Oh wow, a quick update from me? No way! :D
Thanks for reading!
"So tell me, Alex. When you aren't feeling well, emotionally, what do you do?"
"Lock myself away," Alex answered honestly. "Literally. I lock myself in a room with nothing but myself and a blanket and pillow so I have nothing else to do but sleep or think things through. Even my phone stays off."
"And what do you think of that as a strategy for dealing with your feelings?"
The blonde smirked. "Well I know that you don't like it. I'm sure as a therapist you're more of a fan of the 'talk it out' method."
"I didn't ask what I thought, Alex, I asked what you thought," the doctor answered smartly.
"Well it certainly seems to work for me."
"Does it?"
"Those poor people," Olivia sighed as she poured her second cup of coffee. "How many loved ones can you stand to lose at one time?"
"Liv, all we can do is make sure they're not next," Elliot responded. "We leave them to grieve for themselves while we catch the son of a bitch that killed those people."
"I want to go to Hardwicke's funeral," she murmured. "I owe her that."
"I don't see anything wrong with that."
"I didn't ask."
"Benson, Stabler, shut up for two seconds," Cragen's head popped out of his office. "Where are those other two lunatics?"
"By that you mean Munch and Fin, I assume?" Elliot smirked.
"No, I meant Jekyll and Hyde. Yes, I meant them. We just got a fax copy of a letter that CSU found in ADA Frazier's apartment."
"Yeah? Same handwriting as the other two?" Olivia asked.
"Looks to be, the lab will confirm," Cragen stated.
"And?"
"And what?"
"What does it say?" Elliot inquired, rolling his eyes.
"I thought you'd never ask," Cragen replied humorously, though the joke was lost on his two detectives, who just glared at him. "Right. It says: "
"I would've been a good witness to call. Sorry you missed me. I just hope you told your mommy you loved her when she called you outside the building—you won't be speaking again."
Olivia and Elliot just grinned at each other.
"Houston, we have a lead."
"We were in the middle of talking to Morrison's brother. What's the big 911?" Munch asked, exasperated.
"While you were chasing pavement, we got an actual solid lead," Olivia answered, laying the latest letter on the table in front of them.
"Another letter? We were already pretty sure they all got killed by the same dude," Fin shrugged.
"Try reading it," Elliot replied.
Fin and Munch each perused the letter carefully. Like Cragen, the first thing they saw was just another threat—until they actually used their brains.
"So you're thinking three different things here, right?" Fin questioned.
"Yup. First of all, the name of this mystery witness of Frazier's is probably written somewhere in his notes, which means it's also written in Hardwicke's." Elliot glanced at Olivia, giving her the floor.
"Second, the obvious fact that the person who wrote the letter is this witness means that Brett Stern probably chose to call off the trial when he learned that Frazier was planning to subpoena this guy," Olivia reported.
"And third," Munch butted in, "in case that whole name in notes thing doesn't work out, we can trace where Frazier was when his mother called him 'outside the building' and figure out where the mystery witness lives. Genius."
"We thought so," Olivia smiled.
"So you guys will take care of that?" Fin asked.
"Already did," Olivia continued, still grinning. "Always two steps ahead, eh? Name in Hardwicke's files is Marciál Rodriguez. She had no address for him, but we traced the phone call to an address uptown."
"Alright, let's get on it. The two of us were hoping you guys would come for backup," Elliot added.
"Wouldn't miss it," Fin replied, grabbing his sunglasses. "Let's move."
The fearsome four arrived at their destination in Washington Heights about twenty minutes later. They came upon a six story residential building and entered the foyer. Olivia ran up to the buzzer board and located the Rodriguez name next to Apartment 4F. She dared not press the button, and instead signaled Fin to pick the lock to the lobby.
The detectives quietly entered the stairwell, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence by stimulating the noise of the elevator.
"I'm getting too old for this," Munch whispered, eliciting a forceful "Shh!" from the other three.
They exited on the fourth floor, padding along the hallway until they reached Apartment 4F.
"Mr. Rodriguez, NYPD, open up!" Elliot yelled, to no response. He glanced at Olivia, who nodded, and kicked the door open.
Elliot and Olivia headed towards the kitchen of the apartment, while Fin and Munch went for the bedroom.
"Kitchen and living room clear," Olivia called out.
"Bedroom and bathroom, clear," Fin called out in response.
"Guess no one's home," Elliot said to Olivia, who was standing motionless next to the living room couch, staring at something behind it.
"No one, but not nothing," she said, tilting her head to call him over.
Elliot came up behind her and furrowed his eyebrows when he found what she was looking at. At least two dozen gallon sized Ziploc bags filled with white powder sat stacked on top of each other behind the sofa.
"Coke?" he suggested.
"Or heroin," Fin's voice came from behind them as the other two found the source of Olivia's attention, drawing from his experience in narcotics. "But in this neighborhood, it's probably coke."
"This stash alone probably brings in half a million dollars," Elliot mused. "And it's probably just a sample of what this guy deals with on a daily basis."
"Project this big would mean serious time if they got outed to the authorities," Olivia replied. "And how often do drugs and murder go hand in hand?"
"More often than not," Fin replied.
"But what exactly is Andrew Morrison's business in all of this?" Munch asked. "Doesn't seem like the type to be involved in Dominican drug trafficking."
"Like we just said, there's big money in this game. If Morrison was up to his eyeballs in debt anything would seem like a fair option," his partner responded.
"Yeah, but how does some random Irish guy manage to buddy up with Hispanic drug traders?"
"Wouldn't be the first time," Olivia mumbled.
