Original subtitles

- In the criminal justice system,

sexually based offenses

are considered especially heinous.

In New York City, the dedicated detectives

who investigate these vicious felonies

are members of an elite squad

known as the Special Victims Unit.

These are their stories.

[dramatic music]

- You took my wife from me.

- Elliot.

- I wrote this. Just read it.

Your boss ordered a hit, killing my wife.

- I want to talk. I need protection.

- What is this?

- It's just precautionary, Izak.

- Liv, you mean the world to me.

I am not gonna allow these emotions

to derail me from my mission.

- Angela Wheatley is luck to be alive.

Does your doctor think you'll be well enough to testify?

- Ah! - Look what I found.

- Olivia Benson.

Elliot, now I understand. She's a knockout.

- Get him out of here.

Hey.

- Thanks for coming, Olivia.

- How you all doing? - We're okay.

- And--and I'm really getting through things.

- Good. Ah, you shaved.

It's nice to see your face. - It was time.

- Happy belated birthday, Mom.

We love you. We miss you.

Every single day.

[sentimental music]

♪

- Italian for lunch?

Kathy's favorite. - Sounds perfect.

- Actually, Dad, I was gonna go meet Sara.

Is that okay?

- You got a date now?

- She's not a date. She's my study partner.

- All right, well, check in, text.

- Okay.

- Good. Show him you trust him.

- Trust, but verify.

I got a tracking app on his cell.

- I can't hear this. - And security cameras at home.

- We'll meet you guys.

- God, Eli's growing up fast.

- Last nine months have been a blur.

Until Wheatley goes to trial, there's no closure.

- Carisi said that Wheatley's out of postponements.

The clock is ticking.

- Make it tick faster.

[suspenseful music]

- Mr. Baptiste, Mr. Carisi, I'm denying People's motion

for this evidence to be admitted at trial.

- Your Honor, Izak Bekher was Richard Wheatley's

right-hand man, his bodyguard, his head of security,

the architect of the bomb that killed Kathy Stabler.

His taped confession is crucial to the state's case.

- And inadmissible as hearsay,

as my predecessor admonished you three months ago,

since Mr. Bekher isn't available

for cross-examination.

- Mr. Bekher can't make himself available

because he's presumed dead,

most likely at the hand of Richard Wheatley.

- The larger point remains, the state has not proved

that my client, by "violence, threats, or chicanery,"

caused Bekher to be unavailable.

- I'm agreeing with you, Counselor.

Take yes for an answer.

Motion denied. - In that case,

we move to set an immediate trial date.

- Actually, that won't be possible.

- Excuse me? - I need time

to find new representation.

I'm firing my lawyer. - What?

- Sorry, Lisa, you're fine for motions,

but you're not cut out for trial.

My right as a defendant, if I understand that correctly?

- Yes, that of course, is your right, Mr. Wheatley.

You have one week.

♪

- The long-anticipated trial of Richard Wheatley

has been delayed once again.

Wheatley has changed lawyers for the fourth time

since he's been accused of the contract killing

of Kathy Stabler--

- How'd that go? - Not good.

- Change of lawyers. We should've seen that coming.

- And somehow they get Judge Ellery?

With what we had on that guy, how is he still on the bench?

- You have to ask? - Paranoia won't help us.

- Angela Wheatley, Wheatley's ex-wife,

is expected to take the stand,

after turning state's evidence and implicating--

- We'll need your help prepping witnesses.

- Wheatley's not going down easy.

- This guy doesn't want to spend one more minute

of his life in jail.

- I hope to work with you, Mr. Wheatley.

- We'll be in touch. - All right.

- Nice ass for Yale Law, but no.

- Just one more, Mr. Wheatley.

- Send him in.

Born in South Bronx, full scholarship to Harvard.

Impressive. - And yet I'm here.

- I've done well by hiring self-made men.

They know how to hustle, and they work twice as hard.

The only thing that gets in their way,

they always have a chip.

What's yours?

- I don't suffer fools,

especially as clients.

Why don't you tell me your side?

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- Angela, let me help you. - No.

I need to do this myself.

- Miss Wheatley, nice to see you again.

- I'm sorry. Uh, we've met?

- ADA Carisi.

