| Case Closed Episode 11 |
| ** "Beth, listen. I have to know where things stand with us before I come to San Francisco." Preston had become impatient with Beth and her involvement with Bridges. "I know, Preston. I'm trying but that damn Insp. McCabe keeps getting in the way." Beth had been hoping John would've kept her better distracted but problems with his wife and kids had ruined that plan. "What about John? Isn't he supposed to keep her out of this?" Preston knew all along that John was a bad choice. Picking another one of Beth's ex-lovers may have been better, one with less personal baggage. "She's good. What can I say?" Beth was running out of ideas and fearful Rachel would be onto them sooner or later. "Let John take the wrap." This was Preston's solution, the only way he thought things could work out for him and Beth. "Preston, we can't do that. He's taken us this far." Beth didn't want to do that to John, he had helped them considerably. "Unless you can produce the hitman you hired to knock Hans off, this is the way it has to be." John was getting in the way of his relationship with Beth, Preston wanted him out of the picture for good. "What about Bridges?" "Nash is oblivious, he thinks he is helping a divorcee over the tragic death of her ex-husband." Beth didn't want to mention the kiss she shared with Nash, or the potential for things going further with them, as long as Nash never found out what was really going on. "Let John take the wrap." Preston hung up the phone, he had played this game long enough and he was tired of losing. There was no way the cops would ever doubt John's guilt if they had enough evidence against him and a past with Beth certainly wouldn't help his cause. ** "No soccer games tonight with your future step-children?" Harvey wasn't sure how serious things had gotten between Rachel and John, or if she had even met his kids yet. "No, but John is at a parent meeting tonight with his ex-wife. I didn't want to meet her just yet.'' Rachel glanced down at her watch, wondering when John would arrive. "Oh." Harvey couldn't believe how John was using his kids as a cover for being with his wife, he hated watching John string Rachel along --- but he didn't want to be the one to break her heart. "Is he meeting you later?" "Supposedly." Rachel smiled, she couldn't wait to see John. She paused a moment to think of John's other excuse, "he said he had to finish up some work at the office tonight before he'd come by." Rachel had to admit she was a little tired of only seeing John at his convenience. "So I guess you wouldn't want to grab a beer once you finish up?" Harvey pointed to the immense pile of papers on her desk. "I've always got time for you." Harvey couldn't help but blush. Though she may have meant it in a different way, it definitely meant something. ** "No date tonight with Beth?" Joe looked curiously at Nash as they rode down a busy avenue in the Cuda. "Not tonight, Bubba." The case had been bothering him, there was still so much in question. He hadn't had the opportunity to ask Beth what he wanted to. Nash hated to admit it, but his personal interest was getting in the way. Something had to give. "Oh." Joe sat quietly for a few minutes while Nash drove. Nash's phone rang, breaking the silence. "Antwon, what have you got?... Right... Okay... we'll be right in." Nash hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Joe suspected it was either Harvey or Antwon with some new information. "That was Antwon. There's something up with Beth and I don't like it." ** "Inspector McCabe speaking," Rachel twisted the phone cord with her fingers while she waited on the line. "Rachel, it's John. It looks like things are running behind tonight, I don't think I can make it over to see you tonight." John fidgeted with the radio as he drove across the bridge. "Oh, okay." Rachel was angry, this was the third time this had happened this week. "Don't bother coming by tomarrow than either. We obviously don't have time for eachother." "Rachel, come on. You can't be asking me to chose between you and my kids." The last thing John needed was an argument, he was already late to meet Beth. "You said nothing about your kids before, you said you had to work." He was changing his story now, a little suspicious. "Well, that too. Can we talk later?" Beth would be furious if he ended things with Rachel while the case was still on, he couldn't risk that and they both couldn't risk Rachel being on to them. "Fine. Later." Rachel hung up the phone and looked up to find Harvey standing over her desk. "Everything okay?" Harvey looked at her sympathetically. She was normally so personable on the phone, something had to be wrong. "It's