Elliot felt frozen with the dainty earring dangling from his fingers. He needed to make a choice. He needed back up. Obviously something had happened, but what? It would take time for search and rescue and the local police to get here. For all he knew, these kids were on the other side of the creek injured, but they could also be miles away, making his search futile.
He felt paralyzed by the decision, the wrong one could potentially risk those kids' lives. He closed his eyes so he could think. He needed to get back up. Even if he found the kids, he would be alone, and he wouldn't be able to leave them to get help. If anyone was injured, which it looked like someone might be, he may not be able to move them. He let out a frustrated groan and turned from the creek. He jogged up the hill so he could avoid the sloshy mud of the creek bank.
He felt the mud flick from his boots as he rushed back to the camp. He noticed a couple adults back from the search, but he wasn't going to update anyone until he made a call. He jogged over to the bus area. He spotted Noah, who stood, blue eyes chasing him in nervous anticipation. His stomach dropped when he realized he would have to tell him about what he found.
He lifted his phone to his ear and lifted a finger so Noah knew he would talk to him in a minute. Dispatch immediately picked up.
"This is Detective Stabler with the NYPD. I'm camping with my child's school, and we have two children missing from the group."
"How long have they been missing?"
"We aren't sure exactly, but we noticed their absence at 6am."
"That's helpful, thank you."
He heard the dispatcher typing in the information and he added, "We need a team out here as soon as possible. I found evidence of violence or injury not far from the campsite. This is time sensitive."
"I already have officers dispatched. Currently working on search and rescue." More typing. "Okay. I have those units dispatched. Hang tight, and keep all the other kids in a central location, until we get there."
"Copy that." Elliot said while his eyes drifted to Noah, who was now standing against one of the pavilion columns.
"Stay put until we get there detective, we need you available to relay more information. We can't go searching for you too."
"Got it." Elliot affirmed, even though he was antsy to return to his search. "I need to go update the rest of the adults here, it looks like the others are returning from our search."
"Just stay close," the dispatcher reiterated.
"Thanks." Elliot hung up the call, and the second he dropped the phone from his ear, Noah bounded towards him.
It was as if Noah could intuitively sense that something was wrong. With a brilliantly intuitive cop for a mother, he wouldn't have expected less. Unfortunately, it didn't give him time to plan his words. He approached cautiously, but once he read Elliot's expression he melted into tears.
"Oh hey, Noah, come here buddy," He reached for the boy, and felt his smaller arms wrap around Elliot's middle.
He heard the sniffles, but Noah refused to lift his face. His voice was muffled because his face was pressed into Elliots shirt. "You didn't find them."
"I didn't," he affirmed. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I think I found what direction they went, but it's not smart for me to search alone anymore."
Noah continued to cling to him, and he kept his arms around him as long as he needed. "Will help get here soon? I want you to keep looking. No one found anything, but you did. I want you to keep looking."
Elliot gave him a little squeeze. "I will." He promised. He knew Noah wasn't going to like his next words. "I need to call your Mom."
Noah whipped his head back, and Elliot could now see his red puffy eyes. "No way."
"I have to Noh. If I'm going to be searching for Colton and Clem, there won't be anyone here to keep you safe. She will want to be with you. She will want you to be home."
"I'm not leaving until you find Colton and Clem. I'm not." Elliot swore he had heard the obstinate tone somewhere else before... "And she will make me. I don't want to leave."
Elliot crouched down so he was eye level with Noah. "I understand that. More than you know. I could never leave my partner behind. I understand, but my first priority is keeping you safe. I know your mom wants the same." He brushed some stray curls away, "I have to call her. I can't keep her in the dark about this. Do you understand?"
Noah's eyes dropped to the dirt. "I get it. I just don't want this to be happening right now. This was not how this was supposed to go."
"Hey, I didn't want this either, but this is what's happening, and we have to do our best with the situation were in."
Noah shook his head, and Elliot knew he was frustrated. "I'll talk to your mom. Maybe she can let you stay close. Somewhere safe, like a hotel or something until we can find out whats happening."
They boy's eyes looked up hopefully, "Yeah? Do you think she would go for that?"
Elliot gave him a small smile, "Maybe. No promises though. She's the boss, and you know how protective she is of you."
"Yeah, I know." Noah said with exasperation. "But try to convince her please?"
"I will. Listen, you go back with the others while I call her. Keep Jace calm alright. I know you can do that." Noah nodded, and he knew Noah would take the assignment seriously. "We will get this figured out, Noh. Okay?"
