MCS, 1PP, NY

Thursday, May 22

Ron Winter seemed to relax slightly once he'd agreed to tell the truth. Alex shared a quick glance with her partner – they'd reached a point where things could start moving very quickly. If, as they expected, Ron revealed that someone inside Safety Shield was involved, they'd need to find that person in a hurry - before he realized he was in trouble.

"I, I," Ron said, and sighed heavily. "I don't even know where to start."

Bobby now spoke more soothingly. He sat down next to Ron. "Let's start with Monday, when you left work."

"Okay, yeah, I met with Ben Beldsen. I've been talking to him lately."

"You want out of the grocery business?" Alex asked.

"Do I want out? No," Ron replied. "Well, maybe - I haven't really decided. But Ben keeps holding that stupid law suit over my head – as though it was my fault!"

"So you talked to Ben," Bobby said, shrugging. "You thought about his offer. No harm in that."

"Of course not," Ron said.

"And after your meeting with him on Monday, you decided to tell your father what you were considering," Bobby said.

"Yes, right," Ron said. "It was only an idea – nothing final."

"Instead of going home," Bobby said, "you headed to Brooklyn. You called your father – did you tell him about Beldsen?"

"No, only that I was coming."

"And the call from Delacruz?" Alex said. "Why did you ask him to do that?"

Ron shook his head. "I had this suspicion he knew what was going on with me and Beldsen, so..."

"It was to convince him that everything was normal?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"What happened when you got to the store?" Alex asked. She leaned forward in anticipation, and noticed that Bobby did the exact same thing. "What entrance did you use?"

"The loading dock, in back. Oh, God... he was – he was lying there... There was blood all over!"

"You went over to him?" Bobby asked. "To see if he was alive?"

Ron covered his face. "Yes, but he... He was gone. It was so awful!"

"Why didn't you call 911 right away?" Alex asked.

Ron wiped at his eyes. "I don't know why I thought of it, but I looked up at the security camera: it was off – the light was off. I knew it was another security failure, and... I panicked."

"Why?" Bobby asked. He laid a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Did you use the All-Safe app before you got there?"

Ron shook his head.

"Then you didn't cause it," Bobby said.

"No, I did! I downloaded that app a couple weeks ago..."

"We know," Alex said. "You were shutting down the whole security system."

"I stopped, I swear I did!" Ron said. He looked devastated. "But it kept happening - somehow I was still causing it. I have no idea how, but because of that, someone got in and... and killed my father."

"Who?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," Ron replied. "I didn't see anyone."

Bobby slowly rose and wandered to the corner behind Ron. He rubbed his chin with finger and thumb. "You've kept this all to yourself. You couldn't tell anyone about it."

Ron shook his head, and then covered his face again. The lawyer handed him a tissue.

Bobby continued, "That's a heavy load of guilt to carry around. I think we can help to lighten that load – if you're willing to tell us the complete truth now."

Ron wiped his eyes and looked at Alex. "What will happen to me?" he asked.

"That depends on what you've done," Alex replied. "Let's get back to Monday. Did you touch anything in the store?"

"No. Well, I grabbed a couple of wipes for my hands, and for where I touched the, the blood, but that's it – nothing else."

"Did you go into the office?" Bobby asked. "Anywhere else in the store?"

"No, I went right out - by the back door."

"Was the parking lot empty?" Bobby asked.

"Except for my car, yes."

Alex said, "You set off the alarm around six-thirty. I guess you did it on purpose that time?"

"Yes. I, I drove a couple blocks away," he replied, running a finger inside his shirt collar. "I knew if the alarm went off someone would come to the store."

Bobby leaned back into the corner and crossed his arms over his chest. He met Alex's eye for a moment and went back to watching Ron in the mirror.

Alex said, "There's another thing: we're curious to know how you figured out that a smart phone app would even work."

"Well," Bobby said with a quick chuckle, "not exactly work. I mean..." He came out of the corner and paced a few steps behind Alex's chair. "You managed to throw a monkey wrench into the store's security system."

"...and decimate Safety Shield's reputation," Alex added.

"So, Ron," Bobby said, leaning his elbows on the table beside Alex and sliding forward until he was nearly nose-to-nose with Ron. "Tell us how that app ended up on your iPhone. Who told you to try it?"

"Told me to try it?" Ron backed off from Bobby, and looked over at Alex in confusion. "Nobody. I was at a meeting at Safety Shield," he said with a shrug, "and Alonzo Matthews said they were going to add smart phone access."

Alex shook her head. "But Matthews told you it wasn't available yet. Was there someone else?" She opened the folder she'd brought in – it contained a list of the Safety Shield employees who'd attended that May seventh meeting.

"Oh, um... Let me think." Ron blinked. "I did talk to Jim Ackerman after the meeting."