fine. I'm going to go home and get that file, and I'll meet you back here in about 25 minutes?" Since she wasn't going to meet John, she had all the free time she could want that evening. "Sure." Harvey planned to ask her later on what had been bothering her, she was never the type to go on about her personal life at work. ** "This case just doesn't make any sense, Nash." Joe sat before Nash with his head in his hands on top of the table. "One minute Beth is devastated, the next she's sobbing. Rachel keeps finding more evidence that proves its a murder, but there's no suspect. What's going on? " "You tell me, Bubba." Nash couldn't make heads or tails of the situation either. He hated to admit it, but the case had him stumped. He certainly didn't want to tell Joe that Beth had gotten to him. "Do we have the report from John yet?" "The initial report says it was a suicide, but the bullet wounds and the footprints Rachel traced say otherwise." Joe didn't want to think Rachel could be doctoring the records to coincide with John's, but it could work the other way around. "Something's not adding up here, and I don't like it. I'll talk to Harvey and see if she knows anything on John." Nash was hoping that maybe Rachel had mentioned something to Harvey about John's behavior with the case. ** Rachel ran up the stairs to her apartment and unlocked the door. She set her purse down and turned on her computer. She checked her watch, she had fifteen minutes to download the files and head back to the SIU so she could finish up and meet Harvey. Rachel sat down at her desk and picked up the phone, a knock at the door interrupted her. Rachel got up and opened the door, revealing an attractive red-headed woman before her. ''Are you Beth Collins?" Rachel was a bit taken by the question, "no. I'm Rachel McCabe." Rachel had no idea who this woman was or why she was at her door. "Your number is on my husband's cell phone and our home caller ID." Olivia thought she would catch Beth red-handed, she hadn't suspected there being someone else. "Who are you?" Rachel had to find out who this woman was before she said anything else. "I'm Olivia Miller, Mrs. John Miller." This was Rachel's worst nightmare, not only was John married, but the wife knew she was seeing him and had come to confront her about it. "Oh God..." Rachel paused for a minute and opened her door a little wider, ''come in.'' Olivia stepped into Rachel's apartment, she had to give her credit --- she already appeared to at least live a little classier than the other women her husband chose to spend his time with. ''Please, sit down.'' "So if you aren't Beth Collins, who are you to my husband?" Olivia was now suspicious of Rachel, she had known about John and Beth, but not about anybody else. "I work with John for the SFPD. We had gone out a few times, but I told him we shouldn't continue the relationship because over our conflicting schedules." That sounded better than what she actually had told him, and she didn't think that was something his wife would want to hear. "So he was with you too. That bas..." 'No, no. It was nothing like that." Rachel didn't want to get into great detail with John's wife about the extent of their relationship, but she sensed it couldn't be avoided. "I can't imagine John wanting to keep anyone as attractive as yourself for a platonic friend or mere co-worker." John had gone astray several times before, co-workers and female friends had only been the beginning. "I mean, it was like that but it hadn't gotten that far." Rachel saw no subtle way to tell Olivia that she hadn't been sleeping with her husband. "So he was dating you and with Beth Collins." John had affairs before but he had never carried on more than one at a time. "He's with Beth Collins?" Rachel wasn't sure she had heard her right --- this certainly couldn't be the Beth Collins as in Van Guard's ex-wife. "Yes. He claims he started seeing her after her husband's murder case was cleared up. I think it was Van Guard or something..." "But that case is still pending and Olivia is with Nash..." Rachel thought for a moment, everything was starting to come together "Olivia, would you mind coming down to the SIU with me to make a statement?" "Do you think I could help?" The last thing Olivia wanted to do was to trash her husband in front of the kids, but this may be a way to seek her revenge. "Immensely." Rachel grabbed her purse and opened the door, completely forgetting her purpose in returning home. ** "John, I'm so glad you're here. We have to talk." Beth greeted John with a kiss and ushered him into her hotel room. John sat down on the couch as Beth stood before him, "is everything okay?" "John, I need