Helen's Home Of Hangover Pain. Helen gulps down a glass of water while swallowing some aspirin. Aw, she drank too much -- isn't she cute? There's a knock at the door, and a man who looks a lot like Ron Silver enters. He announces, "Greg Mitchell. U.S. Attorney's office." Helen cracks, "You guys recruiting door-to-door these days?" He half-laughs. And then gets down to business: "It's my understanding that Judge Fleming left the ball in the air this morning. You never know with these suppression issues." Then he half-smiles. Helen: "Since when does the U.S. Attorney's office take an interest in a state possession case?" She gives her head a jaunty shake. Which, if she were truly hungover, would have hurt like the dickens. He retorts, "Actually, I can think of a couple dozen federal cases we'd like to pawn off on you." I don't really understand that line. He's not answering her question. He's not telling her anything. He's not even cracking a joke. And if that was a joke, it was certainly not funny. Helen wants Greg to get down to business.

Greg walks right into her office and closes the door. "Ms. Gamble. How well do you know Judge Fleming?" Well, she's appeared in front of him a number of times, and when he was a D.A. they all sat in on his trials; in fact, she was at a dinner last night in his honour. Mitchell cuts her off: "We have reason to believe Judge Fleming has been accepting bribes." The Good Man Gone Bad March props up Helen's jaw. "Charles Fleming?" Greg nods. Helen says, "Come on." Greg takes the cue and sits down so that he's staring at her bony jaw, which is still on the floor. He says, "In this case that you're handling, he might eventually admit the evidence to compensate for his recent spate of suppressions and acquittals, and to check any attention that he might have already drawn to himself." Helen sits her own self down. Blah valid case basis for the evidence, blah admit it blah. Mitchell doesn't think that's going to happen, despite Helen's persuasive arguing skills. In fact, Greg tells her that by reserving his ruling, the judge telling the defense attorney that he's open for a bribe. Apparently, this has been the judge's M.O. in over a dozen cases that they've reviewed. Helen: "It never occurred to you that he might just prefer not to make impulsive decisions from the bench?" Greg looks at her sideways. It's really strange, actually. Almost as if the actor thinks that he looks better from that particular angle. It hurts my neck just looking at it. Mitchell continues, "We have a witness. A federal prisoner looking to reduce his sentence on a robbery conviction." Helen snarks, "Well. That's reliable." Blah previous case, blah his lawyer, blah paid five grand, blah acquittal blah. And that's not the only time. Apparently, the Department of Justice has been looking at the judge for over eight months. Helen wants to know if they've approached any of the attorneys in the other cases, or spoken to "anyone upstairs." Mitchell insists that they didn't want to tip off the judge. They prefer, in these matters, to handle the case "through a sting." Yes, that's right, he actually said "sting." You set 'em up and get 'em. You know, I'm sure the FBI does enough undercover work. But terminology like "sting," well, it's just for the benefit of bad dramatic television. Mitchell explains that they create a case and then assign an attorney they believe might be involved. Helen says, "Is that what this is? You want me to prosecute a fabricated case?" Greg: "Actually, Ms. Gamble. You already are." That's right, say it with me: "Of course she is!"