"Previously on Shark:" "That's my lawyer, boys." "Why not let me go right now?" "We're starting a unit in the DA's office to nail rich folks with fancy lawyers." "What schmo would take that job?" "Come on." "Me, a prosecutor?" "I eat prosecutors for breakfast." "They're my main source of fiber." "Trial is war, second place is death." "Truth is relative." "Pick one that works." "This place rocks." "Narcotics Division must be pissed." " Like working at a real firm." " Minus the salary." "Having reached the age of 16, you must now designate which parent acts as custodian until your 18th birthday." " I choose to live with my dad." " I love that you are here." "I thought we were doing better." "You seem less pissed off at me." " It's just..." " No one said this was gonna be easy." "You are a good attorney." "But the people in your office, they..." " I don't know, what's the word?" "Suck." " Well, this should be fun." "The search continues for the wife of surgeon Dr. Mitchell Sterling." "We take you now to the..." "It's been 13 days since my wife disappeared." "Stephanie is a loving mother, a devoted partner and a gifted doctor." "These are never roles she would willingly walk away from." "But in my heart, I have hope." "I know Stephanie is out there." "We miss her." "So I'm begging you, please help us find her." "Guy must be a hell of a heart surgeon to afford a house like this." "He's a rock star." "Without him, that hospital would be a taco stand." "Stark." " Detective." "Got anything?" " Sure this is kosher?" " Do I look like a rabbi?" "Sterling allowed us in to monitor his phone." "Now we're tossing the place." "What's the basis?" "The basis is I have a law degree, and, hey, you don't." "I can see why the cops love you." " Rather be feared than loved." " A warrant would be nice." "Too bad my crack team couldn't manufacture probable cause." "We've been killing ourselves..." "I've heard whining." "What I haven't heard are results." "Until I hear them, I'm talking to a joke in an Armani suit." " Thanks for the pep talk." " We got something." "Blood?" "The spatter pattern's consistent with an arterial spurt." "Cut me a swatch." "Run it for Stephanie Sterling's DNA." "Pack it in, guys." "We got what we came for." "On behalf of my family, I wanna thank you for your support for your cards and for your prayers." "Guy looks pretty broken up." "They always do." " There's my girl." " Morning." " How's breakfast?" " Fine." "Because Flora can find whatever you like." "Irish steel-cut oatmeal, Israeli yogurt." "The woman's a shopping ninja." "I've been having the same cereal since I was 6, Dad." "Thanks." "Well, I'm just saying if you wanna, you know, spice things up." "What's going on?" "Nothing." "Just having dinner with Rachel tonight." " Oh, cool." "Rachel's great." " Yeah, she is." "You know, the thing is, probably come back here afterwards." "Okay." "And she may, you know, still be here in the morning." " So?" " So it's your house too." "I wanna make sure you're comfortable with my having..." " Sex." " Overnight guests." "I think I can handle it." " You sure?" " Yeah." "I mean, Larry practically lived with us before he and Mom got engaged." " And before that..." " Okay, great, I get the picture." "Plus, this means I can have overnight guests too, right?" "Let me put it to you this way." "If I ever catch a guy coming out of your room in the morning I'm the one who's gonna need a lawyer." "If you felt a distinct chill in the air when you woke up..." "Told you Judge Fenton wouldn't buy it." "Sorry." "You throw it against a wall, sometimes it sticks." "Think you could get a warrant for the house based on blood obtained without a warrant?" "The blood was in plain view." "With help from forensic chemicals and an SID team." "Hey, look, this joker killed his wife." "But juries are funny." "They like to see actual evidence." "DNA tests confirm that this was Stephanie Sterling's blood, all right?" "The only item that can be setting this thing off is the metal plate in my head." "Unless you got a band saw, we're done here." " He's okay." " Thank you." "Where was I?" "Telling me that juries are funny." "But judges are funny too." "They like evidence that's legally obtained." "Not to mention that we don't have a body to prove a murder took place." "Details." "Sterling is a prominent surgeon." "Pillar of the community." "Pillar, shmillar." "He's our guy." "It'd be nice if you gave me a little rope." "Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll