A/N: Thank you for reading chapter one of Kidnapped. I know it's been a while since I updated, I've been on holiday – but I'm back now and ready to write. I really hope you're all enjoying this, and I really appreciate all the feed back you give me. If you have time, please review and let me know what you think :)
I got out of the car and stared at Lillian Parks' house. It was large, somewhat Victorian looking with hundreds of flowers all over the place. I looked at Alex who was standing next to me by this point, "Pretty, isn't it?" I heard her say as she too admired the home.
"Someone's spent a lot of time out here." I replied feeling calmer.
My phone rang cutting off any further conversation, I answered. Cragen's voice bellowed into my ear, "I need you back." he said.
"What?" I asked struggling to understand. "I've just pulled up at Lillian's house."
"I've got an urgent case, I need you to come back, now."
"Okay." I said hanging up the phone, I turned to Alex. "We've got to go back." I told her, "Cragen's got a case for me, sounds like it can't wait an hour."
Alex and I got back into the car, and drove back to the one – six, when I got to my desk a woman sat with a child on her knee. Both of them had clearly been crying.
"Detective Benson?" the woman asked.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"My name's Jessica Palmwood, my daughter..." she managed before tears chocked her.
I nodded, "Lets go somewhere a little quieter." I flashed a small smile to the little girl, but her eyes were cold, and she had a sense of loss about her. I took the two to the small soft interview room, designed for talking to children. I sat down and took out my pad and pen. "What's your name sweetheart?"
The little girl looked at me, then to her mother seeking permission. "Grace." she mumbled.
"My name's Olivia." I paused, "Grace, can you tell me what happened to you. I need to know everything you remember, even if it's a tiny detail, everything's important."
The little girl seemed a lot smaller now, she took in a deep breath, "I was walking home from school, it was the first time mom let me. I took the shortcut through the park, I got lost."
"They've cut down the oak. I always told Grace to take a left at the oak. She got disorientated and..." Jessica must have seen the look on my face, she knew I needed to hear the story from her daughter, but mother's were always concerned and rambling about small things nearly always happened. It was a coping mechanism. "Sorry, go on sweetie." she said to her daughter.
"It was like mom said, I got lost. I ended up on the wrong side of the park. A man with his daughter said they could help me get back to the right side of the park so I could get home. She was really nice, she held my hand and gave me a tissue to dry my tears."
I nodded, "Do you know her name? Or how old she was?"
"She said her name was Sadie, she only called him Daddy. I think she was a teenager, like Megan."
"And how old is Megan?" I pushed.
"Sixteen. I looked at my phone and didn't have signal to call my mom. Then he took it from me. He said if he held it high enough, he might get signal so I could make the call. Then Sadie gave me another tissue only this time she pressed it on my face. Then it all went dark. I don't remember how I got in the van, I just remember him on top of me and it hurt." the little girl started to well up and my heart felt like it cracked then broke completely. "I screamed but Sadie covered my mouth, he was doing something to her with his hand. I closed my eyes but I couldn't stop crying. It felt like I was being ripped with a knife." the little girl couldn't keep back her tears and let them flow freely, I looked at her and felt her pain, wishing I could have stopped it. "Then they asked me for my address, they said if I told them they would take me home and they wouldn't hurt me again; so I told them. They took me home, and said to expect a thank you gift in the next few days. Then I told my mommy."
"You've done really well Grace." I told her, my mind spinning at all the information. "Do you remember what Sadie and the man look like?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"Okay, I'm going to need you to tell my friend what they look like, so my friend can draw them, so I know what they look like; then I can find them and make sure they go to jail, do you think you're up to that?" I asked.
Again the girl nodded, "I can do that..." she paused, "But I don't want mommy there."
"Why baby?" Jessica asked her daughter.
"Because I don't want you to cry anymore mom, I can do this. I promise." Grace reassured.
