Beginning, Section II

Conclusion

27th Precinct Interrogation Room.

The legendary Arthur Gold was on hand to greet his client as the police escorted her into an interrogation room. Although technically in retirement, Gold was always available for the right client-and a hefty retainer, both of which Maria Rushworth provided.

"I've seen a lot of thin cases in my life, detectives, but this one's so thin you can see through it," Gold said gruffly, sitting in a chair. "Maria was Henry Crawford's friend, for God's sake. What possible motive would she have for killing him? Trying to prevent him from marrying her cousin? She set them up on their first date."

The same television screen which had so humiliated Catherine Tilney was now turned on for Maria and her lawyer. Briscoe hit play on the videotape and watched as Maria's face appeared on the screen. She was smiling, fully dressed, saying, "Hal, this is the silliest thing I've ever done in my life."

"C'mon. I'll even let you watch it later," Hal Crawford said.

"That's perverted, Hal!"

"And you'll love every minute of it, I promise."

The camera shifted to a stereo system. A tanned hand reached out and hit play, and the sounds of Nine Inch Nails filled the air. As everyone watched, Maria slowly started taking her clothes off, still apprehensive but gaining confidence with every moment.

"Turn that off!" Gold snapped. "For God's sake, it's embarrassing enough that she's in this predicament without you getting your kicks watching her...in flagrante delicto."

Briscoe didn't stop the tape, but he did fast forward a few minutes until he came to the section he was looking for. This time, the brunette in the video was far less apprehensive about being videotaped, and when she started to undress-to the exact same song-she danced around with moves that would make a stripper proud.

Logan watched Maria's face the entire time her sister Julia appeared on camera. He didn't see an ounce of surprise on her face as the action went from mere stripping.

When the video ended, Briscoe shut it off. "I'd say that's a hell of a motive, counselor."

"Only if my client knew that her sister was sleeping with her lover, which she didn't."

"Want to explain it to us, Mrs. Rushworth?" Logan asked.

"She doesn't have to explain anything to you."

"Oh, yeah? Well, how about if we start with some of the lies she's told. Like the one about how she and Hal Crawford were friends only."

"And that she hadn't seen him for a month. The tape, if you'll notice, was made two weeks ago."

"Not to mention that lie she told about not being out of her mother's sight all weekend. She turned up missing during a crucial time the night of the murder."

"I can explain all of that," Maria said.

"We can't wait to hear it," Briscoe said.

"There's no need for sarcasm, detective," Gold said. "She's willing to set the record straight. Go ahead, Maria."

Maria looked around her, sighed, and said, "Look, this thing with Hal and me...we couldn't help it. I fell in love with him the first time he came along with his sister. I knew we belonged together, but Hal didn't want to marry me. To spite him, I married Sam. I tried to resist Hal, but I didn't want to lose him, either. So I set him up with Faith so he would still be around and eventually we...continued our relationship."

"And you killed him because he fell in love with her. Because he intended to marry her," Logan said.

"No! I didn't kill him! I would never use a gun. I hate guns."

"Yeah, that's what your cousin told us. Did she persuade you in any way-"

"You think Faith did this? Is that why I'm here? Faith would no more have had him killed than I would've killed him."

"Someone put a hole in his chest-not to mention in other unmentionable places. Someone called him and sent him on a path to be killed. The phone call came from this house."

"I didn't call him."

"It was your mother's private line."

"Which is also the line in my father's office. He wanted to have a phone line not everyone knew about, so he put it in my mother's name. Anyone could've made that call."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I'm not the only one who lives in that house. My brothers are in and out all the time."

"Why would they call Hal Crawford?"

"Maybe my brother Edmund called. He's very close to Faith. If he thought Hal was giving her grief, he wouldn't hesitate to call him at two in the morning."

"Are you saying that your brother killed Hal Crawford?"

"No!" Maria cried out. "I don't know who killed him."

"You know what I think, Maria? I think you killed him. I think you lured him to Central Park so you could kill him."

"No. I wasn't anywhere near Central Park at the time."

"Then where were you between two and four?"

She looked away. "I had to get away from my mother. You have no idea how overbearing she is. I had no idea how overbearing she is. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went to this bar."

"What's the name of it?"

"Benwick's. I had a couple of drinks there, danced for a while, flirted with this guy at the bar, then...then I went walking, to clear my head before I got back home. I had no idea that someone had woke the entire house, or that my aunt had freaked and called Faith and my husband had gone looking for me...and if I'd known I was going to need an alibi, I would've stayed at home all night playing solitaire on the computer."

There was a tap on the window. Maria jumped, not having realized that someone was watching her. Logan excused himself and walked into the other room, where Lieutenant Van Buren and ADA Claire Kincaid were waiting.

"It's a pretty shaky alibi," Kincaid said, "but all we've got is circumstantial evidence. The only real proof we have that she might've killed him is the phone call. Arthur Gold will eat us alive if we go to court with nothing but that."

"I think if we keep going, she'll crack eventually," Logan replied. "She's close now."

