A knock comes at Furillo's open door.
"Come in."
Hesitantly, Goldblume steps in. "Got a minute, Frank?"
"Yes." The captain answers, putting on a serious face.
"I came here to apologize. What Lucy said? I needed to hear that. Especially from a woman. I've been acting like an ass for a long time. I was in the bathroom and I looked in the mirror. The first thing I asked myself was, 'Henry? What are you doing?' Then I started thinking about it, and I came up with an explanation. I aspired to be like you and J.D."
Furillo's eyes turn away in deep concern.
"I'm not talking about recovering alcoholics, Frank."
Furillo closes his eyes in relief.
"I think I aspired to be like you in the sense that you went through a divorce and came out of it okay, then married the lovely Joyce. And you did it all without missing a beat. A smooth transition."
"It wasn't always smooth, Henry. Child support. Alimony payments. My life is far from perfect. I'm far from perfect."
"I know, but you made it look so…desirable. J.D. made it look so easy to pick up women."
"He had a knack. Not always the best choices and his behavior didn't help."
"Yeah, but he did it a lot of times with positive results. Was it looks? Charm? Something irresistible about him? Frank, I don't have that. I'd have women who'd give me one look and pass me by. Maybe I just don't look like the flirting kind? Just thinking about it, how many guys wear a bowtie in this day and age? I look more like somebody's substitute teacher. Anyway, what I'm saying is, I grew stale in my marriage to Rachel. I wanted what you and J.D. had…have. Have had. When I got that opportunity with the woman I met on my cab investigation back then, I knew it was my time. I knew what I was losing. Rachel and the kids. But on the other hand, I knew there could be more out there. Someone full of adventure. If that one didn't work, then I could always try another, and another. Sort of like J.D. and his endless string of romances."
"Don't you mean failed relationships?" Furillo corrects him.
"Yeah. Well, I've had my share. I thought I had a good thing goin' with Fay, and maybe I wanted her more at the time because you had her. I was so obsessed in becoming like you, that I wanted to try Fay too. It was okay, but then I started feeling like she was a second Rachel. Kids. Nagging. Wants. Needs. I found the whole commitment thing confining. I wasn't happy with her and I wanted more again. Henry: the wild and swinging bachelor. I had fantasies of finding her. That's all they were though. Fantasies. Gina came along and I thought she was it, my destination to true happiness. Turned out I was more in love with her lifestyle. Expensive clothes. Fancy dinners. She gave me all the material things I needed to be cool. I didn't do much with her though. It was pretty routine after a while. Expensive clothes. Fancy dinners. Sex. Fancy dinners. More sex."
Furillo closes his eyes, not wanting to hear anymore. "I get the point, Henry."
"I lost a part of myself in all that. When she died, I was left with her estate and all the baggage from this woman I didn't really know. I didn't really know myself after. It took some time to meet the next one and it was like I completely forgot the life I had before. Lucy was right. Rachel never said anything about the ice skating incident but Josh didn't want to talk to me for a little while after that. I never knew. Isn't that something? My own kid? I broke his heart and I didn't even know why. How do you manage to keep things in perspective, Frank. Fay. Frank Jr. Joyce. Mortgage. Bills. Station. Being a cop? Being the captain?"
"Priority, Henry."
"Priority." Goldblume slowly smiles. "Do you think John would have had it in light of today's circumstances and what we all learned today?"
"I have a strong feeling that answer would be yes."
"Then he'd be stronger than me. That's just me though. Needing to grow up."
"Sometimes you just have to realize what you have and be happy to have anything despite yourself."
"Yeah. Sounds like good advice and not dime store psychology." Goldblume grins. "Oh, that's another reason I came in here. Aside from telling you everything about my trail of broken hearts. I was wrong."
"About?"
