Thanks to TCIF and Ciaddict for their help and to all my fans who encourage me with their reviews, feedback and kind words. Once again, the usual disclaimers apply...
Chapter 14 Let's Go Nail the Bastard
Bobby walked into the observation room, his brain a jumble of mish mashed thoughts. He'd just been on a roller coaster ride of conflicting emotions and had gotten news he never imagined possible. He was a father; he had arrested his son; he had a daughter-in-law he now would never get to meet, and if memory served him correctly, he was also a grandfather. He dropped down heavily into a wobbly folding chair someone had stuck off in the corner. He left the lights off and began jostling the file folders he held in his hands.
What was she thinking, not telling me she was pregnant all those years ago? Was that why she broke up with me? He looked out through the one-way glass at the young man sitting at the table in the next room. Who is he, really? What is he like? Will he like me? Will I like him? All these thoughts and more were swimming through his brain. He shook his head. Now was not the time for this; he was supposed to be observing the young man and watching his interactions with his lawyer and coming up with a profile for Ross and Eames. There would be time for those other questions later.
Bobby took a deep breath in, held it for a moment and let it out slowly, clearing his head and standing up. He moved over to the window and placed the folders on the nearby table. He watched Trey carefully, noticing his casual clothing; high end, but casual nonetheless. He took in Trey's mannerisms, his posture, the attention and respect he gave to his lawyer. Mr. Harrington was a good lawyer; Bobby had encountered him professionally before, and knew Trey was in good hands legally.
The door opened, and Ross and Eames entered quietly. Eames went to the table and began to organize the files for the interrogation. Ross stood next to Bobby, crossed his arms over his chest and quietly observed the two men in the next room. He knew Bobby needed to speak first, so he waited patiently.
"He respects his lawyer, trusts him," Bobby began. "He respects himself; notice his grooming and his dress? Neat but not overly so. See the way he looks his lawyer directly in the eye when listening to him? That shows he respects his lawyer." Bobby shifted his weight and began gesturing as he spoke, pointing at Trey through the glass. "He looks his lawyer in the eye when talking to him, too. He gives you his full attention and expects the same in return. Treat him as an equal, Captain. Respect him and he'll respect you in return. He should be fairly straightforward, but don't be surprised if Mr. Harrington has told him not to say anything."
Ross caught Bobby's reflection in the glass and held his gaze. "Have you dealt with Mr. Harrington before?" Bobby nodded. "Okay, then," Ross said, turning away from the glass. "Eames? You ready?"
"Yes, Captain."
Ross opened the door and gestured for her to exit ahead of him.
"I'll take care of it, Bobby," Eames said to him as she left.
Bobby gave her a half-smile and a small wave, crossed his arms back over his chest, placing his left fist up to his mouth, and returned to studying his son.
Eames entered the interrogation room followed by Captain Ross. Neither one spoke as they took their seats at the table opposite Trey and Mr. Harrington. They carefully arranged the files on the table, and then looked at the two men.
Eames began. "Mr. Wainwright, do you understand why you've been brought in?"
"I was told I was under arrest for the murder of my wife," the young man answered her incredulously. "But that's not true, I didn't do it!"
"Could you please tell us where you were last Tuesday morning, between 6 and 8 am," she asked him next.
"I was out of the country," he shifted and looked anxiously at his lawyer. "I thought you said my mom had told them all this earlier. Why are they asking me? I don't know anything!"
Mr. Harrington placed a gentle hand on Trey's arm to settle his panic. "It's okay, Trey. They have to establish a timeline and they ask everyone these same questions. Just do like we discussed and answer them honestly." Mr. Harrington gave Trey a reassuring look and encouraged him to continue.
Trey turned his head back towards Alex. Oh, my God; those are Bobby's eyes, she found herself thinking. Stop it, stay focused, she told herself sternly.
"I was overseas on business with the winery. Laura called me before she went out for her run. I didn't know she was missing until Mom called me that afternoon."
"What was your marriage like? Were you happy," Eames asked him.
"We were very happy. I love…I mean, loved Laura very much and she loved me," Trey answered earnestly.
"Did you have any reason to suspect Laura of being unfaithful to you," Eames asked him gently. "I know this is hard, but I have to ask."
Trey looked at her with the same sad brown eyes she had been sitting across from and working with for the past 8 years. His hands balled into fists on top of the table as he battled with fear and anger, the emotions playing across his face. Finally, he took a deep breath and rubbed his hand through his hair in a gesture so like his father's, Eames had to struggle to stay neutral. "No," he said. I've never had any reason to suspect that. Why do you ask? Did you find something in the investigation I should know about?" His emotions began to get the better of him and his voice rose in volume. Mr. Harrington again placed his hand firmly on Trey's arm; Trey took a deep breath and calmed down.
