Jimmy Deakins stared at the contents of the folder on his desk, as if staring at them would change what they said. Son of a bitch. He got up from his desk and walked to the door of his office, looking across the bullpen. Logan and Barek were busy with paperwork. This was Goren's first day back since his surgery, and he was reviewing a file with Eames looking over his shoulder. They were not going to like what he had to tell them. "Goren, Eames, Logan and Barek, in here, now."

By the time he sat down at his desk, the four detectives were coming through the door. King came in with them and sat beside Eames' chair. Logan was the last one in, and he closed the door behind him. Deakins nodded at the German Shepherd. "Is he a permanent addition to your team?"

Goren laughed softly. "Unfortunately, no. I'm taking him home this weekend."

"Too bad. He'd make a great police dog. He seems to like you, Eames."

She rested her hand on the dog's broad head. "We've bonded," she smiled, glancing at her partner.

Deakins laughed. Then he became serious again and lifted the file from his desk, letting it fall back down with a soft smack. "I just got this. I'll be the first to admit that Carver and I did not take John Doe seriously when he freaked out at the end of the interrogation last week. Neither did Cragen or Novak. But I went ahead and had Rodgers run his DNA against cases in the database with similar MOs, to humor you, Goren."

"You got a hit," Goren commented, not surprised.

"No, we got six hits."

Logan swore. "Six?"

Eames really didn't want the answer to her question, but she had to ask it. "Were they all children?"

"No. The first four each involved a single adult female victim. The fifth involved three married couples, two of whom were cop couples. The last one involved two families: four adult vics and six children, ranging in age from 6 months to ten years. Both adult males were cops."

"Were they considered solved?" Goren asked.

"The last two were not. The first four had convictions; they occurred before DNA use was routine. We will be working on getting those convictions overturned and those men released. The first one has almost finished his time. He'd be up for parole next year."

"Ain't that a kick in the pants?" Logan commented. "Was he squeaky clean before he went up?"

"Not hardly. All four of them had records." He looked down at the papers in front of him. "Two for possession, one for domestic violence and the last for assault and battery."

"Now I don't feel so bad," he said.

Goren frowned at him. "How can you say that, Logan? These guys did time--a lot of time--for crimes they did not commit. That's not justice."

Logan met his frown with one of his own. "What are we supposed to do? Turn back the clock and fix it? We let them out, say sorry and get on with it. Don't lose any sleep over this, Goren. We didn't do anything wrong. This falls on Carver and his people, not us. They weren't our cases and I am not going to feel guilty for someone else's mistakes."

"I'm not saying you should, and I don't. I'm just saying it's not right to not feel bad about it."

"Odds are they would have ended up back in jail anyway."

"You can't say that for certain, and you can't play the odds with people's lives."

Logan's eyes narrowed. This wasn't much fun any more; he was getting annoyed now and that's not the way it was supposed to work. "What's done is done, and I am not going to change my attitude so get off my back about it."

"Ok, boys, that's enough," Deakins said. "You want to debate about this, do it later. The point is, Mr. Doe has been busy, doing very bad things for a very long time. Not only do we have him for these murders..." He tapped the file in front of him. "We have him for our four as well, and for shooting Goren and Stabler. Carver and Novak are going to mount a joint prosecution and he should be getting the death penalty."

Logan glanced at Goren. "Feel bad about that?"

Goren frowned. "Why would I? He actually did it."

Barek frowned at her partner. "Why don't you shut up, Logan, before you really piss somebody off?"

Logan grinned. "I wasn't serious."

"Tell me that after he decks you."

Deakins shook his head. "That's it for now. I wanted to let you know about this. You guys did a great job."

Once back at their desks, Logan called out, "Hey, Goren?"

Goren sighed and looked over at him. "What?"

"I didn't mean anything, you know? I just choose not to waste my sympathy on criminals."

"I know. I was just trying to get you to think."

Barek laughed. "Good luck with that."

Goren smiled at her and turned back to the file he'd been looking at when Deakins had called them into his office. Sitting at her desk, Eames balled up a piece of paper and tossed it at him. He looked up. "It's lunchtime," she said.

"Already?"

"Time flies when you're having fun."

