The Music Sucks but the DJ is Funny
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
AnneMarie Donahue
Monday, 8am
Logan pulled into the parking lot of One Police Plaza. He drove down to the bottom level, passing three open spots on his way. Logan had been a cop for a long time, he didn't consider himself a man of particularly refined tastes, nor was he a high-brow New Yorker type. He did have only one guilty pleasure… talk radio.
"So we've been talking to people dreading this Monday and right now we've got Claire on the phone. Claire, tell me all about it." The DJ said. He was followed by Claire, who was on a shaky cell phone connection.
"I think I'm getting fired today."
"Ouch, sucks." The DJ callously laughed at her, then played a ridiculous sound clip from the 80s.
Logan chuckled at the DJ. He wasn't heartless but anyone who wanted support and understanding shouldn't call into a radio show anyway. Logan muttered to himself, 'idiot.'
"You know how people talk behind your back and throw those glances at you." The woman's voice faded in and out on the radio. "The conversations end whenever I walk in the room."
"So what did you do to get fired?" The DJ asked.
Logan parked the car and let the engine idle while he listened to the radio show a little longer. He wanted to hear the rest of this pitiful story before going upstairs to Falacci and the rest of the department. Falacci was a good partner and one hell of a cop, but she could be wound a little tight Monday mornings.
"I slept with the boss."
"Oh nice!" The DJ laughed in approval. Logan nodded and laughed at the show. He sat back in his car, getting comfortable and hoping that no one would walk past him.
"Yeah," Claire's voice continued. "It was fun when it started, but soon enough people were able to guess what we were up to. He dumped me about two weeks ago, and his wife has been in the office several times since then, giving me dirty looks. I don't know what he's told her, but the other hygienist and the reception treat me like I'm a leper."
"Claire, Claire. You're a slut." The DJ broke in to cut off her stream of self-righteous indignation. "You slept with a married man and now you will pay for it. Just bite the bullet and quit before they fire you." The woman's voice sounded as though she were protesting. The Claire's connection was shaky she was drowned out by the laughter of the DJ and the other people in his studio.
"I'd like to know if this is a service you offer patients?" Another male voice from the station chimed in.
"Yeah, Claire, Robbie my sound guy suddenly worries about his tooth decay!"
Claire's voice could barely be heard, her phone was dying and Logan thought it sounded like she was crying. He battled between sympathy and laughter and decided that he would enjoy himself that morning and laughed as he switched off the radio.
Inside One Police Plaza
Logan walked into the station and sat at his desk. Falacci wasn't in yet. He busied himself with some paperwork until she showed up.
Falacci rapped on his desk and waved to Logan. He took his head phones off and smiled up at her.
"Good weekend?" Falacci smiled down at him.
"Yeah. You?"
Falacci didn't have time to respond. She looked over to Ross' door and nodded.
"Captain wants to see us."
Inside Ross' office the captain stood behind his desk. He was still a little sore from dealing with Falacci and that had caused them to pick up the cases that didn't normally get kicked to Major Case. Logan was going to say something with the next wild goose chase they were sent on. He wouldn't have to; this case was exactly what he'd wanted.
"There was a shooting only a few minutes ago, uptown. The initial responders are still present. A dentist was wounded and his office staff killed. The dentist had the good luck to be brother-in-law to our state senator. So this was kicked up from homicide to us." He handed the folder to Falacci; Logan was standing behind her a little. Ross noticed that he wasn't reading over Falacci' shoulder as usual, he appeared to be a little grim.
"Detective?" Ross asked, stepping out from behind his desk. Ross respected Logan, but never really appreciated having him on the force. Logan operated on some level that couldn't be clearly defined and that unnerved Ross.
Logan waved up his hand and then rubbed the back of his neck. "This morning a dental hygienist phoned into a radio show I listen to…" He looked at Ross and felt stupid for having brought it up, "it's just an odd coincidence."
Office of Michael Poirier, DDM 9am
Outside the dentist's office the sidewalk was crowded with people, gawking at the police. A few photographers had shown up to capture the gore, but they seemed unenthused.