Looking at Olivia, Elliot did his best to respond to the thought running through her mind. "Morrison was not a paid assassin. The bullet that killed Jackie Stern came from a simple shootout between Morrison and a John Doe that Morrison refused to identify. I don't know of any trained assassins with a shooting arm that inaccurate."
Olivia shook her head. "We'll run Morrison's financials when we get back. For now, let's just try to find something tying Rodriguez to the letters."
"Well there's one of those yellow legal notepads over here. Same paper used for the letters," Munch supplied. He'd found his way back to the bedroom and was standing over a desk in the corner of the room by the window.
"That won't be enough for an arrest warrant, Munch," Olivia called out, rolling her eyes.
"No? Well then how about his shopping list?" he replied, walking back into the living room.
"Excuse me?" Elliot said, confused.
"His shopping list. You know, the one that just so happens to be written in the handwriting that will just so happen to match the handwriting from the threatening letters?"
"Still doesn't prove he wrote the letters," Fin said.
"Nope, but it'll be enough for Alex or Casey to get us the arrest warrant," Olivia nodded. "Good work."
"Alright, let's get out of here before Rodriguez gets back and catches on before we can even bring him in," Elliot said impatiently.
"Keep your pants on, Stabler," Munch quipped as the four made their exit from the apartment.
Munch, Fin, and Elliot were out the door and down the stoop before Elliot realized his partner wasn't quite with them.
"Liv?" he called out.
"Coming! I just dropped my phone and accidentally kicked it away. I hate this damn belt holster, keeps dropping off. I need a new one," she rambled on before she made her way to the door.
"Here, let me get that for you miss," someone said right as she stepped in front of the door. A friendly looking young man held the door open, motioning for Olivia to walk through. He smiled flirtatiously, staring deeply into her eyes.
With a brief smile in return, Olivia thanked him and went to join the other three.
"Did Casey get you that warrant?" Alex asked, lying back over the covers on her bed as Olivia was working on getting all her clothes into the various drawers and closet space.
"She's working on it. She's just about as fast and apparently persuasive as you, but between finding a judge willing to sign anything at this hour and finding a judge liberal enough to sign a warrant on what's little more than conjecture, she's not had much luck. I told her if she didn't find anything by eleven or so that she should just go home and pick it up in the morning," the detective replied. She pulled out the last article of clothing from her suitcase; a relatively well worn low cut black dress.
"Wow, Detective. That's something I haven't seen before."
"Yeah, well, contrary to popular belief I do enjoy wearing the occasional dress when I want to look nice. It just so happens that fashion over function is not incredibly compatible with my line of work," Olivia chuckled.
"Well that is one impressive outfit," Alex purred. "I do hope to see you in it one of these days."
"One of these days, I'm going to actually take you out to a nice dinner," Olivia husked, falling on the bed and straddling Alex's middle, "and then I promise I'll wear it."
"Hmm…that does sound nice," the blonde responded, running her hands up and down her lover's thighs.
"And that feels nice," Olivia murmured, arching backwards as her body reacted to Alex's touch.
"I bet it would feel a lot nicer if you took these off," Alex smiled, tugging fistfuls of the brunette's sweatpants.
"Gladly," Olivia grinned, jumping off the bed and tugging said sweats down. "But baby, aren't you hot in that nightgown? It's so warm in here…" she said playfully.
"I happen to think I'm kind of hot in or out of the nightgown, but if it's in your way, Detective, I'll happily remove it in order to aid in your investigation," the attorney replied, seductively pulling off the silk nightie, leaving herself bare save for her panties, and prompting Olivia to shudder and immediately pull off her tank top as well.
"I do appreciate the assistance, counselor," Olivia smirked, plopping down on the bed and forcefully flipping the blonde on top of her. "But there is something else you could help me out with."
"Is that so?" Alex teasingly moved her hands town Olivia's toned stomach to the lining of her underwear. "How may I be of service?"
Olivia was much too tired for her girlfriend's little games right now, so she grasped the hand that was brushing her skin and forced it down underneath the fabric. "You're an intelligent young woman, counselor, you figure it out."
"Ah, I see the problem," Alex taunted, stroking Olivia's folds up and down and reveling in the moisture. "I'm sure I could remedy this for you, for the right price."
"And what would that be?" Olivia's eyes had turned dark and her voice gone deep, hands grabbing at the bedspread to keep from doing the job herself.
"Ah, I'll decide that in good time. Payment's due at the completion of the service," Alex winked and drove two fingers inside her lover.
"Oh…oh…I'm sure you'll…ugh…think of something," Olivia grunted out through ragged breaths.
"You know I will," Alex replied, relentlessly kissing and sucking at the brunette's neck as she continued to thrust, moving her thumb to stroke Olivia's clit in circles. The detective's eyes snapped shut and her mouth opened slightly, where Alex's mouth proceeded to find a new home.
Alex continued to play Olivia like a violin until the husky low grunts became sweet high moans and she felt her fingers being squeezed tight as her lover lost control of her body. She smiled at the sight of her glowing girlfriend in the midst of her release, thanking some higher power that they actually managed to end up together.
Slowly, Alex removed her fingers from Olivia and the detective lay down on Alex's chest, puffing out quick breaths. She smirked when Olivia finally picked her head up to face her. "So I've been thinking about my payment…"
"Don't worry, counselor. I think I have a few ideas that may be to your liking." Alex felt a warm mouth on her breast, and she knew that this business transaction would not be going unpaid.
It was about three-thirty when Alex was awakened by some rowdy teenagers yelling in the street. She groaned, and rolled over to place a hand on the sleeping detective next to her. But her hand fell on a cold, empty bed. Opening her eyes briefly and realizing she was alone, she sighed softly.
For the second night in a row, Olivia had left with no warning in the middle of the night.