"Wasn't there a rug in here before?" Elliot motioned to the floor.
"We had to move it to scan the floor." O'Halloran motioned toward the rug that had been rolled up and moved to the other side of the room.
"It's locked. We need bolt cutters." Fin said as he tried to open the trap door.
"Churlish, go to Fin's car and get flashlights." Olivia ordered.
"And if you ding my windshield again, you're paying to get it fixed." Fin chimed in.
The lock was broken and the trap door was opened, and the detectives were greeted by the smell of death emanating from the dark space, causing them to reel back as their sense of smell was assaulted. Olivia's flashlight revealed a staircase leading downward, and she began to descend the stairs with Elliot following behind her. Olivia gasped when part of the wood broke, and Elliot grabbed her arm to prevent her from tumbling down the rest of the staircase.
"You okay, Captain?" Elliot asked.
"Yeah. This step is broken, be careful."
Olivia and Elliot found themselves in a rather large underground room with simple paneling on the walls, floor, and ceiling to give it a somewhat finished look, but it was completely unfurnished. Olivia noticed a lightbulb and pulled the string. The room was flooded with light, revealing the severely decomposed dead body of a woman with a collar around her neck chained to the wall.
"Dear God. She's been down here for years." Olivia observed.
"Liv, look at this." Elliot picked up a storage container filled with collars, all of them made of black leather with a silver name tag attached.
"Paula. Jennifer. Leah. Rebecca. Nadia. Sarah. Jamie. Emilee. She kills them and then takes on their name as her own." Olivia read through the names written on some of the collars and she recognized several of them.
"If that's the case, then my next question is who and where is Sarah McPherson?" Elliot mused.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and the autopsy will tell us that's her. Captain, I've got something." Nick said.
"What?" Olivia walked over to him.
"Some kind of lockbox. It was underneath this loose board right here." Nick held it up for Olivia to see.
"Great, now we get to play a game of I Spy. Anybody find a key?"
They had no luck in finding a key, and they took the lockbox with them back to the precinct.
"It's late, let's call it a day and we'll worry about getting into the lockbox tomorrow." Olivia said, noticing the time.
Olivia drove to Cragen's apartment and let herself inside where she found Grace cuddled on Don's lap and crying on his shoulder.
"Look who just walked in, little one." Don said kindly, and Grace obediently lifted her head from his shoulder.
"Ma'am!" Grace got up from Don's lap and ran into Olivia's arms, clinging to Olivia for dear life.
"Oh, what happened to my sweet angel?" Olivia asked with loving concern, holding Grace close and gently stroking her long brown hair. "Did you get a spanking, my baby?"
"No, she didn't. Her behavior was near perfect today. You have been very missed, though." Don said kindly.
"Oh, sweetheart, I missed you today too. I know today was scary, and I am so proud of you for being so brave and strong. I promised I would come back for you, and don't I always keep my promises?" Olivia kissed Grace's head.
"Yes, Ma'am, you do. Did you find Sar- uh, Melissa?"
"Not today, baby, but we will keep looking and I promise we will find her. She can't hide from me forever."
"See? I told you, a dog with a bone." Don teased, making Grace giggle.
"There's that smile I love so much." Olivia smiled and kissed Grace's head again before turning her attention to Don, "I know you have to go back to work tomorrow, do you think Eileen would mind looking after her while I'm at work for at least the next week or so? I'm not comfortable leaving her at home by herself with everything that's happening."
"Of course Eileen doesn't mind." Eileen breezed into the room, having overheard Olivia's question, "In fact, I would very much enjoy the company and the help around the house."
"What do you think, little one? I think you'll have more fun hanging out here than coming to the precinct with me every day."
"Yes, Ma'am, I would like that." Grace agreed.
"That's my good girl. It's late, let's go home. I need a shower and you need a shower or bath, and then we'll cuddle up for a while before we go to bed."
Grace opted to have Olivia bathe her rather than taking a shower by herself, wanting to feel her Mistress's gentle hands on her body after spending the day separated from her. When Grace was clean and dressed in a fresh pair of panties and matching bra, the submissive brunette sat on the closed toilet seat lid to wait as she always did when Olivia took a shower. Olivia took her time in the shower, letting the warm water soothe her tense muscles and wash away the stress of the day. When she was finished, she turned the water off and when she stepped out of the shower she was greeted by Grace obediently holding a towel for her to wrap herself in. Wearing the towel, Olivia sat on the bed and combed through her wet hair while Grace dropped to her knees at Olivia's feet and carefully smoothed lotion on Olivia's legs.
"That's too cold, little one. Take it off and warm it up with your hands first, and try again." Olivia instructed, reaching around to give Grace one warning spank. Grace winced but did not cry out.
"Yes, Ma'am." Grace scraped off the blob of lotion on Olivia's leg with her hands and rubbed her hands together to warm the lotion before applying it.
"That's my good girl." Olivia praised as she continued to comb her hair.
