"Let me warn you now that if you skip out on me, I will hunt you down."
Anna pushed the door to her house open and walked in, flipping on a light. Jack stared at her as he followed her in.
"Don't tell me you've used this place as collateral," he started, but she shook her head.
"I did," she said, "Which is why if you skip out on me, I'll come after you."
She wandered into the kitchen. He watched her go, suddenly feeling guilty.
"Anna, I can't ask you to do all of this," he said. "It…it's too much."
"You aren't asking, and I trust you," she replied. "Jack, really. Don't worry about it."
Don't worry about it, she says, he thought. He could've laughed, but he didn't. Wandering into the kitchen after her, he shook his head.
"This will look awkward," he said quietly. "Anna, my reputation is bad enough as it is right now; I don't want to ruin yours, too."
"You won't, trust me. I'm not the only attorney who's gone out on this far of a limb for a client." Anna poured a glass of orange juice and took a sip. "I'll show you where everything is in a minute."
He gave her a sideways look. "I could've just checked into a hotel or something," he said.
"I won't have you anywhere the press can get to you. If they come here, I can make them go away."
She trailed off for a moment and then went on. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I can just trade you places."
"I can't ask you to do that."
"Well, it's settled." Anna downed the rest of her orange juice and motioned for Jack to follow her. "Come on; I'll show you where you'll be staying."
She wandered out of the kitchen and down into a finished basement. "Not what you were expecting, I'll bet, but it's something," she said. "Bought this house after I got divorced. Finally got tired of Manhattan."
Jack laughed. "Well, there's no place better than Staten Island to get away from it all, now is there?" he asked dryly. Anna rolled her eyes.
"Tell me about it," she said. "The place has its own entrance and whatever, so you don't have to keep the same hours I do, and honestly, I don't really care if you do, so long as you don't leave the city."
"I wouldn't do that to you, Anna," Jack said, seriously, and she sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"I know you wouldn't," she said, mildly, "Unlike certain others I could name, but we aren't going there."
There was silence between the two of them. Jack looked at Anna for a long moment, and wondered why she seemed so cynical about the whole relationship thing, and then decided that he wasn't going to go there. Suddenly she looked a lot more tired than she had before.
"If this is going to be a bother to you, we don't have to do this," he said, again. "I know this isn't easy for you."
"It's fine, really," said Anna, "Only problem is that I only have one kitchen, so…"
"It'll work," said Jack, "I'll just…try to make it so that you don't know I'm here."
"What if I want to know that you're here?"
The words escaped her before she could really think about them, and she was glad she wasn't facing him, because her face had gone a brilliant shade of red.
""Then you'll know, but I Refuse to be a burden," Jack replied, slowly, "Anna, are you all right?"
"I don't know," she admitted, still without looking at him. "I just…I don't know."
She wiped at her eyes, then, and hoped he didn't notice, even though it wasn't really likely and she knew it. "We can…ah…go and get clothes and such in the morning, if you'd like."
And then his hand was on her shoulder, and he was leading her gently upstairs.
"I think we need to call it a night," he said, when they reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the top level. "I'll see you in the morning."
The morning, however, brought news of another murder. Anna's cell phone went off before her alarm did, and she fumbled for it.
"Hello?"
"Anna, the police are looking for McCoy."
She sat up, suddenly wide awake. "Trevor? What the hell…why are they looking for him?"
"There's been another murder." Trevor must have just been driving, because there was silence for a second, and then a door closing. "They haven't found him yet, but I thought you'd want to know."
"Well, of course I'd want to know!" Anna exclaimed, shoving the covers away from her and going to get dressed, quickly. "How did you find out?"
"I was listening to the news this morning on my way to the office," Trevor replied. "They haven't been able to find him, like I said."
"And they think he's skipped bail."
"If they don't find him, this doesn't bode well for you."
"Of course it doesn't, you know damn well I put my place up as collateral. They've already tried his apartment?"
"They did. They think he's still in the city…Anna, do you know where he is?"
"As a matter of fact. If the police come to the office, let them know that I will take him to the 27th Precinct."
"Will do."
Anna flipped her phone shut and ran a frustrated hand over her face. This definitely wasn't good. Now the District Attorney's office had everything they needed, and more. Yanking on a pair of shoes, she grabbed a jacket and went downstairs to the kitchen. Jack was already there.
"You don't look so good," he said, eyeing her intently, "What's wrong?"
Anna reached for her keys. "I'd make breakfast, but we don't have time," she said, almost apologetically. "The police are looking for you. I just got a call from one of the guys at my office."
"I can't possibly have done anything this time; I was here all night, for heaven's sake," said Jack, dryly. "Do you have any idea what they want?"
"No, but they're starting to think you've skipped bail. I told Langan to tell them if they came by the office that I would bring you in."
"They think that I…" Jack rose to his feet and reached for his own coat. "I won't have this coming down on you. We should go, now."
And so they did. The 27th Precinct was more busy than it had been the last time he'd been there and he ignored the detectives that looked at him. So did Anna. They were sent back into one of the interrogation rooms, where he sat, feeling somewhat numb. Anna remained on her feet. When the door swung open, she glared at the first person she saw.
"I'd like to know what the hell you think constitutes a citywide search for my client," she said, flatly.
Nina glared back at her. "Another murder," she said, icily. "I'm afraid there's no other conclusion that my partner and I can draw about this case."
