They caught her just as she was leaving the courthouse. Truth be told, she wasn't all that surprised to see them.
"If you've come to ask me about anything Jack might've told me, you know the drill, Detectives," she told them. "Attorney/client privilege."
"We don't have any questions about Jack," said Ed, "We have questions about you. We'd appreciate you coming down to the station with us, Ms. Monahan."
Kelly looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Might I ask what this is concerning, before you cart me off?" she asked.
"A case," said Nina, "Someone you defended a few years back. We need to ask you questions, but I highly doubt you're gonna want us to ask them here."
"You're right, I'm not," said Kelly dryly, "Should I consult legal counsel of my own or is this just routine questioning?"
"Just routine," said Ed, without looking Nina in the eye. "We just need to clear up a few things, and then you can go on your way."
"Well, then," said Kelly, reaching into her purse for her car keys, "I will meet you at the…"
"27th Precinct," said Nina, and Kelly nodded.
"I'll meet you at your precinct," she said, and walked off.
About an hour later found her at the two-seven. Ed and Nina were both waiting for her. They led her back into one of the interview rooms, and she sat.
"Do you remember Tara Galinet?" Ed asked, straight off, and Kelly looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Tara?" she said. "Of course I remember her. Why do you ask?"
"Because we have reason to believe that she might in fact be the real culprit in these murders," said Nina. "We haven't been able to find her."
The hidden accusation was too hard to miss. Kelly glared at the younger woman and shook her head. "If you're asking whether or not I'm hiding her, Detective, the answer is no," she said flatly. "I might remember her, but that doesn't mean that I still have anything to do with her."
"Of course not," said Ed, "But right now, you're our only lead, the only one who's most likely to know where she is."
"I suggest you ask her family, Detectives, heaven only knows they would know more than I do." said Kelly. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't cooperate with you."
"We've tried all of Galinet's family members that still live in the city," said Nina. "None of them will tell us anything. That leaves you. We'd like to believe that you aren't hiding anything, but if you don't cooperate with us, we're not going to have a choice."
"Just like you didn't have a choice to arrest Jack, right?" Kelly asked, unable to keep a sarcastic note out of her voice. "Listen, Detectives, I know you're doing your job, but I honestly don't know where Tara is. I haven't heard from her since that case."
"In which she was acquitted. If she doesn't end up as a victim, then it's likely that she's probably the one behind this." said Ed. "We're not trying to railroad McCoy, believe us. But this is the only chance we have at proving that it might be someone else behind these murders."
"Why on earth would I have any knowledge about where she is?" Kelly asked, frustrated. "I told you, I haven't heard from her, Detectives. I would have been sure to contact you if I had; I know she threatened Jack and Abbie Carmichael; I was there."
"But you made no move to restrain your client or stop her from digging herself even furthering than she already had," said Nina. Kelly gave her a look.
"She'd lost her job, Detective, because of the accusations that had been brought on her, and on top of that, she'd been dragged by a trial; I can hardly blame the woman for being bitter, but it certainly never crossed my mind that she would actually act on it."
Silence. Both detectives exchanged glances. After a moment, Ed spoke again. "If you don't know for sure where she is, do you at least have some idea of where she might be?"
"Anywhere in the city," said Kelly. "She told me once that she'd never leave this place; it's where she grew up. If she ever did leave, it'd have been temporarily, and then she more than likely would have come back."
"Do you believe that she could be behind these murders, and therefore behind the entire thing?" Nina asked. Kelly looked at her for a long moment, and finally nodded.
"Yes," she said, "As a matter of fact, I do."
They put out an APB. It was, at the moment, the only thing they could do in order to find her. The picture from the file was the one used; any cop in the city who saw her would be able to recognize her, unless she had changed her looks. Kelly Monahan had been given the go-ahead to leave, and she had.
"Let's just hope she doesn't decide to bring a lawsuit," Nina muttered as she sat across from her partner, "Last thing we need is more hassle than we've already got."
"I doubt she has grounds for a lawsuit, we weren't accusing her of anything." Ed replied. "Hopefully we'll actually be able to find something this time."
"Think it might come in time to stop the trial?" Nina asked, and he shrugged.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm really hoping it does, though. Monahan might be a fast talker, but the jury's not made up of idiots, no matter what we might think. Prosecution keeps going the way it is…likely they'll get a conviction."
"Just what the District Attorney's office needs, a black eye like this on top of all the rumors…heard Arthur Branch was thinking about leaving." Nina remarked. Ed looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"You did?" he said, and then, "I haven't heard anything like that. Rubirosa tell you?"
"Wasn't her. Heard it while I was over there, though. She and Holloway think that they might need to call us both within the next few days."
"You'd think they'd be able to do with only one of us." The coffee shop was quieter than the precinct, but Ed wasn't sure yet as to whether it was a relief or not. "We were both on the case."
"Case isn't over yet," Nina reminded him, looking out the window they were sitting nearby. "Look at this. It's pathetic. Any woman passing us right now could be her, and we probably wouldn't even know it."
"I don't think she's going to be too keen to be seen once she figures out we've got an APB out on her," said Ed, shaking his head slowly, "If anything, it might just send her back into hiding."
"Either that or make her cocky enough to believe that we can't catch her," Nina remarked. "She's got to at least know what the advantages of hiding in plain sight are."
