All language subtitles for High Potential - 2x11 - NPC.WEB.ETHEL.en

[person] Help! Help!

[breathing heavily]

[growling]

Get away from me. Leave me alone.

- [grunting]
- [distorted voice] Watch where you going.

[gasps]

[bystander 1] Are you okay?

- Hey, are you okay?
- He's trying to kill me.

[whimpering]

- [tires screeching]
- [horns honking]

[sirens blaring]

[♪ pop song plays]

- Adam.
- Lucia.

[chuckles]

- Wow.
- Yeah, uh, it's been a minute.

How are you? I heard you moved.

Uh, a few times actually.

Uh, last stop was Santa Fe.

Santa Fe? I've never been.

I liked it. There's no skyscrapers.

- Lots of weirdos.
- [chuckles]

I heard you met a guy. Sounded serious.

- You stalking me?
- No, I just...

[chuckles] I'm just kidding. It's…

- Nick and Natalie told you, right?
- Yeah.

- You know, they say things now and then.
- Yeah.

I ask them about you sometimes, too.

And, uh, the guy didn't stick. So…

- Oh. I'm sorry.
- I'm not.

- You still with the LAPD?
- Yeah, yeah, they keep me busy.

Yeah, I remember.

Anyway, next project's here in LA.

You moved back?

For now.

Well, uh, welcome back.

[both chuckle]

Listen, I-I got a couple minutes.
Do you wanna, like, sit down, catch up?

- Uh, I am… [chuckles]
- Oh. Oh, right. Sorry.

Your shift's about to start.
You have to get to work.

I can be a little late.

[radio chatter]

[camera shutter clicking]

Good morning.

- You're late.
- Ah. Lost track of time. Not a big deal.

- What happened?
- Well, uh, let's see.

"I" is a first-person pronoun.

"Lose" means to misplace
or fail to keep sight of.

Very cute. Thank you, Ms. Rachel.

What I mean is, how does
someone like you lose track of time?

You got one of those mugs that says,
"If you're on time, you're late."

- No, I don't.
- Huh.

- Well, you're about to.
- Don't. Don't do that.

Instead of drilling into my personal life,
how about we concentrate on this case?

- Pretty sure I can do both.
- Mm-hmm.

Pedestrian v. car. Driver is cooperating.

Sounds like the guy just ran
into the middle of the street.

No wallet, no ID,
and wherever he came from,

he didn't even stop to put on shoes.

The couple over there
talked to him briefly.

Said he was disoriented, possibly drunk.

He acted like someone
was chasing after him.

He yelled, "He's trying to kill me"
right before this happened.

- Did they see anyone chasing after him?
- They made it clear they did not.

Hmm. Yeah, so maybe he was hallucinating.

You're still thinking about
why I was late, aren't you?

- Yeah.
- Hmm.

You know that thing you said
about bugging me and working the case?

I have been. He was hallucinating.
Because he was poisoned.

Um, and you're sure about that how?

The vomit.

What vomit would that be?

- [Daphne] Ugh.
- [Morgan] Okay,

so none of you have ever had a baby
puke directly into your mouth. Got it.

I saw it on my way in.

- You sure this is from the victim?
- Well, he had some of it on his shirt.

So, unless he found somebody else's barf
that he wanted to dribble on himself,

- that is my guess, yeah.
- Why is it black?

[sniffs, gags]

Oh, God. That smells like rotten eggs.

Yeah, that's because
it's activated charcoal.

And when charcoal
interacts with gut bacteria,

it releases hydrogen sulfide,
which smells like rotten eggs.

And the only reason to take
that much activated charcoal

is if you've ingested something toxic.

Which would explain
why he was hallucinating.

So either he swallowed something
accidentally or maybe he was poisoned.

Next question is where did he come from?

Well, the victim's feet were cut up.

- Looks like he left a trail.
- Right.

Morgan and I will follow the blood.
You guys head back to the intersection,

see if there's
any traffic cams we can pull.

And make sure forensics gets
some samples of, um, that.

You gonna tell me why you were late,
or are you gonna force me to be annoying?

[sighs] I ran into Lucia.

Lucia, the ex-fiancée who painted you that
rose that you still have on your wall?

That's the one.

This is huge. You guys haven't
seen each other in five years, right?

It's not huge, Morgan. It was just coffee.

Uh, yeah, I've had that kind of coffee.

And this, I'm guessing,
was where our victim came from.

- We're not done here.
- Morgan, I don't wanna talk about it.

