Grace arrived at her office on Monday morning, ready to begin her work week. She was full of energy and happy to be back.
"Good morning. I got you coffee." Grace entered her office. Aaliyah, her second in command, was waiting for her.
"Thank you. How was Minnesota?"
"It was okay. My aunt is doing okay." Grace told her. "Got you a key chain."
"Thanks…Ahem." The lawyer put the mini Minnesota flag key chain away.
"What is it?" Grace noticed Aaliyah's demeanor.
"I have some news."
"Bad news?"
"Well. A body was found in a building in 57thstreet near Washington Park."
"Okay…" Grace took of her coat and sat down on her desk.
"They were demolishing an apartment building, they found a body in the foundation. Whoever put the body there, they thought it was gonna get covered in concrete. It didn't, it sort of made a 'sarcophagus' for the body."
"Sarcophagus?"
"Here." Aaliyah showed Grace the photos of the crime scene. "Almost no moisture, no air. It preserved the body to a certain point. The construction was in 2012, so that gives the detectives a timeline."
Grace observed the cadaver. It was a white man, blonde hair, black jacket, black shirt, jeans and black boots.
"The body has 1 bullet wound on the back of the head, it was an execution. But no blood around it." the other lawyer said. "So probably he was killed somewhere else and dumped there."
"These kinds of cases are hard to solve. Any clues?" Grace asked.
"Funny you should ask." Aaliyah said. "He had nothing in his pockets except for a business card…for Alicia Florrick at Lockhart and Gardner."
"What?"
"Yeah, your mom's business card is the only clue so far."
"2012...2012..." Grace recalled that year. "Yeah, my mom was still working for Lockhart and Gardner."
"We already had a request for a statement from the press."
"They already know about this?"
"The Police Union doesn't like us, I'm sure they're the source." Aaliyah said to her boss. "They're gonna keep throwing shit at you."
"Great." Grace took a deep breath and exhaled.
Monday
"Is your mother under investigation?" The reporter asked during a State's Attorney press conference.
"My mother is a person of interest in the investigation." Grace replied. "It implies that currently the detectives of the Chicago Police want to get in touch with her and ask her some questions regards of the body found this Sunday."
"Could you call your mother and ask her to meet with the detectives?"
"As the State Attorney I shouldn't intervene in an ongoing police investigation but if the detectives ask for my help, I would see what I can do. Thank you. Now, let's move on to another business."
Tuesday
5 pm at the Ramona's apartment, Connor and Grace were there to picked up Debbie and stayed for dinner. Angie was sharing the craziest online posts about the case.
"Check this out." The teen was holding her phone. "Peter Florrick killed John Doe, because he was having an affair with Alicia. Then he did it again, when Peter had Will Gardner killed. In retaliation and after the divorce, Alicia hired an assassin to kill her ex husband."
"What the hell are you reading?" Ramona asked. "You shouldn't be reading those insane lies."
"It's just for fun, like a Netflix crime show."
"I don't think it's fun." Ramona reiterated to her teen daughter. "It's misinformation and it's cruel."
"I always thought it was going to be Jackie the killer in the family." Connor said to the table. "Like a hit and run that her husband the Judge swept under the rug."
"Connor, you to?" Ramona raised an eyebrow.
Grace was feeding her baby daughter. And finally said: "So much fun to have another dead guy mess with my life from beyond the grave."
The table got quiet.
"If Alicia comes to Chicago and tells the cops she doesn't know anything, that would be it, right?" Ramona said. "She doesn't even has to come here, they can probably do a video call."
"But she hasn't." Grace said. "Open wide Debbie, one more spoon. Yumm."
Meanwhile in her New York office, Alicia was reluctant to go home.
"Working extra hours?" Simone Canning leaned against the door frame.
"I just want to finished up some work. That's all."
"What's the deal with the Chicago Police asking for you?" Her partner asked.
"It's nothing. It will go away." Alicia closed her laptop and took of her glasses.
"Don't you think our clients would mind to know you're a person of interest in a murder investigation?"
"We both know New York doesn't care about Chicago." Alicia replied.
"Has your daughter call you?"
"No, she hasn't. But Grace and I...you know we don't really talk." Alicia said. "She doesn't call me in general."
"Sorry to hear that."