The door which led out of the room was opened, and a young woman handed Van Buren a folder. Van Buren studied it, then looked up.

"We've got something more than the call. The gun taken from the Bertram residence is our murder weapon. And Maria Rushworth's prints are on the barrel of the gun."

"Is that enough?" Logan asked.

Kincaid nodded. "Arrest her."

Logan walked back through the door, where Arthur Gold was saying, "If that's all you have, I'm taking my client home and telling her not to worry about this. You've got nothing."

"I think we've found something after all," Logan told him. "The gun's a match, and her fingerprints are all over it."

Briscoe rose from his seat and, after a nod from his partner, said, "Would you please stand up?"

Maria rose hesitantly. "Why?" she asked.

"Maria Rushworth, you're under arrest for the murder of Henry Crawford."

"Docket #31425. People vs. Maria Elizabeth Rushworth. Charge is murder in the second degree," a man announced into the courtroom where Maria was being arraigned.

"Does he have to say that so loud?" Maria was heard to ask.

"I'm hard of hearing," Judge Andrew Bennet said. "Ah. So, do you wish to enter a plea, Mrs. Rushworth?"

"I'm not guilty, sir. These charges are ridiculous, Your Honor, and-"

"Calm down and let your lawyer speak for you." Judge Bennet rifled through the file for a moment before saying, "Bail, Ms. Kincaid?"

"The defendant had ample resources to leave the country and has lied to the police in an attempt to elude arrest. People seek remand," Kincaid replied.

"What?!" Maria shrieked.

The judge pounded his gavel and gave her a livid glare.

"Your Honor, the state's being most unreasonable," Gold argued. "Most of these so-called resources are being held in trust for Mrs. Rushworth until her father's death, or else they belong to her husband. Very little of it is actually hers."

"Mrs. Rushworth is the daughter of Thomas Bertram, Your Honor," Kincaid countered.

"You make my father sound like a common hood! He's a respectable and noted businessman-"

"Mrs. Rushworth, one more outburst like that and I'll have you removed from this court to spend the night in Riker's." Judge Bennet sighed. "Ms. Kincaid, it's been my experience that most defendants try to elude arrest by lying to the police. This one's no different. Mr. Gold? Any suggestions?"

"ROR, Your Honor."

"You must be kidding. This is a homicide we're talking, Mr. Gold, no matter how wealthy the defendant. Bail is set at $500,000, cash or bond, and Mrs. Rushworth surrenders her passport. Next." Judge Bennet pounded his gavel once.

Kincaid walked away from her place at the side of the room to be replaced by another ADA.

"Isn't remand a little harsh, Ms. Kincaid?" Gold asked as she walked past him. "She's not a serial killer."

"She's got easy access to a way out of this country, sir. That makes her a flight risk."

"Whatever makes you happy. See you at trial."

Office of District Attorney Adam Schiff. Monday, February 22.

"Arthur Gold? Didn't he retire last year?" Executive District Attorney Jack McCoy asked.

"I heard that he's an old family friend of Margaret Bertram's," Kincaid replied.

"Well, even he can't make this case a winnable for his client. She made the phone call that lured Hal Crawford to his death. Her prints were all over the gun that killed him. She has no alibi for the time he was killed, and she had a hell of a motive. Several of them, as a matter of fact."

"Do you think she killed him because he slept with her sister, or because he threatened to tell her husband about the affair?" Adam Schiff asked.

"More than likely it was her sister. It was okay for her to set him up with her cousin. Faith Price was no competition for his affections. Her sister, on the other hand, was a natural rival. She was just as attractive, perhaps more so. She might've stolen him away from her." McCoy sat in a chair on the other side of Schiff's desk. "I don't think she cared one way or the other if her husband knew about it."

"So now all you have to do is prove that Maria Rushworth knew her sister was having an affair with her lover."

"Which is going to be rather simple. She had the videotape," McCoy said.

"But how did she get it? Didn't his friend...the one who was dating the sister..."

"Jack Yates," Kincaid said, looking over the Rushworth file.

"Didn't he say that the man kept the collection under lock and key?"

"He did, but remember that on the tape, Crawford told her that he'd let her see it. Suppose he accidentally went too far and she caught a glimpse of her sister performing for the camera? Then she'd know the truth."

"What I don't understand is why she was so foolish as to leave the videotape where it could easily be found," Kincaid said. "You would think she'd want to get rid of any indication that she had a connection to Hal Crawford. Not to mention that her motive would be what the rest of the tape contained."

"Maybe she didn't have enough time to get rid of it. Maybe she wanted a souvenir? Who knows? All that matters is that it was found in her home," Schiff said.

Kincaid frowned. Something was off about this case, she just knew it. She flipped through the file again but found nothing new within it. She read over the ballistics report, which confirmed that the gun had killed Crawford. There were several prints on the gun-some belonging to Maria Rushworth. The last call he'd received had definitely come from the Bertram residence. According to Yates, he'd been eager to meet the person who had killed him.

A slam dunk, she told herself.