Well, then you
shouldn't have said anything.

[door opens]

Uh-huh. Our guy may have died in
the street, but whatever happened to him,

it definitely happened here.

He's got a name.
"Declan Harker, 31 years old."

I don't see any of the usual
household poisons, meds, illegal drugs.

Doesn't look like he has
any cleaning products.

There's plenty of stuff here
that could have been spiked.

I'll have forensics collect it.

All this takeout. Kinda feels like
Declan almost never left this room.

You think he had a job?

It does have a bit
of an unemployed aesthetic, doesn't it?

But, nope. You see that chair?

That's a Thunder Throne V2.

Magnetic head pillow,
four-way lumbar support

- and nanofoam seat cushions.
- [audience] Oh!

And over here, we've got high-grip,

sweat-absorbent gloves
and state-of-the-art headphones.

And then there's this.

Declan Harker was a professional gamer,
an esport athlete.

- Video games are not a sport, Morgan.
- Personally, I agree with you,

but, technically, pro gamers
require heightened reaction time.

So, they might not seem like athletes,
but they do train like them.

- Elliot?
- Yeah.

If he's not playing video games,
he's talking to me about them.

Well, if our guy was so into video games,
where's his computer?

Exactly. It's not here.

- Maybe whoever poisoned him took it?
- Hmm.

- Who are you?
- LAPD. Who are you?

My name is Adity Shaw.

My ex-boyfriend lives here. Declan Harker?

Is he all right?

Sorry to inform you, but he's dead.

[gasps]

- I'm too late.
- You're too late for what?

Declan left me
a weird voicemail this morning,

and I came over as soon as I heard it.

Adity, you gotta help me.
It's all my fault.

I killed him so many times.

I killed him over and over again,
and now he's trying to kill me.

Any idea what "I killed him
over and over again" means?

Is that more hallucinating?

Actually, we think
he was talking about gaming.

Declan's a top player
in an online game called Battle Dynasty.

Swords and sorcery, knights and dragons.

You kill someone in the game,
they come back to life,

you kill them again, rinse and repeat.

So, we're thinking game violence
spills over into real life.

The player he kept killing found him
in the flesh and killed him for real.

Given Declan's voicemail,
it sounds like he thought so.

We know what the toxin
was that poisoned him?

The ME is still running tests. Hasn't
ID'd it yet. But Oz is on top of it.

Forensics did find traces of blood

on one of the food containers
in the apartment though.

Looks like somebody cut
their finger on a staple.

They've tested it already.
It's not Declan's.

Declan was using contact-free delivery.

According to the app, the food arrived
about an hour before he died.

Maybe the killer got to the food
while it was still outside the door.

Hopefully, when we find the guy,
we'll have a DNA sample to match.

And what about the ex-girlfriend?

Conveniently shows up
to discover him dead,

has her own keys.

- She also a gamer?
- Yeah, she is.

She seems earnest though.
Genuinely broken up.

Willing to do anything she can to help.

[scoffs]

- What?
- Well, you're getting all soft on me.

Morgan mentioned you ran
into Lucia this morning.

- I'm gonna legitimately kill her.
- Well, don't do it yet.

I got her combing through
everything we found in the apartment,

make sure there's nothing we missed.

In the meantime, I'll trust
your instinct on the ex-girlfriend.

Double-check her alibi.

Okay.

Declan and I met in-game
before we ever met in real life.

Battle Dynasty was our lives.

Neither of us really fit in anywhere else.

But then last year, he quit gaming.

And he ghosted me,

told me not to come by his place anymore,
stopped returning my calls.

Well, that must have been awful.
Any idea why?

[Adity] He wouldn't tell me.

But then, last month,
he showed up back in the game.

Apologized to me,
said he was a changed man.

[sighs] We were making plans to see
each other again in the real world, but…

I'm sorry.

Declan's computer was missing
from his apartment.

Any idea what happened to it?

He got rid of his whole rig
when he quit gaming.

But you just said he started
playing again. What was he playing on?

I think he had an old laptop
that he'd use in a pinch.

- What?
- You wanna find it

because you think
whoever killed him took it.

We're considering the possibility.

You and Declan
didn't just share house keys, did you?

We also shared a Find My Tech account.

Okay. [sighs]

So the laptop is somewhere in this lot.

All right, well, let's split up, look in
car windows and see if we can find it.

Yeah, I'll start on this side.

[phone buzzes]

[Karadec chuckles]

You just find out about a sale
on Tide sticks or did Lucia text you?

