AN: I'm trying to bring these story lines to a close so I can get to the Hawaii vacation. Fun times are coming, I promise.
James was not amused when he learned that Bruno might get loud on him.
"That ungrateful little shit!"
The lawyer tried to keep him calm. "I don't want you to do anything in haste. Bruno has yet to say anything, and even if he does, the state needs more than his allegations to press charges against you."
This situation had quickly spiraled out of control. "I told my son to do one thing, find out where they live, so I can bring his fiancée back," and deal with my renegade son. Somehow, they got the wrong apartment.
"Let me try and deal with Bruno."
After the call ended, James had a chat with his namesake.
"How did you fuck this up so badly?"
"Come again," Jamie wasn't used to being spoken to this way. His father was acting like he was Tim or Casey or something.
"I told you to do one thing, find out where your stupid sister lives and you gave me the wrong apartment, and now my guys are in jail!"
Jamie frowned. "It's not like I went to New York to check. Didn't your guys case the place to make sure it was the right one?"
"Don't put this on them."
"If they didn't check first, how would they know if Tim and Sarah were even inside?" Jamie refused to take the fall for this bullshit.
"My ass is on the line here."
"Then I suggest you get a good lawyer." Jamie hadn't done anything. He was just told to get an address. "If the cops ask me, I have no idea what you planned on doing once I gave you the address."
"You little shit!"
Jamie hung up. He only looked after himself, and it looked increasingly likely that his payday from this scheme would never come to fruition. His father cooked up this crazy scheme to begin with. His father could deal with it.
Olivia found the photograph that explained this all. "El, look at this."
It was a picture of Nathan, surrounded by five women, two of them victims of murder.
"Each of them has on ... a butterfly something," Elliot commented.
"He must have had a harem." Olivia couldn't judge. She had two girlfriends herself, but five, that sounded exhausting.
Now that they had faces, they needed to find them quick.
"Let's get this to facial recognition." Hopefully, these women had NY Drivers licenses.
She took the album with her. Perhaps in the pictures they'd find out what went wrong.
Nathan Morel woke up in the hospital. He felt like his chest had exploded. "What?"
"You were stabbed," the nurse told him. "It probably hurts to breathe right now so take shallow breaths."
Flashes of this morning came back to him. "Why would he?"
The nurse reported that the patient was now awake, and the hospital called the police.
Casey decided to contact the detectives investigating the home invasion.
"Lupo."
"Detective Lupo, this is ADA Casey Novak. I wanted to discuss the attempted home invasion with you. I have some information that I think will be useful."
She agreed to come to the precinct for an informal interview. 15 minutes later, she found herself in the 1-3. It was a mirror image of the 1-6. The place was starting to give her vertigo.
"ADA Novak?"
"You can call me Casey."
"Then call me Cyrus. You said you knew something about the burglary." They didn't know where to go. The couple had no idea who Tim and Sarah were and neither suspect was talking at this point.
They went into an interview room to talk. "I think they were looking for my apartment."
He frowned in confusion. "Why do you think that?"
"First of all, we live in the same building albeit on a different floor. In addition to that, my brother is Tim Novak, and his friend is Sarah Price."
"Go on."
"Almost two weeks ago, they came to my apartment looking for somewhere to hide."
"Why would they want to hide?"
"My father and Sarah's father tried to make Sarah marry my other brother Jamie. She refused, so her father kept her locked her bedroom. He told her she couldn't leave until the wedding."
"Did they seem credible?"
"Of course! He's my brother. He wouldn't lie to me."
"I have to inquire. It's an incredible story."
"Anyway, Sarah was scrawny. She looked like a teenager and she was 24. It was like they only fed her marginally."
"Are Tim and Sarah still with you?"
"No. We figured someone would come after them if they stayed in New York, so we sent them out of the state."
"And you think your father hired Bruno and Lars?"
"Either that or it was Sarah's father."
"Why force a wedding? What was there to gain?"
"We weren't sure of that, but Sarah's grandfather was quite a wealthy man. She said that he had promised her money when he died, but she was a teenager when he died. She wasn't invited to the will reading, and she has no idea what it says. If her grandfather had held money for her a trust, then it's reasonable that the money would be released to her when she turns 25 or when she becomes otherwise emancipated."
"Like getting married."
"Like getting married."
Now that they had enough a motive for the attack, Lupo could play a game called prisoner's dilemma.
The Adams-Smith case saturated the media. The photographers were fixated on Alex Cabot and Jessica Adams-Smith. They were both striking women, Alex with her steely blue eyes and Jessica with her dark hair and almond shaped eyes.
Alex dressed to kill, from her perfectly tailored power suits to her manicured nails. Jessica was trying to look softer, like a vulnerable victim instead of the callous killer she was alleged to be.
Their outfits were discussed just as much as the contents of the case. Alex couldn't tell what affect, if any, this would have on the jury.
"The Prosecution closes its case." Alex spent three days proving that Jessica had shot her husband. Tomorrow, it would be Kessler's chance to try and convince the jury that this shooting was not a crime.
As Alex left the courthouse, reporters from every station descended upon us.
"ADA Cabot how much did you spend on your wardrobe in this trial?"
"Do you think the jury judges the witnesses based on their clothing?"
"Do you think defendants should be allowed to have their personal hair care products before trial?"
Irritated, Alex finally made a statement. "I believe that we live in a society that still deems women are to be eye candy for men. Unfortunately, we are judged by how we look more harshly than males, and once we're on the wrong side of 40, opportunities disappear and we are hidden away. That being said, this isn't a case about fabric, it's one about murder and that's what the jury should focus on, the facts that I prove, not the suits that I wear. That will be all!"
She got into her hired town car and sped away.
Of course, the video went viral and everyone had an opinion
"Do you think it's a bit hypocritical, calling out opposing counsel on her cheap suit and then saying she should be judged based on her 'facts' as it were?"
"Absolutely. Miss. Cabot is an attractive woman; surely she uses it to an advantage and to suggest otherwise is hypocrisy."
"I disagree. She was commenting on the gender discrimination, which is entirely different from how cheap or expensive her suits are. No one looks at a male lawyer in a fancy suit and suggests to him that the jury only agreed with his case because they liked his suit. Because she's a woman, her suits and her body are somehow up for the public to scrutinize."
"You think we should stop 'objectifying women' say you?"
"I think we should start objectifying men and see how they like it!"
Now, Alex managed to spark a feminist uprising.