Love at the Outback
The secret...
SVU Squad Room
"That doesn't mean anything..."Elliot began. "Besides, she has an allaby. She was with me the whole night."
"It won't hurt to just look into it. Why didn't she tell you that her ex-boyfriend was currently dating the victim?" Elliot shrugged.
"Her friend just died, John. She's got a lot on her plate." But if it makes you happy to ask her a few more questions, fine, I'll call her and ask her to come back down here." Munch smiled in defeat as Elliot called her for the second time that day and asked her to come down to the precinct.
"Missed me already huh?" She joked as she walked towards his desk. he smiled when he looked up at her and stood, pulling her into a brief hug.
"Like crazy" he whispered into her ear."We have to ask you some more questions" She nodded.
"Sure. Anything you need." He smiled again and lead her into an interrogation room. Closing the door he sat at the table and she sat across from him. Just then the door opened once more and a dark haired older man entered. He wore slightly tinted glasses and a look that would temporarily intimidate anyone until, of course, you heard him speak.
"Riley, my name is Detective Munch. I'm one of the detectives working on Stacy Braddick's case." He said as he sat down slowly, as if his words were a song and the act of sitting was a dance insync with the song, next to Elliot. She nodded.
"Hi"
"I need to ask you a few questions." Another nod. "Okay." he continued "Do you know a guy named Jake Rodgerson?" A third nod.
"Yes. We dated for, I would say, about 5 or 6 months and we broke up about a year ago." Munch nodded
"Why'd you break up?" Elliot chimmed and she looked at him softly. "If you don't mind me asking." he added quickly and Munch let a smirk briefly creep onto his face. She looked down at her hands.
"We got into a fight one day. He was always accusing me of cheating on him with customers from the restaurant.." she let out a chuckle at the irony that she'd never once gotten physical with a customer as a personal rule, and now here she was falling in love with one. "It got out of hand...and he..." she paused before looking up with tears already forming in her eyes. He suddenly felt a slight tug in his chest, hurting for her. Hating to see her looking so desperate to stop the lump in her throat from rising any further. "He beat me until I couldn't walk. He broke my leg, cracked 8 of my ribs and broke my nose which had me in the hospital for a week. When I got out of the hospital, I told him it was over and that I didn't want to see him again." Munch nodded quickly taking over.
"How'd he take the break up?"
"He called me, sent me flowers...begging me to take him back and forgive him." She paused "But I couldn't. Eventually he left me alone."
"When did he start seeing Stacy?" he asked as Elliot stood and walked out the door, letting it slam slightly behind him. "Um..." she tried to remember "I think about 3 months ago."
"Didn't you try to warn her?"
"Of course, I told her what'd happened between Jake and I, but she would always tell me that he'd changed and how good he was to her. After a while, I figured he had changed and I was happy for her." Munch nodded again.
"Why didn't you tell detectives Benson and Stabler that you'd dated him?"
"It, honestly, just didn't cross my mind at the time. We broke up a long time ago and trust me, while it's not easy to forget a boyfriend like Jake, it's your instinct to not want to remember."
Another nod. "Now you didn't go to Ricky Chins party because you were with Detective Stabler. Is that correct?" She smiled softly.
"Yes. He got to my apartment a little after six and we back to my apartment around nine o' clock." she said simply.
"Where did you go?"
"We went to dinner, went for a walk and went iceskating afterwards." she replied.
"Okay, if you think of anything else that may help, even if it's something small, give us a call" She nodded slowly standing up after he did and followed him out of the room just in time to see Elliot and Olivia putting their jackets on. He caught her eye and walked over to her.
"When this is over, I'm going to make up for the interuption we had last night." he said seductivly in her ear. She smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth before replying.
"Be careful okay?" He nodded before following Oliva out of the precinct.
Jake Rodgersons apartment. Wednesday, 3:00 PM
He knocked on the door so hard that she felt her heart jump slightly. Elliot always did have a slight temper.
"Jake Rodgerson! NYPD! Open up!" The door swung open and Jake stood on the other side.
"How can I help you?" Jake asked.
"Stacy Braddick" Elliot said, his jaw clenching as he fought to control his impulses to beat this jerk into the ground.
"Well, like I told the other two officers-"
"Detectives." Olivia corrected.
"I'm sorry...Detectives...Stacy's my girlfriend. I was with her at a party last night, we got into an argument and she left... I don't know how else I can help you." Olivia smiled.
"Tell us about your relationship with Riley Hamilton" she asked titling her head to one side. Jake shot a glance at Elliot.
"What's there to tell?"
"Why'd you break up?" she persisted.
"I don't know how that'll help find Stacy's killer.." Jake said, clearly avoiding the question before Elliot snapped, grabbing two handfuls of Jake's shirt and pulling him closer to his face.
"Listen you little punk, I'm not in the mood for 20 questions. Answer her. Why did you and Riley Hamilton break up?" Jake's eyes were wide as he clutched at Elliots fists.
"She dumped me for another guy...she was always cheating on me."he said quickly. Elliot pulled him a little closer.
"You're a liar..." Olivia stepped in.
"And you're coming with us".
SVU Interrogation room
"Alright tell me again. What time did Stacy leave the party last night?" Elliot asked as he paced back and forth behind Jake.
"Around 8" Elliot nodded mockingly.
"And what time did you leave?"
"8:45 maybe 9"
"Where'd you go?"
"Home" Jake stated turning in his chair to face Elliot.
"And how many times did you beat Riley Hamilton before she broke up with you?" Jake paused and watched Elliot as he sat down slowly.
"I loved Riley. I would never hurt her even after she hurt me."
"Really?" Olivia chimmed curiously. "That's funny because, we found this silly complaint she filed against you a year ago. Complete with pictures and all" she said tossing them in front of Jake. Elliot winced slightly as he looked at the pictures of Riley with a black eye, an obviously broken nose, her lip swollen and a small cut on her cheek, just underneath her eye. Jake stared at the pictures, emotionless before looking up at the two detectives. "Jake, don't make this any harder than it has to be. All were asking is that you tell us the truth." He didn't answer. "We've already got you on statutory rape." He looked up at her.
"I didn't rape anybody."
"Did you and Stacy ever have sex?"
"She was my girlfriend, what do you think?"
"She was 16, you're 24. That's statutory rape." She informed him. He looked away from her.
"I'm sorry, I'm going to need a lawyer." Olivia nodded.
"Okay." she stood "We'll do it your way." Elliot stood up after her and they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"He's our perp, Liv. I know it" She eyed him.
"Are you saying that because you really think so, or because of what he did to Riley." she asked.
"Both." he said honestly.
"You ready for some more news?" Fin asked coming to stand in front of them. "Lab reports and the rape kit just came in, Stacy was pregnant." Olivia paused.
"Well that explains her belly being sliced How far along was she?"
"Melinda said about 3 to 4 months." Fin replied. Elliot looked at Liv.
"3 to 4 months, she should've already been showing." Fin shook his head.
"Not if you're starving yourself, lab found no food contents in her digestive system. looks like she didn't want anyone to know about it." Cragen came up behind them.
"Fin, take Munch. Go reinterview everbody, find out who else knew about that baby. Elliot, you and Olivia get back in there and find out if Jake knew his 16 year old girlfriend was pregnant."