[sighs] Well, text her back.

We're working. It can wait.

What, Morgan?

You guys broke up
because you put work before her.

You want another shot at this,
don't you think

you should show her
it'll be different this time?

I never said we were
going to give it another shot.

Yeah, well, you didn't have to.
Your face did it for you.

- [sighs] It's more complicated than that.
- Of course it's complicated.

Relationships are complicated,
and it's okay to be scared, but...

I'm being cautious. Not the same.

And you know what?
I really don't wanna talk about this now.

Fine, I'll back off.

Just don't want you
to be so cautious that you blow it.

Again.

[Daphne] Hey, guys, over here.

- Did you find something inside here, Daph?
- No, but look at these tires.

They're caked in asphalt.

Earlier when I was going around
getting the traffic cam footage

near Declan's apartment,
there was a street nearby getting repaved.

- This car could have been there.
- [Karadec] Good eye.

I'll run the license plate
and maybe we'll...

- [car alarm blaring]
- Whoops.

[blaring continues]

Hey, I like your shirt.
You work for Jubilee Games?

- Uh…
- Okay, can you turn this off?

It's not my car.

You just like to run toward car alarms?

Can you do me a favor
and click the button on your key fob?

See what happens?

[car alarm chirps]

- Thanks.
- Would you mind opening the trunk as well?

Assuming we're correct,
Declan Harker's laptop should be inside.

Look at that.

Can we talk somewhere private?

I'm a senior game developer.

My focus is analyzing player tactics.

Declan was one of the top players
on our esports team when he was active.

So, you took Declan's laptop
to analyze the data?

That's not why at all.

Then explain it to us, including how
he ended up dead just after you took it.

Declan's dead?

Declan's neighbors said that they heard
yelling at his apartment last night.

What were you two fighting about?

Hmm. Maybe something to do with
the 100 grand in crypto he had?

All of his passwords
to access it are on here.

That's 100,000 reasons to steal a laptop.

I'm guessing as a senior game developer,

you knew exactly how much
he was making, right?

I took Declan's laptop to help him.

He wasn't just playing Battle Dynasty for
the money or because he loved the game.

- He was addicted.
- Addicted? To a video game?

- Absolutely.
- [Morgan] Oh, yeah.

Games light up your dopamine receptors
just like any other addiction.

And I saw it happening
because I had access to his data.

His play had fallen off
and become erratic.

- He wasn't himself.
- So, you helped him quit?

I was hoping it would just be temporary,
that he'd get better and come back.

But after seeing him in person,
I could tell that he was suffering.

He had lost a lot of weight,

wasn't eating or sleeping,
refused to leave his apartment.

I knew the folks at Gamers Anonymous,
so I got him in.

That was a year ago?

That's when Declan got rid of his rig
and ghosted Adity.

Well, that makes sense
why you didn't wanna talk to us.

I doubt your bosses would love finding out
you were helping a valuable player quit.

It's worse than that.

Declan had started
helping other gamers quit.

If Declan was so committed to the cause,
why did he start playing again?

'Cause that's what addicts do.

I was furious when I found out
that he had relapsed.

That's why I went over there last night

and that's why I took his laptop,
to stop him again.

- What time was this?
- Around 2:00 a.m.

I was there for maybe an hour.

Well, that would have put you
at his place before the food delivery.

Did the two of you have
a physical altercation?

No, we just talked.

He was trying to convince me
that he had a handle on things

and that he just needed
to finish one mission.

What was the mission?

It's hard to say.
There's thousands in the game.

Are there any that involve
killing the same player over and over?

Why?

- Was he doing that?
- According to Declan, he was.

And he thinks that's the person
that showed up to kill him.

So, you have no idea
who that player might be?

No.

But I can help you find out.

ME is still trying to ID the toxin.

They say it must be
something pretty exotic.

[game character grunts]

Didn't realize I was the only one working.

You're not.

They were about to explain to me
what they found.

The guy from Jubilee Games sent over
Declan's play history from the last month.

Declan's the knight
using the name Beast-Slayer.

And just like he said, he keeps killing
the same orc over and over and over again.

Poor guy.

And we know it's always the same orc, how?

Well, players can customize
their characters.

Their outfits, weapons, even their faces.

According to the chat,
that orc is Drednog.

[Daphne] And he was pissed.

He sent a slew of messages telling Declan
to stop spawn camping

and that he'd get payback.

He even threatened to
come after him with a gun.

