Close to Home (2005) s02e05 Episode Script
205 - Legacy
(tires screeching lightly) MAUREEN: Leslie Brooks, as in Brooks, Inc.
? Executive Vice President of Brooks, Inc.
; married to Will Brooks, CFO of Brooks, Inc.
; daughter-in-law to Henry Brooks, the retired billionaire.
How was she killed? Blunt force trauma-- a hammer or maybe, a club.
PD's sweeping the area.
Looks like a robbery.
The assailant took her ring, her necklace, wallet, watch.
Coroner puts the time of death about 2:00 a.
m.
Working late.
She was just coming in to the office when she got jumped.
At 2:00 a.
m.
? Must have been an emergency.
Keep me posted.
Wow.
Part of the dog and pony show, too? Conlon said he wanted a strong presence at the house.
Can you really call it a house if it's bigger than the average hotel? (chuckles) How rich are these people? The Brooks family? They own half of Indianapolis.
Yeah, and act like they own the other half.
I worked the mayor's security detail when I was uniform.
He'd be here having dinner with Old Man Brooks, at least once a month.
Henry Brooks-- the Donald Trump of Indianapolis.
Looks like he's done okay for himself.
So has he-- nice ride.
I didn't know you prosecutor types made that kind of bread.
Conlon's got dough-- in New York, his assistant would go through his desk and collect his paychecks.
He'd forget to deposit them.
I forget to deposit mine, too, 'cause after taxes, there ain't nothing left.
CONLON: All right, people, let's do it.
The mayor wants me to tell you that he is very grateful that you're handling this matter personally, and so are we, Mr.
Conlon.
Whatever you need, Mr.
Brooks.
HENRY: Whoever killed my daughter-in-law, I want this man found.
I want him to pay with his life.
I promise you, Mr.
Brooks, we will arrest and prosecute her killer.
HENRY: Thank you.
My son, Will.
ANNABETH: Uh, Mr.
Brooks, do you know what time your wife went out last night? Alex said sometime after 1:00.
Yeah.
She told him she needed to go to the office.
What was so important it couldn't wait until regular business hours? For Leslie, there were no "regular business hours.
" She was passionate about the company.
Henry.
Arthur Stanton, our family attorney.
Mr.
Conlon, thank you for coming out.
Mr.
Stanton, my associates.
STANTON: Pleased to meet you.
So do you have any leads, any witnesses? CONLON: Well the investigation, has just begun, Mr.
Stanton.
BOY: Daddy? Do I have to go to the park? I want to stay with you.
Uh Hey, there, champ.
Do we see eye to eye? Yes.
(chuckles) You run off to the park now, Hal.
You don't want to be cooped up here all day with Grandpa.
He's got a lot of work to do.
Daddy? Is Mommy at work? Can I call her? Uh, not now, bud, okay? Who are they? They're friends of Grandpa's and Daddy's and Mr.
Stanton's.
I'll see you later, okay, kiddo? WILL: Come on, pal.
Daddy going to get some fresh air with you.
HENRY: Thank you.
Richard will see you out.
Thank you, again, Mr.
Conlon.
Okay.
What was that phone call? Brooks, Inc.
Chief of Security.
They found Mrs.
Brooks' jewelry in the night guard's locker.
Have him arrested.
So, tell me, how did Mrs.
Brooks' jewelry, watch, and wallet come to be in your locker? I don't know.
It just magically appeared? I don't know, I wasn't even there.
You punched in at midnight and out at 8:00 a.
m.
We also have video of you patrolling the halls and looking into offices.
I was just doing my rounds.
I wasn't stealing anything or killing somebody.
I liked Mrs.
Brooks.
(sighing): Look.
Mrs.
Brooks and me, we had this arrangement.
She liked to work late, and she'd come into the office at midnight.
Most of the time, it was just her and me in the building.
She'd tell me that I could leave early, that I could go home.
And last night? She called at 12:30.
She said she was coming in and I could go.
What time did you leave? Little before 1:00.
And she punches out for you, too.
I got to get a boss like that.
No, that's the day guy.
He clocks out for me when I leave early.
You can ask him; he'll tell you.
MAN: The way it works, right? Day guy, that's me, relieves the night guy, that's him.
MAUREEN: That's what he told you to say if anybody asked, but he needs you to tell the truth now.
You're not in trouble, Wayne.
Just tell me the truth.
He said Mrs.
Brooks told him it was cool to leave.
I'd clock out for John, so it would look like he was at work the whole night.
Did he say why? Look, I figure the boss says it's okay, it's okay.
We'd been doing it for years and never had any trouble.
Years? Well, he stopped for a while.
It started again about six months ago.
I don't even think about it anymore.
If John ain't there in the a.
m.
, I just punch his ticket.
Did you clock out for him the morning Mrs.
Brooks was killed? It was a day like any other day.
I'm thinking thanks to the influence of the Brooks family, we may have jumped the gun and arrested the wrong guy.
One guard corroborates the other guard's story.
That doesn't exonerate him.
What about the jewelry in the locker? He hides the stuff where it's obviously going to be found? I mean, why didn't he just take it home? Am I thrilled with this arrest? I mean, do I with I had a week or ten days to investigate-- you bet, but that's what money and influence get you.
And too bad for the security guard.
The security guard can sit in jail and wait for his alibi to check out if it checks out.
Is Henry Brooks prosecuting this case or are we? Somebody else is always going to be calling the shots.
You want to save yourself Learn how to bend the rules without getting hammered for it.
So you do or you don't want the security guard indicted? We have 72 hours.
Prove we have the wrong guy.
Look, it's pretty clear: Leslie Brooks often wanted to be alone at the office late at night.
Maybe this wasn't so much about work as play.
Maybe she and a friend had a late-night playdate that night.
If she was cheating on him, then her husband becomes a person of interest.
We will need a truckload of evidence before we will even consider the possibility.
So instead of talking to Will Brooks about his wife's possible extracurricular activities See if you can confirm whether Leslie Brooks had a lover some other way.
ANNABETH: Suggestions? Her colleagues won't dare talk to us on the record.
Well, maybe next colleague.
We can look into that.
Amazing.
The Brooks family has this much pull.
Hey, this is their town.
We just live in it.
I left the company by then.
right around the time Henry retired.
When was this? About three years ago.
And Leslie Brooks told you she was having an affair? But then, she and Will worked things out.
He forgave her and called off the divorce.
He'd filed for divorce? Their home life had become so difficult.
She met someone at the company who could give her what Will couldn't.
What was going on at home? Will had a drinking problem, and to his credit, he did take a long, hard look at himself, signed into rehab and finally quit.
We'll need to know the name of Leslie's lover.
She wouldn't tell me his name.
I only know he worked at the company.
They used to meet there late at night.
How is an affair three years ago relevant to Leslie's murder? She'd used the office for her late-night rendezvous in the past.
And Will knew what she was up to-- three years ago? Leslie's ex-colleague said the original lover was an employee.
Thank you.
ANNABETH: Let's have Ed and Ray check all cars registered to employees, see if anybody was putting in late nights the same nights as Leslie.
MAUREEN: Security guard's prints aren't on Leslie's jewelry, only hers and Will's.
Everything keeps coming back to him.
Cut the guard loose.
I'll do the paperwork.
Annabeth, you talk to Will Brooks.
How do you want to handle this? Without his attorney.
What do we want him to tell us? What she was doing at the office that night, and whether he knew if she was having an affair or not.
(sighs) Our necks are out a mile on this one, so tread carefully, huh? (softly): Don't we always? No, as a matter of fact, you don't.
ANNABETH: How is your son? We're, none of us, doing too well.
It must be very hard.
Believe me, I understand what you're going through.
No, you don't.
You have no idea.
I lost my husband eight months ago.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize.
Forgive me.
It's okay.
Does it get easier? Eventually, little by little.
Kids? Yeah, a little girl, 16 months.
She won't remember him.
No, but I think she'll miss him just the same.
Yes, she will.
Hal and his mother were very close.
How can I help you, Miss Chase? We were wondering if you could shed any light on why your wife went to the office so late that night.
She must have had work to do.
She was tireless, relentless, when it came to the company.
