A/N: A shout out to cinderella1268. Thanks for your review! Glad you've enjoyed it so far. :)
Chapter 18
"Detective Stabler, what a surprise to see you in my interrogation room again," Lieutenant Tucker smirked as Elliot took the seat across from him at the table.
"Well you know how it is. I just love having more assholes in my day," Elliot shot back. Tucker gave him a look but said nothing that indicated he was going to get a rise out of the IAB police officer.
"The Chief of D's has already made himself clear yet you and the squad continue to work things behind his back. Not that I expected much different from you SVU cowboys but your help hasn't been all that fantastic. In fact, I'm sure Detective Rollins is wishing she'd stayed out of it right now," Tucker told him.
"Rollins loves her job. She knows what the dangers are," Elliot was close to reaching across the table and strangling Tucker.
"We'll see how she feels after she gets out of that coma," the Lieutenant said before shifting gears.
"Now I know that you and Detective Tutuola would never betray your Captain but I wonder how much you'd be willing to put on the line for Rollins and Amaro."
"They're both good cops. They would never do anything to jeopardize the unit," Elliot said.
"Well that might not be entirely true. I mean we have footage from Atlantic City. Seems Rollins fell off the wagon and fell hard. Then there's Amaro. His wife called the cops on him on his last visit to DC," Tucker told him.
"What does that have to do with the case at hand?" Elliot asked stonily, trying to hide his surprise.
"Come on now Detective. These two are obviously wrapped up in their personal lives. Are you telling me that they couldn't have made a mistake that is now coming back to bite them in the ass?" The Lieutenant wanted to know.
"No way," Stabler shook his head.
"You better hope that your new partner is telling Detective Cassidy the same story. Otherwise this could get ugly," Tucker said.
"What about Simpson? He had connections inside the unit or inside the NYPD. Why aren't you looking into them?" Elliot wanted to know.
"Oh we are. It seems though that after his conviction Simpson lost a lot of friends here in the NYPD. However he made some new friends in Fishkill," the file that had been sitting on the table was now slid over to Elliot and he opened it up.
"You recognize any of these perps?" Tucker asked.
"Should I?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.
"Martin Price shared a cell with Simpson and was paroled two weeks before him. The inmates' mail is screened but no one realized what they were looking at," Tucker pulled out another file from the briefcase on the floor and handed it to Stabler.
"Letters?" Elliot was confused.
"Look who they're signed by," the Lieutenant said.
"Vivian?" His eyes went wide.
"Now no last name was ever written on the letters that Martin left behind in his cell but my guess is that there is no coincidence behind the custody issues you just squashed and the name on these letters," Tucker told him.
"You investigate Price?" Elliot asked.
"His PO hasn't seen him. You want to know what he was in for?" Tucker gave him a look. Elliot didn't reply but he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it.
"Assaulting his girlfriend, whose name was not Vivian. The guy has a rap sheet as long as my arm and one of those times he spent time upstate was for attempted rape – he committed that in the Bronx. Before you ask, though, we're pulling the security tapes from the visiting room. The FBI was very interested in this angle," the Lieutenant continued.
"What ties her to him anyway?" Elliot asked.
"Old boyfriend it seems. She must have looked him up after she disappeared from the city. We're still piecing things together. Just do me a favor Stabler. Stay out of the way and I'll keep you in the loop. Piss me off and you can kiss your badge goodbye," Tucker said. With that he stood and left the room.
To Be Continued…