Declan wasn't killed with a gun.
He was poisoned.

That's one of our questions
when we find the guy.

But for now, strange as it is to say it,
we have a suspect.

[game character growls]

Drednog the orc.

I sent Morgan home.
We're not finding our orc tonight.

- You don't hear that every day.
- [laughs]

Game company couldn't help, huh?

The user information
on the account was fake.

Gamers do that so they can play
under multiple names.

From the guy's in-game chats,
it sounds like he plays at cybercafes.

So, we're running that down
and we'll hit it fresh in the morning.

Hey, I'm okay
if you're not on time tomorrow.

This again?

If by that you mean,
do I want you to be happy? Then, yes.

Have you given it any more thought?

People act like I had a choice with Lucia.

Yes, I broke it off.
Look what time I'm getting out of here.

Why would I restart something if the same
problem's just gonna come up again?

You get out of here two hours earlier
than you used to.

- Thanks, by the way, to your new partner.
- [scoffs]

Plus, it's possible
you're just different now.

So you agree with Morgan.
I should risk hurting Lucia again.

You mean Lucia and yourself.

I get it.

I made the same mistakes with Hector
when the girls were young.

You remember, after the divorce,

how it took years for them
to even talk to me again?

You have a choice.

Plenty of cops make it work.
I'm not saying it's gonna be easy.

I'm just saying that it's possible.

You have two people who care about you
telling you the same thing.

Consider it.

- Good night.
- Good night.

[sighs]

- [game music plays]
- [roaring, shouting]

- Hey, what are you doing in here?
- Nothing?

[scoffs]

Okay. For starters, you don't have
to hide things from me, okay?

Whatever it is, the worst thing that
happens is we talk about it, right?

Second of all, if you're gonna hide things
from me, be better at it. Come on.

- You play Battle Dynasty?
- Do you know it?

I'm familiar. How often do you play this?

Not too much. I see it as a mental sorbet.

A palate cleanse before bed.

Okay. Then why were you hiding it?

Bedtime is bedtime for a reason.
I didn't wanna upset you.

Well, buddy, I'm gonna feel what I feel,

but it's gonna feel worse if I think
you're hiding things from me.

- I'm sorry.
- No, that's okay.

Just wanna make sure we can talk
about stuff like this, you know?

You and I have brains
that obsess over things.

So, certain video games can be kinda
dangerous 'cause they sort of take over.

I know.

Okay. So, this guy
with the staff, is that you?

Mm-hmm. I'm a wizard.
I'm hiding from those goblins.

I cast a spell on them,
and now they're trying to find me.

Mm-hmm. In the chat,

why is that person
talking about planting you?

- Is that a threat?
- It is, but not in the way you think.

He probably wrote, "Farm me," which
does mean kill me, but only for my gold.

It's transactional, not personal.

Well, if he wrote "farm,"
then why did it say "plant"?

Right now, I'm playing against people
all over the world

and the chats are
automatically translated into English.

It's called localization, but sometimes
the translation makes mistakes.

[Daphne] He even threatened to
come after him with a gun.

Interesting.

Well, bedtime is bedtime for a reason.
Get in there.

Hey.

- I love you.
- I love you.

Can I have it back tomorrow?

Oh, shoot, I'm already outside your room,
so I couldn't hear that. Good night.

Guys, it's teppo.

- Who's teppo?
- No, what's teppo?

I figured something out. Actually,
I figured a couple of things out.

Do you know that 12.6 million people
play Battle Dynasty every single day?

Sadly, one of those people is my son,
but because of that,

I learned that the game's chat translator
isn't always that reliable.

Still not clear on what that is.

Teppo is a Japanese word
that has two different meanings.

- I'm guessing one of them is "gun."
- Mm-hmm.

That's right. But teppo
can also translate to "puffer fish."

Okay. How is "gun"
the same word as "puffer fish"?

That's a great question.
It actually is a nickname for puffer fish.

Teppo ni ataru.

It means "poison cannon."
And how adorable is that?

We should be calling them that
from now on.

So, when the guy threatened Declan
in the chat, he wasn't saying "gun."

- He was saying "puffer fish toxin."
- That's right.

Which is why the lab had
so much trouble identifying it.

I just came from the lab.
I told them what to test for.

And sure enough, Declan Harker
was poisoned with puffer fish toxin.

And it says here
it's more potent than cyanide.

One drop causes hallucination,
vomiting, paralysis, death.

Declan was a goner even without that car.