"It is what it is." Alicia grabbed her coat and turned off her desk lamp, she walked passed by Simone, the other lawyer stopped her.
"But the point is this Alicia, do you know anything about this John Doe?"
"No. not all. See you tomorrow."
Alicia was lying. She knew exactly who that John Doe was. It was Nick Savarese, Kalinda's husband fit the description and the time line. Alicia recalled that night when Kalinda told her that Nick wouldn't bother them anymore. It was taken care off. What did you do Kalinda?
Wednesday.
Ramona and Grace were waiting to talk to Angie after school. As soon as the teen saw them in the living room she knew she was in some kind of problem.
"Hi." The teenage girl said timidly. "Everything okay?"
"Did you post on the Chicago Crime History Reddit about your great grandfather?" Ramona asked her.
"Oh." Angie laughed nervously. "Yeah I did."
"Why did you do that?" Grace asked this time, she was mad.
"They have some good internet snoops and historians there, I thought they could help us find out who he was." Angie said with excitement. "They already have 2 suspects one man named Robert Ki..."
"I don't care who he was!" Grace said. "He doesn't matter, he's irrelevant."
"If he's irrelevant why are you upset?" the teenager replied.
"Because you couldn't pick a worst time. I still have the pressure because of this John Doe and everything I do is under a microscope."
"So this is about you looking bad?"
Grace realized she had been in this situation before, except she was in Angie's place. Just a teenage girl living her life and somehow screwing up the family's expectations. She needed a moment to think.
"The point is." Ramona stepped in the conversation. "You shouldn't share personal or family information on line. I have a friend who works in the University of Chicago, she's an expert in Chicago's history, we can talk to her. She can help you with the search. Okay?"
"Okay." Angie nodded. "Grace, I'm sorry."
"I know."
Thursday.
No developments in the John Doe investigation. Alicia had declined to talk the detectives directly, instead her firm send a statement. Word was that the cops were gonna ask the New York police department to intervene. Grace had to do something.
"You can go home early, Aaliyah." Grace told her co worker. "You held the ford for me while I was in Minnesota."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I can review these few cases by myself. Also, there is bad weather out there. Better hurry if you don't want to get caught on the storm."
"Okay." The lawyer put the file down. "See you tomorrow morning."
"Bye."
Grace also dismissed her assistant, she could take care of the late evening call and emails. She took the time alone to finally call her mother.
"Hello?"
"Mom, it's Grace, how are you?"
"I'm doing well. How are you? How are Debbie and Connor?"
"We're all doing fine." The small talk was over. Grace had to address the issue. "Mom, you have to talk to cops."
There was silence in the line. "I don't think you should ask me that."
"I'm not asking you to do anything illegal, right? If you don't know anything about the murder then..."
"I'll think about it." Alicia interrupted.
"You'll think about it?" Jesus Christ mom, you're a good liar just come down here and lie!
"Yeah, okay, Thanks mom." Grace hung up the phone.
By the end of the day, Grace got a phone alert for severe weather pop in.
"Shoot." Grace hurried up to leave the office. The storm outside was strong, a lot of thunder and strong wind, Grace was walking to her car on the parking lot when a security guard blocked her.
"Sorry, ma'am. There is a tornado warning. Everybody gets inside to the shelter areas."
"Okay." Grace could hear the wind blowing outside, the guards closing the doors quickly, the sirens were blaring. The other workers also going back inside. Grace took out her phone to text her husband when a familiar voice called her name.
"Grace." The figure came out of the shadows. "May I have a word with you?"
"Kalinda?"
Another thunder outside shook the building.
"Come on, everybody inside!" The guard yelled at them.
Grace and Kalinda took shelter in one of the central offices with no windows.
"I think this used to be Cary Agos' office." Kalinda recalled. She smiled thinking about young Cary eager to prove he deserved an office with a window. Grace however wasn't smiling.
"You're not happy to see me." Kalinda said to the lawyer.
"You're here for the John Doe. It makes sense now, why my mom is being so stubborn about it. I'm guessing she knows the identity and he's tied to you."
Grace took a seat and crossed her arms.
"Yes, Alicia knows who that is."
"Who is he?"
"My husband."
Grace stared at Kalinda. "Am I going to listen to confession?"
"It's more complicated." Kalinda leaned on the desk. "For starters, Kalinda Sharma isn't my real name."