fandomhigh | Criminal Justice: Wednesday

Gibbs breezed into the classroom just as the bell rang. "Sit," he ordered everyone in the classroom. "No talking."

He took a long sip of coffee as he waited for the class to settle in. "Last week you 'caught' the bad guy. Today we talk about interrogation. There's two categories of interrogation. The first category is strictly about gathering information. Here you interview everyone. Friends. Family. Co-workers. If the damn cat can talk, you get a statement. When you do this pay attention to their answers. Ignore nothing. Someone uses a funny word choice? Make a note of it. Someone makes an off-hand comment? Note it. After you're done with these interviews? Verify everything. Why? Because people lie and usually they're pretty crappy about covering it up."

He took a breath and another couple of gulps of coffee. "The other type of interrogation is the kind you always see in cop shows. When you have evidence on a person of interest you get him or her and bring him into a room. Then you let that person sit and stew for a bit. Unless the person is a sociopath, this is usually the best way to loosen 'em up. Then you go in and you be intimidating. You're not the friendly guy with notepad taking a statement. You have evidence. You line it up in front of him. You tell him you think he's guilty and you nail him to the wall with it. Doesn't matter if the evidence is shaky. He doesn't know that. Even if that person isn't guilty he or she might let loose a bit of information that'll help with the case. If you make them cry and they are innocent? Too bad. The case is what matters."

Gibbs then gestured at his students. "Pair up. Time to see what you got and if you paid attention."

[~~Wait for the~~ OCD is up]

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Wincing, Dinah put down the Financial Records and nodded. "Okay!"

Why look, there was someone waiting to be interrogated. Raven waited, serene and entirely innocent.

"Please state your name for the record," Dinah said, hanging onto the DNA evidence, and wondering which of the three suspects Rachel was going to decide to be.

"My name is Rachel Roth," Raven said. "And I assure you, I have done nothing wrong."

"And I assure you, we have DNA evidence that gives you ample motive to kill Ms. Kerr," Dinah said as firmly as she could. "Did you know she was pregnant?"

"Yes, she told me she was with child," Raven said, hoping she was playing along correctly. "She was very excited about it."

"Were you equally excited that your boyfriend was the father?" Dinah asked quickly, even though the DNA test couldn't reveal that yet.

Raven had to pause to think how to react to that question. The fact that she didn't have a boyfriend seemed the obvious choice, but she embellished the story a little. "We were not compatible," she said. "He was no longer my boyfriend. He was free to do as he wished."

"So she did inform you of the father's identity," Dinah said, pouncing on the implication.

"Yes, I was aware," Raven said. "But I bore neither of them any ill will."

"Was your 'former' boyfriend aware of this as well? Did you tell him?" Dinah asked, hoping to get more information, and maybe a new angle for the interrogation.

"It was not my place to tell him," Raven said. "That matter was between him and the mother of his child."

Checking the notes she was making, Dinah asked, "And to your knowledge, did she do so?"

"She intended to," Raven said, nodding. "You do not think he harmed her when she did, do you? It was my understanding he did want children in his life."

Dinah made a quick note of that, too, and said, "I couldn't say, ma'am. Too early in the investigation." She gave Rachel a speculative look, smile peeking out. "So the two of you discussed children? Did he say anything about his relationship with Ms. Kerr, after they began dating?"

"Yes, that was the catalyst for our parting," Raven said. "He wished to have children, and I did not. As to his new relationship, no, we did not speak of it."

No way to prove anything about motivation, or opportunity, from the DNA evidence. That Rachel freely admitted knowledge of the pregnancy and the baby's father would give them a concrete angle while interrogating 'Kevin Holt'; but it didn't and couldn't shake her story about knowing and not caring. But. Dinah felt like she had to try just a little harder....

One last shot, then. "I think you're lying. I think it hurt that he dumped you for someone who wanted his child right now. I think Mr. Holt will tell us that when we talk to him. Are you sure you don't want to make it easy on yourself and confess? Was it an impulse? Did you just want to talk to her, then get into a fight in the restroom?"

Raven's training on Azarath helped her remain calm in the face of the accusations. She shook her head. "I did not harm her, nor did I wish to see her come to any harm at another's hand."

Well, crap.

Dinah tried to look sinister and said, "We'll be in touch. Don't leave town."

... then grinned brightly at Rachel. "Well, at least I got some information out of you."

"I did well then?" Raven said, smiling back. "I am unused to this roleplaying."

"You did great! Were you innocent, or guilty, or other?" Dinah asked. "My instincts were saying innocent, but maybe you're just really cool under pressure."

"I was innocent," Raven said. "But to be fair, I have been trained to control my emotions."

"Soooo, maybe if we'd done a background check on you, we would've turned that up, and maybe the interrogation would've been approached differently," Dinah surmised, then looked curious. "Really? Meditation, or something else?"

"Meditation was and is a large part of it," Raven said, nodding. "I do so at least once a day, more often if something distresses me." She'd spent a lot of time meditating the past weekend.

"I use it too, but mostly to work on my abilities. If I get stressed, I go out and exercise," Dinah said, then grimaced. "Last week had me in the gym and the pool and running around the island a lot."

Re: Interrogate

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