Janet King

Sally Blakely was diagnosed a year ago. Oesophageal cancer.

Aggressive. Just after 7pm she started looking in a lot of pain,

according to him,

and within ten minutes he'd given her three injections.

How many? Three.

You charge me with assisted suicide, they bump it up to manslaughter.

They want a big scalp, do they?

Mr Blakely, we have a lady here who claims

you shut down the investigation into her daughter's death.

Please... Do you remember Oriana Vasilich?

This is her mother, Dianne. Do you know who killed her daughter?

Who is this Oriana girl? Unsolved case from '94.

Working girl, and got involved with some very powerful people

and one day, she disappeared. What are we doing here, Richard?

Arguing for a suspended sentence, aren't we?

Put aside who Blakely is for a moment,

and let's re-look at the facts and the circumstances.

Neither of us think a man like Steve Blakely

should end up in jail though, do we?

No, but we can't rort the system just to get a particular outcome.

An immediate custodial sentence in the upper range of 8-10 years..

What?! ..is the minimum that should be considered.

To hell with fair play. To hell with teamwork or natural justice.

I don't want her on any of our cases ever again.

What exactly are you telling me, Mr Schaeffer?

We're just trying to locate Mr Blakely, Your Honour.

He's bolted. I'm issuing a bench warrant

for the immediate arrest of Steven Blakely.

He left a message on his computer. It just says 'please forgive me'.

Janet King - 01x02 - Every Contact Leaves a Trace

Tracey's got something she wants you to handle,

but I told her you'd be taking the rest of the day off.

And doing what, exactly?

Well, I don't know. What do normal people do?

Do we know if he owned a weapon?

He probably just scarpered.

Leaving behind his wallet and mobile?

Nothing's happened. We just have a man who didn't turn up for court.

Which prompted him to leave an apology note at home.

He just might have an overdue library book. For Christ's sake!

And that's why you're offering me the afternoon off?

Look, if you're so keen to work, see Tracey.

Or you could always swap places with me.

Why, where are you going? You don't want to know.

A summons from the Attorney General. To her office?

Yes, I know, never happens.

Usually we just communicate via talkback radio.

Janet, I've told Erin to work with you on the Simpson murder,

just until we find out whether you need to do any more on Blakely.

Or not. Thanks.

Guess I should thank you for taking the Blakely case away from me.

That's as close as you get to a supportive response, is it?

Well, it'd be hypocritical of me to be supportive

when I think you completely misjudged

the sentence recommendations.

If I want your opinion... No need to ask.

Quite happy to volunteer.

Next time you're in court maybe you should do as you're told.

It's just a thought.

No comment, no comment.

I've got nothing to say at this stage.

Will you be resigning? Heaven's sakes, no. I won't.

No, I've got nothing to say.

No comment. Thank you.

Do you have any comment?

Go away. Oh, sure.

Oh, no, not you. You can stay.

He's alright.

I've been doing some research on missing persons.

Why? Blakely isn't missing yet. He's not?

Actually at the moment, that's right

because it's only been a matter of hours.

So if we're living in a world where Blakely's not missing,

then he could just be confused or scared.

He might have gone for a drive to clear his head.

Is this research? No, that's supposition.

The police receive at least 15 missing person reports a day

and 90% of those people are found within a week.

Found alive.

Now, they can be divided into two categories -

people who disappear willingly and people who don't.

People who don't who don't disappear willingly...

This is not helping.

..could have disappeared through misadventure, accident,

injury, miscommunication or incapacity. See?

Anything could've happened to him.

Who is this guy, Simpson?

Ah, Neville Simpson.

Methamphetamine cook. One of the best, apparently.

A real Heisenberg.

Victim Gus Saracen, drug dealer.

Stole from his suppliers, who are all bikies. They didn't like it.

Simpson tracked him down, shot him, gun hasn't been recovered,

no DNA at the scene, but Zebina Petrakis saw it all.

Gave a statement, ID'd the shooter without a second's hesitation.

Nice work on this brief. Concise, considered, unemotive.

I'd say you've got a real aptitude for this sort of thing.

Great. It is, actually.

Not many people can deal with it objectively and ignore the horror.

If you can do it well, you're assured plenty of good work.

