He pauses, knowing her heart beat is racing, now. He continues, "As long as that may be."
She grits her teeth, as he steps back. Her nostrils flare, in anger. She knows that she's in a situation she can't win. Her only goal is to go out fighting. She spits in his face, "Go to Hell."
He wipes her saliva from his face, in anger. He grabs her by the neck, and pushes her head against the cinderblock wall. "You're already there," he snarls. She struggles to get free. Eventually he lets go. She coughs, and sputters as she tries to regain her breath.
"I chose you for a reason. I knew you would understand. I knew you would play my game."
She swallows hard, tasting blood, "You know one day while you're playing your game, you're going to wrap your hands around my neck, and accidentally break my hyoid, then what? Who will play with you then?"
"Don't worry I will find someone else," he vows.
"But none of them are me."
"I haven't killed you yet," he reminds her, as he turns to leave. She hopes he keeps going, without stopping. She doubts that she can be so lucky. He makes it halfway to the door, before he stops, abruptly. He turns, and pivots. She maintains eye contact. He makes his way towards her. She rises to her feet, before he can reach her. She knees him. He stumbles backwards. She knows that there is no changing the outcome of the situation, only delaying it. She doesn't move. She doesn't run. She's tired of running. He regains his footing, and comes at her, again. She upper cuts him, before he can grab her. He stumbles backwards, again. She remains in the same spot, waiting for him to come at her, again. He comes at her quicker, and with more fury this time, but she's had months to study him.
She knows his next move. He'll go for a punch to the gut, to knock the wind out of her. He moves towards her. She blocks him, kicking him in the ribs. This time he falls to the ground. She doesn't give herself time to savor the temporary victory. Instead, she moves forward, unrelenting. She moves towards him, quickly. She kicks him, as he lies on the ground writhing in pain. She kicks him in the ribs again, then in the head. She draws back, for a third kick. He catches her foot, as it comes towards him. He twists, and pushes, knocking her off balance. She falls to the ground, next to him. She lands on her butt. Her hands are out to her sides. Her tailbone, and wrists take most of the impact. She tries to push herself off the floor, quickly. Still panting, trying to catch his breath he stumbles to his feet, before she can. He stomps on her hand, with his steel toed boot.
He looks at the calendar on his desk. His sleeves are rolled up. The weather outside is starting to get warm. It's getting closer, and closer to summer, each day. He looks at the date on the calendar. Three months to the day, since his partner went missing. He glances across the room, at her desk. It's like a shrine to her. No one has been allowed to sit there. Even though the captain has assigned another detective, until her return no one sits at her desk. The new guy doesn't get any of this own space, or any of hers, for that matter.
Their investigation of the dead woman who turned up on her doorstep turned up nothing. They tracked down all of the old victims, they put in thousands of hours, and still not a single lead. No forensics. No positive identification. Nothing but more questions. There are a lot of those. More and more questions, and no answers.
It's late on a Saturday night, and for once he doesn't have a case. There is no dead body waiting in the morgue for him. He sits at his desk, in silence. He opens the drawer of his desk, and pulls out a well worn file. He flips it open, and begins to read it, from the top. He stares at letters on the page, knowing that he doesn't even need to read it, because he has it memorized. Her does anyway, hoping that he'll find something he missed before.
He looks up, when a cup of coffee appears on his desk. He finds his co-worker standing next to his desk.
"Thanks Fin."Fin nods. Nick looks around the room. It's well after midnight, and all of his colleagues are still at their desks, even Munch. They each work on different things. One on the computer, one on the phone. One in charge of keeping them hydrated, and fueled up.
"Nick, none of us are ever going to give up."
"She's been gone three months, and we don't have any leads that have brought us closer to finding her. We're all tired. We have all put in a lot of hours. She's my partner, I'm never going to give up on finding her, but how long can we do this? Are we all still going to be here, if we don't find her, for three years?"
"I understand your frustration, man. I feel your pain. You have to believe me when I say, none of us are ever going to give up on finding our girl. Ever. You got that?"
"Yeah," he nods.
Munch hangs up the phone. He looks at his team. Even Cragen works alongside them.
"Are we one hundred percent sure that not a single one of his victims got away?"
"We haven't found any," Amanda reminds him.
"Let's look harder. Expand the search to ten years."
She stares at her wrist. It throbs. He had set the broken wrist, and secured it with tape, the day after he crushed it. She looks at the clock, and knows that he'll be coming soon. She doesn't feel fiery today. Instead she's tired. The door opens, right on time. He enters the room. She just looks at him.
"It's raining again, isn't it?"
"Yeah," he confirms.
"Third night this week," she comments.
"Your wrist has been bothering you, again?"
"Yes."
"I bet you miss the city, don't you?"
"It's awfully quiet down here in the basement. I don't hear anything, except creaking floorboards above my head."
"You won't hear anything."
"What makes you say that?"
"The house is soundproofed."
"I am well aware of that."
"And," he adds, "There is nobody for miles around."
"Then I should be allowed to leave the basement. There is nowhere for me to run."
"You would if you had the chance."
"How? You kicked me so hard that my ankle turned black. I can barely stand up. How the hell would I run away? Even if I did run I couldn't get very far. I don't know where I am, and you would catch me."
"Nice try," he snarls, "But I'm not letting you out of your cage."
"Even a caged dog gets let out sometimes, for good behavior."
"For good behavior? Two days ago you knocked out my tooth. That is the second one in two weeks."
"You couldn't get any uglier, so what does it matter?" she plays his game.
Hours later Nick looks up from his computer. He shakes his head.
"I don't believe it."
"What?" Fin questions.
"I found someone. I think she may have been his first," Nick reveals.
"What makes you think that?" Cragen wonders.
"Police found her wandering along the interstate seven years ago. They thought that she was homeless, at first. When they questioned her she said that she had been walking for four days. She didn't know where she had came from. She said someone had abducted her."
"They didn't believe her?"
"They just wrote her off as some crazy," Nick admits.
"Where is she now?" Cragen questions.
"She lives in Louisville."
"Everyone go home, and get some sleep, it's nearly four a.m. Nick, tomorrow I want you, and Amanda to go to Louisville, and talk to this girl."