"Nothing could have been done"
She was still in shock:
Susanne Chambliss was a striking blonde from Georgia: 5' 8" with hair that went well below her shoulders that made a lot of men want her. She first met Alexandra Borgia in September 1993 when Susanne was a 20 year old first-year law student at Harvard, having just moved there for Law School after graduating from The University of Georgia (in just three years), was going a divorce from her first husband and didn't want to live alone while Lexi was a Junior at Harvard and wanted to move out of the Soroity House she lived in during her Sophomore year, doing so at the same time she no longer wanted anything to do with her family, whom she always felt was quite shady. The two instantly clicked and had stayed friends ever since, living together both at Harvard and again when Susanne was going through a divorce from her second husband Neal Gorton (who before Susanne was married to Jamie Ross). They had become as close to sisters as either had, as both were only children. Susanne had also known Arthur Branch since she was little, as her mother had worked in the Atlanta offices of Branch's old firm Pennington Cleese for over 35 years and now ran them. Susanne had been the rising star in the DA's Office, not because of Arthur being the DA, but because of a passion that had matched Jack's that had her in just the four and a half years since she left her second ex-husband's firm to join the DA's Office having just been promoted to Homicide Bureau Chief at 33 when Tracy Kibre unexpectedly retired from the DA's Office after 22 years of service.
Susanne knew that Jack had felt responsible for Lexi's death, especially not pulling the Frank Andreas case from her, which was why Susanne specifically wanted to talk to Jack after he was relieved of his duties, catching him as both were going home for the night from the DA's Office.
"Jack?", said Susanne as she caught Jack on his way out of the DA's Office, running in a pair of black pumps she was wearing with a typical, black skirt suit with open-collared blouse she would often wear in court and carrying a backpack, Jack was wearing a open-collared shirt with jeans and a jacket on what was a typical mid-May evening weather-wise.
"Susanne? Did you want to talk to me?", Jack replied.
"I wanted to see you about Lexi", then said Susanne.
"Sure", then said Jack.
After a brief pause after Jack and Susanne turned onto Centre Street to walk south, Susanne said to him, "Jack, I know you still feel responsible for Lexi's death, but there honestly was nothing you could do. She was my best friend, but there were times she could be very stubborn."
"Like with Frank Andreas?", asked Jack.
"Especially on cases like that. If you had tried to pull that case from her, she would have fought you big-time over that, even though you would have been right to do so. You were in an impossible spot", then said Susanne.
"And that is supposed to make me feel better?", then asked Jack.
"No, Jack. My point was, I can't blame you or anyone else for what happened to Lexi, aside from those sickos who I hope are permanently locked up in a windowless room for the rest of their lives since they can't be fried like they deserve to", then said Susanne.
"I agree they should be executed, it's too bad we don't have that", then said Jack.
"I know. The sad thing is, this was exactly why I wanted Susanne living with me. I was always very concerned about her living alone in that little apartment of hers in Brooklyn", then said Susanne.
"And I know you kept wanting her to move in with you", then said Jack.
"Yes. She was the closest to a sister I had, and I knew given the cases we work, crazy things can happen. That's why when I divorced Neal I insisted on his buying me that condo where I live as part our my divorce settlement", then said Susanne.
"I always wondered how you got that place so close to here", then said Jack, referring to where Susanne lived on Broadway and Worth Streets, about a quarter-mile from the DA's Office.
"Neal isn't that stupid. He can be a sleazebag most of the time, however, but even he was shocked when he heard about what happened to Lexi", then said Susanne.
"And I didn't think Neal ever got shocked", then said Jack.
"That's true", then said Susanne, laughing a little.
"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?", then asked Jack.
"For now. There was nothing you, me, Arthur or anyone else could have done in this case to prevent Lexi from being killed. I'm still in a lot of pain over it, and it's frustrating, but I did feel it was very important you heard from me as I probably knew her better than anyone outside her immediate family", then said Susanne.
"I know you did, and I must thank you. That's why Arthur made you Homicide Buerau Chief, you are probably as level-headed as anyone in the office", then said Jack.
"You're welcome and thanks", then said Susanne as she then walked away from Jack, having by this point reached the subway entrance under a huge City Office building at 1 Centre Street, with Jack heading into the subway until wanting to see if Susanne was really all right, knowing she had walked a few blocks south of her apartment already and had again started to walk south. Sure enough, Susanne was still very upset over losing her best friend knowing the way she died, with Jack seeing Susanne running across where she had gone to was Park Row at that point, losing a shoe while doing so and not even realizing it until a few seconds later when she picked it up and resumed running, though limping on one shoe and clearly starting to break down and cry, still grieving over her friend's death.