Disclaimer – I don't own either BTVS or L&O:SVU or anything else currently owned by anybody else and some of things I do own are actually owned by the bank. I'm not making any money off this story (if I was the bank wouldn't own anything I own).
Direct sequel to "Not All Monsters are Demons." I strongly suggest you read that story first as this one will make very little sense otherwise.
This is set in the "Muggle Way" universe and there will be some minor references to that story. It is not necessary to read that story to follow what is happening here (although it would nice if you did)
The Prologue is set a few weeks after the epilogue to "Not All Monsters Are Demons." The rest of the story takes place the following year.
Spoilers
BTVS – Post 'Chosen'. Spoilers through 'Chosen' and Angel's 'Not Fade Away'
L&O:SVU – Sometime mid season six – The only real spoilers are for the fifth season episode "Loss"
Old Friend, New Life
Prologue
Detectives Olivia Benson was reviewing her notes for her upcoming trial appearance. The new ADA, Casey Novak, was still settling in. Benson still hadn't made up her mind about her. She was intelligent and determined, but had no experience with SVU cases and Benson wasn't sure she could handle the types of things they dealt with everyday.
"Catching up on the paperwork," her partner, Elliot Stabler, sat down at his desk opposite her.
"Trying to," she replied. Her phone rang and she picked up. "Benson, SVU," she said.
"Detective Benson, this Marshall Hammond," came the voice from the phone.
"Hammond?" Benson remembered him from the last case Alex Cabot had worked on. "What can I do for you Marshall?"
"Are you and your partner free for lunch?" he asked. "I'd like to talk about our previous case. Can we meet at Jake's in an hour."
"We should be able to make that," Benson replied. Stabler looked up with a questioning look on his face. "Can I ask what this is about?" Benson inquired.
"Just a few details that need to be closed out," came the answer. "I'll see you in an hour."
The phone hung up.
"What's up?" Stabler asked.
"That was Hammond," Benson said. "He wants to meet us for lunch at Jake's. Said there's some details that need to be closed out from our previous case."
Stabler looked around the room and then leaned in and spoke in a quiet voice, "Something to do with Alex?"
"I don't know," Benson replied. "I guess we find out in an hour."
----
An hour later Benson and Stabler entered a diner a few blocks from the station house. They saw Federal Marshall Hammond sitting in a booth at the back of the diner, made their way over and sat down.
"Hammond," Stabler said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. "What's with the cloak and dagger routine."
"Benson, Stabler," he replied. "Look, I'm probably breaking a dozen rules talking to the two of you. But you're Cabot's friends and I figure she'd want you to know."
"Know what?" Benson said in a concerned voice. "What happened to Alex?"
"Six weeks after entering the Program, Alexandra Cabot disappeared," Hammond replied.
"What the hell kind of protection program are you people running," Stabler demanded. "You were supposed to keep her safe. How did they find her?"
"They didn't find her," Hammond replied. "When I say disappeared, I mean disappeared. We set her up in a house in Arizona. A week ago an agent went to the house for his weekly check in and found the place empty. All of her belongings were gone and the place was wiped clean. There were no fingerprints, no hairs in the drain, not a speck of dust. There was not one piece of physical evidence that the house had been lived in for months."
"What happened?" Benson said. "Did she move? Where did she go?"
"I don't know," Hammond said. "And it goes a lot farther than that. The next day all of our records about Alex Cabot's stay in the Witness Relocation Program were gone. Every computer file erased, all the paper records have gone missing, even the private ones in my office. Agent's case notes vanished."
"What are you talking about?" Stabler said. "How the hell could she disappear like that?"
"I told you, I don't know," Hammond said. "If the Cartel had found her, they would have done something public. Something that sent a message," he sighed. "I've been pushing this for the past week. Yesterday I got a phone call from my boss saying to drop the case. As far as the federal government is concerned, Alexandra Cabot died in a New York hospital from a gunshot wound and there is not one piece of physical evidence to dispute that fact."
"Where the hell is she?" Benson said.
"What kind of game are you people playing at?" Stabler said in a menacing tone.
Hammond shook his head. "Look, this isn't some spy movie. Nobody in the government can make records vanish this completely overnight. It's just not possible. Whatever your friend has gotten herself into; she's outside the reach of the federal government and the Cartel's reach as well. She's not going to be found unless she wants to be found. You were her friends. I just thought you should know."
He got up from the table. "Don't look into this. When I went to my boss, all he told me was to back off. The orders came from somewhere way up the ladder. He wasn't happy about it. But people voluntarily leave the Program all the time. There is no indication that Cabot was the victim of violence. No evidence of a crime. I was told I have real cases to work on and to stick with those," he looked away then shrugged his shoulders and turned back to them. "I'm sorry I don't have anything else for you. But I just thought you should know."
Hammond walked out of the store leaving a stunned Benson and Stabler behind to process what they had heard.