I'm prosecuting your ex-husband.

- Yes. Of course.

[sighs] You wanted to prep?

- Yeah.

- I don't need protective custody.

Nobody knows I'm gonna testify.

- We're gonna have to inform the defense before trial.

- Right, you're gonna have to tell my dad.

- Well, if that's a problem, you need to say something now.

- After what he did to my grandfather,

my mother,

he's dead to me.

[tense music]

- You've accepted my offer?

- Whoever said crime doesn't pay wasn't a lawyer.

- So you see that I'm innocent?

I'm being framed for a crime I didn't commit.

- I see that there's ample opportunity

for reasonable doubt, but we got a lot of work to do.

- What do you want to know?

- Anything you told Izak, Angela, or Richie.

Anything they told you.

- Rafael Barba. You know him, right?

- I do. - He's representing Wheatley.

He good?

- Very. - Hey, Liv.

Barba's here, you want me to tell him to wait?

- No. Counselor.

- Rafael Barba. - Elliot Stabler.

- Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. - Are you?

Then why are you defending the man who killed my wife?

Liv, I'll see you later.

♪

- Why are you doing this? - Because it's wrong.

If the DA's office can bring a case like this

against someone as wealthy as Wheatley,

then that gives them license

to railroad any defendant at any time.

- Richard Wheatley is guilty. - Then let the state prove it.

That's how this works. Think about it.

30 RICO charges that they let slide.

30, but they cherry-picked this one?

Why? Because one PP pressured them?

- I get that that's how you're justifying this to yourself,

but I am asking you not to take this case.

- Be careful what you wish for.

I step aside, whatever shark Wheatley hires

will put not just the NYPD and Stabler on trial,

but you--you!

Not just your partnership with Stabler,

but your relationship.

He should never have been allowed

anywhere near this investigation, Liv.

They'll eviscerate you on the stand.

Maybe end your career. - So which is it?

Are you protecting me?

Or is this your defense attorney outrage?

Or is this about Stabler? - I don't know Stabler.

Maybe it's the first two out of three.

I know you're sure that Wheatley is guilty.

- I am. - That does not give the NYPD

the right to frame him.

- Rafa.

♪

- Day one of the long-awaited trial of Richard Wheatley

for the contract killing of an NYPD detective's wife.

- Wheatley had been looking at RICO charges of racketeering,

money laundering, and drug trafficking.

- But those charges were dismissed as a result

of his cooperation with federal authorities.

- Carisi, get any sleep?

- Was up all night. What about you guys?

- Same. - I slept like a baby.

- Hey, Liv, heads up, Baptiste is gonna take your direct.

We'll both protect on Barba's crossing.

- I'm ready. - All right.

I'll see you inside.

- Dominick, you look tired.

- Not me. I slept like a baby.

- Good. You'll need it.

[suspenseful music]

♪

- I arrived shortly after the bomb went off.

Um, Kathy Stabler was badly injured

and being loaded into the ambulance.

- Captain Benson, you're the head of SVU.

Why were you called to the scene of a car bomb?

- Kathy was the wife of my former partner,

Detective Elliot Stabler, so he requested me.

- So you knew the victim?

- I did, but I hadn't seen her or Detective Stabler

in over a decade.

- What happened next, Captain?

- Detective Stabler rode with Kathy to the hospital.

I met them there.

- And as the jury has heard,

she died from a ruptured spleen a few days later.

- A direct result of the injuries that she sustained.

- And SVU was part

of the initial investigation-- why?

- There was a lot happening that night--

protests in the neighborhood,

two other police vehicles were hit with Molotov cocktails.

It was a all-hands-on-deck situation.

- Was this car bombing in any way related

to those other incidents?

- No--we apprehended a suspect

for those other attacks, but ruled him out

for the car bomb that killed Kathy Stabler.

- Thank you.

- Captain Benson, good to see you.

As you just testified, the night of the bombing,

you apprehended another suspect, not my client,

but a Mr. Jacob Peters.

- Peters was arrested and charged

with the fire-bombings of two police vans

three blocks away.

- And didn't Mr. Peters also take credit

for bombing the Stabler vehicle?

- He did, but...

we found that the claims were not credible.

