An hour later, Barek used her thumb to wipe a splash of spaghetti sauce off of the folder she was holding. "Exactly how much time do we have to cover all . . . thirty-one of these people?"
"Not long enough," Logan said before either of the other two people could answer. "Am I right in thinking we're doing this to narrow your field?" he went on, looking at Alex with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah." She slurped up a strand of spaghetti, managing to splatter most of her face and chin with the sauce. "Damn."
"Your list is made up of the parolees and ADAs who, statistically, might gave a grudge against Young," Goren said as he absentmindedly handed her his napkin. "You should be able to eliminate most of them fairly quickly; they're just loose ends."
"Abraham Sykes," Barek read off the top page of her pile. "Mikel Donovan, Curtis Pearson . . . Dwayne Harrison. 'Dwayne'?" she repeated incredulously. "Are we still in New York, or did we get teleported to Alabama?"
"I don't think 'Israel Estes' is going to turn out to be a native Alabaman," Logan replied, pointing to another name.
"Karen Durham," Alex read over his shoulder. "Now that's a nice, normal name."
"She's a con?" asked Bobby.
"No, an ADA in Queens."
"You guys want to discuss what else you've got?" Barek asked. "I noticed when I came in that you've got a nice overflowing pile of papers out on your coffee table."
Alex glanced at Bobby, then nodded. "Bobby, why don't you show them what we've got so far while I clean up in here and make some coffee?" she urged.
His eyes narrowed slightly. She wanted him to pass up time alone with her, as brief as it might be, in favor of filling in the blanks for Logan? Hah! "I think they can figure it out for themselves."
"Bobby," she said, glaring at him.
"No, no," Logan said with a smug look, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm sure you need him to help with the dishes, Alex. Barek and I can entertain ourselves catching up on the case while you two . . . clean."
Barek looked at him, blinked, and looked back at Alex. "Would someone please tell me what the hell's going on here?"
"Absolutely nothing," Alex said tightly, "except your partner trying to start trouble. Bobby, go show them your damn notes." She gave him a shove to back up the order and started snatching plates off the table.
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All three detectives looked up when Alex padded into the room ten minutes later, two coffee cups in each hand and walking as carefully as she could to avoid spillage. Before she got a chance to ask him to do it, Bobby was already standing up and heading for the kitchen to retrieve the cream and sugar she hadn't had room for in her hands.
"What'd he tell you so far?" she asked Logan and Barek, setting down the mugs on the one small patch of the table that wasn't covered with paper or folders.
"Defense attorney, found beat up and shot in her apartment," Barek recited. "Clean kill shot, but the beating indicates loss of control."
"No, it doesn't. Not necessarily," Logan said with a shake of his head. "I don't agree with Barek. A full beating would be loss of control, yes, but blows that were exclusively to her face, inflicting as much damage as possible only to that area - that takes control, even if we're just talking about avoiding having a stray fist land somewhere else by accident."
"You'd be the expert when it comes to fists," Barek said coolly.
"Ouch," Alex said, wincing. "That was a low blow."
"You heard the woman," Logan said, giving his partner a dirty look. "Play nice."
Barek sighed, then shrugged and looked back at the other woman. "It sounds like you're low on specific leads."
"What was your first clue? The list of semi-random names, or the fact that we had to bring you guys into it?" Alex asked dryly.
"We have plenty of leads," Goren said as he re-entered the room and handed Alex the cream pitcher and sugar bowl. "We just haven't noticed them yet."
"Okay, Confucius," Logan said, rolling his eyes, "but let's stick to the leads that are actually visible for now, huh?"
Alex snorted, earning herself a dark look from her partner.
"I assume you guys've seen the husband and the daughter already?" Logan went on after a second's pause for comedic effect.
"We spoke to the daughter today," Bobby said as he spooned sugar into his coffee.
"She's devastated. Well, or she's really good at faking it," Alex said. "We don't think she had anything to do with it, although she did tell us that she was with her mother until around eight-thirty that night."
"Doing what?" asked Barek.
"Girls' night," said Bobby. "Whatever that entails."
"Chocolate and a chick flick," Barek said with a smile.
"And wine," added Alex with an answering grin.
"And probably some Ben & Jerry's, to go with the wine," Barek finished.
