On a crisp day, Eddie found herself standing at Barry's grave.
"You'd love her, she's so precious," she said, referring to Chelsea. "You'd make the best uncle!"
She closed her eyes, fighting back a tear.
"And you would've made the best dad, too."
She smiled, reflecting in thought for a few more minutes.
She bent down, kissed her palm, and placed the palm on his gravestone as had become her ritual.
"I love you. I'll see you later, okay?"
Meanwhile, at the Twelfth Precinct, Jamie sat in the Seargeant's Office with Renzulli and Detective Walker, watching a taped confession.
"You're absolutely sure that's him?" Jamie asked.
"Yep," Walker said.
Jamie exhaled the whirlwind.
"These things take time," Walker said, "but they're worth it when we get them."
"And to think you thought Janko might have done it," Renzulli couldn't help but crack.
Jamie looked at Renzulli, then at Walker.
"I'm sorry… What?" Jamie asked none-too-happily.
Walker glared at Renzulli, then looked at Jamie apologetically.
"As a police officer, Janko made less money than her husband," Walker explained. "He signed all his assets over to her when they get married, then six months later, he dies. From the outside looking in, it looked… suspicious, so my Captain wanted me to investigate."
"Well," Jamie began, "I think from the outside looking in, your Captain is a piece of – "
"Reagan, I already went down that road," Renzulli said, "so don't go there. Detective Walker was just checking all the boxes just like we would if Janko was a regular Jane Doe on the street. The point is, we all know she had nothing to do with it from the start and we finally got the real S.O.B. who did."
Jamie sighed and nodded his head.
"So where do we go from here?" he asked.
Renzulli looked at Walker, then Walker looked at Jamie.
"So," Walker asked, "who wants to call her?"
"I'm her C.O.," Renzulli said. "I'll call her in. Reagan, you'll be here as a friend, not as a partner on the job, got it?"
"Got it," Jamie said…
Eddie sat stone-faced as Walker explained the details.
"So," Eddie finally spoke up, "my husband was murdered because he refused to fudge numbers for one of his former clients?"
Eddie shook her head in disgust.
"Apparently," Walker said, "this former client had mob connections and felt like he needed to make an example out of your husband to keep his reputation as a tough guy intact."
Eddie sat there, disgusted all the more.
"I know this is of little comfort, Janko," Renzulli said, "but all our sources say that the hit put out on Barry was not authorized by the mob. This guy went off on his own accord. The mob knows, especially in this day in age, you don't go after a cop, or the spouse of a cop… Especially if the spouse is in a wheelchair as was Barry's case."
"Well, golly-gee!" Eddie yelled. "I'm soooo glad THE MOB HAS STANDARDS!"
Eddie caught herself.
"Sarge," Eddie said, tears flowing. "I'm… I'm so sorry… I… I'm so very sorry."
Eddie broke down and sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
Renzulli placed a soft hand on Eddie's shoulder.
"We'll give you some privacy," he said graciously.
Renzulli motioned for Walker to follow him out of the Seargeant's Office, giving Jamie and Eddie some space. Jamie put his arms around his partner, pulling her into his side.
"I know this doesn't bring Barry back," Jamie soothed, "but taking this guy off the streets will keep him from doing this to someone else, to someone else's family."
Eddie nodded.
"I know," she muttered. "I just… I thought… It's so stupid what I thought, Jamie."
"What did you think, Eddie?" Jamie asked. "Tell me. I won't judge."
"I thought Barry's killer was dead or arrested on another charge," Eddie said. "Or maybe that's what I wanted to believe. Maybe that's how I coped."
She shook her head.
"But that doesn't matter anymore now," Jamie offered, "because we got the guy."
Eddie shook her head once more.
"If I had just stayed with him, Jamie, if I… If I had just stayed at our apartment for fifteen minutes longer – "
"Then the man could have killed you, then taken out Barry," Jamie said.
Eddie glared at Jamie.
"Prove me wrong," Jamie offered. "The man was a hired assassin. He would have done whatever he needed to do."
As much as Eddie wanted to deny it, she knew Jamie was right. She sighed, tears still streaming down her cheek.
"Can I… Can I see him?" she asked.
Jamie looked outside the Seargeant's Office window to see Renzulli and Walker talking.
"Let me ask Walker," Jamie answered…
The assassin sat in his orange jumpsuit in the interrogation room, handcuffed to the table and his feet chained together. Eddie walked into the interrogation room while Walker stood alongside Jamie and Erin Reagan in the Observation Room.
"My name is Edit Cooper," she said coldly. "You were hired to murder my husband."
The assassin sat there, expressionless.
"Tell me… Did it cross your mind that, even by your standards, murdering a man in a wheelchair was horrific and disgusting?"
The assassin sat there, expressionless.
"You're pathetic," Eddie said. "Murdering a man in a wheelchair because he wouldn't fudge numbers on an accounting spreadsheet?"
Still, the assassin sat, expressionless.
"But I guess so long as the money's right, huh?"
Eddie closed her eyes, then opened them, looking her husband's killer directly in the eye.
"My husband was a Christian. Me, I'm not so certain what I believe anymore, but I still go to church because I'm still searching and I do believe in redemption, even for scum like you. So, in memory of my husband, who was one of the most gracious men I've ever known, I'll say this… Make whatever deal you can with the District Attorney because you're going to need it when the mob tries to murder you for being dumb enough to blindly carry out an unauthorized hit on a police officer's spouse."
With that, Eddie stood up and walked out of the interrogation room. Jamie went out to meet her. Her game face faded away and the tears flowed once more. For privacy, Jamie guided Eddie to a private room where she can cry into his shoulder without giving everyone a show.
As sad as it was to rip open the wound, there was comfort that, truly, Barry John Cooper could rest in eternal peace.