"About this whole Corgan case. I was too blinded by this guy's past that I ignored what happened in the present. All the stories I've heard about…read about young soldiers coming back from war. Getting spit at. Treated like a second class citizen for going out there to defend one's country? Howard's told me things and he's not proud of it either." He looks up for a moment. "I was thinking about when Annie and Josh were just born. Little babies and how fragile they are and how as a parent it's my duty as a father to protect them. So, I don't know how I got so muddled up in thinking it's okay for a father to kill his own babies and tack on an insanity defense. To think what he did to his wife. I knew. I had a gut feeling that there was a young child in that room. The son Neal found. I knew I didn't want to look in there. I shut it out of my mind. I didn't want my role as a parent to cloud my judgment about the case. Instead, I let Corgan's past do that for me. I'm really sorry Frank. I only hope Neal can somehow forgive me." Goldblume looks down in thought for a moment. "I gotta say this about Lucy, that child of hers will never have a chance to talk out of line with her. No siree."
Goldblume leaves the office. Furillo becomes deep in thought, looking out his window. He goes to fetch his jacket.
The cell door slides open with a thunderous sound echoing through the empty halls. James Corgan looks up as he sits at a table to see Det. Neal Washington eyeing him under his nose.
"What happened to that other cop?" Corgan notices Washington isn't saying anything which makes him nervous, on top of the cell door closing behind. "My lawyer said if there's any deal, he has to be present."
"You're gonna have to deal with me, Jimmy. I'm just here to talk with ya."
Corgan gets more nervous. "Wh…what d…do you want from me?"
"I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be, Jimmy."
"Yeah. The other guy told me to sit tight and he was gonna work out some time for me at a hospital. To get better."
Washington walks up to him. "You ain't ever gonna get better, Jimmy."
"What?" Corgan asks in confusion.
"You're in such deep denial that you either don't remember or don't give a damn about what you did to your own family."
"D…don't say th…that. I l...love my fam…family." Corgan stutters. He slides the chair back fast when he sees Washington leering at him devoid of any expression.
"No deal, Jimmy."
Corgan gets up. "You can't do that!"
Washington shoves him against the wall. "Or what? You gonna try and cut me? Huh, Jimmy? You're gonna listen to me good, suckah!" His eyes go wide. "This is how it's gonna be, man. No Goldblume. No insanity defense." He tightens his grip on Corgan's collar. "No deal! What you're gettin' is three consecutive life sentences. Twenty-five for Lisa. Twenty-five for Brian, and twenty-five for unborn Connor, 'cause he had rights too. You think you can get out on parole for what you did? You might have wiped out your wife and children, but you're gonna have to answer to her family. Whether it be her parents. After they die, then her siblings will have their say. When they die, you'll have to deal with nieces and nephews, and all the generations to come." Washington glares at Corgan who tries to wriggle away from the detective's grip. "You're not so tough without an eight inch, are you Jimmy? No. You're just a weak sicko who put his own family in danger by never gettin' help. A real psycho with grand delusions of avenging his past. Tell me man, when was it enough for you?"
Capt. Furillo finishes signing in to the midtown precinct, when he hears the detective's voice booming from nearby.
Washington yells, "Tell me! Was it when your wife put up her hands in defense or was it when you reached three inches of that blade into your unborn son's trachea?"
Corgan shutters, attempting to put his hands to his ears. "Nooooo!"
"I just found out my late partner's gonna be a father for the second time. Me and my friends are all willin' to help. We would never want to do anything to harm that child. You know why, man? Because he or she is family! And you don't hurt family! Let me tell you somethin', chump! If I ever see somebody like you wantin' to hurt our baby on the Hill, I won't need a blade or a gun." Washington curls his hands around Corgan's throat tighter, nearly cutting off his air supply. "My hands will do just fine." He grits his teeth, with Corgan trying to breathe.
"L…et ghaoooo!"
"Neal! That's enough!" Furillo shouts, trying to pull the detective away from Corgan. A guard helps too.
Washington yells back, "You might have been a war hero, but that's in the past! You're a coward now, man!" The captain pulls him away. "A baby killer!" The detective shouts while being ushered away. "Murderer!" His voice echoes.