Can't believe people pay to eat that.

I have. It's safe.

Yeah, it can be safe
as long as your sushi chef

isn't actively trying to kill you.

[Morgan]
The two-year training is rigorous.

Before you ever hold a knife,
you must master the knowledge.

Know where the poison hides.
Only then can you learn to remove it.

After that, you face the test.

A live performance of your skills
before an expert.

The cuts have to be precise,
the plating impeccable.

If even a speck of blood remains,

you fail,
and you have to start all over again.

Until you finally get it just right,
and you pass the test.

If the certification is that hard,

must only be a handful of chefs
in town who serve it.

Are you inviting me out to sushi?

[Karadec] Excuse me.

[chef] Do you have questions?

Yes, uh, we're looking for something
pretty rare.

For a special occasion?

Yes. As a matter of fact,
it's our anniversary.

Nope. We saw online that you serve
something called puffer fish.

[chuckles] Very special.

Only a dozen chefs in the US
are licensed to serve it.

That's right. Would you believe three
of them are right here in Los Angeles?

Which is why we came to you.

A man was recently murdered using puffer
fish toxin after being threatened online.

The person said their dad
had puffer fish he could use.

And those three chefs in LA?

One place is closed for renovation,

one's a childless 80-year-old man,
and then there's you.

Any chance you have a kid
who has access to your fish, sir?

I have two sons,
but what you're suggesting is impossible.

Because?

Because there is a very careful process
for handling the toxin.

All the parts that I cut away,
the liver, the ovaries, the skin,

I keep in a locked container
until it's disposed of.

This is the law,
and I follow it to the letter.

Hmm. Mind showing us?

Of course.

Only I have the key,
and I take this matter very seriously.

Even on the chance that someone
gets sick, I keep remedies on hand.

Is that your son?

One of them. Jin, my apprentice.

Do you recognize that kid?

There's a poster of that kid
up at the video game company.

He's wearing different clothes
and he had shorter hair,

but that's definitely him.

What do you mean, video games?

The threats we mentioned
were made in a video game chat.

My other son, Ryo, plays the video games.

But I still say
he couldn't have gotten the toxin.

They're twins.

I swear to you,
he didn't do what you said.

Please. Help him.

I brought Ryo and Jin here from Osaka

when they were young,
after their mother and I divorced.

Jin has always been good
in school and sports.

He works hard and takes an interest
in the family business.

It has always been harder with Ryo.

He doesn't listen.

Only cares about his games.

I feel like… [sighs]
…I lost him to them years ago.

That's gotta be really hard.

[sighs] But I love both my boys.

And I have always tried to do
what's best for them.

We're sure that's true.

But we still have to consider
the possibility

that Ryo got his hands on some toxin
and used it to harm Declan Harker.

We'll do everything we can
to bring him in safely,

but for that to happen,
he has to cooperate.

- We're gonna need your help.
- Do you know where he is?

[speaking Japanese]

[speaks Japanese]

Jin, these people are from the police.
They need to speak to Ryo.

Do you know where he is?

Uh, he doesn't tell me anything.

Um, probably gaming somewhere?

What about two nights ago?
Do you know where he was then?

It's all right. They want to help.

I don't know. I think he went out.

[sighs] I'm sorry.

It's okay. Thank you.

[speaks Japanese]

[Jin speaks Japanese]

- Excuse me.
- [Karadec] Mm-hmm.

I'll let you know if I hear from Ryo.

Raising two teenage boys with no mom?

- That can't be easy.
- Mm-hmm.

Was it just me, or did that photo album
look like Dad has a favorite son?

His hand on Jin's shoulder,
looks like he's proud of him.

Ryo, not so much.

Yeah, or Ryo's a moody teenager who
doesn't wanna take pictures with his dad.

[phone buzzing]

Who you getting a text from?

I'm getting a text from our lieutenant.

It says she wants to show us something
on Declan's laptop.

I'll have Daphne and Oz look for Ryo.
We know the cafés he logs in from.

And we know exactly what he looks like.

[video game music plays]

[Oz] It's 2:30 on a Wednesday.

- Shouldn't these kids be at school?
- [Daphne scoffs] Okay, Dad.

I'm just saying it's hard to imagine

throwing your whole life away
for a video game.

I don't know. I sunk many hours
into NBA Jam, and I turned out okay.

Mmm. Jury's still out on that.

[Oz chuckles]

Hey.

- [Daphne] Uh, excuse me, Ryo?
- Mm-hmm.

