T Minus 1 Day, cont'd

T Minus 1 Day, cont'd

In an attempt to waste some time until he might have a fighting chance to get in the precinct, Elliot flipped through the stack of mail on the counter. He hadn't been paying any attention to the date, not since Olivia had vanished, and found a couple bills that he really needed to pay. He managed to concentrate on them long enough to write out two checks, but he couldn't remember where he'd put the stamps and he couldn't be bothered to find them. With a frustrated sigh, he stacked the envelopes back up and pushed them aside. His bills could wait.

He thought about Olivia for a moment, wondered if maybe he should check her mailbox. She'd probably be pretty pissed to come home and find out her credit cards were past due and she was being evicted. He decided he'd check them that night. He figured he'd be able to find his stamps for Olivia's sake.

Maureen came stumbling into the kitchen a little after six. "Morning, daddy."

He smiled as she opened the fridge, clearly mistaking his empty fridge for the well-stocked one at her mother's house. "Morning. There's really not much in there."

She withdrew a carton of milk, folding open the top and sniffing. "Oh, god!" She turned toward the sink, dumping the carton upside down, ignoring her father's chuckle. There was a thump as the contents of the milk fell forward, revealing that it had turned into a solid mass. "Daddy, are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I warned you." He decided he should check Olivia's fridge as well, so she wouldn't come home to curdled milk. "Are you hungry?"

Maureen looked at him and then looked back at the empty fridge. "Are you planning on feeding me?"

"No, I'm taking a poll." He waited for he requisite eye roll. "Yes, hon, I'll feed you."

She looked down at her wrinkled clothes. "It'll have to be quick, though, cause I have to get home and change for work."

Elliot steered her toward the door. "I'll see what I can do."

By the time Maureen was fed and on her way to work, it was seven and Elliot determined he'd stayed away from the precinct long enough. Cragen was already there, as was Munch. Elliot sat down at his desk, feeling the same listless indecision that always plagued him when he didn't get enough sleep.

He looked over at Munch. "Avery still here?"

Munch nodded. "Fin and Lake have been in there since first thing."

Elliot stood up, moving to look in on the interrogation. Avery was in the same chair as when Elliot had left. He looked beat, his shoulders sagging, his eyes drooping. Cragen appeared beside him, nodding toward Avery.

"They've been trying to get his alibi for an hour. He said he was with his girlfriend last Wednesday."

Elliot felt a pang of guilt for the way he'd charged the woman when he served the search warrant on Avery. "Let me guess, Ms. Jones has no memory of him being home."

With a rueful smile, Cragen nodded. "When we mentioned that you might not care enough to press charges, she suddenly remembered Avery wasn't home."

"So he hasn't offered up anything else?" Elliot knew it was a long shot that it would be so easy to catch him, but he wanted to hold out hope.

"That's what they're working on. Ms. Jones just left about ten minutes ago."

Fin and Lake emerged after another few minutes. Lake nodded at Elliot.

Fin motioned toward Avery. "He gave us two strippers – Summer and Desiree – from the 211 Club."

Lake shrugged. "Swears he was with them all night."

"We're going to check it out before he has a chance to call them."

Cragen nodded. "Let me know as soon as you have anything."

Elliot stepped toward the door. "I'll see what I can get out of him in the meantime.

"No point in letting him relax." Cragen turned for his office, but stopped and looked back. "Don't kill him, ok?"

Elliot grinned as he shrugged. "No promises, cap." Fairly certain Munch was going to be dispatched to watch him, Elliot let himself into the room with Avery.

Avery looked up slowly, obviously disappointed. "Oh, what do you want?"

Elliot fixed Avery with a hard stare. "Tell me something, Mark, who's Maggie?" As soon as he said the name, Elliot watched Avery closely for any response.

"How the fuck should I know?" Avery shrugged, but then his eyes widened. "You're trying to pin another one on me? Shit, how desperate are you?"

Elliot clenched his teeth hard and folded his arms over his chest. "Where is Olivia?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "Look, I already told you I don't know."

"You saw her. You knew where she lived. You had a grudge. It's pretty damn straightforward to me." Elliot sat down, folding his hands together on the table, reminded himself that he couldn't kill Avery. Not just yet, at least.

