A/N-This kind of just fell off my fingertips, and my brain wouldn't let me sleep till I wrote it and posted it. So I hope you like it. :)

"So she had a gay boyfriend, no spare time and no real boyfriend to speak of?" Lieutenant Van Buren asked skeptically. "Now, I understand a woman has to work, but a woman also deserves some down time too." There was a knock on the door and she got up to answer to it. A Chinese man stood there, holding two bags laden with food. Van Buren sat back down, and began to rifle through the bags. "Shrimp with Cashews, that you Ed?" He nodded and reached out for it.

"Is there a Lo Mein in there too?" He asked. Van Buren handed it over and tossed a packet of duck sauce at him as well.

Lennie, was who busy working on a pint of Mu Shoo Pork swallowed noisily and nodded. "It doesn't seem to fit. She had to have someone, if not only for a little release, ya know?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Michelle Maco said she was 'Married to her job,' right?" Van Buren asked, reading through the case file and munching on an egg roll.

"Yeah. And her apartment confirmed that. If she hadn't been killed in it, I would have thought no one lived there." Ed said.

"Why don't you check out the office? See if there is anyone there who had been a little more than friendly with Carrie Ann" Van Buren said.


"You know a Carrie Ann Burecroft?" Ed asked the secretary, flashing her the picture of the deceased girl.

The secretary nodded wistfully. "I heard about her murder in the paper. A damn shame. Such a bright girl."

"Was there any office gossip around her about Carrie?" Lennie asked, rifling through the day calendar on the desk.

The woman shook her head slowly. "Not that I ever heard. But, then again, the lawyers don't always gossip with me. They're too afraid that I'll report it to the head honchos."

"Well do you know anyone that Miss. Burecroft might have been close with?" Ed asked.

The secretary smiled. "She was closest to a Mr. Frank Percont. They were always working on case files together, he always picked her if he needed help with a brief or anything."

"Do you think there was a chance that they were a little bit more than friends?"Lennie asked, arching an eyebrow theatrically.

"I don't think so," She said, nibbling on her pen thoughtfully. "Frank is married."

Lennie smirked. "Married doesn't always mean celibate."

"Do you think you could point us to his office?" Ed asked, smiling sweetly.


"Yeah, I heard about Carrie. A terrible tragedy." The lawyer said, extending a hand to the detectives. "Please, sit, make yourselves at home."

The detectives sat, and Ed began the line of questioning. "You and Miss. Burecroft were close?" He asked.

"Yeah sure. She was a bright girl, and I had taken a shine to her. She was great at writing out briefings, all the boring case work stuff."

"She did all your chump work?" Lennie drawled, crossing his legs.

"No, not at all. She was always glad to help out." Mr. Percont said smiling pleasantly.

"So what you're telling us is that she did all your 'boring' work, and she did it just because it was fun?" Ed asked skeptically.

"Hey, I can't help what she liked to do." Mr. Percont said throwing his hands up. "Carrie asked me if she could help out on a few of my cases, and I let her. I realized how good she was at it, and whenever I needed her help, she was willing to do it. Now, I don't mind talking to you guys, but I have a lot of case briefs to write up, and I'm short one very able bodied assistant."


Lennie sighed and stood, and Ed followed suit. "If you do happen to remember anything about Carrie Ann, please, give us a call."

The two men stood outside, contemplating their next move. Ed leaned against the car and yawned. "So what now?"

Lennie was pacing back and forth, stewing. "I still can't understand. Why would she do all that mans work and not get anything in return?"

Ed shrugged. "Maybe she did enjoy it."

Lennie snorted and shook his head. "You ever see Abbie or Jack write up a case brief?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Ed said, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"Well I have. And they hate it. Jack once said that it was what drove him to drink."

"Do you think that Percont had some dirt on her that made her work for him like that?" Ed wondered, opening the car door and sitting down, stretching out his long legs.

"I think we should talk to some of the janitors and cleaning people around the firm," Lennie said, straightening up and heading toward the door.