"You're being awfully quiet, Claire," McCoy said. "Putting a killer in prison is suddenly bothering you?"

"No," she said. She glanced at the fingerprint identification again. Maria's prints matched those on the barrel, but not on the butt of the gun. Everyone else living at the Bertram residence had been fingerprinted, but none of those prints were a match, either.

"Do you think Maria Rushworth killed Hal Crawford?" he asked.

"I think she was involved in some way," Claire told him. "I can buy her making the phone call and arranging to have him killed. I just don't see her pulling the trigger. She seemed too..."

"Elegant? Don't tell me you're assuming that because she's wealthy and her father has influence-"

"I didn't say that. But I don't think she's able to feel enough hatred to kill someone."

"Neither do most contract killers. They're cool and methodical, just like she was. But because she doesn't do it for a living, she slipped up and we've caught her. End of story. What I need for you to do is to talk to the sister and find out when Maria Rushworth found out about her and Crawford."

Kincaid just nodded in agreement, deciding that if she could find nothing wrong, after looking through the file half a dozen times, that the case was pretty much open and shut. McCoy was right.

The home of Julia Bertram. Tuesday, February 23.

A pale-faced Julia Bertram answered the door. "I don't think I want to talk to you," she informed Kincaid. "You've arrested my sister, embarrassed my family by having her arrest broadcast on the eleven o'clock news, and now you want me to help you out by telling you secrets about Maria? There might not be any love lost between me and my sister, but I'm not about to feed her to you."

"Miss Bertram, we can do this here or I can subpoena you to testify in front of the grand jury."

"Why? I don't know anything about what happened to Hal."

"Are you aware that Hal Crawford was having an affair with your sister? And did you know that she knew about your affair with him?"

Julia stared at her for a minute before stepping aside to let her in. Kincaid barely made it inside the door before Julia shut it. Julia's home was decorated with all the good taste she had inherited from her father without the ostentatious strain from her mother. She walked into the living room and sat on the couch, inviting Kincaid to take the chair across from her.

Once they were both seated, Julia said softly, "I don't believe you. She loves Sam."

Kincaid nodded. "According to her, they'd been together since shortly after she married Sam Rushworth."

Julia leaned back, arms folded over her chest. Finally, she said, "I suppose I should've known. I always suspected that she cared more for Hal than she let on. But I don't understand something."

"What's that?"

"What's the big deal about her knowing about me?"

"We think your affair with him prompted her to become jealous enough to kill him. She had in her possession of a videotape with you and Hal Crawford."

"Oh, God." She sighed. "I knew that videotape was a mistake. I should never have done it, but Hal could be very persuasive. Of course, it didn't hurt that I still had a bit of a crush on him. I think he knew, and he was flattered. So we were together maybe six weeks, and then I went back to school. I never told her about the videotape."

"Went back to school? I wasn't aware that you were still in college."

Julia's brow furrowed. "I'm not." Her eyes widened. "Did you think my affair with him was recent?"

"The videotape we found in your sister's collection was of her with Crawford two weeks ago, followed by you."

Julia looked like she wanted to laugh but dared not to. "Then you just lost your motive, Ms. Kincaid. We had this 'affair,' as you're calling it, several years ago."

"Julia, lying isn't going to help your sister any."

"I'm not lying. You people honestly think I would cheat on someone as wonderful as Jack with a guy like Hal?"

"What do you mean, 'a guy like Hal'?"

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious what kind of guy he was if he was planning to marry a girl while fooling around with her cousin. And to think that we were all in support of Faith marrying him. The poor girl doesn't know how narrow an escape she's had."

"I'm afraid that without any proof, we only have your word that your affair took place years ago," Kincaid said. "Unless you happened to tell someone."

Julia smiled coldly. "How ironic is it that the only person I told was Maria? You won't believe her any more than you believe me now. I told her because we'd always been in competition with each other and I wanted her to know that I'd gotten Hal first. I didn't tell her about the videotape because Hal promised me he would keep that private. But she's the only one who knows about it."

One Police Plaza. Forensics. Wednesday, February 24.

Kincaid walked into the laboratory, where a dark-haired man with a light beard sat on a stool, looking at a slide under a microscope.

"Medill?" she called. The man abruptly looked up. "I'm here about that videotape in the Crawford case."

"Elliot's taking that one," he replied. "She's the electronics wizard around here."

He pointed to a tall, thin brunette with frizzy curls pulled back into a tidy ponytail. "Anne Elliot," she said, extending her hand to Kincaid. "I've taken a look at what you sent over."

"What have you discovered?"

"That what you thought was correct. The first part of the tape was done recently, just as the time stamp said. But the second part of it, with the younger sister, was recorded from another tape. The picture and sound quality were inferior, which might've come from the dubbing or from the camera he used at the time. Also, there was a very obvious difference in your victim between both parts of the video."

"What was that?"

Elliot led her to a pair of television screens. On the right screen, Hal was with Maria. On the left, he was with Julia. To Claire Kincaid's eye, there was nothing different.

