SVU: Let me remodel your thinking

Disclaimer: I do not own the tv show that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Disclaimers: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters-Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, Donald Cragen, Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola, John Munch, M.E Warner, George Huang and Alexandra Cabot- belong to Wolf Films, Universal Network, and NBC Studios. No copyright infringements whatsoever are intended. I own the original characters and the story. And no, I am not making any money off of this, I am just having some fun.

Some people are born into luck, others have to make their own. Sure one might think that Nessa had been born gorgeous, lucky, an all around wonderful person without a care in the world, how ever, this could not be further from the truth. Carter had been fortunate in many ways, but clearly she had her fair share of bad encounters, and the recent events could be catalogued under the Bad section.


-“ There is no way in hell this adds up Liv “ Said Elliot while flipping through the pages of the report. “ Yes she had gun powder residue on her hands, but she also does not remember half of the crap that happened to her. Besides why the hell would she kill her best friend ?”

-“ Hey, I didn’t say I am agreeing with this did I ?” answered Olivia while maneuvering the lazy Ford through the crowded traffic. “ Maybe Dem knows something. Well actually scratch that. I am Sure he knows something. Let’s see if we can work our way into his graces “

It had started to rain slowly over the muggy city. Elliot pulled his coat around himself as he rushed to get inside the building where Dem lived. Olivia followed her partner closely, her eyes inquisitively searching each person they passed on their way to the elevator. It seemed to be a rather upscale complex, taking into consideration the door man, receptionist, valet, and even the poor champ in the elevator whose sole purpose was to push buttons for lazy patrons. Benson quirked an eye brow at the standard of living of mister Dem. A bit over his budget, if you think about how much a racer on the bench would make. Still, she kept this to herself. Liv knew that it was pointless to even mention it to Elliot. He was thinking it any way. They had worked together enough to figure out what the other was thinking, so at times, words were not necessary.
The doors of the elevator hissed open.

-“ 10th floor “ , announced the poor fellow as he kept the “ open door” button pressed till the two Detectives exited.

Elliot nodded at the young man before making his way down the lavishly decorated hallway towards apartment 314. He knocked on the door firmly, in short taps, but loud enough that one could hear it. Both him and Liv moved to the side of the door, away from any line of fire, should such an event occur. It was not paranoia, simply a good habit that cops tend to pick up during their time in service.

The door cracked open and a short, skinny blue eyed man peeked at the two from behind the crack.

-“ Yes?” he asked “ How may I help you ?”

-“ Jack Dem?” asked Liv as she flashed her badge in front of his eyes “Detective Benson, and Stabler, Special Victims. May we have a word with you ?”

The man hesitated for a few moments before closing the door in their faces. The sound of a chain being removed echoed through the door. Once more the massive wooden door was swung open. He stepped aside and motioned for them to come in, but he did not say a word.

-“ Isn’t this too nice of a place to keep yourself locked up like that ?” asked Elliot while he walked in.

-“My brother’s a cop” quickly answered the frail man “ I guess he got me … paranoid.”

Stabler and Benson made their way into the living room and glanced around nonchalantly. They watched the man, his nervous movements told more stories than any words he could ever come up with. He was clearly uncomfortable around them, quite strange for a man who should be used to cops by now, since he had one in the family.

-“So, what is this about Detectives ?” he asked while taking a seat on his sofa “ Oh , please sit” continued Jack and motioned to the armchairs across from him.

-“Thank you” replied Olivia and took a seat on the love seat with Elliot following her movements. “We are here to ask you a couple of questions about Annie Marquise and Vanessa Carter”

-“ Oh…” he whispered, his expression changing immediately.” Well, it is quite an unfortunate loss for the team. At least Vanessa is ok”

-“She’s dead “ Elliot abruptly said and cut Jack off.

-“What ?” Jack asked very confused “ That can’t be …” he mumbled to himself in a rather clear state of panic.

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other with narrowed eyes before Benson finally spoke to the confused and distressed man.

-“Why can’t it be ?” she asked.

-“ Ohh …well because I could swear I heard on the news that she had been taken to the hospital…I was a good friend of hers” he quickly answered, hardly believable since he seemed to struggle for words.

-“She died en route” Elliot said in an attempt to mess with the man’s mind.

His jaw dropped and he immediately stood from the sofa. His eyes locked onto the clock on the wall for almost half a minute. When he returned his attention to the two detectives he almost stumbled over his words. His hands were getting cold and the man tried desperately to rub them together in a nervous manner. His eyes moved from Benson to Stabler and he took a deep breath before he spoke.

-“Detectives, this comes as a …shock to me. If you will excuse me I need to be somewhere “ he spoke as he started to move from one side of the room to the other “ Perhaps we can pick this up another time ?”

-“Hey, sure… do you mind if I use the bathroom ?” asked Liv nonchalantly.

-“Huh? Yeah sure… to the right down the hallway “ he replied.

Elliot had folded his arms over his chest, and now leaned up against the wall in the doorway to the lobby. He followed the man’s every move with expert eyes. Each breath he took told a story, each drop of cold sweat that trickled down his shirt told Elliot he was rotten to the core. He knew it, and Olivia knew it as well. Perhaps she will find something on her little trip to the bathroom.

-“So where were you last night ?” asked Stabler.

-“What ? I.. I was here .. watching a movie, had a pizza… here … here “ mumbled Jack as he dug through a pile of papers and handed Elliot a receipt. “See.. I was here “

-“ Ok, you know I just have to ask. Specially since you and Carter were so close” Elliot tried to comfort him with a slight lie, but he gladly pocketed the receipt. That would have some sort of DNA.

The piece of paper was rather damp. The man’s palms were sweating profusely, and either he was sick, or he was incredibly nervous.

Olivia glanced around the cabinets in his bathroom for some sort of drugs or anything that might be suspicious. What she found was quite interesting. Baby powder, and lots of it. Now it is normal to find one regular size container in one’s bathroom, but this man had a bunch of them, and they were quite the industrial size. Unless he was a doctor, or had a really weird fetish, this could be considered strange. Liv tore one of the pages from her little notepad, took a container in her hand and tapped some of the powder onto the paper. She then folded it carefully and placed it in her inner pocket. Shortly there after, she walked out of the bathroom and back into the living room. A quick nod was given to Elliot before her eyes rested on the man.

-“Thank you… and I am sorry for your loss. We will keep you informed of our progress “ spoke the woman before turning to walk to the door with Elliot.

-“Yes, please… thank you” he said as he closed the door behind the two.


The morgue was quiet. Warner took her time to look over the body of Annie. She spent a lot of time running tests for all sorts of substances, swabbing everything she could find, sending samples of clothes and skin to be evaluated. When the results came in for some of the swabs she had done, the woman seemed puzzled. On both Annie and Vanessa they had found traces of baby powder. Small, but still present. Yet she could not remember seeing anything at the crime scene that would indicate where that could have come from. Warner sighed, her frame leaned back against the metal table top and cast another glance at the dead woman’s body. Something was missing, but she could not figure out what.


Thank you for reading ! Please feel free to review, comment, drop some sugestions. E-mail me at livia_weaver@yahoo.com with any questions you might have.


NEXT CHAPTER ----> Fin and Munch stop by Fred Alman's house for a short visit. New suspects arise.