Thirteen

Kane cleans the bathtub in which he dissolved Wally Cook’s body. He rinses the brittle bones left by the disposal process, gathers them in a towel, and hammers them to dust. Using his victim’s ID and jury summons, Kane goes to the Center Street Criminal Courts Building for jury duty in the Solomon trial. He successfully passes the security and identity check. In the jury assembly room, he spots Arnold Novoselic, the defense team’s jury consultant, studying the potential jurors. Kane becomes anxious, aware that Novoselic has researched every person in the jury pool and might see through his disguise. However, Novoselic’s gaze sweeps over Kane without any sign of recognition. Kane is then called with the rest of his group to enter the courtroom for the selection process.

Back at the crime scene, Eddie, Harper, and Holten investigate the house. Harper notices that the alarm system’s security panel has been removed from the wall. In the main bedroom where the murders took place, she accidentally spills water on the bed. Eddie observes that the water droplets bead up on the mattress instead of soaking in, suggesting the fabric has been treated with a waterproof substance. As they lie on the bed to test a theory, Holten walks in. The awkward moment is interrupted when Harper receives a call from her partner, Joe Washington, who has a promising lead from an FBI contact. She announces they must leave immediately for Federal Plaza to meet with someone about “a possible alternative suspect” (98).

In the courtroom, Kane observes the legal teams, including famous prosecutor Art Pryor and the defense jury consultant, Arnold Novoselic. Kane is surprised to see that the presiding judge is Harry Ford, the man Kane had asked for directions outside Eddie Flynn’s offices the previous day. Fearing he will be recognized, Kane watches nervously as Judge Ford looks over the potential jurors. The judge’s eyes pass over Kane without any sign of recognition, and the jury selection process begins.

During jury selection, prosecutor Art Pryor questions Brian Dale, a potential juror the defense has already accepted. Pryor skillfully leads Dale to admit he would be suspicious of a defendant who chose not to testify. Based on this admission, Pryor successfully challenges Dale for cause, and the judge dismisses him. Kane, watching from the jury pool, reflects that he had considered impersonating Dale but decided against it, partly because he could not have fit both Dale and his large wife in their bathtub. Kane is then called to the witness stand for his own questioning.

While driving to the FBI’s New York field office, Harper tells Eddie that her partner, Joe, arranged a meeting with Paige Delaney, an analyst from the Behavioral Analysis Unit. They discuss inconsistencies in the evidence, such as the missing knife used to kill Ariella versus the baseball bat—covered in their client Bobby’s fingerprints—left at the scene. At Federal Plaza, they are made to wait 20 minutes before Paige Delaney meets them. She leads them to a conference room to discuss the case.

In the meeting with Paige Delaney, she agrees to help if the information is relevant to her investigation. Eddie shows her photographs of the $1 bill butterfly found at the crime scene. Delaney is initially unimpressed but becomes intensely focused when she sees a photo of the bill unfolded. She immediately recognizes specific, tiny ink marks on the Great Seal as a signature she has seen on dollar bills left at three previous murder scenes. Delaney explains that the markings are the calling card of a highly sophisticated and elusive serial killer, whom some in the FBI call “Dollar Bill.” She points out the three distinct marks on the bill’s illustration: one on an arrow, one on an olive leaf, and one on a star. She asks to know more about the case.

Kane is accepted as a juror by the defense and the prosecution reserves its position without asking questions. As the jury box fills, prosecutor Art Pryor dismisses four jurors. When the judge instructs all remaining jurors to shift right, a woman named Brenda Kowolski moves into the seat Kane had occupied earlier. Judge Ford declares the first 12 jurors officially seated, with the remaining four as alternates. Due to the shift, Brenda is now Juror #12, and Kane is the first alternate, assigned number 13. The judge announces the trial will begin the next morning. Furious that his plan has been thwarted, Kane introduces himself to Brenda and delivers a veiled threat to her.

During the meeting at Federal Plaza, Delaney feigns forgetfulness while indirectly disclosing the names of Dollar Bill’s other linked cases—Annie Hightower, Derek Cass, and Karen Harvey—allowing Eddie to copy the sketch marks onto his own $1 bill. Eddie and Harper then research these cases and learn that in all three, a plausible suspect was framed and convicted. Later, at Rudy Carp’s office, Eddie clashes with jury consultant Arnold Novoselic. Eddie gives Rudy a peculiar shopping list and asks him to subpoena Gary Cheeseman, president of a company called Sweetlands Limited.

Kane washes down a stolen car, making sure that it cannot be traced back to him. He receives a telephone call from his unnamed associate, who warns that the body Kane left in Brooklyn has been found. The associate assures Kane that the body will take some time to identify and that it may never be linked back to the jury summons. The associate will monitor police reports through his contacts in the department. Kane ends the call with a threat to his associate not to hide anything from him.

In the evening, Eddie meets his ex-wife, Christine, who definitively ends their relationship. She reveals she is moving in with her new partner, Kevin, as is their daughter, Amy. She gives Eddie back her wedding ring, refusing to listen to his promise that he will take a steady, uncontroversial job after Bobby’s trial. Devastated, Eddie drives to his office, where he is ambushed by Detective Granger and five other police officers. Eddie breaks the big police officer’s fifth metacarpal and drops him with a body shot before being struck by a nightstick and knocked unconscious.

Eddie regains consciousness on the couch in his office, attended by Judge Harry Ford, who checks him for signs of concussion and determines he has a lump on his head and at least one broken rib. Harry tells Eddie he found him outside after a black Escalade sped away. He returns Christine’s wedding ring, which Eddie had asked him to find. The two men drink Scotch and discuss the case, with Harry warning Eddie about the formidable prosecutor Art Pryor as “one of the best” (103) lawyers in the country before cutting off Eddie’s drinking for the night.