"I don't see anything."

Elliot tapped a pen on Hal Crawford's face on the right screen. On his nose, to be exact. "His nose was broken sometime between these two videos," she said. "In the second half, his nose is fine. In the first, you can tell-"

"I see it now," Kincaid said.

"The break wasn't close to the time of his death, and it was bad enough to be noticeable in before and after pictures."

"In other words, Julia Bertram was telling the truth when she said her relationship with Hal was long ago."

"It would seem so."

"Thanks."

The Office of DA Adam Schiff. Wednesday, February 24.

"Brilliant. Just brilliant. Motive just took a major hit," Schiff said after hearing Kincaid's summation of the videotape analysis. "If the affair was long ago and she knew it, it weakens our case."

"Perhaps not," McCoy said. "What did she say to the police about her relationship with Crawford?"

Claire leafed through the police report. "That they were in love-a love that transcended marriage to other people. She married someone else to spite him when he refused to marry her, then set him up with her cousin because she would present no competition."

"Did she say that?" Schiff asked.

"Everything except for the reason she set him up with her cousin," Kincaid said.

"But as a theory, it's not bad," McCoy added.

"We got more theories about this woman's motives than Oliver Stone," Schiff muttered. "Do we have any evidence to support this theory?"

"All we have indicating that they were in love is Maria's statement just prior to her arrest," Kincaid said.

"That's right. All we have is her word." McCoy's face became animated.

"You think she's lying?"

"Every other person the police questioned-including Maria Rushworth in her initial interview-said that Crawford fell in love with Faith Price. His sister and Jack Yates said he was planning to ask Faith to marry him. If he was in love with Maria, as she claimed in her second interview, why was he about to ask another woman to marry him?"

"Ask her," Schiff said.

The Office of EADA Jack McCoy. Thursday, February 25.

Arthur Gold stepped into McCoy's office with his usual swagger, Maria following him with her husband and father. "We just received a copy of the reports on the videotape. Looks like motive just died at the starting gate. I take it we're here for an apology."

"You would be wrong," McCoy said. "She may not have killed him for the reason we thought, but the fact remains that the evidence points to her."

"Jack, this is ridiculous," Gold said. "Ask anyone who met her. My client would have nothing to do with guns. She's a vegetarian, for God's sake."

"I hope that's not your only defense, Arthur, or else your client's in serious trouble," McCoy replied. "Prints from her thumb and index finger matched those found on the barrel of the gun."

"I was helping my aunt and Faith organize my father's room last month," Maria said.

"And you'll notice that her prints don't appear on the butt of the gun, or on the trigger," Gold pointed out.

"So she wiped that part of the gun clean and forgot about the rest of it," McCoy countered.

"For God's sake, if Julia had only shown up like she was supposed to, I wouldn't have had anything to do with the guns at all," Maria snapped. "She was supposed to be there, but she was out with Jack, as usual, so I got roped into helping."

"Which means there's a perfectly legitimate reason for her fingerprints to be on the gun barrel." Gold was coming close to gloating.

"There's still the matter of the phone call, and her absence, and her lies to the police."

"What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to admit right then and there that I was sleeping with him? I didn't think it had anything to do with his death. I still don't."

"What did you say when Hal Crawford told you he was planning to marry Faith?" McCoy asked.

Maria looked at him coldly. "I told him congratulations. It changed nothing in our relationship."

"Did it? You told the police that Hal was acting strange around her. Did he act like he was in love?"

"No, it was just weird. It meant nothing. She meant nothing to him." This was said with such vehemence that Gold hushed her.

"I see that the thought of Faith meaning more to him upset you," McCoy said calmly. "Enough so that you would rather see him dead than with her."

"Was I upset at the idea of him with my plain-Jane cousin? Yes. Did I kill him? No."

"Maria, that's enough," Thomas Bertram said. "It's bad enough that you've managed to embroil the family in such a scandal-"

"Oh, please! You're the one with the highly placed contacts in the ma-"

"Maria!"

"-fia and I'm the scandal? Is that all you care about? I've been charged with murder! They keep coming up with new reasons why I did it, when I didn't! But someone might believe them and I might have to spend time in jail!"

"In prison, Mrs. Rushworth."

"I didn't kill him. I was nowhere near the park that night. I took a cab to the bar, and it was a good walk back. After dealing with Mother all night, I deserved a break."

"You've told so many lies, how do you expect anyone to believe you're telling the truth now?" McCoy's eyes bore into hers. "And though your lawyer may tap dance around the prints and the call, the fact remains that they're there, and they're yours. No one can corroborate your story, Mrs. Rushworth."

There was a lengthy silence. Finally, Gold asked, "Jack...what kind of deal are we looking at?"

"A deal for what?" Maria demanded.

"Why should I offer her a deal? She deliberately lured a man out into the park and shot him three times. She's lied continually to the police and to this office."

"No," she said. "I didn't kill him."

"Then who could've?" Kincaid asked. "Everyone has an alibi for the time in question except you."

