"I need a favor."

Tony looked at Casey across the room with a wry smile and said, "I'm supposed to be the one who asks for favors."

"I know, but I need you to do some digging for me," she said. She had spent the entire weekend with the Lipton files, coming out of her office only for a dinner with her husband and some friends. "I know how I can win, but I need some serious background information."

"On who?" Tony said.

"Donald Sales," she said.

"The dead girl's father? Why?" He was incredulous. He knew one of her favorite strategies was to suggest to the jury a viable alternative to who committed the crime. "You're not going to try to pin it on him, are you?"

"He very well could be the killer," she said. She didn't mention that the idea had originated with Lipton.

"Oh, give me a break!" Tony scoffed. "Come on, Casey, if that's the best you've got, you might as well start asking the DA for a plea."

"Look," she said, "I don't tell you how to get the TV cameras to a press conference. I want you to look into him for me, and I want you to do it now. I know already that he's not mentally stable."

"In what way?" Tony asked, stroking his beard.

"He's a Vietnam vet who was treated for PTSD."

Tony nodded. He knew that included a wide range of possibilities.

"And he has a history of violence."

"Violence? Like what?"

"Assault. Disorderly conduct," she replied.

Tony twisted his lips doubtfully.

"I want you to find out about his relationship with the daughter," she said. "The DA is going to put him on the stand to implicate Lipton. He claims that the girl told him she was afraid of Lipton. I'll have a chance to impeach him in the cross, and I not only want to tear him apart, I want that jury wondering if it wasn't really him that killed her and he's trying to pin it on Lipton."