- [last lines]
- Detective Ed Green: Hey, lieu. We're in no rush to get home tonight?
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: You know, I used to wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, comb my hair, look in the mirror, and see a cop looking back at me.
- Detective Ed Green: Hmm. Stevie Thomas shattered that mirror?
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: Now I got six eyes looking back. A cop, a black woman, a mother.
- Detective Ed Green: That's lucky. You know what Eric Thomas sees? Nothing.
- Lt. Anita Van Buren: [watching defense attorney Carl Halpert leave the squadroom] There he goes: Johnnie Cochran without the rhyme.
- M.E. Gail Berardi: As one of the assistant medical examiners, it was my function to perform autopsies.
- Carl Halpert: And you performed the autopsy on Eric Thomas, did you?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: That was eight years ago. I don't remember, but if the records show that I did, I won't argue.
- Carl Halpert: I show you what has been marked Defendant's Exhibit D. Do you recognize it, Dr. Berardi?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: Those are my initials, yes.
- Carl Halpert: Please tell the court what it is.
- M.E. Gail Berardi: We call it the M.E.'s Summary Report.
- Carl Halpert: It contains the bottom line on the case?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: That's correct. Typically, there are detailed reports found inside the folder.
- Carl Halpert: Mm-hmm. But, alas, this one's empty. Could that mean the that detailed work you spoke of was not performed in this case?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: Absolutely not. I couldn't have completed the summary if I hadn't done the work.
- Carl Halpert: And you know it was a suicide because this little box is checked?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: That's correct. While at the M.E.'s Office I performed thousands of autopsies, and I followed the exact same procedure with each of them.
- Carl Halpert: Okay, tell us what happens after you check the little suicide box.
- M.E. Gail Berardi: The case is deemed closed.
- Carl Halpert: And the detectives stop working?
- M.E. Gail Berardi: That's correct.
- Carl Halpert: So, hypothetically, if a detective was stumped or if he just didn't feel like investigating the case, you could help him out by making a little check here . . .
- M.E. Gail Berardi: That is absurd.
- Carl Halpert: But it's possible.