suspect

chapter 4

"We're back to square one," Olivia said to the team. Elizabeth Stabler's rapist was not Brad Carlson and another suspect on our list, Ross Rinato, was murdered last night, another stabbing in his apartments." She stood in front of a screen that displayed pictures of Lizzy, Rinato, and Carlson.

"Great, so we have rape suspects becoming murder victims and a serial killing vigilante on the loose," Carisi noted.

"Where do we even start?" Amanda asked.

"We start by researching our other suspects," Olivia answered. She tapped a keyboard and a list of five other suspects appeared on the screen. "We've got to find this guy quickly. I don't know if we should be worried about more rapes or more murders at this point."

"THE HELL AM I DOIN' HERE? I WAS CLEARED!"

She would recognize the angry Brooklyn accent anywhere. Elliot was being escorted by uni's into the precinct. She stepped away from the meeting to explain what was happening.

"Elliot…"

"Olivia!" he growled. His face was beat red. "Tell these scum bags I was cleared of these charges!"

"Elliot, calm down."

"No! Not until you tell them to let me go!"

Olivia took a breath and suppressed a smirk. The moment reminded her of the hundreds of times she had to calm Elliot down when he got into fits of rage. She turned to the uni's who had cuffed him to bring him in. "Guys, it's okay, uncuff him. I'll take it from here."

The cops removed the handcuffs and Elliot snatched his arms away as soon as he was able.

"Thank you," Elliot said, his voice still forceful.

"You can't leave though, Elliot," Olivia said.

Elliot's face contorted as he looked at her in shock. "Why the hell not?"
There have been some new developments," she explained. "Come talk to me in my office, okay?"

She could tell he was still furious and confused, but he nodded his head with a clenched jaw and followed Olivia. She shut the door behind them after letting him into the office.

Elliot was rubbing his wrists from where he was cuffed as he looked around the room. "Wow," he said. "I mean I knew you were captain now but this is surreal."

Olivia smiled as she walked past him to her desk. "Yeah, tell me about it," she chuckled. "I still feel like I'm faking it. And I'm realizing how big a pain in Cragen's ass you and I were."

Elliot laughed and sat across from her. "We got away with way too much, that's for sure. It's a wonder how he never forced us to split up."

Olivia shrugged playfully. "He didn't want to do without us! We were the best!"

He met Olivia's eyes, loving the easy banter. "Maybe we still would be if it wasn't for Tucker and his rat squad," he said quietly.

Olivia's face fell immediately and she could tell that Elliot noticed. She looked around her desk for a distraction before remembering the reason she brought him in.

"El, um… Elliot," the nick name slipped out so easily, but as soon as it did, she felt she wasn't ready for it. "Brad Carlson didn't rape Lizzy."

Elliot's back straightened and his vision focused as he listened.

"His wife alibied him and our detectives found surveillance of him at a little league game at the time of the rape."

"Lizzy saw him…" he began.

"And you know how unreliable a quick glance can be in the middle of a trauma," she reminded him.

Elliot inhaled deeply and rubbed his hand over his face.