Maria bowed her head, seemingly in defeat. "I didn't shoot him," she whispered.

"Maria," Thomas Bertram said, "be quiet. Mr. McCoy...that man...Crawford...was an animal. He had no conscience. He seduced both of my daughters, one of them while he was courting her cousin. He had Maria all confused and obsessed. Please show her some sympathy."

McCoy looked at Maria, who was glaring at her father. She said nothing, and Gold asked for a moment alone with his client and her family. He walked out the door, followed by Kincaid.

"Are you going to offer her a deal?" Kincaid asked once the door was closed.

"I might be willing to give on sentencing, but she committed murder, Claire. We both know it."

"I can't help thinking that what Thomas Bertram said was right. She was obsessed with him, and I think he encouraged it."

"Aren't you supposed to be the feminist in this office? Whatever happened to women taking responsibility for themselves and their actions?"

"There are men who bring that out in women. And women who respond in kind," Kincaid said. She looked through the window, where Thomas Bertram and Maria were having a heated discussion. Sam Rushworth was trying to mediate with no success. When things looked to be settled, Arthur Gold opened the door and said, "We're ready."

Once everyone was seated again, Gold made his offer. "Jack, this was a crime of passion. We'll take man two, two to four, with some counseling."

"Murder two. Fifteen to life."

"Jack..."

"When she comes up for parole in fifteen years, the D.A.'s office won't oppose it."

Gold looked at Maria, who looked at her father. At last, she nodded.

"Send over the paperwork," Gold said. "We'll take the deal."

Allocution of Maria Rushworth. Monday, March 1.

"All rise. Court is now is session, the Honorable John Middleton presiding."

Judge Middleton sat on the bench and said, "Please be seated. Mr. Gold, I understand your client wishes to change her plea from not guilty to murder in the second degree in the death for Henry Crawford."

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Mrs. Rushworth, please rise."

Maria stood up, looking shaky.

"Do you understand that you're pleading guilty to murder?"

Maria nodded. "Yes, Your Honor."

"And that this plea will, in effect, be the same as a jury conviction?"

"Yes."

"As part of your plea, you must allocute to the crime to which you are pleading guilty. Please tell this court how you killed Henry Crawford."

"Your Honor, I..." Maria turned to look at her family, seated in the row behind her. Chin trembling, she turned back to face the judge. "I loved him so much. He told me he loved me, too. Then one day, he comes to me to say it's over, that he's in love with Faith. Faith! He never would've known she was alive if I hadn't introduced them. He said he was going to marry her. So first I stole a tape from his collection, the one he keeps of all his women. I sent it to Faith so she'd break up with him. It had him with another girl. I thought that once she ended the relationship, he'd come back to me. So...um, I called him that night and asked him to meet me in Central Park. I told him that I knew a way for him to get Faith back. He was so excited about that, and I knew that no matter what I said to convince him...he was going to choose her in the end. So I went to the park with one of my father's guns and...and I was so angry. I wanted him to hurt as bad as I was before I killed him, so I shot him in the...nether region below his belt. After a few minutes, I shot him in the chest and killed him."

Judge Middleton looked at McCoy. "Mr. McCoy, are you satisfied with the defendant's plea?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Very well. Maria Rushworth, this court sentences you to a term of no less than fifteen years and no more than your natural life, at a correctional facility to be determined."

With a pound of the gavel, the proceedings ended. McCoy closed his briefcase, satisfied that justice had been done.

McCoy had changed into jeans and was preparing to leave when Claire Kincaid walked in.

"Want to join me for a drink?" he asked.

"No. Jack, I went back over the Crawford case file."

"Why? Maria Rushworth confessed today. She killed him. Close the file."

"I'm not so sure about that. Today, in her allocution, Maria said she shot Crawford twice in the groin before killing him."

"So?"

"So, the ME's report said those two were just for show. He was already dead before then." She handed Jack the report.

He looked it over, frowning. "So maybe she got confused. It's easy to-"

"She remembered with accurate detail everything else about the crime. I somehow doubt she would've forgotten how she killed him."

"Claire, there's a mountain of evidence against her. Her alibi didn't hold up. The gun, the phone call-"

"I said it before. I was willing to believe she set it up. But she didn't kill him. Plus, she said that she stole the tape she gave to her cousin, but her fingerprints didn't match those found inside the case."

McCoy sat down on his couch heavily. "She knew almost everything about the crime. Isn't it possible that she's lying in order to get away with murder by claiming she didn't know how it was done?"

"Perhaps. But it's also possible that she didn't do it."

"If she didn't do it, then who did? And if she was innocent, why did she take a plea?"

"Maybe fifteen years didn't sound as bad to her as twenty-five without the certainty of parole. Maybe her father forced her into it. Maybe she's protecting someone else."

McCoy sighed. "I knew you were hell-bent on complicating this. Check into her activities prior to the murder. See if you can find anything."

Lazy Jane's. Jane Bingley, Proprietor. Wednesday, March 3.