He smiled. "What are we having?"

"Let's just go down to the deli."

"Fine with me." He looked over at Logan and Barek. "We're going down to the deli. You guys want to come along or you want us to bring something back for you?"

Logan got to his feet. "Lunch! Come on, Barek."

Barek released a long-suffering sigh. "Thank God I don't have to pay your grocery bill."

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The day was winding down. Goren leaned back in his chair, gingerly moving his right arm in its sling. Eames watched the pain register on his face, but it was getting better. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the captain's voice. "How's that pain, Bobby?"

"Getting better. I'll be glad to get rid of this sling."

Deakins pulled up a chair and looked at his best team. "I just talked to Carver. Sutton wants him to deal."

"No way," Eames said.

"Carver's not considering it, is he?" Goren asked, his face carefully guarded.

"He didn't say. Maybe you guys can go have a chat with him. I don't want to see this bastard get any kind of a deal. See what Carver's thinking, ok?"

"We'll see what we can do," Eames said as she stood up, watching her partner for any reaction. It bothered her that there was none.

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Ron Carver looked up from his desk as the two detectives came into his office. "What can I do for you, detectives?"

Eames said, "Please tell us you're not going to offer Doe a plea."

"I had a feeling that's why you were here." He sighed. "Here is my dilemma. A jury can go either way. If Sutton mounts a successful insanity defense, Mr. Doe will not serve a day in prison. Personally, I do not think he deserves to serve his time in a psychiatric facility."

"He was sane," Goren asserted. "A crime scene has its own voice, and these scenes do not carry the voice of insanity. A person can carry out heinous crimes and be fully cognizant and aware of what it's doing. He knew, and he chose to commit these crimes. He shows no remorse."

"That may very well be the case, but you know as well as I that sometimes what is and what a jury sees are two different things. I am considering a plea, but one that will guarantee Mr. Doe will spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole. At trial, I certainly would seek the death penalty, but I am thinking that a guaranteed life sentence is better than taking the chance that he will get off on an insanity plea."

Goren was frowning, but he had a thoughtful look on his face. Eames asked, "What are you considering offering him?"

"Three life sentences to be served concurrently plus twenty-five to life for the attempted murders of your partner and Detective Stabler. The charges he would face at trial would add up to substantially more, but as I said, at this point, life in prison will satisfy me."

"If there is such a good chance he'll get off on an insanity plea, why is Sutton so willing to deal?" Goren asked.

"Because the alternative if he loses is the death penatly, and he knows the chances are close to fifty-fifty that a jury will go either way. And we probably have the stronger case, and definitely the emotional advantage." He studied Goren. "I know that one of the victims is the child of a friend of yours. How difficult would a trial be for him?"

That was a good point. "Will Sutton accept the deal?"

"I believe he will, since he came to me."

Goren met his partner's eyes. She nodded at him. Finally he looked back at Carver. "You make sense, Mr. Carver. As long as he never sees the light of day again."

"I can promise you he will not, detective."

"Thank you, Mr. Carver."

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Back at the squad, they relayed to Deakins what Carver had told them. Deakins let the ADA's reasoning run through his mind, then he looked at Goren. "How do you feel about it?"

"If he gets put away with no chance of release, I'm ok with that. A trial would be hell, for all of us."

"I know it's Carver's call. He's okay with this?"

"He seems to be. He doesn't want to see this guy get off by pretending he's insane."

Deakins studied his best detective. "Pretending?"

"He's not insane. And he wasn't when he committed these crimes. I don't know what triggered them, and we may never find out, but he was in his right mind when he did them. I know he was."

Deakins nodded. "I agree with you. Could we convince a jury if we had to?"

Goren shrugged. "You never know with juries."

"Isn't that the truth?" Eames muttered.

Deakins sighed. "Go home. Carver will let me know if he accepts the plea. Make sure he gets some rest, Alex." Goren raised an eyebrow at him and he said, "You look beat. Don't overdo it. I'll see you both in the morning." He watched them leave the office and stop to talk with Logan and Barek. King walked over from under Goren's desk and nuzzled Eames' hand. The four detectives left together, the dog walking between Goren and Eames. And Deakins smiled.