"Good thing she was never a cop; then we'd never find her." Ed trailed off for a moment and took a sip from the mug in front of him. "D'you think it'll do us any good?"
"What, the APB?" Nina asked, and nodded. "It should. Doubt it was what Monahan was going for when she told us Galinet might still be in the city, but there you have it. City this big, it's the only way we're gonna find her without the family cooperating."
"I still don't see why they wouldn't," said Ed. "I mean, I do, but at the same time I don't, y'know? They've gotta know that not handing her over is more likely to make it worse. Most cops I know have dealt with McCoy at one point or another. Doubt there's any one of us that wants to see him go down."
"Obviously," said Nina, and trailed off for a long moment before going on. "Assuming Galinet's really the one behind this, here's to hoping that she doesn't pull anything stupid."
"Not in front of a cop, anyway," said Ed, wryly. "I shouldn't say this, but I'm almost hoping she slips and gets arrested for something. Right now, APB's only out saying we need to talk to her in connection to a case."
"Think we should see about an arrest warrant?" Nina asked, but he shook his head.
"It'll come to that point," he said, "If we can find her. But for now…I think that'll only make her run."
The letter came in the mail. Anna probably wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been cleaning off her desk, trying to organize things, but she was, and it was the envelope that caught her eye as it, along with a number of other things fell. She gave an exasperated sigh and bent down to pick it up, nearly dropping it again as she recognized the handwriting.
"Anna?" The sound of a familiar voice made her sit up too quickly, and she narrowly missed hitting her head on the underside of her desk. Peering over the top of it, she sighed.
"Danielle," she said, tiredly, "Let me guess. Jack's dropped Kelly and moved on to you."
"Actually, no," said Danielle, looking amused by this, "But I won't say there's any shortage of lady attorneys willing to take this up for him."
"I wonder why," Anna said dryly, leaning back in her chair with the envelope in hand. "I get the feeling that you didn't just come around here to make small talk?"
"He does want to see you, you know," said Danielle, deciding to cut straight to the chase. Anna rolled her eyes.
"If he did, then he could damn well tell me that, instead of sending me letters that probably say things I don't want to know," she replied, waving the envelope in the air. "Don't tell me you've been reduced to playing messenger girl, Danielle."
"I haven't," said Danielle, biting back the desire to laugh at the expression. "The police think they might've found another suspect."
"Bit late for that, don't you think?" Anna asked sarcastically. "Maybe if they'd done their job properly in the first place…"
"I do believe this case has turned you into somewhat of a cynic," said Danielle. "What's eating at you?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that I didn't wan to take another case, and I did anyway, to keep my mind off the one I was on before, but it's not working, and damn him, anyway, for jerking me around!"
The words hung in the air. After a moment, Danielle came to sit down, shaking her head. "I had the feeling it was something like that."
"Don't start with me," Anna said, warningly. "I'm telling you right now, Danielle, I don't want to hear it."
"Of course you don't. You haven't wanted to hear it since you got divorced, but the fact remains, Anna, that sooner or later, you were going to fall for someone."
"Well, why the hell did it have to be him? Of all people, why the hell did I have to fall for Jack McCoy? You wanna tell me that?"
More silence. Finally, Danielle shook her head. "I don't know if I can, honestly," she said, trying and failing to keep from sounding amused. "I can tell you that I'm not surprised."
"Of course you're not," Anna said, unable to take the sarcasm out of her voice, "Who would be? Suppose you could say the day someone doesn't fall for him would be a damn miracle, no?"
This time, Danielle laughed. "Anna…I really don't know what to tell you," she started, but Anna rose to her feet, envelope still in hand, and started to pace, cutting her off.
"All this talk about conflict of interest, and not wanting it all to come down on me…I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think he cared for a minute."
"But you're saying you do know better?"
"What the hell would he want with me, Danielle? Honestly, now, I don't want it sugarcoated."
She was starting to feel more like a go-between than she had before, but didn't want to break off any connection she had with everyone involved, and with this in mind, Danielle shrugged.
"I don't know, Anna," she said. "I'm not a mind-reader, nor do I claim to be. But I can tell you that I wouldn't be surprised if you came out to be the one that finally gets him to settled down."
Anna snorted, and glanced at the envelope as she continued to pace. "Jack McCoy, settling down," she said, shaking her head. "I should live to see the day."
"…I'm telling you, if he's not going to quit giving you the runaround about things, you need to drop him. It'll do you good."
"I can't just drop him like that, Becky, he's a good guy, I just…"
"Don't trust him?" Rebecca shifted her cell phone in her grip and sighed as she walked. "That's as good a reason as any to drop the guy. He's being an idiot, Tammy, he doesn't deserve you."
On the other side of the line, Tammy Cooper shook her head, and sighed. "I could at least give him one more chance, no?"
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "If you really want to put yourself through it, then yeah, you can give him another chance, but I gotta tell you, Tam, if he lies to you one more time, you need to drop him. It can only lead to worse things if you get more serious."
"You act like such a lawyer sometimes, always looking at both sides of things," said Tammy. "We should meet up sometime. Think you might be able to do that?"
"I don't know…I'll have to check…"
The phone fell from Rebecca's hand as she was yanked backwards suddenly, and somehow survived. She froze, and there was a cold voice in her ear; a woman's voice, and then something behind held to her back.
"You scream, and I will shoot you," the voice said. There was a tiny prick, as if she'd been poked by a needle, and then everything went black.