The security guard claims he wasn't there at the time of the murder because Leslie had sent him home.
Said she did it all the time.
That sounds like Leslie.
She liked to be alone-- uh, all alone in the office.
She called the office, after hours, her "fortress of solitude.
" Do you know what she was working on the night she was killed? Could have been anything.
She lived and breathed the company.
It meant more to her than to all of us who were born into it.
We took it for granted.
I don't know what any of us are going to do now without her.
ANNABETH: Will Brooks may not be as smart as his old man, but he knows how to play his cards close to the vest.
Lug wrench-- police found it in a sewer a couple blocks from the parking garage.
Coroner says it could be the murder weapon, and before you ask-- no blood or prints.
And guess what? The night Leslie was killed, Will Brooks' car was issued a parking violation and towed-- it was two blocks from the Brooks Inc.
headquarters.
So Will was home all night, but his car was working overtime? BLACKWELL: It gets better.
The car was reported stolen that morning-- not by Will, but by Arthur Stanton.
Henry Brooks' pain-in-the-ass lawyer.
Not only did he report the car stolen, towing company showed me a receipt for the car signed by him.
Why would a thousand-dollar- an-hour attorney bail his client's car out of an impound lot in the middle of the night? "To tamper with or destroy evidence in furtherance of the commission of an offense.
" Yo, Ra what kinda car does Will Brooks drive? New Mercedes E Class, why? Oh, fine ride.
Lug wrench is from a Mercedes tool kit.
I'll let the Prosecuting Attorney know we're arresting Will Brooks for the murder of Leslie Brooks.
£¿£¿ One count of Murder.
How does the defendant plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
Bail application, Mr.
Lisi? LISI: My client is an upstanding and leading member of this community, Your Honor, where his family dates back five generations.
I'm a native, Mr.
Lisi.
I know who Mr.
Brooks is.
Mr.
Conlon? Your Honor, despite Mr.
Brooks' lineage, we request he be held without bail.
LISI: The People have already arrested and released one man for this crime, Your Honor, now they've trained their sights on my client.
Next thing you know, they're going to say the butler did it.
The Defense is being flippant, Your Honor.
This is a serious crime, the government has damning eviden against Mr.
Brooks, who has unlimited resources and is clearly a flight risk.
Bail is set at $5 million.
Defendant will surrender his passport.
Your Honor JUDGE: End of discussion, gentlemen.
(gavel bangs) Jimmy.
It's good to see you, man.
Mike, always a pleasure.
So, uh, Indiana, huh? You drive a tractor to work or what? (chuckles): I'm not like you, Mike.
I don't have the entire New York underworld to chauffeur me around.
That's funny.
Annabeth Chase, Maureen Scofield, Mike Lisi.
Mike used to work for me back in the day, at the Manhattan DA's Office.
That was before he crossed over to the Dark Side.
Ladies, a pleasure.
Nice talking to you, Mike.
See you in the ring, huh? Hey, listen, Jimmy.
Don't take it personally, but you absolutely have my word we're going to bury you in paper work.
You and Charlie's Angels here won't see the light of day for months.
I guarantee it.
"Charlie's Angels"? Relax, sweetheart, it's a joke.
What, you have to surrender your passport and your sense of humor if you live here? See you around, Jimbo.
I can see why you left New York.
You kidding? Guys like him make me miss it.
The competition.
MAUREEN: I'm confused.
Why isn't Stanton leading the defense team? I'll tell you why.
After Will killed his wife, he called Stanton, Stanton came to pick him up near the scene, Will confessed to everything to him.
And after that happened, Stanton could no longer represent Will.
Exactly-- Stanton knows the truth, therefore he can't suborn perjury by putting Will on the stand, if Will has to testify in his own defense.
And so he brings in Mike Lisi from the Big Apple to do it for him-- pretty slick.
Stanton's good.
Brings Lisi in because thguy knows my moves.
Lisi knows that we can't subpoena Stanton or call him as a witness against Will.
Attorney client privilege.
Iron clad.
Great tactical move.
Fortunately, I know Lisi as well as he knows me.
If he calls in the next 24 hours asking for a pre-trial conference, that means he knows that his guy did it.
Lisi will never go to court if he knows for sure that his client's guilty.
Oh, he'll come on like a SWAT team, but he's really just sussing out the best possible deal for his client.
And if he asks for a plea, how far can we go? I don't know.
Will finds out his wife was up to her old tricks, heat of passion-- Ask for 25, settle for 20.
ANNABETH: No plea on the table at this time, but we'll hear anything you have to say on behalf of your client.
Knowing the big guy, I'd say he's given you a 20 year downside.
Am I close? Well, it's a moot point anyhow, ladies.
We're not interested in a deal because my client happens to be that rarest of creatures in the criminal justice system, an innocent man.
Then why are we here? Keep the dialogue going? I didn't kill my wife.
And I want to be home with my son right now.
She was having another affair, Mr.
Brooks.
You must have felt humiliated.
She was not having another affair.
That was all over and done with three years ago.
Will, please, huh? Listen, three years ago, my client wanted a divorce.
Sure, who wouldn't? Then he checked himself into rehab, sobered up, decided to take another go at the marriage for his son's sake.
And you know what he discovered once he got his head out of the bottle? He loved his wife.
All the more enraging to find out she was cheating on you again.
Miss Brooks had not initiated a new relationship.
MAUREEN: How do you know? You told us you never left the house the night your wife was killed.
That's right.
I was home all night.
Then how do you account for your car being towed near the Brooks building around the time of the murder? I have no idea how my car got down there or who took it.
As you know, Arthur Stanton reported it stolen.
Ay 5:00 a.
m.
? A transparent attempt to establish a defense.
No, I swear, I did not talk to Arthur.
I think we're done here, but, uh, for argument's sake, if an offer were on the table No.
what would it be.
Twenty-five.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Just what I thought.
I know Jimmy.
Well, we're prepared to go to trial.
Have a nice day.
ANNABETH: Mr.
Brooks think about it.
You're likely to get life in prison if you go to trial.
In the meantime, we'll be poring over your late wife's personal matters.
We will find her lover.
There's not much on Mrs.
Brooks' computer.
Certainly no love letters or e-mails to a friend.
I thought all you girls kept diaries.
I know my name's featured in quite a few.
Mrs.
Brooks must have deleted them.
Well, there's deleting, and then there's deleting.
Amateurs.
You find something? Wasn't just her personal e-mails she zapped.
Leslie Brooks deleted thousands of documents.
Far as I can tell, they're all company related.
Uh, spread sheets, accounting procedures, Excel docs Why would she nuke a storage room worth of business records? Any record of why these documents were gathered up or where they went? Unless the memory wipe is secured, it's always there somewhere.
You just have to know where to look and how.
Oh, look at that.
All e-mailed to the same place WILLIAMS: Securities and Exchange Commission? Why would she do that? Compliance with a subpoena? I have a friend from law school who works at the SEC.
Maybe they'll confirm, copy us on the missing docs.
Now go get a date.
So, my SEC buddy said for the past six months Leslie Brooks had been cooperating with a secret grand jury investigation.
What kind of stuff were they looking at? Manipulation, doctoring the books, not outright theft.
What does Mr.
Vavoulis, our whiz kid accountant, have to say? Give me two more seconds.
So you think that this murder was about money, huh? How deep into this was she? Leslie? Not at all.
But her husband was.
Will Brooks? Was the SEC's target.
Apparently he has a hidden talent for wide-scale corporate fraud.
If the SEC's analysis is correct, since Will's father made him CFO, the company's been in a tailspin.
A little theft, and a whole bunch of cover-up.
And nobody saw this coming? Enron stock had a 15% run up the day before they filed for bankruptcy.
Leslie Brooks must have blown a fuse when the SEC subpoenas hit.
Before that, I'd say.
Looks like she was on to her husband months before the SEC served her with the subpoena.
Maybe Leslie wasn't having a new affair.
If she was going to the office late at night to get the goods on her husband, no wonder she sent the security guy home.
Will found out, followed her, killed her.
Same defendant, different motive.
We need someone to corroborate this.
Well, if Leslie Brooks was co-operating with the SEC She must have had legal counsel of her own.
