Jamie's mind was made up. Talking to Jack's friends, she had a better handle on his suffering, and while Diana Hawthorne made her skin crawl, she had a sneaking suspicion that no one really knew the truth. It was a truth that would absolutely devastate Jack, but it might be the shock that brought him out of hell and gave him purpose again. He'd been better the past few days, not so quick to jump down her throat for the slightest deviation from his plans, and she had to use that as an opening. But what are you opening, she wondered. If her suspicions were correct, she was no doubt opening the door to an entirely fresh hell, but they couldn't be ignored. Diana Hawthorne was scheduled for release in two weeks, and would be in the wind immediately if Jamie's suspicions were right.

She looked at the outline on her legal pad. In block letters, at the top, she'd printed the question: did Diana Hawthorne set all this up? The ultimate revenge on the two people she hated most, Machivellian in its complexity, it was a frightening thought. She'd pulled Baumgarten's file – Diana represented him in an attempted rape case, a young girl he'd met on a jogging path in the park, asking if he could use her as a rabbit. It was a sunny day, plenty of people around, Susan Hall had no reason to be apprehensive. He was an overweight but decent looking guy, and she nodded as he fell into her pace. Jamie shivered. Susan had a narrow escape, but she was scarred nonetheless, and Diana Hawthorne got the bastard acquitted. An examination of prison visitor lists showed he went to Bedford several times, bringing cigarettes and other small gifts. Because Bedford was minimum security, there was open contact between the prisoners and their visitors, tables and chairs and the mayhem of playing children instead of plexiglass and monitored telephones.

She consulted the third point of her outline. On her last day, Claire had gone jogging in the park, where a slightly overweight man was seen talking to her as he tried to keep pace with her jog. No one ever thought to identify the man, he was simply a detail in the accounting of her last day on earth. He could be anybody. Yet Diana had known of Claire's pregnancy, a detail never released to the press, and the only visitors she had who would know that detail were John Gerald Baumgarten, a morgue tech who cleaned up after the ME's and was frequently nearby when Rodgers or another of the MEs dictated reports or briefed detectives, and a nurse from Diana's gynecologist, a woman Diana got off on charges of forging prescriptions for narcotic painkillers. She triple-checked, Diana and Claire had the same gynecologist, not surprising considering Jamie also went to Doctor Ann Campbell. Her clients were upwardly mobile women or older women well established and well connected. The nurse had access to all kinds of information. Jamie did the math yet again – Claire got pregnant about three weeks before the nurse was arrested for forgery and retained that classy defense attorney she knew from the office. And two weeks after the acquittal, Diana herself was arrested.

Jamie scratched her head. It was too much to believe, a string of coincidences, but Diana's words – uttered in another burst of fury as Jamie probed for information – "I'm sure she thought getting knocked up would trap Jack, too bad she didn't live to feel him dump her."

Jamie was taken aback by the venom in those words. "What happened to you, Diana?" she softly asked, trying not to cough at the cigarette smoke filling the attorney conference room.

"What happened?" Diana's laughter was frightening. "I was run off the road by a skinny broad who resented the hell out of me, my relationship with Jack McCoy. Fast and dirty, but that was nothing new for Kincaid." She cocked an eyebrow at Jamie. "Did you hear about the schizophrenic she cut a deal with, only to have him slaughter four or so people a few months later? Rumor had it Adam Schiff tried to can her ass over that one, but Jack intervened. Jack." She sneered. "Of course she got knocked up, she knew he'd do the right thing, Jesuit boy that he was. He wanted another child like he wanted a case of the clap."

"I don't think it was like that." Jamie attempted reason. "From all I've heard, they really did love each other."

Gasoline on a fire, Jamie thought, as Diana pushed away from the table. "He might have loved fucking her, she was pretty enough, but trust me, if he ever loved anyone, it was me. Look, Jamie, I've had enough of your questions. Am I sorry Claire Kincaid is dead? Hell no. I'm delighted, and I take great pleasure in the idea of Jack McCoy suffering. She was a manipulating bitch. And if Jack McCoy is feeling pain over her loss, so much the better. I think I'll buy the guy that killed her a steak dinner when he gets out."

Jamie looked at her watch. It was five-thirty, the office quieter as people left for the day. She sighed. This had to be done. Dressler went on the stand in two days, and if this didn't make Jack see reason, nothing would. She picked up her legal pad and pen, and walked to his office, knocking as she opened the door.

Jack was at his desk, scribbling on a legal pad. He looked at her and dropped then pen. "What," he said, and leaned back in his chair, locking his hands behind his head.

"We need to talk," she said, and she sat in the chair he still thought of as Claire's. She crossed her legs, the pad resting on her knee. "Really talk."

"About what." He reached down, into the drawer she knew held his scotch.