"I'll be right back." I told the mother and daughter, I headed out of the room and phoned the sketch artist wanting to get this done today. It took three phone calls to get through to Alice Maliney, the best sketch artist in New York. After talking to her for a couple of minutes, I had arranged for her to come down and take the sketch for Grace in an hour.
"Sorry about that, Alice, my friend the sketch artist," I began, "will be here in an hour, you're welcome to get some lunch and come back, or stay here if you like."
Jessica looked at her daughter, "Let's go and get something to eat, then we can come back, okay sweetie?" she asked rather than told.
The little girl nodded softly, I watched as both of them left, then sat at my desk almost lost in thought. It wasn't until the smell of Summer hit me again did I realise Alex was at my desk.
"You okay?" she asked me, knowing children cases affected me the most.
"Not really." I answered honestly.
"You want me to go over the statement with you?" she asked.
I nodded, I wasn't about to decline help. Alex read over the statement, and at the same point my mind had been disturbingly blown, so had hers. "That's vile." she said reading, I knew where she was in the statement. "He performed sexual acts on Sadie whilst raping the girl." the distain in her voice was clear. She stopped talking for a minute, "Liv, we've got a couple hours before we can do anything more with this case, why don't we grab a coffee then head over to Lillian Parks' house?"
She was right, there was nothing more I could do right now. I drove back to Mrs Park's house, got out and admired the calm the flowers seemed to give me. I looked up, and saw the curtains move and realised we were probably scaring Lillian hanging around her house. I took the lead walking up to the front door, I knocked twice and waited.
When Lillian answered the door she looked frail, older than I'd expected, "Who are you? Why were you standing outside my house? What do you want?" she rambled the questions at us.
"I'm Detective Olivia Benson, we spoke on the phone." I moved my hand slightly on my hip so she could see my badge. "This is ADA Alex Cabot, she's working your case with me."
I watched as the fragile woman opened the door and let us in. I followed her to the kitchen where she had old English tea brewing in a whistling kettle. She offered both me and Alex a cup, but we both declined. I watched her take her china cup and saucer into the living room; it was dark, the curtains drawn and only a couple of lamps were on. "Detective Amaro has already taken my statement, what is it I can help you with?"
I noticed the woman avoided eye contact with me, her vision shot around the room like she was edge. "I know you have Mrs Parks, but I need to take your statement again, you might remember something now that could help with the case. I know it's hard,..."
"Hush child, it's fine, you don't have to explain yourself to me, you're doing your job." Lillian paused for a second remembering what had happened to her. "I was sitting in my daughter's house when a man broke in, I assumed he wanted money or valuables, but he didn't."
I watched as Lillian told me her who story, how everything had happened. She was an amazing victim, she knew exact times and had even drawn a sketch of the man she said to be her rapist. And she was a very good artist. "You can keep it." she told me.
"Would you be willing to talk to our sketch artist Mrs Parks? It's protocol." I informed trying not to discourage her from her art. She agreed, with her statement in my hand and Alex at my side, all the questions were out of the way, and we were ready to leave.
"You don't mind seeing yourself out do you? Bad back." she said not wanting to get up.
"It's fine, stay put." I told her. I walked with Alex to the front door stopping only when a group a photos caught my eye. I grabbed Alex's arm shocked, I needed a pinch of reality but Alex was clueless.
"Liv, are you okay?" she asked me softly.
"That's me!" I told her.
"What?" Alex asked confused.
"The baby in the photos! That's me!" I told her, it was just like this morning, the world seemed to shut down around me and all I could hear was my own heart beat banging in my ears.
Alex said nothing for what seemed like an hour, "Are you sure?"
"Look," I said pointing at the scar on the eyebrow, then to mine. "I have these photos Alex, my mom had these photos. I have them in my apartment..."
A/N: So what do you think? Why has this woman got so many pictures of Olivia as a child? Do you think Alex will be able to comfort Olivia? Let me know what you think :)