EPILOGUE

They'd left the second floor of the Courthouse on Bryant Street behind for the morning, recovering from an intense meeting with Gerry O'Brian on the charges being brought up against McAllister in the court hearing scheduled for the following day.

Despite heavy protest, the ADA had made a deal with McAllister's army of cut-throat lawyers, reducing and modifying the charges in order to have the businessman plead guilty to one count of first-degree voluntary manslaughter in Sally Howard's murder case, and one count first degree aggravated assault on a peace officer.

With good behavior, Robert McAllister would be out in less than ten years.

Unable to shake off the haunting irony that his lighthearted words in the businessman's office during Jordan Henderson's kidnapping were quickly coming true in the worst way possible; he held on to the hope that the judge would at least utilize the maximum sentencing guidelines when charging the unscrupulous killer.

Mike was fuming that the evidence discovered at Emilio Aldarez's apartment had been deemed too circumstantial to tie McAllister to the murder. The sheer argument that Aldarez, an experienced drug user would somehow shoot up more than three times the amount of heroin normally used, thus killing himself, was outlandish at best. With the needle missing, there was no doubt in Mike's mind that the drugs were injected while Aldarez was still in McAllister's car that night, possibly even administered by the businessman, who'd proven knowledgeable enough in the medical field to kill somebody and make it look like an accident.

Time of death being shortly after midnight went along with a reasonable timeframe to die of an overdose after he was dropped off. Yet, between the coroner's report and both, Steve's and Jordan's statement, citing McAllister's knowledge of Aldarez's death and his remark that his death had in fact "eliminated all ties" back to the homicidal businessman, the charges were dropped and the death ruled an accidental overdose.

That decision was poor by itself, but McAllister's lawyers also fought to have any of Steve's and Jordan's statements removed from the start of the undercover sting on, based on the livestock drugs consumed during the investigation, leaving the bracelet as the sole piece of evidence admissible from that angle.

Although Bernie had argued back and forth that the trace amounts left in Steve's blood deemed him to be alert and conscious at the time of the investigation, Gerry ultimately decided to bypass the issue altogether, freeing Steve of any uncomfortable questions brought up during the trial, and settle on the first-degree voluntary manslaughter charge and add in the aggravated assault based on the interview with McAllister after his arrest.

The businessman's admission of the murder after a heated debate in his Jaguar, and the eventual rape out of some sick fantasy were textbook answers instilled by his team of experienced trial attorneys hoping for an easy way out, possibly even plead insanity at the hearing tomorrow.

Justifying the kidnapping of Steve and Jordan, and putting enough livestock sedative into the young Inspector's body to subdue a 2,000lb animal for a few moments, as an act of despair, because he felt intimidated, only furthered the ridiculousness of this case.

In the end, the true irony was that despite Lenny's psychological profile of the killer stating that McAllister was calculating, cold-blooded and had planned the murder out for a long, long time, the court deemed it to be a case of heated passion gone wrong, then spiraling out of control when McAllister felt threatened and saw no way out other than the actions he displayed at the Cow Palace.

Mike sighed and patted Rudy's shoulder sympathetically as they rode in the elevator of the Hall of Justice building, not looking forward to the post-case discussion with Mitch Howard he'd scheduled for the afternoon. There were few things worse than a murder/rapist getting off easy and the court system making it sound as though his late daughter might have had an affair.

Add to it that he had to tell his partner that all the research during his adventurous undercover sting had been thrown out the proverbial judicial window; and it would be a day from hell.

"Michael, I'll see you at three. Condon said he'll be there too.", Olsen mumbled when the elevator doors to the Homicide level opened, his voice hoarse after hours of arguing back and forth at the courthouse "Let me know if you need anything in the meantime. I am going to get a hold of the guys from IA and get that angle taken care of."

"Thank you, Rudy.", Mike replied, turning around briefly to nod at the Captain, before walking down the deserted hallway toward the bullpen. At shortly after eleven, most of the familiar faces sat at their respective desks as he entered the office, a chosen assortment of detectives raising their tired heads to acknowledge their superior's arrival.

Glancing up at his partner's empty desk, Mike sighed fleetingly, then walked toward his office, when he noticed the figure in his guest chair.