A/N: Welcome to the next chapter. I think we're all ready to move things along, so this chapter should be right up your alley, leading to the happier sides of this slow-moving tale XD.
Enjoy!
Only bothering to knock very shortly, Caroline entered the office of her favorite agent. Barely stopping her strode long enough to close the door that seemingly was always open. Determined, as usual, the Assistant Prosecutor continued her way to the visitor's chair in front of agent Booth's desk. "Seeley Booth, you and I need to talk."
"Sure Caroline, you're always welcome to come in, do take a seat", Booth said a little sarcastically as he finished up his task at hand.
The very experienced officer of the court wasn't thrown off by agent Booth's sassiness. In regards to their sass, they were very similar people, which meant ignoring it was always the most effective way of dealing with it. So, instead of responding directly to it, Caroline decided to dive right into what she had come here for. "Are you still investigating what happened with Lilly and mr. Stein?"
"Yeah, of course, I am. I will until I find enough evidence for you to nail him to the wall."
Seeing that this conversation was going to be as hard as she had feared as it was going to be, Caroline let out a grumble.
"What is wrong with that? You don't think Lilly deserves to see justice served?"
"In general, there is nothing wrong with that, cher. It speaks for itself that if it were possible to give Lilly closure by prosecuting Stein I would do exactly that, within a heartbeat. But that obviously isn't what she wants. Aside from that, the ten-day mark has already passed. I don't have to tell you that the trail on sexual assaults cases go cold around right that time, and that is when the – forgive me for using the awful term – victim is forthcoming."
Booth took a look at the woman that he had known for as long as he had been working with the FBI. As always, there was truth in what she was saying, but he wasn't willing to accept that truth. "But there is evidence. There is the phone call, the police reports, Hodgins' and Angela's statements..." Booth started to explain, counting the pieces of evidence on his fingers.
Caroline hummed, interrupting him. "I know cher, I know what is in the file. The issue isn't with your fine police work. The problem is much more on my end. The only way to prove that something happened and what that something is, beyond a reasonable doubt is if Stein admits that he was wrong. Which sadly, he is too smart for. And even if we would be able to make a somewhat solid case, it isn't what Lilly wants. She doesn't want a court sitting, which would bring in a lot of press attention on her. As much as I hate Stein to get away unpunished, I don't like trying cases that have such a small chance of ending in a win that one of your squints would need a microscope to be able to see it."
"So, what am I supposed to do, huh? I can't let him get away un-scattered." Booth leaned back in his desk chair in frustration.
"I know all about your vindictive nature. Don't get me wrong, cher, I think it is a great quality, attractive even. I feel the same way, but we both know it isn't what Lilly wants and in this case, it won't be fruitful. However, if you're up for it, I do have a different kind of idea of evening the score. It is very in the spirit of justice, just not according to the law, but unfortunately for Stein, I feel more than fine about it."
Hesitating a little, a short silence followed. "Do I even want to know?" Booth asked.
It never ceased to amaze how honorable her friend and coworker was. It wasn't that she was asking his permission to break the law, but her idea wasn't entirely above board either. But from Caroline's perspective, ethically she was still serving justice by doing it. "The beauty is in the simplicity, as it always is. You know how sometimes addresses get mixed up on warrants. Some are true accidents, some are tactical moves? Or how cops look out for each other? It really is something very much along those lines."
He appreciated what Caroline was doing, giving him the option out before even being involved in the first place. "Okay, what is the plan?"
"Well, you know how we sometimes inform suspects that their case is closed or that they are no longer suspect of a crime?"
"Yeah?"
"As I said, mistakes are sometimes made by the Federal Justice Department or the FBI. Sometimes the computers freeze or programs happen to tick boxes automatically and the person behind the screen doesn't always notice it on time and a message is sent out to the wrong person. No-longer-suspect-letters aren't immune to those kinds of little human errors, how unfortunate that may be in certain cases. The chance of such an error extrapolates when the intended receiver works for a law firm. Since law offices in criminal law are already so much involved in the justice system, and personnel will not always notice they picked the work address instead of the home address for a lawyer, notices can arrive at the wrong place and by extension be seen by the wrong person."
Waving his hand to get her to stop, he looked at her skeptically before speaking up. "I think I get the picture, Caroline. So, you want me to send one of those standard letters to his office, so his bosses can read what he did not do?"
