OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
TUESDAY, 3:52pm
"Have you seen this?" asked Adam Schiff as he handed a copy of that day's New York Times to Jack McCoy.
"The fat guy in the ally- yeah I was greeted by the sight of his...err...large posterior this morning at breakfast," replied Jack as he studied the headlining murder story.
"Cute," grumbled Adam at Jack's answer.
"His butt is on the front page of every major paper in the city," added Jamie as she glanced at the paper that Jack had handed her.
"You'd better get used to seeing his rear, Ms. Ross, because he's going to be news until either the case is solved or the newspaper printers run out of ink and paper. People carve a mystery like this- unusual, seemingly unexplainable, and the like," Adam said, in of course a grumble.
"It's a fad and nothing more. Over-active imaginations fed by hours of exposure to ‘Unsolved Mysteries', ‘The Unexplained', ‘Men In Black', ‘Independence Day'- the list goes on and on," commented Jack in a dismissive tone.
"A fad, yes, but not one that's going away anytime soon," countered Jamie.
"Quite right," agreed Adam.
"Adam, as soon as the case becomes boring the nut cases lose interest. Besides, I doubt it's all that unexplainable- probably just a case of a street corner professional feeling like she was not given her rightful profit and deciding to get creative instead of just killing her customer," dismissed Jack once again.
"Perhaps, but this case won't be going away as fast as you and I may want- the F.B.I. has gotten involved," revealed Adam.
"What? What's their interest in this case?" a surprised Jack shot.
"Not such a stupid little murder any more, huh?" quipped a smiling Adam.
"I don't care about the case- I just don't want egotistical know-it-all's trying to bully their way in our jurisdiction," Jack defended.
"No, wouldn't want egotistical know-it-all's prosecuting our cases," Adam remarked sarcastically.
Jamie bites her tough as she tries, unsuccessfully, to hold back a giggle of sorts.
Jack looks at Jamie.
"I think I have some paper work to finish," Jamie says as she hurriedly exits Adam's office and enters Jack's office.
Next door in Jack's office- loud laughter erupts.
Jack gives an annoyed look toward the door that Jamie had made her exit through.
"Jack, I want you to make sure that these agents respect our right to prosecute any suspects they arrest."
Jack nods his understanding of Adam's wishes.
"You want me to have a sit down with these agents and lay down our rules to them?"
"No- not yet any ways. Just keep tabs on them."
"Right."
Jack gets up from the chair in front of Adam's desk and starts to make his getaway before Adam asks about-
"Speaking of paper work- how's that pile on your desk coming, Jack?"
Dammit! Not fast enough.
"Ah- it's coming right along. Almost done in fact," lied Jack as he nearly leapt for the door.
"Glad to hear it," praised Adam, "I'll be by to pick it up later."
"Sure," Jack uneasily agreed as he slipped out the door and into the safety of his own office.
Jamie looks up from her search for a particular piece of paper work among piles of paper on Jack's desk.
"Jamie- what are you doing?" sighs Jack, in exasperation.
"Looking for that form on the John Matthews extradition from New Mexico."
"It's in the in-pile," mumbled Jack as he fell heavily into the comfy chair at his desk.
"Well I'd like you to tell me where your in-pile is," Jamie irritably demanded.
"Jamie, I've got Adam on my back about paper work- I don't need you too," snapped Jack.
"Excuse me for actually expecting you, the Executive District Attorney, to be able to do something as simple as keep your desk at least somewhat organized," Jamie snapped back.
"Great, now I've got a wise-ass for an assistant," growled Jack.
"Excuse me?!"
"Forget it- here, this is you paper, I think."
"Yes, it is. Thank you."
Jamie takes the paper and leaves for her own little office across the hall- loudly slamming the door to Jack's office behind her.
Jack starts at the slam of the door then lets out a defeated sigh. He looks at his desk. What a mess. Not knowing where he should start he just grabs the nearest paper and begins the tedious work once more.
NEW YORK CITY
HOJO'S LOUNGE AND MOTOR LODGE
ROOM 106- SPECIAL AGENT DANA SCULLY'S TEMPORARY RESIDENCE
TUESDAY, 8:02pm
Scully walked out of the bathroom wearing a blue robe and red slippers. To complete her ensemble she had a towel wrapped around her hair. What a day it had been! Det. Logan's childish attitude at the police station had only been the beginning. His driving was beyond a doubt some of the worst she had ever seen. At the murder scene his mood had not improved at all. He was an all-around pain in the ass.
