Another citywide search was launched when nothing had turned up two days later. This time, however, they weren't looking for a so-called fugitive, but an innocent victim.
"First he's sitting in court getting nailed for four murders, and now his kid goes missing," said Nina, shaking her head. "No way in hell he'd have anything to do with that. Prosecution's got to know that."
"Last I heard from Rubirosa, Monahan dropped the case. Flynn took over again. I don't see how she's going to get him out of this if he ain't talking to her," said Ed. "It's definitely Galinet."
"Now if only we could find her," said Nina. "If we'd just caught onto this earlier, none of this would even be happening."
"Can't go blaming ourselves for everything; it's not exactly our fault she's a basket case," said Ed mildly, "We'll find her, and when we do, we'll find Rebecca McCoy."
"Not necessarily. She could hold her over our heads to get a deal. And knowing that idiot Holloway, he won't think twice before giving her one."
"If he wants to deal with a pissed off McCoy when this is over," said Ed. "Prison or not, Holloway's not gonna want to know what happens if we find Galinet and he lets her off with a deal."
"He's not gonna want to know what happens to him if we get a hold of him, either. This woman's taken the cake, I swear," said Nina, shaking her head. "Sooner or later, something's got to turn up."
"You think Monahan might have something to do with the disappearance?" Ed asked, after a short moment of silence. Nina gave her partner a startled look.
"Come off it," she said. "D'you really think she'd put her kid through this sort of thing just to get back at her ex-husband? Nothing we've seen thus far proves that she was only in this to get back at him."
"And I suppose the fact that she drops the case the day her daughter goes missing is a coincidence, right?"
"I'm thinking she might have been threatened."
More silence. Ed gave Nina a sideways glance and then nodded slowly. "That's always a possibility," he said. "Think we should go and talk to her?"
"I say we do," said Nina, and rose to her feet "It's probably the only way we're gonna get any sort of answers out of her, now that we've got this."
"Push her over the edge and she's likely not to talk," said Ed, "Do we know where she lives?"
"She's probably not in the courtroom. We should try her office, and if she's not there, we can probably get the address and go from there." Nina threw him the keys. "You drive."
Court was certainly starting to get interesting. First it had been Anna, then it had been Kelly, and now it was Anna again, and Kelly was nowhere in sight. Connie had looked through the entire courtroom at least three times. There was no sign of the other attorney. Danielle Melnick was there, however, as usual, and so was Trevor Langan. Both of them had been there with Anna since the trial had begun.
"How long have you known the defendant, Ms. Carmichael?"
Holloway had a lot of nerve calling up former assistants to testify in this trial, character witnesses or not. Connie had met all of them. Judge Ross was one of them, and she'd met Abbie Carmichael and Serena Southerlyn near the beginning of the trial. The only two she hadn't met were Alexandra Borgia and Claire Kincaid, both of whom had passed away.
"Eight years," Abbie replied now, dryly. "I'm sure you're aware of the fact that I once worked in the District Attorney's office."
"How would you describe him?"
"A hard worker. One who wants to see justice done, within the boundaries of the line. Never struck me as the sort to actually act on anything we ever talked about, if that's what you're getting at."
"You are aware of the evidence the police have found."
"I am. But I can also remind you, counselor, that evidence can be planted, as I'm sure you're aware of."
Abbie's sarcasm was not at all lost on Connie, who bit back the desire to laugh as Holloway went on. "You never once heard him say anything about wishing…certain things on those involved in cases that had been acquitted?"
"If I had, I'd have said something before now," said Abbie mildly. "I know what it's like to be frustrated about your cases. It's not always so easy sitting on the prosecutor's side of the aisle."
Holloway paused for a moment to consider this, and then shook his head. "The prosecution has no more questions for this witness, your honor."
"Fine," said Jamie. "Your witness, Ms. Flynn."
Anna looked up, a fleeting startled expression crossing her face, but it disappeared as soon as it had come and she rose to her feet.
"Prosecutors are often threatened, are they not, Ms. Carmichael?" she asked. Abbie eyed her for a moment, and then nodded.
