I got a little behind so you get a triple update!
"So Stabler was up here with Benson's kid?" Churlish asked, eyes still scanning the dirt and foliage.
"Yeah. Science camp out or something." Bruno answered vaguely.
"Cap doesn't camp?"
He chuckled. "Woman is a badass, but based on her designer clothes, I'm going to guess camping might not be her thing."
"She was raised in the city too, though right?" Her boot made a large slurping sound as she pulled it from the mud.
Bruno tried not to laugh at her disgusted face. "As far as I know."
"Hmm," she focused her attention back to the ground. "So are her and Stabler?…" She was obviously trying to make some sort of conversation. He suspected she found the silence of the woods unsettling.
"Not sure." He shrugged. "Maybe. From what I understand it's been a long time coming." A tree caught his shirt and nearly whacked Churlish as it swung back. "Oh sorry." She waved him off. "He could be just a close friend though. Someone she can trust her kid with, you know?"
Churlish nodded. "That makes sense. They were partners right? A while ago?"
"Yeah, for 13 years."
"Woah," Churlish said in surprise.
"Yeah." It really was something. Them being partnered that long.
"Lighter!" She called as pointed to a piece of plastic on the ground.
"Bag it. Could be something but it also be nothing."
Churlish pulled an evidence bag from her backpack and scooped the lighter off the ground.
"I think we are at the clearing Stabler talked about." Bruno looked around and noticed where the creek widened."He said their team searched this area thoroughly." His surveyed the area. "Colton ran up the hill over there." He pointed to the side of the creek they stood on. "But Lucas only pursued him for a little bit before giving up."
"Okay. So we can assume we won't find anything of value in that direction?" Churlish observed.
"Right," Bruno agreed. "Let's cross." He motioned for her to follow him through the creek. Once they made it across he paused. "Look around. Do you see any drag marks?" He walked up the creek bed while Churlish walked more downstream.
"Nothing," she called once they walked an adequate distance.
"Same. I don't see any up this way." They met back in the middle.
"Did you check the weather?" Churlish asked.
"Yeah. I double checked it with the park service. It's been bone dry here for a week." Bruno affirmed. "There is absolutely no way Abby lifted an unconscious girl and carried her to that ravine edge. Either Lucas helped her or someone else."
"Like an adult…" Churlish muttered.
"It's a possibility," Bruno agreed. He once again took in the surroundings. "Let's spread out a little and head towards where search and rescue found the victim's body.
Churlish nodded and stepped away from him and started moving away from the creek.
"Make sure you can still see me," Bruno cautioned. These woods were thick and the last thing he needed was a lost cop.
"Okay," she agreed.
They started towards the ravine and Bruno prayed they would find something. He knew how important this case was important to not only their captain, but their entire team. There had to be something here. They just had to find it.
-000-
Once Olivia took off to work, Elliot basically passed out on the couch. He checked on Noah, but he was still softly snoring while spread out horizontally on his mother's king sized bed. It was only 7:30 AM and he wanted Noah to sleep as much as he needed. He knew from experience, grief created a special level of exhaustion.
Elliot settled onto the couch. Noah's bed would have been more comfortable, but he wanted Noah to find him easily when he woke up.
He knew he must have slept hard because the apartment had filled with sunlight. A crunching sound permeated his subconscious, and he finally peeled his eyes open.
Noah sat cross legged directly in front of him on the ottoman. He held a bowl of cereal in his lap, crunching away at his Captain Crunch.
Elliot rubbed his eyes and began to sit up. "Hey buddy."
"Hey," Noah returned. He sounded a little deflated, but not as thoroughly devastated as he was the night before.
Elliot swung his legs off the couch so he was in a sitting position. "How long have you been awake?"
Noah shrugged. "Like twenty minutes. I wanted to keep sleeping, but I got hungry."
Elliot was thankful the kid still had an appetite. He knew from experience that children's reactions to grief greatly varied. At least he was eating.
Thinking about food apparently made Elliot hungry because his stomach growled. "Did we buy another box of that?" Elliot asked.
Noah swallowed the bite he had been chewing. "Yeah. We grabbed these and some Frosted Flakes."
Elliot wasn't sure when the last time he ate kids cereal was, but for some reason it sounded good this morning. He internally laughed at the idea of eating Captain Crunch with his "good coffee".
He pushed himself off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Noah followed him and set his bowl on the counter before sitting on one of the barstools. Elliot started his coffee and then snagged a bowl and the box of cereal.