you to confess to murdering Hans." Beth knew no other way to tell him there had been a change in plans. "WHAT? I can't do that, Beth. I can't confess to something I didn't do." John couldn't risk losing his job and his kids. "I need you to do this for me, John. Confess to Rachel, she'll help you." Beth had to make this as believable as possible. "Beth, I can't. There's no way. " John couldn't believe she was asking him to do this. "I got in too deep, John. I need your help. Do it for me." Preston's plan might work if she could break John's defense. "It's only temporary, till we can work something else out. Just long enough for me to get away. That's all I need." Beth was practically pleading with him for his help. "Beth, I'll lose my job and my kids. You know I love you, but I can't do it." There was no way John could rationalize giving up everything to help her. He got up, kissed her and left. Beth stood there in awe for a moment before picking up the phone. ** "My husband has had a wandering eye for quite some time. His involvement with Beth didn't come as a surprise. It's when he started seeing someone else as well when I got suspicious." Everyone's eyes turned to Rachel as Olivia held the floor. Nash was letting his curiousity get the better of him, "any idea when things first started between your husband and Beth?" "They were first together about five years ago. She had been going through a rough time after losing her husband and had just ended and affiar with her husband's best friend, who was also a friend of John's." Olivia hated to rehash the story of her life and miserable marriage, but she felt it was her civil duty to help them --- even if her husband was the culprit. "Was that friend Preston Matthews?" Joe looked at her, intrigued with the web of connections John seemed to have with the case. "Yes, at least that's one of the names that John had mentioned to me." She paused a moment as she collected her thoughts, "recently, Preston has called the house several times. I accidentally picked up the phone while they were talking about Beth. I assumed that John had started seeing her again." The look on everyone's faces conceded that they were in agreement, John definitely had something to do with the murder of Hans Van Gaurd. "Olivia, I hate to ask you this, but do you think John was involved with Van Guard's murder?" Harvey decided to speak up for the group and put Olivia's torture to an end. "Involved, probably. He'd do anything Beth asked him to except leave me, and that's because I threatened to take our boys." ** "Nash, come here." Harvey stilled the video on John's face at the warehouse while he waited for Nash. Nash walked over and Harvey resumed playing the video. "This is from the day of the murder. McCabe found it in her mailbox this morning and brought it in. John was there ten minutes before Van Huard was gunned down." Nash watched the video in awe. "The tape ends here. The next tape is from after he was killed and the worker finding the body." "What happened in between?" Nash guessed that John was their man, but the missing tape would prove to be a problem. "Looks like only John could tell us." Harvey knew the missing tape would be a problem, but if the tape ended up in Rachel's mailbox --- it looked like John had something to say. "I've got a plan, let's go talk to Olivia and Rachel." Nash and Harvey back to the conference table where they had left Olivia and Rachel. Just then, Rachel's cell phone rings. "McCabe speaking." "Rachel, it's me, John. Can you meet me in my office tomarrow morning, first thing?" "John, what do you want?" The call was suspicious, and she wanted to do anything but resume the romance now that she knew he had a wife. "I need your help, I have to tell you something." John was desperate and Rachel was his last chance for help. "Okay. I'll be there." Rachel didn't know what he wanted, but she assumed she should go. She was hoping he'd want to confess something about the case. Nash looked at her curiously, "who was that?" "John, he said he has something to tell me." All eyes once again fell on Rachel with the hope John would be offering a confession of some sort. Nash looked at the inspectors and Olivia, "I've got a plan." ** Rachel knocked on the glass pane on John's office door, just as they had planned the night before. Harvey and the guys were set-up in the two adjoining offices and Olivia was set to walk in behind her. She waited a few moments outside the door. "Rachel?" John was worried, he had to get out of there and quick. Rachel was his last hope. "Come in." Rachel walked in, closing the door behind her. She found John sitting at his desk, nerviously shredding documents. He