Talk to her guy.
When did Leslie suspect something was awry with the company finances? About a year ago.
I advised her to start making copies of documents, and accounting for her own conduct.
She very wisely followed my counsel.
And when she got the SEC subpoenas? Six months ago.
I told her to turn over everything she had gathered, immediately.
I also told her she would very likely have to testify against her husband.
That he might be facing fines, restitution to the company And a lot of jail time.
Did Leslie confront Will about this? The grand jury process was secret.
Meaning no witness could discuss it with anybody but his or her attorney.
Although, having re-drafted her will, I don't think Leslie would have minded incriminating her husband.
You re-drafted her will? Just after the subpoenas landed.
She wasn't leaving him a dime of her money.
Leslie Brooks didn't just marry into money, she came from money.
Her personal estate is worth upwards of $50 million.
What difference does it make? Will's rich.
Not by Brooks standards.
His father controls his money through a trust.
Will essentially has his salary from the company, that's it.
Did Will know he'd been cut out of Leslie's estate? As far as I know, he didn't.
So, who does get Leslie's money? Goes into trust for her son, Hal.
As Hal's father, Will can get his hands on the 50 million anytime he wants.
Enough to balance the books, pay any fines.
Sounds like a motive to me.
If he were the trust's executor, which he's not.
Who is? Her father-in-law? MAUREEN: Henry Brooks.
ANNABETH: Leslie Brooks changed her will and named her father-in-law executor of her estate because her husband was running the family firm into the ground.
And to keep him from getting his hands on her money.
What if Henry told Will that his wife had written him out? He'd have no reason to kill her.
Bye-bye, motive.
Case up in smoke.
I'm not so sure.
I mean, finding out you just lost $50 million you were counting on.
Money that just might save the family firm and your own skin.
You might be mad enough to kill somebody.
MAUREEN: Leslie's attorney is sure Will had no idea he'd been cut out.
He thoughthe money was his if she died.
Let's say she's right, that Henry didn't tell Will anything.
Henry may have lied to cast out on our theory of Will's motive.
Let's nail Henry's testimony down.
Hit him with a subpoena for depositions.
Put him under oath.
And if he lies to us to protect his son? We'll find some other way to impeach his credibility.
One way or the other, I promise you, whatever Henry Brooks tells us we will use to convict his son for murder.
hey Where you going? On my way to meet Annabeth at Stanton's office to depose Henry Brooks.
What's up? Ray and I were going through the last of Leslie Brooks' personal papers.
We came across more than a dozen receipts for a hotel from three years ago.
Businesswoman like that would do a lot of traveling, stay at a lot of hotels.
The Royale King in downtown Indy? A five-star no-tell motel.
Well, we already knew she had an affair three years ago.
Her ex-colleague told us that.
And Will and his attorney confirmed it.
But we still don't know with whom.
Whom? I say something wrong? You want us to try and find out? You know, it's not exactly priority one, but Sure, check it out.
Conlon doesn't like loose ends, and neither do I.
ANNABETH: When did you first learn of any irregularities in the day-to-day operations of your company? The night she died.
Leslie told me of the various subpoenas from the SEC, and what she suspected was going on with the company's finances.
She thought that Will had mismanaged accounts, lost money and then covered the losses by manipulating the books.
Did you discuss Leslie's suspicions with your son? (indistinct whispering) He is the CFO, and I discussed it with him shortly thereafter.
Shortly thereafter? Would that be the same night? Yes.
But Will assured me that the SEC was simply flexing their muscles, that there was nothing substantive in their investigation and nothing amiss with the company's finances.
Did your son know his wife had changed her will? Cut him out of her estate and named you executor? No.
Leslie asked me not to tell him, and I respected her wishes.
So, he thought he still stood to inherit her estate in the event of her death? Yes, as far as I know, that is what he thought.
You knew your son's car had been left the night of the murder near the Brooks Building, where it was cited and towed? STANTON: I've advised Mr.
Brooks not to reply to any questions on this subject, relying on his Fifth Amendment protections.
Did you contact Mr.
Stanton concerning the alleged theft of Will's car? I instruct my client not to answer that.
If there was a cover-up, his Fifth Amendment rights do not apply.
That is a determination for a court.
We disagree.
Please answer the question, Mr.
Brooks.
This deposition is concluded.
Sit down, please.
We'll have you before a judge in the morning, Mr.
Stanton.
We have the resources to fight this for years.
Do you? MAN: Mrs.
Brooks has been a guest with us in the past, yes.
BLACKWELL: We know that already.
Now, either you cooperate fully, or we'll continue this little conversation down at the prosecuting attorney's office.
Look, Mr.
Walters, we just need to know was it a single or a double occupancy? I'm not familiar with Mrs.
Brooks' accommodations, beyond her suite preference-- southern exposure, non-smoking, VIP.
Step over there, pal.
WILLIAMS: How 'bout you, miss? You, uh, familiar with her accommodations? I don't want to lose my job.
No, you may even get a promotion after our boss talks to the manager.
You're asking if Mrs.
Brooks ever had a sleepover when she stayed here? Yeah, she had company.
You ever see the guy? No, but you can always tell.
I mean, the way the room is.
The number of towels on the floor.
Is there anyone who might have seen him, maybe a room service guy? I don't know.
I couldn't say.
When Leslie Brooks arrived, she have any luggage? You'd have to ask our valet parking people.
Mrs.
Brooks parked in our underground lot.
VIP luggage would have been brought directly to her room.
Thank you.
Well, well I just had a rather difficult conversation with the prosecuting attorney.
If I'm fired, send my last check to Fiji.
Seems Arthur Stanton doesn't quite agree with your evaluation of his client's Fifth Amendment rights.
ybaby.
Henry Brooks knows that Will did it.
Henry called Stanton to go get his son's car and clean it up.
And now the two of them are doing whatever it takes to protect junior.
Can we prove it? If we can just get over the privilege hurdle, separate Stanton from the Brooks family.
Stanton represents Henry Brooks, therefore, every conversation between them is protected by the attorney-client privilege.
And anything Will told Stanton is covered by the former attorney-client relationship between those two.
Well, unless I missed my mark, that would be the opening salvo in the murder trial of Will Brooks.
Courtesy of my old pal, Mike Lisi.
Omnibus motion from the defense team, motions to suppress, dismiss in limine, and a couple I don'teven recognize.
You two gonna be busy.
Ladies.
.
nice work.
I thought you were mad at us.
On the contrary My only regret is I wasn't there to see the steam coming out of their ears.
We won nine out of ten motions.
Not bad against the big guns.
And in front of Judge Menendez, who's a stickler.
Ten out of ten would have been better.
Big guns, thanks for noticing.
If you'll excuse us Hey, so you won today.
Tomorrow another salvo and the day after and the day after the day after If I were you, I'd conserve my energy.
Ladies Hmm! Makes me sick.
Will Brooks beats his wife to death with a wrench, then clobbers us with motions to exclude it.
The average defendant is lucky to get legal aid.
It's the system.
The system stinks.
In a perfect world, there'd be no motions, no discovery, just straight to trial one on one and let the truth prevail with the jury.
In a perfect world, Leslie Brooks wouldn't die in a parking garage.
We couldn't figure out how Leslie's secret boyfriend got in and out of the hotel without anybody seeing.
He invisible? Might as well be.
Through valet parking, straight up to the room in the VIP elevator.
Do not pass "Go," do not stop in the lobby.
There's a lot of turnover, but we finally found a parking attendant who now works at another hotel who remembers Leslie Brooks from three years ago.
Showed 'em a picture of her.
Positive ID.
Yeah, we already know that she was having an afir.
In the words of the parking attendant, "I seen her with that guy-- you know-- her boss.
" Her boss? Henry Brooks.
The guy the attendant saw on any number of occasions at the hotel with Leslie was Henry Brooks.
What? She was having an affair with her father-in-law? £¿£¿£¿ £¿£¿£¿ £¿£¿£¿£¿ as you suggested.
The forensic accountant says Henry altered the finances, not Will.
And he did it in a way to make Will look culpable.
Can he prove it? It's complicated and beyond boring, but yeah, he can.
