The Race For Justice
Chapter 2:
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one. I'm so very glad that you think I've made this very strange crossover work.
Speed had been chasing Amelia for several blocks on foot now. She had managed to stay ahead of him. She turned down a dark alley and Speed followed. Soon he found himself tripping over something. He picked himself up and looked down to see a rather indignant alley cat scurrying away into the darkness. When he tried to find where Amelia had disappeared to, there was no sign of her.
He decided that he would go back to the restaurant, get Trixie and they would bring the note to the police. When he got back to the restaurant he searched for Trixie and was unable to locate her. He spotted the waiter who had served them earlier that night. "Excuse me," he began "Do you know where the girl who was here with me earlier went?"
"She left an hour ago sir," the waiter told him "I had to ask her to leave. We had customers waiting."
"Oh, I see," Speed said politely as he began to worry "Thank you."
Speed walked out to the parking lot of the restaurant. He expected to find Trixie, waiting by the Mach 5, probably quite soar with him, he had the keys after all. But when he reached the car, there was no one around. "That's strange," he said to himself.
An instant later, something caught his eye in the glow of one of the lights that illuminated the parking lot. He leaned closer to the Mach 5's passenger door and gasped. He was staring at what looked to be blood. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was Trixie's.
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"She's lucky you two found her," Dr. Hirsh said as he brought the two detectives back to where the girl they had found was lying in the intensive care unit. "Whoever did this wanted her dead. A few more minutes and she would have been."
Olivia and Elliot looked down at the slender teenager. She looked as if the hospital bedclothes would swallow her whole. She was pale, having lost a lot of blood and her injuries had put her into a coma. Elliot was the first to turn back to the doctor.
"Rape kit?" he asked.
"The kit turned up semen and hairs," Dr. Hirsh responded "Along with," the doctor had to look away from the girl in the bed "Blood from a freshly torn hymen."
Elliot and Olivia shared a look between them. The poor girl had been a virgin. As if the attack itself hadn't been enough. She had her virginity taken by her rapist.
"We should get back to the squad," Olivia said to Elliot. What was supposed to have been an early night to end a slow day had turned into an all nighter. They needed to identify this girl and find her attacker before he struck again.
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Speed turned the note over to the police and then proceeded to describe the mysterious girl he had seen and to tell them about Trixie's disappearance. The police assured him that they would do everything they could do to find Trixie and took a sample of the blood from the door of the Mach 5.
Speed returned to the hotel room to wait for answers. He sat down at the table where Trixie had spread out the map of the race course. The race was the absolute farthest thing from his mind at that moment. He couldn't possibly think of obsticles and sharp turns when Trixie was out there somewhere, hurt and God only knew how badly.
He shouldn't have left her. He shouldn't have gone in search of the author of that note. What if something horrible had happened? What if Trixie was… dead? He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes as tears slipped through his lashes.
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"Missing persons just turned up a hit," Olivia said as she walked into the bullpen "Perfect match to our Jane Doe."
Elliot took the computer print out that Olivia was holding "She was only reported an missing half an hour ago," he remarked "Fast work."
"The person who reported her missing is staying at a hotel only a few blocks from here," Olivia noted.
"Let's go pay him a visit," Elliot said, pulling his jacket and heading for the door.
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Speed heard a knock on the door of the room and got up to answer it. He opened the door to reveal a smartly dressed man and woman who immediately presented him with their badges.
"Detectives Benson and Stabler, Mr. Racer," the woman introduced "May we come in?"
Speed stepped aside and allowed them to enter. Before they could take two steps inside the room the question that had been on his mind as soon as he had heard the knock on the door popped out "Did you find her? Did you find Trixie?" the desperation and fear was evident in his voice.
"Please sit down, Mr. Racer," Olivia said gently as she and Elliot made themselves comfortable at the table where the map of the course was laid out.
Speed sank into a chair "Please," he said softly "Tell me you found her? Tell me she's okay?"
"Is this Trixie?" Olivia asked, handing a picture of the victim to Speed.
Speed looked down at the picture in his hands. His hands began to shake. He nodded "Is she…?"
"She's alive," Elliot assured him.
"I need to see her," Speed whispered.
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"Who did this to her?" Speed asked as he stared through the window at the bed where Trixie lay. He turned away from the sight before him to face the two detectives "Who did this to her?" he asked angrily.
"That's what we're going to find out," Olivia assured him. She stepped forward "Speed, we're going to have to ask you for a DNA sample to eliminate you as a suspect."
"Of course," Speed agreed "I'll do what ever it takes to help."
It was Elliot who stepped forward to ask another, uncomfortable question "Did you and Trixie have intercourse in the last twenty four hours?"
"No," Speed said, turning back to look at Trixie "She and I talked about it once or twice but we both agreed we weren't ready," he turned away again in realization "You mean that someone…? Oh God, Trixie," he finished in a whisper, closing his eyes. He should have been there. He should have been with her. He should have at least left her the keys to the car. Maybe she would have had a means of escape if she had been able to start the car.
