Chapter 43
The precinct.
Olivia stood unblinking at the monitor. Hoping Amanda was still alive. Knowing that logically there was no reason she wouldn't be but all reason had escaped her.
Behind her, she heard a commotion. Fin was suddenly upon her and in her panic stricken state she shook him roughly by the shoulders, "What are you doing?!"
"Liv, listen to me. All of you! I only have 15 seconds. The feds and TARU created a loop of the video feed. They did the same with the audio. They need to do a longer one but you all need to stay still and not say a word or else it won't work." He was walking backwards as he was running out of time. "Liv, get him to walk offscreen. Think of the movie speed."
Olivia turned around quickly to follow Fin's instructions. All the while realizing this could buy them time to decipher Amanda's signs.
Amanda was slowly coming to. She opened her eyes feeling all sorts of pain throughout her body and face. The first thing she saw was the woman's face that was in front of her. Now laying perfectly across from her.
She whispered and called out to her but the woman was unresponsive. "Oh my God." Like a thousand bricks it hit her. Before her lay the person that held the key to Dr. Williams. In a matter of seconds Amanda deduced who this guy was. She tried to hold her head up but tied as she was, it was almost impossible. She could see a feed of herself in the far corner. She reasoned he was likely watching her right now. Signing was her only possibility. This time it was her left hand. Her right hand was throbbing with pain regardless, and the only one they would currently be able to see was her left.
She got the words out just in time, hoping that someone back at the station had figured it out. She knew Liv would recognize what she was doing but she also knew that Liv could barely sign an A. She cursed at herself for not teaching her sooner.
Fin came running out again.
"She's signing! Who knows sign language?" Liv shouted.
Everyone in the room shrugged their shoulders apologetically and murmured they didn't know.
"Ok. Ok, this is good. I'll relay the feed back to TARU. They can find someone, Liv." Fin was trying to sound reassuring.
"Fin, there's no time." Olivia hesitated briefly. "Show it to Noah! She taught him. Jessie too, but she's too young."
"Liv, I don't think…" Fin knew they were desperate but Noah was just a child.
"Have TARU fix the feed so that it only shows her hands. Don't let him see anything else. Just her hands. It's the fastest way."
"Ok." Fin ran back into the office to get right to it. He yelled from afar, "Going live, in 3, 2,.."
Olivia and the rest of the room retuned to their positions. She returned her gaze to Amanda who was just lying there quietly but continuously signing with her left hand. But he didn't walk in. Instead their screen turned black. They could hear rustling and suddenly they were on a different video feed. He held the camera facing himself.
"You get front row seats to my show, Liv."
Olivia felt her stomach churn. What was he up to? Like a POV video he turned the camera down to a woman's bare ass. She was unmoving and Olivia thought that she must be tied to something. The feed was somewhat blurry. Oh my God…was that Amanda? Olivia was looking for any sign that it was her. But she was sure that it wasn't. But how could it? Wasn't she just laying on the floor, anchored to a chair? Unless the feed was slow? This was so confusing. He shifted the camera to his grotesque penis as he advanced towards the woman.
"No! Wait! Who is that?" Olivia was frantic. But he was pressing forward and unrelenting.
"What? Does it not matter to you who it is unless it's blondie?" Liv could hear him as he taunted her but she could not see his face. All they could see was the camera pointing down as he held his shaft and was stroking the length of her crack up and down.
"Don't you dare!" She spat angrily at him.
"I'm sure Amanda is sweeter than she looks." Olivia could hear the menacing smile behind his words.
"No! Stop! Don't hurt her!" Olivia was yelling but she could have been yelling into an abyss. In a second he shoved his penis into her ass. Clearly gagged, her muffled scream of agony ran a shrill inducing current throughout Olivia's body as she watched her struggle against him in vain.
Olivia grabbed a nearby trash can as she emptied her breakfast into the container. She threw up until there was nothing left but bile in her.
Stephanie Daniels felt queasy herself and it wasn't her partner being brutally raped. She supposed that any normal person would feel sick under the circumstance. She could not begin to comprehend what Olivia must be going through right now. And at this point she feared the worst for Detective Rollins. She felt like an incompetent moron not being able to do anything. So she handed a napkin over to Olivia who was now profusely sweating and pale.
