2021-06-14 - Something's Missing Pt 1

"Watch your head for the pipe," Cassidy warns Jessica as she steps in before the brunette reporter does. Cassidy is shorter and doesn't have to worry about low hanging pipes. Not often, at least.

The ADA is in particularly good spirits today. She even offered Jessica coffee and her choice of pastry from Ruiz's personal pink donut box. Cassidy squeezes herself through a couple of large stacks of paper and makes it to her chair on the business side of the desk. She sits and clasps her hands.

"Wow. They're treating you with the proper deference and respect I see" Jessica deadpans as she ducks under the pipe, coffee in one hand, a couple of Ruiz's donuts in the other - once she found out whose it was, she had an urge to take the whole box but resisted. She manages to wriggle into the guest chair before placing her refreshments on a part of the desk not under papers.

From out of her jacket comes her phone to record the interview and a specialised recorder for the same purpose - two copies is always a good idea. It's a wonder she isn't broadcasting it to the Cloud as well. Both machines started before Jessica says another word.

"Thank you for seeing me, Assistant District Attorney Bennet. You're obviously a busy woman so I understand how difficult it is to find time." A glance around the room. "Or even space. So, you're here to investigate the Gray Harbor Police Department for corruption. How much did you find? Just an overview will be fine for now. And when will the arrests be made?"

"It's cozy," Cassidy says of her present arrangement at the GHPD. "And temporary." PERIODT!

She would slightly correct the question with a "I wasn't given as wide a berth as that." There. Now if anything slips through, not her fault. Her seniors are now poised to be thrown under the bus if and when needed.

"I was asked by Deputy Attorney General Harris to look into a few matters." She laughs - which is unusual for her in these circumstances. "He seemed to be the only law enforcement officer in the state with an eye on Gray Harbor." Was that an eyeroll?

"You're familiar with the Reyes case, yes? And the shoot-out here, at the police department, back in January?" A finger lifts, "I was sent to look into that."

"I am aware of a number of things that happen in this town. And a number of things that get brushed under the carpet. Like, rights, the truth, justice, little things like that. Nothing important, obviously" Jessica replies before blowing gently over her coffee. "Okay, within the narrow parameters of your mission, what have you found out? I think when we last talked, you mentioned how everything was clean...or close to. I assume you said that because a suspect was in hearing distance of you. Because there is no way that this department can be considered clean. Even if one group of corrupt cops shot another group of corrupt cops in January."

Jessica does not have a chip on her shoulder. She has them on both so she can be fair and balanced.

Cassidy looks like she is pulling a small piece of lint (floated from the ceiling in here, no doubt) down the length of a few strands of hair in front of her face. This is as Jessica is talking - or more precisely - sounding off on the activities of the local police department. She looks at the extracted fiber for a moment and then blows it away about when Jessica has wrapped up.

"Well - as unfortunate as it is for paper sales - there's no blood in the water, if that's your question." Cassidy smiles and folds her hands on her desk. She's considerably less accessible after the sass, you know?

"The arrests were Harvey Liu, Rafal Zakrewski, Vicente Russo and Bradley Paine," the blond rotates a wrist to show her palm to the ceiling and makes a sweeping motion across the desk. "If those names are familiar, they are the officers arrested who had ties to Reyes."

She shifts a bit to brace herself for any declaiming or further sounding off that is likely to occur once the next sentence is uttered, "And we've found no other evidence of corruption or willful mis-policing."

That 'willful' is very advisedly used. She knows, as well as anyone, that the GHPD is inept - to put it mildly.

Jessica caught the importance of 'wilful'. Yes, of course she would have loved to hear that the entire department was being arrested. And, yes, she could have gone off on one of her (totally justified) rants about the lack of transparency, honesty, and legality of the GHPD. But who wants to be predictable?

"Are you saying that, although you could find no evidence of corruption..." Resist the urge to tirade, Jessica. "...you find ample evidence of incompetence?" She's a journalist, she wants clear answers...or she will make them up herself.

"So, you'll be closing up shop soon then. Heading back to your next high profile assignment." Another look around the tiny room with the towers of paper. Would Cassidy even notice if some of them went walkabout?

Notice? Cassidy probably has every single bit of paper in this office cataloged in the most intricate and anal retentive of ways, and chances are she checks each one in its proper place thrice weekly at least.

"I'm saying, uhm..." damnit. Cassidy tosses some hair behind her shoulder with a flick of the wrist and clears her throat in a cute high-pitched little ahem. "I'm saying that, I share the local concern that cases could be resolved perhaps a bit more expeditiously than they seem to wrap up at times."

There...She's proud of that one. Surely the reporter can also admire the craft of that particular sentence.

"Which brings us to the most recent cold case!" Cassidy livens a touch at her brilliant pivot! "DNA evidence matches the suspect we apprehended and an autopsy has confirmed the body we found is indeed Addison McNeely. ADA Bower is working on getting a confession and a plea - which isn't new news, but the autopsy is."

She didn't really answer the 'next high profile assignment' question, but the calendar on the wall? The one that says 'SWEET FUCKING FREEDOM' on next Friday's date? Well the X's leading up to that have grown increasingly ornate and have started to include happy faces.

