Law & Order

In the criminal justice system,

the people are represented

by two separate, yet equally important groups:

the police, who investigate crime,

and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories.

- Thank you, anything else? - Should be okay.

Oh, Alexis?

I thought you were taking the rest of the night off.

I was, but I saw that you emailed

the updated PowerPoint slides.

Just sending so you'd have them to review in the morning.

I know, but you guys should be done for the night.

Deal closes end of day Friday.

I understand that.

It's 10:00. Go to bed.

Is something wrong?

I'll explain everything tomorrow.

There are some difficult conversations to be had,

but for tonight, everyone, just stop what they're doing.

Copy that, boss.

What the hell are you doing here?

DOA is Alexis Morphew, 34,

owner of the house, lived alone.

Nice neighborhood.

Time of death's somewhere

between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.

Discoloration and bruising around the neck,

and petechiae hemorrhage in the eyes.

Looks like she was strangled.

Any indication of sexual assault?

Mm-mm.

Looks like there was a struggle.

We're knocking on doors, but no witnesses so far.

There's blood under her fingernails.

Looks like she scratched the attacker.

She's still wearing her jewelry,

and I assume that's her laptop there.

This alarm system, they have cameras for it?

No, but according to the log,

the system was deactivated from the keypad at 10:03 p.m.

Immediately after that, the front door was opened.

It was turned off to let somebody in.

It means she knew the killer. - Who called the cops?

A colleague, got nervous

when she didn't show for their 9:00 a.m. Zoom.

No escaping the rat race.

Until you do.

Alexis and I had a touch-base

every morning at 9:00 on Skype.

I tried calling, emailing...

I knew something was wrong.

I just can't believe she's dead.

Were you two close?

As close as you can be

without having ever met in person.

But we're in virtual meetings together 16 hours a day.

Was there anything unusual happening with Alexis--

any problems, issues?

She was really distracted yesterday,

which is unusual for her.

She's usually really focused,

and she logged off early around 7:30.

Oh, 7:30. That's early?

Yeah, if we're done before 10:00,

that's like a vacation day.

You know, they started letting us turn off our cameras

around 9:00, as if that really solves the problem.

- What do you do? - I'm a consultant.

Alexis and I were working together on a project.

- And what did Alexis do? - She's the CFO of QuestArc.

The electric car company?

It's like a New York version of Elon Musk.

Cars, rockets, robots,

and whatever else Ethan Merritt found sexy

and unimaginable at the time.

M.E. was able to recover DNA

from under Morphew's fingernails,

but no match in the system.

Mm.

- Huh. - What do you got?

Vic's phone records--

dozens of texts and phone calls,

every hour, all hours of the day.

All the work contacts,

including Ethan Merritt himself.

Town houses in the West Village

aren't gonna pay for themselves.

Check this out, at 8:37 p.m.,

she texted Merritt, "There is a problem.

We need to talk."

But Merritt doesn't reply. No call, no text.

Maybe he responded in person.

Alexis was the total package--

smart, kind, brilliant.

Yeah, dedicated to her work too, as far as we can tell.

Absolutely, and she totally got me, you know--

got what I wanted this company to be about.

- Changing the world, right? - Yeah, why stop there?

Let's terraform Mars, man.

Let's cure cancer. Let's end world hunger.

Zero emission vehicles are just the beginning.

I'm Batman. She was my Robin.

I don't know what I'm gonna do without her.

It says here that she sent you a text last night

saying that you have a problem.

I know. I feel terrible.

I was already asleep when she sent it.

I didn't see it till this morning.

You were asleep at 8:30?

I start my day at 3:45, work out for 90 minutes,

and then I go to the office.

That's quite a regimen.

Positive change starts from within.

I figured whatever the problem was,

we could discuss it when she got into the office.

Do you have idea what that problem might have been?

Unfortunately, yes.

She was having problems with a former employee.

I promoted Alexis to CFO six months ago.

Her predecessor didn't take well to it.

He's, you know, accused her of sabotaging him.

Did he ever threaten her?

I'm not sure they were actual threats,

but he did send her a few distasteful emails.

Emails weren't hard to find.

She saved them under a tab labeled "Threats."

Huh, she's keeping receipts.

Or she's just really organized.

Regardless, this guy, Bellantoni,

he goes at her hard,

calls her a viper, a backstabbing bitch.

"Make no mistake. I will destroy you."

This guy has a legit temper too.

His ex-girlfriend filed for a restraining order

three months ago, said that he was stalking her,

claimed he got physical on a few occasions.

Just found video of Bellantoni and the victim

near her town house, day before the murder.

Let's go find this bastard.

Okay, so I sent a few ill-advised emails

when I was drunk.

I would never actually do anything like that,

especially to a woman.

Well, your ex-girlfriend may beg to differ.

Please. She's a psycho.

I saw the video between you and Alexis from three days ago.

If that guy hadn't stepped in between you two--

Seems like you got a problem with the ladies, Terry.

Yeah, and why direct your anger towards Alexis?

Merritt's the one that fired you.

Because she convinced him to.

She made a big deal about the fact

that there weren't any women in the C-suite.

C-suite?

CEO, CFO, COO.

Started complaining about the optics,

made some veiled threats.

Next thing I know, she's decorating my office

with her eco-friendly furniture.

Why are you freaking out about this severance deal?

It looks like you're doing pretty well for yourself.

That's not the point.

I was employee number six at that company.

I ruined two marriages

working nonstop to get it off the ground,

and now I'm out because Twitter says being a white man

is the moral equivalent of being a serial killer.

Where were you two nights ago around 10:00 p.m.?

Palo Alto.

I was pitching a new start-up to investors,

took the red-eye back this morning.

Okay.

Do you know anybody else who shares your feelings

about Alexis Morphew?

Lots of people.

She was civil and beautiful, but she had sharp elbows.

You should talk to Kayla, her assistant.

She'll know where the bodies are buried.

Everyone loved Alexis.

She was so bright and confident,

a total queen, you know, kicked ass at work,

but still treated everyone with respect.

So do you know of any specific problems

she was having or anyone who may have want to hurt her?

No, sorry.

Was there anything unusual going on in her life?

No, except for...

I don't like to gossip.

We're cops. It's information, not gossip.

I think she might've been seeing someone.

I'm guessing he was married too,

because she kept sneaking off in the middle of the day

to these meetings that weren't on her calendar.

It was nosy of me, but one time she said

she was going to the doctor.

I called his office.

Receptionist said she was never there.

Could be a lot of explanations for that.

I know, but about a week ago,