Olivia quickly scanned the inside of the apartment with her detail-seeking eyes. The apartment was a moderate size. It had a well-equipped kitchen, with the lingering smell of some sort of chicken dinner which was like heaven to her. She saw that there were 2 rooms branching off from the main living room. Standing in the middle of the room was a man and a woman, both of which were speaking with a police officer. The woman was a petite 5'5 brunette who looked so exhausted that she could have fallen asleep right where she was. Olivia also noticed her scrubs, indicating that she work at some sort of hospital. The man, on the other hand, was a very intimidating 6'1 with short blonde hair. He had a look in his eyes that sent a shiver up Olivia's spine. She honestly believed that if he tried, he could probably snap her in half like a twig, without even breaking a sweat.

She made her way over to the couple and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Detective Olivia Benson…are you the Sullivans?"

The woman immediately turned her attention to the female detective.

"Yes, hi I'm Ann Sullivan, and this is my husband Sean. Sorry I'm still confused on why you are all here. I was on call tonight as the emergency surgeon at the hospital when Sean called me telling me to come home. What happened?"

"Well Mrs. Sullivan, your neighbor Mrs. Edwards called to police reporting that there was screaming coming from your apartment. She thought that someone was being attacked. Who was home tonight?"

"Well I was working so just Sean and my daughter Emily."

Olivia instantly got a knot in her stomach. The daughter had been alone in the apartment with her step-father. Sean had not said a word, but there was definitely an angry vibe coming from him. He clearly didn't want any of these people here, especially Olivia. She now looked at him and his cold eyes in order to try and figure out what he was telling before talking with Emily.

"So Mr. Sullivan, you were alone with your step-daughter tonight?"

"Yes, yes I was."

"Did you hear the reported screaming?"

"No I didn't. I don't know what that old bag next door is talking about. She has shitty hearing as it is. She is always being a nosy bitch and involved in everything that goes on in this whole damn apartment!"

Olivia was taken aback. She had somewhat expected him to be defensive when she began questioning (most fathers are when they are being accused of hurting their daughter), but she was unprepared for the lashing she had just got about the kind old woman she met 3 minutes ago.

Ann immediately gasped and put her hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to calm down somewhat.

"I'm sorry; he has had a long and stressful day. His boss has been giving him a lot of trouble lately and he can sometimes vent his anger towards his boss on someone else."

Sean instantly chimed in, "Yeah sorry about that."

"Oh, that's alright," Olivia lied, "Now I was wondering if I could talk with Emily?"

"Why? What do you need to ask her, I've just told you I didn't hear anything," Sean said rather abruptly, a sign Olivia took as the he was hiding something.

"Its procedure, especially because she was the one Mrs. Edwards named as being the one the screaming belonged to. I just need to ask her a few questions, privately, about what she was doing tonight."

"Well she is in her room, the door on the left. The officers insisted on keeping her in there until you came, though I don't really see the point. Just please don't talk too long, she has school in the morning," Ann said cooperatively. Sean had once again become bruiting and silent.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I promise I won't take too long."

Olivia noticed that the door to the left of the living room had an officer lingering around it. She immediately dismissed him and took on last look at her notes before going into the girl's bedroom.