Ed leapt out of the car and slammed the door. "Maybe they hear things that they shouldn't," He said, following Lennie.

"Bingo," Lennie said, grinning.


"Did you ever hear Mr. Percont threaten Miss. Burecroft?" Ed asked the tiny Jamaican man sweeping the hallway.

"Nah manye. If dat nigga evah done threaten Carrie, he shoo would have someting to repay."

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"I done hear that girl hollerin' at him more times than I can count. She always yellin' that he overworked her, dat he don't know how talented she be. She even told him once that she done go to the man and tell him that he be overworkin' her."

"Do you know how he kept her quiet?" Lennie asked, after he had deciphered the broken English.

"Nah." The man said, shaking his head.

"When did this last argument take place? When she threatened to go her superiors?" Ed asked, feverishly writing in his notepad.

The man paused and counted on his fingers. "This musta been..'bout Tuesday night?"

"You sure?" Lennie asked.

"Yessir, positive. The missus done made me curry chicken that night," The janitor said, smiling faintly at the memory.

"Aiight, thanks man" Ed said, smiling at him. The janitor nodded, then made his way down the hall.

"Tuesday night." Lennie said. "That was two days before the murder."


"He had escalating fights with Carrie, the last one ending in her threatening to take him their superiors. This was two days before she was found," Ed informed Van Buren, back at the sation.

"He told you he didn't know anything?' She asked.

"Not only that, he told us she liked working with him, doing his briefs and whatever." Lennie said.

Van Buren nodded thoughtfully. "Pick him up."


"So, Miss Slingerland, you and your husband.." Mr. Percont dropped off as the two detectives burst into his office. "Now detectives, really. I'm with a client"

"Well, that will just have to wait." Lennie jeered, yanking him into a standing position. "Ed, would you like to do the honors?"

Ed grabbed the lawyers wrists and slapped his cuffs on him. He lead him out of the office, reading him his Miranda rights. "Mr. Percont you are under the arrest for the murder of Carrie Ann Burecroft. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you..."

"So, Mr. Percont, do you want to tell us again, this time preferably without lying, what happened to Carrie Ann?" Lennie asked, sitting down across from him in the interrogation room.

" I swear I have no idea. It wasn't me," He protested weakly, wringing his hands.

"You do know that we have an eye witness who can testify that he heard you and Miss Burecroft arguing two days before her murder, right?" Ed stated simply, leaning back in his chair and sipping his coffee.

"That janitor had no idea what it was about," Percont mumbled, more to himself than to the detectives.

"Well, just to straighten us out, would you mind telling us what the argument was about? We wouldn't want that dear old janitor to have the wrong impression," Lennie drawled.

"Alright, if I tell you everything, will I be allowed to leave?" The lawyer asked, glancing pleadingly at Ed.

"If we don't think you're completely full of it," Ed said, leaning towards him. "Give us a shot."

" A few weeks ago, Mr. Phearson, one of the partners came to my office. He told me that Carrie Ann was thinking about filing a sexual harassment suit against him."

"He hit on her?" Ed asked, jotting everything down.

"Yeah, he admitted that she was 'a hot piece of ass' and he 'wouldn't mind hitting that.'" Mr. Percont said, shaking his head. "Phearson wanted me to keep her as busy as I could, so she wouldn't have enough time to file the suit. He also said that if she wasn't around he wouldn't get 'tempted' to do something he would regret. And then, that night the janitor overhead us fighting, I finally told Carrie the truth. She was fuming, and said she would file the harassment suit the next morning. After she left, I called Mr. Phearson and told him what she said. He told me he would take care of it." Mr. Percont said sadly. "I never thought he would do anything like that though, you gotta believe me."

Ed's eyes had grown wider and wider as he took it all in. "So in order to keep her from ruining his career, he killed her."

Lennie shook his head. "Sounds like he got to 'hit that' at the same time. For the record, where were you Friday, mid-afternoon?"

