A/N: And here's yet another loop my muse decided to throw at me. For the record, Casey is still the ADA on hand in this fic. Muse of mine hasn't yet moved onto ADA Grayleck, but but likely will before the current season is finished...and there you have it.

The note was already starting to show the signs of being opened and closed and read too many times over. The ink used to write it had run in some places, and it bothered him to think about why that might have been, so he didn't. Instead, he read the words over and over again, hoping that it would give him something that it hadn't given him already. But there was nothing. And he knew there was nothing, but at the same time, he couldn't give up hoping.

"We're gonna find them, kid," Elliot said, refolding the note and tucking it away again in his pocket before looking down at Eli, who looked back up at him. "We're gonna bring them home."

It had now been four days since they'd stormed the rowhouse and found nothing but the note that Kathleen had left for them. But with the note and the information they'd gotten from the kids they'd talked to, it felt like they were a lot closer to something than they had been before. The sound of the phone ringing made Elliot jump, and he reached for it, sparing a glance for the caller ID before answering.

"What've you got?" he asked, by way of greeting. On the other side of the line, Olivia sighed.

"A statement from Kari Camden," she said. "She says that when Keiran called her, she thought it was a joke, but then she got a text message from Elizabeth."

"Matches the outgoing records," said Elliot, glancing down at the papers spread out on the counter in front of him. "They all heard from one of the twins at least once, except Rob."

"Who says that Maureen told him that some of Kathy's relatives came up from Baltimore," said Olivia. "What do you know about her family down there?"

"Not much," said Elliot. "They came up when we got married, but that was about it. Maureen had to have told him that to get him off the phone."

"Well, if they crossed state lines, we're going to have to pull the Feds. Porter owes me for a case I helped him out with over the summer, so I can talk to him if it gets to that."

"I don't think they crossed state lines," said Elliot, and looked at the cell phone records again. "They took Kathy's phone with them. They've been using it."

"Where's the last place they used it?" Olivia asked.

"Somewhere upstate, and then back here in the city," Elliot replied. "They must have ditched it, because the trail ends there."

"Munch has friends down in Baltimore," Olivia remarked, after a brief moment of silence. "They might be willing to help out."

"I don't get why, besides getting Rob off the phone, Maureen would have told him that it was relatives from Baltimore," said Elliot, frowning now. "She wouldn't have told him anything that would piss these people off, which means they were probably telling her what to say."

"But they wouldn't have known that Kathy was from Baltimore unless they knew her," said Olivia. "That doesn't make any sense, though. Everything's pointed to these people having a problem with you."

She had a point. All of the evidence had pointed to whoever was behind this having a problem with him, but at the same time, with what they knew now, it didn't make any sense.

"Maybe they were trying to throw us off," Elliot said finally. "By making us think that I'm the one they have an issue with. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Even if it's not you that they have a direct issue with, they've still got to have some kind of problem with you, otherwise, they would have gone another route," said Olivia. "It's got to be someone that knows both of you."

"Isn't that the theory we've been looking at since the beginning?" Elliot asked dryly. "You haven't managed to find anything in the old case files, have you?"

"Not yet. We're still looking, but seventeen years is a long time," Olivia replied. "Nothing really stands out."

"Something's gotta stand out sooner or later," said Elliot. A faint cry came from the car seat on the counter and he sighed. "Hold on a second, Liv."

He reached out and hit the speakerphone button and got to his feet, lifting Eli out of the car seat as he continued. "If it's someone who knows both of us, then it might not be work at all."

"Then why the hell would anyone bother?" Olivia asked. "That part doesn't make any sense. If it's not work, but it is someone who knows the both of you...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I hardly think Kathy's the sort to piss anyone off that much."

"No, that would be me. She's usually the one making amends."

"That sounds about right." Olivia trailed off and looked down at the copy of the statement Kari Camden had given before picking up where she'd left off. "That doesn't leave us with very many possibilities."

"Well, we know it's more than one person, so it's still a possibility that whoever's behind this in the first place went looking for other people who might have had an issue with me, or with Kathy, or with both of us."