Avery shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I say. You're never going to find your girlfriend cause you're waiting for me to tell you where I stashed her."

Elliot wasn't particularly interested in anything Avery had to say unless it was an address where Olivia was, but he found an admission of guilt in Avery's words. "Where the hell is she?"

Avery jumped to his feet. "Fuck, man, I don't know!"

Elliot was on his feet too, moving around the table in a flash. "What do you mean you don't know? Where did you put her?"

"I didn't put her anywhere! I didn't touch her!" Avery kept backing up, trying to keep the table between them. "So I lied before. I did see her. I saw her that one time, but I didn't touch her! What do I want to go back in the joint for fucking with a damn cop for?"

"You're a rapist, Avery. A sick fuck rapist. You don't think. You saw her. You hate her. You had the perfect opportunity to get even with her." Elliot continued to give chase, knowing that he could flip the table out of his way in a second.

"No, you're not fucking listening to me! I was on heroin, man, I didn't know what I was doing back then. I went to prison, I served my time, but I swear I didn't touch your damn girlfriend!" Avery backed against the mirror, giving up his attempt to get away. "I can't help you! Go ahead and kill me if you want!"

Elliot started to close in, fairly sure that Avery would change his tune as soon as Elliot's hands were around his throat. But the tap on the glass startled him, calling his attention away from Avery. He knew Munch was trying to keep Avery from winding up dead. Elliot glared at Avery. "I'm not done with you."

He yanked open the door and slammed it closed behind him. "What, Munch? What do you want?"

Except it wasn't Munch. It was Cragen, appearing more than a little disappointed. "What did I tell you about killing suspects?"

"He has her. The bastard has Olivia. I'm done playing nice with him."

Cragen shook his head, pointing toward the bullpen. "Go calm down. We've had him here all night, we've brought his girlfriend in. Let's wait until we hear from Fin and Lake." Cragen waited to follow Elliot out, making sure he didn't double back. "Avery isn't the only suspect. I seem to remember you being pretty hot for Howie, too."

Elliot glared at Cragen, hating his boss for throwing his emotions in his face. "Somebody has her. She didn't decide to run away."

Cragen nodded. "Yes, Elliot, someone does have her. But you can't beat up everyone on Earth until you figure out which one of them it is."

He slumped down into his seat. "Why the hell not?"

Ignoring the comment, Cragen shook his head. "Call O'Halloran. See what he's got on the prints from the library. As good as Avery looks for this, I'd still like to see what it is that Howie's hiding."

Elliot hated being wrong. He hated being corrected. But he took it in stride, refocusing his attention on the other suspect, taking the direction of Cragen happily since he recognized his own instincts were only telling him to beat up whoever was in front of him at any given moment. O'Halloran didn't answer, so he left a message

He wasn't surprised when his phone rang ten minutes later and he grabbed it. "Give me good news, O'Halloran."

The pause on the other end was longer than it should have been. Eventually, a female cleared her throat. "I'm trying to reach Detective Elliot Stabler."

"Yeah, what can I do for you?" He searched his memory for a name to match the voice, but he came up blank.

"This is Angela Andrews. I spoke with you a few times at the Owens Library at Huds-"

Groaning inwardly, Elliot cut her off. "I remember you, Ms. Andrews. How can I help you?"

Her voice lifted an octave in her excitement. "You remember me? Well, that's so sweet! I'm sure you meet so many people everyday."

Had it been a regular day, Elliot would have snickered in anticipation of relaying the conversation to Olivia. But Olivia wasn't there to joke with and therefore Elliot found no humor in the situation. "I'm very busy, Ms. Andrews. Was there a reason you called?"

She was quiet for a moment, obviously put off by his angry voice. "I was curious if you were still looking for Howie Druskin."

That got his attention and he focused completely on the caller. "Yes, ma'am, we are still looking for him, and his real name as well."

"I only know him as Howie, but he's here. He came in a few minutes ago and went right upstairs."

And suddenly, Elliot wanted to hug the woman. "Thank you very much. We'll be right there." Standing up, Elliot was already on the way out the door before he remembered to call out to Munch. "Howie's at the library, Munch. Let's go."

