The Affair

30

At the precinct, Liv and Elliot were working around the clock to find a lead on Ursa's molestation case. They suspected a girl that had gone missing two hours after Ursa's case was reported on the other side of Central Park. The girl was similar to Ursa except the girl's nanny was busy with her brother and didn't pay attention to her. 

They were going on hour five of the kidnapping. They were taking turns napping in the cribs. Elliot had called Maureen and asked her to stay with the younger ones and let Lucy go home. Kathleen had agreed to stay and help out as well. Liv was heading to wake Munch up from his 30 minute nap in the cribs while Elliot was working on a lead at his desk. A homeless guy that was walking by across the street had seen a tall man that had a crying girl shoved into a grey van. 

Fin was searching through hours of video at the store where the man said he saw the van. Once he found the van, he called the man over to the video screen. "Is this the man you saw?"

The man scratched his messy hair and looked at the screen. He nodded his head several times. "Yes, that's the guy. He had the girl in his arms as she was yelling and crying." Elliot watched as Fin played the video. The man disappeared in the park. Fin sped the tape up until they saw him again. The guy was now holding the girl in his arms, crying. He shoved her in the back of the van and drove off. Before the van disappeared from the screen, Fin stopped it again and highlighted the license. 

Liv had come back and ushered the man away, thanking him for his help. "Print that off and run it." Elliot called as his phone rang. 

"Stabler."

"Dad," Maureen started, her voice shaky. 

Elliot had been walking to the board to look at the timeline of events, stopped. "Maureen, what's wrong?"

She started crying loudly. "Someone kidnapped Eli."

The world had stopped. Blood started pulsating in Elliot's ears, his heart beating faster than he's ever felt. Liv had sat back down at her desk to call someone for the case, saw Elliot freeze. She went to him and took the phone from him. "What's wrong?" 

"Someone kidnapped Eli!" Maureen repeated loudly, crying harder. 

Elliot had already rushed to the Captain's office to tell him while Liv asked where she was. "Where are you?"

They rushed to Central Park where Maureen, the triplets, Ethan, and Kathleen were. Lizzie and Dickie were farther on, searching for any sign of their brother. Once Maureen saw Elliot and Liv running towards them, she called them back. 

Elliot immediately enveloped Maureen into a hug, quickly pulling Kathleen and Ethan in. "What happened?"

Maureen took a deep breath. "We were all taking a walk when Eli wanted to pick some flowers over there and take them to you and Liv at work. We told him to be careful while Kathleen and I checked on the triplets. Ethan was being held by Lizzie a little ways up with Dickie beside her. They were talking about bringing you guys some fresh clothes later. The next thing any of us know is he's screaming and a tall guy is running away with him in his arms."

"You saw the guy running away with Eli?" Elliot asked, eyes unfocused. When Maureen nodded with Kathleen following her nod, Elliot ran his hand down his face. "Okay, what did he look like?"

The older kids looked at each other and started talking at the same time. Kathleen grunted and waved her hands and they started taking turns speaking. 

"Tall."

"Blonde hair."

"He was wearing blue jeans that had dirt stains on the knees."

"He went over there towards the street."

"Didn't he have a van?"

"I think it was gray."

Elliot held his hand up to silence them. He glanced at Liv who looked just as worried as he did. "Okay, thanks, head back to the apartment and stay there."

Liv and Elliot waited until they had piled into Elliot's SUV and Maureen's car and take off before they started walking to their car. "Its the same guy that took the girl five hours ago. And I'll bet its the same guy that molested Ursa."

"Central Park is his comfort zone." Liv opened the door to the precinct and they headed up. Cragen was walking towards them, paper in hand. 

He handed it to Elliot who showed Liv. "The van is registered to William Crate's brother."

"Wesley Crates. I thought he was in LA." Elliot looked at Cragen. 

"Wesley moved here a week before William was convicted of conspiracy to commit rape of Kathy and Dickie. He saw the trial and spent a lot of time talking to his brother in jail." Cragen said. "He works near Central Park, has a garage in the Bronx that he owns."

Elliot and Liv started heading back to the elevator, but Cragen called them back. "Nope, you can't go, I've already called Fin and Munch over there. They're done canvasing the park for witnesses. They'll head over and talk to them at the garage. You two stay here and work Ursa and Trina's case. Let them run with Eli's case. When it crosses, we will cross that bridge later."

He didn't wait around to see if Liv and Elliot did what he said. He headed back into his office to let the Chief of D's know what was going on. Possibly to call in a back up detective. Elliot and Liv stood there, breathing heavily, worried about Eli.