"Oh, yes. Maria Rushworth. She's a regular around here. Once a week for lunch," Jane Bingley said.

"You're sure about that?" Kincaid asked.

"Yes. She loves that table by the window. Scene and be seen, and all that pretentious nonsense I wanted to avoid. But I can't complain. She's brought quite a bit of business my way, and it's easy to lose your aversion to something when it's making you money."

"Does she lunch alone?"

"You must be kidding. The more people she has, the better she looks. I've had everyone from Emma Woodhouse to Frederick Wentworth in here," Jane said, mentioning the famous actress and the even more famous basketball star. "All because of Maria."

"Does she meet with anyone on a regular basis?"

"Sure. Once a month, she has lunch with the woman who owns Contrary Mary's Garden. Mary Crawford, I think. Is she any relation to the man Maria killed?"

"She was his sister, and we're not entirely convinced that Maria killed him."

Jane stopped at a table to rearrange some flowers. "I wondered why you were asking me questions."

"Did you ever see her with this man?" Kincaid held up a group picture of Crawford with his sister, Maria, Julia, Jack and Faith. She pointed to Hal.

Jane took the picture and studied it for a moment. "I've seen her with everyone but the redheaded man."

"You have?"

"Yeah. The guy you pointed to, he came in while she was lunching about two months ago. They had a long talk. It seemed to me like he was flirting with her, but she wasn't interested."

"She wasn't? Are you sure about that?"

"Mm-hmm. Then about two weeks later, the two of them came in arm and arm, and she was practically in his lap the entire time. That was the last time I saw him here."

"What about the others?"

Jane looked at the picture again. "The brunette and the mousy-looking blonde come in every other week with her. I like them the best, in spite of the fact that they don't bring as much prestige to my place as some of the others. Maria seems more like a human being when she's with them."

"How long have they been coming in?" Kincaid asked.

"Nearly as long as she has. Every other week, they sit at that table and talk for two, three hours."

"When was the last time you saw the three of them together?"

"A couple of days before that man was killed. Nothing seemed to be wrong between them. They carried on like they usually did. That was the last time I saw any of them."

"So what does that prove?" Adam Schiff asked. "We've known this woman's been lying from the get-go."

"Why would she lie about her relationship with her sister and cousin?" Kincaid answered. "If anything, saying she had a good relationship with Faith would've made her look less suspicious."

"And both the sister and Faith Price confirmed it?"

"No," McCoy said, looking through the initial police interviews. "Only Julia Bertram did. Faith Price never said one way or the other."

"So not only is Maria Rushworth lying about this, but the sister is backing her up."

McCoy noted something on the report and sat up. "Here's something interesting. When the police interviewed Faith a second time, she said that Julia was very protective of her."

"That's a start."

"She also said that she would more readily believe that Julia would kill him if she thought he would hurt her."

"Where are you going with this?" Kincaid asked.

"No one ever asked Julia where she was the night of the murder. She was never fingerprinted. And during her second interview, Maria Rushworth said that anyone in the family could've used that phone. That would've included Julia."

"But what possible motive would Julia Bertram have to kill Crawford?" Kincaid asked.

"Because he was cheating on Faith with her own cousin."

"So Julia Bertram kills him and lets her sister, whom she's now so close to, take the blame?" Schiff didn't seem inclined to believe it. "How are you going to prove any of this?"

McCoy didn't answer, but he did have a few ideas.

Crawfordites. Thursday, March 4.

"Back on the case," Briscoe said to Logan as they opened the door to Hal Crawford's bar.

"Yeah. D.A.'s. There's no pleasing them." Logan spotted Jack behind the bar, arranging things and cleaning in general. After greeting them, they got back to business.

"I didn't really think Maria did it," Jack Yates said confidently as he wiped off the bar with a damp cloth. "She's always seemed like such a cold fish, you know?"

"Were you aware that Hal Crawford was sleeping with her?" Logan asked.

Jack's eyes darted away. "Yeah," he said. "He bragged about it to me one night, told me he'd hooked up with her for a wild afternoon."

"Were you aware that he'd slept with Julia?"

"That was years ago, and only a couple of times, he said. I told him if I ever found out he was with her again, I'd break his legs. He told me not to worry."

"And you didn't?"

"No." He took out a bottle of Budweiser and opened it. After taking a drink, he said, "You have to understand that Hal wasn't used to sleeping alone. Faith was an old-fashioned girl, if you know what I mean. I'm not saying he wasn't in love with her, because he was. He just didn't like going without. So while he waited..."

"But why choose her cousin? There are several million women in this city alone he could've chosen."

Jack shrugged. "That I couldn't tell you. He got a wild hair about it, I guess. Maybe it was the fact that she was related to Faith that interested him. So since it looks like you don't believe Maria, who do you think killed him?"

Briscoe thought for a moment, then said, "Where were you again on the night he was killed?"

Jack had been about to raise the bottle to his lips. He set it down with a bang and glared at the two detectives. "Hal Crawford was my best friend and if you think I killed him, you're full of crap."

