MCS, 1PP, NY

Thursday, May 22

Alex and Bobby stood in the hallway outside the interrogation rooms, waiting for Captain Ross and Assistant District Attorney Whitney to arrive. Inside one room she could see Ron Winter and his lawyer. Ron sat at the table, staring blankly ahead, while the lawyer paced around the room.

She craned her neck to peek into the other room: Ben Beldsen and his lawyer, a woman, were engrossed in an animated conversation.

Beldsen hadn't seemed surprised when the detectives returned to his store earlier in the afternoon, brandishing the video cassette which showed him and Ron Winter talking for ten minutes at the Chinese restaurant. He'd refused to explain, even when they arrested him and put him in handcuffs.

"You want to do this together," Bobby asked, rifling through the papers in his leather binder, "or split up?" He grinned at Alex and tapped his injured forehead. The cut had scabbed over, and the area around it had darkened to shades of purple. "If Beldsen won't talk," he said, "I can keep touching this bruise - you know, even scratch it a little to make it bleed again..."

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, that could be fun." She jutted her chin toward the first room. "Ron's lawyer is telling him to keep his mouth shut, I guarantee. Let's do Beldsen first – that way, when we talk to Ron..."

Bobby nodded. "We can confront him with what he and Beldsen..." He paused, looking past Alex out into the squad room. "...uh, what they discussed at the Chinese restaurant."

Alex glanced over her shoulder. Captain Ross and ADA Whitney were walking in their direction. She and Bobby stood side by side as the two men joined them.

"So," Ross said, "they're both lawyered up?" He glanced into each of the interrogations rooms.

"Yes, sir," Alex replied.

"I understand why Winter's here," Whitney said, "but what about Beldsen? Do I have a reason to charge him?"

Ross asked, "Do you think Beldsen caused the other shutdowns?" He looked back and forth between his detectives.

Bobby shook his head. "He is involved, but not with the shutdowns."

"He lied to us about his association with Ron," Alex said.

"If it's not Beldsen," Ross asked, "then who?"

"At first we wondered if Ron used his son's iPhone for the fourth and fifth shutdowns," Alex said.

"...but Rick's phone doesn't have the security app," Bobby said.

"Wait a minute," Whitney said. "The search warrant didn't cover the son's phone. How did you..?"

"Rick showed it to me," Bobby said, shrugging. "I asked."

"His mother was right there with him," Alex added.

Whitney seemed to be winding up to scold them, but to Alex's relief Ross held up a hand to stop him. Ross said, "So, I assume you have a theory about those other shutdowns?"

"Yes, sir," Alex said, looking up at her partner, and then at the Captain. "We're going to talk to Mr. Beldsen first. If you and Mr. Whitney are ready..." She indicated the observation room.

Bobby held the door for Alex, and she strolled into the interrogation room. Once inside, Alex took the nearest chair, with her back to the mirror. She made a show of checking the contents of the folder she'd brought with her.

Bobby dropped his binder on the table on his way to the far corner of the room, but he stopped abruptly and came back to Alex's side. He bent to whisper, cupping a hand to her ear. "I think I'll make your mom's chicken recipe on Wednesday. You like?"

Alex had been browsing through the folder, but snapped her eyes onto Ben Beldsen as her partner spoke. This was one of their regular tricks, meant to put a suspect off balance. She'd learned to steel her expression; today she needed all her self control to keep a serious face. Bobby had never flirted with her in these situations.

She slowly turned to Bobby – his nose was only a couple inches away – and nodded solemnly.

He proceeded to the corner, crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall – that was his signal for Alex to take the first questions.

Alex took a moment to breathe deeply. As she often did at the start of an interrogation, she felt a surge of eagerness. She didn't take that feeling for granted these days. She appreciated the gift of working in harmony with her partner to draw information out of their suspect. His flirtation added an extra element of excitement. With a final glance at Bobby, she began.

"Mr. Beldsen," she said, "are you ready to tell us why, less than an hour before Robert Winter was murdered, you met with Ron Winter at the Lucky Star restaurant, and why you failed to mention this meeting to us when we first spoke to you?"

She selected some full-page photographs and slid them across the table. They were frames from the restaurant video, and showed the two men deep in conversation.

"I didn't have anything to do with that murder!" Beldsen said.

He'd lost his swagger. He coughed and fidgeted with his collar. Alex guessed the lawyer had advised him to come clean. She could tell he was watching Bobby in the mirror – and she noted with amusement that Bobby had turned so that Beldsen would get the best view of his head wound.

Alex wasn't going to let Beldsen stall. She slapped her palms on the table and leaned forward, forcing him to face her squarely. "This is your one chance to talk. If you have nothing to say-"

"I'll tell you!" Beldsen said. His face was growing red, so she knew he was upset – thus more likely to speak the truth.

"Fine," she replied. She leaned back in her chair and held out her hands, inviting Beldsen to proceed.

"Okay, so I told you I saw Ron at the organics promotion last year," Beldsen said. "That was when he mentioned the Brooklyn property."