"I doubt that many of them could be wrapped up any quicker than they already are" Jessica deadpans at that crafty sentence. "What they need is to remember the Law, evidence, and the rights of the individual. Particularly that innocent until proven guilty thing. I know it's annoying to the police, but it's there for a reason."

Meaty stuff! The McNeely case. Jessica winces at the ADA working on a confession and consequent plea. That does sound a bit like evidence is merely an afterthought. And then Cassidy is dangling something really interesting. "The autopsy? What about the autopsy?"

There's the sounding off again! And Cassidy's eyes kind of glaze over for that bit to wait it out.

Ah! A real question.

"The autopsy on the body of the victim." Cassidy states plainly. "It was missing for twenty years, after all. They had to confirm the identity and determine cause of death. There was also some sort of medical interest in it because of..." The ADA shrugs, "I forget that bit - but the Medical Examiner and a next of kin definitely wanted an autopsy done." The woman does not shine and the oddities surrounding the state of the body simply don't seem to 'take' to her mind no matter how clearly and slowly the coroner explains them.

It's not her case anyway, so why should she remember? It would just take up space her mind needs for things that are actually important.

Jessica quirks a disbelieving eyebrow at how Cassidy 'forgot' the important part of the autopsy. "Seriously, Ms Bennet? You're going to drop that bait and then deny you were even fishing? If there is one thing that I always thought about you, it was that you did your job well. That you are clever and nothing gets past you. Are you sure that you don't remember the concerns about the McNeely case?" A long breath out. "Fine, if you want me to talk to the M.E. then I will, but it would be a lot easier if you just told me now."

"The DNA that was found on the victim that belonged to the suspect. Was it found in locations that would not be the result of normal contact between family members? If it was just on the remnants of clothes, it could have been transferred by washing clothes in the same load."

Cassidy holds up her hands in play and laughs lightly, "Easy tiger. It's not even my case. As you can see I've had quite a lot of other items on my plate." She motions to the wall-to-wall stacks of papers.

"Maybe it will become your case? A little birdie has told me that the McNeely lawyers are making a statement tomorrow dismissing all the evidence against their client as false and ceasing all cooperation with the District Attorney's office. It's not as if the GHPD hasn't falsified evidence before" Jessica informs Cassidy. "They'll file for a dismissal of all charges and if that goes through, well, you can be sure of lawsuits about wrongful arrest, reputation damage, false imprisonment, slander, on and on. You might have to come back to work on corruption all over again." A bite of a stolen donut. "You might never be free of this place."

"And, of course, the most important thing to come out of all that would be that a killer is still out there. And the GHPD has no idea who it is. Who will be next to be charged in their quest to look good?" Yes, Jessica can yell from that soapbox for days.

Cassidy's attention was gone after the first couple of sentences, halted by a deep confusion forming on her face. Somewhere around the 'killer on the loose' part of Jessica's diatribe, the ADA lifts her hand in a motion for the reporter to stop talking.

"That's...that's absurd." She scoffs with smiling disbelief. "The chain of custody is soundly document---"

The blond's phone starts blowing up and it snaps her out of her incredulity. She fumbles to get a hold of it to find out what's going on.

Jessica offers the new arrival a curious look. Did the brunette really think that this was the place for a secret tryst? Cassidy would freak out if any of the papers were moved by strenuous erotic activity.

Thankfully, Jessica is not the gloating type as the GHPD screws up once more. Probably intentionally, like many a previous time. "I should get going" she smiles to Cassidy. "Even online news has publishing deadlines. Thank you for the chat, and I hope it all works out for the best." Collecting her recorders, she pockets them before heading for the door.

"'Someone' left a suicide note?" Jessica asks the brunette. "It's usually the person who wrote it...if it was a suicide note. Maybe I could have a look at it before you leave?"

Cassidy must've gotten the news at the exact moment the other woman came in. She looks up from her phone, face white.

"This is Jessica Flores..." Cassidy says with eyes at the door like blue lasers. "...the reporter."

"Suicide note?" Cassidy looks down at her phone and sinks into her chair. "Oh fuck."

"I wasn't suggesting that you were beating..." But Anita is gone before Jessica can fully 'apologise'. She shrugs at Cassidy. "I just find that 'seeking a confession' is an odd phrase to use if you're being nice to someone. If you have the evidence, you don't really need one. If you have the evidence, they may take the plea to get a better sentence. If you don't have the evidence, that's when you 'seek a confession'. Don't you think? And in GH, that means corrupt cops let loose." She holds up a finger to halt any comments from Cassidy.

"It's okay, I'll go before I start ranting too much. Thanks, again." A wave before off to find that 'suicide' note.

Whatever else is going on is lost in the sky falling on Cassidy as she reads her phone messages. She slaps the cell phone face down on her desk and stands. She's only 5'3 but might as well be 7'3.

Jessica is still there? She might as well be invisible as Cassidy looks past her out the door and projects a distinctive, furious screaming yell that is sure to reach its target like a heat seeking missile (and be heard on the other side of town):

"JAVIER!?"