Inside, the action in the office was chaotic. This call had been ill-handled. There were patrolmen all over the room, getting in the way of the CSU, who had arrived too soon and were trying to collect evidence. In the center of the mess were the bodies of two women, one with a gun in her hand and what, until a half hour ago, used to be her mouth. She was draped over the body of another young woman. Across from them was where the dentist had fallen from a shot. He was on his way to Mercy hospital and would likely be in ICU from what the rest of the room looked like.
Logan moved two police officers out of his way to stand in the doorway. "Assuming she's our shooter," Logan pointed at the mess on the floor, "she must have shot the secretary from here, and then moved into the room." Logan took two strides forward, maneuvering around the others, finally getting very annoyed. "Guys, we need this room." He stopped where he was and waited as the patrolmen left, the CSU left their work exactly where it was, and went to wait in the hallway.
Falacci moved deeper into the room to see what Logan had found. The scene actually repulsed her. "This is ridiculous, this little hand gun did all this?" Falacci tapped the derringer in the woman's hand and looked around. It had looked as though the real damage was done with a shotgun.
Logan just shrugged it off and continued, "She then took out the dentist, but it looks like she was confronted by this woman here." Logan waved over a CSU member who handed him a pair of latex gloves. Carefully Logan moved the last victim onto her side. "There's a bullet wound in her stomach, it looks pretty close too. She's missing a fingernail."
"Probably grabbed for the gun, and got shot, the nail popped off during the struggle." Falacci finished for him.
Logan nodded in agreement, he had gone quiet.
"What is it, Mike?"
Logan pointed to her nametag, "Claire," he said. "This is the woman I heard on the radio."
Mercy Hospital – ICU Ward
"Doctor, we really need to talk to Mr. Poirier." Falacci charged up to the attending that had just walked out of the emergency room.
"That's not going to happen." The attending kept walking, leading Logan and Falacci to the nurses' station. "He's just out of the woods now, but we're keeping him sedated until I can get a gastro-intentional surgeon in here to open him up again. That's going to be later today, at the earliest."
"Doctor, I understand that, but he is our only witness to a murder investigation and his statement is very valuable to us." Falacci pleaded with him.
"Well, I'm sure his life is pretty valuable to him, so no." The curt doctor said. "Check on him tomorrow afternoon, and I mean LATE afternoon. Maybe he'll be out of ICU and able to talk."
City Morgue
Three bodies were lined up in the medical examiner's lab. She had the first two exposed under the exam lamps while the third was covered under a sheet.
"Okay, let's do introductions first. Our shooter is Claire Gosselin, cause of death was obviously a shot to the head. We have some trauma around the wrists, minor bruising…"
"Like someone had grabbed her wrists?" Logan interrupted.
"It's more than that, there's bruising on the palm, as if she were gripping the gun too hard."
"Nervous shooter, probably not accustomed to holding a gun, much less firing it." Falacci theorized. She looked up at Logan who did not seem convinced. "Any shooting range will tell you that's the rookie mistake." She remembered the academy, the first shot she ever squeezed off had almost broken her wrist, and the gun for this crime was a derringer.
"The other two are gun shot victims." She moved over to stand between the next two tables. "The receptionist was a single shot to the head, then the hygienist who took two in the stomach. She bled to death."
Falacci looked over at her, "that quickly?"
"It should have taken her much longer to die, but she was on blood thinner and couldn't clot, she bled out quickly and likely was in shock for most of it."
Falacci opened her folder; in it was an anatomical outline of the wounds the dentist had received. "Dr. Poirier was shot twice, the first grazed his left shoulder, and the second was a direct shot to the chest."
"This hygienist, Mary Clark, also has signs of a struggle. She's missing a finger nail and has some bruising on her hand as well."
Falacci had taken the lead on that one, "she struggled for the gun after the dentist was taken out and the gun went off."
"Except there's no sign of that on either of them." The ME grabbed the hand from Logan, it included the missing finger nail, "The perp's wrists and hands are free of scratch marks and the nails on this hand have nothing to show."
Logan took the hand back giving the ME a confused glance and sharing it with Falacci. "What do you mean?"
"Take a look for yourself, detective." She waited for Logan to look closer, "her nails were scraped clean. Either she did it herself this morning or the perp did it for her."
"Bizarre manicure." Falacci exhaled.
One Police Plaza
Back at the precinct Logan hung up the phone, only to remember to say "thank you" afterwards.
