Last night's L&O: Criminal Intent (spoilerish)

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Okay, never mind about the heaven/hell fable, I googled it.

My remaining question is this:

Spoiler: episode

The monsignor extorted sex from this woman by promising her that if she did it with him, he would give her five days to return the money that she supposedly embezzled. But it turns out she didn't do it - it was her assistant. So why didn't she SAY this? If she was worried that the monsignor would slander her in public and tell everyone she stole the money, couldn't she just use the fact that she was the BOSS of the person who actually stole the money to clear her name?

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Last night's L&O: Criminal Intent (not that spoilerish)

It's not a joke. It's a Raymond Smullyan "knights and knaves" logic puzzle.

"If I asked the other guardian which door leads to heaven, what would he tell me?"

"Which door would the other guard say leads to hell?"

Something along those lines.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Yeah, kind of like the Garth of Izar thing with two Kirks and one Spock...

And another thing:

Spoiler: another thing

They had the monsignor in the interview room and got him to admit he was having sex with this woman. His cardinal was watching from outside. Are cops allowed to do this? Isn't the relationship between a confessor and confess-ee - which in a real sense is the same as the relationship between a monsignor and the cardinal he works for - considered off limits? Also, exactly what was the cardinal doing there in the first place? The only thing that could have come of this is the monsignor getting fired. He didn't *know* the cardinal was watching, obviously, so there's nothing that the cops gained from having the cardinal there.