"What else did he mention?" Bobby asked. His voice was quiet, but Beldsen tensed up, twisting to look over his shoulder at him.

"He, uh, he'd been drinking," Beldsen said.

"We know," Alex said. She lightly rapped the table to bring Beldsen back around to face her. "He told you he didn't want the second store?"

"Not in so many words, but yeah, that was my impression," Beldsen said, loosening his tie, and once again looking in the mirror at Bobby, who chose that moment to rub a finger over his cut. Beldsen cleared his throat and said, "At the time I took it to mean he wished I'd get in on that property first – the easy way out for him, you know? That way he wouldn't have to tell his father anything."

"But you didn't get it first," Alex said.

Beldsen shook his head. "I shouldn't have been surprised. By that time it was practically a done deal with his father. As usual, Ronnie put off doing anything until it was too late."

Alex glanced over at her partner: he was nodding. His theory of Ron the Passive-Aggressive was being validated.

"How long was it until you suggested that he sell you his share in Winter Market?" Bobby asked.

Beldsen's eyes opened wide. "How did-?" He sighed loudly and pressed his fingers on the sides of his head, running them back into his hair.

The lawyer touched Beldsen's arm, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. He didn't look at her, but he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Yes. I did offer to buy him out," Beldsen said, "but that was later, after the law suit. He followed me into that Chinese restaurant one day, and tried to make it look like a coincidence."

"So you offered, and Ron agreed, just like that?" Alex asked.

"No. I offered, but it took him a while to make up his mind," Beldsen said. "And it took him even longer to build up the nerve to talk to his father."

"Was he going to do that on Monday after you two met?" Bobby asked.

"He said he was."

"Why?" Bobby emerged from the dimly lit corner. He sat on the edge of the table, slid close to Beldsen and leaned down. "Did you give him an ultimatum?"

Beldsen snorted. "I gave him an ultimatum practically every time we talked – but I wasn't holding my breath. I mean, I told you I've started looking at other properties for sale, because I can't wait around for Ronnie to grow a spine."

Alex leaned back again and said, "Why didn't you tell us this the other day?"

"I know it looks bad for Ronnie," Beldsen said, "but I don't believe he did it." He sat up straight and faced Alex with confidence. "He wasn't angry at his father. He just wanted an easy way out."

"Did you talk with him about the security system problems at his new store?" Bobby asked.

"No, I didn't know anything about that until I saw in the news."

"One more thing," Bobby said. "Could you, uh, show us your cell phone?"

Beldsen frowned, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a flip-phone – not an iPhone.

"Does it have any special features?" Bobby asked.

"Umm, there are a couple games my son likes to play," Beldsen replied. "It has an alarm clock – that's about it."

The lawyer spoke up. "My client has been cooperative, Detectives. He's done nothing wrong here. Are we done?"

Bobby twisted to look at Alex for a long moment. His chin dipped slightly, and she understood. That tiny nod was their private conversation, and she turned back to Beldsen.

"Excuse us," she said, closing the folder.

Captain Ross and ADA Whitney were watching Ron Winter and his lawyer through the two-way mirror as Alex and Bobby entered the observation room.

"So," Ross said, "we're looking at... involuntary manslaughter? Ron Winter stole the money from the safe and then accidentally killed his father?"

"Umm..." Alex said, turning toward her partner.

"The thing is," Bobby said, "someone else is involved – those other shutdowns weren't caused by Ron."

"Who?" Whitney rested his fists on his hips. "Who is this mystery person?" he asked.

Bobby pointed at the mirror. "Ron knows." He turned to look at Alex. "Eames figured it out."

Alex briefly met his glance, thanking him silently for giving her credit for the idea – but she believed that partners share both bad and good.

She shook her head slightly as she said, "The question occurred to us: how did Ron even know to try a smart phone app? We know that Alonzo Matthews at Safety Shield mentioned to the Winters that the beta software existed. However, at the same meeting he also emphasized that the app wouldn't be available until July or later."

"As far as Ron knew – officially," Bobby said, "it wasn't possible."

"But unofficially...?" Ross said, letting a small smile show. He crossed his arms on his chest.

"Exactly," Alex said. "Someone from Safety Shield gave him a hint about off-the-shelf apps, and watched him crash the system three times."

"And then did it twice himself," Bobby added.

"But your test proved that Ron Winter's phone caused the final shutdown," Whitney said. "It doesn't matter if someone else caused an earlier one."

"No, see," said Alex, "We're only sure that Ron's phone set off the alarm on the night of the murder."

Whitney frowned. "Isn't that what I just said?"

Bobby shook his head. "In the test we did this afternoon, there's no trace at all of the initial command that turns off the systems." He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. "Ready, Eames?"

Inside the interrogation room, Bobby held the chair for Alex, but he'd barely sat down next to her when he popped right back up.

"Just a minute. I need..." he said, talking over his shoulder as he yanked the door open and disappeared.

Alex calmly looked back and forth between Ron and his lawyer. Ron seemed numb, but the lawyer frowned. He said, "Really, Detective, if you're going to-"

The door swung open in a rush as Bobby returned, holding an evidence box. He dropped back into the chair beside Alex and set the box on the floor beside him.

