For the People Chapter 15

Not bothering to get a response to her perfunctory knock, Kate stalks into Shapiro's office. "We have a problem."

The DA looks up from a file. "With the Lazeroff case? What happened?"

"I was printing out a copy of the DNA analysis, and it didn't match the original."

"Are you sure you entered the ID number correctly?" Shapiro queries. "Those can be off by one digit."

"I double and triple-checked. And the report had the correct case number on it. But the results no longer match Lazeroff. Someone must have changed them."

Shapiro refastens his yarmulke into his salt and pepper hair. "I'll get our tech people on it. We need to trace the problem to its source – fast. If we've been hacked, that report may not be the only thing that was altered. But Wittenbros received a copy of the original, so he'd have no reason for knowing the results were changed."

"Unless he's behind it," Kate suggests.

"If he is, he'd have a hard time tipping his hand in court without opening himself to evidence tampering charges. He'd have to be subtle about introducing conflicting information. That should give us some time. How long can you stretch out the examination of your foundational witnesses before you have to introduce the DNA evidence?"

"At least a day or two probably more. I'll start with the passerby who found the victim, Graciela Navaez, and called 911. Then I can put up the police and paramedics first on the scene. And I can have Dr. Garcia testify to the extent of Graciela's injuries. I can call the nurse who collected the rape kit, too. After that, I can have Detective McDonald testify to every detail of her investigation, especially the difficulty she had tracking Lazeroff. That he went into hiding implies that he had a reason. But I think that's about as far as I can go without introducing the DNA. Ideally, I'd have an expert testify to the results after questioning the nurse instead of waiting to introduce them later."

"Well, you'll still have a couple of days until you finish with the nurse. Hopefully, we'll have an answer by then. If not, stall as long as you can. And keep an eye out for Wittenbros getting antsy. Normally, he likes a leisurely pace so he can evaluate the jury's reaction. And he probably will plant members of a mock jury in the court. So if he tries to push things along, you'll have a good idea that he knows about the tampering with the DNA results. And you can have investigators look into how."

"All right," Kate agrees. "I'm scheduled to give my opening tomorrow morning."

"I'll put the techs on the report right now. Some of them do their best work at night anyway. And Beckett, your husband's written about hackers, hasn't he?"

Curiosity tinges Kate's voice. "Yes, he has."

"Then find out if he has any idea where the intrusion into the DNA results might have originated. At this point, we can use all the help we can get."

"Yes, Sir. I'll call him right away."


"Hackers associated with the Bratva!" Rick exclaims. "Are you kidding, Kate? There are hacking shops all over St. Petersburg, and the word is they have Putin's blessing. They're involved with the schemes that hold the computer systems of all types of corporations, utilities, and even hospitals for ransom. The implied threat is that if Putin gets really pissed off at the U.S. or any of our allies, he can shut us down. I suspect what's stopping him is that we have white hat wizards of our own. They've even let his black hats pull off a couple of jobs so they could track them and trash their systems."

"So you think Lazeroff's Bratva connections could be responsible for tampering with the DNA results."

"I'd put money on it, Kate. Tell Shapiro to have his people check for Russian connections, but not the main GRU installation, the theoretically private operations."

"OK. Any other words of wisdom?"

The lasagna comes out of the oven at five-thirty and has to sit for 20 minutes for optimal slicing. So five-forty-five would be the ideal time for you to cross the threshold of our happy home."

"I'll keep that in mind."


"Bro, are you sure you handle this?" Ryan queries his partner. "Your abuela's just starting to look like herself now. Do you really want to think about her being beaten up and uh, you know, again?"

"I want to watch Beckett nail that sonofabitch Lazeroff and I want to hear every word," Esposito insists. "But I'm taking vacation to do this, Kevin. You don't have to waste yours. I know you and Jenny have been planning one of those family road trip things."

"I have plenty of leave saved up. It's taken a long time for Jenny and me to put aside enough money to take any kind of a trip with Sarah and Nick. Do you have any idea what kids' shoes cost these days? And preschool? If you ever have children, you'll never have to worry about where your money goes again."

"What good is money if some sh*thead decides he can steal it any time he wants?" Esposito retorts. "And if Lazeroff can afford to hire a high-priced asshole like Wittenbros, he couldn't have even needed it. He went after my abuela for some twisted thrill. He's a f*****g monster. Beckett better kick Wittenbros' ass and put Lazeroff in a cage where he belongs."

"She will, Bro. You know Beckett. She will."


"ZNN's only carrying short summaries from their legal reporters. So how did it go in court today?" Rick inquires as Kate reaches for the mug of coffee he offers.

"About what you'd expect at the beginning of the trial. I called the passerby who called 911. She described how Graciela appeared to her, lying on the sidewalk bleeding. I think that hit home with the jury. Then I called the cops who came to the scene, established their credentials, and introduced their reports. Wittenbros did a long cross with them, questioning anything he could to make them look incompetent. I don't think he got very far with that. They did a good job securing the scene. If I was the detective on the case, I wouldn't have had any problems with it. I'd just introduced the qualifications of one of the paramedics when Judge Gleason adjourned for today. I think the judges have a bar association thing tonight. All the courtrooms shut down on time."

"Giving me more time to spend with my wife. Any news on tracking down the hackers yet?"

"The tech people are reporting straight to Shapiro, so nothing's come to me. But he said he'd let me know the minute they came up with something we can use to verify the version of the DNA report that nails Lazeroff. Maybe I'll get lucky, and Judge Gleason will have a family gathering or something. I understand she has two sons, two daughters, six grandchildren, and counting."

"Good for her! I hope she has a chance to enjoy them. You know, you and I haven't talked about kids in quite a while, not since you said you wanted to get through law school and establish yourself in the DA's office first. But it seems to me, you're pretty much there now."

"Can we talk about that after this trial, Rick? I don't want to assume I'm on some kind of a roll and jinx it."

"I will take that as a raincheck. And oh, Alexis was here today. She looked over all my revisions of the environmental details in my book. She thinks I've got them knocked."

"Well at least one of us has something knocked."

Rick gathers Kate in his arms. "Lazeroff won't know what hit him."