"Jack, just ask him!" Jamie banged her hand on his desk in frustration. Why couldn't he just once listen to her?
"What for? This type of case is guaranteed to land on my desk anyway, he'll probably mention it at tomorrow's meeting." He shook his head and dismissed her frustration with a wave of his hand.
"But the detectives are routing around the office now and I would like to know that I have some authority to be informed as to what's going on. I mean, come on, the investigation has been officially underway for two days with no D.A. assigned to the case." Jamie was angry now, all she wanted was to be sure that she and Jack would be the ones handling the Werthers case and Jack was just being obstinate...as usual.
He looked at her and spoke with a raised voice that held the tone of finality. "Listen it doesn't matter if I ask today or am told tomorrow, it's the same result. The court calendar has been really screwed up lately and that's why he hasn't told us yet but you know I'm going to get it and you know I'll work to get a conviction. There is no point in rushing in and demanding things of Adam."
"Demanding he tell us who the hell is doing what?" She shouted back. "I don't see that as a problem. If you and I are going to be working this case I would like to know so we can get started."
Jack became quiet for a moment and absent mindedly shuffled things around on his desk before he spoke again, a little quieter but no gentler, "There's another thing, I'm not sure you should second chair this one."
"WHAT?" She stared at him in disbelief.
"Face it. You are too emotionally involved with this victim. It may skew your judgement and I can't afford that risk with this type of trial." He shouted back. As soon as he did he half wished he had been a little kinder about discussing that with her but she was shouting at him, it was her fault he got defensive so it was her own fault if he hurt her precious feelings.
Her eyes glared daggers at him and she exclaimed back, "Too emotionally involved? I'm sorry I didn't realize caring was now a risky attribute. Life must be easy for you with out compassion you cold hearted..."
"HEY! You two." Adam came into Jack's office through the connecting doorway. " I can hardly hear myself think next door. You may not be aware of this but we all work on the same side and I will not have two of my best attorneys bitting off eachother's head. Not on my watch at least. One death in this office is too many already. And Jack, you and Ms. Ross have that Werthers case. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis are downstairs now in Gray's office. Don't screw this one up." As quickly as he had come, Adam said his piece and left with out waiting for comment.
Jack glared meaningfully back at Jamie who smirked a condescending smile and glided out the door of his office saying "I'll see you after I get back from talking to the detectives about OUR case."
***************************************************************
Rey was talking with Eric Gray, an ADA in Petty Claims who was Mary Werther's direct supervisor. Lennie was outside the office looking for anyone else who may have known Mary.
"Mr. Gray, we already knew when she came to work here and that she had great reccomandations and that she was hired by Jamie Ross. We already knew all that. You never answered my question though. I just need to know how she was at actually working, here in this office."
Gray leaned back in his chair. He was about six foot tall with lengthy dark hair, save for some graying at the temples. Rey placed him to be between 35 and 40 years old. He was dressed in a designer suit, slightly unusual for some one working as an ADA. He had an air of apathy and superiority about him that seemed oddly matched with the small glass and wood cubicle he worked in. His pale skin sagged around his mouth as he wanely smiled and then frowned.
"Detective," He began slowly. "I wanted to make sure you knew all that so you don't think I hire and keep just anyone you know. Small claims maybe called small but we are one of the busiest offices in this building. Hardly anyone goes through more cases then we do. That's why we get so many interns and that's why they have to be good."
"Trust me Mr. Gray, I understand the popularity of this office." replied Rey with an edge of humor.