set the documents down and turned to face her. "You wanted to see me?" "Rachel, I need your help." John didn't know of any other way to approach the subject, he had to come right out and ask. "With what?" Rachel didn't want to seem like she knew too much and make him suspicious. She walked slowly towards his desk. "Rachel, I need you to help me leave town." John forced tears to flow from his eyes to try an evoke pity from Rachel, hoping she'd give him the money when he asked. "I did something that I'm not too proud of and I need to get away for a while." "Whatever you need, John." Rachel tried to be sympathetic, hoping he'd tell her more. She made sure that the wire was cleverly hidden, so no matter what John would never know she had one on. "I know that you'd be going against your job to help me, but I need you." John got up from his chair and walked towards Rachel. "I know I've given you many reasons not to, but please... I need you to help me disappear." "John, I'll help you but you have to tell me what's going on first." Rachel didn't know if that was too forward or not. Rachel moved in closer to him and rested her hand upon his arm. "I was involved with the Van Guard case, I got in over my head." "But we wrapped that up yesterday." She hoped by telling him that the case was finished he'd give her a confession to clear his own conscience. "I know, but if they find out I was involved --- I could lose my job and my kids. I don't want to lose you but..." John tried to act as if he were overwhelmed by emotion and pulled Rachel into his arms as he passionately kissed her. Rachel was the last person John wanted to be kissing, but he was desperate for her help. Harvey peeked through the door window at Rachel and John, "awww...isn't that cute. Let's get ready boys." He signaled to the other officers to be ready for his command. "How much do you need, John?" Rachel opened her purse and got out her check book, acting as if she were ready to give him the money. "Ten-thousand should be sufficient."John stood behind her, kissing her neck in an effort to seduce her. "That's a lot of money, John." Rachel had to seem hesitant, like she wasn't willing to sign away her life for a man she barely knew. He had to convince her he was worth it. "Please, I need your help. I have to leave town and start over somewhere else. I could lose my job for what I've done and spend my life in prison, you don't want that for me --- do you?" John personally didn't care what Rachel wanted, he just needed the money to get out of San Francisco. Olivia waited just outside the door for her moment. She watched as John tried to trick Rachel into giving him the money. Rachel slowly began to write the check, wondering what the hold-up with Olivia was. John moved infront of Rachel to face her, "please" he pleaded before passionately kissing her again. Olivia opened the door wide and slammed it behind her, "John Miller, you bast..." John quickly grabbed the check from Rachel and ran towards the door, but Olivia stopped him. "How could you?" "I'm sorry, Olivia, I can't explain. I have to go. Tell the boys I love them." John grabbed his coat and briefcase from the desk and headed towards the other door to exit. As John grabbed his keys to unlock the door, Rachel stepped up behind him. "John Miller, you are under arrest for the murder of Hans Van Guard. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say can and will be used against you..." John turned around as Rachel handcuffed him, "you cold-hearted witch --- I never should've trusted you. You were in on this all along... I gave up my marriage for you... Olivia, please help me..." When he looked up, he saw them surrounded by Harvey and the rest of the boys all waiting for him to try and get away. "Got him, Rache?" Harvey came over towards Rachel to see if she needed any help hauling John off. "I've got him, let's get him down to the SIU." Two other officers came and escorted John out of the office. Rachel stayed behind a moment and waited to talk to Olivia, "I'm sorry it had to end this way." "It's not your fault. I just wish my kids didn't have to go through this." ** "Well, well, well. John, you certainly had us fooled. Pretty impressive dating a cop as a cover for murder. Was that your idea or Beth's?" Nash looked intently across the table at John. "Come on, you won't hurt Rachel's feelings by telling us the truth now." "I didn't go out with Rachel as a cover, I'd wanted to ask her out before but..." John was desperate for another lie. That was the last thing he needed, he didn't want his story to be the complete opposite of whatever Beth had told them. "But what? You were married or you were already involved