The Importance of Impartiality
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Captain Danny Ross was sitting at his desk and listening to concerns about one of his cases that Rodgers had while he waited for either of his two most…exciting pair of detectives to make an appearance.
Logan and Falacci were the first to show up. Talk about a powder keg. When he had first received word that he was to replace the retiring Deakins (and the obvious but probably false reassurances that there was no truth to the rumors that his predecessor had been investigated or pressured into stepping down), the brass had taken time out of telling him how deeply disturbed Goren was long enough to warn them that Logan had a temper and while he had not yet actually punched anybody important since the incident in 1995, it was really only a matter of time.
With Wheeler as his partner, Ross could see the signs and quietly wondered if Logan losing control would drag her or Ross himself down with him. Fortunately, it hadn't happened yet and he was beginning to have his doubts that it would. Unfortunately, Wheeler was off teaching in Europe or whatever – it was all very vague – for nine months and her replacement was…perhaps not as well-suited to Logan. She was a very effective cop, naturally, or she never would have made it to Major Case but she was also the woman who made Logan able to talk about being the diplomatic one with a straight face.
He really should have tried harder to get Zack to come back.
"Are you done flirting with your girlfriend or should we come back later?" Logan inquired, his tone far politer than his words.
Ross sighed internally. He may be developing an relationship with Rodgers outside of work but the both of them weren't anything but professional while on the job so he really didn't see where all those comments about them were coming from.
Rodgers quickly finished up what she was saying and left but not before giving Logan a look that suggested that he had better not need her to rush an autopsy any time in the immediate future.
"Was there a problem?" Falacci asked somewhat impatiently.
"Yes, I've just learned that the headless corpse you were investigating has been identified," Ross began.
Falacci frowned. "Isn't that a good thing? Why is that a problem?"
"It has come to my attention that the corpse in question is one ex-Councilman Kevin Crossley," Ross declared.
Logan put on his best innocent expression. "Yeah, Rodgers told us that a little while ago. Let me guess, you want us to not cause a scandal."
"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Ross returned.
"Did the papers find something already?" Falacci demanded. "If so, they've gotten the information before we did. I bet they were snooping around, tampering with evidence…"
"I can't believe some reporters," Logan agreed, still not quite looking at Ross.
"Logan," Ross said sternly.
Logan's eyes finally flickered over to him. "What?"
"You can't possibly investigate this case," Ross told him firmly.
"Why not?" Logan demanded.
Ross rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. Honestly, he really shouldn't have to explain these things. "Because this is the same man that you once publicly punched."
"Oh, is it?" Falacci asked, her eyes growing wide. "That is so cool!" She cleared her throat. "I mean, murders are always bad. Right. Even if they kind of had it coming for being a murderous homophobe."
"He was never convicted," Ross reminded her. "And see, now your impartiality is being thrown into question and you weren't anywhere near that case ten years ago."
"Oh come on, that was ages ago," Logan protested. "I'm sure it's been forgotten by now."
"It hasn't," Ross said grimly. "Do you know people are still warning me about you solely on the basis of that? What does that tell you?"
"That they've chosen to overlook many other things that they could have warned you about," Logan replied promptly.
"You're hardly filling me with confidence here, Logan," Ross said flatly.
"Listen, I can work this case," Logan said eagerly.
"And I really want to work a case with an asshole victim that I don't have to feel sorry for!" Falacci exclaimed. "Do you know how rare that is?"
"I've actually had three calls already about your behavior at the crime scene and your, and I quote, 'unnecessary rudeness and anger issues'," Ross told her.
Falacci brightened. "That's two less than the last case!"
"See?" Logan grinned at her. "You're improving!"
There wasn't much point in reassigning this case on the basis of Falacci causing problems because that would inevitably happen wherever she went. How someone as openly insubordinate and lacking any sort of people skills managed to make it to his department in the first place, even temporarily, was beyond him. Logan, however, was another issue.
"You don't think that maybe you're a little…biased in this case?" Ross suggested.
Logan shrugged. "I don't see that I am. I mean, I still want to catch the guy who did it. And Crossley's dead anyway so it's not like I have to deal with him as a witness or as a suspect." He paused. "Though if I did then I maintain that I would still be perfectly impartial."
"Say you could manage to keep your person feelings out of this case," Ross said, highly doubting that this was actually the case. "No one would actually believe that."
"I would," Falacci said loyally.
"My mistake," Ross deadpanned. "No one besides Falacci would believe it. There would be all sorts of whispers and suspicions going around and it might even come up at trial. Why can't you just switch to another case where there's not any chance of personal bias coming up or the accusation of?"
Logan frowned at that, apparently not really having an answer. "Because…I…don't want to…let people think that I haven't moved past this?"
"Is that a question?" Ross asked wryly.
"And also we've already started the case so, you know, we'd have to get someone else up to speed and go find a new case and I probably wouldn't be able to stop thinking about this one anyway so the new case wouldn't get the attention it deserves," Logan continued in a burst of inspiration. "And if we had no case then that would be wasting departmental resources."
"And that's terrible," Falacci backed him up.
Ross sighed as he saw Goren and Eames waiting outside of his door. Clearly Logan and Falacci weren't going to budge on this and while he could just order them to do as he said, he wouldn't put it past them to take it upon themselves to investigate on their own and make a nuisance of themselves pestering whoever he actually gave the case to.