hang myself." "Okay, everybody, give it to me from the top." "Cops found Stephanie Sterling's SL450 in a mall parking lot five hours after she went missing." "Guy said he saw a man matching Sterling's description exit the vehicle around dawn." "Couldn't pick Sterling out of a photo array." "What else?" "Evidence of public discord between them." "An argument they had two weeks ago." "Guys, empty." "Anybody hear what they fought about?" "But it's probative to the state of their marriage." "How about it's probative of the fact they were married period." "Phone calls the night of her disappearance?" "He couldn't reach his wife on her cell phone all night." "Called his sister Yvonne at 12:36 a.m. And left a message at 1:07." "She calls him back and they talk for about 30 minutes." "And at 6:34, he starts calling all his wife's friends and coworkers." " He was worried?" " About his alibi." "Where do we stand on motive?" "Multiple calls between Stephanie and hospital chief of staff Charlie Bender at odd hours in the months preceding her disappearance." "Bender's a player." "He trolls the clubs on Sunset." "So I hear." "An affair gives motive if we can prove it." "Until then we've got no ransom calls, no admissible evidence and no body." "We don't need a body for a murder prosecution." " True, if you don't mind losing." " I do mind losing." "Thank you for the tip on corpus delicti, because I forgot about that part." "This guy, Mitchell Sterling, is stone-cold guilty." " How can you be sure?" " I represented guys like him." "I know guys like Sterling." "He's lying through his teeth." "Whenever foul play is suspected in the disappearance of a woman it's always the jealous husband." "It's like a cliché." " But the case is still circumstantial." " We have to make it a slam-dunk." "Martin and Casey, go back at this hospital chief of staff." "This Romeo, Charlie Bender." "Madeleine, interview everybody he talked to that night." " The L.A.P.D. Already covered that." " That should serve as a starting point." "Raina, you're with me." "We're gonna go back at Sterling while he's in a cooperative mood." "This guy is smart." "We need to be smarter." " My attorney asked to be here." " Sterling has been cooperative." "I'm not sure why the DA is suddenly involved." "STARK:" "This is a major missing-persons case." "We just wanna make sure that the investigation's run properly." "It's okay." "I'm grateful for Mr. Stark's diligence." "You said you last saw your wife that morning." "Yes." "We had breakfast with our son." "And then we each left for work." " Did you speak to her again that day?" " At lunch." "She needed to stay late because of a chemotherapy protocol." " She'd be home by 10." " Unusual for her to stay late?" "Not at all." "Stephanie's incredibly dedicated to her patients." "She treated everybody like family." "Your wife's magnetic ID card indicates that she left the hospital at 9:32 p.m." "Any idea where she would have gone?" "It's all I've been thinking about for two weeks." "I mean, until Stephanie disappeared we didn't spend an evening apart for over 18 years." "Hey, buddy." "This is my sister Yvonne, my son, Ethan." "These people are helping us find Mommy, okay?" "Let's go upstairs now." "Yvonne's been wonderful." "It's been incredibly hard for Ethan." "You called her the night your wife went missing, right?" "Stephanie and my sister are very close." "I thought my wife might have stopped by Yvonne's place." "And not call you?" "Well, it wasn't like her, but I was desperate." "I left a message saying that she was missing." "Yvonne got back to me a while later saying everything would be okay." "I still believe that." "I have to." "May I use your bathroom?" "Of course." "Pretty fish." " You had them long?" " Except the rainbow." "Catfish ate my old one." "Yeah, I had fish when I was your age." "My dad's gonna get me a dog." "Wow, your dad must love you a lot." "When's the last time you saw your mom?" "It's okay, Ethan." "You can tell me." "Excuse me, can I help you?" "No, I was just coming back from the bathroom and..." "Dr. Sterling doesn't want anyone talking to Ethan." " I was just..." " They're waiting for you downstairs." " Think he knows he's a suspect?" " He knew before we got here." "Curbow's the real thing." "The lawyer you call when you can't get me." "How'd you do with the kid?" "He has something to say." "The aunt showed up before he got a chance." " We gotta get Ethan