Disclaimer: Hmmm, let's check…nope, still don't own anything. Except maybe Judge Walker, but who would want to take credit for him?

Part Four: A Hanging Case

McCoy had been having a good day. By lunchtime he'd already defeated a defense motion, written up three briefs, and gotten a start on his closing argument for the Holmes trial on Thursday. All in all, a good start to the week. So when Claire interrupted to ask if he wanted to get some lunch, he was almost reluctant. After all, he was on a roll. But his stomach was telling him to take a break, so he let her talk him into that new deli across the street. As soon as he was ready to leave, though, the phone rang. Against his better judgment he picked it up, and naturally, it was Judge Walker about that defense motion. He'd been thinking it over and wanted to meet with the attorneys again as soon as possible to discuss his decision. Damn it, McCoy thought, that's the second time this month already. The jerk has no brain, so I get no lunch. He agreed to meet and hung up in disgust.

"Walker having second thoughts?" Claire asked knowingly.

"Yep," McCoy sighed. "The man of decision strikes again. Guess I won't be having lunch after all. See you at the Hart case meeting this afternoon."

"If you can get out of Walker's chambers by three," Claire laughed.

McCoy rolled his eyes and left for the courts building.

The meeting with Walker and the defense lawyer was every bit the torture McCoy had known it would be. First Walker wanted to go over all their arguments again, which took forever. Then he told them, in full detail, all about the second thoughts he'd been having. Then they had to wait another half hour for him to finish deliberating, after which he finally told them that his ruling stood. McCoy had to run to be on time to meet Claire, Briscoe and Curtis about the Hart case. He ducked into his office just in time, feeling almost ready to beat up the two detectives whether they had good news or not. Luckily for them the news was good enough for him to reconsider.

"It's open and shut" was the first thing out of Briscoe's mouth.

That was what McCoy liked to hear. "You sure?" he asked.

"Sure I'm sure" Briscoe answered and Curtis nodded with him.

"Would it stand up in court?" McCoy asked.

"Not yet," Curtis admitted. "But it will by the time we're done with the legwork."

McCoy's day was looking up again.

"What've you got so far?" he asked.

"Two confessions, both before and after we read her rights," Briscoe answered. "Her husband's refusing to give her an alibi like he originally tried to. Neighbors say she knew the guy, was real friendly with him earlier that night. We just need to talk to her family and friends. Maybe they can back the story up."

"He was married too?" Claire asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, why not?" Briscoe answered. Curtis rolled his eyes. McCoy just smiled.

Something about this case was still bothering him. It seemed too easy. Even the easy ones were never easy. It almost made him afraid to open his mouth. He did anyway.

"So who's her lawyer?" he asked.

Curtis flipped through the file. "William Flynn," he read.

Whoops. So that was what was bothering him. Billy Flynn? McCoy knew he was better than him, smarter than him, and quite possibly better looking than him too, but Billy would do anything to win a case. He'd already done just about everything legal and a few things that McCoy liked to think were even more shifty than his own tactics. Cases against Flynn were always tricky, mostly because the prosecutors had to try and predict what he would do and then find a way around it. McCoy would rather prosecute a case with much less evidence against just about anybody else than an open-and-shut case against Billy Flynn. But today some divine power had decided to punish him after taunting him with such a successful morning. All McCoy could do now was groan.

Claire nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we only just recovered from that double homicide back in March."

"Oh, that," Briscoe remembered. "That was dicey, wasn't it. He practically tore apart our case on nothing."

"Don't remind me," McCoy sighed. "Jesus, I still don't know how he got the gun excluded. I think the judge just wanted to shut him up."

"Right," Claire said. "Wasn't she saying something about wishing she could find an excuse to fine him for contempt?"

"Bastard can't even break the rules right," McCoy muttered.

"Oh, sure, we're talking to the master," Curtis laughed.

McCoy glared at him and changed the subject. "What do we know about Flynn's strategy here?"

"Nothing," Curtis told him as he paged through the file some more. "He just took the case a few days ago. Been meeting with her quite a lot, apparently. He must still be working something out."

"Good," McCoy said. "Maybe we can get the jump on him, then. See if you can dig anything up. We're going to have to find all the weaknesses we can before he does."

Briscoe saluted. "Right, boss. We'll get on it."

McCoy nodded. "You do that. Call me later. I'm counting on you two."

Briscoe and Curtis walked off, leaving Claire and McCoy to contemplate trying yet another case against Billy Flynn. McCoy would have preferred to think about his upcoming dentist appointment. "What are we going to do?" he asked, turning to Claire.

"The same thing we always do," she answered.

"Which is?"

She shrugged. "Try to take over the world?"

"Huh?"

Claire laughed at him. "Really, Jack, you need to start watching more cartoons."

"Thanks for your help," he muttered. "I think you've been spending too much time with Briscoe. Or with your nieces."

"Both," she answered. "But a sense of humor can't hurt us getting through this. You know how crazy these cases always get. And this one's getting to be a real circus already."

McCoy knew she was right. "What are we going to do?" he repeated.

"We're going to do our best, like always. We've gotten him before. We just need to learn to think like him."

"Think like him?"

Claire shook her head. "Jack, I already said you need to watch more cartoons. Sheesh, lighten up. The evidence is all on our side, isn't it? We just need to be ready. For anything."

McCoy felt a little better after her pep talk, but he still wasn't quite so sure.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a two-month break in Russia, where they have Chicago, but not a trace of Law & Order, here we are. Gee, at this rate, I'll have this story finished in just a few more years… Thanks for your patience, and as always, your reviews. As you can see, Claire won out (because I was afraid of the angry lynch mob that would no doubt come for me otherwise), but since there was quite a bit of interest in Abby and a little bit in Jamie, I may be willing to try and write and e-mail out alternate versions of these chapters with them. It would take a while, of course, but let me know. As always, until next time, whenever that is…