Falacci looked down at him; she had this unnerving habit to think standing up. Logan looked up quickly. "That was CSU. The bullets used had hollowed tips."
"Now where does a dental hygienist get that item?" Falacci slapped down a folder onto her desk.
"Gets more interesting. There is no powder residue on the hygienist' hands." Logan rose and nodded to the door.
"So this was staged."
Falacci sat down. "Okay, somebody stages this to look like Claire came into the office to shoot her boss, work associates and committed suicide. Why?"
Logan looked across at her, "on the radio Claire stated that she thought she was going to be fired today. She said she had an affair with Poirier and he broke it off two weeks prior. She was being ostracized at work because of it."
"It doesn't feel right," Falacci shook her head as she spoke, "a jilted woman doesn't shoot up the office. She'd take it out on the man and his family."
"Well, she may have been thinking of that. Claire stated that his wife had begun coming by the office and giving her dirty looks."
"Maybe we should pay her a visit?" Falacci rose, but noticed that Logan was still seated, staring at his desk.
Poirier Residence - Manhattan
Across town Logan sat uncomfortably on a large sofa. There were two little boys darting around the room trying to engage him in a conversation using any means necessary. Falacci was completely ignored by the pair, which suited her fine. She was busy trying to make heads or tails of the wife.
"My husband is such a nice man, everybody likes him. I can't imagine who would do this." She was focused on her children, but Falacci could tell it was artificial. She sounded rehearsed.
Logan was becoming uncomfortable receiving all the attention from the boys, "Mrs. Poirier, this might be an upsetting conversation for your children, maybe they would be better off in another room?"
"Oh no." Her warmth returning to her, "If we just keep talking like normal they will never know. It's all about the tone of voice."
"Mrs. Poirier, this was a very violent crime. Had your husband received any threats prior to this?" Falacci asked.
"No, nothing." Ellen Poirier sipped at her cup of tea. She sat very composed on the stiff sofa, "I never went to his office, though." She batted her eyes at Logan and smiled, "they like you."
Logan's ears had perked, "you said you never went to his office?" Logan paused for a moment to return a warm smile, "We heard that you were there often in the past few weeks."
She froze, her smile was ridiculous plastered on her face, but her eyes suddenly went dull and turned hard, "I don't know where you would have heard that."
"Claire confided in someone prior to the shooting, we're just trying to get everything straight." Falacci filled in.
Ellen turned her head to Falacci, still possessing that same stiffness, "and who would that be?"
"We can't share that," Logan had just plucked one of the boys off of his lap and placed him on the floor, "why did you stay away from the office then?"
Logan smiled and nodded to her while he tried to deflect the two kids.
"Well, there were those ridiculous rumors going around." She smiled to herself and Falacci thought her behavior very odd. "He and Claire, one of the hygienists, had been accused of sleeping together, but frankly I think the other two just didn't like her."
"Why is that?" Logan asked, managing to distract the boys by rendering his badge.
"Well, she was very pretty and Michael always talked about how well she did her job." She put her cup down on the coffee table in front of her. Then slowly she looked up at Falacci, and cocking her head said, "You don't think there may have been any truth to the matter? A girl friend of mine called very early this morning to say that she heard Claire on the radio, but I was too busy to talk."
Falacci looked at Logan who had to clear his throat.
"Ellen, why are you talking to these people?" A man called out from the other side of the room.
Ellen rose immediately, "these are the detective investigating Michael's accident." She turned to Falacci and touched her hand. "This is my brother, Edward."
"I know who they are; you shouldn't talk to them without me present." He came into the room and stood behind the sofa. Ellen sat back down, but seemed somewhat subdued. The two little boys who had been full of energy previously grew sullen and stood limply by. The uncle caught sight of them and barked, "Go to your rooms."
The smaller boy shoved the badge into Logan's hand and they both left without any hesitation.
"Ellen I think you should leave the room as well," Edward put his hand on his sister's shoulder she caressed it with her cheek and rose without a word.
Falacci, bolted up, "actually there's more information you could provide which would be helpful."
"Oh, my brother can give you that." Ellen left the room. Logan's eyes followed her, and then turned to look at the brother who was glaring at him. "My sister isn't very emotionally strong. It takes a lot for her to assess things in her mind. If you have any questions, please direct them to me."
