"I just want to get out of here and go home," Marie said the next morning when Olivia, Elliot and Fin returned to see if there was anything new, "Can't I go home?"
"The doctors say they want to keep you for a few days for observation," Olivia told her.
"The nurse says you gave her some trouble this morning," Elliot commented, "Wouldn't eat any of the food she brought you."
"Have you ever eaten hospital food, Detective Stabler?" she asked, "I'm pregnant, I can't afford to come down with food poisoning."
"We also heard you gave the doctor trouble when he paid you a visit," Fin added.
"Doctors, they go to medical school for seven years, and they still can't warm up the damn stethoscope. He had me hooked up to a whole bunch of things too I didn't need to be…" she looked around the room and counted only three blurs, "Where's Munch?"
"He said he had to go pick up a few things and he'd be back soon," Elliot said, "He figured you'd rest easier if we were here until he returned."
"Well, I sure appreciate it," she said, "You don't know how much it all means to me that you'd all go through so much trouble on account of me."
"Marie, do you remember much about last night once you were brought here?" Olivia asked.
"Mmmm…I remember meeting all of you, and Munch, and I remember I woke up again and he was here, he wanted to know why I hit his car…and then it was this morning…did I miss anything?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Elliot answered, "But we still need to know why you out running through the streets in the middle of the night when he was driving through."
"Oh yes, that," Marie said as she sat up in bed, "Well it seems every time I try and explain what happened, something always comes up that interrupts it."
"So why don't you tell us now?" Fin asked.
"I'd rather wait for Munch to get back," she answered, "I owe it to him so he can know once and for all, after all it was his windshield I went through, and he was the one who had to bring me here…Detective Benson, I'm going to the bathroom, if anybody comes in will you make sure they don't come in there?"
"Sure."
Marie pushed back the covers, got out of bed, walked over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"This kid's about as paranoid as Munch," Elliot commented.
"Speaking of which, I wonder where he is," Fin said, "He left over an hour ago."
There were two knocks on the door, it opened and Munch came in carrying a police duffle bag.
"Hello, hello," he said as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, "How's the patient doing?"
"I think we've met the only person who could give you challenge as the biggest conspiracy nut in town," Elliot said, "She refuses to eat anything the hospital serves, she doesn't want anybody examining her, she won't sleep unless one of us is here, she won't even go to the bathroom unless there's somebody on guard."
"Meanwhile where have you been?" Fin asked Munch.
"I went to Marie's house, apparently she only had the one set of glasses that she lost last night, so I had to go home and get an extra pair of mine," he answered as he went over to the bathroom door and called in, "Miss Baron?"
"Munch, is that you?"
"Marie, I went to your house and got a change of clothes and another set of glasses for you. Will you open the door?"
The doorknob turned and the door opened a couple inches. He took out of the bag a pair of her jeans and one of her shirts and a case with his glasses in it and handed them to her.
"Thanks," she said as she closed the door.
"It took you an hour to get that?" Elliot asked.
"No, I figured she wouldn't be eating anything they tried giving her, so," he reached into the bag again and pulled out a small sub sandwich, "I stopped by the deli. She's eating for two now, she can't afford to miss any meals."
"What are you, Mary Poppins?" Fin asked as he grabbed the bag and held it open, "What else do you have in there?"
"I'd say you got back just in time," Olivia told Munch, "Marie says that she wants to explain what happened last night. She was waiting for you to get back so you could hear it first."
The bathroom door opened and Marie stepped out, dressed and wearing the tinted glasses.
"Oh this is much better," she said as she came out, "Now I can see, I see, I see…" she stopped when she saw the four of them and mumbled, "Apparently some things are better blurry." She walked over to Munch and said to him, "Detective Munch, I want you to know I appreciate this, you don't know how much it means to me…"
"Well now that we're all here," he said, "Why don't you tell us what happened last night?"
"Oh yes, yes, of course," she said, "Well…I really don't know how to begin that because it's a long story. Uh…you see, this whole thing started back home."
"You're not from here?" Olivia asked.
"Oh no," she shook her head, "I grew up in a small town in Kansas."
"You've come a long way," Elliot noted.
"That was part of the plan, you see…I came from a normal family, I was an only child, I grew up in a small town, I always wanted to be something big but nothing ever came of it. All the same I had pretty much an ideal life, I was a good student, everybody knew me and liked me, and I thought I'd stay there until they buried me. But, there was this guy back there, and he said he was interested in me…but the feeling wasn't mutual…I tried to let him down gently but as I found out, he's the sort of guy who needs a hint about he size of a doghouse to fall on him. He…he started following me, showing up everywhere I went, called my house, sent me emails…and I told him again that I wasn't interested, and he should find somebody else…he didn't listen. One night, when I was coming home, he followed me in his car, he about ran me down…but instead…he pulled me into a back alley. I kicked, I screamed, I swore I was going to kill him but it didn't make any difference to him. And…after he had disappeared, I went to the police and told them what happened but it clearly wasn't a priority of theirs and they never looked into it.