"I'd say it happens a lot more often than people think it does, but then, defense attorneys get the same thing."
"I'm inclined to agree with you," said Anna, catching Danielle's eye for a moment as she paced and looking away. "How many times would you say you and Mr. McCoy had been threatened with retribution because of a conviction?"
"More than I can count," said Abbie, wryly. "Used to think I'd be able to count the times it happened on one hand, but turned out it wasn't that way."
"And you were both threatened whether it came back with a conviction or not?"
"We were. There were more than a few occasions. He and I never really ever took it seriously."
"You never considered the possibility that it would actually be acted on? That someone else could be responsible for this?"
"Of course I've considered the possibility that someone else could be responsible for this. Like I said, I never really thought of Jack as one to actually act on anything. Prosecutors aren't perfect, Ms. Flynn, no matter what people would like to think. We're likely to make comments every now and then. We're not likely to act on them."
"For the record, Ms. Carmichael, hypothetically speaking, if I were to ask you if you believed that Mr. McCoy was innocent, what would your answer be?"
Objection!" Holloway's voice came, as Anna had known it would. "Your honor, this has nothing to do with the proceedings as they are."
"Of course it does; the rest of the city might have condemned him, your honor, but the fact remains that he's innocent until he's proven guilty. Ms. Carmichael is certainly entitled to her own opinions," said Anna. Silence. They waited for an answer.
"Overruled," Jamie said finally. "Answer the question, Ms. Carmichael."
"My answer would be, Ms. Flynn, that I believe he is innocent," said Abbie, flatly. "I highly doubt there's any other possibility."
They knocked on the door. No answer came at first, and so they knocked again, and finally, a voice came from the other side.
"I know why you're here, Detectives, and I can't talk to you."
Ed and Nina exchanged glances. If anything, Kelly sounded like a wreck, and both of them knew it.
"Ms. Monahan, your daughter is missing," said Nina, finally. "If you don't help us, then who will?"
"You're the police, you figure it out. Just please…go away…" Kelly trailed off, and there was the sound of a muffled sob before she went on. "No, they're not…they're leaving…"
"Is someone in there with you?" Ed asked, loudly, and there was the sound of something falling to the floor.
"No," said Kelly, "No, there's nobody here…I can't talk to you. Just please, leave before you make things worse!"
"How in the hell are we gonna make things worse?" Nina asked in an undertone, but Ed shook his head.
"Ms. Monahan, if you don't talk to us now, we're gonna come back with a warrant to get into your apartment," he said. "You wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?"
The door opened. Kelly looked disheveled, pale-faced and hair in her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked. "I can't help you, Detectives, I don't know anything."
"You've got to know something," Nina said incredulously. "You've got a reputation as one of the best trial lawyers in this city, and all of a sudden, you hand over what's got to be one of your biggest cases?"
"It didn't seem right for me to be defending Jack; I'm his ex-wife, for heaven's sake!" There was a note of desperation that neither detective missed. "If I knew anything, believe me, I would tell you, but I know nothing!"
The phone shook in her hands. Tara had hung up right before she'd answered the door, but before that…the sound of sobbing had been hard to miss. And it hadn't been Tara.
"Has someone been threatening you?" Nina asked, bluntly, and Kelly shook her head, quickly.
"No," she said. "No, I haven't been threatened, I just didn't feel it was right for me to run the case. So I dropped it. Is that so hard for you to believe?"
"It does look suspicious that you drop it the day after your daughter's reported missing by one of her best friends," Ed pointed out. "If someone's putting you up to dropping the case, you're going to have to tell us."
"There's nothing!" Kelly exclaimed. "What don't you get? For the love of heaven, Detectives, don't you think I want my child home safe as much as you do, if not more? If I knew something, I would tell you!"
Both detectives exchanged glances again. Something was definitely off here, but neither of them could place it.
"Ms. Flynn, have you had any contact whatsoever with Tara Galinet since we spoke?" Nina asked, and Kelly shook her head.
"No," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "No, I haven't had any contact with her. Now I'd like you to leave."
