Chapter 6

The night had been uneventful and after dropping Noah off at school, the Captain, the two detectives, and Betty, walked into SVU. They were in for a surprise as Amanda Rollins had brought in Nicky for all of her coworkers to see and give some love to. Olivia gave the blonde a hug, which Rollins was surprised at but she definitely hugged her back.

"So glad to see you and little Nicky. How's he doing?" Olivia asked as the two retreated to the Captain's office while Elliot joined the others playing with the baby.

"He's been through the wringer but he is one tough little guy. Carisi says that all the Carisi boys are tough. I'm taking his word for it," Rollins chuckled.

"If you're looking to get involved in the case," Olivia gave her a look.

"Come on. Detective Klass's neighbor gets assaulted and a note gets left behind? I want in," Rollins told her.

"Your maternity leave is not up," Olivia reminded her.

"Nicky needs to get out. He can't stand being cooped up in the apartment," Rollins said as she watched the detectives play with her son.

"All right – you can give your two cents – but no leaving the precinct, unless you're going home," her Captain said.

"I have enough here to work with. You think Elliot wants another kid?" The blonde wondered.

"As much as that might be appealing – I'm too old to be having babies," Olivia shook her head as she headed for the office door. Rollins followed her out and the Captain addressed her team.

"As much as we all want to play with Nicky all day, we need to make some movement on this case. Any word from the hospital on Akiko's condition?"

"They just called before Rollins showed up. Akiko is awake. Do you want me to take Klass and Betty to the hospital?" Fin asked.

"I need Klass here but if she'll let you borrow Betty, I'm sure that Akiko would want to see her," Olivia said.

"Betty can totally go with Fin. Let me give you a few words in German that you'll need and then you should be all set," Klass smiled.

"That's it?" Fin wondered.

"Absolutely. She likes you. You'd know if she didn't," the detective chuckled.

"Take Velasco with you," Olivia told him. Fin nodded and he took a quick German lesson before leaving with Velasco and the German Shepard.

"Give me the run-down Bruno," the Captain said.

"No one told me the NYPD started training them this young," George Huang interrupted them before looking over little Nicky.

"George, thanks for coming in. He's the newest recruit," Olivia chuckled.

"Well, he's adorable. Now you have a guy who likes to write notes?" George asked.

"We do. Fin and Velasco are going to talk to our victim, Akiko, now," the Captain said.

"I was just about to run down the guys from Klass's cases that are out and about in society," Bruno spoke up.

"Don't let me stop you," George smiled and the detective started his list.

"So, we've got Bryan Willard, Clinton Rein, and Dylan Jovin," Bruno announced, pointing to the pictures that had been posted on the work board.

"They're out?" Klass was surprised.

"Yeah, I was surprised too but they'd all served their full sentences before being released on parole," Bruno said.

"No, they didn't. Bryan Willard was sentenced to twenty years. How in the hell did he get out in ten?" Klass wanted to know. Olivia looked at Bruno and he heaved a sigh.

"He ratted on his cellmate who was apparently spilling the beans on some crimes he'd committed and gotten away with. One of those crimes was a cold case murder. The DA made a deal with him to nail this guy," the detective explained.

"Damn," Klass shook her head.

"What did Bryan Willard do?" George wanted to know.

"He assaulted a woman he met in a bar. Problem is the woman ended up in a coma for six weeks because she had some sort of reaction to whatever Willard had on him. So, he got extra time for attempted murder," Bruno explained.

"He's a scumbag, but I don't see him coming after me. He got caught red handed because his DNA was already in the system thanks to him getting caught a long time ago for a robbery," Klass explained.

"Ok, so Clinton Rein…" Bruno started. Olivia's phone rang interrupting them. She excused herself and answered the phone. It wasn't a long phone call but by the look on her face, Elliot knew that it was not good.

"Akiko's coworker, the one who was harassing her, Drew Hurley, was just shot on the street out in front of the office building," she told them when she got off the phone.

"What hospital?" Klass asked.

"He's dead," Olivia said.

To Be Continued…