"Geez," Logan said, raising his eyebrows as he looked first at one woman, then the other. "If that's how you girls spend your off time, I don't know how you're not all a pack of fat drunks."
"We burn off all the calories chasing our idiot partners around the city," Alex shot back without hesitation.
"Damn straight," Barek said with a nod, toasting Alex with her half-empty mug. "So she left the mother alone at eight-thirty . . . what was the time of death?"
" 'Between eight-thirty and ten-thirty' was the estimate the M.E. gave us at the scene," said Alex. "We're still waiting on the final autopsy report."
"So if the daughter had hung around a little longer . . ." Logan said slowly.
". . . then the daughter would probably have died too," Goren finished pointedly. "I sincerely doubt that she would have been spared. The girl couldn't fight off Alex," he said, gesturing to the woman next to him, "let alone a perp with a gun."
"You're probably right," Alex said, "but I do feel the need to argue against that assumption, just on principle. On principle for me and Claire both, actually."
"Never tell your partner you consider her weaker," Barek advised Bobby with amusement. "It never ends well."
"Exactly," Alex said with a firm nod. "But Goren's oblivious to stuff like that; I'm used to it. Anyway, the most interesting thing about the daughter, to my way of thinking, was her boyfriend."
"Violent?" Logan asked.
She shook her head. "No, not violent. Just . . . clingy. It made for a weird interview with him hanging over her shoulder. And for the record, the daughter says they both came straight home and stayed there. For the boyfriend to take her home and then get back uptown in time to have killed the mother would be cutting it close."
"So you haven't talked to the vic's husband at all yet?" Barek asked.
"Not more than five words," said Bobby. "At the scene, the daughter was hysterical and there was no time to talk to him, and today Deakins asked us to hit the girl first. We'll get him tomorrow."
"So you've got jack squat," Logan said conversationally.
"Basically," agreed Alex with a sigh. "Which is why either Bobby and I or you two," she said, pointing two fingers at Logan and Barek, "have got to turn up something soon."
"But no pressure, right?" Barek said, rolling her eyes.
"None at all," Alex agreed with a touch of answering sarcasm.
Barek downed the last of her coffee, looked down at her watch, and winced. "Hey guys, look, it's been fun, but I need to get home."
"Hot date?" Logan asked lightly as he stood up along with her.
"Yeah, with my pets," she said with a smirk. "A cat and a ferret who haven't been fed yet; if I don't get home soon, one of them is gonna turn the other into dinner."
"My money's on the ferret," Alex said with a grin. "You want any leftovers? I stuck them in the fridge when I cleaned up."
"Nah, I'm good."
"I'll take 'em," Logan said quickly.
Barek grinned and teased, "You're such a bachelor."
"I can think of at least one way to remedy that," Alex shouted from the kitchen, where she'd disappeared behind the refrigerator door.
"Don't you start with me, Eames," Logan called back. "I know where you keep your skeletons."
"Yeah?" she retorted as she returned and shoved a pile of tupperware into his arms. "But do you know where I keep my big, scary, protective partner?"
Bobby, knowing a cue when he heard one, gave Logan a cheerfully menacing grin.
"Point taken," Logan acknowledged. "Let's get out of here before one of them comes after me, Carolyn."
"I don't know," she said slyly. "That might be interesting to see. And Alex," she added jokingly, looking at the other woman, "my money would be on you."
"Come on." Logan grabbed his partner's arm and tried to drag her out the door before she could protest again.
Barek gave Alex a helpless look over her shoulder as she was propelled over the threshold. "Thanks for dinner, Eames. It was good."
"No problem!" She shut the door behind the pair and turned to Bobby. "Well, that went pretty well."
"He's annoying."
"But you made it through the night without doing more than making snarky comments; it's a new record for you," she replied, patting his cheek.
"Yeah? Do I get a reward?"
"You get to empty the dishwasher," she said with a grin.
"That wasn't quite what I had in mind."
She raised an eyebrow and turned toward the kitchen. "We can negotiate while you empty."
"Oh, no you don't." He grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward him. "Negotiations come before I do what you want."
"Oh?" She slipped her hand out of his and looked up at him playfully. "What are you offering?"
He grinned and sat down on the couch, wrapping an arm around her waist and taking her with him as he went. "Take a guess."