alone." " Sterling won't let anyone talk to him." "That's a parental prohibition, not a legal one." "Let me guess." "You have a plan and I'm not gonna like it?" "You're starting to get the hang of this thing." "I've known Mitchell 15 years." "He came here right out of residency." "In five years, he was one of this country's top cardiothoracic surgeons." "The only thing that he loves more than his work is his family." " They had a strong marriage?" " Absolutely." "Does Stephanie have any enemies?" "She's a pediatric oncologist." "I doubt there's any 6-year-olds pissed off about their diagnosis." "That 6-year-old might have an angry parent." "As chief of staff, I'm obligated to protect the privacy of our patients." " As the issue of doctor-patient..." " We're not asking for her files." "All we want is a redacted list of patients and their outcomes." "We could get a subpoena." "Resolve this patient-by-patient." "How does your calendar look for the next month?" "I'll have the list messengered over." "Anything else?" "You told the police that your late-night phone conversations with Stephanie Sterling dealt with hospital expansion?" "Yes, we're both on the planning committee." "We're building a new neonatal ICU wing." "Interesting, because according to the board's report expansion plans were scrapped due to a budget shortfall." " The committee was disbanded." " What the hell you getting at?" "If you were having a relationship, now is the time to tell us." "My private life is my business." "Not when your behavior becomes relevant in a missing-persons case." "I'm done answering any questions until I speak with my lawyer." " Rachel." " Hey, beautiful." "Your dad told me you were moving in." "Pretty exciting." "Well, for me, anyway." "Are you kidding?" "He hasn't stopped talking about it." "He's over the moon that you're here." " Really?" "He never says anything." " That's just your dad." "In 18 months, the only time I've ever seen him emotional was when his humidor broke." " You two all caught up?" " Talking about you behind your back." "As long as you're discussing how brilliant and handsome I am." "Yeah." "When are you gonna let Rachel move in?" "Make an honest woman out of her?" "Honest?" "She stole my clothes." "All this beauty in a confined space here, the glare's killing me." "Okay." " We already have..." " Hey, hey, slow down." "We already have Dr. Sterling's permission to talk to Ethan." "Sorry, without a written authorization, my hands are tied." "That's too bad, because Dr. Sterling's under so much stress we didn't wanna bother him with something trivial like a consent form." "But if it has to be done, he'll understand the intrusion." "It's Principal Koosman with a K, right?" " How long do you need with Ethan?" " Ten minutes tops." "He's at recess." "I'll have one of the aides bring him to you." "Thanks for your cooperation." "We'll be sure to pass it on to his father." " We're both going to hell." " Better parties." "Let's go." "RAINA:" "Hi, Ethan." "Hey, do you remember me?" " You came to my house." " Right." "Hey, sit down." " I'm Raina, this is Madeleine." " Hi." "She's trying to help find your mom too." "Can we ask you a few questions?" "Yeah?" "Do you remember the morning you last saw your mom?" "Yes." "Did you see her again after that?" "No." "But I heard her." "When?" "That night." "I was supposed to be sleeping." " But my mom and dad were yelling." " What were they yelling about?" "I don't know." "What happened next?" "The yelling stopped." "Then my dad came into my room." "I pretended I was asleep because I'm not supposed to be up so late." "Did you hear anything else?" "I heard the garage and a car pulling away." "Then I fell asleep." "What happened when you woke up?" "My dad said my mom didn't come home." "That we had to look for her." "Did you tell your dad what you heard?" "No." " Hey, thanks for talking to us, Ethan." " You're welcome." "That ought to get us a search warrant." "Did you kill your wife, sir?" "As soon as we get back, practice your opening." " You serious?" " You're second chair on this one." " Assuming you can handle it." " Definitely." "You sure we're not indicting too soon?" "Ethan's statement got us the warrant for the blood evidence." "But we're still relying on the testimony of a little kid." "As soon as the boy became a material witness we had to separate him from his father." "COP:" "Let the vehicle through, please." "Think Sterling would hurt his own son?" "I don't