James Novak Sr. was at his home, smoking from his pipe when there was a knock on the door.
"Answer that," he yelled at his wife. He didn't bother with please or her name.
She got the door and saw an officer holding a piece of paper. "What is that?"
"It's a warrant. Is your husband home?"
"He's in the living room. James, the police have a warrant."
"A warrant?" If they came to search the house, they wouldn't find anything that was for sure. As his lawyer suggested, he destroyed all of his incriminating documents. The man approached. "Officers, how can we help you?"
"James Novak."
"Yes."
"Please place your hands behind your back. You are under arrest for and conspiracy to commit kidnapping."
"This is preposterous." The officer wrestled his arms behind his back and cuffed him.
"Call my lawyer! I'll have your badges for this."
He was taken to the local precinct where he requested his lawyer be called.
They took him to be photographed, fingerprinted, and booked. The unpleasantness was just beginning.
Alex arrived in court where Petrovsky held a meeting in her chambers before the trial was to continue.
"Please tell me this shooting has nothing to do with this case."
"Nothing at all," Alex assured her. "It was just an unfortunate coincidence."
"A coincidence. My brother was shot yesterday right in front of me!"
Alex put up her hands. "His shooting was necessary. He charged the officers with a knife. It was an emergency."
Before Abe could respond, Lena cut him off. "This is not a trial on that case. That's for another judge at another time. What I need to know is … are you ready to resume the trial today?" This was really a question for Kessler.
He had already spoken to his client. She wanted to continue the trial. She was concerned that a second trial would only give the prosecution another chance to look for more evidence or perhaps get its own expert witness.
"I'm ready to proceed, but I reserve the right to …"
"Let's go." Petrovsky wasn't interested in reservations. Either he could provide competent counsel or he couldn't.
Casey had back to back to abck meetings today. Cutter wanted to know everything, and then McCoy, and then Branch. Why couldn't they just sit down in one room for one meeting?
She sounded like a broken record by the end of the morning.
"Ring! Ring!"
Olivia had been eating cheerios, naked. "Benson!"
"Liv, get me out of here!"
"Aw, my poor Casey. Are they beating you up?"
"More like boring me to death."
"I'm sorry. Think you can get out early?"
"I can try." Casey had a lot of paperwork, but it could come home with her.
"Think about it this way. This time next month, we'll all be in Hawaii."
Two long weeks, a secluded beach, fresh fish, and … "Don't tease me."
"Sorry, Love."
"Are you watching Ren and Stimpy?"
"Oh yeah."
"Now I really hate you." Alex hates Ren and Stimpy. They can only watch it guilt free while she's at wrok.
"We have Tivo you know."
"Yeah, but then Alex looks through the now playing list and groans."
"I like it when she groans."
"I prefer her bedroom groan."
"But her disdain groan is so funny."
"You love to piss her off."
"Why do you think I always steal her books?" Olivia had a terrible habit of reading Alex's books when she was only half way through them.
"When she realizes you do it on purpose, she's gonna freak."
"Oh I know." Olivia was a certified book thief, and her clever ADA lover had no idea.
Their phone call was interrupted by a loud banging.
"Casey," one of the ADA's yelled through the door. "Cuttler wants to see you now!"
Again! "I got to go Love!"
"See you soon."
Casey walked, she would never run to Cutter, to his office where she immediately noticed he looked cross.
"Why did you not tell me that you're in a relationship with Detective Benson?"
"What?"
"You had to have known that this would affect the case."
Is he serious? This case is clean. "I thought you knew."
"How?" he asked sardonically.
"I disclosed it to (formerly) Chief Donnelly in 2005."
"She never told me!"
Casey shrugged. "It was never a secret."
"All this time you've been getting her warrants! This is a huge conflict of interest."
"Is it? This is hardly the first time an ADA dated a detective coworker." Casey could name at three other detective ADA pairs.
"How do you think this is going to look? You got your girlfriend an arrest warrant and she shot the suspect."
"It was a valid warrant and a clean shot. The victim identified Adam as the man who stabbed him. He fled his apartment, and when the police did find him, he armed himself with a kitchen knife and charged. If you can't work out a story with such easy facts, I'd hate to see you trying a case." This is Casey when she loses her temper or as Olivia likes to call it, when Casey pulls an Alex.
Cutter sent her home for the rest of the day to "cool off."
Olivia was estatic to see her back so early. "You came to keep me company."
"Actually, Cutter sent me home."
"What happened Boo?"
She explained her story and Olivia was dying in the end. "You picked the perfect time to pull an Alex."
"You say that like she's the only one who loses her temper."
"Oh she isn't," Olivia acknowledged, "but she has a way of selling it like gold. She never gets in trouble. She just gives that Cabot glare and somehow she makes her own bosses cringe with fear."
"I guess I better learn the glare."
"I think you need her glasses."
"I'll just steal them. You steal the books. I'll take the glasses."
"She won't need the books if she doesn't have her glasses."
