History Recap / LawAndOrderS4E7Apocrypha

* MeaningfulRename: Wendy Berman chose the name [[Literature/BookOfRuth Ruth]] to forget her old life, according to Hendricks. Her biblical namesake was a Moabite widow to a man from Israel who left her country to follow her mother-in-law back to Israel.

At the station, Briscoe talks to a member of the congregation named Donald Melnick. He claims that the congregation is peaceful and that he doesn't know Berman. Logan talks to another member of the congregation, Barbara Mann, who is very polite and positive. She also doesn't admit to knowing anything about the bombing. When she asks if Logan is a skeptic, they compare stories of strict Catholic schools in their youths. She says she doesn't really have a family anymore. Profaci comes in -- Daniel Hendricks, the head of the church, is at the precinct.

A man wipes the windshield of a car stuck in traffic, over the driver's objections. The driver, a woman named Wendy Berman, continues on her way. In a garage, two guards complain about a dumb customer when Berman pulls in. One of the guards gives the other some money and a coffee order, but just after the other guard leaves, a bomb detonates in the garage.

The first guard, face bloody, is being treated by EMS as Briscoe and Logan talk to the other one. He can't tell them anything. They then talk to the lead firefighter, who says they got the fire under control quickly. The firefighter thinks a car bomb caused the explosion, and says that the building will be under repairs for at least a month. A body is carted off as the opening credits roll.

The detectives look at the destroyed car. The analysist explains that the bomb was in the trunk and contained chemical fertilizer and diesel fuel. The bomb was simple but well made, using acid and latex to make a fuse. The acid would eat through the latex at a controlled rate, and once it made a hole it would ignite the diesel and fertilizer and blow up. The detectives are also told that the latex is the same sort used to make condoms.

In Van Buren's office, Briscoe says that there was only one fatality -- the kid who was carted out earlier. They can't identify the body, and a bunch of terrorist groups and other members of the political fringe are claiming credit. Running through the tenants, they find a bank used for a variety of terrorist groups. Profaci enters with the news that forensics traced the car; it was leased to the Egyptian embassy. Logan reads the reports and says that a man named Aasad Asalam was supposed to have the car.

Driving to Asalam's hotel room, the detectives discuss immigration -- Logan wants to fence off the country, while Briscoe disagrees. When they get at the hotel, Asalam is arrested without incident. In interrogation, he gives an alibi of being with members of the State Department at the time of the bombing. He says his car was stolen overnight after he came back from Albany, and shrugs off Briscoe's skepticism.

Later, Briscoe reads the medical examiner's report. The dead body was female, 18-ish, with blond hair, and had ammonium nitrate under her fingernails -- she set off the bomb. Briscoe says that she must have either been slow to leave the garage or the makeshift fuse leaked. Logan guesses that the girl might have been reported as a missing person. The missing persons office uses dental records to identify the dead body as Wendy Berman. She'd been missing for 4 years.

Talking to Wendy's mother Margaret, the detectives wonder why Wendy fled. Margaret says that her husband David died suddenly when Wendy was 13. She spent a year with psychiatrists, then became a drug-user and promiscuous. Eventually she ran away and didn't return. Wendy sent a letter three years later, which said that she was find but that Margaret couldn't contact her because some disaster would happen if she tried.

In Schiff's office, Stone learns that Burke is playing the press. Schiff is pessimistic about their chances. Later, in court, Dale Rudolph testifies about his difficulties in leaving the church and his inability to free his wife from Hendricks. Burke gets him to admit that several of the threats about 'rivers of fire' were metaphorical, and that the church door wasn't locked. He points out that no one tried to stop Dale himself from leaving. Margaret testifies that she would have tried to rescue Wendy if she'd known about Hendricks. Stone has Margaret read Wendy's letter, over Burke's objection on grounds of hearsay.

->"I am fine, but I fear what will happen if you try to contact me."\\
--Margaret Berman, reading Wendy Berman's letter

On the stand, Joanne says that Hendricks promised that her father would be damned and chained. She says she didn't want to leave because Hendricks convinced her that the world was going to end in fire and only those who accepted "the lamb" would be saved. She believes Hendricks to be "the lamb." Burke asks Joanne if she ever heard Hendricks ask someone to plant a bomb; Joanne says 'no.' Barabara testifies for Hendricks next; she says she could have left at any time, and did often leave to go to work. She says she doesn't feel brainwashed. Stone gets her to talk about how her faith is completely in God's Word, as interpreted by Hendricks, and that he damned the people that worked in the bombed building. He asks if she would cut off contact with her parents or go on a five-day fast for Hendricks, and she says yes. He asks about planting a bomb, she says that she'd do that too.

Hendricks testifies last. He says he's just a spiritual leader trying to help people. He says he helped free Wendy from drugs and prostitution and that he didn't know anything about the bombing plan. Stone asks what Hendricks would have done had he known; Hendricks says that he'd have tried to stop her. Stone gets him to say that the 'moneylenders' are sinful, then gets him to go on a short apocalyptic rant about the destruction of the world. He admits that he thinks he's a Messiah.

----

Briscoe and Logan return to the church, where the disciples have committed suicide. All Briscoe can do is have the press kept out. Logan makes the sign of the cross as he leaves the room.

Briscoe and Logan return to the church, where the disciples have committed suicide. All Briscoe can do is have the press kept out. Logan makes the sign of the cross as he leaves the room.