know." "Leaving him alone with the witness who could put him away for life that's not a chance I'm willing to take." "On September 7th, Mitchell Sterling confronted his wife, Stephanie over an affair she'd been having." "We don't have Stephanie Sterling's remains because the defendant disposed of her body in a desperate attempt to conceal his crime." "But his behavior in the hours following his wife's disappearance will establish beyond any doubt that Mitchell Sterling slaughtered the mother of his child." "A young boy lost his mother." "A loving mother lost her life." "It's up to you to give them justice." "The only thing beyond doubt is that this is not a murder trial." "Because there is simply no proof that Dr. Stephanie Sterling is dead." "All we have is a missing person." "Blood evidence from a foot wound suffered when Mrs. Sterling stepped on a letter opener 11 months ago." "And wild speculation." "You'll hear from witnesses who saw Stephanie Sterling alive and well mere days before this trial." "But even if you disregard them and assume she was the victim of foul play an assumption the law does not permit you to make without conclusive proof it was not at the hands of her loving husband of 18 years." "A doctor, devoted to saving lives, not taking them." "The prosecution has made a tragic mistake." "Dr. Mitchell Sterling is not a murderer." "He is a husband and father struggling to save his family." "Can someone please tell me how we missed a major injury to Stephanie Sterling's foot?" " I checked every ER in the county..." " Her husband is a heart surgeon." "You don't think he can pop stitches into his wife's foot?" "I rechecked L.A.P.D.'s search inventory of Sterling's house." "No letter opener." "Without a body, the defense can claim anything and we can't disprove it." "What about this parade of witnesses who supposedly just saw her?" "Covered." "Parking lot at Staples last night." "Three a.m. Tuesday at the Sav-On in Sherman Oaks." "Saturday morning at the Santa Monica Pier." "If everybody saw her, then nobody saw her." "I want full statements and contact information." "Good work." "That is how you second-chair." "Speak." "Hey, Jules." "No, you go ahead." "I have dinner plans." " Room service." " Hey, Rachel, come on in." "I just came to drop something off." "Some gazpacho and coq au vin." "And there is enough for two." "So dig in." "Wow, thanks." "What's the big occasion?" "Your dad and I were supposed to have dinner but he had to work late, so rather than getting mad I had a rare domestic-goddess moment." "Thanks." "Yeah, he's..." "No, he's working." "But I'm sure he'll love this when he gets home from work." " Okay, I'll see you later." " Okay, thanks." "Bye." "There'll be a man sitting in a tall chair." "That's the judge." "And there'll be 12 people listening to everything you say." " Okay." " And you're a smart guy, Ethan." "When smart guys testify in court, they tell the truth, right?" " I guess." " Lf you don't understand something you just ask Mr. Stark to repeat it, all right?" "Okay." "Do you remember the day you last saw your mom?" "Yes." "Could you please tell us when that was?" "For breakfast." "She made me blueberry pancakes." "And did you see her again after that?" " No." " Did you hear her again after that?" "Answer her, Ethan." "No, I didn't hear her." "Your mom didn't come home that night after she made you blueberry pancakes?" "No." "You didn't hear your parents fighting later that night when you were in bed?" "I was sleeping." "You don't remember your dad coming in to check on you?" "I told you, I was sleeping." "Do you remember what we talked about, Ethan?" "It's your job to tell the truth." "That's enough." "This is a frightened boy whose mother is missing." "If you don't like his testimony, don't call him as a witness." "Mind waiting outside while we speak to him?" " I'm not going." " We need to speak to him alone." "He's done talking." "Coaching a child in any way, or influencing his testimony constitutes obstruction of justice." "Then arrest me, but we're done here." "Let's go, Ethan." "Ethan is useless as a witness." "How do we get him back?" "Lmpeach him with his earlier statements." "Not enough." "Have the aunt disqualified as guardian." "That motion would never fly." "How do we establish she's unfit?" "If we demonstrate she conspired with Sterling to cover up evidence the judge has to appoint a guardian for the trial." "Good point, tough to prove." "Look, the aunt is