"Brooke, you've been looking over your shoulder ever since this case got handed off to us and it's getting down right annoying," Jake Cohen said as he finished reviewing the last deposition recorded in the Crawford case.

The ADA shook his head and set the file back down on Malinowski's desk with a deliberate 'bang'.

Malinowski ran an impatient hand through her hair and looked up from her own reading. She knew her assistant had been less than thrilled to receive her phone call the night before. When she asked that he meet her at the office to review the case files one more time for the Crawford case, Cohen had replied as if agreeing to a long postponed root canal.

Over the course of the trial, the pair had worked every weekend, as well as into the late hours of the night during the week. She knew Cohen had reached his limit and rightly so. She tossed her glasses on the desk although with the file folder and waited.

"You're letting your personal feelings get the way of prosecuting this case, Brooke," he said bluntly. "I know you never wanted to go for murder two on this one, but unless you're willing to take on the DA himself, you have no choice. You can read and reread the files until you go blind, but you can't find what isn't there. We both sat in on the Crawford boys deposition. The Sheriff, as well as Bowers and Clayton have retraced every step of the investigation half a dozen times. If something was amiss they would have found it by now."

Malinowski nodded. She knew the investigators on the case were as good as they came. Both Bowers and Clayton were former homicide detectives with stellar records and reputations for thoroughness that made them the two most asked for investigators the DA's office had.

"Something isn't right," she said more to herself than Cohen.

As angry as she was with Danielle Melnick, she knew the defense attorney would not have gone through all she had, just to try to jar Malinowski and get her off her game. There had to be something to this story….something Malinowski wasn't seeing.

"If you really believe that, talk to Michael for God's sake or at least tell me what is really going on."

Malinowski shook her head. Although she trusted Jake Cohen with any and all aspects of her personal life, she wasn't about to share such personal details about McCoy's life with anyone else. As far as sharing Melnick's assertion that her client's son had committed the crime, she had told Cohen only what he needed to know in order to review the evidence for inconsistencies that would support the boy's involvement.

"If I could, I would. You know that," she said flatly. "As far as going to Michael, until we find something to establish Roberta didn't act alone or didn't act at all, you know what he's going to say."

"Well, I'm done for the day," he said as he stood. "If you want to spend the rest of the afternoon doing the defenses job, go for it. I told Will I'd meet him at the Metropolitan Museum at three. I have no intention of being late."

"Have fun. Jake, before you go," she said tentively,"you never did give me your take on the plea. If you were lead on this case, would you have offered man one or stuck with murder two?"

Cohen leaned against the door and pondered her question. He had worked with Malinowski long enough to know she didn't ask a question like that... especially more than once... to seek only conformation of her own opinion.

"If she hadn't bought the damn gun a month in advance, I'd have gone for man one," he said at last. "It's that act alone, in my mind, that makes this a murder two case. It just doesn't make sense that she brought that gun without knowing she'd use it the next time she had an opportunity."

"She and Melnick claim the gun was purchased because the husband was away on business at least two weekends a month. But Crawford's business calendar doesn't confirm that."

"Because they're trying to cover," Cohen said impatiently."Brooke you've seen this dozens of times before. Either Melnick is faking you out or she's being had by her client. It's not like it would be the first time a client lied to her. I've got to run. Give me a call if you miraculously find that needle in the hay stack."

Malinowski stared at the closed door and then back down at the engagement ring that sparkled back at her in the florescent light.

She knew Cohen had some valid points. Maybe it was just her own desire to see an abused woman vindicated, instead of sentenced to prison for nearly the remainder of her life, that made her so uneasy. After hearing McCoy's story, she knew better than ever, there were at least two sides to any domestic violence story.

"Damn you Danielle Melnick," she said the empty room, just before the phone on the desk rang.