If you look past Will, there's a trail that leads to Henry.
What's the theory? Henry and Leslie had been lovers.
They shared a deep, dark secret.
She thought she could trust him, so she confided in him.
Thinking Will was at fault, she told Henry about the SEC subpoenas and the financial shenanigans.
So, Henry killed her to cover his fraud.
Henry knew all about the late-night arrangements with the security guard.
He framed the security guard in such a way that it would come back on his son.
He killed his daughter-in-law and then framed his son? It could just as easily be argued that Will found out about the affair and went berserk.
And that's exactly what Henry Brooks and his high-powered legal team will argue.
I'm certain that Henry did it.
Which means that Will wasn't at the office that night.
Which means he didn't drive his car, and he didn't call Stanton to tell him it was stolen.
So, who did? Henry Brooks called Arthur Stanton.
Which puts us right back behind the great wall of attorney-client privilege, If I could just talk to Will Brooks somehow get him to realize what his father has done to him.
Maybe he could persuade Arthur Stanton to tell us what he knows.
How would you get past Will's lawyer, Lisi? I'll handle Mike Lisi.
Ah, too much vermouth.
How the hell do you live in a town where you can't even get a decent martini, Jim? Can I ask you a question, off the record? Off the record, shoot.
Did Will Brooks tell you he called Arthur Stanton and asked him to report his car stolen? My client told me he never left the property that night and never called anyone.
You believe him? I have no evidence to confirm or deny.
Therefore, I have no opinion one way or the other.
That's a lawyer's answer, Mike.
Well, that's what I am, a lawyer.
You didn't believe him.
That's why you came looking for a plea bargain.
You know me too well.
This time, you were wrong, Mike.
He didn't call Stanton.
He didn't kill his wife.
Then who did? The old man-- Henry Brooks.
He did it.
No way.
Leslie's lover, three years ago.
You can't be serious.
I need to talk to your client.
Nah, he doesn't know anything.
He knows he didn't do it.
And now, so do you.
You still want me to put him away for murder? Trouble with you, Jimmy, you have too much integrity to prosecute a guy you know is innocent.
So help me to convict the man I know is guilty.
No, he's my father.
He wouldn't They wouldn't do that to me.
They he and Leslie are colleagues.
He was the guy she was seeing, Will.
There's no doubt.
Your father set you up for Leslie's murder to take the blame for the financial collapse of the company, everything.
The evidence is overwhelming.
Leslie made the mistake of trusting him.
She confided in him about the SEC subpoena.
I know; he's ruthless.
I've seen him eviscerate people over business, leave them with nothing.
I just never thought he could do that to me.
Or to Leslie.
We're dropping the charges against your client.
Will you help us? What's this? Trial by ambush? Will, what are you doing with these people? Arthur, they think I killed my wife.
Why? I want all of you out of my offices now.
What did my father tell you? What did he say I did? Henry Brooks is my client.
Anything said between us is privileged.
You know that's not necessarily true.
My father killed Leslie, Arthur.
My son is going to grow up without his mother because of him.
When Henry Brooks told you Will killed Leslie, did you believe him? Were you a part of the cover-up? Or were you complicit in his scheme to frame his son for the murder of his daughter-in-law? CONLON: Either way, you have no privilege.
I will put you in jail, Mr.
Stanton.
Henry woke me about He said Will was drinking again, and that he had done something stupid.
And asked me go get Will's car and clean it up.
Let's call Ed and Ray.
Have them arrest Henry Brooks for the murder of Leslie Brooks.
And, Arthur Please make sure the media's there to see it.
I want him publicly humiliated.
The way he humiliated me.
STANTON: I retrieved the car from the towing company, I drove it to the Brooks maintenance shed.
Later that morning, I had one of the workers clean it thoroughly.
Why? There were small amounts of blood on the window, on the steering wheel, on one of the seats, maybe elsewhere, I'm not sure.
Whose blood did you think it was, Mr.
Stanton.
Mrs.
Brooks.
Leslie.
Henry-- Mr.
Brooks told me Will had killed her to prevent her from exposing his fraud.
And to gain control of her estate.
Did you talk to Will Brooks that night about the car or anything else? I spoke only with Henry.
Why didn't you talk to Will? If he was guilty, I didn't want to know.
I didn't want him to tell me anything.
I wanted to be able to represent him.
You assumed he was guilty because Henry Brooks told you he was? Correct.
Mr.
Stanton, we have a sworn deposition from the employee who cleaned the car for you that morning.
Elio Torres.
He says he vacuumed and shampooed all of the carpets in the car.
As I said, at my request.
Including the trunk? Was there blood evidence in the trunk as well? I wanted to make sure all trace evidence was eradicated.
You're not answering my question.
Yes, there was blood in the trunk.
Mr.
Stanton, did you do anything else that morning to "clean up" for Henry Brooks? Before you took Will's car to the company garage? You took an oath, Mr.
Stanton, to tell the whole truth, not just answer my questions.
I'm only obligated to answer your questions truthfully, not to volunteer information.
Then answer my question truthfully.
Did you do anything else that morning? Did you get rid of any other evidence for Henry Brooks? I found something in the trunk.
A lug wrench.
And what did you do with it? I dropped it down a storm drain.
Arthur Stanton is mistaken.
I never told him my son said that his car had been stolen.
I simply said my son's car had been stolen and would he please take care of it.
He said you told him Will had killed Leslie.
Arthur Stanton is loyal to a fault.
He assumed that Will killed Leslie to cover up his fraud, and he acted accordingly.
And so did I.
Nothing further.
Three years ago did you have an affair with your daughter-in-law? It was a lapse of judgment on both of our parts.
Will was drinking heavily.
I was appalled by that and what was happening with the company.
I put an end to it after a few months.
You called it off? Leslie would have continued it, but I didn't think it was appropriate.
Not appropriate? Having an affair with your son's wife? We took great care to make sure that Will never found out.
But he did, didn't he? About the affair, but not my part of it.
they reconciled.
The financial irregularities started right after they reconciled.
That's when you began cooking the books, isn't it? To ruin your son.
Get him back for taking Leslie away from you? The financial malfeasance was Will's and not mine.
That's not what the forensic accountant said.
Or the SEC.
They lay the blame at your feet.
I reject that.
That must have been hard.
To see her back with him.
Were you in love with her? I loved her.
She was a spectacular woman.
A brilliant woman.
Did you think you'd get her back after Will was ruined? I moved on, Ms.
Chase.
I suggest you do the same.
She went to the office that night.
And you met her there after the guard had gone.
I never went anywhere that night.
She told you about the SEC.
I knew about the SEC investigation.
You knew about it? it was a secret grand jury.
I have friends in very high places.
Of course you already knew.
Did it surprise you when you found out Leslie had been cooperating with the SEC? No.
As I said, she was brilliant and would easily have discovered Will's pathetic little deception.
Because you wanted her to.
After all, you designed this whole thing to ensnare your son and get Leslie back.
We've been assuming Leslie told you that night about Will's involvement.
But you would have welcomed that.
That was your plan all along.
Instead, she accused you that night.
I never spoke to her that night.
She discovered that you had been cooking the books, not Will.
You were going to lose everything, huh? The company, Leslie, your entire legacy.
So you killed her to keep that from happening.
No.
I never manipulated the company's finances.
It was Will.
Only someone as spineless as my son would have needed to do something like that.
It was Will.
No.
Will never would have killed Leslie.
He'd forgiven her.
He may have even forgiven you.
I don't require forgiveness.
Nor do you deserve it.
When we spoke to you just hours after the murder you said you wanted to see the man who'd killed your daughter-in-law pay with his life.
That sounds fair to me.
£¿£¿£¿ I love the look on Henry Brooks' face when the jury gave him his wish.
He'll appeal it forever.
I hope he does.
He'll only squander his fortune delaying the inevitable-- a date with the executioner.
The rich are different.
Yeah, speaking of the rich I caught Conlon's assistant going through his desk today.
Collecting his paychecks to deposit.
Which is exactly what Ray said he did in New York, too.
Must be nice.
Yeah.
Got me thinking about Conlon.
He doesn't need the job and he's obviously not doing it for the money.
