Total of Two

Court days where different than Brian's regular days. The day began with an hour more of sleep, he didn't have to be at the courthouse until 11 o'clock. Brian spent half an hour working out, showered, dressed, and ate his breakfast in front of the morning news. This was the part Brian enjoyed about having to appear in court.

As he enjoyed a peaceful drive across the city, Brian glanced at the stereo as his phone started ringing, pressing the button on his steering wheel.

"Harper."

"Detective Harper, your purchase for our new company jet has been approved, sir."

"Oh excellent, go ahead then and pencil in a retreat for the executive team to Jamaica. All-inclusive, five-star, let's say 6 nights?"

"Yes, sir."

"How did the interviews for a pilot go?"

"Very well, sir. He seems very dedicated and incredibly smart. He says that you should take a flight with him sometime soon, sir."

"Good."

With that, he hung up.

He listened to a full song before his phone rang again.

"Harper."

"Detective Harper, it's Elise. Mr. Connelly has finished the forensic report, sir."

"Can you store it on your desk, please, Elise? I will swing by after court and pick it up."

"Of course, sir."

"Thank you, have a good day, Elise."

"You too, sir. Good luck in court."

"Thank you."

Parking outside the District of Columbia Courthouse, Brian got out of his car. Heading up the stairs.

"Detective Harper," one of the men said as he opened up the door for him.

Brian gave him a curt nod in greeting.

"Detective."

Nicholas Garner was waiting for him. He was one of the best lawyers in the United States. He had held the bar in twelve states, went to Harvard Law School and graduated at the top of his class. He was partnered with one of the biggest law firms in the country and when the government needed a sure win, it was Garner who they called. For 2 years now, Garner had been Brian's personal attorney, sentencing every case that Brian worked on.

"Hello, Nick," Brian greeted shaking his hand. "Weekend plans?"

"Nothing incredibly exciting. I'll probably watch the game. My son's soccer game is on Saturday. What about you, sir?"

"My brother and his family are flying in tonight. I will be spending the weekend touring them around the city."

"That sounds fun. Let's see how fast I get you out of here then, what do you say, sir?"

Brian nodded with a small smile "that sounds like an interesting challenge."

"Only for some, sir."

Brian laughed. Walking down the aisle towards the prosector's bench, sitting down.

"All rise," the court clerk called after a few minutes.

Brian stood up from his chair, fixing his light gray tie and doing the button on his jacket. He watched as each of the jury members walked into the room and over to their seats. He then turned his attention to the judge; she was familiar to Brian. He was familiar at least by name with every judge who worked in DC.

Amelia Perkinson was not as highly ranked and important as Evans had been, nor had she seen many high-profile cases. She was simply a successful state judge, working hard to ensure the justice of the average citizen.

Once Perkinson and the jury were in their seats, the rest of the people in the room returned to theirs. Brian leaned back against his chair. Sitting up, but portraying a relaxed, calm and slightly bored façade. Brian's grandfather had been Nicolas Garner before Garner was even born. His grandfather had changed the way DC attorneys controlled the courtroom.

Brian's grandfather had been the best attorney the United States had seen in centuries, and every piece of advice for behaving in the courtroom, Brian had gotten from him, from the stories he had been told as a boy.

"You always want to seem like you know what you are doing. Like every move the other side makes is just making your job easier. Act like you know what is going to happen like you are able to read minds. But also like you are a poker player trying to hide the winning hand."

"What's next?" Perkinson asked, looking up from the papers on the stand.

"Your Honour," Garner said as he got to his feet, doing the button on his gray suit. "InJustice Incorporated and the government of the District of Columbia against Dominic Woulfe for the murder of Stefanie Szopinska."

