Chapter 15
Elliot had whittled it down to two places where Robbie could have been keeping his victims. The owners had no one on their lists of renters with the name of Robbie Alvarez but once they described him they were able to get the security guards to say that they had seen men fitting that description. Regrettably the whole process took most of the night and it wasn't until the next morning when they had the two locations.
"Munch and Fin take the first storage place. ESU is going to meet you there. Olivia and Elliot take the second place. Again ESU will meet you there," Cragen announced. Everyone was juiced on coffee and energy drinks having gotten no sleep so they jumped out of their chairs and headed for the door before Olivia stopped.
"What about a warrant?" She asked.
"Casey says that we are assisting in New Jersey's attempt to catch their killer and his next possible victim who is a New York resident. The judge signed off in no time, especially since Alvarez was already in custody," Cragen explained and then ushered them out of the door. The detectives quickly split up and headed for each storage place. ESU was ready and waiting for them.
"We heard you already got your suspect. Why do you need us?" The ESU Captain Morris asked as Munch led him down to the unit that was suspected to belong to Alvarez.
"This guy is a real psycho. He could have booby-trapped the place," the older detective explained.
"Well then we had best go in cautiously," Morris nodded. They reached the door to the number storage location they had been given by the owner. Morris got his men to check the door seal and the lock for anything hinky.
"Seems clear. We're going to remove the lock with the bolt cutters," the Captain told Munch and Fin. One of the men did so and then they checked the slide bolt for the door. Once again there were no outward appearances of any booby-trap. They then carefully slid the bolt back. Nothing. The only thing left to do was to open the door. One man dressed in a full bomb suit went for the door and opened it. Nothing happened and the rest of the team rushed into the space.
"There is just this old trunk. Nothing else," Munch couldn't believe it. No car and seemingly no Elizabeth.
"Let the robot scan that before anyone opens it. Clear out!" Morris ordered. They fell back to the safety of the police vehicles and the robot went inside.
"What do we have?" Fin wanted to know as they watched it scan the trunk.
"No explosives. It's a body," Morris said. Munch and Fin swallowed hard. The bomb robot determined the trunk to be devoid of booby-traps and the detectives headed inside. Upon opening the trunk they came to a horrible realization.
"Get Melinda down here on the double and CSU. We've got another victim," Fin said.
"Is it your girl?" Morris asked.
"No. It isn't," Munch heaved a sigh. The woman in the trunk was wearing what they would typically see on a streetwalker and had been dead for a long time; the temperature outside freezing her solid, meaning that she had to have been warm to get in the trunk. Signs of decay were obvious but it had also been slowed because of the cold.
"Maybe she was victim zero," Morris said as the call went over the radio for the medical examiner.
"Could be. Let's hope Liv and Elliot are having better luck," Fin shook his head and then pulled his cellphone out of his pocket to call Cragen.
Meanwhile, ESU was attempting to figure out if the second storage unit was booby-trapped. So far they had found nothing and then quickly rolled the door up, only to find that it was hard to do. They finally managed to get it to go all the way up and Olivia and Elliot were dumbfounded at what they saw.
"He lined the walls and ceiling with some sort of sound proof material. Doesn't help keep things warm but it would prevent the screaming from being heard," ESU Lieutenant Grey explained.
"The missing car I presume?" One of the ESU officers asked before making sure they swept the room for anything that could have been a trap. The walls had shelving units on them and items that made Olivia cringe inwardly. A car battery, jumper cables, knives, handcuffs, rope, and some sort of chemicals in unmarked bottles – all hallmarks of Robbie Alvarez's killer trade.
"Matches the description," Elliot nodded.
"Things are clear. The keys are even in the ignition," another ESU officer commented. Elliot called Elizabeth's name but they got no response. Olivia moved to the trunk and ordered,
"Pop the trunk." She was hoping that they managed to find Elizabeth safely. The officer reached in and pulled the lever to pop the trunk. When the trunk opened the sound of a breaking bottle could be heard and a plume of smoke escaped. Olivia began to cough and the last thing she remembered was the sound of Elliot shouting her name.
To Be Continued…