"Benson."
"Hi, Olivia? It's Audra."
"Oh, hey! What's up?" Olivia asked.
"Are you busy?" Audra asked.
"Not at the moment. Why?" Olivia replied. "Audra what's wrong?"
"It's about the case I'm working on. Can you meet me at the coffee shop on Broadway in ten minutes?" Audra asked.
"Yeah. I'll see you there," Olivia answered.
"Thanks." Audra closed her cell phone and sped up, walking quickly to where she had to meet Olivia.
"So, what's up?" Olivia asked.
Audra sighed. "How do you deal with cases that end up with the perp being served the death penalty on a silver platter?" she asked.
Olivia looked down before saying, "I thank God that the perp isn't going to be able to continue his or her reign of terror." She looked up at Audra. "Why?"
"Because Jack is putting this girl through hell by charging her with murder one. But she's only 17," Audra replied.
"Then she shouldn't have to get the injection. She should go to jail for life," Olivia said.
"But she'll be eighteen tomorrow. So he's got every right," Audra explained.
"Then what's the problem?" Olivia asked.
"She's just eighteen! She doesn't deserve to have her life taken away from her like that!" Audra argued.
"Then think about this: did the person she murdered deserve to have their life taken away from them?" Olivia suggested. "I know this is a difficult case, Audra. But, if worse comes to worse, Jack is still your boss. Sometimes you just have to do what's right for justice and not what you personally think is right." She put a comforting arm around Audra's shoulders and they kept walking. "Hey, I know what'll get your mind off this," she said.
"What could?" Audra asked.
"A little rock-wall climbing," Olivia replied, smiling.
"Sweet," Audra said. "But I don't have any clothes."
"We can go by your apartment and pick some up," Olivia said as they got into her car.
They drove down past Hogan Place and stopped in front of Audra's house. She quickly ran up, grabbed some gym clothes and rushed downstairs as her landlord stepped out into the hall.
"Hey, Dalle, slow your ass down," he said. "Some guy dropped by looking for you. He said if I saw you to tell you to get back to work."
Audra shook her head and walked out the door. She threw her clothes in the back seat and shut the front door.
"What did he say?" Olivia asked as she pulled the car back onto the street.
"Jack wants me to go back to work," she answered. "Drop me off outside the building, ok?"
"You want me to keep your clothes in here?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah. We can go at the end of the day," Audra replied.
"Ok. Don't get into too much trouble," Olivia said, stopping in front of Hogan Place and unlocking the doors.
"See you later," Audra said, grabbing her bag and walking up the stairs. She took the elevator up to her floor and walked down the hallway to her office. She opened the door and almost screamed when she saw Jack sitting on the couch.
"Where the hell did you go?" he asked, looking at the floor.
"I needed some air," Audra lied as she hung up her coat and tossed her bag on the floor next to her desk.
"So, when you say you 'needed some air,' you had to leave the precinct and disappear for an hour to get some?" Jack asked, annoyed.
"You have no right to talk to me like that, Jack. I didn't agree with you and I still don't. That girl doesn't deserve murder one with a death sentence. The least we could do is just let her rot in jail," Audra said, sitting down behind her desk.
"Try looking at this from my perspective. We sentence her to death, and New York is free of another murderer. If we put her in jail for life, then she could get out," Jack explained. "It'll look better if--"
"So this is for publicity?" Audra asked, shocked.
"No! Jesus, Audra. Do you really want her to escape or get out on appeals and go kill another relative? A friend? A total stranger?" Jack asked, leaning on Audra's desk.
Audra sighed. "Whatever, Jack. Do what you feel is right. You're the boss, after all," she said, pulling the case file and a notepad out of her desk drawer and leaning on her hand.
Jack shook his head and stormed out of Audra's office. He bumped into Arthur on the way to his own.
"What was going on in there, Jack?" Arthur asked.
"Disagreement," Jack replied.
"I heard shouting," Arthur said.
"Yeah, well…"
"Jack."
"Its fine, Arthur," he said. "We were just arguing over the sentencing for Danielle McGraw. Audra thinks that we should give her life without the possibility of parole; I think that McGraw deserves the death penalty. And now we're arguing about it."
Arthur sighed. "The people I hire to be your assistant, huh?" he said.
Jack grinned. "Yeah," he said quietly.
Arthur crossed his arms. "If I were you, I would leave it up to a jury. Because, as you know, a jury may not go for the death penalty and then you would have to declare a mistrial, and double jeopardy doesn't allow you to charge a suspect for the same crime," he suggested.
"I know," Jack said, opening the door to his office. "I'll talk it over with Audra tomorrow. See how she feels after a day."
"Good idea," Arthur said, turning to head back to his own office. "Oh, one last suggestion. Don't try to force her to agree with you. If she doesn't agree with your sentence, then leave it to the jury. Because we both know that you're not going to go for anything less than a hanging."
Jack smiled. "Thanks, Arthur." He packed his things up and pulled on his coat, preparing to go out for lunch. Audra stopped him in his tracks, shaking her head and holding a piece of scrap paper, reading it over and over again. "What is it?" he asked.
Audra looked up. "Our main witness just changed his story," she said.
"What?" Jack snapped. "What's his story now?"
"He claims that he never saw McGraw walk out of the building with a bloody towel and bloody shoes. He also claims that he might have seen the wrong woman walk into the building," she explained, reading off the slip of paper. "Van Buren just called and told me."
"He's covering. Someone is making him do this," Jack said. "Get him in here; we're going to have a little chat with him."
"Right," Audra said. She ran back into her office and dialed Van Buren's number. "Anita? Yeah, it's Audra. We need you to bring Maloney here…what? What do you mean, he doesn't want to? Jesus, all right…We'll be down there in ten minutes. Yep. Bye." She hung up the phone and looked at Jack.
"What?" he asked.
"Mr Maloney doesn't want to come here. He says that we have to go to him," she replied.
"Good. Then we can charge him with obstruction and keep him there," Jack said. "Unless, of course, he wants to talk."
Audra nodded and pulled her bag over her shoulder. She shut the office door and followed Jack into the elevator. They didn't talk at all during the ride down and only spoke while they were hailing a cab. They pushed through the doors of the 27th and walked into Anita, who was standing outside the interrogation room, arms crossed.
"Where is he?" Jack asked.
"In there, waiting," she replied.
Audra looked in the window. "I don't see anyone."
"You won't. He's hiding over in the corner behind the door," Anita said, opening the door. "We read him his rights and told him that it would be best if he speak with a lawyer present. But he just kept shaking his head and looking around like he had no idea where he was."
"Is he insane?" Jack asked.
Anita smiled. "You can find out for yourself. He won't talk to Lennie or Ed," she replied.
Audra opened the door, slamming the knob into Mr Maloney's ribcage. "Sorry, didn't see you there," she said sarcastically as Jack walked in behind her.
"Why are you changing your story about when and where you saw Danielle McGraw?" Jack asked as he sat down.
"I'm not! I never saw that girl! I have no idea who you're talking about!" Maloney yelled.
"Mr Maloney, is somebody threatening you? Did someone put you up to this?" Audra asked.
Maloney shook his head. "Nobody told me to do anything," he said.
"If someone did, we can protect you. There's no reason to be afraid," Audra said, trying to coax something out of the man.
He sighed. "If I say anything, they'll kill me," he said, shaking his head.
"Who?" Jack asked.
"Her parents! They said that if I told the police that I was mistaken, then they would lose the case and Danielle would walk!" Maloney yelled, putting his face in his hands.
Audra looked up at Jack, who looked from Maloney to her. They were both shocked that McGraw's parents would go that far as to threaten a witness.