He is ambitious.
Maybe for the right reasons mostly.
Maybe.
? Executive Vice President of Brooks, Inc.
; married to Will Brooks, CFO of Brooks, Inc.
; daughter-in-law to Henry Brooks, the retired billionaire.
How was she killed? Blunt force trauma-- a hammer or maybe, a club.
PD's sweeping the area.
Looks like a robbery.
The assailant took her ring, her necklace, wallet, watch.
Coroner puts the time of death about 2:00 a.
m.
Working late.
She was just coming in to the office when she got jumped.
At 2:00 a.
m.
? Must have been an emergency.
Keep me posted.
Wow.
Part of the dog and pony show, too? Conlon said he wanted a strong presence at the house.
Can you really call it a house if it's bigger than the average hotel? (chuckles) How rich are these people? The Brooks family? They own half of Indianapolis.
Yeah, and act like they own the other half.
I worked the mayor's security detail when I was uniform.
He'd be here having dinner with Old Man Brooks, at least once a month.
Henry Brooks-- the Donald Trump of Indianapolis.
Looks like he's done okay for himself.
So has he-- nice ride.
I didn't know you prosecutor types made that kind of bread.
Conlon's got dough-- in New York, his assistant would go through his desk and collect his paychecks.
He'd forget to deposit them.
I forget to deposit mine, too, 'cause after taxes, there ain't nothing left.
CONLON: All right, people, let's do it.
The mayor wants me to tell you that he is very grateful that you're handling this matter personally, and so are we, Mr.
Conlon.
Whatever you need, Mr.
Brooks.
HENRY: Whoever killed my daughter-in-law, I want this man found.
I want him to pay with his life.
I promise you, Mr.
Brooks, we will arrest and prosecute her killer.
HENRY: Thank you.
My son, Will.
ANNABETH: Uh, Mr.
Brooks, do you know what time your wife went out last night? Alex said sometime after 1:00.
Yeah.
She told him she needed to go to the office.
What was so important it couldn't wait until regular business hours? For Leslie, there were no "regular business hours.
" She was passionate about the company.
Henry.
Arthur Stanton, our family attorney.
Mr.
Conlon, thank you for coming out.
Mr.
Stanton, my associates.
STANTON: Pleased to meet you.
So do you have any leads, any witnesses? CONLON: Well the investigation, has just begun, Mr.
Stanton.
BOY: Daddy? Do I have to go to the park? I want to stay with you.
Uh Hey, there, champ.
Do we see eye to eye? Yes.
(chuckles) You run off to the park now, Hal.
You don't want to be cooped up here all day with Grandpa.
He's got a lot of work to do.
Daddy? Is Mommy at work? Can I call her? Uh, not now, bud, okay? Who are they? They're friends of Grandpa's and Daddy's and Mr.
Stanton's.
I'll see you later, okay, kiddo? WILL: Come on, pal.
Daddy going to get some fresh air with you.
HENRY: Thank you.
Richard will see you out.
Thank you, again, Mr.
Conlon.
Okay.
What was that phone call? Brooks, Inc.
Chief of Security.
They found Mrs.
Brooks' jewelry in the night guard's locker.
Have him arrested.
So, tell me, how did Mrs.
Brooks' jewelry, watch, and wallet come to be in your locker? I don't know.
It just magically appeared? I don't know, I wasn't even there.
You punched in at midnight and out at 8:00 a.
m.
We also have video of you patrolling the halls and looking into offices.
I was just doing my rounds.
I wasn't stealing anything or killing somebody.
I liked Mrs.
Brooks.
(sighing): Look.
Mrs.
Brooks and me, we had this arrangement.
She liked to work late, and she'd come into the office at midnight.
Most of the time, it was just her and me in the building.
She'd tell me that I could leave early, that I could go home.
And last night? She called at 12:30.
She said she was coming in and I could go.
What time did you leave? Little before 1:00.
And she punches out for you, too.
I got to get a boss like that.
No, that's the day guy.
He clocks out for me when I leave early.
You can ask him; he'll tell you.
MAN: The way it works, right? Day guy, that's me, relieves the night guy, that's him.
MAUREEN: That's what he told you to say if anybody asked, but he needs you to tell the truth now.
You're not in trouble, Wayne.
Just tell me the truth.
He said Mrs.
Brooks told him it was cool to leave.
I'd clock out for John, so it would look like he was at work the whole night.
Did he say why? Look, I figure the boss says it's okay, it's okay.
We'd been doing it for years and never had any trouble.
Years? Well, he stopped for a while.
It started again about six months ago.
I don't even think about it anymore.
If John ain't there in the a.
m.
, I just punch his ticket.
Did you clock out for him the morning Mrs.
Brooks was killed? It was a day like any other day.
I'm thinking thanks to the influence of the Brooks family, we may have jumped the gun and arrested the wrong guy.
One guard corroborates the other guard's story.
That doesn't exonerate him.
What about the jewelry in the locker? He hides the stuff where it's obviously going to be found? I mean, why didn't he just take it home? Am I thrilled with this arrest? I mean, do I with I had a week or ten days to investigate-- you bet, but that's what money and influence get you.
And too bad for the security guard.
The security guard can sit in jail and wait for his alibi to check out if it checks out.
Is Henry Brooks prosecuting this case or are we? Somebody else is always going to be calling the shots.
You want to save yourself Learn how to bend the rules without getting hammered for it.
So you do or you don't want the security guard indicted? We have 72 hours.
Prove we have the wrong guy.
Look, it's pretty clear: Leslie Brooks often wanted to be alone at the office late at night.
Maybe this wasn't so much about work as play.
Maybe she and a friend had a late-night playdate that night.
If she was cheating on him, then her husband becomes a person of interest.
We will need a truckload of evidence before we will even consider the possibility.
So instead of talking to Will Brooks about his wife's possible extracurricular activities See if you can confirm whether Leslie Brooks had a lover some other way.
ANNABETH: Suggestions? Her colleagues won't dare talk to us on the record.
Well, maybe next colleague.
We can look into that.
Amazing.
The Brooks family has this much pull.
Hey, this is their town.
We just live in it.
I left the company by then.
right around the time Henry retired.
When was this? About three years ago.
And Leslie Brooks told you she was having an affair? But then, she and Will worked things out.
He forgave her and called off the divorce.
He'd filed for divorce? Their home life had become so difficult.
She met someone at the company who could give her what Will couldn't.
What was going on at home? Will had a drinking problem, and to his credit, he did take a long, hard look at himself, signed into rehab and finally quit.
We'll need to know the name of Leslie's lover.
She wouldn't tell me his name.
I only know he worked at the company.
They used to meet there late at night.
How is an affair three years ago relevant to Leslie's murder? She'd used the office for her late-night rendezvous in the past.
And Will knew what she was up to-- three years ago? Leslie's ex-colleague said the original lover was an employee.
Thank you.
ANNABETH: Let's have Ed and Ray check all cars registered to employees, see if anybody was putting in late nights the same nights as Leslie.
MAUREEN: Security guard's prints aren't on Leslie's jewelry, only hers and Will's.
Everything keeps coming back to him.
Cut the guard loose.
I'll do the paperwork.
Annabeth, you talk to Will Brooks.
How do you want to handle this? Without his attorney.
What do we want him to tell us? What she was doing at the office that night, and whether he knew if she was having an affair or not.
(sighs) Our necks are out a mile on this one, so tread carefully, huh? (softly): Don't we always? No, as a matter of fact, you don't.
ANNABETH: How is your son? We're, none of us, doing too well.
It must be very hard.
Believe me, I understand what you're going through.
No, you don't.
You have no idea.
I lost my husband eight months ago.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize.
Forgive me.
It's okay.
Does it get easier? Eventually, little by little.
Kids? Yeah, a little girl, 16 months.
She won't remember him.
No, but I think she'll miss him just the same.
Yes, she will.
Hal and his mother were very close.
How can I help you, Miss Chase? We were wondering if you could shed any light on why your wife went to the office so late that night.
She must have had work to do.
She was tireless, relentless, when it came to the company.
The security guard claims he wasn't there at the time of the murder because Leslie had sent him home.
Said she did it all the time.