Bobby took his time – he poked around in the box for a while, then straightened papers in his binder. Alex waited for him to begin – it was his turn to steer the interrogation, and she was enjoying the ride so far.

The lawyer tried his complaint again. "My client has been-" He stopped mid-sentence as Bobby raised a finger – practically in the man's face - while perusing his notes.

"Your client hasn't been truthful with us," Bobby said, still not looking at either man. He laid his pen on top of his binder, stretched his neck to the left and right, and finally looked straight at Ron.

"So Ron," he said, "it's not looking good for you. Do you want to tell us what you did, or should we tell you?"

Ron's eyes flicked to the side, looking to his lawyer for direction.

"Because we have a lot to tell you," Bobby continued. He seemed full of energy – Alex guessed he was on the same adrenaline high that she was feeling. He paused for about two seconds, and then said, "No? You sure? Okay then, I'll go first."

Bobby reached into the box and drew out a street map of Queens and Brooklyn. There were red pen marks scattered through the boroughs. He laid it on the table so it was right side up for Ron.

"It was a good idea," Bobby said, "turning off the GPS in your car. You didn't want us tracking you." He waved his pen. "But you forgot that your cell phone sends out signals to connect to the nearest cell tower. That's as good as a GPS. See these dots? These are all the cell towers your phone connected to on Monday after five-thirty." Bobby's pen came down on a red dot. "This one here is close to your Queens store."

"And to Ben Beldsen's store," Alex added.

"And," Bobby said, "to the Lucky Star restaurant. You were there until five forty-five on Monday."

Alex saw the muscles in Ron's jaw clench.

The lawyer snorted. "You're grasping at straws, Detectives. Mr. Winter could have been anywhere within a mile of that tower. You have no way of knowing..." Once again he was interrupted by Bobby's raised finger. He huffed in annoyance.

"Oh," Bobby said, "we have a way." With a flourish he pulled a VCR cassette out of the evidence box. He pointed to the corner of the room, where a wheeled cart with a TV and VCR sat. He rose, pushed the tape into the player and picked up the remote control.

Bobby dragged his chair around the table so that he was beside Ron. "Let's watch," Bobby said. On the screen they saw a view of the Chinese restaurant's interior. Two men sat across from each other at a tiny booth. The one facing the camera was easy to recognize: Ron.

"The tape is from Monday," Alex said. "Ben Beldsen already told us he's the other man at the table. He said you talked about selling him your share of Winter Market."

Alex watched Ron's reaction: his breathing rate increased and his eyes were riveted to the TV screen.

Bobby paused the tape after a couple minutes. He scooted his chair closer to Ron, and reached for his pen and the map. "You told us you were home," Bobby said, "watching the news on TV - but look..." His pen traced a line through a series of red dots. "After you left the restaurant you went to Brooklyn – to Park Slope, in fact. See this tower here?" Bobby looked up to make sure Ron was watching. "This one is close to your new store."

"Shall we go on?" Alex asked. "You didn't get home to Middle Village until just before seven."

Bobby added, "You instructed Mr. Delacruz to call you, and you told him you were at home, but you were..." He traced a line on the map. "...somewhere on the BQE. That's not a very good way to establish an alibi, Ronnie."

"And then there's the state of your finances," Alex said. "Seventy-five hundred cash from the new store's safe would come in very handy, what with all the patio furniture you've been buying lately."

"What? No!" Ron said. His face was pale, and Alex saw a sheen of sweat forming on his forehead.

"We haven't even gotten to the good part," Bobby said.

He jumped up to retrieve the box, and dangled an evidence bag containing Ron's iPhone. "All those mysterious, untraceable shutdowns, screwing up security at the new store..."

"But guess what?" Alex said, smiling at Ron. "We found a way to trace them after all – to your phone."

The lawyer pressed Ron's arm and whispered into his ear. Alex exchanged a quick glance with Bobby – he was calm on the outside, but she could tell he was running full speed internally.

Alex continued, "Like my partner said, it's not looking good for you. If a jury is asked to connect these dots, they're going to say you shut down the security system so you could take the cash, and killed your father when he discovered you there."

"No!"

"You thought your father had gone home," Bobby said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the mirror. "You called him from the road, and he said he was about to leave. You thought the coast was clear, but... surprise!"

"You shouldn't have been surprised, Ronnie." Alex added. "He usually worked late, unlike you."

Bobby said, "When he realized what you'd done... Well, he must have been furious. His own son, his business partner, causing havoc with the new store and then stealing..."

"No, nothing like that," Ron said. He looked like he might faint.

"He shoved you, didn't he," Bobby continued. "And you lost your temper and shoved him back. Then you just stood there, watching him bleed out and die."

"I didn't, I swear!" Ron said. "I never hurt my father!"

"No?" Bobby placed both hands on the table and leaned close to Ron. "Then," he said, "why don't you tell us what did happen when you got to the store?"

Ron wiped a hand across his face. The lawyer tried to whisper again, but Ron pushed him away. "Yes, I was there – but I didn't kill my father!"