"Leaving how many people who would have known to tell Maureen to tell her boyfriend the lie that you had relatives from Baltimore visiting?"

"I don't know. Most of our old friends from high school, my old partners, Munch..."

"Munch knew Kathy was from Baltimore?"

"Well, yeah. He was a cop down there for twenty-seven years. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd run into each other at least once."

"I'm sure you can rule both him and Fin out."

"Neither of them would have done this, Liv. I know that."

"Well, good. Somehow, I don't think getting into another pissing match with Fin is going to do much for you."

"Neither do I. Did Kari tell you anything that the others wouldn't have mentioned?"

"No. Everything matched up to what the others said. They all heard from the twins, they all made the calls, and besides Rob, no one heard from anyone else."

Elliot pulled open the refrigerator door and reached in for the bottle he'd made earlier on, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he did.

"So, we're not getting anywhere with that, then," he said. "Everyone's story matches up. That leaves the two uniforms that showed up and Internal Affairs."

"Internal Affairs isn't going to tell us anything if they're running an investigation inside the four-nine," said Olivia. "They're not going to want anyone to know that they're looking at someone."

"But we need to know who they're looking for," said Elliot. "Someone in IAB has to know something about why we weren't notified straight off that my kids and their friends tried to call for help."

Silence. On the other side of the line, Olivia twisted the cap off a soda bottle and took a long sip from it before picking up where her partner had left off, frowning slightly.

"You think someone in Internal Affairs might have covered up the dispatch records," she said, more of a question than a statement. Elliot sighed again.

"I don't know what I think," he admitted. "All I know is that there's an answer somewhere, and if Applegate and Bennett got pulled into IAB when they got to the four-nine after coming by my place, somebody knows something."

As the two of them were having this conversation across two boroughs, John and Fin found themselves having one of a completely different nature, inside one of the 16th Precinct's interview rooms.

"I already told you, we went by the place, knock on the door, she answers and tells us that nothing's wrong. What were we supposed to do, ask to come inside?"

Sitting at the table opposite the two detectives, one Officer David Bennett cast an annoyed look in their direction, before continuing on.

"My partner and I followed procedure," he said. "Once someone tells us that there's nothing wrong, there's nothing more that we can do unless there's direct proof that something is wrong."

"And nothing in the way you and Officer Applegate were told that nothing was wrong struck you as proof that something was wrong?" John asked. "I think not. Why did Internal Affairs want to talk to you right after you got back to the four-nine?"

"What's it to you?" David asked in reply. "Since when does SVU work with the rat squad?"

"Since the department screwed up, that's when," Fin retorted. "When you and Officer Applegate went by the house, what had Central told you?"

"That there were calls coming in reporting a home invasion," said David, without looking at him. "What, you think we're just gonna brush that off like some kind of joke?"

"Apparently, someone did, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now, would you?" John put a manila folder down on the table and continued. "This isn't the first time IAB's come after you, is it?"

"That's none of your business," David told him, glaring. "What the hell is that?"

"Your jacket," said John, flipping the folder open. "You know, it's not really the smartest thing in the world for you to assume that someone you knock around isn't going to make a complaint."

"Not a good idea to threaten them, either," said Fin. "Word has it you get a kick out of flashing your shield around to scare people, Bennett."

"Whoever you've been talking to is a damned liar," David shot back. "I do what I'm paid for."

"I see two five-day rips," John remarked, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "For insubordination, dereliction of duty...You have a problem taking orders, Officer Bennett?"

"I've got a problem with detectives sticking their noses where they don't belong," came the reply, and John and Fin exchanged glances.

"Our noses belong wherever we say they belong, and right now, they belong in your file," said John, picking up where he'd left off. "Who's your shift commander?"

"I don't have to tell you that."

"Fine. Don't tell us. You're only making things worse for yourself," said Fin. "If we find out that you and Officer Applegate went by that place and knew something was wrong, but didn't do anything, you'd better believe this unit's coming after you."

"There's nothing for you to find," said David, evenly. "Ask my partner. She'll tell you the exact same thing I did. When we went by Detective Stabler's place, his wife answered the door, told us that it was a false alarm and that there was nothing to worry about."