"Thank you, we'll keep that in mind." Logan challenged.
Falacci wanted to probe the brother more, so she quickly smoothed down his feathers. "We're just trying to find evidence that will give us any indication as to why these murders took place."
"I can assure you my sister wouldn't have any clue." He laughed, Falacci raised her eyebrows and he responded. "Listen, I love my sister, but she's not very bright, okay?"
"You do the thinking for both of you?" Logan offered.
"Yeah, pretty much." Senator Edward Pelgram said.
Outside the home Logan climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV Falacci always used.
"What the hell was that?" Falacci announced the minute she had the door shut and turned the engine on.
Logan raised his eyebrows and looked back at the house. "It's a manic household; even the kids are in on it. Too friendly, too inviting."
"What about that brother of hers?" Falacci dropped the car into drive and peeled off, "actually calling his sister stupid."
Logan rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Let's head back to the station, I want to check something out."
One Police Plaza
Logan sat in the conference room listening to the radio program he had already heard once that day. Falacci walked in, "you actually like that stuff."
"Not the music, that's garbage." He held up his hand, and Falacci leaned in to listen closer.
"I have Claire's cell phone; it recorded a call at 7:20 this morning to the radio station. But I want you to listen to something, this is her answering message." He pressed the announce button to hear her phone answering message. "And this is Claire on the radio," Logan put down the phone and hit the play button on the tape recorder. A completely dissimilar voice came out.
"They don't sound alike, but there's no way to be sure, Mike." Falacci sat down, "the reception that the radio station got was too low quality, and the audio guys checked it out themselves and said nothing could be done with it."
"I'm not listening to her voice. I'm listening to her accent." He pressed the phone to replay the message again, "she drops the last consonant of every word. 'Here' becomes 'he-ya', 'right' becomes 'rye', 'and' becomes 'en'."
"So someone faked the call." Falacci said, smirking at Logan.
Mercy Hospital – New York
Ellen Poirier waited for her husband to wake up. She sat in his darkened recovery room at Mercy Hospital watching his chest rise and fall as he breathed. She looked over his body covered in sheets and blankets. Ellen sat poised in her hospital chair, it didn't matter that she had sat there for two hours; she looked just as pinched as if she had just walked into the room.
Michael's eyes fluttered open, and struggling he forced himself awake. He looked around the room, trying to focus on certain objects, when he noticed one of them moved. "Who's there?" He said in a panicked voice.
"Who else would it be?" Ellen pulled her chair closer to smooth down his hair.
Michael did not relax, he became more agitated. "Ellen, what are you doing here?" He tried to sit up, but grimaced in pain.
"You can't move." She stood over him and placed her hands on his shoulders; she applied all her weight and kept him pinned in the bed. It was more to show her dominance over him, than it was to help him. Once he stopped struggling he looked up at her, his face was full of fear and disbelief.
"Honey, what have you done?" Michael asked.
"Michael. I did what needed to be done." She poured him some water and began to slowly feed him little sips. "You let her get too close. We agreed when we were married that you didn't need to be faithful to me, but you had to be faithful to my family. And you broke that faith, didn't you?" She kept the glass at his mouth, he gurgled trying to get all the water down, but spilling most of it onto his sheets and sputtering some of it up his nose. She could feel his sense of panic rise and lowered the glass. "I saved you, really. You can see that, see how I saved you?"
Michael was terrified of his wife, but he was smart enough to play this game. "Yes, I can see that." She smiled at him, it was a girlish smile. "You did a good job Ellen. You saved the whole family." Her face grew dark and he knew that he had gone too far.
She backed away and tightened her face. "Well, tomorrow those detectives are going to come and talk to you. Do you remember what happened clearly?"
"Yes, Claire came in, shot Diane, shot me and must have shot Stacy then herself." Michael recounted the contrived scenario.
"What about the radio show?" Ellen was becoming agitated; he noticed the little twitching around the corner of her mouth.
"Yes, I heard Claire on the radio that morning. She said she was getting fired. I wasn't going to fire her. But her work had slipped recently. She had become very erratic. I should never have slept with her, she became fixated on me."
"Yes." Ellen was calm again. "Don't worry, if you get confused Edward will be here with you."