Eames decided to come back to that topic later, so she changed directions with her next question. "What is your relationship with Jimmy Murphy?"
"Jimmy Murphy," Trey questioned incredulously. "I don't have a relationship with Jimmy Murphy."
At this point, Ross took over, moving a piece of paper in front of Trey and his lawyer. "Would you care to explain these monthly charges to James Murphy, then."
Trey leaned forward and looked at the page. Then he sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. Again, Eames worked very hard to control herself at the gesture; he's so much like his father, she thought, and yet he never knew him. Amazing.
"Oh, that," Trey said. "After Hudson was born, Laura had a bout with post-partum depression. We tried everything; therapy, medication, diet, change of scenery. In fact, the change of scenery is why I've been paying Mr. Murphy every month. We bought a home out in the Hamptons last year. As a surprise to Laura, I'm having a pool put in. Those payments are the installments on the pool. I didn't want Laura to know what I was doing." His voice broke and he struggled to regain his composure before continuing further. "She had no idea. I was going to surprise her when we went out there next month."
Ross and Eames were quiet for a minute. Silently, Ross reached out and pulled the page back across the table and placed it in the file. Finally, he spoke. "Were you aware that Laura had a restraining order out on Jimmy Murphy?"
"Aw, man," Trey said with a shake of his head. "I knew she had a restraining order out against an ex-boyfriend, but I had no idea it was against him. But that doesn't make sense. The James Murphy I dealt with is an older gentleman."
"Jimmy Murphy is his son," Eames told him. "We still have him in custody here. We need to question him some more, then we'll get back to you, but this is all starting to look like a huge misunderstanding. Please be patient with us a little while longer."
Eames and Ross left the interrogation room and joined Bobby in the observation room. "Well? What do you think," Eames asked Bobby as she moved to stand next to him at the window.
"I don't think he had any part in this," Bobby said. "And not just because I don't want him to, but because of the way he reacted to the questions about the checks and Jimmy Murphy. His body language as well as his answers doesn't fit that of a guilty person. He seemed genuinely surprised by who was involved and how it all looked on paper. I don't think he paid anyone. I think Jimmy Murphy lied to us. We just need to figure out why."
"I agree," said Ross. "You want another crack at Mr. Murphy," he addressed Goren with that question. Goren nodded. "Okay. I'll have Mr. Murphy put in the other room and you and Eames can question him again."
Ross left, leaving Eames and Goren standing shoulder to shoulder, looking at Trey and his lawyer through the window. Neither one of them spoke for a few minutes. Finally, Eames caught his reflection in the glass and looked up at him.
"Are you okay," she asked him softly. Bobby nodded.
"Does he know yet," Eames asked.
Bobby turned toward her. "I don't know. Amy hasn't told him." Eames looked at him, stunned at what she'd just heard. "That's part of why I stormed out of the visitor's room. She hadn't told either one of us until then." He sighed sadly. "I would have told him by now, but that's Amy's job, not mine." Bobby rubbed his hand through his hair and across the back of his neck. "It was very unnerving, watching you in there with him. It was like I was watching myself." His voice trailed off and he turned once again to the window and the two men beyond.
"I know," Eames said. "He has so many of your mannerisms, it's scary. At times, I thought I was talking to you in there instead of your…Trey." Eames dropped her gaze from Bobby.
"My son, Eames. He's my son. It's okay for you to address him that way. I'm going to have to get used to it."
Just then, the door opened and one of the guards poked his head in. "Mr. Murphy is ready for you in room 2." Bobby nodded at him, and the man left.
Eames held up the files in her hand. "You ready," she asked Bobby.
"Absolutely," replied Goren firmly. "Let's go nail the bastard."
Jimmy Murphy was just as cocky and just as arrogant as the last time they left him in the interrogation room.
"You talked to Mr. Wainwright yet? I know you brought him in. He tell you he paid me?"
"Yes," Goren said simply as he placed the folders and his binder on the table. He pulled out his chair, carried it over next to Murphy, flipped it around and sat on it backwards, hands on the back of the chair, facing James. "He said it was for a pool at his home in the Hampton's. What do you think about that?"
"It wadn't for no pool; it was for me to kill Laura. He was mad at her cuz he thought Laura was having an affair."
"Oh?" Goren cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow in question. "That's not what he told us, is it, Eames?" He looked over at Eames as he said this.
Eames had been leaning against the door. When Goren addressed her, she pushed herself off the door and walked towards the table, laying her files on the table next to Bobby's and pulling out a chair and sitting as she spoke. "No, he said they were, how did he put it? 'Very happy and very much in love.'" She looked at Murphy.
Murphy looked at Eames, a slight flicker of his eyes, then spoke again. "She was pretending she loved him. She was going to divorce him and marry me." He began to get agitated and shift in his chair under Goren's close scrutiny.