"Well when some one comes to this office with such laurels, such as Ms. Werthers did, you expect them to produce a decent type of work, you know? Well she was great for about the first week. Then she started slipping. I mean this girl had no work ethic at all. She was always late, leaving early, not following directions, not finishing things left on her desk. I mean her work station was always a mess. I can show you that later. But this girl was just not D.A. material. And to make matters worse she would always go off on these lunch dates with Jamie Ross, you must know her from upstairs, and then come back late and be all like 'Oh I'm sorry I'm late I was at lunch with ADA Ross.' as if she were some hot shot for lunching with the big boys. I was tempted to say something but I mean, come on, what am I going to do? Tell her to not eat with her? Boss around Jamie Ross? I mean she's like Jack McCoy, they have their offices right next to Mr. Schiffs and call him Adam to his face! If they have a problem on a case they go to him. If I have a problem I only have other ADA's to go to. If I went up there I'd be thrown out the window, and they're on the tenth floor!"
Rey inwardly smirked at the idea of Jamie throwing this guy out of Jack's window but he forced himself to concentrate on what was at hand. "What about your EADA? Mr. Turner? I know he's pretty chummy with McCoy and he goes to the weekly executive meeting with Adam. Did you ever bring any of your complaints about Mary to him?"
Gray dismissed the thought with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh no, you know these execs, they are all alike. They get their one or two cases that put their name in the papers and don't care as to what their staff is doing. Telling Turner wouldn't of solved anything."
Rey couldn't recall ever seeing a DA's name in the paper over a small claims trial but he decided not to push the point. "So why didn't you fire her?"
"Like I said she was fine the first week and she came with such good recommendations plus being so chummy with upstairs I decided to give her some extra time to settle in, see if she came back around. Wanna see her desk now?"
Rey followed Gray out to another, larger cubical with four interns' desks in it. Lennie was talking to a young man of about 25 who sat in the front right corner. The desk in the back was Mary's. The detectives had already seen it with Jamie the morning after the murder but Rey had neglected to tell Gray that and he was slightly taken aback at the difference a day makes, especially when the owner of the desk was dead for that day.
"See? An absolute slob. This entire stack was supposed to be done 4 days ago!" exclaimed Gray pointing to a fairly large stack of violently manhandled manila folders and paper. The desk, in contrast to what they had seen only a day previous, was in absolute disarray. Folders and files and forms everywhere. Little sticky notes in Gray's writing read "Mary please get this done", "Mary finish this then see me", "Ask me if you have questions on this","Part 44 on this form is a little strange, see me and I will help you with it.". 2 half finished cans of diet coke were shoved to the back and a picture of the three girls and Chet was hanging lopsided on the wall with a crack in the glass.
"Well, I guess you were right, very disorganized." Said Rey slowly, not really sure why he was seeing what he was seeing. Lennie had finished with the other intern and was now nodding in agreement besides Curtis.
A phone rang.
Rey pulled out his cell and swung around saying "Excuse me a moment." As he pulled the phone to his ear and answered with his usual, "Curtis."
Lennie looked at Gray. "We think someone from this office killed her." he said suddenly.
Gray was startled and stammered on his reply. "Oh, oh no I don't believe that at all. Definitely the wrong direction. No, no one here would do that."
"Oh and what do you think happened?" asked Lennie evenly.
"Well as I was telling your partner, she got very disorganized and lazy suddenly. It was probably drugs or something. I mean look at the stoners she hangs out with." Motioning to the broken picture. Lennie had to agree that at least Chet was different, but a stoner? No. Before he could say anything else Rey came back.
"Hey Lennie. We got medical examiner's report and ballistics and its crazy."
"Let's go then. Thank you for your time Mr. Gray, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again." Shouted Lennie as they left the office.
***************************************
"She was assaulted before she died." The medical examiner explained as she showed the detectives finger shaped bruises on her arms. "Probably not the first time judging by these older marks. Also, look at her ankle, swollen, it was twisted shortly before she died, she was probably chased before she was shot. That would explain the broken high heel shoe. From the way it was twisted off and the angle of the bullet I'd say the assailant was inside the building"
"But CSU said he was outside." Asserted Lennie.