definitely the key." "You're right about that." "Especially the phone calls between her and Sterling." "If we can use Yvonne to prove Sterling killed his wife then we don't need Ethan." " Bingo." "Someone tell me what she and the brother were yapping about at 1:30 in the morning." "Hello, 28 years of higher education, four minds, terrible thing to waste." "If Yvonne knows and she's protecting her brother then they weren't talking about finding Stephanie." "Figuring out what to do with the body." "If she's an accessory, we need records." "Thanks, but I'm already on it." "The phone provider keeps throwing up roadblocks." " They're fighting the subpoena." " Trial's started." "Scutwork takes time." "Not everyone has your gift." "Ding-ding." "Neutral corners." "Are you kidding with this?" "Can we assume you looked into other phone calls that Sterling made?" " Or does that take time?" " I spoke to everyone Sterling called." "He seemed agitated, concerned." "In other words, he's right on script." " Guy's good." " We need to be better." "You and Casey go through Yvonne's phone records." "And try not to kill each other." "Martin, Raina, with the kid waffling, we need to shore up motive." "We need proof Bender and Stephanie were having an affair." " Innuendo won't cut it." " Bender lawyered up." "Start thinking outside the box." "That goes for all of you." "One more thing, Casey's in court because he's got the highest Q rating on the team." "In a case where we are persecuting a grieving husband and trying to separate him from his child, we need that." "Court time will be assigned to whomever gives us the best chance to win, period." " I wasn't suggesting..." " The point is there is only room for one ego on this team." "And it is walking out the door." "Oh, hey, kids." " You're still up." " Oh, I'm sorry." "Amber, this is my daughter Julie." "Hi." "So how do you two know each other?" "Amber's up from Palos Verdes." "She helps actors get in shape for movies." "So you're a personal trainer?" " And a certified nutritionist." " Hyphenate." "So you're still gonna come help me with my physics homework, right?" "It's pretty late now." "Maybe we could just hit it first thing in the morning." "The thing is it's a really long chapter and totally complicated." "I'm sure you remember what it was like when you took physics, right, Amber?" "I think maybe I'll take a rain check on that house tour, Sebastian." " Please don't." " I have an early client." "Okay." "Nice work." "What the hell was that all about?" "Rachel came over with food for you tonight." "You told her you were working late, you told me you had a dinner date." "Don't worry, I didn't blow your cover." "Rachel and I have an understanding, first of all." "And since when do I have to clear my personal life with my daughter?" "Lt'd be nice if you gave me a list of who you want me to lie to so I don't screw anything up." "The defense is trying to preclude us from using Ethan's statement to Raina and Madeleine at his school." "Hold that, would you?" "Thanks." "This just keeps getting better and better." "Ethan's family put Mr. Stark's office on notice to have no unsupervised contact." "Should have been made pretrial, should have been noticed." "We should have briefed it." "Because there's a minor involved, I'll ignore the procedural irregularities." " Get to the substance." " The boy is a material witness." "The wishes of the father, who at the time of questioning was a suspect in the killing, are not..." "The only authority for that is Sebastian Stark." "Really?" "Cite me one rule prohibiting the conversation or the method." "Just one." "Hm, that's the first intelligent thing you've said so far." "FENTON:" "There may be no formal rule." "When adults corner a child and interrogate him the statements are the product of coercion and therefore unreliable." "I am precluding use of the boy's statements for any purpose." "Since these were used to obtain the warrant that yielded Stephanie's blood and that was the basis for Sterling's indictment the defense moves for a dismissal." " Nice try." " Thank you." "You delayed a suppression motion, and now you're stuck with a trial." "That is assuming that the prosecution is still prepared to move forward?" "Raring to go." "That went well." "We just got a message from the medical examiner's office." "Hopefully my slab is waiting." "Hikers found her this afternoon in a shallow grave in the Angeles Forest." "Dental records ID'd her as Stephanie