Alex instantly scanned the list: James Ackerman was listed as a security guard. No red flags had been raised when they'd interviewed him. Under the table Alex reached with her foot to nudge Bobby; he didn't look at her, but nodded in acknowledgement. She was sure that behind the mirror Captain Ross was already on the phone with Safety Shield.

Bobby circled the table to sit next to Ron again. He scooted his chair closer. "Do you remember what he said?"

Ron was quickly realizing that his friend Jim might be involved in the shutdown of the store's systems – and with the murder. He sat up straight and took a deep breath. "He's got an iPhone, too, and he collects apps. We've been, you know, trading ideas – like the sports fantasy app Ricky loves."

Alex made a rolling motion with her finger, urging Ron to speed up.

"Yeah, okay," Ron said. "So after the meeting, I told Jim I wished they'd roll out their app sooner rather than later. He said I could probably find one online that would work. We looked at the Apple Store right away, but they didn't have anything."

"You found it that night at Open App Mart," Bobby said. "Did you tell Jim?"

"No – I don't see him often, and then it turned out so badly," Ron said.

"Would he know about Open App Mart?" Alex asked.

"Oh, sure," Ron said. "He's the one who pointed me to that site in the first place."

Apartment of Jim Ackerman

Brooklyn, NY

Thursday, May 22

Alex pressed the Talk button on her walkie-talkie. "Everyone in place?"

The officers at the rear exit of the four-floor walk-up responded in the affirmative. "Okay," she said quietly, "here we go!"

She, Bobby and two other uniforms filed out of the stairwell and approached the door labeled 2B – Jim Ackerman's apartment. Bobby cautiously tested the doorknob – it was locked. He looked at Alex; she jutted her chin toward the door, giving him the go-ahead.

Bobby pounded heavily on the door and shouted, "Police! Open up!"

They listened carefully – someone was moving inside. Bobby moved directly in front of the peep-hole and held up his shield. "Open the door! NYPD!"

They all took a step back as they heard locks turning. The door was opened by an older woman – she looked thoroughly frightened. Alex listened carefully for any sounds inside the apartment. She heard the clatter of silverware on a hard floor – at least one other person was in there.

Alex showed her shield. "I'm Detective Eames, and this is Detective Goren. Is this the home of James Ackerman?"

The woman nodded, wide-eyed. "He's my son-in-law."

"Is he here?" Alex asked.

"Yes, but he's asleep – he has the midnight shift this week." She opened the door a little more.

"When did he get home?" Bobby asked. "May we come in?" He deftly slid past the woman into the apartment.

"He – um, a little before nine o'clock," she said, turning to stare after Bobby. She still looked stunned. "He's asleep."

"Which is his room?" Bobby glanced to his right, and then turned left and disappeared down the hallway.

Alex jabbed her finger after her partner, and one of the officers followed him. The other stayed in the doorway. "Is anyone else here?" Alex asked the mother-in-law.

To her credit, the woman recovered pretty quickly from the shock of the sudden invasion of her home, although her hand trembled as she pointed to her left into the kitchen. "It's the neighbor's little girl. I'm babysitting while her mother's shopping. Why do you want Jim?"

Alex heard a thump from the bedroom, and then Bobby yelled, "Police!"

She touched the woman's arm. "I need you to go into the kitchen while my partner talks to-"

She was interrupted by a loud thud – it sounded like a heavy piece of furniture falling over – followed by muffled shouts.

"What are they doing?" the mother-in-law cried, taking a step toward the hallway.

"You can't go in there." Alex blocked her way, and pointed to the kitchen, where she now heard the child crying. "Please, take care of the baby."

Alex drew her gun as she hurried toward the bedroom and cautiously peered inside.

Bobby and the officer were struggling with a man at the open window. It looked like the man – barefoot and wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt - was desperately trying to get out to the fire escape. A dresser lay face down nearby, and the shards of what looked like a ceramic vase were scattered beside the doorway.

Just as Alex approached, the men all fell back onto the floor together in a tangle. The man thrashed about, but instantly stilled when he looked up into the barrel of Alex's gun.

"Jim Ackerman," she said, "you've just won a trip to Major Case."

"I want a lawyer! I haven't done anything!"

Alex kept her eyes and gun focused on Ackerman until the officer snapped on the handcuffs.

Suddenly she noticed drops of blood on the floor and on Ackerman's t-shirt. Who was bleeding? She groaned when she saw Bobby pressing his palm against his head – exactly in the spot where he'd been hit by Ben Beldsen's flying coffee mug. Her temper flared.

Bobby looked angry as well, but Alex breathed easier as she caught his gaze and realized that he was okay other than the reopening of his wound.