"Well, I'll throw your boys some credit due to the fact that it was late but they neglected the fact that she was turning as she fell. The bullets in the head were in the front, the bullet in her shoulder blade was from the back, she spun, the angle is variable, her murderer was inside the building of the District Attorney." She finished matter of factly.
"Rey, what did you say about ballistics?"
"The slug hit a match...not a criminal match. The gun was issued to Peter Jensen, a security guard at 1 Hogan Place." Lennie groaned. "Don't worry Len, he reported it missing a week before the murder."
"Well then, he still has questions to answer. Let's go find him."
*************************************************
"Ok, Mr. Jensen, how did you lose your gun?" Asked Lennie straightforwardly. He was sitting across from him in the security guard's living room.
"I don't know, I had it and then I went to put it away for the night and I didn't." Lennie and Rey exchanged glances. Rey leaned forward.
"So you mean to tell me that your gun just mysteriously disappeared off your person one day?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Or maybe you gave it away?" Lennie suggested. Jensen balked.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Lennie leaned back and spoke slowly with understanding in his voice. "Oh you know, a friend is in a tight spot, says he fears something, needs protection or what not and for some reason he can't get a gun of his own so you decide to just 'lose' yours some where by his house. No big deal really, we would just like to know who you lost it for."
"No! I would never..."
"Or maybe its not lost at all, maybe it's at the bottom of the Hudson, right where you put it after you killed that poor girl." Rey quietly accused, leaning even further into the man's personal space.
Jensen locked eyes with Rey, sputtered and began to sweat. "I never, no, no I maybe irresponsible, but never, no you have to understand, I didn't, I wouldn't, I had no reason to!"
"Then tell us how bullets from your gun ended up in Ms. Werthers' head."
Jensen leaned back and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. He sighed deeply and muttered "ok, ok" to himself a few times before explaining.
"I could get fired for this. A little while ago I was called to do an early shift, you know 4 a.m. to noon, and I had been up late with the baby anyways so I really hadn't had much sleep and there wasn't really anyone there so I thought I would just close my eyes for a little while and when I opened them it was already 6:45 and my gun was gone. I swear, that's it. My post can be seen by security camera 62. You can check it. I swear to you, I did not kill that girl."
*********************************************
Jamie didn't knock before walking into Jack's office. He was reclined on his sofa, his feet up on one of the arm rests, his shoes and jacket were off and his tie loosened and there was an open copy of The New Yorker on his chest. He would have looked like the picture of relaxation had it not been for the fact that his eyes were tightly closed and his face was grimaced in pain.
"Headache again?" She asked as she strode into the office.
"No, no I just thought it would be a good idea to ignore my work and lay down on my couch in the middle of the day." He replied sarcastically with out opening his eyes.
She picked up the bottle of Ibuprofen which was sitting open on his desk. "How many of these did you take?"
He winced at the sound. "Two or three or four, I don't know, is there something I can help you with?" He asked curtly, hoping there wasn't and she would leave him alone.
"Not in that state you can't" He opened his eyes and shot her a momentary glare before wincing them shut again. She noticed that they looked bloodshot. "You know if you keep on getting headaches this bad you should go to a Dr. They could be migraines." He just grunted in reply. "Anyway I stopped by to tell you that I just got a warrant for the arrest of Mary Werthers' murderer."
At that he sat up and Jamie could tell from the look on his face that he immediately wished that he hadn't. "Who?"
"Her supervisor ADA Gray. Briscoe and Curtis should be back any moment. They can explain it to you."
Jack sighed, took a gulp of water from a glass on the end table and bent down to put on his shoes. As he slowly moved back towards his desk, grimacing all the while, Jamie smirked.
"You could have your arm cut off by some lunatic and you would ignore it and go right back to work wouldn't you?"
He looked up at her tiredly but let go a small smile as he said, "If I had my arm cut off by some looney I would have to come to work and have him charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon and possibly attempted murder. It's a matter of necessity."