He turned to the detectives once again "She's going to be alright, isn't she? I mean… Dr. Hirsh said she should wake up soon. She'll be alright, won't she?" he was begging desperately for an answer now.
Somehow both detectives knew he was talking about more than physical injuries. They stared at each other for a long time. Olivia spoke first "She'll need a lot of support," she told him "She's gonna need someone to be there for her."
Speed nodded in understanding. Just then a noise from the room caught all three of their attentions. Trixie moaned as the heart monitor beeped faster and began to shrill. Nurses and doctors flooded the room.
"What's happening?" Speed asked. Fear was all he knew at that moment, fear of loosing her. In all of the excitement, he found himself at her bedside without really knowing how he'd gotten there. He was holding her hand in both of his "Trixie," he whispered feverishly "Come on," he urged "Come back, please."
The heart monitor began to settle back into a normal rhythm. Trixie's body relaxed but she did not open her eyes. Speed held her hand tight "Wake up," he whispered "Please wake up," just then he thought he felt the hand that he was grasping for dear life squeeze back.
"Trixie?" he asked softly "Trixie, squeeze again if you can hear me?" he pleaded. And there it was again a faint movement but a movement just the same.
Trixie's eyes opened. For a moment she looked confused but then her eyes focused on Speed. "Speed," she whispered in a weak, exhausted and somewhat raspy voice.
"Trixie," Speed breathed a sigh of relief "Thank goodness."
Olivia stepped forward as the nurses began to clear out of the room. She hated to do this to Trixie but it was best to get a statement from the victim as soon as possible. She cleared her throat "Trixie," she began softly "My name is Detective Benson. Can I ask you some questions about what happened to you?"
Trixie nodded silently and glanced nervously in Speed's direction. Elliot caught the meaning behind her look and tapped Speed on the shoulder "Why don't I buy you a cup of coffee," he offered as he dragged the reluctant Speed out of the room.
Olivia pulled up a chair and sat down, taking out a pen and a pad of paper "What do you remember about the attack?" she asked.
Trixie closed her eyes "All of it," she whispered "Right up until you found me after they threw me out the back of the car."
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"Sometimes its easier to talk about this type of thing when friends or family aren't around," Elliot explained to the young man who sat across from him.
Speed looked down into the depths of his coffee cup "Why would someone do this to her?" he asked. Trixie was one of the sweetest people in the world. Most everyone who knew her liked her.
Elliot sighed "Someimes there just isn't an explanation," he told Speed. Elliot decided to change the subject "Are you in town for the race?" he asked.
Speed raised his head to look at the detective, he nodded "Trixie's been helping me go over the course," he explained "She's the best navigator you could ask for."
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"The man who threw me in the back of the car climbed in after me," Trixie told Olivia "He started to…" Trixie trailed off.
"It's okay," Olivia soothed "Do you remember what he looked like?"
Trixie shook her head "It was too dark," she admitted softly.
"That's alright," Olivia said comfortingly "Did he say anything?"
Trixie nodded again. She remained silent for a long time. "He said," she finally began "That I was going to die. And then he started punching me again while… while he was… inside me… And the man driving told him…" she closed her eyes tight and shook her head violently.
"What did he say Trixie?" Olivia pushed gently.
"He told him… that he shouldn't hit me in the face because…" Trixie took in a deep breath "Because they wanted Racer to be able to recognize his little dead whore," she collapsed into tears.
A few minutes later Speed and Elliot returned to the room. Olivia got up and Speed took the chair that she had been sitting in. Trixie sat up to face him, tears stil streaming down her cheeks. Gingerly, Speed pulled her into a tender but tight embrace.
"Speed," Trixie whispered again and again as she cried.
"I'm here Trixie," Speed assured her "I'm right here," and he wasn't planning on going anywhere.
Elliot and Olivia left the hospital room, getting the message that it was probably time that they left the two alone. As they walked down the hall Olivia turned to Elliot "What do you think?" she asked.
"I don't know," Elliot replied "It's pretty clear to me that Speed didn't do it." It was apparent to both detectives from the way that Speed reacted to seeing Trixie's condition and the ease with which he was willing to give them a DNA sample that he was not the one who had so viciously attacked her.
Olivia nodded "I have a bad feeling about this case though," she told her partner. The attack had been brutal and precise, they weren't just looking for some one time offender, they were looking for someone who had done this type of thing before.
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"The girl's still alive," the leader snarled at the men he had entrusted to carry out the dark deed "You were supposed to finish her off."
"She shouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes," the man who had been driving said "It's the same way we got rid of all the others."
"Well, this time you weren't paying attention," the boss growled "Two cops saw you toss her from the car. She's at the hospital and she's talking."
"What do you want us to do?" the man who had grabbed and raped Trixie asked.
"Get rid of them," the boss screamed "Get rid of them all. Racer, the girl and those two cops. Make it as brutal, bloody and painful for all of them as possible," he began to pace the room "I want them all to suffer!"