"So it's true."
Mac looked up to see Flack take a seat next to him at the bar. The younger detective ordered a beer and glanced over, seeing the question in his friend's eyes.
"You do actually leave the lab once in a while," he finished.
Mac gave him a small smile. "It's been known to happen." He took a long pull from his scotch, his eyes growing distant. "You look tired, Flack. You should go home and get some sleep."
He shrugged. "Not really sure I could right now."
Mac nodded. "I can understand that."
There was silence again, as both men got lost in their own thoughts.
"What do you think Gerard will get?" Flack asked suddenly.
The older detective thought about it for a minute. "It could go a couple of ways. The D.A. might decide that making a deal would be better than dragging an Inspector through the media and the mud. At the same time, though, they can't be seen as being weak when it comes to prosecuting one of their own. But if it goes to trial...it wouldn't take much to convince the jury of extreme emotional duress."
"He killed the man who raped his daughter, Mac."
Turning, Mac studied him for a moment. "And you think that justifies what he did? You think he should get off without any punishment?"
"No, of course not. I'm just sayin'...I can understand it, Mac. I can understand why he did it."
"So can I. And that's why neither of us wants to go home and try to sleep. Because we know that we're not much different from Gerard. In the same spot, under the same circumstances...we might make the same decision."
Flack stared at his beer bottle, absently scratching at the label with his thumb. "And how do you deal with that?"
Mac shrugged, taking another drink. "You pray that you're never in that situation."
"That's it?"
"That's it."