- By "we," you mean you and Detective Stabler,

the victim's husband.

You allowed him to interrogate a suspect.

- Detective Stabler was under my direct supervision,

and I trusted his instinct.

- At any point, were you concerned about

Detective Stabler losing his temper?

- No, my take was that his anger was for show.

- Really?

I'm not sure I saw it that way.

Defense Exhibit A.

- Sorry for your loss,

but there's a war going on,

and your wife bleeding out on the sidewalk,

she's just another casualty.

- Detective--

- Were you concerned about what might happen next?

Is that why you got between him and the suspect?

- The situation was under control.

- Thanks to you.

In your long partnership with Detective Stabler,

how many times has he received command disciplines

and IAB reviews for crossing the line with a suspect?

- It was all over ten years ago.

- You were aware of his history.

In hindsight, wouldn't it have been better for you

and the NYPD to follow protocol

and recuse him from this investigation?

- It was with Detective Stabler's help

that we were able to arrest Richard Wheatley.

- Does the NYPD condone vigilantism,

or only if the vigilante is a member of the NYPD?

Withdrawn.

[tense music]

♪

Nothing further.

- Sergeant Bell, how long was your task force

monitoring the actions of Mr. Wheatley's

criminal organization?

- For over a year.

We gathered surveillance footage, audio recordings.

- So what in your investigation

led you to suspect that Richard Wheatley

was involved in Kathy Stabler's murder?

- After we arrested

Mr. Wheatley's head of security, Izak Bekher,

a subpoena for his financials turned up

a credit card purchase of a 4-inch swivel vise.

- Did you ever find that device?

- Yes, in his storage space.

The Arson and Explosion Squad linked it

to the bomb that killed Kathy Stabler.

- Thank you, Sergeant.

- Sergeant Bell, Izak Bekher was ex-Mossad agent, correct?

- Yes. - Does it strain credulity

that an ex-Mossad agent with a multiple encryption

security system would purchase a bombmaking device

with his own credit card and then after making the bomb,

keep the incriminating device in his own storage unit?

- That's what we found.

- Who exactly found the credit card purchase,

was it a detective in your unit, Jet Slootmaekers?

- Yes.

She's a highly skilled cybersecurity expert.

- Did your cybersecurity expert find any connection

between my client and Izak Bekher's alleged bombmaking?

- Mr. Wheatley is a sophisticated criminal

who knows how to evade detection.

- Just like his head of security.

Let me ask you this, which is more likely,

that an ex-Mossad agent sloppily left

a trail of evidence for the police to find,

or that the credit card purchase

and the device were planted by someone in the NYPD

with a vendetta against Richard Wheatley?

- That's not what happened.

- Sergeant Bell, you were with Detective Stabler

when he arrested Izak Bekher.

Considering that Mr. Bekher's face

was smashed into a fence and his shoulders dislocated,

would you say that Detective Stabler used excessive force?

- We had reason to believe Mr. Bekher was armed,

so I would say no.

- But he was not armed, was he?

Oh, by the way, isn't your wife's family

currently suing the NYPD

for use of excessive force against her nephew?

- Objection. Relevance? - Mr. Barba?

- Uh, I'm not sure there is any, Your Honor.

I just appreciate the irony.

♪

- [whispering indistinctly]

Captain.

Thank you for meeting with me.

Do you have to be here?

- Technically, you shouldn't be meeting with someone

who's testified against you.

Yeah, I have to be here.

- And I don't know why I'm here.

And I'm not gonna be here long, so cut to the chase.

- I heard about your crash.

And I wanted to tell you in person,

I can't imagine how frightening that must have been.

And to give you my word, I had absolutely nothing to do

with your car being run off the road.

- Your word?

Like your word that you had nothing to do

with Kathy Stabler's death?

- The jury's not even out yet.

I do somehow wish we had met under different circumstances.

- I don't.

But if you have something that you want to confess to me...

I'll see you in court.

- By the way, before you go,

the love of my life, Angela, takes the stand tomorrow.

You might want to make sure

Stabler's children aren't there.

They probably don't want to hear what she has to say.

And I guess neither do you.

- Hey. - Hey.

- I heard Barba was tough on you.

- I'll live.