Later, Grace snuggled into Olivia's arms as they sat on the couch watching TV while the tips of Olivia's nails very lightly and very slowly grazed Grace's belly, and Grace smiled happily as she laid her head on Olivia's shoulder, recognizing the loving, gentle touch as a reward and giggling softly. The next morning, Olivia kissed Grace's forehead and gently reminded her to be a good girl before leaving Grace in Eileen's competent hands and driving to work.
"...and three gets her a needle in the arm." Elliot concluded as Olivia walked into the precinct.
"Who's getting a needle in the arm?" Olivia inquired.
"Oh, morning, Captain. We were just saying that with this third body we found yesterday, it gives us legal grounds to pursue the death penalty in Melissa Steele's case."
"Let's not start doing cartwheels in the parking lot just yet, we haven't actually proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Melissa had anything to do with the death of Kelli or Laura. All we know is that they were poisoned and left in shallow graves. The body we found yesterday under Melissa's kitchen is circumstantial evidence, we need more. Are we any closer to figuring out who forged Nabeel Mustafa's signature on the transfer order?"
"Yes and no. There's an inmate at Rikers who says that Melissa was being a little too flirty with one of the officers, a guy named Chad Roper, and Chad doesn't like Nabeel because he's from Pakistan. Forging Nabeel's signature would be a great way to get him fired."
"The word of an inmate against the word of an NYPD officer? I don't like those odds; bring Chad in for questioning, but let's keep digging. Next order of business, the lockbox."
"I have a buddy who's a locksmith. He'll be here in about an hour."
"This is gorgeous, someone paid a pretty penny for such high quality." The locksmith marveled.
"We're not looking to buy one, we just need you to open this one." Olivia said impatiently.
"Easy, Captain. I'm very good at my job, I'll have it open for you in a jiffy." The locksmith pulled out one of his gadgets, inserted it into the lock, and the box was easily opened.
"Hmm. Maybe not so high quality. These are awfully poorly designed hinges." The locksmith mused.
"Thanks, man, you've been very helpful." Nick said as he turned to show the locksmith the way out of the precinct.
Amanda opened the box and inside the detectives discovered a small pile of papers, six video tapes, and a wide variety of jewelry ranging from earrings to bracelets to necklaces to rings.
"'To Kelli, all my love, Mom" Amanda read the words etched on the back of a watch.
"And she keeps trophies. Find an empty room, and let's find out what's on these tapes." Olivia ordered.
In an empty interview room, the detectives gathered to watch the tapes and were immediately confused when the first tape began to play, and it showed a completely different room than the dungeon in the other tapes. This room had carpet and blue walls and a window, although it still had a Saint Andrews Cross and other BDSM equipment. There was a naked woman sitting in a cage, and the detectives watched as Melissa came on screen and roughly yanked the woman out of the cage by her hair, and the detectives recognized her immediately as Laura Bryce. There was nothing particularly special about any of the sessions recorded on the tape, they were all pretty much the same as all the other tapes they had found, with Melissa doing as she pleased with her victim. But what did catch the attention of the detectives was the very last session that had been recorded on the last tape. After Melissa was done torturing Laura for filing the complaint against her and Laura still refused to withdraw the complaint, Melissa suddenly seemed to shift gears as she cuddled Laura in her arms, gently stroking her hair and reassuring her that everything would be fine. Melissa then picked up a cup and guided Laura to drink from it. Laura suddenly asked Melissa what she had given her, and then she fell limp in Melissa's arms. The detectives watched as Melissa dragged Laura's dead body off camera, and then the tape ended.
"Bingo." Fin said, "There's proof that Melissa killed Laura after Laura filed her complaint. We have to figure out where this place is."
"Where are Laura and Kelli's autopsy reports?" Olivia asked.
"Here." Kat quickly located both reports and gave them to her Captain.
"The same drug that was used to kill Laura was also used to kill Kelli." Olivia confirmed, "We now have proof that Melissa killed Laura, and Melissa saying with her own mouth that Laura was going to pay for filing the complaint against her. The one thing I still don't get is, why was Melissa using Laura's offshore bank account?"
"Maybe Melissa was planning to flee to Quebec?" Kat guessed.
"Maybe." Olivia pulled out her cell phone and looked at the message she had just received, "The ME says he has our results."
"Captain, Sergeant; may I introduce you to the real Sarah McPherson. Near as I can tell, she's been dead for about six years. Cause of death is starvation." The ME took off his rubber gloves and threw them away as he spoke.
"I still can't believe she was down there the whole time we were searching that house the first time. Who the hell keeps a dead body in an underground room for six years?" Elliot said as they rode the elevator back up to the precinct.
"Apparently Melissa does. It's getting late, I have to go pick Grace up soon. Yesterday I didn't pick her up until almost eleven and she got scared and thought I wasn't going to come back for her. Can you hold down the fort for the rest of the evening?"
"Yeah, go get your girl."