1 Hogan Place
Manhattan, NY
"If you plead to Man One, I could be persuaded to ask for Minimum Sentence," McCoy glared at Chris Metzler and his lawyer. "It's the deal of the century."
"I didn't kill the bitch," Metzler scoffed. "She was already dead when I found her. Not that she didn't have it coming, sleeping with whatever, and whomever…"
McCoy sighed, and rubbed his face tiredly.
"She could have the reputation of a Messalina for all I care," he sighed again. "Doesn't mean you have the right to kill her."
Metzler was frowning at McCoy.
"What?" McCoy demanded.
"You ever teach?"
That threw the attorney back to what he had learned at the Island School.
Michael Elliott…
Claire Elliott was watching McCoy grill Metzler too, still glaring at him with that hateful look…
"No," McCoy shook his head. "I'm a prosecutor, not a teacher. Why?"
"You've got a cosmic twin," Metzler grinned briefly. "He teaches at Groton, and he's a real sonofabitch."
So I gather…
"You going to take the deal or do we go to trial?" he finally demanded.
McCoy waited patiently as Chris Metzler and his lawyer huddled together. Then, Metzler straightened.
"Minimum Sentence?" he asked.
"Yes," McCoy nodded as he stood, looking at his watch. "You have only thirty seconds to decide, so I-"
"I'll take it," Metzler said.
…..
"Groton?" Adam Schiff stood there, eyes wide as he stared at his Executive Assistant DA. Jack McCoy had requested a week off.
Personal business, he'd said.
Personal business at Groton…
"You okay?" Schiff asked cautiously.
McCoy had been looking rather…stressed…these last few weeks.
"I'm okay," McCoy said firmly. "Just need to go to Groton."
Why?
Schiff put the momentary frustration down. He knew Jack McCoy trusted him.
He'll tell me when he's good and ready…
…..
Jack McCoy had elected to go by train; leave the driving to someone else.
He had other things on his mind right now.
Thank God Adam didn't press for an explanation.
Adam Schiff was perhaps the one person in Jack's life that he couldn't lie to.
"I see dead people…" McCoy muttered softly, trying to imagine how Adam would have reacted to that.
Not well, I'd imagine…
So he wouldn't have understood McCoy's reason for going to Groton.
To track down a killer that looks exactly like me…