She had spoken with them. They didn't have much of a choice. They left and she closed the door behind them.
"Something's not right," said Nina, looking back towards the apartment. "She looked like hell."
"Someone's holding something over her," said Ed. "If it's not Galinet, it's got to be someone who's taken up with her. That's the only thing that'd get Monahan that rattled."
"So we're definitely thinking Galinet's behind the kidnapping now?"
"You read the threats on file. She said she was gonna make McCoy's life a living hell. What better route than potentially ruining his law career and hurting his kid?"
He had a point. Nina shook her head as they left the apartment building, and reached for the keys in her pocket.
"So the way to break Monahan is to find Galinet, who might not give us Rebecca McCoy, forcing us to continue the search, and before we know it, we'll find a body floating in the river."
"You better not repeat that theory in front of the lieutenant. This is already enough of a press case as it is. You see what the papers have been saying?"
"No. What crackpot theories have they come up with this time?"
"They're spouting the theory that this might be a setup. That Rebecca might just be safe and sound somewhere out of the city, and she's just trying to take the focus off her father and bring it to her."
'That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard so far. Why would she want to do that? She's been here every step of the way, hasn't she?"
"My point exactly. She wouldn't just take off. The papers are trying to make it sound like more than it is. Prosecution gets a hold of it, they're going to try and use it."
"It's more than likely that they've already gotten a hold of it, or at least, that Holloway's got a hold of it. We should head to the District Attorney's office, give Rubirosa the heads up."
"I think you just read my mind."
"You're going to have to talk to her sooner or later, you know," Danielle remarked, as she entered the all-too-familiar interview room.
"I'm not going to have this conversation with you, Danielle. The business day is over. Don't you have a life outside the courtrooms?" Jack asked in reply.
"This isn't a courtroom. It's a prison interview room. You've got all kinds of lawyers, don't you?"
"Is that the excuse you fed the guards? That you're my lawyer? They must be getting sick of hearing that, for everyone that's been around here. You, Anna, Connie, Kelly…hell, even Erin's been here."
The mention of Erin Fallon made Danielle smirk. "That's funny, I could've sworn she said she wanted to see you rot in hell, or was that just me?"
"She might've sent Alyssa after me, her and Kelly both, but that doesn't necessarily mean she meant it. Besides, I told her the same thing, and she's still alive, isn't she?"
Danielle laughed. "Good to see you still have a sense of humor somewhere in there, even if it is a bit dark," she said, and then, "Prosecution is going to think it's strange if they catch on that you're not talking to your own attorney."
"Connie's already caught on; she came in here and tore me a new one for it. Told me I was being an idiot, first changing legal counsel in the middle of all this, and now refusing to talk to the current," Jack replied dryly. "I have more than enough to worry about as it is."
Suddenly Danielle started to rethink one of the reasons why she'd come. It was beginning to seem obvious that no one had yet told him of his daughter's disappearance.
"Jack," she said finally, "About that…the police haven't been by to speak to you, have they?"
"Don't tell me they're trying to pin another murder on me," Jack said at once. "I've been stuck in here for heaven only knows how long, I've lost count."
"It's been about four months since this whole thing began," said Danielle, almost grateful that he'd inadvertently changed the subject. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Leave it to you to keep track of that sort of thing, Danielle, honestly," he said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were taking some sort of pleasure out of all this."
"I'll take some sort of pleasure out of all this when Holloway gets his ass kicked, if you'll pardon my choice of words," Danielle replied flatly. "I know you sent her that letter she was holding onto the other day when I was talking to her; I don't know if she's read it, but damn it, Jack, the least you could do is look her in the eye, even if you're not going to speak to her."
"Why would I do that?" he asked, mock-seriously. "Then she'd assume that I'd like to speak to her, when in reality, I would like nothing more than for her to drop this and leave me to my own devices."
"Why? Are you that afraid you're going to hurt her through all of this?"
"I've already hurt her, damn it!" The exclamation didn't bother Danielle at all; she waited, and Jack went on.