"Do I make you nervous," Goren asked him quietly.
"No, I just don't like people so close to me and starin' at me like that," Jimmy said, pulling back from Goren.
"mmmm…" Goren said. "I think you're nervous." He pointed a long finger and waved it in Jimmy's face. "Did you do something wrong, Jimmy? Is that why you're so nervous?" He stood suddenly and shoved the chair out of the way. It crashed against the wall, causing Jimmy to jump at the noise. "I don't think Trey Wainwright paid you to kill his wife. I think you killed Laura because she loved him and not you. If you couldn't have her, no one could, is that it," he questioned, his voice getting louder with every word.
"She was supposed to marry me," Jimmy shouted, jumping up out of his chair and meeting Goren face to face. "Me! She promised me. Then, she met that rich dude and fell in love and married him instead," he snarled. "When I asked her about it in the park, she said she'd never leave him for me."
"So you killed her," Goren asked.
"Yeah, I killed her," Jimmy proclaimed. "She got what she deserved, that bitch!"
Goren grabbed Jimmy's arm and shoved him back down in the chair. "She was no bitch," Goren growled. "You don't ever call a woman a bitch, understand?" Goren stood very close to Jimmy and looked straight down at him in anger as he spoke.
"What's got him all upset," Jimmy questioned Eames.
"Don't worry about him," Eames said nonchalantly. "He'll be alright. He just doesn't like anyone talking bad about women. Let's you and I talk about the money, ok?" She leaned conspiratorially over the table towards him as she spoke, cutting Bobby out of the picture and forcing him to withdraw to the corner to cool off.
Bobby knew what she was doing, and was grateful for it. One more wrong word out of Jimmy's mouth about Laura, and he would not be responsible for his actions. He kept his face neutral as he slowed his breathing and calmed himself down; forcing all his concentration on Jimmy and the next set of questions he knew Eames would be asking the young man.
"So, Jimmy, we know the money Trey Wainwright was paying was for your Dad to install a pool at his home. Why did you lie to us and tell us it was hit money?"
"I didn't lie about the money. It WAS for me to kill Laura," Jimmy insisted defensively.
"No, see, we spoke to Mr. Wainwright just a while ago and he told us all about the house in the Hamptons and how the swimming pool was to be a surprise for Laura." She paused to study Trey's reaction; he kept his chin jutted out and his arms crossed over his chest, his look still insisting that money was for him and him alone. "Do I need to have my partner go call your father and ask him what the money was for?"
That did it; at the mention of his father, Jimmy's countenance crumbled and his arms fell to the desk. "No," he said dejectedly, his head hanging down. "No, you're right. The money was for a pool. I was just saying that because I wanted to have Trey arrested and thrown in jail." His voice became firmer and louder as he continued to speak. "I wanted him to pay for taking Laura away from me. I still loved her but she wouldn't leave him. He hurt me when he asked her to marry him, and she hurt me when she said yes and married him instead of me. I wanted them to pay for that. She broke her promise to me and somebody has to pay!"
Bobby had quietly moved over to the door of the interrogation room as Jimmy spoke and he opened the door and motioned for a uniformed officer to enter. "Oh, somebody will pay," Goren spoke. "Jimmy Murphy, you're under arrest for the murder of Laura Wainwright." He pulled Jimmy's hands behind him and cuffed him as he spoke. He then pushed Murphy towards the police officer. "Finish reading him his rights and book him for capital murder." At those last words, Jimmy turned stunned towards Goren. Goren met his gaze with a cold, steely one of his own and shoved the man again.
The officer led Jimmy Murphy away and Eames shut the door. Leaning up against the back of the door once more, she looked at Bobby. "Are you okay," she asked him gently.
Bobby rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, heaved a deep sigh and looked at his partner. "Yeah, I am for now. I'm just glad this is over. I really didn't want to have to formally arrest my son on murder charges."
"Me, either," Eames agreed, giving Bobby a small smile of relief. "Well, I guess I'd better go tell Trey and Mr. Harrington that they are free to go." She turned around to open the door.
"No, Eames," Bobby said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Let me."
"Bobby, I'm not so sure that's such a good idea right now," Eames said, trying to block the doorway.
"Eames," Bobby said forcefully, pulling himself up to his full height and looking down at her.
Eames rarely backed down from him when he got this way, but something in his eyes told her this time could be different. Pursing her lips, she stepped to the side of him, pulling open the interrogation room door as she did so and indicating the opening with a flourish of her arm. Not missing the meaning behind her expression and her gesture, Bobby gave her a look that said he would be speaking with her later as he walked out into the hall ahead of her. "I have to go get the release papers together before I go in there. Mr. Harrington will appreciate it." He strode off down the hall.