He continued his onslaught; now alternating between his penis and a hard bristled brush. She continued to wail in torturous agony. Olivia put her hand over her face as it all became a bloody mess. "God no, please. Amanda, God." Olivia was a stuttering mess between her thoughts and the few words she let slip aloud amongst her prayers and pleas.
"You better be watching this Olivia. Don't take those hateful eyes off of us. He pounded into her repeatedly until he emptied himself into her with a disgusting grunt. The crying whimpers and the small river of blood were the only things registering in Olivia's mind.
He turned to the camera. "I didn't know Amanda was such a screamer."
"You evil son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill you. I swear to God!" Olivia was trying to keep the rest of her bile down but she felt her gut twisting and threatening to hurl again.
The same way the video came it was gone. And the feed was back to the grand room with the red headed woman on the floor and Amanda still laying on her side, attached to the chair but partially clothed.
"That…that wasn't Amanda?" Olivia felt a relief and gratefulness wash over her entire being.
"No, that was this lovely lady here, earlier in the day." He gestured to the injured woman on the floor.
"You sick bastard." Olivia exclaimed. She found herself having to hold onto something, unsteady on her feet. Olivia felt a warm tightness in her chest and although she was panting quickly she was short of breath. Is this what a heart attack feels like? A part of her would welcome her own death if it meant ending Amanda's torture.
She felt the AD place a gentle hand on her back. Stephanie wanted to offer support in any way she could. Right now she hoped she could transfer some strength back into Olivia.
"Oh but that was just a little preview of what is to come. I have special plans for the wifey, Olivia." The bastard taunted her like a demented ringmaster from a circus.
He turned his attention back to Amanda as he called out, "Oh Honey, I'm home." He walked over to lift Amanda into an upright position again. "Did you miss me? Are you hungry?" He shoved a Twinkie by her mouth. "I wouldn't want you passing out on me from hypoglycemia. You'd miss all the fun. Thirsty?" He showed her a glass of water. But Amanda bore daggers with her eyes and she turned her head away from the food and drink.
"Suit yourself. Oh, sweetheart." He called out as he kneeled by the other woman. He threw the glass of water in her face. She barely reacted. "No, no. We can't have this!"
He quickly lay her on her back and began CPR. Olivia and Stephanie looked at one another in fright for the poor woman and also curious as to what his next step was.
After two rounds of chest compressions the woman's breathing seemed to stabilize again. At least, enough to his liking. "There we go." He got up with a grunt and turned to the camera.
"It's no fun to fuck a corpse."
He then opened his briefcase and pulled out a bottle of rum. "You know, I think the problem with Detective Rollins here is that she's way too tense, too alert. I mean, I do want you alert...somewhat. Enough for you to feel every touch from my body but you are just way too difficult."
He yanked Amanda's head back by her hair, "And I don't like it." He whispered. He began prying her mouth open, trying to shove rum down her throat but it was a mess with her resisting. Her face and hair were now soaked with rum and blood and he was getting nowhere fast. So he pulled a knife from his case, pressing it against Amanda's now protruding belly.
"Here's how this is gonna go, Detective. I don't like to mess with children really but you are really trying my patience. Now…you are gonna drink this alcohol or I am gonna c-section this baby out of you in cold blood. The baby will die within minutes, or maybe it will last an hour at most. But I promise I won't let you die. No, you'll get to watch your premature infant suffer miserably. I'll stitch you back up so you can witness all the fun. Is that what you want?!"
He knew he hit a nerve. He saw the collapse of her brave facade the minute he put the knife to her belly. Amanda only shook her head yes. For the first time Olivia could see tears streaking down her face. Her own eyes now burning from the onslaught of her own tears.
Amanda complied as he shoved the alcohol down her throat. She coughed and gagged but practically downed a whole bottle.
"Good girl. That's how I like it."
Olivia could see the light fading from her eyes as her head slumped forward then back up again. She was fighting the intoxication.