Michael blanched, "Edward's coming tomorrow."
"Of course, he's worried about you." Ellen picked up her purse, "he'll be here all day, in case you get confused. And I'll be here all night, in case you have a bad dream."
One Police Plaza – Tuesday
"Surveillance just got back out reports." Logan brought over three folders to their desks. Falacci pushed her laptop out of the way. "Michael Poirier's business was doing fairly well. There is nothing too outstanding on his credit, nothing to bring attention to himself, and he would have stayed completely off our radar had this never happened." Logan pushed over the file to Falacci.
Falacci picked it up and quickly read it over, she furrowed her brow, "he's got income coming into this business from a Laundromat across town, and going out into an investment in building going up in Brooklyn." Falacci looked up at Logan, who was actually smiling, "money laundering?"
"I pulled his records from the past six months and Claire's name is on every invoice, every IRS statement, and every receipt that went through that office."
"Claire was also doing his books?" Falacci asked. She put the folder down, "so Claire finds out that Poirier is running a money laundering scheme, she either threatens to report him, or demands a pay off, and he stages this murder/suicide." She didn't sound very convinced.
"No, I don't believe Poirier knew about this." Logan pulled the file back to him. "These businesses are no where near him. He has no connection to them, to the location. None of the owners are patients. And frankly the way the plan is set up, it's above him."
Falacci sighed, "So how did he get tied up in his"
Logan slid over the second file to her, "this is Senator Pelgram, guess where his consistency is based?"
Falacci thumbed through the information on the senator and smiled. The file was filled with pictures of the senator standing in front of a least twelve ground-breaking ceremonies that year. "Regular Mahatma of Ward 9."
Office of Senator Edward Pelgram
Brooklyn, NY
"I'm sorry the senator's not in. He's with his brother-in-law at the hospital." The pretty secretary said. She stood aside and let Logan and Falacci into the reception room.
"That's nice," Falacci said. The secretary didn't pick up on the sarcasm.
"Oh," she started, "I was surprised too. He hates his brother-in-law, but I guess since he's so close to his sister." She shrugged and stood at her desk. She looked confused and wanted direction on what to do.
Logan immediately gave her some, "well, since he's out all day, can you acquaint us with his routine?" He walked behind her desk and picked up her daily planner.
"Uhm, sure." She took the planner and opened it up on the desk, Logan shot Falacci a look at the good luck they were having. "Normally he's here more than at the state senate house. This was his office when he was in practice, but my mom worked here then." She pulled a few magazines off her large desk calendar, "he comes in, and meets with the building planners. Senator Ed is working to get more businesses back into Brooklyn."
Logan was studying the calendar and Falacci decided to distract the girl, "is this the senator over here?" She was pointing at some pictures on the other side of the room?
"Yeah, that's the senator with Mayor Giuliani, and with the Governor. This is my favorite, he's with A.Rod." She was more than happy to talk about the picture and Falacci noticed that she seemed really unconcerned with Logan rummaging around her desk.
"You're pretty lucky to have a nice job. I wish I wasn't on my feet all day." Falacci moaned, trying to further engage the secretary. "What's the senator like as a boss?"
"He's a good guy," she shrugged. "I don't have to do much. I just answer the phone mostly. My mom called him a micro-manager," she squinted her eyes indicating she didn't fully understand the term, "but that doesn't bother me."
"You don't ever prepare any paperwork for him?" Logan asked from across the room. "He's very busy with the contractors and the EPA; I see he has meetings with people daily."
"Yeah, but he likes to keep things on his desk, so I don't have to do it. He has me sign off on things at the end of the month though." She turned back to the picture and pointed to one, "that's my mom, Dellis."
Outside Falacci let out a low whistle. "Wow."
Logan nodded and laughed. "She should be grateful."
Falacci stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him sharply. "What do you mean? The senator has her signing off on all of his shady deals. She could be facing some serious time and you think she should be happy about it?"
Logan laughed easily, "Get off the high-horse Falacci. There's not a jury on the planet would expect she had the slightest clue she was in deep. The senator's a shady villain, but at least he got a patsy who won't suffer for it."