"Okay," his voice was soft but also scared. He turned away from Elliot, and walked slowly back to the pavilion. Elliot knew he wasn't looking forward to returning to his friend. He felt the same as he pulled up the contact information on his phone. It was time to call Olivia.
-000-
Olivia dropped a stack of papers on Churlish's desk. Her wide eyes looked up at her, and Olivia knew she was masking a groan. No one liked tedious searches through stacks of paper, but that's what needed to happen. Olivia appreciated the way Churlish maintained a stoic face in spite of the mountain of papers in front of her.
"We need to track the number of lawsuits filed by our victim's associates. That will help us narrow down who had a financial motive. I know it's a lot, but go through it and see what you find."
She turned away rolling her eyes at Fin's smirking face. "Layin' the busy work heavy now aren't ya?"
Liv shook her head, "needs to be done," she glanced back at Churlish who dutifully began viewing the forms, highlighter in hand. "Unless you want to take that one over for her…"
"Hard pass. Don't think my eyes could handle staring at paper that long anymore." He laughed. "Damn we gettin old."
"Don't I know it," Olivia agreed. Her phone buzzed in her hand, and the name STABLER flashed on the screen. She smiled and swiped to answer the call.
"Hey," even her voice smiled. She could feel Fin's eyes on her, and she knew he was planning some way to tease her about this after she hung up.
"Liv."
That's all he had to say. Something was wrong. With that one syllable, she knew. "What happened?" Her heart pounded furiously, and she dropped her hand to her belly, feeling nausea beginning to boil inside her stomach.
Fin's eyes changed from jovial to concerned in an instant. He could read her as well as she could read Elliot.
She heard him swallow. "Noah's fine. You can even talk to him in a second okay."
"Okay," her voice shook.
"Two kids turned up missing this morning," she could almost feel his sadness and apprehension through the phone. "Uh, we've searched for a couple hours now, but they're gone."
She closed her eyes and sunk into the nearby office chair. "Who?" She asked softly.
He cleared his throat again, "Clem and Colton. They've been missing since this morning."
"I'm coming up right now." She rushed to her office. She felt Fin falling in step behind her.
"Slow down Liv."
She was slamming desk drawers. Where the hell were her keys!? Fin fished them from the corner of her desk, and handed her the purse hanging next to the door. She reached for her keys, but he kept a tight hold on them. "You are not driving," his voice was hushed but terse. She didn't have time to argue with him so she waved at him to lead the way out of the office. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She wasn't fine, and Elliot damn well knew she wasn't.
"You gotta breathe Liv." She tried slowing her breathing down but it wasn't working. She rushed behind Fin down the stairs. "I already called for backup. I have the local precinct and search and rescue headed our way, but you have to slow down or you won't be able to get here."
She felt tears stinging her eyes. "Fin's driving," she managed to breathe out.
"Good. I'll send him the pin." She threw open the passenger seat door, as he tried to reassure her, "remember, Noah is fine. I have him, and I'm not letting him out of my sight. Okay?"
His voice was soothing, but she couldn't quell the panic rising in her chest. "What do you know, El? What the hell happened?"
"I don't know yet," he admitted. "I didn't have Colton in my tent, but everything was fine when I did tent checks at 3am. When we woke up Colten and Clem were gone."
She sucked in a tense breath. These kids didn't wander off. They weren't particularly brave or adventurous. She knew something else happened. "What aren't you telling me, El? Don't say nothing because I know you're holding something back and I am not in the mood to be lied to."
He sighed and she could almost feel the battle going on in his mind. Whatever he was holding back wasn't good. "I found blood by the creek." She couldn't stop her sharp intake of breath. "And Clem's earring."
"Damn it." She muttered.
"I know, but I'm trying not to go there. Not yet." His voice was strained.
She felt a little frantic. She needed to get to Noah, but she needed to get to him as well. This was going to be rough for him. She knew he'd try to find a way to blame himself, and for the first time in a long time, she had a chance to be there for him. To hold the pieces together so he wouldn't fall apart. "I'll be there soon." She promised.
She heard sirens on his end. "I gotta go."
"Be careful Elliot."
"I will." And the line went dead.
-000-
Elliot took a minute to close his eyes and breathe. He used to be desensitized to this sort of thing, with only the occasional case throwing him off center, but it was different now. It had been years since he'd worked a true SVU case, and the armor he once proudly wore had weakened. He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready for any of this.