[keyboard clicking]

Hey. Drednog.

LAPD. We need to chat.

- Once I destroy this nexus.
- Mm-hmm. Is this you?

A lot of people play as orcs.

Yeah, but Drednog is your username, right?
Well, one of them.

Does the name Declan Harker mean anything?

Beast-Slayer?

Everyone knows him online.

Yeah, not as good as you, right?

Declan was trolling you, spawn camped you,

killed your character over and over.

Got under your skin so much that
you threatened to kill him in real life.

Am I ringing any bells?

We'll refresh your memory
at the station. Come on.

[Daphne] Let's go.

[speaking Japanese]

Mr. Yasuda. His son, Ryo.
This is my boss, Lieutenant Soto.

We appreciate you cooperating
with the investigation.

Of course.

We just want to clear all this up.

I still believe my son is innocent.

I didn't even know Declan in real life.

You said yourself there are
other restaurants that serve puffer fish.

The man's death you described… [sighs]
…is terrible, but my son's right.

You have no real way to connect him to it.

Well, that may or may not be true.

Ryo, you mind if we take a look
at your fingers, please?

Our team found blood at the scene
we believe belongs to the killer.

That cut proves nothing.
I own a restaurant.

My boys cut fingers all the time.

Maybe, but this is a court order
compelling Ryo to provide a DNA sample.

Whether or not we can connect him
to the murder remains to be seen.

But before we get to that,
we can connect you to the victim.

That's how we got the court order.

Declan Harker had $100,000 of crypto
on his computer.

Now, people think that crypto's anonymous,
but they're wrong.

It's actually even more easily traceable
than regular money

because it only exists
as computer transactions.

And the crypto we found
on Declan's computer

traced back to you.

- What are they talking about?
- [speaks Japanese]

You see,
Declan wasn't trolling you just for fun.

He was paid to kill you repeatedly.

By your father.

[Karadec] We're guessing because
he was trying to get you to quit gaming.

If Declan made the experience
miserable enough,

you might end up giving it up on your own.

You have to understand,
I tried everything.

Now, that we believe.

We wrestled with how you met Declan,

but then we started thinking about
Gamers Anonymous.

Yeah, maybe you were trying
to get Ryo to go to a meeting.

Maybe he refused,
but you ended up going to one anyway.

And that's how you met Declan
about a month ago,

right before he started playing again.

Declan understood
what I was seeing in Ryo.

How he wasn't sleeping.

He stopped going to school.

Some nights, Ryo didn't even come home.

I asked Declan to help.

[Karadec]
But instead, it made things worse.

Ryo got fed up and he retaliated.

See, he knew from the in-game chats
that Declan

typically took a food break
around 4:00 a.m.

He even mentioned Teter's Tacos.

It's a popular joint
with the late-night gaming crowd.

And we have a receipt
from the night Declan died.

Maybe Ryo followed the delivery guy
to Declan's apartment,

waited for him to leave

before slipping puffer fish poison
into his burrito.

[sighs]

[both speaking Japanese]

Gentlemen, I think we're done here.

- [both breathing heavily]
- [Selena] Just one more thing.

We're gonna need
that DNA sample from you, Ryo.

Hey.

- Still waiting on Ryo's DNA test results?
- Yeah. Lab's fast-tracking it.

We're letting the dad wait with him
down in holding.

He's just a kid.

Can you imagine?

One of my kids killing someone? [scoffs]

This will sound worse than I mean,
but I worry about it all the time.

Not because of my girls.

Just occupational hazard.

Yeah, I get it.
This job gets in your head.

I'll throw you a tougher one.

What about what the dad did?
You ever see yourself going that far?

For my kids? Have you met me?

[snickers]

Lab results.

- Is it what we expected?
- Actually, no.

The blood on the scene wasn't Ryo's?

The lab said it's a very close
familial match, as in 90% close.

Uh, it doesn't get much closer than twins.

Ryo didn't kill Declan.

Jin did.

BOLO's out for Jin.

We've got unis canvassing the neighborhood
and posted at Union Station.

I sent Fogel and McNeil
to the house with the dad.

They said Jin's not there
and his bicycle's missing.

- We checked the dad's restaurant?
- Unis are posted there.

- Jin hasn't shown up.
- He's not at school.

[Selena] What about friends?

- [phone buzzing]
- Guys, it's Jin.

All right, everybody, quiet.
Hold the work.

Put it on speaker. We have to try
and convince him to come in.