That sounds like Leslie.
She liked to be alone-- uh, all alone in the office.
She called the office, after hours, her "fortress of solitude.
" Do you know what she was working on the night she was killed? Could have been anything.
She lived and breathed the company.
It meant more to her than to all of us who were born into it.
We took it for granted.
I don't know what any of us are going to do now without her.
ANNABETH: Will Brooks may not be as smart as his old man, but he knows how to play his cards close to the vest.
Lug wrench-- police found it in a sewer a couple blocks from the parking garage.
Coroner says it could be the murder weapon, and before you ask-- no blood or prints.
And guess what? The night Leslie was killed, Will Brooks' car was issued a parking violation and towed-- it was two blocks from the Brooks Inc.
headquarters.
So Will was home all night, but his car was working overtime? BLACKWELL: It gets better.
The car was reported stolen that morning-- not by Will, but by Arthur Stanton.
Henry Brooks' pain-in-the-ass lawyer.
Not only did he report the car stolen, towing company showed me a receipt for the car signed by him.
Why would a thousand-dollar- an-hour attorney bail his client's car out of an impound lot in the middle of the night? "To tamper with or destroy evidence in furtherance of the commission of an offense.
" Yo, Ra what kinda car does Will Brooks drive? New Mercedes E Class, why? Oh, fine ride.
Lug wrench is from a Mercedes tool kit.
I'll let the Prosecuting Attorney know we're arresting Will Brooks for the murder of Leslie Brooks.
£¿£¿ One count of Murder.
How does the defendant plead? Not guilty, Your Honor.
Bail application, Mr.
Lisi? LISI: My client is an upstanding and leading member of this community, Your Honor, where his family dates back five generations.
I'm a native, Mr.
Lisi.
I know who Mr.
Brooks is.
Mr.
Conlon? Your Honor, despite Mr.
Brooks' lineage, we request he be held without bail.
LISI: The People have already arrested and released one man for this crime, Your Honor, now they've trained their sights on my client.
Next thing you know, they're going to say the butler did it.
The Defense is being flippant, Your Honor.
This is a serious crime, the government has damning eviden against Mr.
Brooks, who has unlimited resources and is clearly a flight risk.
Bail is set at $5 million.
Defendant will surrender his passport.
Your Honor JUDGE: End of discussion, gentlemen.
(gavel bangs) Jimmy.
It's good to see you, man.
Mike, always a pleasure.
So, uh, Indiana, huh? You drive a tractor to work or what? (chuckles): I'm not like you, Mike.
I don't have the entire New York underworld to chauffeur me around.
That's funny.
Annabeth Chase, Maureen Scofield, Mike Lisi.
Mike used to work for me back in the day, at the Manhattan DA's Office.
That was before he crossed over to the Dark Side.
Ladies, a pleasure.
Nice talking to you, Mike.
See you in the ring, huh? Hey, listen, Jimmy.
Don't take it personally, but you absolutely have my word we're going to bury you in paper work.
You and Charlie's Angels here won't see the light of day for months.
I guarantee it.
"Charlie's Angels"? Relax, sweetheart, it's a joke.
What, you have to surrender your passport and your sense of humor if you live here? See you around, Jimbo.
I can see why you left New York.
You kidding? Guys like him make me miss it.
The competition.
MAUREEN: I'm confused.
Why isn't Stanton leading the defense team? I'll tell you why.
After Will killed his wife, he called Stanton, Stanton came to pick him up near the scene, Will confessed to everything to him.
And after that happened, Stanton could no longer represent Will.
Exactly-- Stanton knows the truth, therefore he can't suborn perjury by putting Will on the stand, if Will has to testify in his own defense.
And so he brings in Mike Lisi from the Big Apple to do it for him-- pretty slick.
Stanton's good.
Brings Lisi in because thguy knows my moves.
Lisi knows that we can't subpoena Stanton or call him as a witness against Will.
Attorney client privilege.
Iron clad.
Great tactical move.
Fortunately, I know Lisi as well as he knows me.
If he calls in the next 24 hours asking for a pre-trial conference, that means he knows that his guy did it.
Lisi will never go to court if he knows for sure that his client's guilty.
Oh, he'll come on like a SWAT team, but he's really just sussing out the best possible deal for his client.
And if he asks for a plea, how far can we go? I don't know.
Will finds out his wife was up to her old tricks, heat of passion-- Ask for 25, settle for 20.
ANNABETH: No plea on the table at this time, but we'll hear anything you have to say on behalf of your client.
Knowing the big guy, I'd say he's given you a 20 year downside.
Am I close? Well, it's a moot point anyhow, ladies.
We're not interested in a deal because my client happens to be that rarest of creatures in the criminal justice system, an innocent man.
Then why are we here? Keep the dialogue going? I didn't kill my wife.
And I want to be home with my son right now.
She was having another affair, Mr.
Brooks.
You must have felt humiliated.
She was not having another affair.
That was all over and done with three years ago.
Will, please, huh? Listen, three years ago, my client wanted a divorce.
Sure, who wouldn't? Then he checked himself into rehab, sobered up, decided to take another go at the marriage for his son's sake.
And you know what he discovered once he got his head out of the bottle? He loved his wife.
All the more enraging to find out she was cheating on you again.
Miss Brooks had not initiated a new relationship.
MAUREEN: How do you know? You told us you never left the house the night your wife was killed.
That's right.
I was home all night.
Then how do you account for your car being towed near the Brooks building around the time of the murder? I have no idea how my car got down there or who took it.
As you know, Arthur Stanton reported it stolen.
Ay 5:00 a.
m.
? A transparent attempt to establish a defense.
No, I swear, I did not talk to Arthur.
I think we're done here, but, uh, for argument's sake, if an offer were on the table No.
what would it be.
Twenty-five.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Just what I thought.
I know Jimmy.
Well, we're prepared to go to trial.
Have a nice day.
ANNABETH: Mr.
Brooks think about it.
You're likely to get life in prison if you go to trial.
In the meantime, we'll be poring over your late wife's personal matters.
We will find her lover.
There's not much on Mrs.
Brooks' computer.
Certainly no love letters or e-mails to a friend.
I thought all you girls kept diaries.
I know my name's featured in quite a few.
Mrs.
Brooks must have deleted them.
Well, there's deleting, and then there's deleting.
Amateurs.
You find something? Wasn't just her personal e-mails she zapped.
Leslie Brooks deleted thousands of documents.
Far as I can tell, they're all company related.
Uh, spread sheets, accounting procedures, Excel docs Why would she nuke a storage room worth of business records? Any record of why these documents were gathered up or where they went? Unless the memory wipe is secured, it's always there somewhere.
You just have to know where to look and how.
Oh, look at that.
All e-mailed to the same place WILLIAMS: Securities and Exchange Commission? Why would she do that? Compliance with a subpoena? I have a friend from law school who works at the SEC.
Maybe they'll confirm, copy us on the missing docs.
Now go get a date.
So, my SEC buddy said for the past six months Leslie Brooks had been cooperating with a secret grand jury investigation.
What kind of stuff were they looking at? Manipulation, doctoring the books, not outright theft.
What does Mr.
Vavoulis, our whiz kid accountant, have to say? Give me two more seconds.
So you think that this murder was about money, huh? How deep into this was she? Leslie? Not at all.
But her husband was.
Will Brooks? Was the SEC's target.
Apparently he has a hidden talent for wide-scale corporate fraud.
If the SEC's analysis is correct, since Will's father made him CFO, the company's been in a tailspin.
A little theft, and a whole bunch of cover-up.
And nobody saw this coming? Enron stock had a 15% run up the day before they filed for bankruptcy.
Leslie Brooks must have blown a fuse when the SEC subpoenas hit.
Before that, I'd say.
Looks like she was on to her husband months before the SEC served her with the subpoena.
Maybe Leslie wasn't having a new affair.
If she was going to the office late at night to get the goods on her husband, no wonder she sent the security guy home.
Will found out, followed her, killed her.
Same defendant, different motive.
We need someone to corroborate this.
Well, if Leslie Brooks was co-operating with the SEC She must have had legal counsel of her own.
Talk to her guy.