Jamie shook her head. "I'll bring the detectives up when the come in." and she shut the door quietly behind her.
"What for? This type of case is guaranteed to land on my desk anyway, he'll probably mention it at tomorrow's meeting." He shook his head and dismissed her frustration with a wave of his hand.
"But the detectives are routing around the office now and I would like to know that I have some authority to be informed as to what's going on. I mean, come on, the investigation has been officially underway for two days with no D.A. assigned to the case." Jamie was angry now, all she wanted was to be sure that she and Jack would be the ones handling the Werthers case and Jack was just being obstinate...as usual.
He looked at her and spoke with a raised voice that held the tone of finality. "Listen it doesn't matter if I ask today or am told tomorrow, it's the same result. The court calendar has been really screwed up lately and that's why he hasn't told us yet but you know I'm going to get it and you know I'll work to get a conviction. There is no point in rushing in and demanding things of Adam."
"Demanding he tell us who the hell is doing what?" She shouted back. "I don't see that as a problem. If you and I are going to be working this case I would like to know so we can get started."
Jack became quiet for a moment and absent mindedly shuffled things around on his desk before he spoke again, a little quieter but no gentler, "There's another thing, I'm not sure you should second chair this one."
"WHAT?" She stared at him in disbelief.
"Face it. You are too emotionally involved with this victim. It may skew your judgement and I can't afford that risk with this type of trial." He shouted back. As soon as he did he half wished he had been a little kinder about discussing that with her but she was shouting at him, it was her fault he got defensive so it was her own fault if he hurt her precious feelings.
Her eyes glared daggers at him and she exclaimed back, "Too emotionally involved? I'm sorry I didn't realize caring was now a risky attribute. Life must be easy for you with out compassion you cold hearted..."
"HEY! You two." Adam came into Jack's office through the connecting doorway. " I can hardly hear myself think next door. You may not be aware of this but we all work on the same side and I will not have two of my best attorneys bitting off eachother's head. Not on my watch at least. One death in this office is too many already. And Jack, you and Ms. Ross have that Werthers case. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis are downstairs now in Gray's office. Don't screw this one up." As quickly as he had come, Adam said his piece and left with out waiting for comment.
Jack glared meaningfully back at Jamie who smirked a condescending smile and glided out the door of his office saying "I'll see you after I get back from talking to the detectives about OUR case."
***************************************************************
Rey was talking with Eric Gray, an ADA in Petty Claims who was Mary Werther's direct supervisor. Lennie was outside the office looking for anyone else who may have known Mary.
"Mr. Gray, we already knew when she came to work here and that she had great reccomandations and that she was hired by Jamie Ross. We already knew all that. You never answered my question though. I just need to know how she was at actually working, here in this office."
Gray leaned back in his chair. He was about six foot tall with lengthy dark hair, save for some graying at the temples. Rey placed him to be between 35 and 40 years old. He was dressed in a designer suit, slightly unusual for some one working as an ADA. He had an air of apathy and superiority about him that seemed oddly matched with the small glass and wood cubicle he worked in. His pale skin sagged around his mouth as he wanely smiled and then frowned.
"Detective," He began slowly. "I wanted to make sure you knew all that so you don't think I hire and keep just anyone you know. Small claims maybe called small but we are one of the busiest offices in this building. Hardly anyone goes through more cases then we do. That's why we get so many interns and that's why they have to be good."
"Trust me Mr. Gray, I understand the popularity of this office." replied Rey with an edge of humor.
