"Auntie, why is Mommy crying?" Eli, the youngest of the Stabler children, looked up at Olivia with wide, innocent eyes.
"Mommy is worried about your sister, sweetie, that's why we are here to help. Now, I need all of you to please go into the kitchen with Aunt Kat and she will find you guys a snack before you go back to bed." Olivia instructed kindly, and the four young children turned to obey her.
Safely away from little ears, Olivia turned to her Sergeant and his wife and looked at the horrifying text that had been sent to Elliot's phone; a picture of Melissa Steele holding a frightened Maureen Stabler, the oldest of the Stabler children, by her hair. Based on the angle of the picture, it was impossible to tell whether Melissa intended to kidnap Maureen or whether she had simply ambushed her to take the picture and then disappear again.
"When was the last time either of you heard from Maureen?" Olivia inquired. Maureen was nineteen and in college living at Hudson University.
"She texted me yesterday to tell me that she was going to come home this weekend to visit and do laundry. I keep trying to call her, but she doesn't pick up." Kathy managed to choke out.
"That's why we brought Morales with us, he's an expert at tracing the location of any phone."
"May I set up my things here on the coffee table?" Morales asked, and Elliot immediately started clearing the space for him.
"How long does it take to trace a cell phone number these days?" Elliot asked.
"With the newest technology, I'll have the information in less than three minutes." Morales replied.
"The phone is on 9th street heading south. The signal is moving, so Melissa must be driving or walking." Morales concluded.
"She's driving. I know my daughter; if she and Melissa were walking, she'd be screaming bloody murder to get someone's attention, it's what I've been teaching my kids since they were old enough to know what a stranger is." Elliot said confidently.
"9th street? That's so far from Hudson, where are they going?" Kathy choked out, still weeping. Olivia sent out multiple squad cars to scour the area and hopefully catch up with Melissa and Maureen, and multiple others to set up roadblocks around the city to hopefully block their path, as well as one squad car up to Hudson University. With all of that accomplished, she went and helped Kat tuck the children into their beds with gentle instructions not to get up again unless they needed something.
"Liv! The signal stopped!" Elliot called out.
"Where did it stop?" Olivia ran in.
"On twelfth street." Elliot looked at Olivia.
"Oh, God." Olivia breathed.
"What's on twelfth street?" Kathy asked fearfully.
"We have to go now, let's move! No, El, you stay with your wife." Olivia ordered.
"Captain, that's my daughter and-" Elliot protested.
"And she's my niece. I promise I will bring her back, but you are too closely involved so you are going to stay here and sit with your wife." Olivia gave him her best Detective Benson glare, "If you want to help, keep calling Maureen's cell phone."
The two officers located Maureen's dorm room and knocked on the door, hearing music coming from inside. The door opened to reveal a young woman about Maureen's age wearing jeans and a bra with her shirt in her hands, and her dark eyes opened wide when she saw the two officers standing at her door.
"It wasn't mine, I swear! It was Joey's!"
"What are you talking about?" one of the officers asked, both of them now confused.
"The weed, I swear it wasn't mine! It was just the one time, I never do drugs!" the girl insisted, and the two officers struggled to refrain from rolling their eyes.
"We can talk about that later. Are you Maureen Stabler's roommate?"
"Yeah, Cynthia Flynn. Maureen's not here."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"After Chem class, at around two. She had plans to go home this weekend, but she said she was feeling uneasy and was going to sign out early and go home tonight."
"Did she say why she was feeling uneasy?"
"No. We're in college, we're all uneasy."
"May we come in and look through her things?"
"Be my guest. That's her side of the room." Cynthia motioned toward the right side of the room.
"Maureen. Wake up now, sweetheart." a voice cooed as Maureen slowly opened her eyes and winced as she was greeted by a pounding headache.
Wha-" Maureen blinked through the haze in her mind and suddenly realized that she was in an unfamiliar room, lying on a bed in only her bra and panties, and a woman she didn't know was sitting next to her. She looked up and realized that her wrists and ankles were chained to the bedposts and she began to struggle violently.
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Easy, easy." Melissa lightly stroked Maureen's belly to soothe her, "It's okay, sweetheart, you're in your new home, that's all. There's no need to be afraid as long as you're a good girl." Melissa assured her, implying that there was a great deal for Maureen to be afraid of if she wasn't a good girl.
"Who are you?" Maureen asked fearfully.
"You can call me Maura. You live here now, and I promise we are going to have a lot of fun together." Melissa slipped her hand inside Maureen's panties and easily located her special spot.
"Stop!" Maureen struggled, "My dad's a cop. You can't do this!"
"Your mom and dad don't love you and they don't want you anymore. I've already sold you, and the man you belong to now will be here soon, I just want a little taste before he gets here. You'll never see your family again, so you might as well relax, because if you don't stop fussing I'm going to have to punish you." Melissa warned, and Maureen set to screaming as loud as she possibly could.
Olivia and her detectives rushed toward twelfth street, instinctively knowing exactly where Maureen was and knowing that they needed to get there quickly before Maureen disappeared for good. When they arrived, they kicked in the door of the brothel and several people sitting around screamed at their unexpected entrance.
"Where's Melissa?" Olivia demanded with her gun raised.