One Police Plaza
"You think Senator Ed Pelgram, the man revitalizing Brooklyn, was using his brother-in-law's dentist's office to launder funds and when the brother-in-law got wise the Senator attempted to kill him and successfully killed three women?" Ross leaned back against the window. Logan was beginning to pick up all of Goren's bad habits, and accusing the worst possible person was Ross' least favorite.
Falacci and Logan stood in front of the corkboard; they had pictures of the three dead women, the medical examiner's report, and shots of the murder scene and lists of witnesses. They looked at each other and shrugged in unison.
Ross sighed and tapped his head against the cold glass. "Why can't it ever just be a nobody?"
Mercy Hospital
Private recovery room of Michael Poirier, DDS
"Mr. Poirier, we'd like to ask you some questions about the shooting." Falacci sat down next to the hospital bed. Logan stood behind her, glaring down at the dentist. Across from them his brother-in-law, Senator Pelgram stood.
"I don't think my brother-in-law is well enough for this." Pelgram snapped.
"I think he's fine," Logan looked over to Pelgram and smiled as he spoke. "I'm pretty certain he'd like to get a few things off his chest."
Michael shifted in his bed, he found his clothing uncomfortable and the sheets were too stiff. He wished he was at home in his own bed, without the detectives and his attentive brother-in-law.
"Am I being named as a suspect?" Michael said in a flat tone. His newfound sharpness won the admiration of Falacci, who frankly wanted to yank him out of bed and drag him downtown.
"Yes." She matched his tone and arched an eyebrow.
"Fine, then I want a lawyer present when you question me, until then I do not have to cooperate with you."
The senator rocked on his feet uneasily. Logan caught the motion and thought there was something going on between the two.
"Senator, can I talk to you outside?" Logan motioned to the door.
The senator followed him into the hallway. Falacci watched the men leave. She turned back to Michael who had sat up and changed his expression to distress.
"My brother-in-law has been using my practice to embezzle and then launder funds from the state. He's been doing it for about three years now. He keeps two sets of books, one at his office and one at mine. Laurie noticed and made photocopies for me. I asked her to."
Falacci put her hand up, "slow down." She had to think, "Can anyone corroborate this for you?"
Michael sat, "they are all dead."
Falacci sat silent for a moment, "Mr. Poirier, are you accusing the senator of murder?"
Michael's face fell; he looked down at his bed. It was obvious to Falacci that there was something more, he just couldn't tell her.
"Mr. Poirier you know that providing the police with false information is a serious offense…"
"Yes." He snapped at her.
"Let's start over." She moved closer to his bed and pulled out her notepad. She took a quick glance out into the hallway. Logan was doing a great job; he kept the Senator's back to the room. "Can you describe the events of the shooting?"
Falacci's SUV
Logan looked at her notes, "well this is the correct timeline, but I just don't buy it."
"It was clear he was lying to me, but I thought I'd let him tell me the whole story." Falacci paused, "he rolled on the senator's embezzling."
"I'll call into Carver; we can have him picked up for that."
One Police Plaza
Interrogation Room
Senator Pelgram sat stiff in his chair; his arms were folded across his chest. He glared directly into the two way mirror, behind which stood Falacci, Logan and Ross.
"He's hasn't lawyered up yet." Falacci said, she sounded uneasy.
"Makes me nervous too." Ross said to her. He was finally beginning to warm to her, which was unusual since he was warm to no one.
"I'm gonna take a run at him." Logan said, he walked out of the room, leaving Falacci and Ross watching through the glass. Ross leaned over to the wall and switched the speaker on.
Logan appeared through the door. He moved in quickly and sat down opposite the senator. Falacci could tell from his back that he was smoothing down tie and shuffling around some papers. He was not making eye contact with the senator.
Edward Pelgram shifted in his seat, waiting to be addressed. His arms unfolded and one hand dropped to the table, tapping with nervous irritation.
Logan looked up at him with a curious expression. "Do you need something?"
Pelgram looked shocked, "what am I doing here?"
"You've been named as a suspect for embezzlement and money laundering." Logan said and went back to his paper work, ignoring the senator.
Pelgram bit his bottom lip, he was offended not only by the accusation, but by Logan's insufficient attention to him.
"So are you going to question me?" Pelgram asked after a few moments.