Angela Wheatley's testimony is up next.

Any reason I shouldn't be there?

- Why would you ask me that?

- I was warned.

- By who?

- Whatever happened between you and Angela, Wheatley knows.

Which means Barba knows, and they're gonna use it.

- Wheatley doesn't know anything.

He's just stirring up Barba, and Barba's stirring you up.

- You're not answering the question.

- That's none of your business or the court's.

The question is...

why are you really asking?

[tense music]

- I wish I could trust you, Elliot.

- Liv, what does that mean?

- [sighs]

I know that you are carving your way

through a mountain of grief,

and I have tried to be here for you.

But this is a one-way street, Elliot.

You have not asked me one question

about what has happened to me since you left.

You show up at my house in the middle of the night

when my son is there asleep.

That was hard for me--

scary.

And this letter.

Why did you give me that letter?

A letter that you didn't even write.

What was that about?

- I'm not sure I know.

I guess I didn't know how to begin.

- Well, that makes two of us.

♪

- Last May, I was poisoned with a nerve agent

that still affects my cognitive skills

and neurological functioning.

- Have you been able to return to your job

as a math professor at Columbia?

- Not yet.

But my memory is clear,

and I am ready to testify today.

- In your statement to the police, you said

the defendant told you that Detective Stabler

"gunned down" your son. - Yes.

I now know that Richard was gaslighting me.

My husband-- ex-husband killed my son.

- Objection. - Sustained.

Jury must disregard.

Mr. Wheatley is not charged in that crime.

- After the defendant gaslit you,

what did he say next?

- He asked if I wanted the detective to die.

I said no.

I wanted him to suffer like I was suffering.

When I heard about the car bombing, I--

I felt sick.

- Thank you.

- How you doing, Miss Wheatley?

I know this is difficult.

You need a-- a break, some water?

- I'm fine, thank you.

- Remember when you first met Detective Stabler?

At that time, did you believe that he'd killed your son?

- Yes.

- You must have been angry at him.

- I was.

- But at some point, those feelings changed to--

you felt sympathy for him?

- Well, we-- we shared a loss.

- The loss you had engineered?

Forgive me. I'll rephrase.

At what point did you come to the conclusion

that Detective Stabler had not killed your son?

- We grew close.

I realized he wasn't capable.

- Close, how close?

- We were--

I've heard it called "grief partners."

- So there was nothing between you two, romantically?

- We both had feelings for each other.

- Those feelings become physical?

You kissed Detective Stabler, correct?

- Objection. Relevance?

- Getting there, Your Honor. - I'll allow.

Witness may answer.

[tense music]

- We kissed once.

But he left before anything could go further.

- Weren't you hoping that things would go further?

Hadn't you agreed to a romantic dinner

with him that same night?

- We wanted to get to know each other better.

- Yes, but that dinner never happened

because Bekher told Stabler

that you had ordered the hit on his wife?

- But I didn't.

- But Stabler believed him, and arrested you--

- Yes, but-- - Who interrogated you

after your arrest?

- I--

I asked for Elliot 'cause I wanted to tell him the truth.

- The truth or you wanted to blame Kathy Stabler's murder

on your ex-husband so that the man that you were

having romantic feelings for wouldn't know

that you had helped arrange his wife's murder?

- That's not how it happened.

That's--I--I can't think.

- You didn't have feelings for him?

You weren't in love with him?

You are under oath, Professor Wheatley.

♪

- Yes.

I was in love with him.

- Are you still in love with him?

- Objection. - Sustained.

- I wish I wasn't.

I didn't ask for any of that to happen.

- No.

All you asked for was for Elliot Stabler to suffer.

Withdrawn.

♪

- The hell kind of soap opera are you running?

Asking my ex-wife if she's still in love with him!

- I got the jury to see

that your co-conspirator has a motive to lie.

- There's got to be a dozen other ways to do that

without making me look like his goddamn cuck!

- Maybe, but as your reaction proves, this one resonated.

I need a win. Your son's testifying next.

It's gonna be damning.

- Richie? [chuckles]

I wouldn't worry about him.

The kid's wet the bed his whole life.

- Richie, you're currently

awaiting trial on murder charges.

Did the state offer you any consideration

for your testimony?

