Pretty Poison

(Chapter Eleven: Breaking The Silence)

Olivia answered her cell phone around three o'clock in the afternoon. It was Erin Davis calling to ask if they had learned anything about her case. Olivia talked to her for a few minutes then they agreed to meet at a little café for lunch that afternoon. It was Saturday, their day off and Elliot had agreed to watch Noah and give her some time with Erin. But at the last minute, Elliot got called out so began the search for a babysitter. She really didn't want to bother Kathy on one of the two days a week she got to spend alone with her own children. But she didn't know who to call.

Just then Olivia's phone rang and she opened it placing it against her ear.

"Hello?" She asked as she struggled with her crying infant to change his diaper.

"Liv hey, it's Maureen how are things going?"

"They are fine, honey. What's going on?"

"Not much. How's Noah? I didn't get a chance to stop by mom's last week and play with him. I have been so busy at school."

"He's good. Getting big."

"I miss him so much. I was going to call and see if I could stop by later and see him for a little while. But I just talked to dad and he said you might be in a bind a looking for a sitter?"

"He did, did he? What are you doing this afternoon?"

"I'm free until about one, then I am supposed to meet up with some friends to do a little shopping. Olivia, if it's okay with you I would love to keep him."

"Really? I would pay you of course."

Maureen laughed.

"You don't have to pay me to spend time with my baby brother."

"I know that honey, but you are really helping me out a lot. I am supposed to have lunch with someone from work. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do that with the baby."

"No problem. And Olivia…."

"Yes…."

"Next time, it's okay if you want to call me. I would gladly keep him anytime."

"Thank you honey."

"I'll be there in an hour."

"Great."

Maureen showed up just in time.

"The diapers and wipes are on the changing table in the nursery. Pediatrician's number is by the phone. I have four bottles of breast milk in the refrigerator. What else…"

"Olivia, I have done this a time or two."

"Right. I'm sorry honey. I just haven't really left him with anyone but your mom. Not that I don't trust you. Because I do. Fully. It is just still hard for me to leave him at all."

"It's okay. My mom has like a dozen kids. I have been through this before."

Maureen smiled and Olivia laughed a little.

"You dear are an angel," Olivia said kissing the top of her head. "Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"Noah, mommy loves you. Be a good boy for sissy," she kissed the baby on his forehead and smoother her fingers down his cheek. I love you baby."

She took a deep breath and grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

They dined outside at a little table on the sidewalk as Olivia filled Erin in on the findings during the investigation.

"The lab pulled DNA from the condoms in the trash can. They ran it in the system, but so far we're not finding anything. Sometimes it takes a while to get a hit. Or maybe he just hasn't been caught yet."

"Maybe he hasn't done this to anyone else."

"He has Erin. There are at least four other cases that I know of. The DNA from your case matched three of those."

"And the fourth?"

"Well, we didn't get DNA from that one. But it is exactly the same motive, the same hotel, same drugs and similar items stolen from the victims. It was our guy."

"So we were drugged?"

"Yes, you and Seth. Seth at a much higher level than you. He wanted to knock him out, but needed to be able to control you."

Erin gulped and stared out into the street.

"I'm sorry. I slipped into cop mode. I wasn't very sensitive about that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just want this all to be over."

"I know, Erin. And believe me I want to find this guy as badly as you do. From the details that were given to us by each of the victims we were able to get a composite sketch." Olivia pulled a paper from a file and handed it to Erin.

"Is that him?" Erin asked.

"As far as we know. So far this is all we have to go on."

"He looks familiar. But I don't know him. It's strange. I wanted to talk to you, I remembered a couple of things."

"Like what?" Olivia pulled a notepad from her purse to record details.

"Like there was another man. A second man."

"Did he rape you also? We only found DNA evidence from one man."

"No, he came in with this guy. He was there while Seth and I were….they argued and the other man left. I don't remember seeing him after that."

"That is good. Do you remember what he looked like?"

"No. I mean I see him, but I can't see his face."

Olivia nodded.

"And the other thing you remembered?"

"What?"

"You said you remembered a couple of things about that night."

"Oh, yes. While this man sat in the chair and watched Seth and I have sex he….umm, touched himself."