When did Leslie suspect something was awry with the company finances? About a year ago.
I advised her to start making copies of documents, and accounting for her own conduct.
She very wisely followed my counsel.
And when she got the SEC subpoenas? Six months ago.
I told her to turn over everything she had gathered, immediately.
I also told her she would very likely have to testify against her husband.
That he might be facing fines, restitution to the company And a lot of jail time.
Did Leslie confront Will about this? The grand jury process was secret.
Meaning no witness could discuss it with anybody but his or her attorney.
Although, having re-drafted her will, I don't think Leslie would have minded incriminating her husband.
You re-drafted her will? Just after the subpoenas landed.
She wasn't leaving him a dime of her money.
Leslie Brooks didn't just marry into money, she came from money.
Her personal estate is worth upwards of $50 million.
What difference does it make? Will's rich.
Not by Brooks standards.
His father controls his money through a trust.
Will essentially has his salary from the company, that's it.
Did Will know he'd been cut out of Leslie's estate? As far as I know, he didn't.
So, who does get Leslie's money? Goes into trust for her son, Hal.
As Hal's father, Will can get his hands on the 50 million anytime he wants.
Enough to balance the books, pay any fines.
Sounds like a motive to me.
If he were the trust's executor, which he's not.
Who is? Her father-in-law? MAUREEN: Henry Brooks.
ANNABETH: Leslie Brooks changed her will and named her father-in-law executor of her estate because her husband was running the family firm into the ground.
And to keep him from getting his hands on her money.
What if Henry told Will that his wife had written him out? He'd have no reason to kill her.
Bye-bye, motive.
Case up in smoke.
I'm not so sure.
I mean, finding out you just lost $50 million you were counting on.
Money that just might save the family firm and your own skin.
You might be mad enough to kill somebody.
MAUREEN: Leslie's attorney is sure Will had no idea he'd been cut out.
He thoughthe money was his if she died.
Let's say she's right, that Henry didn't tell Will anything.
Henry may have lied to cast out on our theory of Will's motive.
Let's nail Henry's testimony down.
Hit him with a subpoena for depositions.
Put him under oath.
And if he lies to us to protect his son? We'll find some other way to impeach his credibility.
One way or the other, I promise you, whatever Henry Brooks tells us we will use to convict his son for murder.
hey Where you going? On my way to meet Annabeth at Stanton's office to depose Henry Brooks.
What's up? Ray and I were going through the last of Leslie Brooks' personal papers.
We came across more than a dozen receipts for a hotel from three years ago.
Businesswoman like that would do a lot of traveling, stay at a lot of hotels.
The Royale King in downtown Indy? A five-star no-tell motel.
Well, we already knew she had an affair three years ago.
Her ex-colleague told us that.
And Will and his attorney confirmed it.
But we still don't know with whom.
Whom? I say something wrong? You want us to try and find out? You know, it's not exactly priority one, but Sure, check it out.
Conlon doesn't like loose ends, and neither do I.
ANNABETH: When did you first learn of any irregularities in the day-to-day operations of your company? The night she died.
Leslie told me of the various subpoenas from the SEC, and what she suspected was going on with the company's finances.
She thought that Will had mismanaged accounts, lost money and then covered the losses by manipulating the books.
Did you discuss Leslie's suspicions with your son? (indistinct whispering) He is the CFO, and I discussed it with him shortly thereafter.
Shortly thereafter? Would that be the same night? Yes.
But Will assured me that the SEC was simply flexing their muscles, that there was nothing substantive in their investigation and nothing amiss with the company's finances.
Did your son know his wife had changed her will? Cut him out of her estate and named you executor? No.
Leslie asked me not to tell him, and I respected her wishes.
So, he thought he still stood to inherit her estate in the event of her death? Yes, as far as I know, that is what he thought.
You knew your son's car had been left the night of the murder near the Brooks Building, where it was cited and towed? STANTON: I've advised Mr.
Brooks not to reply to any questions on this subject, relying on his Fifth Amendment protections.
Did you contact Mr.
Stanton concerning the alleged theft of Will's car? I instruct my client not to answer that.
If there was a cover-up, his Fifth Amendment rights do not apply.
That is a determination for a court.
We disagree.
Please answer the question, Mr.
Brooks.
This deposition is concluded.
Sit down, please.
We'll have you before a judge in the morning, Mr.
Stanton.
We have the resources to fight this for years.
Do you? MAN: Mrs.
Brooks has been a guest with us in the past, yes.
BLACKWELL: We know that already.
Now, either you cooperate fully, or we'll continue this little conversation down at the prosecuting attorney's office.
Look, Mr.
Walters, we just need to know was it a single or a double occupancy? I'm not familiar with Mrs.
Brooks' accommodations, beyond her suite preference-- southern exposure, non-smoking, VIP.
Step over there, pal.
WILLIAMS: How 'bout you, miss? You, uh, familiar with her accommodations? I don't want to lose my job.
No, you may even get a promotion after our boss talks to the manager.
You're asking if Mrs.
Brooks ever had a sleepover when she stayed here? Yeah, she had company.
You ever see the guy? No, but you can always tell.
I mean, the way the room is.
The number of towels on the floor.
Is there anyone who might have seen him, maybe a room service guy? I don't know.
I couldn't say.
When Leslie Brooks arrived, she have any luggage? You'd have to ask our valet parking people.
Mrs.
Brooks parked in our underground lot.
VIP luggage would have been brought directly to her room.
Thank you.
Well, well I just had a rather difficult conversation with the prosecuting attorney.
If I'm fired, send my last check to Fiji.
Seems Arthur Stanton doesn't quite agree with your evaluation of his client's Fifth Amendment rights.
ybaby.
Henry Brooks knows that Will did it.
Henry called Stanton to go get his son's car and clean it up.
And now the two of them are doing whatever it takes to protect junior.
Can we prove it? If we can just get over the privilege hurdle, separate Stanton from the Brooks family.
Stanton represents Henry Brooks, therefore, every conversation between them is protected by the attorney-client privilege.
And anything Will told Stanton is covered by the former attorney-client relationship between those two.
Well, unless I missed my mark, that would be the opening salvo in the murder trial of Will Brooks.
Courtesy of my old pal, Mike Lisi.
Omnibus motion from the defense team, motions to suppress, dismiss in limine, and a couple I don'teven recognize.
You two gonna be busy.
Ladies.
.
nice work.
I thought you were mad at us.
On the contrary My only regret is I wasn't there to see the steam coming out of their ears.
We won nine out of ten motions.
Not bad against the big guns.
And in front of Judge Menendez, who's a stickler.
Ten out of ten would have been better.
Big guns, thanks for noticing.
If you'll excuse us Hey, so you won today.
Tomorrow another salvo and the day after and the day after the day after If I were you, I'd conserve my energy.
Ladies Hmm! Makes me sick.
Will Brooks beats his wife to death with a wrench, then clobbers us with motions to exclude it.
The average defendant is lucky to get legal aid.
It's the system.
The system stinks.
In a perfect world, there'd be no motions, no discovery, just straight to trial one on one and let the truth prevail with the jury.
In a perfect world, Leslie Brooks wouldn't die in a parking garage.
We couldn't figure out how Leslie's secret boyfriend got in and out of the hotel without anybody seeing.
He invisible? Might as well be.
Through valet parking, straight up to the room in the VIP elevator.
Do not pass "Go," do not stop in the lobby.
There's a lot of turnover, but we finally found a parking attendant who now works at another hotel who remembers Leslie Brooks from three years ago.
Showed 'em a picture of her.
Positive ID.
Yeah, we already know that she was having an afir.
In the words of the parking attendant, "I seen her with that guy-- you know-- her boss.
" Her boss? Henry Brooks.
The guy the attendant saw on any number of occasions at the hotel with Leslie was Henry Brooks.
What? She was having an affair with her father-in-law? £¿£¿£¿ £¿£¿£¿ £¿£¿£¿£¿ as you suggested.
The forensic accountant says Henry altered the finances, not Will.
And he did it in a way to make Will look culpable.
Can he prove it? It's complicated and beyond boring, but yeah, he can.
If you look past Will, there's a trail that leads to Henry.