"Did it ever occur to you that with people calling in from five different houses that there might have been someone telling Mrs. Stabler to tell you what she did?" John asked, dryly. "Or did you just automatically think that she was telling you the truth?"

"We had no reason to believe that she was lying to us," said David, "And that's all I'm going to tell you. We're done here."

And with that, he got to his feet, grabbing his uniform hat off of the table and leaving the interview room without another word. The door slammed closed behind him, and Fin cast an exasperated look at it, and then over at John.

"He's right, y'know," he remarked. "Even if we do talk to Applegate, she's probably going to tell us the exact same thing he did."

"If we could find Applegate, that would be nice," said John. "She's been under the radar for the past month."

"Maternity leave, maybe," said Fin. "Either that or suspension. What do we know about her?"

"Graduated from the academy at the same time Bennett did, six months ago. Twenty-three, married with a two-year old son," said John, looking down into the second manila folder he'd brought into the interview room with him. "Maternity leave is possible. No one's heard from her, though."

"Her partner didn't mention that," said Fin, glancing once more in the direction in which David Bennett had gone. "You'd think he might've told us she's been gone for a month."

"Could be possible that he doesn't care," said John. "I know you and I would like to think otherwise, but there are still a few guys around who think that women shouldn't be cops."

Fin gave a derisive snort. "Probably because they're the same ones that are being passed up for promotions," he said. "They ought to keep their mouths shut."

"Am I to take it that you also feel we should look into Officer Applegate's mysterious disappearance, then?" John asked. Fin sighed.

"We don't have a choice," he pointed out. "We need to talk to her and see if she confirms Bennett's story, because if she doesn't, we've got a bigger problem on our hands."

"Then we should start at her place," said John, already getting to his feet. "I get the feeling that if something's not right, her family won't mind being interrupted this late at night."

"She started acting strangely, about a week after they answered that house call," Colin Applegate told them, about an hour later. "I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong; it was almost like she didn't even know I was there. And then she and David started taking the night shift."

"Had she ever done that before?" Fin asked, but Colin shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Kari didn't like the night shift; she always tried to avoid it if she could, ever since she left the academy. She liked to be at home nights, for our son."

"Did she tell you why she was taking the night shift?" John asked. "Was it a rotation thing, or volunteer?"

"It was volunteer," said Colin. "Another set of partners on the same shift as Kari and David had out-of-town commitments they couldn't get out of about two weeks after that house call, so the two of them volunteered. I didn't think anything would happen."

"But then something did," said John. Colin nodded.

"That last night...Kari was usually home around eight in the morning when she did take the night shift, but she never came back," he said. "I talked to David; he told me that when shift had ended, Kari told him that she was going for coffee and then she was headed home, but he hadn't heard from her."

"Did you file a missing persons report?" Fin asked. Colin sighed.

"Yes, I did," he said. "I haven't seen Kari since that night. The first time I called, they told me she probably got held up on shift. So I called back when she hadn't come back by the next morning, but no one ever came around to tell me anything."

"My partner and I will be taking over the investigation into your wife's disappearance," said John. "We think it might have something to do with our case."

The upset look that crossed Colin's face at this was not at all lost on either partner. He turned nervously towards the baby monitor on the end table, as if he were expecting to hear something, but there was nothing.

"You think something might have happened to her, don't you?" he asked. "You think she's dead."

"We don't know," said Fin, "But we'll find out. Did she tell you anything about that house call before she disappeared?"

Colin ran a shaking hand over his face. "She told me that it had been a cop's house. Said that it wasn't right and that she should have done something."

"Did she say anything about her partner?" John asked.

"No. There was nothing about David. She kept saying that 'he's an MOS, I should have done better, that was his family'. She wasn't eating, and she wouldn't sleep. Besides that, she wouldn't tell me anything."

Silence. A faint noise came out of the baby monitor and Colin got to his feet.

"My son is awake," he said. "If you'll excuse me..."

But he didn't wait for an answer before disappearing up the stairs. John and Fin got up as well, and left the house.

"We might be able to find something in her locker at the four-nine," Fin remarked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'll talk to Casey about a warrant."