The team had decided to stay under Reynolds' radar while they gathered information to use in order to catch him. Olivia had gotten away with her standoff with him in the squad room by accepting desk duty without argument and the rest of the team complied with his orders in the same fashion. He seemed to be obliviously enjoying the new attitude of the squad, flashing his smug grin at any chance and making snide or sexually suggestive comments even more often, usually directed at Amanda in some way. He would brush against her, touch her when he spoke to her, and she would often catch him watching her through the blinds of his office, when they were open that is. Most of the time his office was shut tight, and he only came out to give orders or to check on the productivity of his subordinates.
"Benson." Reynolds called out from the doorway of his office. "Chief Dodds has requested a meeting with you. He's not too happy about me having put you on desk duty." She shot her that smug smile, hoping she would get suspended for disrespect. "Get a move on it, don't want to keep the Chief waiting, now do we?"
"It's been three days, whys he calling me in now?" Liv asked, looking to each member of the team in confusion after Reynolds had shut himself back in his office.
"Who knows, maybe he's putting you back in charge." Fin shrugged his shoulders, a teasing smirk playing at his mouth. "Let us know what happens."
XXXXX
Olivia waited patiently at the Deputy Chiefs office, but she didn't have wait long. She had made the decision on the way over that she was going to get some information out of Dodds, she needed to know what 1PPs plan was.
"Lieutenant Benson, he's ready for you now." The secretary piped up from behind her desk, indicating the direction for Olivia to go, which was unnecessary. She had been in this office more times than she could count. She knocked lightly on the office door, receiving a quick "come in".
"Lieutenant, have a seat. I understand you're having difficulty adjusting to the changes down at SVU." He said, leaning back in his chair much like Reynolds often did when speaking to the team.
"How about we cut to the chase here." Olivia said, Dodds eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What's the end game on Reynolds? My team and I already know everything except what exactly your plan is, so I'd appreciate it if you were honest with me."
Dodds sighed loudly and leaned forward resting his hands on his desk before speaking. "Alright. I'll be honest, we want him out. I pushed for this, but no one fought me on it. No one wants him on the force, but no one can get any evidence against him, so, when you threw your little fit on live TV, I saw a chance."
"You could've given me a heads up, you know I would've helped out." She said, raising her voice slightly as her aggravation rose.
"That wouldn't have worked, actually I'm surprised you all found out anything at all, but that's why I chose you. I knew you and your team would see what kind of a man he is and do something about it." He said, understanding why Olivia would be so upset. "I hope you believe me more now when I say I don't blame you, for what happened to Mike." He met her eyes with a look of sadness. When his son was killed on duty under Olivia's command, initially he had blamed her for not protecting him, but he knew now that he had been wrong. "I knew you'd work hard to put him away."
Olivia was stunned into silence at the sudden mention of his son, Michael Dodds; she hadn't expected him to mention Mike, he usually avoided talking about him all together, but she saw that he was being genuine in not blaming her anymore. "I appreciate that William, and I also appreciate your faith in the squad. I would've appreciated a heads up though. I need to know what you want us to do about Reynolds, I need something solid to go on, what direction are you expecting this to go?"
"I'll say this, short of murder or assault, you've got free rein. He's had enough close calls that if we have anything solid on him, he will surrender. The hard part is that we have no video evidence, no audio evidence, no photo evidence, we have nothing concrete. Each of the women he has either assaulted or harassed has recanted after a large money deposit was put into their accounts, and no before you ask all of the deposits were untraceable." He sighed once more and looked at Olivia, this was the first time they had been able have a civil conversation since his sons death, and they were conspiring to take down a monster.
"What about your niece? Didn't she file a complaint?" she asked hesitantly, not sure how he would react to his personal ties being brought up.
"She did file a complaint, yes. She's also a single mother of a special needs child Liv, he targets women who could greatly use a financial boost, and let me tell you, I'm not sure I could turn down the amount of money he pays these women. I tried to talk her into pursuing the case against him, but she refused. So, here we are." He paused before continuing. "Here's the thing Olivia, we need your help. I need your help. You and your team don't stop until you get your man, so I'm asking, begging, get this guy."
She thought carefully before answering. There was a genuineness to him that she couldn't deny, he really wants someone to help, but she had also been crossed by this man more times than she cared to try and count. But now they had a common enemy: Capitan Brian Reynolds.
She stood and extended her hand to him and he did the same and they shook hands. "I'll keep you undated as the situation develops."
"I appreciate that Lieutenant. Keep in mind, you're still in charge of SVU, he's in there playing house, at the end of the day you'll still call all the shots. And if he has a problem he can get ahold of me. That goes for you too, you need help or anything call me." He smiled reassuringly and she could feel that he meant it.
"Thank you." She returned his smile and turned to leave before she had an idea. "I was thinking about detective Rollins and I taking the day tomorrow, to help figure out a way to get Reynolds, I would ask for Fin but I'd rather not leave Rollins as the only female in the squad with him there, you know."
"That sounds fine Lieutenant, I'll give Reynolds a call and say I need the two you for the day so it'll be coming from me." He agreed, completely, oblivious to her actual intentions with a day off with Amanda. She smiled and nodded her head, making her way out.
As she exited the building, she felt lighter, as if now she has some sort of an idea of what she needed to do. She smiled as she stepped into her car and merged with traffic heading back the precinct, thinking about her day off with Amanda.