Sterling." "Decomposition places the time of death close to when she disappeared." " Cause of death?" " Fractured third and fourth vertebrae." "Severed her spinal cord." "Pretty instantaneous." "That's it?" "A broken neck?" "What about the cuts, the gashes?" "Sucking wounds?" " No such indication." " Her blood was all over the house." "She had a healed three-inch laceration on her right foot." "Probably about a year old." "Those things bleed like hell." " Problem?" " Well, let me see." "I'm mid-trial with a murder theory contradicted by the victim's body." "And I just lost my key witness." "Sound like a problem to you?" " I get the Times delivered." " I assume you've read the editorial calling the prosecution hasty and ill-considered." "Nobody in L.A. Reads anything but the Calendar section." " Do we have the wrong guy?" " Read my lips:" " No." " Stephanie Sterling's body..." "I don't have to show how she was killed to get a conviction." "You advanced a false theory to the jury." "They're not gonna believe you from now on." "Let me guess." "You wanna cut and run?" "Given the choice between minor humiliation..." "Mitchell Sterling killed his wife." "I can win this." "I know what I'm doing." "Present evidence to the contrary notwithstanding." "Is there anything you need?" " A jury with a short memory." " Anything off the phone records?" "Telephone provider finally released them." "We're going through them." " Told Stark we were moving fast." " He's protecting the boy." "If we lose, the boy will live with the man who killed his mother." "That's why we can't lose." "Hospital chief of staff's credit-card statements." "He's been renting a room at a hotel called the Sunset Siesta twice a week for the past five months." "Isn't that where all the players take their conquests?" "I'll check the Players ' Handbook and get back to you." " We're gonna bring the manager in." " Yeah." " Do we have a problem?" " Oh, pretty and sensitive." "Yum." " Have you ever seen Dr. Bender?" " I'm afraid I don't recognize him." "Bender's been a guest 36 times since April." "We have a lot of guests." "I know you're in the discretion business, but a woman is dead." "And I promise you won't have to testify." " I should really be getting..." " Okay, Alex, here's the deal." "You talk to me now or your next guest will be the Vice squad." "First time they spot a known escort, I figure 30 seconds tops you're looking at a pimping rap for the 10 percent you're taking off the top." " You wanna take another peek?" " Fine." " He's a regular." "Can I go?" " Slow down." "Did he ever come in with this woman?" "Dr. Stephanie Sterling?" " No." " We're talking large Vice cops, Alex." " Look again." " Trust me, she's not his type." "So who is his type?" "Him." " We may have something." " Cyanide pills?" "4:56 on the morning Stephanie went missing, there's a call to Yvonne from a payphone near where Stephanie's SUV was found." "Explains how Sterling got home after he dumped his wife's body." " It makes Yvonne an accessory." " All of which we can prove, right?" "Not yet." "Yvonne has voice mail through her service plan." "Phone company's database stores deleted messages for 90 days." "We downloaded the message from her brother." " Outstanding." " Unfortunately, it's just dead air." "You're killing me." "And when you had the voice-mail audio enhanced?" " Hello?" "Is this thing on?" " I was supposed to handle that." " My bad, I'm on it." " So let's review." "Our motive is shot because Bender isn't a playboy Bender plays with boys." "The coroner's report tanks our theory that Sterling killed his wife in a bloody assault." "I need to start drinking during the day." ""My bad"? "I'm on it"?" "What the hell is that?" "I fell on my sword for you." "The least you could say is thanks." "Thanks?" "You flirt with me when no one's looking." "You stab me in the back till the boss calls you on it." "Then you pretend to step up to get back into his good graces." "You're a total freak." "So does that mean we're not grabbing a drink later?" " No bad news when I'm eating." " An alert from Sterling's bank." "He just withdrew a million dollars from an IRA." "Guy that high-profile?" "Grabbed before he hits the 405." "He's not going anywhere." "He's used the money to set up a living trust for his son." " What else?" " We cross-checked the names on the Post-it in Stephanie's pocket with a list of suspects the L.A.P.D. Eliminated." " We got a hit." " Waiting for a drum roll?" "Alyssa