Chapter Two

Detective Olivia Benson had just fallen asleep when she heard the all too familiar ring of her cell phone.

"Benson," she said habitually.

"Sorry sleeping beauty but we caught a case," her partner joked.

"Where am I off to this time El?" she replied as she reached for pen and paper. She jotted down the address Elliot gave her. "I'll be there in a second."

It was almost two in the morning when Olivia arrived in front of the tall brick apartment building. Elliot saw her walking up and went to greet her and get her up to speed on the case.

"Rape and assault. Victim looks like she's in her early twenties. Really did a number on her. They're loading her into the bus now." Elliot pointed and Olivia looked over to see EMS lifting a stretcher into the back of an ambulance.

"Is she conscious?" Olivia asked without looking away from the ambulance.

"In and out."

"I'll ride anyways. See what I can find out." With that Olivia moved swiftly to the ambulance and climbed into the back. She reached for the young woman's hand as the doors closed and they made their way to Mercy Hospital.

With his partner gone, Elliot followed CSU up to the victim's apartment. Munch was already there, waiting in what appeared to be the young woman's living room.

"What's the hold up?" Elliot asked as he slipped on a pair of latex gloves.

"CSU isn't finished in the bedroom. That looks to be where most of it went down. It's a small space and they want to make sure they get everything before we go in." Munch replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Well do we have an ID yet? I see a purse over there." Elliot tipped his head towards the kitchen table, which had a leather handbag on it.

"Perp must have grabbed the wallet and cell phone. Only found a make up case and a couple tampons."

Elliot couldn't help but let out a slight snicker at the face Munch made as he said the word "tampons". It was like they were in 5th grade again.

CSU made their way out of the bedroom and one of the techs approached the two waiting detectives.

"Looks like we got some semen on the comforter from the bed," the tech said. "There's also a lot of blood. It might take us awhile to sort out what's the perp's and what's our vic's."

"Well let's try to make it sooner rather than later," Elliot chided. CSU hadn't been the same since the death of O'Halloran. "Can we go in now?"

"It's all yours." The tech stepped out of the detective's way and made his way out of the apartment.

Munch and Elliot walked into the bedroom together. Elliot let out a sigh as he saw the amount of blood on the bed and carpet. He had seen EMS take the girl out of the apartment and she looked to be around the same age as his two oldest daughters. He couldn't fathom how she could still be alive after losing so much blood.

"First things first," Elliot said turning to Munch. "We gotta find out who this girl is."

Munch nodded in agreement as he moved to the far side of the bedroom to look at a bookcase. He scanned over each book, looking for something that might jump out. Picking up one of the large hardcover books he could see a Yale bookstore price tag on the back.

"Looks like she went to Yale," Munch said. "Most of these books are in French. You think she's a citizen?" Elliot shrugged as he went through the drawers of the bedside table. He only managed to find an alarm clock and another book, this one in English that discussed the Carolingian Renaissance.

"Whoever she is, I'm guessing she's pretty smart. French, history, Yale. Impressive for a girl who looks to only be about 22." Elliot said replacing the contents into the bedside table. As he shut the drawer, he saw something edged underneath the queen size bed. Elliot picked up the rectangular object.

"Looks like we got a picture frame. Must have been knocked down during the struggle." Elliot turned around the frame and gasped at the sight in his hands.

"What is it?" Munch questioned as he made his way across the room.

"I think we just IDed our victim." Elliot managed to make out.

In his hands was a black picture frame with the word "Sister" written at the bottom in silver writing. The picture inside was that of two gorgeous women who were none other than their victim and their ex ADA, Casey Novak.