"That night, that one night that started all of this, I swear on every courtroom in this city, Danielle, if it hadn't been for me, people wouldn't be labeling her, and she probably doesn't even know she's been labeled."
"I haven't heard anything," Danielle said slowly, "At least, not in my office. I don't know about hers, or Kelly's, or even the one Judge Ross was working for before she was tapped for the bench…who's been talking?"
"My office," he said dryly. "Someone must have seen us that night, even though we went all the way out to the Bronx, but we came into Manhattan, and I don't…Part of me wishes I'd just ended it there and convinced her it didn't mean anything, but no…"
"If you had convinced her it didn't mean anything, then whatever label people are giving her now might actually be true," Danielle pointed out. "What are they saying?"
"They're calling her another conquest of mine. Another notch on my damn bedpost, and damn it, that's not what she is!"
"I never said it was. But is this why you were claiming a conflict of interest earlier on?"
"I don't know. Technically, I had no grounds to claim conflict of interest; I don't know if she feels the same way I do, and you already know what happened with Diana, I wasn't going to go through that again."
"You honestly think that Anna would lie like that just to get you out of this mess?"
"No. I don't. But….I don't know what she'd do, and it scares me. She's so…"
"What? Stubborn? Good for her, heaven only knows you have to be stubborn to deal with a guy like you, Jack, honestly. She's a good lawyer."
"I know she is. And I don't want her ruined because of me. Heaven only knows I've got enough of a reputation, and she doesn't, and I don't want people going around saying that she's…something she isn't."
"A woman of ill-repute, we'll say, since neither of us want to use the other words," said Danielle. Jack gave her a look.
"This isn't funny. She doesn't deserve that."
"So you do care about her."
"Yes, I care about her. I wouldn't have tried to get a hold of her a million times over after that kiss if I didn't care. I…wanted to know if it was something I'd done to make her run, and she told me it wasn't, but…"
"You aren't sure."
"Are you sure you've never been through the police academy? I could swear this feels like an interrogation."
"First Anna, and now you. I swear, the two of you must be able to read each other's minds."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, finally stopping in his tracks and looking at her. Danielle shrugged.
"I'll let her tell you. It's not my place."
"Your mother's a smart woman."
There was that voice again. Rebecca still didn't know who her captor was, but she wasn't about to ask, either. Tara came to sit in one of the empty chairs in the room, and shook her head.
"Don't you want to know what I mean?" she asked, but Rebecca shook her head in reply.
"I know my mother's a smart woman, you don't have to tell me that," she said, still unable to keep her voice from shaking somewhat. Tara rolled her eyes.
"Yes, well, she's awfully skilled at lying to the police, I'll tell you that," she said. "Told them she didn't know anything about your disappearance. Or who had you."
A sinking feeling settled in Rebecca's stomach. "This isn't just about my father anymore, is it?"
"Oh, it was never just about him," said Tara, examining her fingernails. "Well, actually, that's not entirely true. It was about him at first, but now, I've decided that it's much more than that."
"My family's already broken," said Rebecca dryly, "There's not much more you can do."
"Oh, but you'd be surprised," said Tara. "You see, once your father finds out that you're missing, things are going to get…interesting, to say the least."
Rebecca gave her a wary look. "She's his attorney," she said. "You can't…you can't do this."
"I can, and I have," said Tara, giving the younger woman a look. "You have no right to tell me at this point what I can do and what I can't do. You're not the one in control here. Remember that."
Suddenly Rebecca felt cold. She remembered the events of that morning all too well. "You aren't going to bring him back, are you?" she asked, slowly, hesitantly, the note of fear in her voice too obvious to be missed. Tara laughed, and she jumped.
"I will if you try to walk out of here again," she said, bluntly. "I've already set your father up for murder, don't think you can put anything past me just yet. I intend to have my way in this matter."
Rebecca eyed her carefully. Definitely a basket case, she thought. There was no denying that. Not after the morning. She tucked her knees up to her chest as she sat, and closed her eyes, not wanting to think of what had happened, what her mother had been forced to listen to.
By the time Tara left her sitting there, she was in tears again.