"Law and Order: Criminal Intent," including the characters of Robert Goren, Alexandra Eames, Mike Logan, and Megan Wheeler, is a Wolf Films production copyrighted by Universal Network Television.
When Logan burst into the observation booth off the interrogation room, Goren was standing perfectly still, watching the suspect through the one-way glass, exactly as he'd been standing when Logan left.
"Sorry to take so long, but I wanted to get another witness," Logan said.
Only then did Goren turn to see the woman with the pixie haircut Logan had brought in. She was petite as it was, and between Goren and Logan she was dwarfed.
"Wheeler is new to Major Case, and I understand you haven't crossed paths yet," Logan continued. "Detective Wheeler, this is my partner, Detective Goren."
She extended her hand with a grin. "I'm pleased to meet you. You're kind of a legend around here."
Goren didn't know what to do with that. "Oh. Um, thanks. Uh, why bring another witness?"
Logan looked patient. "A female suspect waives her right to an attorney during interrogation. My partner wants to interview her alone. The recording equipment is circa 1956. If the suspect claims that you promised to let her off the hook in exchange for favors, I want a female detective to be able to say nothing like that happened. And Wheeler here is the perfect witness, she has a reputation as a Girl Scout." He glanced at her. "No offense."
"None taken," said Wheeler, who had obviously thought it was a compliment.
"Thanks. Thank you." Goren was looking at the suspect again. "But she wouldn't make any claims like that."
Logan rolled his eyes at Wheeler. "The oracle. Sees the future and reads minds."
"Yeah," Wheeler laughed, "that's his reputation."
"Look," Logan said to Goren, "we've been investigating this murder for a week now. You've had plenty of chances to stare at her. Is there something interesting she's doing in there? 'Cause I'm not seein' it."
"She's not doing anything." Goren smiled briefly. "That is the curious incident. She's been arrested for murder; she knows she's about to be interrogated; we've left her waiting in there for 15 minutes; and she's been sitting there perfectly still, hands folded on the table, looking around occasionally at the tape player or the TV. Casual interest. Whatever's going on inside, she's not going to let it show on the surface. She's going to be very hard to roil."
Logan flashed a piece of paper. "This ought to do it."
"Only if we build it right. And even then, no guarantees," Goren said, heading for the door.
"When you close the binder?"
"Right," and Goren closed the door behind him.
He reappeared a moment later and sat with his back to the observers, facing the suspect. He'd been wrong, he noted mentally as he put the zippered binder on the table. There was one outside indication of inner turmoil, a very slight pucker of tension at the edges of her delicate mouth. But that was all. She even nodded a little as he sat down, recognizing and greeting him.
"All right," Goren said, "I'm Detective Robert Goren of the Major Case Squad. Questioning Alexandra, Alex, Eames about the murder of Joshua Kennan. You've been advised of your rights and you've waived your right to have counsel present, is that correct?"
She was looking at him as though something had caught her. "Um – yes, that's correct. Because I didn't do it and you have no evidence against me."
He chuckled a little, flipping the binder open. "Well. We'll see."
"I didn't realize you were from the Major Case Squad. I thought you were from Homicide," Alex said.
"Does it matter?"
She shook her head with a little, grim smile. "No. It just makes sense." Her voice, familiar to him now, was quiet and warm. She had excellent grammar and diction with just a faint trace of the street, enough to remind you that her clients weren't academics and socialites.
"Makes sense how?"
"A sociopath gets killed by his drug-dealer buddies, and because he was the nephew of a millionaire, two people from the Major Case Squad are assigned to it. As opposed to my client who had just got clean and quit hooking and had lined up a minimum-wage job cleaning offices. When her former pimp stalked her and killed her, it was all I could do to sustain one Homicide detective's interest in the case."
Goren's gaze wavered a little. "Yes. The assignments aren't always – Well, they're not up to me. But the fact is, we're not discussing that case now. We're discussing the murder of Josh Kennan."
She simply looked at him.
"But – but there is a connection, obviously. You'd known a woman who was killed by a stalker, so you were afraid your sister would be killed by Kennan."
She shrugged a little. "Everyone who knew her was afraid of that. You know her boss used to close up the coffee shop at night to walk her to the subway and make sure she got on it safely? Fifteen, twenty minutes of business he missed every night she worked there. We were all afraid he would kill her."
"But only one of you did something about it."
"He was an ex-convict with violent tendencies and violent associates. I don't know why you're focusing on my family."
He said forcefully, staring her down, "I'm not focusing on your family. I'm focusing on you."
She flinched just a little. He suddenly said, "Why Alex?"
"What?"
As fast as his voice had grown hard, it was suddenly convivial. "Why go by the nickname Alex? Why not Sandra, or Sandy?"
She wrinkled her nose a little, drawing out the name nasally. "Saaaandy? It's not 1960. And I'm not in high school."
"It is sort of a – a pink-poodle name," Goren said. He grinned and pointed at her playfully. "Alex is stronger. You were a daddy's girl."
"Um, a little."
"Why didn't you become a cop? Like him?"
"I thought about it." Her face and voice were relaxing in spite of herself. "But I had a friend in school whose life, her mother's life too, were changed by an outstanding social worker. Not that they didn't work hard at it themselves. But I know what that lady did, the efforts she made for them, and I thought, even if you could only really help ten percent of your caseload, that would be – that would be worth spending your life doing."
"You became a social worker to protect people."
"From themselves, mostly."
"Like you wanted to protect your sister."
"Well – "
"You did want to protect her, didn't you?"
"Yes, but – "
"But what? You didn't want her stalker out of her life?"
"Of course."
"But you stood by and did nothing?"
"I helped her with the evidence for her case."
"The case was never filed."
"It would have been, soon. We needed – "
"And if it had been, what would he have gotten? Two, three years? That's not much protection for a sister you love."
"I understand the law," Alex said, her voice shaking only slightly. "I understand that you can't arrest someone for something they might do. I understand that if someone makes a call from a pay phone you can't prove who made it. I understand that unless someone sees it, you can't prove who sent her unsigned romantic cards or threatening letters, or who put a decapitated cat on her front porch while she and her husband were asleep."
"You couldn't prove it. But you knew."
"Of course."
"And you'd always hated him, anyway."
"No. Not hated. I didn't like him. He would laugh at things no one else found funny. He'd take personal offense at ridiculous things. He hovered over Kathy. I just got a bad feeling from him."
"He was a customer at the coffee shop, yes? He flirted with her, they dated, she broke it off at your suggestion – "
"No. She broke it off on her own. At first she thought his controlling was just insecurity, he'd get over it when he knew for sure that she loved him. But Kathy's not stupid. She realized finally that he was just – there was something seriously wrong with him, and broke up – You know all this."
Goren said smoothly, "I want to get the viewpoint of the one person who was on to him from the beginning. You weren't surprised when he went to prison."
"I wasn't surprised that he almost killed someone in a bar brawl. I wasn't surprised that he blamed his outburst on Kathy, for breaking up with him. I was surprised that he actually spent three years in jail. Kathy told me how he'd used his family connections before, to keep himself out of trouble."
"So Kathy found Ben – "
"Ben found her. She was so gun-shy she almost wouldn't give him a chance. But Ben is great, so patient. And Kathy needs – " Her voice broke a little, and Goren tilted his head. "She's, you know, the kind of woman who ought to be married."
"And you're not?"
She looked startled. "No – I – just never met anyone – "
She looked away from him, looked back, and finished, " – the right guy."
There was an odd little moment of silence.