[buzzing continues]

[Jin breathing shakily]

Jin?

[breathing heavily] I messed up, Ryo.

I messed up real bad.

Jin, this is Lieutenant Soto
with the police.

Everyone is looking for you.

Your dad and your brother
are worried about you.

Why don't you tell us where you are
and we can send a car to pick you up?

We wanna hear your side.

[Jin] It's my fault. [breathing shakily]

I left the poison.

Now that guy's dead because of me.

I thought that's what you wanted me to do.

Hey, it's all right, man. [chuckles]

The cops, they understand.
They wanna help.

Jin, you're young.
No one wants you to go away forever.

This can go easier
if you tell us where you are.

I love you, Ryo.

Tell Dad to forgive me.

[line beeps]

Ryo, is there any place that you know Jin
might go if he planned to hurt himself?

Uh…

Our dad, he was always tough on us.

When Jin and I needed
to get away from him, we'd…

we'd go to the Hollywood Reservoir,

and we'd just sit on the walkway. Um…

He would threaten sometimes to… [sighs]

I'll radio nearest units to get out there.

Take Oz and Daphne with you.

- And have the dad meet you there.
- Can I go?

- I can help. I can try to talk him down.
- You know what?

Why don't you stay here with me
and let the cops do their job, okay?

They'll bring your brother back.

[whirring, beeping]

[machine beeping]

[rattles, beeps]

I got it.

You just gotta be bossy.

Thanks.

They'll call with news soon.

- Hanging in there?
- [breathes deeply] Yeah.

This is Jin's favorite.

He'd sneak it into the restaurant
when Dad wasn't looking.

- You serious?
- [chuckles]

Sounds like he wasn't
a perfect son after all.

Let's go get you some real food.

Help yourself. Anything you want.

Can I ask you a question?

You and Jin looked really close
in all those pictures I saw,

but it doesn't seem like
you hang out at all anymore.

What happened?

We became two different people.

Jin was wrong about
all this being his fault.

It's mine.

I told him what Declan was doing to me,
and he saw how Battle Dynasty

was the only place
where I felt like I belonged.

Like I could be myself.

I see.

That must have been upsetting
when Declan was killing you over and over

in the game.

Yeah.

It felt real.

- I'm sorry. This sounds so stupid.
- Oh.

- It's-It's okay.
- Damn it.

- I'll just get some paper towels.
- I'm so sorry.

It's all right. Listen, it's okay.

It's gonna be okay.

Morgan!

Give me a second, okay?

[Selena] It's Adam.

Morgan's here.

Did you find him?

Just his bike. His dad spotted it.
Right in the center of the walkway.

Oh, no.

Oz and Daphne are down below
with the divers, getting started.

Chances of finding him alive aren't good.

Where's Ryo?

Adam, we'll call you back.

Did anybody see where the kid
I was just talking to went?

Okay, this is feeling like
more than just a teenager wandering off.

Yeah. Why was he drinking almond milk?

Lactose intolerance, food allergies?

Food allergies.
And I also saw a birthmark on his arm.

And this is important why?

I don't think we're gonna find Jin's body.

You think he staged his suicide,
and Ryo's gone to meet him?

Mm-mmm. No, what I'm suggesting is
way more out there. Just bear with me.

Okay, I learned about this
in Mr. Cooper's ninth-grade bio class.

Sometimes, no one really knows how often,
a pregnancy can start out as twins,

but then one embryo absorbs the other,

and only one baby makes it to term.

But since, in those early stages,

there were two separate embryos
with two sets of DNA,

the baby that's born has
both sets of DNA its whole life.

Mr. Cooper was boring as hell,
but a two-in-one baby? Very cool.

It's called chimerism
after the mythological beast, the chimera,

which is a mash-up of different animals.

Only in human chimeras,
it's a mash-up of different people,

resulting in patches of skin
being different from the rest,

sometimes two different eye colors,

food allergies because the body is
constantly attacking itself.

And blood that's got
different DNA than a cheek swab.

Right. I don't even think that Ryo
and his dad knew about that one.

I bet they thought that
we were about to match Ryo's DNA

with the crime scene, and they thought
they caught a lucky break.

Morgan, this doesn't make sense.

You just brought back a photo album of
both boys going back their whole lives.

- You've even met the two brothers.
- Did I?

Have we seen Ryo and Jin
in the same room at the same time?

Hold on. Are you saying…

We just got played by a desperate father
and a son who are trying to pin a murder…

On a brother that doesn't exist.