Ferguson, her husband died on Sterling's operating table last May." "She threatened them till they took out a restraining order." " But she alibied out." " Right." "But Ferguson led us to Mitchell's patient file." "Those last three names on the Post-it all died within the last 22 months in Sterling's OR." " Where are the hospital records?" " Signed out." "Take a wild guess." "Hospital Chief of Staff Charlie Bender." "That's why he's the boss." "That's why I'm the boss." "Subpoena?" "Served as we speak." "Bender doesn't cough up those files, he's going to jail." "I'm gonna say this once." "If I am ever quoted, I will deny it." "Damn good work." " BP's 110 over 70, pulse 72." " More suction, please." " Doctor, do you need a minute?" " What I need is more light." " How many times do I have...?" " Bingo." "Patient is Wes Ferguson." "Double bypass, didn't make it." " What is this, show-and-tell?" " A film festival." "We have three more videos." "Same deal." "Sterling looks confused, complains about the light." " His patient goes toes-up." " What does...?" "The names of the four patients were found on Stephanie's body." "Their files were in your client's possession." " What are the odds?" " Long shot." " My client is chief of staff." "He reads..." " Enough." "I'm up to my eyeballs in your client's equine excrement." "Here's a question, Chuck." "Do you enjoy practicing medicine?" "If you don't tell me everything you know about Stephanie Sterling's death the state medical board is gonna have a little film festival all their own." " We want full immunity." " Talk." "A few months ago, Stephanie came into my office." "She told me that Mitchell has macular degeneration." " Wait a minute." "Sterling's going blind?" " Yes." "Stephanie pressured him to stop operating, but he was in denial." " She asked me to intervene." " And did you?" "It was a complicated situation." "You knew he was going blind, but still let him?" "I was trying to protect the hospital, and a doctor who saves lives." "And your own skin." "You knew what would happen if it came out that you let a blind surgeon operate." " Did Sterling kill his wife?" " I honestly don't know." "But the day Stephanie disappeared, she threatened to go to the board unless I revoked Mitchell's surgical privileges." "I found Mitchell later, told him he was done as a surgeon." " Did you tell him why?" " Yes." "Though I didn't tell him how I found out." "You're gonna testify to this, chapter and verse." "And if you ever wonder why people hate doctors take a look in the mirror." " I don't hear anything, Lewis." " Exactly." "Now, here's the voice mail enhanced." "What the hell is that?" "The only significant ambient sound on the voice message." "I isolated the sound-wave pattern, modulated the frequency..." "RAINA:" "Lewis, English." " Bubbles." " Bubbles?" "Bubbles." "Ethan has a huge fish tank in his room." "According to Dr. Sterling's statement to the cops he called his sister the first time from the kitchen phone." "But the call came from Ethan's room." "How do we know Sterling didn't place the call?" "Because Sterling said that he left Yvonne a message." "But there was no message." "Sterling lied." "And the only reason for him to lie is to cover for his son's call." " So why was Ethan calling his aunt?" " He hears his parents fighting." "He gets scared, calls his aunt, hangs up." "Aunt gets home, hears the blank message checks caller ID, calls Sterling, and the cover-up's on." "What man uses his son to cover up his wife's murder?" " We know what kind of man." " Maybe we don't." "Well, let's see." "He kills his wife to save his career." "He dumps her in the woods and gets his son to lie for him." " What don't you get?" " Listen, Miss Sunshine." "In case you haven't noticed, we don't have a strategy." "We were wrong on cause of death, we were wrong on the affair." "We don't get another strike." "Bender gives us motive, we just need a witness." "Squeeze the aunt." " She'll never flip on her brother." " Forget the aunt." "The boy." " You wanna go after Ethan?" " I wanna win." " Judge won't let us touch him." " Hold on." "Ethan's statement at the school was excluded as unreliable." "The voice-mail message proves he was awake and called his aunt." "I want an emergency motion to use Ethan's out-of-court statements on the judge's desk." "You'll put a child who lost his mother on the stand and then tear him apart?" " That's exactly what I'm gonna do." "CASEY:" "This thing