I should be grateful there's a ton of child abuse going around

'cause it will be good for my career?

Pragmatism. That's all.

What is the pragmatic approach to this, then?

Legal or underage?

I can see your dilemma. These girls could be 12 or they could be 16.

Well, measuring the forearm bones is one way of proving age.

Well, you really need an x-ray for that.

Uh-huh. Looking at pubic hair patterns, that can be helpful.

Not in an era where everyone under 40 has a Brazilian.

The pragmatic solution here is to stick a photo in of a kid

who looks clearly, unarguably underage.

You're joking?

There's, what, hundreds of thousands of photos here?

No-one's going to notice if one's been added.

I bet even your user won't pick it. What, fit him up?

End justifies the means. Apart from the fact it's illegal.

Doesn't do any harm, does it?

Gets a scumbag off the street

and may even save a few kids from being abused.

Not nearly as illegal as what your guy Clarke's been doing, is it?

It was a good decision to not reinstate the whiteboard in here.

It's so much roomier. Yes, Richard.

Don't tell me you have nothing to do.

Ah, no, not at all. I was just wondering,

with Blakely missing, shouldn't we be asking for an adjournment sine die?

I know we need to make a formal application, Richard.

Are you telling me how to do my job?

No, I'm just happy to do it, that's all.

It's a job for a junior solicitor.

It's just I've been working on Blakely, so I'm, you know,

following up what needs to be followed up.

Not looking for an excuse to be in the court vicinity

during the working day while there's a Commonwealth matter running?

Me? No. God, no. Court and me are a diabolical combination.

Bit like you and court, really. I beg your pardon?

Nothing. What did you say?

I don't remember exactly...

Tony Gillies requested I return to my job as Managing Solicitor

because he realised that it requires a very particular set of skills.

Of course. It was in no way a reflection of my advocacy.

Of course not.

So I'll just go and apply for the adjournment, then?

OK, then. Great. Thanks.

Blakely's mobile and wallet were there,

but his keys and his car weren't.

There was a message left on the computer,

but apart from that the rest of the house was pretty tidy.

Forensics found nothing unusual. But he left his wallet.

Well, he would though, wouldn't he?

If he has done a runner, he couldn't access any of his accounts.

Too easy to trace.

And if he's planning suicide, he wasn't going to need any money.

So which is it? We don't know.

It's so hard to believe either. What the hell was he doing on bail?

Yes, well... Pleads guilty to manslaughter and he's still on bail?

It's not uncommon, as opposed to being called here...

Bugger uncommon, it's outrageous. But the circumstances were unusual.

Up until the previous morning, no-one was really thinking

he was gonna get a custodial sentence.

- He's a man of excellent character. - Minister.

What sort of morons are you two?

We're eight months away from an election.

We stood on a platform of law and order

and now we all look like idiots. Look, Gail... Don't 'Gail' me.

If either of you two want the chance to sire children again,

you'll tidy this up as quickly as possible.

I will not be a laughing stock.

There's a cartoon in today's paper showing us as the Keystone Cops

while Blakely paddles to Argentina.

Hmm. Remarkable likeness.

Even my own staff are laughing at it.

Have you any idea the level of political damage

humour can cause, gentlemen?

Oh, yes, humour. Terrible thing... Surely the ramifications...

I'm sorry, did I invite a conversation?

Did you get the impression that I was interested

in your opinion about this mess?

You're here so that I can know you've heard with your own ears

what I'm about to say.

Find him, dead or alive.

I want speed, I want professionalism, I want a result.

All the loose ends tied up.

Get it off the front page as soon as possible.

Are you capable of that?

Tatum.

I'm busy, Richard. Five minutes.

Three, two, tops. One. Go.

The other day I was so surprised to see you, I just...

I wanted to say sorry for the sex... Not for the sex, obviously.

For saying 'sex' in front of a whole lot of people.

Totally inappropriate. I should have realised.

This is about the worst apology I've ever made.

Are you done? Yes. No, look, can we just...

What? You know?

No, I don't. You tell me. Be civil. Be friends.

Oh, now you want to be friends? I know, I stuffed things up.

Yes, you did. And you can't ring me

and leave five messages for me at the office.

I think it was six, actually. I didn't want to leave messages.