"Fine," he conceded. "But do make sure you keep it professional, Logan."
"Don't I always?" Logan asked rhetorically as he headed for the door.
"Sorry we're late, Captain," Goren apologized. "We had to stop in and see your girlfriend about something."
And there it went again. Zack would probably be able to explain it to him. Immediately, Ross was reminded of one of the reasons he wasn't particularly fond of Goren. The other reasons, of course, were his lack of faith in Goren's stability and his increasingly horrible family issues that kept intruding into his work.
He did, however, like Eames very much, mostly because he was in awe of her ability to not only put up with her partner on a daily basis but to rein him in on occasion. He had heard about that time that when Eames was on maternity leave and a substitute partner had to be brought in and just the thought of dealing with that left him shaking.
"Any news on why you sent a SWAT team to take in a terrified teenage girl in a hit and run?" Ross demanded.
"All we knew about her was that she was Australian," Eames explained. "We thought it was Nicole Wallace."
"But the girl is black," Ross protested. "And far, far too young to be her. Do you just expect every Australian woman you meet to be Nicole Wallace?"
"To be fair, up until this point every Australian woman we hear of has been Nicole Wallace," Goren defended their actions. "And she's very slippery so we felt that a SWAT team would be our best bet of getting our hands on her."
"To be honest, Captain, I'm not sure why this was Major Case anyway," Eames admitted. "I mean, the dog she ran over died and it was very sad but it doesn't really strike me as Major Case material."
Ross sighed again. "To be honest, I'm not happy with it either but the dog belonged to the mayor and you know how these things get."
"It just seems like we already have enough work to do without having to get involved every time a precinct is also too busy or the victim has ever met anybody important even if the murder itself has nothing to do with that relationship," Eames continued.
"I hear you," Ross agreed. "But I don't think that you two should be working this case anyway."
"Why?" Goren demanded. "You don't think I can solve a simple dead dog case?"
"This isn't even murder," Eames muttered under her breath.
"Or do you think that I'm cracking up again?" Goren challenged.
"It's nothing like that," Ross lied, despite the fact that he was – as always – highly concerned about him. Letting him know this tended to have the opposite effect however and until he actually did something to force his hand or the brass noticed he wasn't about to take any action. He might as well fire Goren now if he intended to suspend him every time he had doubts and Goren was far too valuable to the department for that. "It's just that there might be a conflict of interest."
"I don't see one," Goren replied promptly. "Eames? Do you see one?"
"Nope," Eames denied. "Especially now that Nicole's not involved."
"Though even if she were, we are the experts on her," Goren was quick to clarify. "And we only know her through this so no conflict."
Again, it would seem he needed to spell things out. "Goren, not-Nicole is currently living with your brother. If she's a suspect, he is probably going to become a part of this investigation."
"I can keep it professional," Goren insisted.
He should have expected that. "Goren, he's your brother," Ross reiterated.
"We're not close," Goren said, unconcerned.
"I'll keep an eye on him and make sure that it's not a problem," Eames offered.
"I appreciate that," Ross replied. "But even if he can keep this impartial, no one is going to believe that and it will just cause more complications. Why can't you just switch to another case?"
"I'm still not convinced that Nicole Wallace isn't involved," Goren replied.
"Not really helping your case," Ross replied.
"Come on, Captain. You know that if we're not officially involved then there will just be another…incident later," Eames said imploringly.
Ross hated to admit it but he knew she was right. There was absolutely no way that Goren would stay out of this and if he tried to make him then the detective would just wind up earning other suspension…if he were lucky. And while he hated to basically be forced into allowing this, it wasn't worth the headache. And besides, it was a dead dog. How could he possibly mess this one up?
"Fine," he bit out, waving a hand to dismiss them.
No sooner had they left than one of the ADAs walked in. Claudia Shankly, he believed her name was.
She got right down to business. "I hear that you recommended to the DA that I be removed from those two cases I've been assigned that were investigated by your team?"
Ross had heard good things about Ron Carver but unfortunately by the time he became captain, Carver had apparently had about all he could take of Goren's antics and refused to have anything to do with them anymore. Rumor has it he had only stayed as long as he had due to his friendship with the previous captain.
"I did," he admitted evenly. No sense in being caught in an obvious lie.
"Why?" she demanded, practically spitting fire. "I'll have you know that I'm more than competent as an ADA and I can handle those cases."
"You're the younger sister of the murder victim in the first case and the man we arrested for the second is your ex-boyfriend who had quite a bit to say about you, none of it pleasant," Ross pointed out.
"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Shankly insisted, crossing her arms.
"You really don't think that your obvious personal connection to these cases will end up hurting you when it comes to trial?" Ross asked incredulously.
"I don't see why it would," Shankly denied. "And if the DA's office thought so then they wouldn't have assigned me. Now kindly stay out of my business."
With that, she turned on her heel and power-walked away.
Ross groaned. Though he had always been taught that any personal connection was a bad thing and should mean not being involved in a case, it would seem that nobody else around here had been.
He was starting to wonder if he should even bother bringing it up or just let them merrily investigate the guilt or murder of virtually everyone they had a history with.
Not that it would make any practical difference, of course, since they never did agree to investigate something else.
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