could backfire bigtime." "We grill Ethan, we alienate the jury." "Even if he gives us what we want, sympathy could swing to Sterling." " We may not recover." " You got a better idea?" "I'm all ears." "Thank you." "Ready for your close-up?" "Good morning." "Good morning." "The witness has been sworn in chambers." "You may proceed, Mr. Stark." "Ethan, my name is Mr. Stark." " We've met, haven't we?" " Yes." "You see these two ladies sitting here?" "Raina Troy and Madeleine Poe work with me." "They came to your school to speak with you, didn't they?" " Uh-huh." "And they asked you when you last saw your mom." "Objection, hearsay." "Overruled." "You may answer, Ethan." " Yes." " What did you tell them?" "I saw her in the morning." "Then they asked you if she came back home later that night, right?" " Yes." " And what did you tell them?" "I don't know." "Didn't you tell them that she did come back later that night?" "I can't remember." "Didn't you tell Madeleine and Raina a different story in my office just a few days ago?" "I don't know." "Do you love your dad?" " Yes." " Why?" "Because he's my dad." "And if he asked you to do something you'd do it, right?" " Yes." "You'd do anything your dad asked you, probably, right?" "Yes." " Would you lie for him?" " Objection." "FENTON:" "Overruled." "The question is:" "Would you lie for your dad?" "I know this is tough, Ethan, and I don't think it's very fair." "But I need you to answer the question, son." "Would the court please direct the witness to answer?" "Stop." "Leave him alone." "I'll tell you what you wanna know." "Before I say anything, I'd like a few minutes with my son." "Give a full statement first." "Then you see Ethan." "Your wife told Dr. Bender about your medical condition." "Bender suspended you." "And that brings us to the fateful night." "Stephanie was at the lab." "She was working late." "When she came home, we started arguing." "About her going behind your back?" "I felt betrayed." "Being a surgeon was my life." "I knew I could still operate, save people." "I thought of losing all of that." " What happened next?" " Things escalated." "Stephanie said that I was being selfish." "Putting people at risk." "She called me a..." "Keep going, Dr. Sterling." "She called me a murderer." "I never raised a hand to her before but I slapped her." "She was standing right next to the stairs and she fell backward." "There was nothing I could do." " It was an accident?" " Yes." "I would never harm the mother of my child." "I loved Stephanie with all my heart." "I would have died for her." "Then why all this?" "Why the lies?" "Why make your son a part of it?" "I did it for my son." "He'd already lost one parent." "I couldn't let him lose the other." "Justice was done." "DDA Casey Woodland will answer all further questions." "Thank you." "Thank you so much." "Thank you, thank you, thank you." "Dr. Sterling was a..." "Four to eight?" "After all that, you let the guy plead to manslaughter and you sign off on four to eight?" " "Nice job, Sebastian." "You were right, Sebastian." "I'd like to bear your love child."" "I never thought you'd use the rope to throw the guy a lifeline." "Well, you pay me to win, I won." "Sterling's going to jail." " You were wrong about this guy." " I said he did it." "He did it." "He wasn't exactly the cold-blooded killer you thought he was." "Which is why you put the boy on the stand." "You knew Sterling would do the right thing." "The guy put a million bucks in trust for his kid." "I thought it was a good bet." "RAINA:" "It's okay." "You'll see." "And what if he hadn't stopped you?" "Would you still have destroyed Ethan?" "Wait, hold it a second." "May I?" "Thank you." "STERLING:" "You doing okay?" "Come on, give your daddy a hug." "I love you very much, Ethan." "We shouldn't be doing this." "This is bad." "I don't even like you." "I don't like you either." "Saw you on TV." " Yeah, no winners in that one." " Except you." "Wanna grab a bite at Fabenni?" "Maurizio owes me one." "I already ate." "Well, probably better." "Pasta goes right to my butt." "Listen." " I've been living alone a long time." " You don't owe me an explanation." "You're right, I don't." "So this one's on the house." "Rachel's great." "I care about her very much." "But I can't give her what she wants." " Why not?" " I tried with your mom." "The word "fiasco" leaps to mind." "So for the rest of your life, you're never gonna commit to another woman?" "Actually, I already have."