"Like Mulder on one of his good days," she thinks to herself with a smile.
At least that older detective- Briscoe was his name, wasn't it? She strains to remember. Yeah, Briscoe. He at least made an attempt at being friendly.
They had all gone to the ally crime scene that afternoon with really no hope of finding anything new there and of course they weren't disappointed. Everything was as it said in the case file- everything. When they went to the morgue to see the body of Richard Cummings an autopsy had already been preformed that morning. Scully looked over the findings of the autopsy and found nothing odd. Everything you'd expect someone to have if their head had been smashed through the top step of an iron fire escape- nothing more- nothing less.
This was going to be a long, drawn out case- that Scully could already tell. She couldn't imagine spending another day around that obnoxious Det. Logan, let alone a week or- God forbid- weeks!
Scully's thoughts were interrupted by roar of a machine gun. Startled by the sound jumps she off her bed and rolls across the floor. She lays there for a second- the gun fire has stopped. She peeks her head cautiously over the edge of her bed.
"And the Chop O' Matic can be yours for four easy payments of $59.99 plus shipping and handling of course! Next on The Useless Things Network-" "Be wary, wary, quiet. I'm hunting wabbits."
As Scully hears these things through the wall it dawns on her that the machine gun is actually coming from Mulder's T.V. as he channel-surfs in his room next door.
"Mulder, there are times, more often lately, that I could kill you," grumbles Scully as she gets up and dusts herself off.
HOJO'S LOUNGE AND MOTOR LODGE
ROOM 107- SPECIAL AGENT MULDER'S TEMPORARY RESIDENCE
TUESDAY, 8:03pm
Mulder lays on his bed busily flipping through the channels wearing his New York Nicks t-shirt and pj pants.
"99 channels and you'd think something good would be on but noooooo," he complains to himself since no one else is in the room.
He gets up to get the case file on the Richard Cummings murder. Across the room he shuffles in his pink bunny slippers to a small desk in the corner of his room. As he opens up the file he thinks about the day he and Scully just lived through barely.
That Det. Logan's driving had been shameless, even by his own remarkably low standards. Det. Briscoe had explained to Mulder that Logan used to be a New York City cab driver and that's why his driving was so bad. Upon hearing this Mulder had asked Scully to remind him never to travel in a cab while in New York City.
When they finally got to the crime scene (in one piece amazingly) they had found nothing more than they had already known. Same at the morgue. Scully was already predicting this would be another dead-end case.
"It's nice to have people who support you," remarked Mulder to his empty room.
He was dead tired. Setting file back on the little desk, Mulder looks longingly at his bed. It was only a little after 8pm but he wanted to go to bed. Last time he'd gone to bed at 8pm on a regular basis was when he was a kid. Now a man in his late 30's the old sleeping pattern had returned during the past week. If you didn't know him you'd think he'd been out all night partying. Not likely. He had been staying up late during the past week working on catching up his case reports. If he got too far behind on his work it might be enough for them to shut down the X-Files. They'd use any excuse to get rid of the X-Files and, for that fact, Mulder, too. He couldn't let that happen. Not before he found The Truth he so desperately sought.
He let out a loud sigh and finally gave into his weariness. He flopped down on his bed and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
OFFICE E.A. DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACK McCOY
WEDNESDAY, 7:46am
"Jack? Jack!"
"Arr....huh....urmmmm."
"Jack, for God's sake wake up!"
Snoring....
"JACK!"
"Huh? What?! What?!"
Jack sits up and looks around anxiously.
"Jack, were you here all night?" questions Jamie.
"Here? Where's here?" asks Jack groggily.
"Your office."
Jack looks at Jamie, not able to believe what he's hearing. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and takes in his surroundings. It's he was in his office alright- sitting at his desk.
"What the Hell am I doing here?"
"I don't know- you tell me."
"I- I was doing that damn paper work for Adam- that's the last thing I remember."
Jack scratches the back of his neck and gazes at the paper work in front of him.
"Was I here all night?" he yawns.
"I asked you that a minute ago."
"Oh yeah."
"I'm assuming you were here all night- seeing as how you're wearing the same clothes you were yesterday."
"God, I am," mumbles Jack as he looks at himself, his once nicely pressed suit and tie now wrinkled and disheveled after being slept in.
"You'd better think of something to tell Adam."
"Is he here yet?" Jack inquires as he quickly gets up and tries to smooth down his desk-head hair and get some of the wrinkles out of his suit and tie.
