phone.
"Is this the man?" she asked and the woman nodded eagerly.
"And there was a woman," she added.
"This one?" Liv flipped to the sketch and turned it to the waitress. She looked at it closely but looked uncertain.
"It's not a very good sketch but I guess it could be her. She was shorter than him, blonde hair. They were fighting about something."
"Fighting?" Liv asked and the woman nodded again.
"Yes. The girl caught my eye cause she was so cute with the sun catching her hair and she smiled so brightly when she saw me looking and she waved at me. I waved back. And then I looked to the side of her and saw the two. The woman like punched his chest. He didn't really do anything back but I could tell he was angry too. No one really seemed to care about the girl but then the woman grabbed her wrist too hard and pulled her away. The man followed after a while. He looked inside and saw me looking and then he didn't look so angry any longer and he pulled up his hood. I guess I should have suspected something was wrong but I just thought I didn't like them fighting in front of that little girl like that and then the mom, I thought it was her mom, grabbing her so harshly when the girl hadn't done anything wrong," the waitress had to stop and catch her breath.
"You couldn't have known," Liv tried to comfort her. The waitress still looked miserable.
"Where did they go?" Liv asked and the waitress raised her hand again and pointed which way they'd taken.
"Is there anyone else in here that was here once the girl was still outside? Anyone else that could have seen where they headed next?" Liv tried. Rose had a look around the small diner but shook her hear quickly.
"Davey was behind the counter but he never notices anything. Jasper left right after all that had happen outside. He's in here every day. He drives for Urban express. He might have seen them as he went back to his truck?"
"Jasper? Do you have a last name?" Liv asked as she wrote the name and company down on her pad.
"I'm afraid not. We speak every day, I can tell you how he wants his eggs and everything about his sickly mother but no last name I'm afraid," Rose tried to smile but it never reached her eyes.
"I'm sure we can find him with the information you gave us. Thank you. Can you put this up in your window?" Liv handed her the flyer and then her card, "and give me a call if you think of anything or if they come back perhaps."
"I will. I sure hope you find her," Rose was back to looking miserable again.
"We will," Liv said, loud enough so Amanda would hear her. Amanda had been standing quiet and still behind Liv the whole time and Liv now helped her turn by putting a hand on her arm and physically moving her. Once outside the walked the way Rose had pointed them. Nothing but a long deserted road.
Liv got on her phone and called Cragen. She told him to find Jasper at the delivery company and just check if he saw the company as he drove off. She told him they would drive around the area a little but if they didn't find anything they would head back to the school. Liv put her phone down and turned to Amanda. She looked very pale and Liv felt a tug in her heart as she saw the way she still hung on to Fay's jacket.
"I'm sorry. I'm no help," Amanda whispered and tried her best to hold back the tears that were burning the back of her eyes.
"You're still standing. You're doing great," Liv said and gave her arm a rub, "we follow every lead and we'll soon have her back with you. Let's get the car and have a look around. We will find her Amanda. I promise you." Amanda knew Liv was just doing her job. Their job. This was what they told victims and family members every day. 'Don't give up' and 'Keep the faith' and other platitudes. But it worked. She would keep the faith. And she would find Faith. She would never give up on finding Faith.