Episode 17: "Above the Law"
Day Four
Scene One
"Anything more on the boyfriend, Holland?" Fisk asked.
Jim reported, "The fingerprint people lifted some prints in Alicia's living room that were good enough for comparison. They ran them, and two of them matched Holland's – a left index finger on the glass top of the coffee table and a right middle finger on the desk."
Karen added, "I talked to the bailiff in the courtroom where he was in trial. The trial wasn't in session the morning Alicia was killed, because the judge had to hold a hearing in another case, so Holland wasn't in court that morning. But when I talked to his secretary, she didn't know anything about the recess. She thought he was in court."
"We've got enough for a search warrant to get his DNA," Fisk decided. "Get the paperwork together."
Scene Two
Jim was already in the interview room, leaning against the window sill, when Karen escorted Mark Holland into the room. As they'd planned, Karen stood at the far end of the room while Jim took the lead.
"Someone want to tell me what I'm doing here?" Holland demanded.
"Sit," Jim ordered, pointing toward the table and chairs.
Holland shrugged and sat.
"Alicia Reyes," Jim stated. "We know what happened."
"Good for you," Holland sneered. "And now I suppose you're going to tell me?"
"That's right," Jim replied. He moved away from the windows and sat on the table next to Holland. He turned toward him and spoke confidentially, "She was a real looker, Alicia Reyes – or so I'm told."
"Not bad," Holland conceded.
"So it's not too hard to figure out how it happened. You've been married, what – ten, twelve years? – not much spark left, huh? Maybe you're a little bored? Or you just don't have much in common anymore. All she's interested in is the kids. You're out there every day, putting away the bad guys, and she couldn't care less. Besides, a guy like you shouldn't have to limit himself to one woman – am I right?"
"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Holland asked scornfully.
"So you meet up with Alicia on your armed-robbery case. Sexy young woman – but kind of naive. The jury loved her, isn't that what you said? Of course, you'd notice her. So how'd it start? Did you ask her to come to the office after the trial, so you could de-brief her? Whatever." Jim stood up and walked to the other side of the table. He leaned across at Holland. "Let me guess. You dazzled her with your 'war stories,' all the bad dudes you've put away. It was easy after that. Of course, you told her it had to be a secret. That was all part of the game, wasn't it?"
"Keep talking. I'm listening. What happened next?"
"What always happens. After a while, she wanted more, got demanding. They always do, don't they? Did you know she told her sister you were her ticket out of the neighborhood?"
Jim sat down, took off his dark glasses, and seemed to look directly at Holland. "So now it's not so much fun anymore. It's still a game to you, but not to her. She thinks you're going to have a real relationship, take her away from there. But that isn't what you had in mind at all. And then she dropped the bomb: she was pregnant. What did she do? Threaten to tell your wife? Threaten a paternity suit?" Jim waved his hand, then answered his own question. "Probably not. She doesn't seem like the type to make threats. Maybe she asked you to leave your wife, be there for her and the baby. We both know that wasn't going to happen. What did she do when you told her so? Cry? Beg? Whatever she did, it sent you over the edge."
"You have quite an imagination, Dunbar. Is that how you compensate?"
Jim ignored him. "So now she's lying there, dead, in her bedroom. You have to think fast. Not a problem – you have to think on your feet all the time. The solution is obvious – make it look like a gang hit, revenge for her testimony against Perez. You stage the scene, wipe down the bedroom, and leave."
"You better be careful who you accuse," Holland warned him. "Remember who you're dealing with here."
"Oh, I know exactly who I'm dealing with," Jim assured him.
"This has gone far enough," Holland told him. "This interview is over."
"Maybe. But there is one more thing." Jim reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out some papers, and presented them to Holland. "Read it."
"What's this?"
Karen spoke for the first time. "A search warrant, allowing us to take a sample for DNA analysis." She crossed to the door and opened it to admit an evidence tech with his bag.
Holland threw the papers onto the table. "This is ridiculous. You don't have probable cause."
