Chapter 31
Olivia was sitting in her office when she got a call on her desk phone. Answering it, she was told by the officer on the other end, that Phil was back at Abigail's house. TARU had removed the recording equipment hours ago, but patrol was still watching the house to see if anyone else showed up. Mario Taglietti had disappeared. He wasn't old enough to have participated in the death of Ron Davidson, but he probably had a good idea of who might have helped.
"I'll be down there as soon as I can. Keep him there," the Captain told the patrolman. He promised he would and the phone call was over. Heaving a sigh, Olivia stood up and collected her things. She had no intention of coming back to the precinct that night. It had been a long day and the paperwork could wait. Noah was over at a friend's house, so she didn't have to rush home, but she didn't want to be in the office anymore today anyway. She only got to the doorway however when she saw Fin on the other side of it. He had been about to open the door, but she did it for him.
"What's up?" Olivia could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong.
"Just got a call from Baltimore," he started. Munch had moved back down there and was living his best life with a divorced female rabbi. He'd even bought back his old cop bar and was running it.
"Fin…" she gave him a look.
"Munch went to bed and didn't wake up yesterday," the Sergeant's shoulders slumped. Olivia couldn't believe it and wrapped her arms around him.
"Where were you off to?" Typical Fin – changing the subject when something like this came up.
"Phil showed back up at Abigail's house. I was going to convince him to go back to the hotel. We should head to the bar after I'm done, and have one for Munch," Olivia gave him a small smile. Despite not being his partner, the Captain had always liked the tall, thin, man. He'd had a joke for everything but was also a good mentor.
"You need me to go with you?" Fin asked.
"It's still early in California, call Nick and let him know what's happened. I'll call Carisi on the ride over to Abigail's and then I'll let Elliot know. Can you call Don?" Olivia wondered.
"Yeah, I can do that. Then meet you at the bar?" Fin gave a tight smile.
"Yeah, we're going to the bar," she clapped a hand on his shoulder before heading out to her car. Munch had been a good detective and a great friend. Many a night was spent teasing him about his crappy coffee and joking about aliens.
Twenty minutes later, Olivia pulled up outside Abigail's house. She went to the patrol officers and they let her know that Phil hadn't left the residence. Thanking them, she headed inside, and called out,
"Phil! It's Olivia!"
"Captain…" his voice broke and it made her wonder what was going on. Moving from the living room to the kitchen, she found he wasn't there. Cautiously, she went through the kitchen and down the hall to the first room on the left. There was Phil. He was sitting on a computer chair, a box was on the floor full of what looked like personal stuff, and in his hands was a music box. The box had a secret compartment, which had been opened. Now the man held a folded-up piece of paper in his hands.
"What have you got there?" Olivia asked.
"We made up that note but I… Karen…" Phil couldn't do it. He couldn't open that piece of paper. Olivia understood. If it was what she thought it was, it would confirm Phil's worst fears.
"Just hand that to me. You don't need to read it. We got Taglietti. You let me worry about that note. I'll take it into evidence and it'll be the proof we need. We'll find poor Ron and we'll give him a proper burial," Olivia promised.
"This is my fault. If I wasn't in the life, then Karen would never have met Tony, and Ron… poor Ron," the guilt was consuming him. Olivia noted that Huang was going to need to be called. She'd have to call him about Munch too.
"Hey, let me get you back to Abigail huh? She's probably worried about you. You don't have to tell her any of this. Just tell her that we got 'em. Me, you, and Elliot, we'll sit down with the two of you in the morning and Elliot and I will be the bad guys, ok?" She offered. Phil looked at her and sighed before handing over the folded-up piece of paper. Without looking at it, she pulled an evidence bag out of her pocket and sealed the note up, ensuring chain of custody. Carefully, she goaded him out of the chair and then out of the house.
After she dropped Phil off, she headed to CSU and dropped the letter off to be catalogued and analyzed. Josh Johnson was on duty and he promised to have the folded-up piece of paper to SVU's bull pen in the morning. Olivia thanked him and headed back out to the car.
"Hi George," she was glad he picked up.
"What's going on?" He could tell by her tone that something was wrong.
"A lot, but can you meet us at the bar?" Olivia wondered, not wanting to have this discussion over the phone – there was just too much to discuss and it would delay her and him.
"See you in thirty," George promised. She hung up and then called Elliot's number. He might still be interrogating Taglietti, but she'd leave him a message. It surprised her that he picked up after the first ring.
"Liv, what's up?"
"We're meeting at the bar. El…"
"What happened Liv?" He pressed her.
"It's Munch. He's gone. Fin just found out," she told him.
"See you at the bar in fifteen," he promised.
To Be Continued…