"I don't know. Maybe Julia was sleeping with him again. Or at least, you suspected it. Maybe you got mad and so you decided to kill him. You'd have Julia's keys so you could go to her parents' house and make the call."

"A call I made while I was still tending bar here? He got that call sitting on that stool, where he could see me the entire night."

"Maybe you were in it with someone."

"I wasn't in anything. I was here until almost three. I went home and crashed because I had to come back in here at noon."

"Any witnesses? Regulars, your girlfriend, anyone?" Briscoe asked.

"I got a lot of regulars, but don't go bothering them. As for the others, I wouldn't know."

"And Julia?"

"I didn't see her. She was at an all-night bachelorette party for a college friend."

The home of Christopher and Marianne Brandon. 1222 West End Ave. Friday, March 5.

"I'm not sure what it is you're wanting," Marianne said tentatively as she stood at the door. "Did my friends and I tear up the place too bad? I could've sworn we cleaned it all up and Christopher paid for anything that was broken."

"What sort of party did you have?" Briscoe asked.

Marianne blushed. "Well, it would've been a lot better if my sister's sister-in-law hadn't picked a fight. You see, Lucy was originally engaged to my sister Elinor's husband and things didn't work out so she married his brother, only then Edward wrote this fabulous book and he's famous, which ticks Lucy off because she thought he wouldn't amount to anything, and-"

"Actually, Mrs. Brandon, we're more interested in another of your guests. Julia Bertram."

"Oh, Julia! I see. Yeah, she was there. What's this about?"

"We're trying to pinpoint where she was that night. It's important that we know. Was she at your party the whole night?"

"No. She was originally going to stay the night, like everyone else, but she called that day and said she would have to leave soon after midnight because she and her sister were taking care of their mother."

"So what time did she finally leave?" Logan asked.

"Around one. She looked grim, and I can't say I blame her. I've had the misfortune of meeting her mother."

1 Hogan Place. Conference Room. Friday, March 5.

"I don't understand what we're doing here," Arthur Gold said, sitting in a chair across from Jack McCoy. "Are we here to watch you beat your chest because my client's going to spend a significant number of years in prison?"

"No. We're here because I think it's time we heard the truth about what happened the night Hal Crawford was killed."

Maria looked at him with steady eyes. "I told you what happened," she said.

"No, you lied about what happened. Just as you've lied about everything from the beginning," McCoy said just as the door opened again. Maria turned to see Faith and Julia walk into the room.

"What are they doing here?" Maria asked, her voice rising.

"You know why they're here," Kincaid told her.

"No, I don't. Isn't it bad enough that I had to confess before the world? Now you want me to do it in front of my sister and the woman he loved? Why didn't you invite Mary while you were at it?"

"Because Mary wasn't part of your conspiracy."

Faith's eyes widened. "C-conspiracy?" she choked. "What is he talking about?"

"Nothing," Maria said. "He's not going to be content until we're all in jail, that's what."

"Not until all the guilty parties are in jail, Mrs. Rushworth, that's correct. Sit down," McCoy told the two young women.

Faith took her seat blindly, nearly falling into the chair. Julia sat, her look of defiance matching her sister's.

"We're going to start with the lie about the three of you not being close," McCoy said.

"Not close? I never said that," Faith said.

"I know you didn't, but both of your cousins did. Both of them made a point of saying Maria wasn't close to you. They said they weren't close to each other, but that's a lie, isn't it?"

"Is it?" Julia replied.

Kincaid held up a sheet of paper. "This is an affidavit from Jane Bingley. She's the owner of Lazy Jane's, where the three of you lunch every other week. She says you talk for hours when you're there."

"We do," Faith agreed. "Why would that be wrong?" She looked at Maria, then Julia.

"Then there's the matter of your confession, Mrs. Rushworth," McCoy continued.

"What's wrong with it? I told you everything that happened."

"Except for two small details, which weren't in the police report but which the shooter might've told you. In your allocution, Maria, you said that you stole the videotape from Hal's collection and sent it to Faith because you wanted her to break up with him."

"That's right."

"Then why weren't any of your prints found inside the locked entertainment center where he kept them?"

"Because I wore gloves."

"Then when we take your sister off to be fingerprinted, we're not going to find out that her prints are in the tape case? And we're not going to find her prints on the gun that she supposedly never touched because she wasn't home to help with the inventory?"

Julia and Maria exchanged a look, then looked at Faith. As for poor Miss Price, she was staring at them in unabashed shock.

"I think it's time the 'sister act' comes clean," McCoy said.

Julia looked down at the table before her head snapped up. "I did it," she said. "You can't blame Maria. She was innocent of the whole thing. The only thing she's guilty of is bad timing."

"Julia, no! They can't prove I'm innocent."

"We can prove it, Mrs. Rushworth. You walked from Benwick's past several businesses with outdoor security cameras to protect against vandalism. You were spotted on all of them between the times of three and four, which was the time Hal Crawford was murdered."

"And even if they hadn't, I couldn't let this go any further," Julia said.

