Once at the precinct Donald immediately tells Olivia and Elliot that Alicia came in with another email; this one with an attached photograph of a woman.
"It looked authentic so we had processed. Come look."
"The photo is of a dumped white female, dead leaves, and a broken down swing. Not much to go on. The pixels line up; the body is real. But without any landmarks there is no way to know where it is located." Fin relays as Alicia walks up.
"Should we be talking about this in front of a civilian?" Elliot hides a sneer. "Our perp is a sociopath and she deals with teachers diddleing their students."
Alicia responds quickly, and smugly. "Does knowing the location earn me a seat at the table?"
"How could you know?"
"I interviewed a woman who said that she saw Vanessa at this park."
An argument ensues in which Fin ends up walking away and even Sonya and Alicia get at each other's throats. Finally John steps in,"Where's the park?"
"I'm not telling you unless I go to." Alicia remarks stubbornly.
"Not going to happen," he replies just as quickly and firmly.
"Either you follow me there or I ride with you. Those are my terms."
Once at the park, Fin gets out and turns to Alicia.
"You stay right there, or I'll handcuff you to the door." Fin turns abruptly and huffs away.
Olivia approaches her next and Alicia tries to defend herself. "Hey I didn't ask for this. The guy sent me an email. He wants me to see whatever he's done."
"He wants you to make him famous without getting caught."
"The guy killed my sister. I know it's the same man," she insists.
"Hand me your damn phone and get back in the car."
Olivia begins searching and can't help but wonder if Alicia's right. The connection the park could just be a coincidence, but is it? The stalker is obsessed with her, and she doesn't fit the MO for the child abductor and killer.
She begins comparing the photograph from the email on Alicia's phone to the area. Finally she finds her lying placed just like the photo shows.
"Found her! Call Warner."
The poor girl is mostly hidden by snow, but her soft innocent face and cascading blonde hair are still free. Olivia goes off in her own world. You never get used to finding bodies.
Elliot sees something under a bush. He grabs a stick and after gently digging lifts up a decomposing arm covered in snow.
"Found another one!" He shouts.
Finn calls from the left, "Body number three. We're going to need a forensic team and cadaver dogs."
In the car, Alicia gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. How many bodies are there?
Elliotand Finn go down to see Warner.
"Six white females. Average age: late teens to early twenties and all in varying stages of decomp. Five I'm ruling homicides but I will need to unflesh their bones to determine the cause of death. This Jane Doe died only three days ago by three stab wounds, each six inches deep."
Paxton cuts in with a look of knowing in her eyes. "Let me guess: stomach, chest, and back?"
"How'd you know?"
"I saw Vanessa's clothes. Same pattern."
Olivia jumps in, "Son of a bitch is a copycat."
"Or the same guy," claims Paxton, taking Alicia's side.
"I wouldn't know unless I had her body," says Warner, "The first was a primordial stab to the vertebrae which paralyzed her from the chest down."
"Was she raped?" Olivia questions, expecting the worst.
"Repeatedly, but no fluids. Next came the left lung."
"So she'd stop screaming. Then when he had what he wanted he finishes her off with a knife cut to the cut." She shakes her head in utter disdain.
She turns to leave, but Warner grabs her arm. "The blows were precise. This guy knows what he was doing."
"So he has forensic, police, and medical knowledge. He's been at it for awhile." Olivia shakes her head.
Olivia and Elliot go to look at a possible lead that Paxton gives them. While there, they are told that Alicia filmed a segment for her show.
"I know you're watching. You are nothing but a sexual deviant suffering from an erectile dysfunction so severe that you have to rape with a knife. You are pathetic. State prosecutor Sonya Paxton thinks you should be prosecuted and put away for life. I say you're not worth and you should be put down like the rabid dog you are." Calmly, slowly, and passionately Alicia delivers her message as well as knowledge about the case and footage from the search for the bodies.
"We can't let her air this! She's setting herself up as bait." Olivia exclaims.
Elliot crossly points out, "Dumb ass belongs in jail. She just leaked six open homicides."
"Hopefully Cragen can get the network to hold it before it airs."