with Beth Collins?" Joe couldn't believe how much the story had changed from the beginning. "I didn't murder Van Guard. I wanted to, but it wasn't me." Nash wasn't expecting this, nor were any of the others. "If you didn't murder him, who did?" Nash was sure they had covered all their corners and he wondered what John was up to to try and get off. "They set me up, so he could be with Beth." John was pulling at straws for what to say, he didn't know what Beth had or hadn't told him. He certainly didn't want to incriminate her. He knew Matthews would take the fall. "Matthews set me up." "Joe, have Ronnie come take John to a cell and you and I will pick up Collins at the Belmont. Rachel, I want you and Harvey to track down Preston Matthews in Texas." Nash quickly wrote down a few notes and handed them to Rachel, "I'll call and tell you if I find anything else." ** Later on, Rachel had been sent down to question John again at his cell. She wasn't overly thrilled with the assignment, but Nash was hoping she could somehow get him to talk. "Call Preston Matthews, Rachel. He'll admit to the murder." John peered at Rachel through the cell, "he's your man." "If he's our man, what were you doing at the warehouse ten minutes before Van Guard died?" "What?" "I saw the tape, John. The one you left in my mailbox, part of your confession." Rachel was sure he had some role in the murder, though she wasn't convinced he was the murderer. "I didn't leave you the tape, Rachel. I had a meeting there, that's all." John was pulling for straws, that tape was the last thing he needed against him. "We're trying to locate Mr.Matthews as we speak. But for now, our problem is that Beth Collins is nowhere to be found." Rachel assumed he already knew that and probably helped her leave. "Any idea where we could find her?" "Probably with Preston Matthews," he paused for a minute, "or with your boss since you're tied up for the moment and can't tend to his needs." John intended to offend her, she turned him in and teamed up with his wife. Rachel glared at him with an evil eye as John waited to make his next move, "how long will I be in this hell hole?" "Until you can prove to us it was someone else, or until I think you're ready to leave. Either way, I don't think it will be happening anytime soon." Rachel gave a wicked smile as she got up to leave, "behave yourself, John." ** "Nash?" Beth had no intention of telling him where she was or where she was going to next. "It's me, Beth. Listen, I know you have a lot of questions but I have to leave town. I can't see you again." Beth glanced down at the two plane tickets she held in her hand as she nervously clutched the phone in the other. "Where are you, Beth?" Nash didn't plan on letting her leave until he knew what was going on. "I can't Nash, I've got to go." She hung up the phone and quickly dialed again, discouraged when she got a voice mail. "Preston, it's me. I've really got to talk to you. Take the next flight to San Francisco and I'll explain." ** Harvey smiled as he passed Rachel's desk, "looks like you're distraught over John." "This is sad. My love life is pathetic." Rachel looked up from her computer screen as Harvey walked by. "I might result in allowing my mother to write a personal ad for me." "I wouldn't go that far, McCabe. There's always hope." That was the last thing Harvey needed, someone else aiding Rachel in her attempts to find her ideal man. "There was always hope five years ago, now its just hopeless. I'm sure my mother would be more than happy to explain it all to you." Rachel smiled, knowing her mother liked to remind her at every opportunity that she wanted grandchildren before she turned sixty. "She can't be that bad." Harvey laughed at the idea of someone like his own mother writing a personal ad for him. She wouldn't even know where to begin. "Oh, but she is." Rachel would never classify her mother as pushy, maybe just a little overbearing. "I'm going to grab something to eat. Care to join me?" Harvey paused for a moment, "or does Mom already have another date lined up?" Harvey couldn't resist the comment, he couldn't imagine Rachel allowing her mother to schedule her personal life. Rachel smiled at him, "promise not to remind me that you were right... again?" "If you're buying, I can be bribed." Harvey chuckled at Rachel's sour facial expression as she got up from her desk. "You know, Leek. I am beginning to think you enjoy this." "You being tortured by dead-end romance? Never." Harvey loosely draped his arm around her shoulders as they walked out of the SIU together. It was apparent his chance may come sooner than he thought. ** |
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