If waking up an hour later and being able to have a slower start to the day was the good thing about appearing in court, this was the bad part. This was when Brian was reminded why it would have been a bad idea to become a lawyer like his father or grandfather. Yes, there were parts of the day that were okay, some that were even fun. He liked waking up an hour later, who didn't? He liked taking the stand and wowing the jury, and there was nothing quite like the high he felt when he walked out with a win. But with all of that, came the consistent tug of sleep, and desperate need to get up and do something. The constant pull of his thoughts.

Brian forced himself out of his thoughts and attempted, futilely, to pay attention, Garner was into his opening argument.

"— the actions presented in this case make me sick to my stomach. That is saying something considering I worked for two years in human trafficking, sentencing pimps and crime lords —"

The attorney was very good at convincing others of his opinion. Like usual he had captured the jury early and they were listening intently to every word he was saying. Hanging on to it like it was a good crime novel. His facial expressions changed as he spoke captivating the jury. From the look on Garner's face, you would believe that what Woulfe had done was beyond human. Which to the common person it was, but to an attorney who had seen the things Garner had seen it was nothing.

The attorney had spent two years working with human traffickers and then nearly 18 months working on bringing down various crime cartels. Now that he was starting a family, however, he had decided that he was ready for a more traditional attorney life, which led to him partnering with Brian and InJustice Inc.

" — Mr. Woulfe deserves to spend his life in prison facing the punishment for the crimes he committed. By murdering Mrs. Szopinska, a widowed mother of two children, Mr. Woulfe has shown that he has no sense of dignity, no empathy, and no concern for the importance of human life. For this reason, I ask the jury to consider the danger that would come with putting a man like Woulfe back out onto the streets. How long before he kills another mother? Another sister? A wife? How many of you have a daughter, or a sister? How many of you would feel safe letting them outside alone knowing that a man like Woulfe was out there? This is why I plead with you the jury to sentence this man to life with no chance of parole for the murder and dismemberment of Stefanie Szopinska."

Brian's gaze moved across the jury, reading their expressions as though they had their feelings printed on a sign in front of them. The one on the side was already convinced that Woulfe was the rightful culprit and deserved to be sentenced. The one next to her still needed a little persuasion. The jury was half men, half women. Which at first seemed to be a bit of a disadvantage to the case, but upon some digging, they realized that the jury could not be more perfect. The male half had a female family member and were dedicated family men. The female half, where all feminists, fought regularly on the side of women who had been victimized. If anyone was going to dig their heels in for justice, it would be them.

Brian missed all of the defendant's arguments. The attorney was one Brian was not familiar with, which likely meant he was either a publicly appointed attorney or he was new to the field. Given that the man looked to be in his sixties Brian assumed he was the former.

Brian's focus drifted so far, this time, that before he knew it he was planning the weekend with his brother. He began to debate in his head whether he should book a reservation at the bar or a restaurant to celebrate the promotion.

Bars were fun, but if they went to a restaurant, the kids would be able to come with them. It didn't take Brian long to decide that a restaurant would be better. You need to stay away from bars anyways.

When Brian pulled himself back to the courtroom, the first witness was already being questioned.

The woman on the stand was Klara Szoinka, the victim's sister. She had been with Stefanie the night before she went missing. At first, Brian had to admit this case seemed to be one of the classics, so much so that Brian had debated rather hard about passing it off the Moore. The only reason he didn't was that he had been in between his bigger cases.

The police were called twice by the victim's mother, Mrs. Kalina Szoinka. She told them that her daughter Stefanie had not shown up all week, and she hadn't heard from her in six days. The police, at first, where skeptical, Stefanie was a single mother, and her husband died in a car accident three years earlier. After dropping her two daughters off at her mother's for a stay at grandma's, the officers believed that Stefanie had just wanted some time to be unplugged and get some r and r.

But with wealth, and Stefanie's parents where just that, came quick impatience. After humouring the public office for a day, they put their report into the private sector, which led to the case file being presented to Brian almost three weeks ago.

Brian had to admit when he reviewed the case file, he too believed what the officers had said. It wasn't until he looked at the final text Stefanie had sent her mother, that Brian's suspicions began to grow.

