Setting: Downtown New York in a 6 story apartment building where Olivia lives.
*LITTLE GIRLS BEDROOM*
A little girl is laying in her bed whimpering in the dark as a man gets up off her bed. She quickly rolls over to put her back to the man. A tear rolls down her face.
"I love you sweetie." says the man. Then kisses her forehead.
"Sweet dreams." the man says, walking out her door and slowly shutting it behind him. The little girl then begins to bawl her eyes out.
*NYPD POLICE STATION*
" I think it's time for you to go home. You've been here two days straight. I'll see you in the morning Liv." Capitan Craigen says.
Olivia looks at the clock. "Alright Capt., see you tomorrow." Olivia returns home and gets ready for bed. As she lays down and pulls the covers over her, she hears a cry. She lays with her eyes closed, listening for more of what she thought she just heard. Then she hears the same thing again, a little quieter, but definitely crying. But where is it coming from? Olivia gets out of bed and puts her ear to the far wall of her bedroom and listens again. She hears a man say "Sweet dreams" and then a door shut. The crying then begins again. But it really isn't any of her business, she probably had a bad dream or something. Olivia returns to bed and finally gets some much needed rest. The next day, Olivia walks out her apartment door and turns to lock it. In the corner of her eye she sees the little girl who lives next door from her.
Olivia smiles at the girl and says "Good morning!" The little girl snaps her head to look at Olivia, wide eyed and scared she quietly, "Hello." Olivia really didn't know her neighbors since she is hardly ever home. But Olivia did notice bruising on the girls arms. They looked almost like hands gripping around her arm.
"Honey, what happened to your arm?" Olivia asks the little girl. She then walks over to the girl and kneels down.
"Did someone hurt you?"
The little girl shakes her head violently and says "No no no. My daddy loves me very much." And runs back into her house.
Olivia begins to stand up, left wondering why she would say that. Why does she feel the need to tell me that her daddy loves her? Then all the sudden a door swung open. A man about 6'3 is standing in the door way looking pissed off.
"Did you talk to my daughter?"
"Why yes I did. I don't believe we've met. My name is Olivia Benson. I'm your-"
"What did she say to you?" he said in a very concerned yet angry voice.
Olivia was taken back by the question. "All she said was hello. And that her daddy loves her." Olivia all the sudden got a bad feeling about this man.
"Yeah well, I don't want you talking to my daughter. Got it?" the man said in a very stern voice. His eyes were piercing right through Olivia.
Right before she had the chance to answer him, he slammed the door on her.
"Nice to meet you too." she said under her breath. She looked down at her phone and realized she was going to be late to work. She ran to catch a taxi to hopefully make it on time.
*NYPD STATION*
"Look who finally decided to show up." said Elliot, handing her a cup of coffee."
"Sorry, I had a weird morning. I finally met my neighbors." she chuckled.
"Well congratulations, Liv. But we having a more important thing on our hands right now. This was just called in." said Capt. Craigen. "A little girl was raped and killed."
"Where at?" asks Elliot. The Capitan goes to reply but just stands there. It's like he is almost afraid to say it.
He looks up at Olivia and says "It's your neighbor." Olivia's heart skips a beat. She's almost in disbelief. She snatches the paper with the address on it from the Capitan and looks at it.
"No." she whispers under her breath. She looks up to see Elliot's concerned face.
"Are you okay?" Elliot says.
"Yeah, let's go."
As they make their way to the crime scene, Olivia explains what she had heard the night before and what she had witnessed this morning.
"She looked so scared. I should have known when the father had confronted me that there was something going on. I could have saved her." Olivia's head began to race. She could have saved that little girls life.
"Liv you can't put that kind of guilt on yourself. There was nothing you could do." said Elliot.
As they arrive on the crime scene, cops have already flooded the area. Caution tape is wrapped round the entrance of Olivia's apartment building. All of the people who live in the building were standing just outside of the tape. People were talking, unsure of what was going on.
"NYPD Special Victims Unit" Elliot says as they show their badges. They continue up two flights of stairs to reach the scene of the crime. As they walk in, Olivia can see a little girls foot dangling off the side of a bed in the back of the apartment. As they make their way into the little girl's room, the cop nods to Olivia and Elliot.
"Little girl is about eight years old. She was held down at her wrists by the man's hands and raped. There are signs of past bruising also. So this must have been going on for quite some time. Her cause of death was by suffocation. The man probably used her pillow to do that." Dr. Warner says.
"Who called it in?" Elliot asks
"A woman who lives right above here. A Mrs. Smith. She was stand right outside of the doorway of the apartment."
"Alright thanks." Olivia says. "We'll question her. Do we have any suspects?" Olivia asks the cop at the scene.
"Well, it says she lived with her father. So I'd say start with him." the cop says.