"Sure." Logan said, and pushed aside his folder. "We don't really need to, of course." He pulled the folder back and opened it up in front of the senator. "As you can see your brother-in-law was one hell of a bookkeeper. I'm not sure what kind of dentist he made, but the guys in our accounting say he would have been a prize at the IRS."
The senator's face fell as he examined the statements. His entire life's work of stealing and making himself look good was down the drain. He did have one last bit of hope, it's better to look stupid than evil.
"My signature isn't on any of these, it was my secretary."
Logan laughed, "Are you serious? The teen you have running your office?" Logan sat back in his chair and rocked a little, looking at the senator cock-eyed. "Do you honestly believe anyone would find her guilty of embezzlement? She wouldn't know how… Hell, I doubt she can even spell the word!"
The senator turned green as Logan kept on laughing at him. Logan slowly stopped laughing; Pelgram was sitting in his chair looking down at the desk. Logan brought his hand down on the table in a hard slap, making Pelgram jump up.
"If you think that's the worst of it, you're dead wrong." Logan leaned in closer, "we got you on three counts murder one and one attempted."
Pelgram blanched, all the blood drained out of his face and he teared up. "I didn't have anything to do with that."
"Come on. Your brother-in-law figured out what you were doing, got wise and then got greedy. You didn't feel like splitting the kitty, so you thought up a nice way to retire him." Logan leaned back. He said it, but it didn't feel right to him somehow. This guy was a typical white collar criminal; the only blood on his hands was ink.
Pelgram kept staring at him, not blinking. His face softened. Logan's smile dropped, he looked at Pelgram for a moment.
"Senator, do you have any information you'd like to give me?" Logan offered in a calm voice.
Pelgram sat there for a moment, then looked away and quickly said "No. I did it. I killed them."
Logan felt uneasy about this; Pelgram was admitting guilt to fast for his tastes. He looked in at the window for guidance but only saw his reflection staring back at him. "Okay senator. How did you do it?"
"I walked in and I shot all of them." He sat still but his breathing had become erratic.
"How?" Logan said forcefully.
"I don't know, I don't remember." The senator held up his hand to wave off Logan's next question, "I want an attorney."
Logan walked back into the interview room, "I don't like it."
"We got a confession; I have to call Carver down."
"He's obviously covering for someone." Logan pleaded. "Falacci?"
Falacci looked over at the captain, "I'm with Logan. I don't like him for the murders."
Ross sighed hard, "I'll give you the day. We can book him for embezzlement and laundering, which will take up Carver's day, but you have to work fast on this one.
Falacci jogged after Logan as he left the room. She would have to remember to never wear heals around him again.
"Wait up," she called from behind.
"If he's covering for someone then who is it?" Logan said turning to face her.
"I don't know his brother-in-law?" Falacci asked.
"He's hates his brother-in-law." Logan was looking directly at her, waiting for her to guess.
"His sister, but why, he hates her too."
Logan grimaced, "no he doesn't."
Poirier Residence
"Mrs. Poirier, where were you yesterday morning?"
Mrs. Poirier sat up awkwardly in her chair. Her two children were running about her. Logan looked down into the face of the eldest to confirm what he had thought. He noticed it earlier that day.
"I was here with my children." She said, obviously lying.
"Mrs. Poirier, I couldn't help noticing how much your children resemble you." Logan smiled warmly to her.
She smiled back, and looked as if this were the first sentence he had said that she fully understood, "Please call me Ellen."
Falacci noticed the change and kept quiet.
"Where were you yesterday morning Ellen?"
"I had to do it. She was going to tell on us." Ellen said softly. "I couldn't let those reporters find out, they wouldn't understand."
Falacci rose and pulled out her hand cuffs. "Mrs. Poirier, are you admitting to the murder of three women and to the attempted murder of your husband."
"I wasn't going to really kill him, but he moved." Ellen blinked and noticed the handcuffs. She stretched out her arms. "Should I call a babysitter?"
"Yes ma'am." Logan let her get up and move the phone.
Falacci waited until she was out of ear shot, "I can't believe her brother would cover for her, he didn't seem to think very highly of his sister."
"That's because she's more than a sister." Logan pointed to the elder son, the spitting image of his father, Senator Edward Pelgram. "She's the mother of his only child."
The End
Spoiler alert: Stay tuned for the end of season. Both teams pair up, but only one walks away from the season finale.