The New Year was a time for change for everyone.

Trevor Langan returned to his firm, energized and ready to bring it up to the caliber he knew it could reach. He was ready to resume his role as managing partner; he would oversee their attorney underlings while Henshall would focus more on the operational side, taxes, rent, non-legal staff, and endorsements.

Trevor was to win for their clients, and Henshall was to make sure they could pay the bills.

Right away, Trevor promulgated new standards for their lawyers. "After reviewing the firm's work over the last two years," Trevor started. "I found that the number of hours we are billing as gone up, but the actual work we have produced has gone down."

We are in a competitive market.

"This is unacceptable. Clients will leave us and go elsewhere if they find out they can get more for less with another firm. I know first hand that it is a skill of its own to bill hours properly, so for the junior associates, I have drafted a standard for hours, detailing how many hours one should bill for an assignment. If you get it done faster, great. If it takes longer than expected, then I expect you to document why you should be billing at a higher rate than the norm."

Trevor also thought this would help for people who forget to log their hours right away. It would help keep their reporting accurate.

If this wasn't bad enough, there was more. "I'm also dissatisfied with the resolution of our cases, particularly the criminal ones." Their win rate against SVU went down notably after his coma. Alex moved up the ladder. They shouldn't be doing so poorly. "No one is going to pay us a lot of money just to lose." They were also settling more, likely because of their worse win rate.

Trevor expected better work product, stronger motions, better trial prep, anything to get them winning again.

The culture of the firm had been work hard play hard when Trevor founded it. This quickly shifted to what's work, play harder after Trevor's accident. Henshall didn't really notice because clients kept paying. From his perspective, everything was fine.

Langan promulgated standards for his firm to follow and he would be overseeing their work more closely until he got the quality of work he expected all the time.

"You're all dismissed."

There was a collective groan, but it stayed silent. The good ol' days were gone.

"Man, you really tore into them," Henshall told him.

"Their work just hasn't been up to par. I'm not their mother. I don't sugar coat things for them." We pay them good money to do the work, so they need to shut the fuck up and do it.

Trevor was determined to get his firm back in order, and if he had to trim the fat, then so be it.

Trevor wasn't the only one who had to clean house. Alex had some work to do with SVU. Jim Steele caused a mistrial by not disclosing relevant evidence under the Brady rules.

Branch was furious and Donnelly had to make sure that Alex's managerial skills were not slipping.

"How on Earth did this happen?" Donnelly didn't want any bullshit. She wanted the truth, whatever it was.

"I'm not sure," Alex admitted. "I had no idea that the DNA results were inconclusive."

"It wasn't in his report?"

Alex shook her head. "I have the report that he handed me." Alex turned it over. It listed the evidence they had and nowhere were DNA results listed. "I believed that no DNA had been recovered."

When Liz checked Jim's online file, the DNA results were there but … "this document was modified two days ago. When did you get this report?"

"Two weeks ago."

Of course, Jim tried to cover his tracks, so he could lay the blame somewhere else. "What do you think we should do?"

"We should give Jim the chance to turn himself into the bar, but if he doesn't, then we have to report him."

"And about his job position?"

"Immediate suspension and I would recommend termination. He already received one verbal warning about his attitude, and he got a written warning about his job performance. He's out of excuses at this point."

"Branch wants me to ensure this won't happen again. Any suggestions?"

"I'm one person Liz. I can review the work that my ADAs do, but I'm not in the precinct with them. I wouldn't know if they were hiding the ball."

"There has to be a second check." Liz didn't have time to do it either.

"What if I had a Deputy Bureau Chief? Someone's who was paid a little extra and tasked with issue spotting?"

"Anyone you trust to do that?"

"Actually there is."

When Casey got called into Alex's office, she assumed it was trouble. Everyone knew Jim was in the hot seat.

"Whatever Steele did I know nothing about it," Casey pled her case.

"The only one who is in trouble is Steele. I'm here to discuss a potential promotion with you."