Her question was answered when a scream rang out from upstairs and she ran up with Fin and Amanda behind her while Kat and Churlish and Nick stayed downstairs to question people. The screaming led them to a closed bedroom door, which they quickly kicked in. They were greeted by the sight of Maureen's naked, nineteen-year-old body already bloody and covered in cigarette burns, hanging from the ceiling as Melissa used a splintered, bloody paddle to beat her bottom, which was literally beginning to turn black and blue while Maureen screamed and sobbed in fear and excruciating pain. Melissa, not knowing that the virus on her phone had been removed, was startled to see the detectives and she immediately set to screaming and struggling, dropping the paddle to the floor as she was overpowered. Olivia rushed over to Maureen and noticed the camera that had been recording the entire session.
"This is going to hurt, sweetie." Olivia warned kindly as she removed the nipple clamps from Maureen's nipples as gently as she possibly could. Maureen let out another scream as the blood came rushing back to her nipples, and she fell weakly into Olivia's arms as her wrists were released from above her head. Maureen's head fell against Olivia's chest, and Olivia could see that Maureen had been drugged. "What did she give you, baby?"
"Water." Maureen weakly motioned toward the cup on the bedside table, and then her eyes rolled in the back of her head.
"We need a bus! Now!" Olivia yelled as she picked Maureen's limp body up in her arms and carried her out of the room and out of the house to an ambulance. With Maureen safely in the competent hands of the EMTs, Olivia noticed that Melissa was still screaming as she sat handcuffed in the back of a squad car. Olivia went back into the house and made certain that the cup on the bedside table, the bloody paddle, the bloody whip on the floor, and the ashtray of cigarettes were all collected as evidence.
Elliot and Kathy left their four sleeping children in the capable hands of an officer to watch over them while they rushed to Mercy hospital to be at their daughter's bedside where the doctor assured them that while Maureen would be in the hospital for a while, ultimately she would make a full recovery. The drug Melissa had given her in the water she made her drink hadn't had time to take full effect yet, and Maureen was now being given an IV to counteract the drug. Olivia reminded Elliot that as Maureen's father he wasn't allowed to take her statement. One of them would be back in a few days to take her statement. With that, Olivia and the rest of the detectives left Mercy hospital to return to the precinct. Everyone who was present at the brothel had been rounded up and brought in for questioning. The detectives had a lot of work to do.
"Where are we on this?" Olivia asked after everyone had been questioned.
"Well, first of all, I don't believe for half a second that any of these girls are over eighteen. Hannah appears to be the oldest and I'd say she can't be more than seventeen, and that's if I'm being generous." Nick said.
"All of them are claiming to be ignorant of what Melissa was doing to Maureen upstairs, and they all claim that they are well taken care of and treated decently and want to be living in the brothel." Amanda said.
"And no one seems to know who the man is that Melissa sold Maureen to, and if they do know, they aren't talking. The woman who owns the brothel lawyered up immediately." Kat concluded.
"What does Melissa have to say about all of this?" Olivia asked.
"Not a damn thing, she's already lawyered up too." Fin said.
Olivia sighed and went into her office to make a phone call while Churlish started making a pot of coffee for all of them. It was only six thirty in the morning and they had a long day ahead of them.
Grace began to stir from her place sleeping at the foot of the bed, and she stretched as she slowly opened her eyes. She was confused when she smelled coffee brewing and assumed that Olivia must have come home at some point, so she got up, went to the bathroom, and then made her way to the kitchen. She was surprised to be greeted by Eileen's smiling face.
"Good morning, dear. I'm very sorry if I'm not the face you expected to see this morning. Olivia called me and asked me to come collect you. She will come to my place to bring you home when she is finished working. But before we leave I thought you would like a cup of coffee and some breakfast." Eileen explained, welcoming Grace into her arms for a hug.
"Hello, Ma'am." Grace greeted politely, trying to hide her disappointment that her Mistress wasn't home.
Eileen took Grace back to her apartment with her, and Grace willingly made herself useful by helping Eileen with chores around the house that lasted into the late afternoon, including some furniture rearranging and deep cleaning. When Olivia arrived, she let herself in as always and smiled as she was greeted by the sight of Eileen sitting on the couch with Grace cuddled on her lap while Eileen tickled her as a reward.
"Uh-oh, somebody was a very good girl today." Olivia teased, walking over and lifting Grace's t-shirt to tickle her belly. "Tickle, tickle, tickle." Grace's giggles increased when she felt an extra set of hands on her and she looked up into the loving face of her Mistress.
Olivia and Eileen stopped tickling Grace after another minute or two and let the submissive brunette catch her breath. Olivia sat down on the couch beside them and Grace eagerly crawled into her Mistress's lap to be cuddled. Olivia cuddled Grace close to her heart and kissed her forehead.
"I have good news, sweetheart. We found Melissa. She's locked up, and she's not going to hurt you or anyone else ever again." Olivia assured her, and Grace smiled happily, immediately feeling much safer, "The other good news is that I am taking the rest of this week off, so it'll just be you and me until Monday."
"Yes, Ma'am, I would like that." Grace beamed.
Olivia and Eileen engaged in easy conversation while Grace snuggled down into Olivia's arms and giggled softly while the tips of Olivia's fingernails grazed her belly very slowly and very lightly.