He walked away yet again. Olivia was terrified of what he had in store for Amanda next. Olivia understood that she needed to be strong for Amanda. She needed to save her. Except right now, she wasn't sure how much more she could take of this. His previous taunt, making her believe he had been raping Amanda, had weakened her defenses so much more than she could afford. But in this situation would anyone else have faired better? Most would have shut their eyes and sobbed their pain and anguish for all to see. Olivia was trying to hold it together as best as she could.
Meanwhile back in Liv's office, Jessie was still asleep. But Fin was showing Noah the video TARU quickly edited for his interpretation. It was a rough cut. They did it in under two minutes.
"Can you tell me what these letters are big guy?"
Noah watched carefully and shook his head yes, "Where's mommy?"
"Your mom is out there trying real hard to find Manda. But she needs your help. We all do. Can you try real hard for us and tell uncle Fin what these letters are?" Fin was aware TARU was submitting the video to a sign interpreter but Liv was right and Noah may be faster.
"Ok."
He slowly began, "W, A, R, E, and I think H?"
"Good Noah. That's good. Take your time."
"O, S, E, O, L, D, P…"
Fin was diligently writing every letter down. He had TARU and the feds on FaceTime watching what he wrote. "WAREHOSE. Warehouse!" He continued, "OLDREDPANT. Good Noah keep going."
When they finished the first part of the feed it was clear that Amanda signed, "Warehouse, old red paint, rust, fishing hooks."
The second part of the feed proved more difficult because of the angle of her hand. But TARU had done their best to show the best angle and amplify it.
Noah began again, "That…I don't know."
"Do your best. We're almost done."
"U,A,N,E,S,A,M,A,Y,C,R,I,S,F,A,H,E,V"
"Ok Noah. Great job! Listen, in a few minutes Lucy is going to come and get you and Jessie. You're gonna go home with her and Uncle Barba. But we have to wait a few minutes. We can't go out there until I tell you okay?"
"Ok, Uncle Fin."
Within 2 minutes Fin received the signal that it was time to move the children. As he opened the door Noah immediately ran into Liv's arms, "I don't wanna go, Mommy. Why can't I stay here with you?"
Olivia quickly moved away from the screen so that he wouldn't see. She looked into his eyes and couldn't even hide her tears from him, "Sweet boy. I want to be with you too but right now I need you to listen to uncle Fin." She saw Lucy by the entrance holding a sleeping Jessie, "Stay with Jessie and go with Lucy."
"I wanna be with you." He whined.
"Me too, Noah." Olivia hugged him tightly, "I love you so much. But right now I gotta go help Manda. And thanks to you I will be able to do that. Can you go stay with Jessie? Will you do that for me so I can help her?"
"Yes. Bring Momma back. Hurry! I just want us all to go home." He reluctantly replied.
"Me too baby. Remember we love you and Jessie very much. You gotta go now, baby." Olivia held her forehead in distress as she saw the children ushered away and leave her line of sight.
Fin ran towards her, "We're gonna find her, Liv. I'm going now!"
"Where is she?" Olivia inquired.
Fin showed her what they had. "The last part they're still tryin to figure out. We're not sure if it says a place? Or if it's a name?"
Olivia along with AD Daniels and Carisi stared at the words intently,
"U,A,N,E,S,A,M,A,Y,C,R,H,I,S,F,A,H,E,V"
Olivia instructed, "Let's break the letters up. Uansam Ayc isfahev. No, that's nothing, Let's try…Uanesa maycr. "
She gasped loudly, "Vanessa Mayor!" She turned abruptly to the screen. "Oh my God. The other woman is Vanessa Mayor, Lewis' ex-girlfriend and lawyer." She elaborated for AD Daniels and the others.
She looked back at the letter, "Hisfahev. His father! Dr. Lucas Williams. How could I be so stupid? It's Lewis' father!"
"Weren't both his parent's dead?" Fin thought this couldn't get any worse.
"That's what the file said but Amanda is right, nothing else makes sense. That monster is Lewis' father." She pointed at the screen.
Almost out of time, Fin ran off towards the elevators, "I'm gonna find her, Liv!"
Olivia felt her body tremble with anticipation as she approached the screen for she knew it in her gut. Even under such duress, Amanda was an excellent profiler. That man was Lewis' father and he would stop at nothing to destroy her