"No, but he will be soon."
"Crap...What time is it?"
"It's going on ten to nine."
Jack stops in mid-preening to look at his watch to check this figure.
"Dammit," he mumbles under his breath.
Jamie watches Jack as he tries his best to remove the evidence that he never even went home to change his clothes. She begins to leave his office, shaking her hand at the pitiful situation.
"How do I look?" asks Jack just as Jamie's about to escape.
"Like you slept in your clothes."
Jack tries for a few more seconds to clean up but finally gives up.
Jamie once again tries to make her grand escape before Adam comes in, figures out with happened, and the crap hits the fan. Unfortunately, for her, the escape isn't fast enough.
"Sonuvabitch-"
Jamie makes a fateful decision and turns around to once again face Jack.
Jack holds up packet of papers and then proceeds to drop into his chair, all the while throwing the papers across his desk.
"This stuff's going to haunt me to my grave," grumbles Jack as he resigns himself at last to his apparent fate.
Jamie, feeling sorry for Jack, opens her mouth to offer her assistance in completing seemingly endless paperwork but never gets the chance to say a single word. The slam of the D.A.'s office door sounds the death toll for the two A.D.A.'s.
Jamie looks anxiously at Jack and then at the door to the hallway and then back at Jack.
Thoughts raced through her mind, "Friend or freedom? Jack and a reprimand or the door and the safety of her own little office?"
She hears Adam's footsteps in the office next door. Decision made. No contest- door.
"Friends are nice but keeping a good career record is better," Jamie thought as she attempted to make her getaway.
Freedom was only a doorknob turn away when the dreaded thing happened.
"Jack- in my office- Now! Ms. Ross- where do you think you're going?"
Jamie cringed as Adam's voice halted her flight. She turned around and begrudgingly followed Jack into Adam's office.
"Don't look so miserable, Jamie- you're depressing me," whispered Jack as he caught a glimpse of his colleague's face.
Jamie glared at Jack, "I'll never forgive you for this," she threatened in a whisper of her own.
"Never's such an awfully long time," whispered back Jack.
"You two want to share with the rest of the class your undoubtably enthralling thoughts?" barked Adam.
Jack and Jamie immediately give Adam their undivided attention.
"Jack, as I re-call, yesterday I asked you if you had managed to get your paperwork all caught up. You said you were almost done. That you'd have it all done by the end of the day yesterday so I could get it all off last night. I was going to pick it all up last night but I called away to an important meeting so I didn't get the chance to. Last night, I get home and get read the riot act over the phone by so many people it made my ears hurt. They wanted to know where the Hell the paperwork I had promised them that they'd get by the end of the day YESTERDAY that was actually due to them days, even weeks ago, was! I had to make excuse after excuse to save not only YOUR jobs but mine as well!"
"Well, sir, you never came around for it-"
"Are you really that stupid, Jack? Are you so stupid that you don't even have the common sense to take care of something for yourself?! Or do I need to always hold your hand while you carry out one simple task?!" roared Adam.
"Well, maybe if you did he'd actually get his work done on time," grumbled Jamie under her breath.
"Excuse me Ms. Ross? Would you like to say something?" questioned Adam as he glared at her, just daring her to answer.
Jamie's Mama didn't raise no fools, so she knew enough to not respond.
"Adam, is it really necessary to have Jamie in here? She has nothing to do with this," Jack calmly inquired, going out on a limb and praying he wouldn't get his head chopped off.
"And just who decides who is included in something? Is this somehow suddenly in your job description along with being a lazy, no-account, paperweight?!"
"It was my paperwork- it was my fault that it was late. Jamie's not my keeper. She can't be expected to do her own work and mine. I don't see why she has to get the same treatment I do when she didn't do anything wrong- she doesn't deserve this," Jack reasoned to Adam.
Adam turned his icy glare from Jamie and shot it full force at Jack. Jack met his gaze and, silently, refused to back down.
Jamie, in the mean time, had been nervously watching the show-down between the two men. She could see the direction that the conversation was taking and she knew full well it was a dangerous one. If Jack didn't shut up he was going to lose his job for in subornation, among other things. Her only question was- did Jack know what was going to happen? He sure wasn't acting like he knew.
Adam, seeing that Jack was not going to make this very easy, finally relented, "Ms. Ross- could you please give us a few moments?"
"Yes- of course," Jamie said quietly as she exited Adam's office.
