Stressing News
Today was not a good day. It was Eric's first day back at work and in two days Jake Berkley would be an inmate at the Dade County jail. The Miami district attorney had managed to get Jake's extradition hearing moved up with the assistance of the Atlanta prosecutor. As expected, the former detective had promptly lost his motion at this morning's hearing and by Wednesday he would be back in Miami. Jake would be in "protective custody" in prison because of his law enforcement history but Eric wished that he would released to the general population for just a few hours so the state could save the cost of a trial. Eric knew just how Calleigh wanted to face Jake in court, especially after hearing Jake's proposed defense; it was all Chloe Delko's fault he did this.
This infuriated the whole team. How dare Jake blame a three-year-old for what he did? The judge ruling on his defense felt the same way.
"I refuse to let the defendant put the blame for his actions squarely on the shoulders of a child. Furthermore, I am limiting the mention of this child unless it directly relates to the events of the day in question. I am also banning all use of this child's name. Got it?
"Mr. Berkley can proceed with his defense if he so chooses but is forbidden to make any mention of Chloe Delko."
The judge knew Jake would have a difficult time with this defense with all the evidence the prosecutor had. The defense had tried to get nearly everything suppressed but because as Horatio put it, the crime was so "sloppy" all the evidence was ruled legally optioned and admissible.
Calleigh was feeling stressed on with the knowledge sometime on Wednesday Jake Berkley would be back in Miami, even if it was in the county jail. Her daughter was a good distraction. The two blew bubbles on the deck and Chloe showed her mom how she could build a sand castle. Later in the day Eric's parents and their daughter Paloma came over. The grandparents knew how bad Chloe wanted to go to the new "Big Cat" exhibit at the zoo. The two women hung out at the house while Pavel and Chlorinda took Chloe to the zoo. Daddy was just pulling into the driveway when they were getting back.
"Daddy! Daddy! I saw tigers and jaguars!" Chloe exclaimed, running up to Eric.
"You did?" Eric said, bending down to his daughter.
"Yeah! They were big!"
"I bet they were. Did you have fun?"
"Yeah. And I ate hotdogs, too."
"Sounds like you had a great day, sweetheart."
Eric was glad both his girls were able to have a good day and Calleigh was able to forget about Jake Berkley for just a little while.