Munch was barely in the car when Elliot peeled away from the curb, his mind reset on Howie as a lead suspect, Avery could have ceased to exist for all he cared. Munch dared to voice Elliot's sudden and unforeseen attitude change, asking if Elliot even noticed that he didn't seem to care who he was ready to kill so long as he would get the opportunity to try to kill someone.

Elliot glared at him as he sped through one red light after another, not quite checking to make sure he wasn't about to be in or cause a major accident as he drove. He didn't want to risk losing track of Howie again and he trusted the red light on the dash would give fair warning to anyone daring to cross his path.

Although Elliot's irritated glare would have constituted enough of a warning to anyone else, Munch didn't quite care. "I'm serious, Elliot. A half hour ago, you wanted Avery's head on a stick. Now, Howie's in the hot seat."

Slamming on the brakes and vaguely aimed the car at a parking spot, Elliot shrugged. "At least I'm trying to find her. You're just standing around commenting on my behavior."

Munch fell in step beside him. "I'm trying to find Olivia. I just don't necessarily believe that I need to violate the civil liberties of everyone who crosses my path until I do so."

Elliot yanked open the door. "Avery's a rapist and Howie's a freak. What's the problem?"

Munch shook his head. "There are some strange individuals who might consider my brilliant self to be a freak."

"Those strange individuals constitute the entire population of the Earth, John." Elliot slowed his gait long enough to locate Angela behind the desk. She smiled and nodded toward the steps. Looking back at Munch, Elliot grinned. "Including me."

"Exactly. I don't particularly relish the idea of having my rights violated and clearly you would have no problem doing so." He had to take the stairs two at a time to keep up with Elliot. "Which is why I don't like watching it happen."

Elliot paused at the door, as happy to use his size and glare to intimidate Munch as he normally was to intimidate random strangers. "Let's get one thing straight here, John. As much as you claim to care about Olivia, if you get in my way of finding her or of beating the shit out of the asswipe who has her, I will have absolutely no qualms whatsoever with violating your god damn rights right into the intensive care unit, ok?"

Munch sized Elliot up for a moment, trying to find an indication that he was joking in the fierce stare. When he didn't, he swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, ok."

With another stern glare, Elliot turned back to the door and pulled it open. He spotted Howie's usual desk, but there was no sign of Howie. Concerned that Howie might have seen them and was planning to slip out, he motioned for Munch to turn left while he took the right. Elliot searched up and down the stacks, searching for Howie. He'd been so sure that Howie would never return there; it pissed him off to be wrong. He was kind of looking forward to the chance to take out his frustrations on Howie.

He reached the last aisle, wanting to hit someone just because he hadn't found Howie. But as he rounded the corner, he saw Munch shoving Howie toward him.

"Hey, Elliot, look who I found hiding behind a library cart!"

Elliot was tempted to hit Howie, but he held himself back. "Howie, where've you been?"

Howie shrugged and looked away. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Why were you hiding?" Elliot narrowed his eyes, believing the behavior was an admission of guilt.

"I wasn't hiding."

Munch guided Howie toward the stairs. "Why don't we give you another lift?"

Howie shook his head, trying to resist. "I really don't want to go anywhere with you two. You said you'd take me home the last time and you didn't. I had to walk home and it took me a long time."

Elliot snarled, especially pissed off that Howie was trying to pretend they had anything to do with how long it had taken him to get home. "Do you think I'm going to fall for your shit again?"

Howie's eyes darted up to meet Elliot's. "I didn't realize you fell for it the last time."

Munch squeezed Howie's arm tightly. "How about you shut up or I'll let my partner kill you."

Howie turned to look at Munch and then glanced back at Elliot. "I thought Olivia was your partner."

Elliot grabbed Howie's collar, shoving him backwards through the door to the stairs, leaving it questionable for several moments as to whether or not he would actually throw Howie down that stairs. "You said you didn't know Olivia, Howie. Did you lie to me?"

Howie shook his head, his eyes widening in fear. "No, I just – I mean, I don't know her. But you said the other day that she was your partner. I just got confused."