- No, they did not. - Can you tell the jury

why you're testifying against your own father?

- Because he lied to me, our family.

Look, he caused the deaths of my grandfather,

my half-brother, and Gina.

- Objection. - Sustained.

- You've always blamed everyone else, Richie.

Isn't it time you grow up?

- Mr. Wheatley, do not address the witness.

- You don't want to do this, son.

- Mr. Wheatley, that is enough.

Mr. Barba, please control your client.

Mr. Carisi, the objection is sustained.

- Of course, Your Honor. I'll get right to the point.

Richie--

hey, Richie, you with us? - Uh, yeah.

- Tell the jury what you overheard your father say

to Izak Bekher.

- Uh, yeah. He--

- Richie, do you-- do you need a moment?

- No. No, I'm good.

I, um--

I don't recall what I heard.

[people murmuring]

- What?

♪

Richie, I have here your statement to the DA's office

saying that you overheard your father, Richard Wheatley,

order Izak Bekher to arrange the murder of Kathy Stabler.

- I don't recall that. - You're under oath, Richie.

- I lied.

I--I was angry with-- with my father

and blamed him, like he said.

I don't recall hearing anything.

I didn't hear anything.

[people chattering]

- Order! Order!

♪

- What the hell just happened?

- The facility swears that Richie was under guard,

that there was no breach in security.

- They're lying. Somebody got to him.

- No, not somebody-- Wheatley.

- Either way, it put us in a hole.

The good news is, you're up next, Detective.

Barba's whole defense is that you are out of control.

I need you calm and collected up there.

- Okay, no problem.

- Counselor, there something on your mind?

- Right now, there is no reason

for Richard Wheatley to take the stand.

- He got in Richie's head or worse.

- Don't let him get into yours. You know this guy.

Find a way to get into his.

Detective, this is painful, but can you tell the jury

what happened the night your rental car was bombed?

- We were late to an event.

I took a call, which I later found out was spoofed.

I gave Kathy the keys. She went to get the car.

There was an explosion.

- But she survived the blast? - She did.

I rode with her to Mercy Hospital.

She regained consciousness. I told her I loved her.

But she died from her injuries

on the operating table a few days later.

- Who was in charge of the investigation into her death?

- NYPD Intelligence Unit.

- And how did you become involved?

- I'd been investigating Manfredi Sinatra,

Richard Wheatley's father,

through my work with the NYPD liaison office in Rome.

I subsequently raided one of his Brooklyn warehouses

that Richard Wheatley operated.

- What did you find there?

- A copy of my international police ID.

I realized right then I was being tracked.

- And what led you to suspect

that Richard Wheatley was involved?

- Richard Wheatley was the boss.

And in my experience, the order to green-light

a hit on a police officer, let alone his wife,

always comes from the top.

- Did you confront Wheatley? - He confronted me.

He told me to leave his ex-wife alone,

that neither of our women should be collateral damage.

To which I said, "Like my wife?"

- And how did he respond?

- He claimed he was sorry for my loss.

He did not deny responsibility for that loss.

- Thank you, Detective.

- Detective, let me say sincerely

how sorry I am for your loss.

My task here today is to prove

to this jury that there is no proof

that my client was in any way responsible for that loss.

- I know Wheatley killed my wife.

- I know that you believe that today,

but didn't you initially believe

that Izak Bekher was responsible?

- As I said earlier, the order comes from the top.

Izak Bekher was only acting on his orders.

- Didn't Bekher tell you that actually he was acting

on Angela Wheatley's orders?

- He did try to blame her, yes.

- You subsequently arrested her,

so you must've believed that too?

- I believed she had some involvement,

but I quickly realized that Wheatley had manipulated her.

- Yeah, she's testified to that,

but what's not clear is whether she turned

on her ex-husband to get herself a better deal

or to keep herself in your good graces--or both.

- Objection. Is there a question here?

- Sustained. Move it along, Mr. Barba.

And, Detective Stabler,

only answer the questions you're asked.

- Detective Stabler, it seems to me like you're lurching

from one suspect to another

in a frantic attempt to someone to accuse.

- I am neither lurching nor frantic.

- How often do you think about this case?

Every week, every month?