"Well when some one comes to this office with such laurels, such as Ms. Werthers did, you expect them to produce a decent type of work, you know? Well she was great for about the first week. Then she started slipping. I mean this girl had no work ethic at all. She was always late, leaving early, not following directions, not finishing things left on her desk. I mean her work station was always a mess. I can show you that later. But this girl was just not D.A. material. And to make matters worse she would always go off on these lunch dates with Jamie Ross, you must know her from upstairs, and then come back late and be all like 'Oh I'm sorry I'm late I was at lunch with ADA Ross.' as if she were some hot shot for lunching with the big boys. I was tempted to say something but I mean, come on, what am I going to do? Tell her to not eat with her? Boss around Jamie Ross? I mean she's like Jack McCoy, they have their offices right next to Mr. Schiffs and call him Adam to his face! If they have a problem on a case they go to him. If I have a problem I only have other ADA's to go to. If I went up there I'd be thrown out the window, and they're on the tenth floor!"
Rey inwardly smirked at the idea of Jamie throwing this guy out of Jack's window but he forced himself to concentrate on what was at hand. "What about your EADA? Mr. Turner? I know he's pretty chummy with McCoy and he goes to the weekly executive meeting with Adam. Did you ever bring any of your complaints about Mary to him?"
Gray dismissed the thought with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh no, you know these execs, they are all alike. They get their one or two cases that put their name in the papers and don't care as to what their staff is doing. Telling Turner wouldn't of solved anything."
Rey couldn't recall ever seeing a DA's name in the paper over a small claims trial but he decided not to push the point. "So why didn't you fire her?"
"Like I said she was fine the first week and she came with such good recommendations plus being so chummy with upstairs I decided to give her some extra time to settle in, see if she came back around. Wanna see her desk now?"
Rey followed Gray out to another, larger cubical with four interns' desks in it. Lennie was talking to a young man of about 25 who sat in the front right corner. The desk in the back was Mary's. The detectives had already seen it with Jamie the morning after the murder but Rey had neglected to tell Gray that and he was slightly taken aback at the difference a day makes, especially when the owner of the desk was dead for that day.
"See? An absolute slob. This entire stack was supposed to be done 4 days ago!" exclaimed Gray pointing to a fairly large stack of violently manhandled manila folders and paper. The desk, in contrast to what they had seen only a day previous, was in absolute disarray. Folders and files and forms everywhere. Little sticky notes in Gray's writing read "Mary please get this done", "Mary finish this then see me", "Ask me if you have questions on this","Part 44 on this form is a little strange, see me and I will help you with it.". 2 half finished cans of diet coke were shoved to the back and a picture of the three girls and Chet was hanging lopsided on the wall with a crack in the glass.
"Well, I guess you were right, very disorganized." Said Rey slowly, not really sure why he was seeing what he was seeing. Lennie had finished with the other intern and was now nodding in agreement besides Curtis.
A phone rang.
Rey pulled out his cell and swung around saying "Excuse me a moment." As he pulled the phone to his ear and answered with his usual, "Curtis."
Lennie looked at Gray. "We think someone from this office killed her." he said suddenly.
Gray was startled and stammered on his reply. "Oh, oh no I don't believe that at all. Definitely the wrong direction. No, no one here would do that."
"Oh and what do you think happened?" asked Lennie evenly.
"Well as I was telling your partner, she got very disorganized and lazy suddenly. It was probably drugs or something. I mean look at the stoners she hangs out with." Motioning to the broken picture. Lennie had to agree that at least Chet was different, but a stoner? No. Before he could say anything else Rey came back.
"Hey Lennie. We got medical examiner's report and ballistics and its crazy."
"Let's go then. Thank you for your time Mr. Gray, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again." Shouted Lennie as they left the office.
***************************************
"She was assaulted before she died." The medical examiner explained as she showed the detectives finger shaped bruises on her arms. "Probably not the first time judging by these older marks. Also, look at her ankle, swollen, it was twisted shortly before she died, she was probably chased before she was shot. That would explain the broken high heel shoe. From the way it was twisted off and the angle of the bullet I'd say the assailant was inside the building"
"But CSU said he was outside." Asserted Lennie.
"Well, I'll throw your boys some credit due to the fact that it was late but they neglected the fact that she was turning as she fell. The bullets in the head were in the front, the bullet in her shoulder blade was from the back, she spun, the angle is variable, her murderer was inside the building of the District Attorney." She finished matter of factly.