"He masturbated?"

"Yes. Well, he tried. He did that for a while, but seemed to have trouble getting a reaction. He got angry and threw the phone from the nightstand beside the bed. After a while he finally managed to get an erection. After that was when he climbed into bed with me and he…."

Olivia nodded her head.

"That is good. You are giving me amazing details here and this is going to help catch these men and put them away. You are doing so good."

"I don't get it Detective Benson…."

"Olivia."

"Olivia. Why do you care so much? I mean I know that this is your job. But you deal with this every day. How is my case any different than any other? Why are you so interested in helping me find this man?"

Olivia took a deep breath and looked down into her cup of tea on the table. Erin had trusted her enough to give her intimate details about her rape. Now it was Olivia's turn. And as easy as it would be to lie, she felt compelled to share her story, the truth with Erin.

"Several months ago I was attacked. Sort of," she began.

"Sort of?"

Olivia's phone beeped with a text alert and she send a quick reply message, then laid the phone on the table.

"Do you remember I told you there were four other cases?"

"Yes."

"But we didn't get any DNA evidence from the fourth one."

Erin nodded her head.

"I was the fourth victim."

Erin's eyes widened as she stared at Olivia.

"How did…"

"They didn't get any DNA evidence, because he didn't rape me. We're still not sure why. And I think you may have just helped us with that."

"If he didn't rape you then what happened?"

"I was in that bar in the hotel with a male friend of mine. We were drugged and ended up in a room together. This man was there as well. He sat in a chair across the room and watched as we had sex and he coached us. Erin, I wasn't raped that night. But I was violated. We both were. I was drugged and had sex with a friend, someone that I would not normally have slept with. And I now have an eight week old son. Erin, my son was conceived that night at the Biltmore Hotel. I love my son more than anything in the world and I thank God every day for bringing him to me. But there is not a day goes by that I wish the conditions of my getting pregnant had been different."

"And your friend? Does he see the baby?"

"Yes. He is an amazing father and we are still very close. But it is really scary to think that it could have just as well been this man that fathered my child that night."

"You are sure he didn't rape you?"

"Yes, but he would have. He sat there watching us and he couldn't get it up. So he walked away. I was lucky. But there were several days that I didn't know for sure what had gone on."

"I'm glad he didn't hurt you and that things turned out okay."

"Thank you. But Erin, they will for you, too. Nothing anyone ever does will change what happened to you that night. But I promise I will do whatever I can to help you through this. And if you ever need someone to talk to, someone who understands…."

Just then Olivia heard Maureen's voice behind her.

"Hi honey," she said with a smile.

"Hi, he was so good Liv. Didn't hardly cry at all."

"Good. Thank you."

"No problem. Bye buddy."

Olivia pulled the stroller up beside her chair and turned to look back at Erin across the table.

"I'm sorry about this. His daddy got called in to work."

Olivia reached down and pulled her son from the stroller and propped him on her lap to look around.

"It's okay. He's beautiful.

"Thank you. This is Noah."

Erin watched him and smiled as she looked at the adorable baby.

"He looks just like him."

"Like who?" Olivia asked.

"Like your partner. Detective Stabler."

"Elliot?"

"Yes, Detective Elliot Stabler. He does belong to your partner doesn't he?"

Olivia sat dumfounded for a moment unsure of what to say, but her expression said it all.

"Noah is my son," was all she could manage.

"Yes. Like I said he is beautiful."

Erin reached to the ground and picked up her purse tossing a few one dollar bills onto the table.

"You're right." Olivia finally managed to put the words together. "Elliot is his father. We never had a romantic relationship until that night. We were undercover trying to catch this guy. We were the ones who got caught. In his trap. It happened and now we have a baby together. And he is the one reason that I wouldn't take back what happened that night."

"Are you guys still close?"

"Yes, were close. And we spend as much time as possible with our baby together. He is a wonderful father."

"Good. At least something good came out of it. Something wonderful," Erin said reaching for Noah's hand.

"We're going to find him Erin. I'm not going to give up until I do."

"I know."

Erin stood and hugged Olivia, then went on her way.