As Elliot follows Olivia to talk to Cragen, he can't help but notice how good her ass looks in her jeans. He catches himself before he asks her if they're new. He's shook from his thoughts when Cragen informs them it's too late and it went national.
"Wanna explain how she got footage of the crime scene?"
"Caption, I took her cell phone, didn't give her a cavity search."
"She didn't take Paxton's. Sonya's just as fixated on catching this guy as Alicia is." Elliot steps in trying to help Liv out.
"Even if it means dumping her career?"
Olivia relays their last conversation together by saying, "Last time I talked to her the case was all she cared about."
The caption orders them to find Paxton and that he'll take care of the rest.
Elliot and Olivia find Alicia at Paxton's apartment under police surveillance and resting on the couch.
"I don't know if you're brave or just stupid," Elliot scours her with his eyes.
Naturally, Alicia gets on the defense side. "You don't catch the bastard by doing nothing. It's better if he comes at me off balance and raging."
"Whose bright idea was that?"
"Not Paxton's. She has nothing to do with this. I had a backup camera in my pocket at the crime scene. And no one was talking me out of airing that segment."
"Where is she now?" Olivia questions. She has known Paxton for a long time and is beginning to worry about her friend. She sets aside her fears and emotions and to regain her composure, as always.
"She wanted a drink and went to an AA meeting instead."
Elliot, who consistently can sense Olivia's emotions, takes over. "Where is this week's meeting?"
"Sonya's car is still here."
"I'll check the ladies room."
Olivia opens the door and her eyes immediately go to the mirror. There's blood and the glass is broken in a spiral. She's seen too many of these to not recognize the shape. Someone's head was bashed against the mirror. As she opens the door further, she hears gasping noises and her eyes hit the floor.
Sprawled out on the floor is Sonya, grasping her neck with both hands. A pool of blood forming on the ground gets Olivia's attention next.
She freezes for an instance and then screams as loudly as she can, "Elliot I need help in here!"
She rushes to Sonya's side. Placing her head on her lap, and her scarf against the wound, she can fill the gushes of blood escaping with every beat of Sonya's heart.
"Sonya, Sonya, Sonya, you hang on there. Hang on. It's ok."
Olivia, trying her best to keep her voice calm, tries to give hope and life to Sonya, but she knows it's too late.
Elliot rushes in, and upon seeing her lying on the floor grabs his walkie-talkie. "Central send units and bus to my location. We have a murder suspect in the area. Bloody clothes. Approach with caution."
Having done this, he rushes to Olivia's side.
"Elliot help me. She can't breathe."
Sonya opens her mouth and is able to say, "It's ok. I got him."
Then the gasping turns to gargling as the blood flows into her lungs.
"Shhh hold on…"
Olivia feels Paxton's head fall and her life flow from her. The blood is still pouring out but the bursts caused by her beating heart have stopped. She's gone.
Olivia's mouth drops open and she notices the blood all over her hands. Her friend's blood. And her friend's body lying there lifeless. Elliot looks at her and catches her as she falls backwards. Her head inches from the ground; he grabs it gently and places her in his arms. He hates this. The pain she feels seeps into him as she shakes and cries. He feels helpless and useless, so he does what he's wanted to do for some time. He leans in and gives her a delicate kiss on the check. Olivia feels all of concern and affection. But they both feel something else. She stops crying and looks up at him. There was love in that kiss. They both know it. In their eyes' is something that they both have never seen before. And at that moment they know that what they have and have been avoiding is real.
Warner walks in and Olivia realizes where she is and what Sonya had said to her before she died.
"She had him. She said she had him. Maybe there's something under her nails?" Olivia gasps, finally beginning to think and function like a cop again.
Warner glances up from investigating her throat.
"Her jugular was cut. She would've been low on oxygen at that point and there is nothing under her nails. I'll check again once I get her on the examining table."
…. "So she bit him. She knew she was going to die so she went for the DNA. That's what I'd do."
Elliot smiles because he knows it's true. Warner gets down with a flashlight and looks in her mouth, as Olivia looks on anxiously.
Warner nods, "There's a hair in her throat. I'll swab her mouth and check her stomach for his blood.