Just as Joe emerged from the Lieutenant's office Ed's cell phone rang.
"Yeah, what you got Logan?" Ed asked. He listened for a little while, scribbling things down on a note pad. "Oh really, that's interesting, jives really well with what we've been hearing over here," he finally said.
"Come on Joe, I'll fill you in on the way over to One Hogan Place. I think it's time to talk to McCoy," Ed said on his way out.
"So what's Logan got?" Joe asked when they got in the car.
"Logan and his partner Frankie have been looking into Ciello's career at the Police Academy, and Frankie found a waiter who was at his retirement party," Ed started.
"Go Frankie," Joe said with a smile.
"Seems Ciello didn't make that many friends at the academy, so it wasn't that big a shindig and there was an unexpected guess who caused a little bit of a dust up," Ed continued.
"Oh, and who was that?" Joe asked, like he was a part of a two-man comedy act.
"Chief of Detectives Daniel Giletti," Ed answered.
"Oh yeah, let's go see McCoy," Fontana said with almost glee in his voice.
EADA McCoy was busy and not in the best of moods when Green and Fontana interrupted his day. He begrudgingly gave them 15 minutes, which once he heard their story, he was willing to stretch to as long as it took.
After the important details of the case had been outlined, Jack leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms up above his head. With a mischievous smile on his face he asked, "So, now that he's retired, Briscoe's banging Van Buren?"
"Looks that way," Joe answered.
"Yeah, but Lennie says it just happened that night 'cause she needed some comforting. She'd just found out her husband had got his mistress pregnant and wanted a divorce," Ed explained defending both his forming partner and his boss.
"So you're saying this isn't like when that married policewoman from the 116 gave him an alibi, when he was pulled in by the Hellman commission?" Jack asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," Ed admitted.
"Oh yeah, that was before you were Lennie's partner, back when he was partnered with Rey Curtis," Jack said.
"Briscoe's got a history of having affairs with married police women?" Joe asked.
"Yeah, at least with one and he worked with her too, although she wasn't his supervisor, they were partners," Jack nodded as he explained.
"You know, if we nail Gilletti for this, it's not going to be a problem, because Lennie won't need an alibi," Ed said.
"Yeah, unless Giletti's defense tries to sell Lennie as the perp, as an alternate version of the crime. It could be their best defense strategy," Joe pointed out.
"Damn," Ed swore softly. "I promised Lennie we'd keep the Lieu out of this," Ed said.
"Yeah well, if Lennie believed that could happen, then he's a bigger fool than I'd have ever taken him for," McCoy said.
"Look, I think you've got enough to bring Gilletti in for questioning right now, but I don't know if you're going to be able to make anything stick. Maybe you better find out if Gilletti's got an alibi, and what his motive would be for going after Ciello now," McCoy advised.
"Yeah, I think maybe we better get a little more of a case against him, before we tip our hand," Joe suggested and the other men nodded.
Joe and Ed spent the rest of the day and part of the next nosing around about Giletti. Joe came up with the perfect cover story. He told people that Giletti was in line for a promotion, and the powers that be wanted to make sure there wasn't anything going on that could trip him up. They'd gotten the name of his current girlfriend, and the names of some of his oldest friends, both on the force and recently retired. Before they could follow up on those leads, they got a call from Beck to stop by the crime lab.
"So what's up Beck? You got the DNA analysis on that cap?" Ed asked.
"Well, that's why I called. I can't give you a definitive answer." Beck replied.
"Why not?" Fontana asked abruptly.
"The DNA sample is too degraded to allow me to say for sure whether it's Lennie Briscoe's or Gus Levy's." Beck explained.
"Because they're closely related?" Ed asked.
"You can say that again," Beck muttered.
"What's that mean?" Fontana asked growing impatient with Beck.
"Well, I know you said that Briscoe and Levy are related, but you didn't have the relationship correct, you said they were cousins right?" Beck asked checking for confirmation.
"Yeah Levy said they were double cousins, their fathers were half-brothers and their mothers are sisters," Ed answered.
"Yeah well, their mothers might be sisters, because their mitochondrial DNA is pretty close to being the same, but they have the same father, Levy and Briscoe are brothers," Beck said with certainty.
"What makes you say that?" Joe asked.
"A man inherits his y chromosome from his father, they have the same y chromosomes, therefore they must have the same father," Beck explained.
"Damn, I wonder if either of them knows that?" Ed asked.
"Levy does, that's why he was nervous when you asked about how he and Lennie are related. He knows Lennie is his younger brother, but that's a family secret," Joe said, with the certainty of an experienced detective who has come to what to him is an obvious conclusion.
"And that's why Levy's so protective of Lenny," Ed added, and Joe nodded.
"So how does this affect the case?" Joe said, thinking out loud.
"I don't know that it does, unless Giletti's defense gets a hold of the information, and tries to use it to some how shore up an alternative version of the crime," Ed responded.
"Giletti?" Beck asked his eyes wide.
"Keep that and this info under your hat, understood?" Joe asked, his gaze pinning young Beck.
"Uh, sure, no problem," Beck replied. After the two detectives left, Beck muttered, "Who'd listen to me anyway?"
"You know Ed, I think maybe we should split up. I'll go talk to the old cops, they'll probably feel comfortable with me," Joe speculated.
"Yeah, especially since most of them have names ending in vowels," Ed observed.
"Right, and you go talk to your ex-partner," Joe continued.
"What about?" Ed said, as though he had no idea.
"About what Beck uncovered, or would you rather take the chance that he find that out in the middle of a trial?" Joe asked.
"No, I guess you got a point. Man, this is not something I'm looking forward to doing," Ed said with quiet fervor.
"Well, he'll take it better from you alone than with me tagging along," Joe said.