"Now that's evil genius."
"Well I did just finish watching Dexter's Lab."
Casey kissed her. She's just so cute.
Novak's attorney came to meet with Greg only to find himself under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud. According to Bruno, he had been the one to create the fake documents that they were going to use to defraud Sarah of her trust fund.
The lawyer had deleted the documents, but his junior lawyer, who rolled on him faster than a pig in shit had not.
"This is an outrage." He decided to represent himself, but this arrest would almost inevitably create a conflict between him and James. If James rolled on him, he was screwed.
The attorney had an interesting catch 22. If he admitted being in cahoots with James, then the lawyer client confidentiality no longer applied and he could try and get himself a deal. If he, however, asserted his innocence, he had to hold out hope that James wouldn't sell him out in the end.
"I would like to see my client."
Olivia and Casey were eating pork rinds dipped in sour cream while watching Beavis and Butthead.
"This really brings me back," Casey was a senior in high school when this show first came out.
Olivia hadn't watched it during its initial run. "I was already a beat cop by the time this show came out."
"You're so old," Casey teased.
"I am not, Baby!" Casey was the youngest of the trio by two years.
"You take that back!"
"Make me!"
They got into a pillow fight that could have lasted a good while if someone hadn't called them.
"Novak!"
"Casey, it's Cyrus. Your father and his attorney were both arrested earlier today."
"Thanks for letting me know."
As far as they could turn, all involved with the kidnapping were in jail. There was no evidence that Sarah's family had been apart of the plot to kidnap her, but they would be facing their own charges.
Olivia perched next to Casey. "Who was that?"
"Detective Lupo. My father and his attorney were arrested today."
Olivia's arms slipped around Casey's waist. She'd talk when she was good and ready.
"How about we order take out and eat ice cream straight from the carton?"
"Oh we should get sent home more often!"
Olivia guffawed. "Next time, you shoot the suspect!"
Jessica took the stand in her own defense. She claimed that her husband had been very kind before they married, but three months after the wedding he slapped her.
"He wanted to go out for dinner, but I was tired. I just wanted a simple meal at home. He slapped me across the face."
"Did you call the police?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"He apologized right away. He said that he was stressed from work. I believed him when he said he wouldn't do it again."
"Did he do it again?"
She nodded. "Yes, he did!"
Kessler developed her testimony, trying to show the jury why she didn't call the police or tell anyone about the abuse.
"At first, I thought he would change, but eventually, I realized he wouldn't. He said he'd kill me if I ever told anyone. I was just too scared."
Alex went right for the jugular on cross. "At what moment did you decide that you had to kill your husband?"
"Objection!"
"Overruled. The witness will answer."
"I'm not sure."
"Was it before or after you bought the shotgun?"
"Before."
"And when you bought the shotgun, did you know how to use it?"
"Yes."
"How?"
She did not want to answer.
"You have to answer the question," the judge told her.
"I took a class."
"When did you take this class?"
"I think a month or two before I bought the gun."
"So you spent months planning your husband's murder?"
"Objection, badgering the witness."
"I'm just trying to establish a timeline."
"It could have been one month."
"Before you shot your husband, you tried to rent an apartment in Paris online?"
"I was scared. I didn't know what else to do."
"You couldn't just go to Paris and leave your husband alive?"
"Objection."
"You could have done that, but then you wouldn't have gotten the 1M from your insurance company, would you?"
She remained silent.
"No further questions."
Alex decided to leave it all to her rebuttal case. Why give the defendant a chance to try and lie her way out of this?
After Kessler closed his case, Petrovksy adjourned for the day. Alex would be able to start her rebuttal case on Monday.
She was eager to get home and into her bathtub.
"Ring! Ring!"
Olivia and Casey were pigging out in front of the tv.
"Benson!"
"Liv, it's Alex. I'm on my way home."
"How was court?"
"It went well. Can you draw me a bath?"
"Of course. It will be nice and hot when you get here."
Damn! Casey and I need to clean this apartment. They had gotten food everywhere, the couch was a mess, and Olivia didn't do the laundry or any of the other things she told herself that she would think about doing today.
"Casey, Mama Bear's on her way home."
Casey looked over her shoulder. "Shit, this room's a mess!"
The women started to scramble like teenagers whose parents were coming home early from vacation.
Wipe off the counters, put away the food, vacuum the floor … by the time the room looked presentable Olivia had forgotten all about the bath.
"Damn!" She ran into the bathtub, and turned the faucet on.
Somewhere in the bathroom closet, Alex had … "bath salts, bubbles, and dried flowers."
All three went into the tub.
When the blonde opened the door, she could smell Lysol in the air. "Oh, you two cleaned."
"That's us, the clean ones," Casey said awkwardly.
Alex chuckled. "I'm off to take my bath." She waggled a brow. "Care to help me."
"Yes Ma'am." Casey picked her up and ran with her to the bathroom.
"Wait for me!" Olivia called as she followed suit