- Every minute of every day.

- You're being treated for PTSD?

- I was. I am no longer.

- But you are familiar with the acronym HALT?

Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired?

- I am. - What about your family?

I'm sure this has been stressful for them.

- Leave my family out of this. - Just like you did

for the last five months going undercover?

- Objection. - Sustained.

Mr. Barba?

- I'm trying to ask the detective

if his PTSD, his trauma,

family problems, his work issues,

including watching a member of his unit

get shot by his sergeant--

- If you're speaking about Detective Morales,

his dying confession was that he was paid $200,000

by Richard Wheatley

to kill Angela Wheatley! - Your Honor.

- Detective Stabler, you've been warned.

Just answer the questions you're asked.

Jury will disregard. - Since you opened the door,

is there anything you don't blame my client for?

- He is to blame. He had Izak Bekher killed.

He killed his own father. He had my wife killed.

- Move to strike, Your Honor!

- Jury will disregard. Watch yourself--

- He had someone run my former partner off the road.

- Your Honor, will you stop him or shall we wait for him

to accuse my client of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby?

- Detective Stabler, one more word,

I'm holding you in contempt.

- How much is Wheatley paying you, Judge?

- That's it. Detective Stabler,

I'm holding you in contempt.

Officers.

[people chattering]

[tense music]

♪

- Thanks. I owe you.

[toilet flushes]

- Detective.

Well, isn't this awkward?

That was some performance back there.

Another minute, you'd have been frothing at the mouth.

- So you were listening, huh? - Everyone was.

I was surprised to see Olivia in the gallery.

She didn't hear enough after Angela's testimony?

You must have had some mansplaining to do.

- Well, Olivia knows a lot more about what went on

between me and Angela than the jury does.

She's good like that.

- Poor Ange.

She's a shell of her former herself.

Hasn't been the same since her son died.

- That's not my experience with Angela.

Seems as if grief was a powerful aphrodisiac.

- [chuckles]

- She was playing you. - Yes, she was--

over and over.

- [chuckles] Look at you,

all puffed out with your Bayside High bravura.

When this is over, she'll be right by my side.

- Yeah, maybe so, but trust me,

she'll be thinking of me.

- Let's go, fellas.

Court's back.

♪

- Mr. Barba?

- Since the state has failed to make their case,

the defense at this time rests, Your Honor.

- Actually, I'd like to say a few words.

- No, you wouldn't. Your Honor--

- If Mr. Wheatley is inclined to take the stand,

we have no objection, Your Honor.

- I appreciate that, Counselor.

Your Honor, I need a moment with my client.

- I don't need a moment. I'd like to testify.

That's my constitutional right.

If my lawyer won't go along with that,

I'd like to request a change in representation.

[tense music]

♪

- Mr. Barba?

- Mr. Wheatley is the boss.

His call.

Mr. Wheatley,

can you tell the jury why we ended up here?

- I ask myself that question every day.

My sense is Detective Stabler experienced a terrible tragedy,

and the NYPD, where the blue line is still quite thick,

allowed him to run his own rogue investigation

during which he somehow fixated on implicating me

for a crime I did not commit.

- Why you? - My guess,

he was in New York to testify

against some gentlemen from Puglia.

He conflated that investigation with the death of his wife.

As the jury has seen, once that man gets something in his head,

he's like a--he's like a junkyard dog with a bone.

It's probably served him well as a detective.

He'll grind his teeth to the nubs,

chewing through that bone, and then swallow the shards.

- Go on. - I say that empathically.

I too have suffered tremendous loss.

My father, my adopted son.

My ex-wife poisoned.

My s-- my son rotting in a jail cell.

My whole family torn apart.

Elliot and I have that in common.

- Thank you, Mr. Wheatley.

- To be fair to Detective Stabler,

I am an obvious target.

My father, may he rest in peace, was a career criminal.

But I'm a business man, not a murderer.

- Just to be clear, you had nothing

to do with the murder of Kathy Stabler?

- Not at all.

Nor did my ex-wife.

- Your ex-wife? - Angela Wheatley.

It has been suggested that she conspired with Izak Bekher

to have Kathy Stabler killed.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

- So what is the truth?