"Judge Harrelson thought we did."
Holland picked up the warrant and read it. "Get it over with, then," he said. "It'll never be admissible."
After the tech departed with the sample, Karen told Holland, "You can go."
As he walked out, Holland told them, "You'll be hearing from my lawyer."
Jim followed Karen out of the interview room. He sat at his desk, looking drained. From her own desk, Karen looked over at him thoughtfully for a moment, then began working on her report.
Scene Three
"You're very quiet this evening, Jim," Dr. Cohen observed. "Is there something on your mind?"
"No," Jim answered automatically, then corrected himself. "Well, yes, I guess there is."
"Go on," she prompted.
"It's this case I've been working. We've been dealing with a suspect who's a real jerk – arrogant, obnoxious. He cheated on his wife. It was just a game to him, a conquest. He felt he was entitled. I knew exactly what he did, exactly how he thought – because I was that guy, two years ago." He stopped and rested his chin on his hands.
"Tell your wife how you feel about that," Dr. Cohen encouraged him.
He turned toward Christie, seated next to him on the couch, and took her hands in his. Wishing he could make eye contact, he began, "It reminded me what an obnoxious jerk I was, back then. I told you before I'm not that guy anymore. It's true. I hope you can believe that. When I think how close I came to losing you. . . .Sometimes I still wonder why you stayed." He bowed his head.
Christie was silent as she thought about what Jim had said. As the seconds slowly passed, Jim could only wonder what she was thinking and what her face and body language would tell him, if he could see her. Finally she spoke.
"Jimmy, I don't know if I can explain why I stayed, even after all this time. And even if I can explain it, you may not want to hear it." She fell silent again.
"Christie," Dr. Cohen prompted her, "I think you need to tell Jim, and I think he needs to hear it."
Christie pressed her lips together in thought before turning toward Jim and answering. "The day you were shot, I had made up my mind to leave you. When they told me you had been shot, I was in shock at first. Mostly, I was afraid – afraid that you would die. After I learned that you were blind, there were times when I was angry at you for getting shot, because I still wanted to leave, but I couldn't, not after . . . ."
"So you stayed out of pity?" Jim demanded harshly.
"That was part of it, a little, at first," Christie admitted. "But, honestly, I didn't stay for you. I stayed for me. I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd left you then."
"You stayed out of obligation?" Jim asked.
"You can call it that if you want. I just knew I couldn't leave – not then."
Jim shook his head. "Christie, I never wanted you to feel you had to stay because I'm blind."
"That's not why I stayed," she assured him. "After those first terrible weeks, I hoped you might actually let me in. I thought we could be real partners. Silly me," she added with a bitter laugh.
"Christie, I had to – "
She cut him off. "So, after a while, we went back to 'business as usual.' And you were so focused on your recovery and getting back to work, that you didn't even notice I was still hurting."
"God, Christie, why did you wait a year to say something? Until that dinner party, I thought it was behind us."
"Behind us?" she asked incredulously. "How could you think it was behind us? I know I never said anything, but neither did you – not that I expected you to."
"You're right," Jim admitted. "That was the last thing I wanted to talk about, back then. But I'm not that guy anymore, I'll never to do that again. I can't think of any more ways to say I'm sorry. What else am I supposed to do?"
"It doesn't work that way. I believe you when you say you're not that guy anymore, and you'll never do that again. I do. I know you feel guilty. But that's not enough. I want us to have a marriage where that can't happen again."
"Me, too." Jim pulled her toward him and put his arms around her.
Epilogue
Jim hung up the phone, a look of satisfaction on his face. He turned to Karen. "That was the lab. DNA came back on Reyes – three for three."
"Yes!"
"Let's tell the boss."
"Boss, we got something," Karen said as they entered Fisk's office.
"DNA came back on Reyes," Jim told him. "Holland's skin was under her nails, his semen is on her sheet, and he's the father of her baby."
"Well, then," Fisk replied, sharing their satisfaction. "You'd better go get him."