When they returned to the precinct, Elliot flung Howie into the interrogation room. He only realized after he'd shut the door that Avery was gone. Leaving Munch to watch Howie, Elliot stormed into Cragen's office.

"Where the hell is Avery?"

Cragen took a deep breath. "Didn't I just see you dragging another suspect in here?"

Elliot did what he always did when someone pointed out a gaping hole in his logic. He narrowed his eyes and glared. "One of these fuckers has her."

"That's not going to fly with a jury." Cragen shook his head. "It's not going to get you an arrest warrant either."

"Maybe they're in it together." He was grasping at straws and he knew it.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer." Cragen's yawn revealed that despite grabbing a few hours of sleep he was still as exhausted as the rest of them. "Avery's alibi checked out."

The fury was rising back up, although it was more in frustration than at Cragen. "Right and we all know that strippers are always reliable."

"Have you even stopped to consider that maybe it's neither of them? Maybe we simply have another god damn predator out there to add to the millions we're already aware of?"

"While you're investigating that possibility, is it ok with you if I have a little chat with Howie?"

Cragen stood up and walked around his desk, coming toe to toe with Elliot. "I know you want to find her. We all do. But take it easy. You've already gone at Howie several times and it hasn't gotten you anywhere."

"Call Huang. Maybe he'll know how to work Howie." Although Elliot was still convinced that bashing heads into walls was the quickest and most efficient way to get information out of people, he had to admit that the soft-spoken doctor often got information in his own way.

"I'll do that." Cragen nodded. "Just make sure Howie's not bleeding when George gets here."

Elliot shrugged. "I'll try."

Returning to the interrogation room, Elliot sat down across from Howie. "So, Howie, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Howie swallowed loud enough for it to be audible, but he shook his head.

Elliot leaned forward, flexing the muscles in his arms as he rested them on the table. "I'm a reasonable man, Howie." Without warning, he slammed his fists down so hard the table shook. Howie jumped back with wide eyes. "But my patience is really wearing thin here, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy."

"Maybe you're confused, Howie. You get confused all the time."

Howie shook his head again. "No, I don't. I don't get confused, not ever."

"But at the library you said you did. You said that Olivia was my partner, remember? And then I reminded you that you pretended you didn't know Olivia." Elliot stood up, dragging his chair around to the same side of the table as Howie. "Which is it? Where is she? What did you do to her?"

Howie's eyes darted to the door, but he didn't move. "You're confusing me."

Elliot leaned in, holding Howie's stare. "I thought you don't ever get confused. Howie, you can't keep your story straight for a solid minute. It's all falling apart. You should just tell me and get it over with. Then you can go back to your library and I won't ever bother you again."

Howie shrugged. "But you're trying to confuse me."

"No, I'm just trying to find my partner." Elliot took a deep breath, deciding to try appealing to Howie's humanity, if he had any. "We've been partners for a long time, Howie. We're friends. And I know Olivia's scared right now. You don't want her to be scared, do you?"

Howie shook his head.

"So tell me where she is. She wants to come home. She wants to see her friends."

Howie shrugged. "I don't know Olivia."

He was growing more frustrated by the second, but he tried to hide it. "You remember meeting her, don't you? You said she was pretty." He reached up to demonstrate his cheek. "She had a bruise here. You thought I hit her."

Howie's eyes turned back on Elliot's. "You shouldn't hit girls."

"I didn't hit her. In fact, I found the guy that hit her and I hit him."

Howie sized Elliot up for a moment. "You were being mean to her."

As if he wasn't floundering under the weight of his own guilt, Elliot felt it pile on at Howie's statement. "We were having an argument. But it was all worked out later, Howie."

Howie shook his head and broke eye contact, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile. "No, it wasn't. She was crying. You made her cry."

His first instinct was to pound Howie. But he couldn't. He'd actually gotten Howie to admit something new. Elliot drew in a slow, shaky breath, being careful not to upset the man who knew more than he was letting on. "Who's Maggie?"

Howie's eyes widened, fixing on Elliot's once again. But he said nothing.

Elliot leaned in. "Where's Maggie, Howie?"

Howie smiled and folded his hands in his lap. "She's somewhere safe where you'll never be able to hurt her again."