Chapter 8

Erin had just finished up a very frustrating meeting with a fellow ADA and was surprised to find her brother pacing the length of her office. "Hey. What are you doing here?" she asked.

Danny stopped in his tracks and turned to face his sister. "Hey," he greeted her, but quickly moved on to the reason he was here. "Wanted to see if you know what's going on with the Monroe case. Did you know they're gonna depose Jamie?"

Erin sighed and made her way to her desk, dropping the file she held in her hands onto the table top as she heavily in her chair. "Yeah. I just got done meeting with Dillard and he filled me in. Defense attorney didn't even run the subpoena through the department's court liaison like he should have. The schmuck had Jamie personally served yesterday. Dillard was raising holy hell with the guy for not following procedure and harassing a witness," she told him.

Danny sat in one of Erin's guest chairs. "This guy really planning on taking this to trial?" he asked.

"He's facing murder charges. He thinks he's got nothing to lose and his attorney's going all out," Erin answered. "We're still early in discovery. We'll know soon enough what direction they're planning to take this," she advised.

Danny's stared back at his sister in disbelief. "TARU got evidence off his computer that he was looking up 'kids' and 'hot cars' on search engines the day Aidan died and the kid had other injuries. The guy's guilty as hell," Danny argued.

"I know that, Danny," she confirmed. "And we expect he'll say that was purely coincidental in light of the similar case that's been in the news out in the Midwest and find someone else to blame for the rest."

"We can't let this guy get away with this," he said adamantly.

Erin slouched back in her chair, frustrated. She wanted nothing more than for Monroe to rot in jail, but she also wanted this trial to go away for her little brother's sake. "The only thing we need right now to nail him completely is hard proof of how long Aidan was left in that car, that it was a hell of a lot longer than the few minutes he claims. And knowing what he was doing will help too. Traffic and security cameras didn't get us anywhere in that area and we got nothing else to pinpoint his whereabouts and discredit his statement," she explained.

The same frustration was evident on Danny's face. "I know. He said he went to visit a friend and the guy wasn't home so he went right back to his car. We were able to confirm the friend was out of town, so that backed up that part of his story, but he must have gone somewhere. Jamie and the first officer on the scene smelled alcohol on him. He had to have gone somewhere to drink, we just haven't been able to place him any where that serves alcohol in that neighborhood."

"We find that and we got him," Erin said while eyeing her older brother.

Danny gave his sister a look of determination. "Baez and I will get back out there. I'll find that proof cause there's no way I'm letting that scumbag have any chance at walking."

Jamie and Frank arrived at the church about ten minutes before the start of Aidan's funeral service. They'd walked in quickly, ignoring the media and cameras that had set up shop across the street. Frank led Jamie up the center aisle and into a pew near the middle of the church, moving in just enough where Jamie sat at the end. Melissa Newman didn't have family in the city, but the church was almost full. All sorts of people had come out to pay their respects to Aidan despite never having met him or his mother.

Jamie looked to his left when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Danny and Erin entered their pew and sent him tight smiles as they settled in next to their father.

Soon enough, the opening hym began and the congregation stood as the priest led the processional down the aisle. Jamie's stomach clenched at the sight of Aidan's mother, Melissa, carrying a small earn and flanked by a few women her own age. Jamie had never met her, but she was younger than he expected; she didn't appear to be more than twenty-three or twenty-four. As she approached, her eyes met his, showing recognition within them. She gave him a soft, watery smile, Jamie's own eyes misting in return. He nodded subtly as she continued past him.

The funeral mass proceeded as any other with the blessings, prayers and readings that he, unfortunately, found all too familiar. Jamie closed his eyes during certain parts of the mass, centering himself in silent prayer. His father had been right. He'd never forget that day, but he needed to try to find peace in knowing he had done all he could to help that little boy, that Aidan Monroe would be laid to rest and that his death wasn't on him. He wasn't certain when both his head and his heart would come to understand that fully, but regardless, he'd help make sure there was justice for Aidan.