" I was on the Metro North, heading up to New Paltz for the weekend with my wife and kids. I paid for the tickets with my credit card, so you can trace it." Mr. Percont said. "Does this mean I can go now?"

"Yeah, I just have one last question for you. Would you be willing to testify to all of this in court?" Ed asked, standing up.

"Of course. Anything to nail that bastard."

The detectives thanked Mr. Percont and lead him out of the interrogation room. Ed let Lennie lead him the rest of the way, and stopped to talk to Van Buren, who was listening on the other side of the mirror.

"You believe him?" He asked.

"Well, if his alibi checks out, he's got a pretty good case against this Phearson guy. I'm going to call Jack and Abbie. I'm heading to lunch, I'll bring them with me, and see what they think. In the meantime, dig up whatever you can on this Phearson guy."


"Carmichael. Hey Anita...Yeah, he's here...Lunch?" She glanced up at Jack and he nodded eagerly. Abbie smiled. "Mhmm...twenty minutes...sounds good...okay..see you then. Buh Bye," She hung up the phone and grabbed her coat. "Come on Jack, Anita's got a new case for us, and I'm starving."

Jack held up a hand. "Let me just finish this," He heard an exaggerated sigh and looked up to see Abbie rolling her eyes and glancing at her watch. He chuckled and stood up, grabbing his coat. "Alright, alright, lets go."

"Thank you," Abbie said teasingly. She flung open the door to their office and headed out the door. "Come on old man, let's get a move on. I thought you were hungry."


"So after we arrest Percont, he tells the boys that the partner of the firm had orchestrated the whole thing because Carrie Ann was going to file a sexual harassment suit against him." Van Buren summed the case up, then bit into her Caesar salad.

"What did Briscoe and Green come up with after checking into this partner guy?" Jack asked.

"Well, he called her apartment various times, messages were left on her voice mail ranging from teasing to totally vulgar, and there were at least five women willing to testify that he was a sexist pig." Van Buren said.

After jotting everything down, Abbie picked up her water and took a sip. "So what lawyer is this?"

"Some private guy on the Upper East side. Phearson and ...Steinhoffer, that was it. The perp is Phearson."

Abbie coughed and spit out her water, narrowly missing Van Buren. "Not... David Phearson?"

Van Buren looked at her with raised eyebrows and then checked her case files. "Actually it is. How did you know that?"

Abbie shot up, knocking her chair to the ground. Jack and Anita flinched, but Abbie didn't notice. "Excuse me," She whispered, and ran out, heading straight for the bathroom.

"What the hell was that?" Van Buren asked, looking completely bewildered.

" I have no idea," Jack said, standing up. "I'm gonna go check on her."

Van Buren nodded, and Jack headed to the bathroom. He knocked softly on the bathroom door. "Abbie?" He asked quietly. "You okay?"

"Shit," He heard her whisper from behind the door. Then, in a normal voice. "Just a sec, Jack."

Jack nodded and leaned against a wall as he waited for her to come out. The door flew open, and she stepped out, looking normal to the common passerby, but Jack knew her better. Her eyes were slightly red-rimmed and she was shaking.

He touched her shoulder lightly. "Hey, what's up?" He frowned when she flinched at his touch. "You okay?"

Abbie stepped back form a him, and gnawed on her thumbnail, a habit Jack had never seen her exhibit. "Um.. It's just that..this guy...do you...I can't...Do you remember that...uh..thing I told you?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and the corners of his mouth turned up. "You've told me a lot of things Abbie."

She let out a slightly hysterical shriek of laughter, but it turned into a heart wrenching sob. "About when I was in law school... and I got..r..raped?" She asked, tears pouring down her cheeks. "That was him Jack. David Phearson. That's who did it."

Jack looked at her for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. Then, watching her cover her eyes with shaking hand, he did the only thing that made sense. He hugged her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "Jesus Abbie," He swore softly. Abbie's tears were soaking his shirt and he smoothed down strands of her silky hair. "It'll be okay, I promise."