Noah watched him silently, and periodically took bites of his cereal. Elliot had just taken a bite of his cereal when Noah asked, "Are you having sex with my mom?"
Elliot nearly choked on his cereal. Noah continued eating like he didn't just ask a completely uncomfortable question. Elliot was so shocked by the question that he couldn't immediately answer.
Noah explained himself. "My mom doesn't bring guys around. Like ever. I don't think anyone has ever spent the night. Except for maybe a boyfriend when I was little. I don't remember. But she lets you spend the night. And she doesn't seem to think it's a big deal for you to be in bed with her even when I'm there. So I was just kind of wondering."
Elliot tried to find a way to get a grip and answer the question. He was certain Olivia kept sex as a natural topic of conversation when her son brought it up so he tried to keep his voice nonchalant. "It's kind of a personal question Noh, but to answer your question. Yes." Elliot looked at Noah nervously. "Does that make you uncomfortable or anything?"
Noah took another bite of cereal, like they were talking about his favorite color or something. "No." He thought for a moment. "When we went camping you said that you loved her. That makes it more okay I think."
Elliot felt a sense of relief. And it was kind of adorable that Noah automatically equated sex to love. It proved to Elliot that a child's knowledge about sex didn't remove innocence. He was glad that he could reinforce the notion that sex was about love, because God, he loved that kid's mom so much.
"What are we doin' today?" Noah asked easily, moving on from the conversation.
Elliot still felt himself sweating nervously, and he was grateful to be moving onto a different topic of conversation. .
-000-
Elliot —-texting Olivia
E: Your son just asked me if we were having sex.
O: Oh God. I'm sorry. I tell him to not be embarrassed about asking questions… But I meant me….not other adults. Guess we will be talking about boundaries and tact…
E: It's fine. Just thought it was funny. Kid didn't even squirm.
O: Of all the things he could talk about right now he's worried about his mother's sex life… I don't know how to feel about that.
E: It's fine. He was curious because you don't bring men around. (I'm flattered by the way) It's probably just a way to have a different conversation that doesn't revolve around the case.
O: I'm surprised you didn't die of embarrassment.
E: Oh no. I was embarrassed as hell. Damn Catholic upbringing…
Okay. I gotta know what you told him.
E: What did you want me to tell him?
O: You first.
E: Fine. I figured you're the kind of parent who's honest about that kind of thing so I told him it was kind of a personal question but yes we were. Was that okay?
O: Totally fine. And yeah it's not a topic that's a big deal at our house, but I need to remind him it might be more sensitive for other people.
E: It was fine. I answered and we moved on pretty quickly.
O: I really had hoped he hadn't connected the dots, especially after almost walking in on us the other night.
E: I don't think he put it together because of that night. Seems like it was more about me spending the night, and you letting me sleep in bed with you.
O: That makes me feel better actually.
E: It was all innocent Liv. He wasn't stressing. He didn't see or hear anything. He just wondered because we seemed close, and he knows that's part of adult relationships.
O: Okay. I need to know. How red were you?
E: Ha ha. Make fun of the prudish Catholic.
O: Oh I know you're not prudish…
E: Damn right.
O: It just kills me that you worked in SVU for so long and someone asking you about sex STILL makes you red in the face.
E: Shut up.
O: It's adorable.
E: Ugh. That almost makes it worse.
O: Sorry
E: You're not sorry
O: You're right. I'm not.
E: I love you.
O: I know.
-000-
She was still smiling to herself, toying with her compass necklace, when Fin got her attention.
"Parents are here." Her mood dampened. She had worked with hundreds of kids and families. She'd returned missing children, and taken violent children into custody, but this…she'd never done something like this.
"Where'd you put them?"
"Interview 2," Fin answered.
She pushed her chair back and stood. "Comin' with?" She asked.
He thought for a moment. "Yeah. I'm comin'."
They walked shoulder to shoulder before she paused outside of the interview room.
"Ready," he asked.
"No. There is no possible way to be ready for a conversation like this." She still had no idea what she was going to say, but she couldn't let the couple sit there forever. She pushed open the door and Fin followed behind her.
She reached her hand towards the couple, "I'm Captain Benson, and you've met Sargeant Tutuola." She shook both of their hands before settling into a chair across from them. Fin sat in the chair beside her. She kept her fingers laced together, laying them in front of her on the table.
"I was told you had been made aware, at least to some extent, the situation?" She was referring to Churlish's phone call.
"Yes," the husband answered firmly. "When do we get to see our son?"