[Karadec] We retrieved your photo album
and had our techs analyze these photos.

They've all been digitally doctored.

One boy or another added
to the photo after the fact.

The techs also had a sense of when
these photos were doctored.

You've been doing this Ryo's whole life.

Having him dress as Jin, pose as Jin,
be Jin to work at your restaurant.

[chuckles] That's absurd.

I cleaned up some photos.

But that doesn't mean what you say.

Why are you holding me?

I just lost my son.

I need to grieve.

It's true that you are grieving.

But you didn't just lose your son.

You've been grieving him for 17 years.

We spoke with your ex-wife in Osaka.

She told us how happy you were
when you found out you were having twins

and how devastated you both were
when one of them didn't make it.

And how that grief led to divorce,
and how you blamed the son who survived.

Ryo's whole life,

every time he disappointed you,
stepped out of line,

you reminded him
that you wished he was Jin.

So, Ryo turned to gaming,

where he could be free of your criticism
and your control and finally be himself.

That's why when you had Declan
kill him over and over in the game,

he went crazy
and he did something drastic.

Early yesterday morning,

you saw that someone
had gotten into the puffer fish toxin,

and you knew right away
who took it and why.

You said yourself
you keep a remedy on hand.

You're the one who
gave Declan the charcoal.

I didn't want my son to be a murderer.

Problem is, you were too late.
Declan was already too far gone.

- Take it!
- [groans]

[Karadec] He fought you.

In the ensuing scuffle,
fell through the glass sliding door,

- cutting his feet.
- [Yasuda] Declan!

You tried to catch him,
but he ran into the street.

[tires screech]

- [gasps, pants]
- [Karadec] You couldn't save him.

So you focused on saving your son.

You knew the police
would identify the toxin,

and from there, we would get to Ryo.

Ryo.

So, after years of wishing
that one son was the other,

you decided to make it official.

Ryo had to disappear. For good.

That's how we met you
and Jin at your restaurant.

Then Ryo disobeyed you, went back to
the cybercafe, where we picked him up.

That's when he found out that
you betrayed him by hiring Declan.

When the DNA came back, you must
have been just as surprised as we were

that it wasn't a match for Ryo,
so now the plan changed.

Once we were looking for Jin,
we couldn't keep eyes on you every second.

You had Ryo make a recording as Jin, you
changed your own name to Jin in his phone

and made it seem like he was
calling to confess

when really it was just you playing
that recording on the other end.

Then you went looking for Jin with us,

hoping we'd buy that
he'd taken his own life.

Ryo's and your phone records
have confirmed this.

The one thing you had to have help with
was planting the bike at the reservoir.

Your phone gave that away too.

You called your sous-chef
from the station,

and he did it for you.

Sous-chef's already cooperating.

We picked up Ryo an hour ago,
hiding in his basement.

All I ever wanted to do was…

what's best for my son.

We know that.

Ryo is a minor
and the circumstances are extreme.

So if you both cooperate fully,
he can still have a life.

[breathes deeply]

Right now,
this is the best way you can help him.

Ryo…

[speaks Japanese]

[speaks Japanese]

[speaks Japanese, sniffles]

- [speaking Japanese, sobs]
- [breathing shakily]

♪ I’d like to start off with I’m sorry ♪

♪ You were right, you often are ♪

♪ I was too afraid to face you ♪

♪ But I trust you know my heart ♪

[Karadec] The elf is Declan's ex, Adity.

She staged a funeral for him in game.

That's really sweet.

I guess we all grieve in our own ways.

Hey.

You okay?

Yeah, I'm just excited
to get home to my kids.

Oh, speaking of exes…

Hi, I'm looking for Adam Karadec.

You know,
I thought about what you and Selena said.

As usual, you were right.

I'm gonna give this another shot.

I have to show her
it's gonna be different.

- Hi, I'm Morgan. I work with this guy.
- Hey.

Hi, I'm Lucia.

But something
tells me you already knew that.

Mm-hmm. I've done a little digging around.

- Oh.
- You know, we have a dinner reservation.

I know, but I just have
a couple of questions for Lucia.

- Yeah, but we can't be late. So…
- He's never late.

Oh, yeah? He was late for you yesterday.

- And we're leaving.
- Oh.

- It was really nice to meet you, Morgan.
- Nice to meet you too.

Hey, Karadec.

Have fun.

♪ I can’t find myself until you’re gone ♪

[♪ song ends]