Ed nodded his head. "Well, hope you have some luck with Giletti's friends."
"Come on, let's head back to the precinct and you can grab a sedan from the car pool," Joe suggested.
By the time Ed got back to the precinct and managed to get a car it was late afternoon and the traffic to Lennie's place was miserable, it had given him time to go over in his mind several different approaches but nothing seemed like a sure fire winner. Ed found himself standing outside Lennie's apartment door, still wondering how he was going to start this conversation. He finally just knocked and figured somehow the words would just come. He waited for what seemed an unusually long time, considering how small he knew Lennie's apartment was. He knocked again and heard a muffled "coming".
"Hey Ed, man all of a sudden I'm seeing almost as much of you as I did when we were partners," Lennie said a bit breathlessly, as he let Ed into his apartment.
"Yeah," was Ed's weak answer.
"So to what do I owe the honor of this little visit? You got some news on the Ciello case? Lennie asked nervously.
"Uh sort of. Everything OK? You seem a little rattled," Ed observed.
Lennie took a deep breath, considering what to say, but before he could reply, Ed realized they weren't alone in the apartment and he snuck a look toward the bedroom door.
"I catch you at a bad time?" Ed said a bit sarcastically.
"Yes, you did, but you may as well tell us what you've found, now that you've interrupted," Anita answered, as she opened the bedroom door and joined the men in the living room.
It was an open question which man was more taken aback by her appearance. Anita acted as though there was absolutely nothing unusual about her appearing from Lennie's bedroom. She took Lennie's hand and guided him to the couch, indicating a chair for Ed to sit in.
"So what's the news?" she asked.
"Uh yeah, well we've been looking at Giletti's movements and motive trying to figure out why he'd choose to move against Ciello now. Joe's talking with some of the chief's old buddies from the force right now, hoping they can shed some light on things. The main reason I'm here though is, well when we were in the middle of things, Beck called us to the lab," Ed began explaining.
"What for, just to confirm the dress blues are mine?" Lennie asked.
"Well no, that's the thing, he couldn't. The DNA was too degraded to distinguish whether it was yours or Levy's and that made Beck curious. You know how he is," Ed said and Lennie nodded, edging forward a bit on the couch, as he was now curious.
"So what did he find?" Lennie asked.
"Well, you've got your kinship with Levy a little messed up, seems you aren't cousins but brothers," Ed said concisely.
"No that can't be right, Beck screwed something up," Lennie asserted.
"No, he double checked. You have identical y-chromosomes, which had to be inherited from the same father. Look man, I realize it can't be easy, this late in the game, to find out you aren't who you think you are, but Joe and I figured it was better you find out now than during a trial," Ed explained.
Lennie got up and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess this explains a lot of things in my life. It's just so hard to imagine, I mean my Mom and my Uncle Harry," Lennie let out a big breath and then sat back down.
"You sure it wasn't your Dad and your aunt?" Ed asked.
"Yeah I'm sure. My old man treated my brother Bernie and me as different as night and day. Bernie was the apple of his eye and me well," Lennie paused, initially lost for the right phrase, the he suddenly thought of the right phrase. "I was the cuckoo's egg and he knew it."
"So your father, or the man you thought was your father, knew the truth about your paternity and took it out on you?" Anita asked.
"I guess you could say that. No matter how hard I tried, I could never please my old man," Lennie began to explain.
"I worked my butt off in school, got pushed ahead a grade twice, I played every sport imaginable and I was damn good at most of them, I went out for school plays, sang in the choir. I did anything and everything I could think of to win his approval, hell to just get his attention. I finally just gave up, but it always ate at me. I never wanted to admit it, but I think, no if I'm honest about it, I know it's where my drinking all got started. I mean if one of your parents thinks your worthless, then you must be, right? So what's the point in being a good kid, following all the rules? I started drinking when I was 13," he told them, in a voice that sounded amazingly vulnerable for a man in his late fifties.
It was obvious to Ed and Anita that this revelation was taping into a deep well of pain for Lennie. Anita put an arm around Lennie and kissed his shoulder, then laid her cheek against his arm. He responded by pulling her to him and momentarily burying his face in her neck.
"How'd you get a hold of liquor when you were so young?" Ed asked with the curiosity of a cop.
"Snuck it out of my uncle's store," Lennie paused to give an ironic laugh. "Guess I should say my Dad's store."
Just as Ed was wondering if he should tell Lennie what Joe suspected, that Gus knew about Lennie's identity, Lennie suddenly stood up and swore, "Damn him, he knew. He's always known and he didn't tell me!"
"Who knew?" Anita asked bewildered.
"Gus, he's always known. That's why he's always looked out for me, protected me," Lennie explained, clearly agitated. "But why didn't he tell me?" he asked with anguish.
"Think what it would have done to you and to your family. I'm sure there were times he wanted to, I bet there were times your Mom and your real Dad wanted to too," Ed assured Lennie.
"Oh God, my Uncle Harry, he always treated me better than my Dad ever did. He came to every football game, every swim meet, every concert and every play. God was I dumb not to see it. He'd put a hand on my shoulder and say 'How's it going' son'. I thought it was just his way of talking," Lennie said a bit of a choke in his voice.
"Your Uncle Harry still around?" Anita asked.
"Yeah, but," –
"No buts about it, I say you go see him." Anita insisted.
"Maybe after this mess with Ciello's murder is settled," Lennie hedged
"How old is your Uncle?" Ed asked suggestively.
"Uh, 88 I think," Lennie answered.
"I think the visit should happen sooner than later, dude," Ed said and Anita nodded and squeezed Lennie's hand.
"Geesh, hope I'm not expected to buy him 50 some years of back Father's day presents," Lennie joked.
"I think you will be present enough," Anita answered.
