SVU in Chicago

Headed to Chicago

I sat at my desk with a hand on either side of my head rubbing my temples. We had been working on a serial rapist case for the last 7 months and had gotten nowhere with it. This case hit particularly close to home since the perp tied his victims up and tortured them for 8 hours before letting them go. This case was triggering for me due to a similar experience where I was kidnapped and tortured for four days. It had been about a year since the William Lewis nightmare, but certain images and scenarios would bring me right back to one of the worst times of my life. I could still smell and taste the vodka he had shoved down my throat and I could hear his voice speaking obscenities to me. My throat would actually start to burn and I would be overwhelmed with nausea when I thought back to those awful days. He was dead in the ground but I am still haunted by what he did to me.

I could feel a headache coming on and needed to try and get ahead of it. I opened my desk drawer to look for some aspirin and spotted the mini badge with number 6313 lying next to the bottle. I picked up the mini badge that had my old partner's number on it and instantly felt sadness. I hadn't thought about Elliot Stabler since I was being tortured by Lewis. Well, at least not thought about him as much as I used to. I truly thought Lewis was going to kill me and all I could think about was how I wanted to see El again. If he had still been in my life at that time, he would have done everything in his power to find me or he would have died trying. I fully believed this to be true during our twelve years as partners, but then he up and left one day without a single word. He completely disappeared on me and it crushed me. I had never been so in sync with another human being and thought we would always be partners. I also had some romantic feelings for him, but he was married, and I didn't think he felt the same way, so I kept those feelings hidden. I never wanted to be the woman who wrecked someone else's family. My heart was still broken over the way he left but I still cared for him. I received this mini badge in the mail a few weeks after he left with a note only saying "Semper Fi, El." I cherished the badge even though feelings of anger, hurt, and sadness overcame me whenever I looked at it.

A familiar voice standing at my desk brought me out of my thoughts and back to the present. Another detective in SVU and close friend, Fin Tutuola, stated excitedly, "Hey Liv, a Sergeant Voight from Chicago is on the phone asking to speak to the person in charge of the serial rape case we have been dealing with the last several months. He says he has some information about a case they have that may relate to it. I replied, "Oh ok, that's great Fin. What line?"

Fin answered, "Line 1. Let me know what he says."

I picked up the phone and said, "Sergeant Benson. How can I help you?"

A gruff voice on the other line replied, "Hello Sergeant Benson. This is Sergeant Hank Voight from the intelligence unit in Chicago. We have a victim who was tortured and raped last week and the perp's motive matches several rapes from your area. I was hoping we could swap notes on this to figure out who this bastard is."

I was stunned to hear that not only there was a possible break in this case but that the perp may have moved on to Chicago. I answered, "Definitely, Sergeant Voight. We have been trying to track this guy down for the last seven months and have gotten nowhere. He was consistently raping someone about once a month and then everything went cold in the last three months. There have been five victims total and they all report the same thing. He came up from behind, they felt something poke them in the neck, and then they wake up lying in an alley near where they were attacked. The details are very fuzzy for recalling the time they were gone, but all victims were taken somewhere and then returned 8-10 hours later. There is evidence of rape on all of them but no semen. They have ligature marks around their wrists consistent with some sort of rope and the drugs ketamine and xylazine were found in their bloodstream."

Voight replied, "This is definitely the same guy. We have a victim who experienced an identical situation. She is a paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department and is like family to us. We are motivated to find this guy and bring her justice."

My stomach sank when I heard paramedic. The similarities between the victims could not be coincidence. All five victims from Manhattan were first responders. There were two firefighters, one police officer, and two paramedics. I told Sergeant Voight that my squad was going to come to Chicago to team up with them and solve this case. He agreed that we should form a task force and gave me the address of their precinct and hotel info nearby.

After I hung up with Sergeant Voight, I gathered the SVU squad around my desk who included, Fin, Amanda Rollins, and Nick Amaro. I told everyone that the serial rapist had now traveled to Chicago and the police there needed our help to catch this guy. The four of us were flying out tomorrow morning and I wasn't sure how long we would be there since we had only a perpetrator's profile and no suspects.v