"Rey, what did you say about ballistics?"
"The slug hit a match...not a criminal match. The gun was issued to Peter Jensen, a security guard at 1 Hogan Place." Lennie groaned. "Don't worry Len, he reported it missing a week before the murder."
"Well then, he still has questions to answer. Let's go find him."
*************************************************
"Ok, Mr. Jensen, how did you lose your gun?" Asked Lennie straightforwardly. He was sitting across from him in the security guard's living room.
"I don't know, I had it and then I went to put it away for the night and I didn't." Lennie and Rey exchanged glances. Rey leaned forward.
"So you mean to tell me that your gun just mysteriously disappeared off your person one day?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Or maybe you gave it away?" Lennie suggested. Jensen balked.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Lennie leaned back and spoke slowly with understanding in his voice. "Oh you know, a friend is in a tight spot, says he fears something, needs protection or what not and for some reason he can't get a gun of his own so you decide to just 'lose' yours some where by his house. No big deal really, we would just like to know who you lost it for."
"No! I would never..."
"Or maybe its not lost at all, maybe it's at the bottom of the Hudson, right where you put it after you killed that poor girl." Rey quietly accused, leaning even further into the man's personal space.
Jensen locked eyes with Rey, sputtered and began to sweat. "I never, no, no I maybe irresponsible, but never, no you have to understand, I didn't, I wouldn't, I had no reason to!"
"Then tell us how bullets from your gun ended up in Ms. Werthers' head."
Jensen leaned back and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. He sighed deeply and muttered "ok, ok" to himself a few times before explaining.
"I could get fired for this. A little while ago I was called to do an early shift, you know 4 a.m. to noon, and I had been up late with the baby anyways so I really hadn't had much sleep and there wasn't really anyone there so I thought I would just close my eyes for a little while and when I opened them it was already 6:45 and my gun was gone. I swear, that's it. My post can be seen by security camera 62. You can check it. I swear to you, I did not kill that girl."
*********************************************
Jamie didn't knock before walking into Jack's office. He was reclined on his sofa, his feet up on one of the arm rests, his shoes and jacket were off and his tie loosened and there was an open copy of The New Yorker on his chest. He would have looked like the picture of relaxation had it not been for the fact that his eyes were tightly closed and his face was grimaced in pain.
"Headache again?" She asked as she strode into the office.
"No, no I just thought it would be a good idea to ignore my work and lay down on my couch in the middle of the day." He replied sarcastically with out opening his eyes.
She picked up the bottle of Ibuprofen which was sitting open on his desk. "How many of these did you take?"
He winced at the sound. "Two or three or four, I don't know, is there something I can help you with?" He asked curtly, hoping there wasn't and she would leave him alone.
"Not in that state you can't" He opened his eyes and shot her a momentary glare before wincing them shut again. She noticed that they looked bloodshot. "You know if you keep on getting headaches this bad you should go to a Dr. They could be migraines." He just grunted in reply. "Anyway I stopped by to tell you that I just got a warrant for the arrest of Mary Werthers' murderer."
At that he sat up and Jamie could tell from the look on his face that he immediately wished that he hadn't. "Who?"
"Her supervisor ADA Gray. Briscoe and Curtis should be back any moment. They can explain it to you."
Jack sighed, took a gulp of water from a glass on the end table and bent down to put on his shoes. As he slowly moved back towards his desk, grimacing all the while, Jamie smirked.
"You could have your arm cut off by some lunatic and you would ignore it and go right back to work wouldn't you?"
He looked up at her tiredly but let go a small smile as he said, "If I had my arm cut off by some looney I would have to come to work and have him charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon and possibly attempted murder. It's a matter of necessity."
Jamie shook her head. "I'll bring the detectives up when the come in." and she shut the door quietly behind her.