I just wanted to let you know that I might be late picking up the girls on Sunday. I'm having lunch with a friend on Tuesday, and we may skip town for the weekend.

The text on its own seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, simply a mother meeting with an old friend and thinking that she might leave town on a last-minute getaway. But Brian decided to humour Stefanie's parents and decided to pay her boss a visit.

According to her boss and many of her coworkers, Stefanie was a very hardworking and diligent woman. She had not missed a day of work for herself in a year. She normally saved her vacation and sick days in case she needed to stay home with her children throughout the year.

That confirmed that this was the beginning of an intriguing, low-profile case. Brian called the friend that Stefanie allegedly asked to lunch, only to find out that she had missed the lunch date and her friend had not heard from her since.

With that evidence, Brian began a full-scale investigation. He began by ordering a complete forensic profile on Stefanie's bungalow. A room-by-room search of the inside and a grid search of the front and backyard.

Brian stood in Stefanie Szopinska's bathroom exploring the medicine cabinet. No drugs, nothing unusual. A bit of a stockpile of children's Tylenol but nothing suspicious.

"Brian, you should come see this."

Brian stepped out of the bathroom walking over to join Blake in the doorway of the master bedroom. His eyes widened.

"We did a luminol blood test as you requested. At some point in the recent past, blood had covered every part of this room." Zayn said straightening up.

Brian felt his stomach twist a little. "Jesus." The room was lit up like a nightlight. Nearly every surface was glowing brightly with evidence that it had recently been in contact with blood.

But after the scene of the crime had been found the trail ran cold. Very little evidence had been found at the scene and there were no strong suspects.

At a loss, Brian turned to Stefanie's daughters. He hoped that the daughters might know something that wasn't public knowledge. Something that he could go off of. He was not disappointed. Stefanie's 10-year-old daughter told the Detective that her mother had called a plumber to patch a leak in the bathroom a week ago.

Brian found the company card on Stefanie's fridge. When he showed pictures of the male employees to the girl, she took mere seconds to identify Woulfe. With her help, Brian was able to be granted a warrant to search the man's house. The search was successful. The team found shoes that matched a pair of footprints outside Stefanie's bungalow, an excessive amount of cleaning products, and a stained hammer. Zayn tested the blood-stains on both the hammer and the shoes, and ding, ding the blood matched Stefanie's.

Now that he held the man in custody, the integration process began. Woulfe however didn't crack so easily. Brian had the case solved. But he wanted to know what happened to Stefanie's body. Juries where always rather hesitant to charge someone with murder without firm proof that the individual was deceased.

It wasn't until one of Woulfe's friends came to the office that Brian fit the final pieces of the puzzle together.

Woulfe had been boasting to his friends about the murder. He had told them that he had come to the house Tuesday morning telling Stefanie that it was company policy to check their work, ensure it was properly fixed and that the quality would not deteriorate for years to come. Stefanie accepted the story and let the man in. When Stefanie wasn't expecting it, Woulfe walked into her bedroom and beat her to death with a hammer. He then took her body out to the woods, dismembered her and buried the pieces throughout the forest. According to Woulfe's friend Woulfe had told him a story of a similar incident a month earlier. The friend had believed that they were simply stories. But when he saw the report that Gabrielle had published in the paper, he realized that Woulfe was not full of it.

Without evidence that there had been a second attack, Brian had to hope that they could put the man away for life on the charges of a single case. Brian believed Woulfe was on the tipping point of a very dark path.

Brian didn't fully pay attention until he was called to the stand. Now he was laser focused. Garner asked him question after question, allowing him to elaborate on the finer details of the case. The Detective and Prosecutor where an excellent team. By elaborating on the finer details, details like how Woulfe had taken the time to text her mother after beating Stefanie to death, how he had boasted to his friends showing no signs at all of remorse. How he showed unnervingly calm and excitement when he was telling the story about the murder. These details swayed jury members and often made them call for longer, harsher sentences.