"Well, then show us what you've got, or we're gone," said Anna. "We're both lawyers, I'm sure we'll be able to tell if you've actually got anything that won't be thrown out in court."
The two detectives exchanged glances. This was definitely not going to be easy, and that was without the fact that it was early in the morning.
"He can't possibly get out of this one," said Ed, putting a file on the table. "Added to the other cases, you'll be lucky if the prosecution doesn't go for murder one."
"Premeditated or cop killings," said Anna, and opened the file. There in front of her was the faintly smiling face of a uniformed officer.
"Five years on the force," said Nina. "Two years ago, she testified in a case, but the jury saw fit to acquit the defendant."
"A family?" Jack asked, the first he'd said since the conversation had begun. Both detectives looked at him.
"According to her partner and others at the four-nine, she'd just come off maternity leave. Her first child," said Nina.
There was silence between the four of them. After a while, Anna spoke again. "What happened to her?"
"She was murdered, obviously," Nina said dryly. "Special Victims picked it up, if that tells you anything."
"She was raped?" Anna asked, and both detectives nodded.
"From what we got from the one-six. We had 'em put a rush on forensics last night after they got a name and we looked it up." said Ed.
"And you found out she'd testified in a case that I lost," said Jack, slowly. Both detectives nodded.
"Back when Southerlyn was still here," Ed told him. "The evidence from this one alone can hang you."
"What do they have?" Anna asked. "And rest assured, Detectives, it had better be good, because I'm not going to sit here and let you people railroad anyone."
"We're not trying to railroad anyone; we've been trying to help, but we can't do that anymore!" said Nina, "Not with this one. He either cooperates, or the DA's not only going to charge him with five murders, but with rape."
"You can't prove any of it, other than the evidence you have, and let's face it, Detectives, you got nothing. All of those things you have can be planted," said Anna.
"All we need right now is an alibi," Ed told her, "You know the drill as well as we do. If you can prove you weren't at the scene of the crime at any point or time last night, then you can go, but otherwise, bail's gonna get revoked, and we all know it."
They did. There was more silence. Jack looked at Anna, and then at the two detectives.
"I was home," he said, "Alone. All night. Didn't leave to go anywhere, and I doubt anyone saw me."
He was digging his own grave. Anna moved to say something, but he went on before she could.
"I know it's not what you're looking for, and I know it's not enough, but what reason do I have to lie to you?"
He was already lying. Anna gave him a furious look when the detectives exchanged glances and then left the room.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "Why didn't you tell them where you really were?"
"I already told you that I won't have any of this coming down on you, and I meant it. Let them think I was home alone. I don't want people to think of you the same way they think of me."
More silence. Anna was starting to become annoyed by it. Now she ran a tired hand through her hair, and then shook her head, effectively ruining what she'd just done.
"Jack, I don't care what people have to say about me; what don't you get about that?" she asked. "This is your life we're talking about here. They could stick a needle in your arm for this, now."
"I know that."
"Then why the hell are you doing this?" Anna demanded, again, and then, "Never mind. You know what, I don't know, and I don't want to know."
"You could walk away from this."
"I'm not leaving you to face this on your own!"
Another silence. Now it was definitely annoying. Anna finally came to sit down and gave an exasperated sigh.
"I'm not walking away from this," she told him, again. "You can forget it right now if that's what you were trying to get me to do, because I won't."
Jack shook his head and turned to look out the lone window in the room. "I don't get it," he said, finally. "Everything was going just fine, and then all of this came along…"
"Life has a nasty habit of throwing the unexpected into our faces," she said quietly, "We'll get through this."
Then again, maybe they wouldn't. An argument over bail was taken to the courts, and the next thing anyone knew, it was like the beginning of this, all over again.
"Think about it this way," said Jack, before he was led off, "At least you won't lose anything."
Anna bit back a sarcastic retort, and turned away, so she wouldn't see him disappear behind another set of doors. This was not how it was supposed to go. Something was definitely off, but if the police couldn't see it…she doubted anyone would.
"I hope you don't hold this against me." Connie's voice startled Anna out of her thoughts; she glanced at the younger lawyer and shook her head.
"No," she said, "You're just doing your job; why would I hold it against you?"
Connie shrugged. "I don't know," she said, and then, "Listen, this probably isn't going to look right, but I'm at the point where I don't care anymore. Do you want to go to lunch or something?"
Anna looked at her for a long moment, and then nodded as she gathered her things. "Yeah," she said, "Yeah, that'd be nice; a way to take our minds off of all of this."
She slid her bag onto her shoulder, and followed the other woman out of the courtroom. Once they were out of the building, Connie spoke. "You know, a lot of people are saying this is gonna turn into a conflict of interest for you," she said.
Anna laughed. "I know," she said. "I've heard the rumors. They're floating around my office, too. I'd like to think I can keep my eyes open and do my job properly, but you never know."
"If you don't mind my asking, how do you go from avoiding him completely and not speaking to him at all to defending him in one of the biggest cases we've seen so far?"
"He's a friend of mine," said Anna, "That's all. What sort of friend would I be if I just gave up on him and joined in with all the others who are talking?"
Good question, Connie thought, dryly, and a little bit guiltily as well, because she'd talked, if only to hear what other people were saying, but she had still talked.
"Suppose you wouldn't really be," she said finally, and Anna shook her head.
"No, I wouldn't be," she said. "That's why I'm here. And for the record, I don't hate him. I just needed to clear my head."
"Did it work?"
"I'm not too sure."