Once Jamie was gone, Adam motioned for Jack to take a seat. Jack took the offered seat and waited for Adam's verbal onslaught.
"What's going on, Jack?" demanded Adam.
Jack wasn't expecting this blunt questioning- he figured it would be more references to him as being a useless paperweight.
"What do you mean?" questioned a bewildered Jack.
"I mean, why are you all of a sudden about as useless as a wet rag around here?"
"I'm just having an off day."
"Try an off month."
"Alright then- an off month. So?"
"So- I'm not sure if I can have a liability, like what you've become, around here."
"A liability?"
"I have a hard enough time keeping this job- I don't need you helping my opponents out with giving me the boot."
"If you question my loyalty to this office as well as you-"
"I don't question your loyalty to the work and myself, Jack. I question if your heart's in the work anymore."
"This job is my life, Adam- how much more dedicated can a person get?"
"It'd be nice if I could believe you but I honestly don't think your heart and mind's in your work nowadays. You just seem like you're off in your own little world as of late and I don't know what to do with you."
"Adam, I don't know what you think is going on but whatever you think I assure you you're wrong."
"Really- and can you remember what cases you worked on yesterday?"
"You can't expect me to remember every separate case."
"When it was just yesterday, yes, I should be able to expect you to remember them."
"Adam, I don't know what you want me to tell you."
"The truth would be nice."
"But that's just it- I am telling you the truth."
"Uh huh- sure, and my Great Aunt Mildred drank spiked fruit punch just for the Vitamin C."
"Well, then hats off to Great Aunt Mildred."
"Listen, Jack, I don't want to have to drag this out of you if I don't have to."
"Glad to hear that."
"Knock off the smart ass routine."
"Sure. No problem."
"Just straighten up- don't make me pull your personal life into the spotlight."
"Gotcha- but I'm still telling you that there's no problem to start with."
"Right- I don't care- get out and get your work done for a change."
"With pleasure."
OUTSIDE THE 27TH PRECINCT'S INTERROGATION ROOM
WEDNESDAY, 4:02pm
"That is the third woman we've brought in today for questioning and we are no closer to solving this thing than when we started," groans Mike as another potential suspect in the murder investigation left the 27th Precinct cleared of any wrong-doing.
"You'll get used to it," sighs Mulder.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike snaps.
"What he means is that the X-Files aren't what you would call ‘easy' cases to close. They have a tendency to drag on forever- the answer to one question in these cases usually leads to ten more questions," Scully calmly states.
"One step forward and two steps back," grumbles Lennie.
"The never ending dance," Mulder adds quietly.
"Yeah, well, I don't dance very well," growls Mike as he stormed off to the coffee machine.
"You know I'm starting to doubt that our killer is a woman. I mean, I seriously doubt any of the women that frequent that area of the city would be interested in killing a client and then hoisting his body through an iron fire escape. You don't usually get paid for doing things like that in their particular business,"Lennie ponders out loud.
"You've got a point, Detective," agrees Scully.
"Who's got a point?" inquires Mike as he returned with a paper cup filled with coffee.
"We where just discussing why or actually more like why not our perp could be one of the lovely professionals you find in that part of the city," answers Lennie.
"Yeah, given the fact that you don't get paid for killing someone, it does make you wonder," comments Mike.
"My point exactly,"
"But what else can we do? We've got a whole lotta nothing to go on here. No witnesses, no physical evidence," sighs Scully.
"As Don Cragen would have put it- we got ‘negative bupkes'," yawns Lennie.
"Could not have said it better myself Det. Briscoe," mumbled Mulder.
The foursome sit and stand around Det. Briscoe and Det. Logan's desks, not knowing what they should do next.
"Sooooo....," Mike said, trying to fill the dead air all around him.
"So we keep looking," Lennie stated.
"Sounds great but where do you want to start looking?" asked Mulder.
"I have no idea," Lennie grumbled in a defeated tone.
A cockroach goes scurrying across the floor near Mulder's feet.
Was that a roach?" Mulder nearly shrieks.
"Yes, it was," Mike replies in a bored tone.
"Don't worry Agent Mulder. They don't bite. Well...I take that back. They don't usually bite. All you gotta do to kill'em is throw a brick at them. The time to worry is when you get a brick on them and then the brick starts moving. That's when you run," comforts Lennie.
"Thank you Det. Briscoe," Mulder growls under his breath.
"Hey, anything to help the Feds, Agent Mulder," chuckles Lennie.
"So do you guys wanna call it a day?" questions Mike.