Alex explained what Jim did, the concerns Branch had that it could happen again, and what Alex's proposed solution to it was. "You'd be my second in command, and would be the one to take my place if I was absent. It would be your job to make sure that the evidence that the police collect is accounted for in the case files." This would ensure that the ADAs didn't forget anything and that they didn't hide anything.

"So I'm the babysitter?"

"You're more like the safety net. I'll also be overseeing their work, but you will have a very narrow focus."

For the added work, Casey would be entitled to a raise and some extra vacation days, not that she took all of the ones that she had.

"One thing, if you do take this promotion, I insist you take a week off this summer. Seriously, I don't care if you stay in your apartment and eat pork rinds all week, you need a break."

"When you put it that way, how could I resist?"

Casey ultimately took the promotion and Jim was suspended indefinitely. Donnelly was the one to issue the notice.

"You have a week to report yourself to the bar. If you don't, I will have to file the complaint myself, and I guarantee you, my word choice will be less kind to you than what you could write yourself.

You don't have to let this one mistake ruin your life, but it will if you don't learn to pull your head out of your ass. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good, now get on with it."

He didn't say a word to anyone as he packed up his desk and left. He was out of here and he knew it.

Alex just thought it was a waste. He was a good ADA, before he let the jealousy get to him. It's an ugly trait.

In an alley on W30st, a black and white car rocked back and forth.

"Faster," she growled.

"You're so impatient."

"We do have to get back to work."

Elliot grunted. They didn't have a case right now, for once.

Two more minutes, and they were both out of breath.

"You popped one of my buttons."

"Sorry," he grumbled.

"No you're not."

"Yeah, you're right." He wasn't going to handle her with kid gloves. She knew what she was getting into.

They rode in silence as they went back to the precinct. This was just about sex. No need to tell the spouses. No need to let feelings get involved.

Dani freshened up in the bathroom before returning to her desk.

When she got there, Casey was waiting for them.

"I have not so good news for you."

"What's going on?" Munch questioned.

"Jim's case ended in a mistrial because he withheld key evidence from the defense. Branch decided not to re-file charges."

"They're going to get away with it," Elliot snapped.

"He doesn't think we can get a conviction or that the damage to the office's reputation will be worth it."

"What's happening to Steele?"

"He's been suspended indefinitely, likely will be fired, and he has to answer to the bar."

Cragen just got news of Casey's promotion. "Congratulations Casey."

"What?" Fin questioned.

"Alex made me her deputy. It's my job to make sure what Steele did doesn't happen again. I will be overseeing the work of all of the ADAs."

"Isn't that her job?" Elliot questioned.

"It's her job to supervise their case theories and their trial work. None of the Bureau Chiefs had double-checked to make sure their ADAs weren't hiding evidence. We thought it was a given."

Alex was disappointed with the outcome. She wondered if she should have followed her gut and recommended Jim be fired earlier. She never would have guessed he'd do something like this.

"Do you think I made a mistake?" Alex asked Olivia over dinner.

"For what?"

"Not firing Jim before he did this."

"He had a bad attitude and was a bit lazy. That's a far stretch from ignoring unfavorable DNA results."

"I know but …"

"You hold yourself to too high of a standard and then blame yourself for not reaching it. This wasn't your fault, Babe."

"Thanks Liv." Sometimes, she just needs to hear something simple to cut through the overthinking.

She hoped someone made these scumbags pay eventually, but unfortunately, it would not be today.

Three days later

Thomas Crane was watching his television when he heard a noise.

Probably a raccoon

He ignored it and continued to watch. Little did he know, Bill O'Reilly was the last thing he would ever see.

A bullet pierced through the window, striking him in the head before he could react to the glass shattering.

The killer calmly picked up the casing, walked to the next block, got in a car, and left the scene.

15 minutes later, a patrolman was dispatched to the scene. He rang the bell and there was no answer, so he crept to the side of the house where he looked through shattered glass and saw a man slumped in his chair.

"Request for back up. It looks like a homicide." You never knew with these gunshot call-ins.

When the body was identified as Thomas Crane, the cop who allegedly got away with raping and murdering a ten-year-old girl, two clear suspects emerged, the girl's father and the officers of the 1-6.