XxxxxxxX

Several weeks later...

"Hey, Dad."

Frank looked up from his laptop to find his daughter walking through the kitchen door and sent a smile her way.

"Hey, sweetheart," Frank replied, a soft smile gracong his face. "What are you doing here?"

Erin dropped her purse on the counter and made her way to the kitchen table. "Nicky's out with Jack and I didn't feel like going home to an empty apartment," she explained.

Frank studied his daughter. "Tough case?" he asked.

Erin smiled tentatively and sat down next to him. "You could say that," she confirmed. "Not really my case, though."

"Ah." Frank knew immediately by the look on her face what she was referring to. "Monroe."

Erin pursed her lips and nodded.

"Thought the DA said there were too many Reagans involved already?" Frank asked as he closed his laptop.

"He did. But I can't stay away," she replied.

"I know you can't," Frank acknowledged and slid his glass of scotch in her direction. "So what's going on?" he inquired.

Erin took a sip and stared at the glass. "Monroe and his attorney are really going full steam ahead against the murder charge," she revealed.

Frank leaned back in his chair. "What could possibly be his defense? Who knows what else he did to that boy in the short time he had him."

Erin's eyes shifted away from her father and she took a deep breath.

"What's really going on, Erin?" Frank asked as he removed his glasses.

"They're disputing the ME's findings," she shared. "Obviously, his first defense is that Aidan didn't die of heat stroke as a result of being left in the car because he didn't leave him long enough for that to happen, according to Monroe."

"How can they dispute that? He just mysteriously and suddenly dies?" Frank asked, astounded by that ridiculous defense.

"That's what he's claiming," Erin replied.

"Come again?"

"They're claiming that Aidan was a sickly child to begin with, that it's evidenced in his medical records and that contributed to his death, caused him to go into some sort of respiratory distress. They're even throwing SIDS in to the mix." Erin folded her hands in front of her as she tried to maintain control of her own emotions.

Frank was stunned. "That's a pretty creative defense," he said.

"They're grasping at straws, but they found an expert witness that will testify that everything described in the ME's report is also consistent with what they're claiming - the respiratory distress, elevated temperature and organ failure. They're also pointing to the fact that Aidan was premature, small for his size, that and the fact that he had recently gotten over a respiratory illness are also suspected factors of SIDS. They're going to try everything they can to plant a seed of doubt."

Frank shook his head. "Amazing how you can pay someone with a degree to say anything you need," he groused.

"But that's not the worst of it," she revealed, her voice low and dejected.

"Can this get any worse?" he shot back.

"It actually can," she confirmed. "They're claiming the bruising on Aidan's abdomen and the small laceration on his liver that the ME found is consistent with improperly administering CPR and that it contributed to his death. That but for the improper CPR performed by the first responder, Aidan could have been revived and he would not have suffered internal bleeding from the laceration that their expert claims contributed to his death."

"Son of a bitch," he whispered. "ME listed cause of death as heat stroke," he reiterated.

"I know, Dad. But they're also using the other injuries noted in the autopsy to spin their story," she replied.

"Your brother's coming to terms with all of this. He's been more himself the last several weeks, ever since the funeral. He even told me he felt okay after the deposition. Now Monroe's going to try to place the blame on him?"

Erin picked at the edge of a file her father had sitting next to his computer. "Dillard told me he was a little suspicious as to why they spent so much time questioning Jamie on the CPR he administered, but it wasn't until he received the report from their expert that he realized why."

Frank's jaw clenched and he breathed in deeply.

"Danny's been working non-stop trying to find everything on Monroe's whereabouts that day. We get that, we can discredit everything they're trying to claim," Erin said.

"Well, if I have to make sure he has every resource he needs to find it, so be it," Frank proclaimed with a slight edge to his voice. He didn't care if it looked improper to anyone, but he wasn't letting Brian Monroe turn the tables on his son so he could get away with murder.