"Well…I knew that as long as he was around, I'd never be safe there, so I left, I packed a bag, took all my money, disappeared in the night, hitched a few rides then took a bus, and a couple of trains, and I wound up here. And at first, everything was fine, nobody knew me, I met a lot of people I could get along with, I had a good job. Then, he came around again. And this time he wasn't beating around the bush, this time he came at me with this glare in his eyes, I could just tell he wanted to see me dead. I told him that I was going to go to the police station and tell them what happened and I was going to make sure this time that a criminal investigation was carried out, and that he would go to jail and lose everything he ever worked for."
"He followed you," Elliot said.
"Chased is more like it," she replied, "He told me that he was going to kill me long before I ever got to the station…and I ran for the longest time with him right behind me…and no matter where I went, he was right behind me, so I jumped a fence and was met with a choice. I could either stay there and let him kill me, or run out into the middle of the road and take my chances with the late night traffic. I was hoping maybe he'd run in front of something and get hit, but I knew I couldn't get that lucky. And that's when I went through Detective Munch's windshield; you all know the story from there."
For a minute, nobody knew what to say. It never seemed to matter how many times they went through this, nothing could prepare them for what came out of the victim's mouth because no matter how horrible and terrifying one case was, there was always another that could top it.
"Who is it?" Olivia asked, "If you know who he is, we can arrest him and make sure he never comes near you again."
"Well you see, that's just it," she told them, "That's why I held off on telling you before now. I had to make sure that you would take me seriously and look into it, and not brush me off like the cops back home did. If that's how it was going to be there wouldn't be any point in my saying. I'm sorry that I've had to put you all through waiting for so long, but I just couldn't take a chance on nobody looking into it again."
"Miss Baron," Munch said, "You tell us who it is, we'll find the bastard and put him away, you have my word."
"Good," she nodded her head in understanding, "Then go get him, he's making his rounds now."
"What do you mean?" Fin asked.
Marie adjusted the glasses and looked at him as she answered, "He's an orderly in this hospital."
Munch's eyes grew wide when he heard that. "He's working here? Right now?"
"He'll be down this way soon enough," she said, "You see, Detective, I'm sorry for fooling you, but I was not unconscious for as long as the doctors thought. I was going to tell you that I was alright, but then I heard his voice as he passed by in the hallway, saying to somebody that he'd be having to come in at this time today again. I just froze because I didn't know if anybody would believe me if I told them. His name is Ryan Cobb."
He looked to the door, "Coming down this way you said?"
"Any minute now, I'm sure," she said.
"I'll go with you," Elliot told Munch, "Fin, you and Liv stay here incase we miss him."
They headed out the door and closed it behind them and started down the hospital corridor.
"Now it all makes sense," Elliot said, "Her attacker works here, he'd be able to come in when she was asleep, he'd have access to meds he could've put in her food, no wonder she was acting so paranoid, she wanted to make sure he didn't finish his job."
"And now that we're here, that's going to be pretty definite," Munch replied.
They turned the corner and met with an orderly who looked to be in his 20s. He was tall, well built and they noted on his blue scrub was a nametag that read 'Ryan'.
"You Ryan Cobb?" Elliot asked.
"That be me," he answered, "Do I know you?"
"No," Munch replied, "But we've heard about you though."
"You were working here last night, weren't you?" Elliot asked.
"Yes," he nodded.
"Were you here when they brought in a hit and run victim?" Munch asked, "Female, late teens, about…"
"It's a busy hospital, sir," he said as he continued down the hall with them following beside him, "Lot of people come in and I'm working the floors so I don't see everybody who does."
"Well we have a pretty good idea you saw this one," Elliot said.
"And why is that?" he asked.
"Because you chased her into the street," Munch told him.
Before the man could turn around, Elliot grabbed the man and pinned his arms behind his back as he took out a pair of handcuffs. "Ryan Cobb," he said as he and Munch walked him over to the elevator, "You're under arrest for rape and attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be held against you in a court of law, you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court."
"This is crap!" he said.
"Shut up," Munch said as he swiftly kicked Ryan in the ass as they got into the elevator, "Be more careful where you step, you might hurt yourself."
Marie, Olivia and Fin watched the scene unfold from the doorway to her room.
"Are you sure you'll be able to hold him?" Marie asked, "Naturally this is all going to be my word against his…and nobody ever wants to believe a woman."
"They'll believe a female victim sooner than they would a guy," Fin said, "They just might."
"How? There's no proof, even if there was, it was months ago, you could prove we had sex, but you can't prove he raped me," Marie said.
"We might be able to prove he tried to kill you," Olivia told her.
"How?" Marie asked.
Olivia put her hand on Marie's stomach, "The doctors found no drugs or alcohol in your system and any psychiatrist can prove you're of sound mind…the defense is going to have to come up with one hell of an excuse as to why you would risk killing yourself and your baby for no reason."
"You can be sure whatever attorney he gets will pull some idea out of his hat for that one," Marie replied, "And the jury's bound to eat it up. They always do. 'Oh she's always been suicidal', 'Oh, she'll do anything to get attention', 'Oh, she's always staging these accidents, she likes being in the hospital'. Ever since the Twinkie defense there's been all the evidence in the world that juries aren't made up of the brightest people and they don't often see things for what they are."
Marie turned to Olivia and asked, "Am I going to have to come down to the police station for an identity parade? Pick him out of a line?"
"You're sure that's the guy, right?" Fin asked.
"Believe me, after everything he put me through, if I never had to see his face again it would be too soon," Marie responded, "There's no way I would go mistaking somebody else for him."
