All language subtitles for Law and order SVU S23E09

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]