"I don't know what else we could do here in less than a hour before you gentlemen get off work," Scully quietly commented.
Just then Jamie Ross comes into sight. She is heading for Let. Van Buren's office but stops short when she sees the foursome crowded around the two desks.
"Just the four people I was looking for."
Mike, Lennie, Scully, and Mulder all look up to see Jamie walking up to them.
"So how's Richard Cummings, a.k.a. Mr. Big Butt's, case coming?"
"Not so well Counselor," admits Lennie.
"We got no luck on the witness and physical evidence front," Mike adds.
"What else can you do besides wait for another murder at this point?" inquires Jamie.
"We can question everyone within a square mile of the murder scene," grumbles Mike.
"Which is only like a couple thousand people, give or take a few," Lennie puts in.
Mulder and Scully are sitting watching all this happen, wondering who the heck is this woman the two detectives are talking to.
"Oh, agents, this is our resident woman who keeps us in line, Assistant District Attorney, Jamie Ross. Jamie these are our visiting F.B.I. Agents Mulder and Scully," introduces Lennie.
"Actually, Lennie, I don't keep you in line- that's filed under Jack's job description."
"No, Jack's our resident hard ass," quips Lennie.
Jamie just barely manages to hide a smile as Lennie makes this comment.
"Well, I'd suggest that you find something on this case. I don't know if I can stomach Mr. Cummings back-side greeting me at breakfast again," Jamie remarked.
"Here, here," Mike chimed in.
"I'm glad we're all in agreement but how we gonna accomplish this little feat without a prep or evidence," interrupts Lennie.
"And this is why you're the cops and I'm the blood-sucking leech lawyer," Jamie answers as she turned on her heel and walked off to Lt. Van Buren's office.
"And that is the prize for all those years at law school- getting to point out a problem and then leave it to us to find a solution to the problem," Mike states.
Almost as soon as Jamie left Profaci came almost running up to the foursome, "Guys, we got a little problem."
"What kinda little problem?" asked Lennie, anxiously as he and the others rose to their feet and waited for the details.
"We got someone who swears they saw something but...it's a little ‘out there'."
"What luck! We got the crown prince of ‘out there' stuff here in our midst," Mike sarcastically pointed out.
"No, I mean this is weird. You gotta hear what she has to say."
"Okay, but Profaci, if this is an ‘the aliens did it' story I'm gonna have the aliens do something to you," growled Mike as he and the others followed Profaci back to the interrogation room.
From Lt. Van Buren's office Jamie notices the group of officers heading to the interrogation room, "Any idea what's causing the parade?" she asks Van Buren.
Van Buren looks up from the paperwork Jamie brought her and sees the parade for herself, "I don't know, but I don't like the looks of things. Com'on."
Van Buren and Jamie leave the office and go after the group.
OUTSIDE THE 27TH PRECINCT'S INTERROGATION ROOM
WEDNESDAY, 7:08pm
"This is insane," Lennie points out, disgustedly.
"She might be telling the truth!" an impatient Mulder practically yells.
"Sure," Mike mumbles, rolling his eyes.
"Well, she obviously saw something. You guys have been questioning her for nearly three hours and she hasn't changed her story yet," Scully manages to get in.
The four look to Van Buren and Jamie for their thoughts.
"Personally, I don't know what to think. I mean, you guys have been questioning her for awhile and her story hasn't changed in that time. But at the same time...," Van Buren doesn't finish her thought and looks to Jamie, "So what do you want to do Counselor?"
"I have no idea."
"Welcome to the majority," grumbles Mike.
"But...we can't keep her here all night. We don't have reasonable cause. I need a decision by someone," the group lapses into silence upon Jamie's finishing of her thought.
"I think this is one for Jack," Lennie half-heartedly suggests.
"Are you kidding me? It's after hours and if I go to Jack and tell him this, this women's story," Jamie begins.
"McCoy's gonna think we're jerkn' him around and I can't say I'd blame him for thinking that," finishes Mike.
"Do any of you have a better idea?" Van Buren asks and gets silence as her answer, "I didn't think so."
"Alright, I'll get a hold of Jack," sighs Jamie, "Anita, can I use your phone?"
"Sure."
Jamie and Van Buren leave for Van Buren's office leaving Mike, Lennie, Scully, and Mulder alone.
"Jack's gonna think this is one big joke," Lennie says to no one in particular.
"Oh yeah. We're joking- a real knee-slapper," Mike replies, sarcastically.