- Despite the prosecution having pressured her

into testifying against me,

by no stretch of the imagination does that mean

that either of us set in motion a contract killing.

That's ridiculous. - So then who did?

- Izak Bekher,

of his own accord.

When I found out about it, I confronted him.

I threatened to report him.

As a man with multiple passports

to multiple countries, he just

slipped into the wind.

- That, uh-- that seems convenient,

implicating the one person who can't be called to testify?

- Occam's razor.

Simple truths often seem convenient.

- Aren't you the boss, though?

I mean, how could an employee unilaterally

murder Kathy Stabler without your knowledge?

- It was his job to provide security for me,

not my job to monitor his every waking moment.

In hindsight, I am guilty

of trusting the wrong man.

- And making sure that guy's never seen or heard from again,

which seems to be the fate of Mr. Bekher.

- Objection. - Withdrawn.

Just to recap, all the witnesses

to the crimes that you may have ordered

are now either dead or incapacitated,

and yet you are not responsible for any of those attacks?

[laughs] Oh, Mr. Wheatley,

you--you gotta be the unluckiest guy in the world.

Or maybe you're the luckiest. Withdrawn.

Let's start over.

At the time of Rafiq's death,

wasn't he working as a drug dealer?

- I know it's convenient to depict all young, Black men

as drug dealers,

but Rafiq was also a poet.

- Yeah, he was a poet,

making his living selling a bootlegged version

of the street drug that you manufactured.

A few months later, you found out

that a rival gang was doing the same thing.

What happened to them? - I have no idea

what you're talking about.

- I'll refresh your memory.

They were all gunned down--

just like Rafiq.

- Objection, Your Honor.

How is any of this relevant to the charges

my client is standing trial for today?

- It speaks directly to motive, Your Honor.

It's a question that we've been circling for days.

Why Kathy Stabler? - [sighs]

- Wasn't Kathy Stabler murdered

because you couldn't risk Angela finding out

that it was you who had executed her son...

- Your honor, objection!

- Because he was ripping you off?

- Do you really think repeating that canard over and over

and over will make it come true?

For the last time, I didn't have anyone murdered.

If I wanted someone dead, they would be dead,

including you, Mr. Carisi.

[people chattering]

[tense music]

♪

- I'm sorry, did--

did you just threaten a prosecuting attorney

in open court?

- Jury's still out.

Judge sent them back three times.

- It's deadlocked.

So you did your job.

- I would've had an acquittal

if your partner hadn't feigned losing it,

goaded Wheatley into testifying.

- You wanted Stabler to lose it.

- Yeah, and Stabler knew that,

drove into the skid,

even had you bring Angela in.

- So we both did our jobs.

- We did.

Stabler coming back has made things more complicated--

- So now we're gonna have small talk?

- You know the problem with being an empath?

it's too easy to lose yourself when other people need you.

- Just so we're clear,

I feel betrayed by you.

And I don't know how I'll ever get over it.

[phone buzzes]

- Liv.

- What?

- Jury's back.

- I'd like you to know, whichever way this goes,

you did a hell of a job.

I'd like you to be my consigliere.

- All due respect,

there's not enough money in the world.

- Where's Eli? - Studying.

He's doing his homework,

but he's not answering his phone.

My mom's checking on him. There she is.

Mama, what's up?

What do you mean he's not there?

I'm staring right at him.

Hold on a sec.

Look, uh--

Mama, I'm on my way.

Son of a bitch.

He must be looping a video on the cam.

And he emptied out her medicine cabinet.

- I'm so sorry, Elliot.

- Has the jury reached a verdict?

- We have not, Your Honor.

We remain hopelessly deadlocked.

- Do you think getting more time might enable you

to come to a verdict?

- No, Your Honor.

- Your Honor, they've been deliberating

for less than a day.

- Any longer, this could extend

over the holiday break.

We move for a mistrial.

- One day or fourteen,

I'm sorry, I don't see this being resolved.

I'm declaring a mistrial.

Members of the jury, I thank you for your service.

Mr. Wheatley, you're remanded.

- What does that mean? - It means we lost.

- They're gonna try him again, Elliot.

- Will they?

I have to find my son.

[dramatic music]

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[wolf howls]