For Lynn...sorry it's taken so long to post. Thanks for the wake up message!

"Listen Jack relatives or not, I can't have my client talking to prosecutors when I'm not present; much less police detectives," Danielle Melnick announced as she smoothed the back of her skirt down before sitting on one of the two wing chairs in front of the district attorney's desk. "I just got a call from Lindsay and she tells me Brooke let Olivia Bensen corner her when she got off the train this morning."

"There's nothing illegal about law enforcement talking to a defendant about co-conspirators; especially with one of the defendants guardians present. Coffee," McCoy smoothly asked as he reached for the Bears mug in front of him before promptly turning towards the half empty carafe sitting on the coffee table a few paces away.

"I don't need caffeine to get my pulse racing. You knew about this?"

"I set it up," McCoy replied before returning to the desk and handing Melnick the copies he'd had made in anticipation of her visit.

McCoy had no doubt Melnick would make it her business to personally confront him when she learned about his niece's meeting with Olivia Bensen. But after his conversation with Alex Cabot, McCoy was anxious to have Lindsay's resistance broken, with the goal of gaining whatever information she'd been holding back as soon as possible. Even if it might mean circumventing conventional practices.

"Just like when you were a prosecutor," Melnick sneered. "Still wrestling with that compulsive need to win, aren't you Jack? No matter what the cost; to yourself, to the office, or in this case, to a young girl that we both know had nothing to do with the death of that-"

"And you still have the compulsive need to jump to conclusions before you've looked at all of the facts," McCoy shot back as he tapped the top of the manila folder that remained unopened in her hand. "With the that media circus going on last night, Cabot wasn't able to get you copies of the rap sheets on Lindsay's companions. Read this and if you still want to chew me out, I'm all yours."

"Lindsay said Bensen told her the Wentworth boy has prior drug charges, which makes it more likely that he was the one who brought the drugs, not my client," Melnick began as she scanned the contents of the file, more so for McCoy's benefit than her own. The annoyance in her expression was replaced by concern a few seconds after she scanned the next page and looked to McCoy for confirmation of the accuracy of what she'd just read.

"It's true. I had Connie double check when she came in," McCoy said with a sigh. "Lindsay's boyfriend sent her to that party with his cousin; his older cousin who likes to beat up young women. "

"Jack, the file says he was charged, not that he was convicted."

McCoy gave her a short snicker before reaching for his coffee.

"The victim was bought off right before the trial. Apparently Derrick and Wes belong to the Long Island MacFarland's. The MacFarland name is to shortbread what Manischewitz is to kosher food."

"Wow. How does the daughter of a fireman end up running with kids like the MacFarland boys?"

It was a good question. One McCoy had not only asked himself, but had posed to his brother-in-law, once Cabot had filled him in on Wesley MacFarland's background.

"Lindsay spent some time working in the Hampton's last summer. She met Derrick… the boyfriend…while she was waitressing out at Hampton Hills. He took a liking to her. They started going out. By the time Andrew met him, the stars in Lindsay's eyes already blinded her to any flaws her boyfriend might have."

"Lindsay'd be an easy mark for a kid like that. She showed me a picture of him at your anniversary party," Melnick admitted as she took her seat. "Handsome kid. With money and all the charm it can buy."

McCoy grimaced as he nodded in agreement. During his time in the DA's office he'd witnessed the privileged class of Manhattan …as well as their offspring…avoid taking responsibility for their crimes, much the way regular people avoided a puddle on a rainy day. It was second nature to people like that. They either spent their way out of the charges with a skillful defense team or swiftly found a scapegoat to take the fall for their actions.

A person in such desperate need of money that they'd sell their soul to get their hands on it or someone so enamored of the accused that they willingly scarified themselves for what they perceived to be as the greater good. McCoy involuntarily shuddered when he realized how easily his niece might be manipulated into the former category.

"Lindsay is way out of her league. We both know it," he bluntly stated as he leaned across his desk. "You're her attorney. You need to get her to save herself now, before she gets in so deep no one can get her out."

"Come on Jack, you know my job is to defend my client a zealously as I can, not to help your office to build its case against her co-defendants," Melnick knowingly objected before McCoy's penetrating gaze caused her to pause.

"This isn't about either one of us doing our jobs, "McCoy halting retorted. "This is about us keeping Lindsay out of jail."

"That's easily done, at least for the DA. Just have the charges against Lindsay dropped and-"

"And without her cooperation, no one takes responsibility for the death of Kendall McCleary," McCoy angrily replied. "Lindsay was willing to be arraigned in adult court to prove her loyality to those punks. Danielle, do you really want to see how far she's willing to go for them? Do you really want to help her keep her mouth shut and end up doing prison time for her trouble?"