"No, not you personally. You, handsome devil, are the man who citizen arrested him until the valuable Metro's showed up. You sending out that letter would be bad. I can't send that letter either, because, well, Stein knows what I think of him. With either of us, that letter will smell foul from the first second. It would be better if we could have a trusted third party send out that letter. It would also be better if that person doesn't work for the FBI, because if you want to keep Stein under surveillance after the letter has been sent, it would be odd if the FBI would be keeping tabs on the person they had just written up as innocent like a baby.
I lead a quite large department as you do too. There are actually people who Lilly hasn't already met and more importantly, have no clue that the aggrieved party is, in fact, a colleague. I'll write the letter, have it ready in that digital system and have one of my employees sign and send it off in my absence. That way, we will still have the ability to deny it ever happened on purpose and the included apology inside the letter for investigation a well-respected lawyer will underline that exact point, at least Stein's bosses will think it was an honest mistake."
"Wow, you really thought this through, didn't you?"
Caroline smiled. "Creative thinking is a key part of my job, cher. I hate it as much as you do that Stein tried to pull something and that I can't have him thrown see him rot in jail for it. I want justice to be served too, that is why I stuck it out here for as long as I already have. God knows it definitely wasn't because of the good coffee... We just have to accept that justice isn't always served by following the law literally and therefore serving justice doesn't always feel just in all aspects."
Booth nodded. "Yeah. But how sure are you that this will work? What if Stein starts asking questions, or worse it this plan backfires on Lilly? Waking up a bear is never a good idea, but this would be poking it right out of hibernation."
"If we play our card right, it will work," Caroline assured him. "If he starts asking questions, I'll tell him it was an honest mistake, that mistakes simply just happen. That if I had done it on purpose, the letter wouldn't have ended up with his bosses, but right at the DC newspapers. He hasn't bothered Lilly since you commenced your investigation, so I doubt he will seek her out now. Besides, I happen to know the managing partners and a couple of senior partners at his firm. They will want to prevent this from becoming public knowledge at pretty much as all costs.
Which brings me to one of the possible issues with the plan: firing Stein would be as bad for their business as keeping him around would. Since he hasn't been convicted of a crime, Stein won't be very likely to quit at his own peril, unless there is a big payout. Now I am almost positive that the management of his firm will want to cut him loose. Even if it might cost them a million or two. The man is a good enough lawyer, but frankly a walking liability. So, it almost comes down to this: are you able to accept that even if he has to leave DC because he will need to take a hike, he could get a big payout to prevent a public wrongful termination of the labor agreement?"
"So, you're telling me we can't give him a criminal record all for himself and he'll get more money than I can imagine to simply walk away?" Booth out cried.
"I am telling you, giving him a criminal record will be nearly impossible." Caroline shot Booth a stern look, but the sympathy was still in her eyes. "It would take a long, public trial, which Lilly doesn't desire and of which the outcome would be most likely not guilty. The payout is a real possibility, but we don't know for sure how that would play out. Rumor has it that his firm has been trying to get rid of him for a little while longer, but since he never walked this closely on the edge of the lawful and downright illegal, they haven't been able to. That letter will give them all the ammunition they could desire to kick him all the way out of town."
Booth kept silent. He considered if it wouldn't be easier if he would take matters into his own hands again. Years before it had been surprisingly easy for him to get an unregistered gun and to make that mob head believe that death could be around every corner. It would definitely feel more suitable and satisfying to shove the barrel of a gun into the lawyers' mouth, as a way to restore the cosmic balance, than possibly making that lawyer an even richer entitled bastard.
"See, that is why I needed to talk to you, cher. I knew I needed to explain my plan to you. I can see you thinking of doing something much more outside the lines of the law, than writing down the wrong address. I don't know what kind of plan you're cooking up inside that pretty lil' head of yours, but I can't have my best agent endangering his career for a low life lawyer like that. I need you and your team of annoying geniuses to focus on solving the murder cases and I need Lilly to not fear every unknown footstep she hears behind her. You know that getting Stein out of the city pretty much permanently will make that happen."
A/N: Thank you for reading. I considered naming this chapter 'The conspiracy theory', but I figured that would be too Hodgins'. I'd appreciate it if you had the time to review :). Until the next chapter!