The jury did not take long to deliberate the sentence.

"We the jury sentence Dominic Woulfe to life in prison. With the possibility of parole in 25 years."

Brian would have wished for life without parole. But with the chances that Woulfe managed to stay good in prison and with the limited people to testify at parole hearings on his behalf, Brian was almost positive that Woulfe would be spending his remaining days in prison.

Yes, it was incredibly boring to sit in the courtroom, but after a win, Brian found that he got high so large he wondered why people ever decided to use drugs. As he drove across the city to the office, he turned up the music in the car. Tapping his thumb against the steering wheel in time with the beat.

Parking in his spot, he headed up to his floor. He smiled a little to himself when he checked his phone to see a text from his brother.

Touched down safely. We are going to go get sorted at the hotel and then we will figure out where to meet up.

Brian walked out of the elevator, his expression filling with surprise when he saw who was standing next to Elise's desk.

"Mr. Bennett, sir," Brian greeted walking over, his face twisting into his formal smile.

"Brian," Bennett said, shaking his hand in greeting. "How was court?"

"Successful, it was a rather quick deliberation, and the man got life in prison."

"A job well done, as usual, Brian. But I'm afraid I am not just here to pat your back and phrase you."

"Oh? What can I do for you, sir?"

Bennett reached into his briefcase and pulled out a case file. "A lawyer was killed."

Brian frowned softly as he took the file from him, placing it on the top of the desk. He flipped it open and began reading the front page.

"There seem to be lots of similarities between this murder and Evans."

Brian nodded in agreement. The name even rang a bell. He must have worked with her on a case or two somewhere along the road.

"Was she associated with Evans?" Brian asked glancing at the DA.

"Yes, she was a very highly valued prosecutor. Sabrina Boyd work nearly every case that passed through Evans's courtroom. Brian, there is someone out there and it looks like they could be targeting our higher-up law officials, with that being said I expect that everyone put in everything they have. I expect that everyone is in the office and putting in a little overtime."

Brian frowned softly, glancing at Chris. Forcing his jaw not to harden in irritation. "Mr. Bennett, my brother is in town. I haven't seen him for a while."

"So, you went to Disney World six months ago on your own?" Bennett asked.

Brian frowned deeper "no. Sir, this case will be solved in due time and I promise that I am giving it my full attention, but how I spend my time is not anyone's business."

"Brian, if you wish to take time off, you can, but then I will be diverging this case to Chris. I will be coming by sometime next week to ensure that we have a good start. At the very least a list of possible suspects."

With that Bennett headed off stepping into the elevator.

Brian breathed a hard sigh through his clenched teeth, glancing at his secretary, clearing his voice so it wouldn't come out in the cold stern tone he used when he was angry.

"Elise, can I get the forensic report for Evans?"

Elise nodded, unlocking the filing cabinet behind her desk. Stepping back over to him she passed it to him. Brian placed it onto the desk and flipped it open, beginning to read, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"So, what is the cause of death?" Chris asked after a moment.

Brian turned his gaze up to Elise "can you call a meeting, conference room three please, Elise."

"Of course, sir," Elise said.

Brian headed to the room, walking to the front of the table he tossed the files down. Pulling his phone from his pocket dialling his brother's number.

"Hey," his brother answered on the third ring.

"Hey, I'm sorry this is last minute and so abrupt but I have to stay later than I thought I would have to at the office today. I will come by the hotel after, I can send you a list of fun things to do in the city with the kids and send Matthew to tour your around."

"No don't worry about bugging Matthew, Eden and I rented a car already. Thank you for having him pick us up at the airport."

"Of course, did the kids like the limo?"

"They loved it. Don't worry about us, you just finish up whatever you have to do. We will see you tonight."

"Okay, say hi to the kids from me."

With that he hung up, placing his phone on the table and turning his gaze up to the people sitting around the table.