'Vice, Mazzara.'

'Gil, it's Beckett. Got one here you're gonna want to see for yourself.'

'Oh yeah?'

Beckett heard him shift on his end of the phone and she knew he was probably sitting up straight now. Gil always propped his heels on his desk to think on a case that was giving him troubles. 'Is it a cross from one of yours?'

'Yeah, it is, and we've got her cooling her heels in Holding until her counsel gets here. I want you in the room when I talk to her.'

'You're not sending in the hippo?'

'Not this time. Carolina need's a woman's touch. But trust me, you want to see it. Interview Room C, ten minutes.'

'There better be RJ cookies.'

If Gil was bitching about snacks, Beckett knew she had him, and her timing couldn't have been better she realized as her communicator beeped. 'Beckett.'

'Counsel for Carolina Witt is here,' the officer in Holding informed her.

'Perfect have them brought to the Homicide floor, Interview Room C.'

'You got it, sir.'

Beckett sighed and had a look over where Adam and Watkins were still pouring over financial files; they'd been able to sweet-talk Fuqua into a temporary release of Carolina's information since they had evidence of her gross misconduct with a minor student and she left them to it, headed into the Interview room. She wanted to be there before she

When her cellphone went off, she saw the call was from home and she answered it with a warm but brisk, 'Talk fast, Rick

'It Sho-sho, Mumum! I haffa question, way fas'.'

'Okay, bumblebee, make it fast. Mumum has to interview a bad guy soon.'

'O-kay! I buh-ring Bib on-a puh-lane? O' he be in my soo-case?' Jojo sounded concerned for her beloved stuffed caterpillar's well-being. 'He no like bein' 'lone in-a dark. He nee' me sing 'im songs an' say it be o-kay.'

'No, he can come on the plane in your bag, sweetie. That's all?'

'That all! Go cash baddies, Mumum! Love you!'

'Love you too Jojo,' Beckett laughed, then hung up, got her game face on. It wasn't too hard considering how much shit Carolina Witt was in. The woman aghast in her at hte idea she was juggling three lovers with so little compunction about it wanted to point and laugh at the predicament she was in. The cop in her saw a situation ripe with motive to off one of those lovers.

The door opened and Carolina came in with her lawyer, another woman with caramel skin and almond eyes Beckett recognized as top defense attorney Hasina Shiriqui; she wore a suit of discreet charcoal grey and her leather briefcase was monogrammed in silver.

'Counselor,' she greeted her.

'Detective.' Hasina sat down and flipped open her briefcase. 'Let's get started on this matter so we can resolve it quickly. My client is ready to answer all questions I deem appropriate.'

'In a moment.' Beckett looked over and indulged herself a small smile when she saw Gil come in. 'This is Detective Gil Mazzara from Vice. I've asked him to sit in on this matter.'

'I'm not a crackhead,' Carolina pointed out.

'No but he also oversees what you'd call morality crimes. Having an affair with a student who is also a minor would fit that bill.'

'A moment please, Detective.' Hasina leaned over to whisper something to Carolina, and they both nodded. 'As per the request of my client, we are not going to be discussing the matter of her personal indiscretion. We are here to off

'Personal indiscretion,' Gil repeated incredulously. 'The last time I checked, sex with a minor is called statutory rape, not a personal indiscretion.'

'I never forced myself on Farley,' Carolina said with amazing haughtiness; she actually tossed her hair and gave Gil a look. 'It was completely consensual.'

'Did you miss the part where I said 'sex with a minor is statutory rape' ? It doesn't matter if you trussed him up like a Thanksgiving turkey, or if you asked him to eat raspberry jam out of your belly button before he spanked you with a spatula. You took advantage of someone legally still a child in the eyes of the law and that makes you a predator.'

'Not exactly the 'how did you meet daddy' story any kid really wants to hear is it? Not to mention the fact you are both still legally married and the third party named in a divorce case as the reason for the marriage's breakdown,' Beckett said, and she got great satisfaction watching a muscle in Gil's jaw work. If Homicide had seen it all, Vice yawned after seeing it twice and it took a fair bit to surprise the well-seasoned Italian. 'If you'll forgive my language Counselor, your client is, for lack of a better word, fucked.'

'What does any of this have to do with Wayne's death?' Carolina snotted off.

'Oh, that's an easy one and you're forgetting I already mentioned it at the school. Wayne found out that you were banging one of the boys from last year's senior class, threatened to report you so you took care of it.'

'No, I didn't!'

Beckett gave a petulant little shrug she knew would push Carolina over the edge. 'Says the woman juggling three men.'

'Wayne never knew about Farley, he didn't even know I was pregnant or else he wouldn't have gotten me off with a quickie in the equipment room yesterday morning,' Carolina hollered vehemently, then huffed out a breath to compose herself. 'Wayne and I had decided to cool things a little while he was going through his divorce, when things were starting to get ugly. It wasn't going to look good if we were out on the town while his ex was call us very unflattering names.'

'And Farley?'

'Come on, Detective.' Carolina actually winked a little at her. 'You can't tell me there hasn't been a time in your life when you've been bored of your husband and wanted a little fun, right?'

'Bored? Do you even know who Richard Castle is?'

'Should I?'

'That aside,' Beckett continued, 'how did no-one notice that you and Farley had gone off somewhere private?'

'Farley broke up a little pushy-shovy between two girls, got his lip bloodied for it. I took him back to my suite and once I got him cleaned up, we fucked like wild rabbits. Every which way but loose.'

Beckett didn't have to look over to know that Gil's face shared her own sick disgust. They'd both dealt with predators before, but for some reason, this woman really took the cake. 'Which got you into your current plus-one state?'

'I have no idea what I'm going to do about it,' Carolina sighed. 'My husband is fixed, Wayne never knew and it can't be his because the baby will come out white as Fluffer-Nutter.'

'Have you thought about your husband? Or Ashley?'

'I haven't even thought of what I'll tell my husband, but...why would I think about Ashley? It's not her business.'

The sickness in Becket's gut turned to rage, the kind of rage only a true mother could feel. She carried that girl, so scared and yet so brave, in her body for nine months. She brought her into the world and it was her job to protect her, not dismiss her so casually out of turn. Beckett had wanted to hold onto the ace a lot longer than this but she knew she had to step up and give the girl back

'Your daughter knew you were cheating on her father, Carolina, for almost a year. She heard you and Wayne at your place on New Year's Eve,' she told her with barely controlled contempt, 'heard you moaning and writhing around with your lover, begging him to use his tongue on you, and then entering you from behind. You want to know why Ashley brought me the pregnancy test and the box? Because between the two of you, she's the only one who knows what you're doing is completely wrong.'

She rose and stared at Carolina. 'You may be in the clear for murder but from where I'm standing, and where Detective Mazzara is standing, you're not walking out of this precinct unless it's into county lockup.'

'My daughter is a spoiled brat who stamps her feet and asks her daddy to give her everything.'

'Could be worse,' Beckett said with a simple shrug. 'She could be like you.'