What's the theory? Henry and Leslie had been lovers.
They shared a deep, dark secret.
She thought she could trust him, so she confided in him.
Thinking Will was at fault, she told Henry about the SEC subpoenas and the financial shenanigans.
So, Henry killed her to cover his fraud.
Henry knew all about the late-night arrangements with the security guard.
He framed the security guard in such a way that it would come back on his son.
He killed his daughter-in-law and then framed his son? It could just as easily be argued that Will found out about the affair and went berserk.
And that's exactly what Henry Brooks and his high-powered legal team will argue.
I'm certain that Henry did it.
Which means that Will wasn't at the office that night.
Which means he didn't drive his car, and he didn't call Stanton to tell him it was stolen.
So, who did? Henry Brooks called Arthur Stanton.
Which puts us right back behind the great wall of attorney-client privilege, If I could just talk to Will Brooks somehow get him to realize what his father has done to him.
Maybe he could persuade Arthur Stanton to tell us what he knows.
How would you get past Will's lawyer, Lisi? I'll handle Mike Lisi.
Ah, too much vermouth.
How the hell do you live in a town where you can't even get a decent martini, Jim? Can I ask you a question, off the record? Off the record, shoot.
Did Will Brooks tell you he called Arthur Stanton and asked him to report his car stolen? My client told me he never left the property that night and never called anyone.
You believe him? I have no evidence to confirm or deny.
Therefore, I have no opinion one way or the other.
That's a lawyer's answer, Mike.
Well, that's what I am, a lawyer.
You didn't believe him.
That's why you came looking for a plea bargain.
You know me too well.
This time, you were wrong, Mike.
He didn't call Stanton.
He didn't kill his wife.
Then who did? The old man-- Henry Brooks.
He did it.
No way.
Leslie's lover, three years ago.
You can't be serious.
I need to talk to your client.
Nah, he doesn't know anything.
He knows he didn't do it.
And now, so do you.
You still want me to put him away for murder? Trouble with you, Jimmy, you have too much integrity to prosecute a guy you know is innocent.
So help me to convict the man I know is guilty.
No, he's my father.
He wouldn't They wouldn't do that to me.
They he and Leslie are colleagues.
He was the guy she was seeing, Will.
There's no doubt.
Your father set you up for Leslie's murder to take the blame for the financial collapse of the company, everything.
The evidence is overwhelming.
Leslie made the mistake of trusting him.
She confided in him about the SEC subpoena.
I know; he's ruthless.
I've seen him eviscerate people over business, leave them with nothing.
I just never thought he could do that to me.
Or to Leslie.
We're dropping the charges against your client.
Will you help us? What's this? Trial by ambush? Will, what are you doing with these people? Arthur, they think I killed my wife.
Why? I want all of you out of my offices now.
What did my father tell you? What did he say I did? Henry Brooks is my client.
Anything said between us is privileged.
You know that's not necessarily true.
My father killed Leslie, Arthur.
My son is going to grow up without his mother because of him.
When Henry Brooks told you Will killed Leslie, did you believe him? Were you a part of the cover-up? Or were you complicit in his scheme to frame his son for the murder of his daughter-in-law? CONLON: Either way, you have no privilege.
I will put you in jail, Mr.
Stanton.
Henry woke me about He said Will was drinking again, and that he had done something stupid.
And asked me go get Will's car and clean it up.
Let's call Ed and Ray.
Have them arrest Henry Brooks for the murder of Leslie Brooks.
And, Arthur Please make sure the media's there to see it.
I want him publicly humiliated.
The way he humiliated me.
STANTON: I retrieved the car from the towing company, I drove it to the Brooks maintenance shed.
Later that morning, I had one of the workers clean it thoroughly.
Why? There were small amounts of blood on the window, on the steering wheel, on one of the seats, maybe elsewhere, I'm not sure.
Whose blood did you think it was, Mr.
Stanton.
Mrs.
Brooks.
Leslie.
Henry-- Mr.
Brooks told me Will had killed her to prevent her from exposing his fraud.
And to gain control of her estate.
Did you talk to Will Brooks that night about the car or anything else? I spoke only with Henry.
Why didn't you talk to Will? If he was guilty, I didn't want to know.
I didn't want him to tell me anything.
I wanted to be able to represent him.
You assumed he was guilty because Henry Brooks told you he was? Correct.
Mr.
Stanton, we have a sworn deposition from the employee who cleaned the car for you that morning.
Elio Torres.
He says he vacuumed and shampooed all of the carpets in the car.
As I said, at my request.
Including the trunk? Was there blood evidence in the trunk as well? I wanted to make sure all trace evidence was eradicated.
You're not answering my question.
Yes, there was blood in the trunk.
Mr.
Stanton, did you do anything else that morning to "clean up" for Henry Brooks? Before you took Will's car to the company garage? You took an oath, Mr.
Stanton, to tell the whole truth, not just answer my questions.
I'm only obligated to answer your questions truthfully, not to volunteer information.
Then answer my question truthfully.
Did you do anything else that morning? Did you get rid of any other evidence for Henry Brooks? I found something in the trunk.
A lug wrench.
And what did you do with it? I dropped it down a storm drain.
Arthur Stanton is mistaken.
I never told him my son said that his car had been stolen.
I simply said my son's car had been stolen and would he please take care of it.
He said you told him Will had killed Leslie.
Arthur Stanton is loyal to a fault.
He assumed that Will killed Leslie to cover up his fraud, and he acted accordingly.
And so did I.
Nothing further.
Three years ago did you have an affair with your daughter-in-law? It was a lapse of judgment on both of our parts.
Will was drinking heavily.
I was appalled by that and what was happening with the company.
I put an end to it after a few months.
You called it off? Leslie would have continued it, but I didn't think it was appropriate.
Not appropriate? Having an affair with your son's wife? We took great care to make sure that Will never found out.
But he did, didn't he? About the affair, but not my part of it.
they reconciled.
The financial irregularities started right after they reconciled.
That's when you began cooking the books, isn't it? To ruin your son.
Get him back for taking Leslie away from you? The financial malfeasance was Will's and not mine.
That's not what the forensic accountant said.
Or the SEC.
They lay the blame at your feet.
I reject that.
That must have been hard.
To see her back with him.
Were you in love with her? I loved her.
She was a spectacular woman.
A brilliant woman.
Did you think you'd get her back after Will was ruined? I moved on, Ms.
Chase.
I suggest you do the same.
She went to the office that night.
And you met her there after the guard had gone.
I never went anywhere that night.
She told you about the SEC.
I knew about the SEC investigation.
You knew about it? it was a secret grand jury.
I have friends in very high places.
Of course you already knew.
Did it surprise you when you found out Leslie had been cooperating with the SEC? No.
As I said, she was brilliant and would easily have discovered Will's pathetic little deception.
Because you wanted her to.
After all, you designed this whole thing to ensnare your son and get Leslie back.
We've been assuming Leslie told you that night about Will's involvement.
But you would have welcomed that.
That was your plan all along.
Instead, she accused you that night.
I never spoke to her that night.
She discovered that you had been cooking the books, not Will.
You were going to lose everything, huh? The company, Leslie, your entire legacy.
So you killed her to keep that from happening.
No.
I never manipulated the company's finances.
It was Will.
Only someone as spineless as my son would have needed to do something like that.
It was Will.
No.
Will never would have killed Leslie.
He'd forgiven her.
He may have even forgiven you.
I don't require forgiveness.
Nor do you deserve it.
When we spoke to you just hours after the murder you said you wanted to see the man who'd killed your daughter-in-law pay with his life.
That sounds fair to me.
£¿£¿£¿ I love the look on Henry Brooks' face when the jury gave him his wish.
He'll appeal it forever.
I hope he does.
He'll only squander his fortune delaying the inevitable-- a date with the executioner.
The rich are different.
Yeah, speaking of the rich I caught Conlon's assistant going through his desk today.
Collecting his paychecks to deposit.
Which is exactly what Ray said he did in New York, too.
Must be nice.
Yeah.
Got me thinking about Conlon.
He doesn't need the job and he's obviously not doing it for the money.
He is ambitious.
Maybe for the right reasons mostly.
Maybe.