The next morning

"Crane died instantly," Dr. Warner concluded after she did the autopsy. "He was shot from about 15 feet away, which is congruent being shot through the window. I found tiny bits of glass imbedded into the skull."

Tucker had a smirk on his face. "What can you tell me about the gun?"

"It's a 9mm. I sent the slug to ballistics. They should be able to tell you more."

"Time of death."

"About 10:15PM last night, which I believe is when the gunshot was reported." She usually didn't get deaths so fresh.

"Anything else that you think is notable."

"Whoever shot him was a good shot."

He sighed. Time to find his favorite officers at the 1-6.

Fin was at his desk as was Chester Lake. Munch was on loan to the FBI and was in Quantico.

Elliot and Dani had yet to arrive to work.

"Where are Benson and Stabler?" They were the hotheads.

Fin frowned in confusion. "Benson's with Computer Crimes and Stabler's not here yet."

"She's not on SVU anymore?"

"You don't get out much, do you?"

He went down to Computer Crimes where she was typing away.

"What made you leave SVU?"

She cringed when she heard Tucker's voice. "It's only temporary. I'll be back in July."

It was only when he came around the desk that he realized, "You're pregnant."

"Don't tell me you want to make an IAB case out of it."

He showed his smarmy grin. "Thomas Crane was murdered last night."

"Who?" She knew who he was, but she didn't know why he was bothering her.

"He was an officer accused of raping and murdering a 10 year old girl. The DA recently decided not to re-file charges against him."

"Oh, and let me guess, you're going to keep bothering everyone from the 1-6 until someone else solves the crime."

"Where were you last night at 10:15?"

"You're kidding. I'm tired, bloated, and hate standing up, so unless I could have killed him from this wheelie chair, you're barking up the wrong tree."

He rolled his eyes. "It was a simple question."

"Fine, I was at home, underneath my wife, and she'll verify that."

Olivia went right back to typing. This guy is nuts.

Elliot and Dani had just come in when Tucker was there.

"Oh great," Elliot sighed.

"Who is this?"

"Lt. Tucker, IAB."

"EW!"

Elliot laughed. "Whatever that perp says, I didn't punch him."

"Crane's not saying anything. He's dead!"

Elliot hadn't noticed. He didn't read the morning paper. "I didn't do it."

"Where were you last night?"

"When?"

"Why don't you account for the whole evening?"

"Well, I was here until 6:30, went home, had dinner with my family a little after 7:00 and I stayed there for the rest of the night."

"And you?"

"I left here maybe 10 minutes after Elliot, and then I went home to my husband and we went bowling last night. The place has cameras in the parking lot."

Fin was watching basketball that night.

That left Chester Lake.

"Were you with anyone?"

"No. I live alone."

"I went to the gym and then I came home and took a shower."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"The gym, yes. The shower at home, no."

No alibi is not a basis to arrest either man, but Tucker would be back.

Ballistics came back with a match. The gun was used in an unsolved homicide two years prior.

It had been reported stolen three years prior and then used in a fateful mugging a year later.

"According to the record," Tucker read, the killer dumped the gun in a dumpster two blocks away. It was found by dumpster divers.

He went to the evidence locker, and the gun was gone. "It was definitely a cop."

Of course, Elliot had been in the evidence locker recently.

"What were you doing in there?"

"Getting evidence."

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Why?"

"Because Casey told me to. She had to compare everything we had with whatever was in her case file."

Casey confirmed his story. "After the Crane debacle, we have to have an accounting for every piece of evidence and what condition it is in. What's in the box must be accounted for in the ADA's case theory, and it's now my job to make sure nothing is hidden or misrepresented.

I needed a template to work from, so I asked Elliot to get all of the evidence out from our most recent case and started there."

Elliot could have grabbed the gun then, it would have been convenient, but the man at the storage didn't remember Elliot going anywhere other than for that box.

"The gun was on the other side of the unit. I don't think Elliot was over there."

Another roadblock, but Tucker wouldn't get up. He'd catch his man, somehow.