"What happened?" Kincaid asked.

Julia took a deep breath before saying, "Hal Crawford was a sociopath. He claimed that he loved Faith, but he didn't. If he had, he wouldn't have slept with Maria. He wouldn't have flirted with all the women who came into his bar. He wouldn't have gone sniffing around me."

"I thought you said your affair ended long ago," Kincaid said.

"It did. And despite the fact that I was in love with his best friend, he flirted with me. The night Jack thought he was going to get a part in that play, Hal cornered me coming out of the bathroom. I got scared and told him to back off before I sprayed him with Mace. He got the message and moved right on to Maria."

"Who didn't turn him down."

Maria burst into tears. "I was weak," she said. "He knew I'd been having trouble with Sam and that I was so lonely. He took advantage of that. He made me love him."

"Maria finally admitted her affair to me the day he broke it off. He crushed her, Mr. McCoy. He told her that women like her weren't good enough to be wives, and if she needed proof, look at what she was doing to her husband. He said that Faith was the sort of woman a man wanted in a wife-guaranteed to be faithful and a good mother. And then he thanked her for giving him enough memories to last him in the marriage bed. He said he doubted Faith would be any good."

Faith gasped when faced with the cruelty of the man she'd loved.

"When she told me, I was furious with her for a few days for being so foolish, but I realized that it wasn't her fault at all. She was vulnerable, just as most of his women were." Julia looked at Faith with sad eyes before returning her attention to McCoy. "He called Maria a few days later and said he'd had a change of heart. He said that he wanted to keep her around after he married Faith. She told him no, and that's when he said he would tell her husband unless she didn't."

"And that's when you decided to kill him."

"No, but I did want Faith to break up with him. So one afternoon I asked to borrow his car, which he loaned me, and I went to his apartment. I just picked a tape at random, made a copy of it and sent the proof to Faith. She broke up with him, just like I thought she would." Julia sighed. "But then Faith called me from the train station. She said that maybe she hadn't given Hal the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it really did happen like he said, that it was a girl from Columbia and that he'd been set up."

"You were afraid she'd make up with him," McCoy said.

"Yes. I called Marianne and told her that I was going to leave her party early. I went back to the house and took the gun from my father's trophy room, and then I waited. I left the party at one and caught a cab to my parents' house, where I made the phone call."

"Why did you call him from there? You had to have known we could find out where it was made."

"I thought that as long as everyone in the house could alibi each other, they'd be safe. The phone call would show that someone had called, but there would be no evidence that anyone there had met Hal."

"You made the prank call to wake everyone up," Faith said.

Julia nodded. "I knew Mother would rouse everyone with her paranoid fears. Only I didn't know that Maria was gone. She didn't know anything, I swear to God. If she did, she wouldn't have left the house."

"Go on, Ms. Bertram."

"I told Hal when I called that Faith was wavering and might want to get back together with him. I told him that I could give him good advice on how to get on her good side. I knew that would get him there, and it did. He was eager to see me." Julia's voice was cold. "I wanted to shoot him so he would suffer extreme pain before he died, but I couldn't take the chance of him making enough noise to rouse someone. So I shot him in the chest once, then twice in the groin. I could only hope that he'd suffered some before he died, but with his luck, he probably died instantly."

She hesitated before finishing the rest. "I took his money and credit cards out of his wallet to make it look like he'd been robbed. I took his keys and went back to his apartment to get Maria's tape."

Maria was still weeping, whispering, "I'm so sorry," every few moments.

"Did you tell Maria what you'd done?" Kincaid asked.

"I'm not answering that question."

"How did she get the tape?" McCoy asked.

"I'm not answering that question, either. Maria knew nothing about my plan to kill Hal. She lied to the police to protect me. When she was charged with murder, I wanted to confess but she wouldn't let me. She said that it was penance for what she'd done to Sam." Julia looked at McCoy with dead eyes and said, "I don't care what happens to me now. I killed him, and I'm ready to go to prison for it. I'm not sorry he's dead. He hurt Maria. He would've hurt Faith if she'd married him, and he would've gone on rubbing it in Maria's face. The way I see it, I was protecting them both by killing him."

Monday, March 8.

Kincaid was reading over Julia's confession when McCoy found her.

"Don't tell me. Julia Bertram's confession doesn't wash, either," he teased.

She smiled. "No, it's not that."

"Good, because we're due in front of Judge Middleton tomorrow to accept her plea of manslaughter. He suggested we make sure we've got the right suspect confessing this time."

"I keep thinking of the devastation Hal Crawford would've done to those women if Julia hadn't killed him. I know it's not an excuse for murder, but there are times when I think maybe justice did get served. Emotional abuse of that sort...it's hard telling if either of them could've survived it."

"Maria Rushworth wouldn't have been able to," McCoy agreed.

"Is that why you agreed not to bring conspiracy charges against her in exchange for Julia serving a full sentence on man one?"

"To quote Julia Bertram, I'm not answering that question."

Kincaid hid her smile as she closed the Crawford file for good.