She glared at Ackerman as he was roughly hauled to his feet. "You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer," she added. She nodded to the uniformed officer. "Read him his rights."

MCS, 1PP, NY

Thursday, May 22

"Everyone keeps telling you to duck, Bobby," Alex said, arching her eyebrows at her partner as they sat at their desks. "You really should consider it." The scab on his forehead was fresh once again, and the bruised area sported a new rainbow of colors.

Bobby grinned and went back to studying the stack of information on Ackerman they'd collected.

Ackerman had been awakened by the knock at the door, and had tried to climb out the bedroom window. Unfortunately for him it didn't open easily; that delay was enough for Bobby to prevent his escape. Their struggle had been short and wild.

Bobby had told her privately that he wasn't sure who or what had hit his head – he only realized he was bleeding after Alex joined them. Alex had pointed out that it was Ackerman's fault, no matter who actually collided with Bobby's head.

"My mom's going to yell at me for letting you get hurt again," she added. "Lucky for you I still had the bottle of liquid bandage."

While Ackerman sat in the holding cell, waiting for his lawyer to arrive, the detectives had pulled his work history and financial records. The NYPD IT guys were examining Ackerman's iPhone and home computer.

"Eames, look at this," Bobby said quietly. Alex got up and came around to his side as he continued. "Ackerman's been at Safety Shield three years, and he's been passed over twice for promotion: January last year, and again this January."

"Does it say why?" Alex rested a hand on his back as she leaned closer to read.

"It–" Bobby stopped and looked up at her, eyes wide. He looked surprised – not displeased, but definitely off-balance.

"What?" Alex thumped his shoulder and gave him a stern look. Was he shocked that she would touch him – even so non-intimately - in the squad room? If he wanted this relationship to move forward, then he'd better get used to it.

"Umm..." Bobby pointed at the sheet, quickly regaining his line of thought. "Here are the areas his supervisor suggested he needs to work on: 'exhibiting highest ethical standards, winning trust of the client, showing expert knowledge of security systems.'"

Bobby held up the page for her, using the movement to bring his shoulder into firmer contact with her arm. Alex smiled - he'd gotten the message.

"Yeah, well, it looks like Jim was working hard on the expert knowledge part," Alex said. "I checked his credit cards: not only did he purchase All-Safe a few days after Ronnie's experiments; five months ago he bought an app called Cam-Link."

"That'd be just after he missed the promotion," Bobby added. "What does the app do?

"I looked it up: it claims to let you tap into any live-feed web cam. I can't wait to see what Zack finds." She gave Bobby a final pat on the shoulder and went back to her side of the desk.

Bobby said, "His employment history seems... sketchy. His CV on record at Safety Shield says he was at his previous job two years; three years at the job before that. None of his jobs lasted more than four years."

Alex sat down, rested her elbows on the desk and propped her chin on her fists. "Did he quit or was he fired all those times?"

"Goren, Eames." Captain Ross came out of his office toward their desks, and they both turned to look at him.

"Ackerman's lawyer should be here soon," Ross said. He took a long look at Bobby's latest injury. "Detective, I may have to start sending you out in a bicycle helmet or a hard hat. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Ross looked skeptical, but he only asked, "What have you got on Ackerman?"

As Alex told the captain what they knew so far, Bobby continued shuffling through his papers. He held one sheet out for them to see.

"Ackerman and his wife have a joint account at New City Credit Union," Bobby said. "They barely keep a hundred in it from month to month." He handed the page to Ross and picked up another. "But last year they opened a new account at a different bank. The deposits have all been cash, small amounts less than two hundred dollars – until he deposited seventy-seven hundred on Tuesday this week."

"There's no sign he has a second job," Alex added.

"Seventy-five hundred from Winter Market's safe, plus the cash from Robert Winter's wallet," Ross said. "You have to wonder if he stole the rest from other Safety Shield customers."

"Maybe that's what he's been using that web cam app for," Bobby said.

"Any withdrawals?" Ross asked.

"None," Bobby replied. "He's got seventeen thousand in there."

Alex asked, "Whose name is on the new account?" She walked around the desks and tugged the paper from Bobby's hand. "Hmm," she said. "The wife is the primary owner. Want to bet she doesn't know about this?"

"I'd say it looks incriminating," Ross said. He took a step toward his office. "What about his phone and laptop?"

"Zack's still working on them," Alex replied, "but he told us the iPhone definitely had the All-Safe app; it was deleted on Monday night – deleted, but not gone."

"Okay," Ross said. "Take Mr. Ackerman into the interrogation room. Let me know when his lawyer gets here."

"Um," Bobby said, reaching for his phone. "Let him sit in holding a little longer. I want to call Safety Shield first. And... we need to go back further into Ackerman's history."