Interrogation prep
For Mike Logan, prepping for an interrogation was all about knowing when to step in. He had been through several partners in the past few years, so he found he did not really play a predefined roll. With Wheeler, he kind of leaned against the wall watching the suspect, trying to gauge when it was time to play "bad cop" – to be the pissed off one, to possibly get in the guys face, to maybe yell a bit, and say time is short, that maybe the suspect should do himself a favor and just come clean with what he knows. With Falacci, he leaned against the same wall, but with Falacci it was more about deciding when to step in and play "good cop". This was kind of a new one for Mike, but he found he rather enjoyed it. He liked rolling his eyes pretending like he found Falacci's behavior to be a little over the top, her accusations a bit rash, he liked worming himself into confidence of the suspect, smoothing things over, gently extracting the information they needed to move the case forward, or close the case. Either way, he started in the same place, prepping himself by kind of leaning against the wall, taking things in.
For Alex Eames, prepping for an interrogation was all about finding center. She had been working with Goren long enough to know that he would do the unexpected and that she was the steady, the straight person, the opener for the conversation. Goren was the closer. She was both familiar and comfortable with this model. So, she stood in the ladies room washing her hands, looking at her reflection in the mirror, studying her placid but slightly pleasant interrogation room façade. She rehearsed in her mind potential avenues of conversation to get into good graces with the suspect, to build a rapport, so when Goren stepped in with his erratic questions, often phrased as after thoughts, and his invasion of personal space, or the way he kind of hovered on the periphery of personal space, the suspect would have no choice but to ally with Alex. She reached out and toweled off her hands. She walked toward where Goren was sitting at his desk meticulously organizing papers in his portfolio so they could appear to randomly fall out onto the table in a miraculously perfect order. She thought to herself, there was no time like the present. So, she tagged Goren and she headed in.
Bobby Goren leaned in the far back corner of the interrogation room. Prepping for an interrogation was both about the physical, like getting what he wanted to reveal in perfect order in his portfolio, and also about the psychological. Before stepping into the room, he had prepped the physical evidence he wanted to reveal, but often times he felt him self standing in the room mounting his psychological attack.
Bobby was so confident in Eames that he barely listened to what she was saying. He was absolutely certain that she would build the perfect foundation. So, he was studying the suspect for certain tells or idiosyncrasies that he could exploit when it came to be his turn in the questioning. From the angle where he stood, he felt fairly certain that the suspect was uncomfortable. Bobby stood just out of peripheral vision, so the suspect would have to turn away from Eames to look at him. This was a perfect position for the time being, for the suspect did not want to look away from Eames, that would somehow convey dishonesty – to physically turn away from someone you were supposed to be talking with. Bobby also noticed that the suspect kept aligning the pad of paper and pen, kind of equidistant from the edges of the table, so that the pen was almost perfectly parallel to the long side of the pad of paper. Bobby smiled to himself, throwing this guy off balance was almost going to be too easy. Step 1, mess with the pad of paper and pen, Step 2, stand a little to close, maybe spill that cup of coffee so the guy risks getting the coffee mess on his shirt or his pants, Step 3, lay the portfolio down on the table in an effort to help, at which point key photographs "accidentally" slide from the portfolio. Child's play, Bobby thought to himself. So, with no time like the present, Bobby walked over and slid the pad of paper askew, sending the pen rolling onto the floor.
Author's Note: Thanks to rindy713 for this idea. I'm not sure if this was what she was after. I think rindy would be much better at the "prepping for the big game" angle (you should read her basketball details in "Holding Court") - so this may be more how my brain works... Enjoy!