Olivia understood their eagerness, but they had to slow this down a little. She wanted to be sure they had the necessary information before they met a boy whose entire life was turned upside down in a matter of hours. A kid with a history of violence, and a possible connection to a child murder. She hated to crush whatever fairytale this family thought they might be living, but they needed to know the truth. Their son was being investigated for serious charges, and he might not be the happy kid they remember.
"We just need to go over a few things first," Olivia cautioned. "The potential charges he's facing are serious, and I need to make sure you understand exactly what's happening before we allow you to see him.
The wife nodded in understanding, but the husband seemed impatient.
"The woman told us that Ethan may have hurt another child, and another girl was involved. She said they ran his DNA on a hunch and found us."
"Yes, that's the watered down version, but it's a little more complicated than that." She focused her eyes on the couple, hoping to communicate the weight of the situation.
"We are still piecing together the details of his abduction, but he was taken by a trafficker under the assumed name Marcus Moore. We don't know much about his motive, but we think it might have something to do with the death of his own child."
"Did he hurt him?" The mother asked.
"Not that we are aware of. We are working on getting a psych eval scheduled. A psychologist might be able to learn more than we could," Olivia answered. "From what we can tell Marcus raised him as his son. Your son was given a new identity and he's been going by the name of Lucas Moore." She checked their faces for understanding. They appeared to be following her narrative. "We don't know a whole lot about the last ten years of his life. We are still looking into the particulars, and hopefully Ethan will help us fill in the blanks." Now a little bad news…"He might be combative or uncooperative. We are talking about the man who raised him. He might not be willing to help us if he thought we were hurting the man he thought of as his father." The father looked a little irritated, but kept quiet.
"What about his criminal investigation," the mother asked quietly.
Olivia sighed. "It's complicated, and we are still putting together the pieces. It's not a simple assault case. It wasn't just bullying. A child died. That's…" Olivia swallowed, "it's not something that just goes away. His circumstances may make him sympathetic, but the truth is he participated in an assault that resulted in a death."
She watched the blood drain from his mother's face, but the father seemed to be choosing the denial route. "How do you even know it was him? How can he be held responsible for something after living with some sort of psychopath for his whole life. I doubt he meant to hurt the girl. It had to be an accident or something."
Olivia blew out a slow breath. She figured at least one parent would be protective and combative. "He admitted to at least some part of the assault…" she started but the father cut her off.
"How do we know it wasn't coerced or something? He's a kid. Aren't there some kind of rules for him incriminating himself?"
Fin popped in to defend himself. "He was provided a child advocate at the time to ensure his interests were objectively covered."
"But not his parents. He wasn't interviewed with parent approval. Don't the parents have priority of some sort of child advocate?"
Olivia was getting a headache, "Under normal circumstances, yes, but Ethan was in the care of the state at the time. His assumed father was being charged for the kid's abduction so his rights to the child were obviously relinquished. We were still waiting on DNA for Ethan so a child advocate was provided. I can assure you it was all done by the book."
The dad folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, and Olivia could tell he wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer. The mother continued to sit quietly, and Olivia hoped she was getting through to at least one of the parents.
Olivia circled back, "He admitted to participating in the assault. We are working on getting a statement from the other child, but we have a witness to the assault, and their accounts line up for the most part."
"Who was the other witness?" The father asked.
"We obviously can't release that information." Fin piped up.
"Well shouldn't the account be questioned if it was another child. I mean kids lie right?"
Olivia was internally beating her head against the wall. "We believe the witness to be reliable, especially since his account follows your son's account closely."
The father seemed to accept that, at least for the moment.
Finally, the mother spoke. "What happens next? What happens if you prove he did this?" Her voice stayed soft. She could tell the mother was genuinely concerned over the situation, but
"What happens depends on a lot of factors. We have some more interviews to do. We want to be sure we have a clear understanding of what happened before moving forward." Olivia checked again to be sure they understood. "Since he is a child, he cannot be tried in an adult court. His case goes to family court. The goal for child offenders is rehabilitation. With such a serious crime he could expect to be sent to a juvenile facility until he turns eighteen."
The mom started to cry, and the dad just seemed angry. Olivia understood how hard this could be. Their child was stolen from them, and now that he was found he would be taken from them again. The situation probably felt impossible.
"He has a pretty significant disciplinary record from school. That doesn't help his case because it goes to a pattern of behavior. I know this is a lot, but whatever happens, he will get the help he so obviously needs."
The group sat in silence for a time before Ethan's mother wiped her tears and finally asked, "Can we see him?"
Olivia looked at them with the empathy the situation warranted. "Yeah. We can see him now."