She waited until he'd poured a glass, declining his offer of one. "Claire Kincaid," she said.

He stared at her, eyes hard, a tick in his jaw. "And why would I want to talk about Claire with you?"

"Because I think she's the reason you want to stick a needle in Dressler's arm, badly enough that you've committed several ethical violations." She glanced at her pad but held back. "Tell me about her, Jack."

His glare softened, and he sipped his drink. "What's to tell?"

"A lot, apparently."

He drew in on himself, throwing up walls. "I loved her," he said. "I will always love her. But that has nothing to do with this case."

"Doesn't it? Twelve months at Mt. McGregor, it wasn't enough, was it?"

He sighed. "No. He should have been charged with the baby's death, too…" his voice trailed off. "I'd be a father about now," he said, and she realized this wasn't his first drink of the day. She listened. "She was so excited, once she'd gotten used to the idea. We were going to name him Adam if it was a boy, "Margot for a girl, one of her best friends was named Margot." He looked away from Jamie. "She was a terrific lawyer and was only going to get better. You should have seen her in action."

"I've heard." Jamie struggled for the courage to bring up the things she suspected. "Do you think she'd approve of this vendetta of yours?"

He considered the question. "I think so. She hated drunk drivers." He shrugged a shoulder.
"But, to be truthful, she was anti-death penalty. And that," he said, drinking, "is why she died when you get down to it." He met Jamie's eyes. "You've been asking questions."

Of course he would hear about it, she thought, and shrugged.

"Questions that are none of your business."

"I need to understand a few things. Jack, I want you to listen to me, please, just listen and don't react until I'm finished."

"Go ahead." He poured more scotch.

"There's a possibility Claire's death was not an accident. Not only have I been talking to your friends and colleagues, but I've been to see Diana Hawthorne. She's gone off the deep end, and said a couple of things that got me thinking, asking more questions." She consulted her legal pad. "I think she had someone following Claire, I think it might have been that jogger she was seen with in Central Park that day. And that person waited until she left the bar and T-boned her, at Diana's orders."

"You're crazy. Baumgarten had nothing to do with Diana Hawthorne. Besides, Diana doesn't have it in her to do something like that."

"She represented him about a year before Claire died – I checked his file. He visited her several times at Bedford. She knew Claire was pregnant, and as you know, Baumgarten worked in the ME's office." She passed her legal pad across Jack's desk. "I don't think we can prove any of it, but it's possible it wasn't simply a drunk driver. What did Baumgarten blow?"

Jack frowned. "He was over the legal limit." He read Jamie's notes, his face growing red. Evidence of an internal struggle manifested on his face for several minutes before he finally looked up at Jamie. "I can't believe this. Diana was vindictive, certainly, but she couldn't have planned this. She was clever, but she never would have gone to these lengths on her own."

"I used to know her, Jack," Jamie said, "not when she worked with you, but after, when she was a successful defense attorney. I didn't even recognize her when she entered the visitor's room at Bedford – that's how much she's changed. I think she's capable of anything now… and, don't forget, she's done things like this before. Why else would she be in jail?"

Jack stood up from his seat, a bit unsteady on his feet as he paced around the room.

"How else would Diana have known Claire was pregnant if the nurse hadn't told her?" Jamie pressed on, taking his silence as permission to continue. "And was it merely coincidence that Baumgarten visited Diana several times in prison, the last visit occurring only a few days before…" she trailed off.

"But why would Baumgarten do it on purpose?" Jack asked. "What was in it for him? Why would he risk going back to jail for Diana?"

Jamie rummaged through her satchel, producing a thick file labeled "Hawthorne, Diana". Shuffling through the papers, she produced one which she then handed to Jack. He looked at it, then handed it back to her.

"Just tell me what it says – I don't have my glasses on."

Jamie put the paper back into the folder. "It lists the dates of Diana's conjugal visits," she stated calmly.

Jack looked at her in confusion. "But she wasn't married."

"No, she wasn't… but somehow she managed to arrange several for her and Baumgarten."

Jack collapsed on the couch. "So it is true," he said faintly. "I never would have thought…"

"It won't hold up in court, naturally," Jamie said. "It's all circumstantial. And I doubt if Baumgarten will testify. Even if he does, what jury will take him seriously? And Diana…"

"…won't testify either." Jack finished.

"She might be arrogant enough to accidentally confess," Jamie suggested.

Jack shook his head despondently. "She did that once – that's how she landed herself in jail. I doubt she'll do it again."

"It's worth a try, though, isn't it?"

He shrugged, taking another swig of his drink. As he stared into what remained of the amber liquid, Jamie quietly packed up her things.

"Good night, Jack," she said.

He did not look up from his glass as he said "good night" in response.