Original subtitles

Previously on RJ Decker. I didn't do it.

I would never have done it.

Amelia Ochoa was arrested for murder earlier this week. But with today's

stunning development, all charges against Ms. Ochoa have been dropped.

If you asked me 15 years ago what I wanted to do with my life, I would have

told you I wanted to help people.

I just need to, I don't know.

Trying to find that version of myself again. Who's Trudy? Trudy is this cute

CSU tech Uncle RJ is trying to vibe with.

I met your friend Trudy. Pass that girl out. She likes you.

Growing up in a funeral home, you... develop a high comfort level for gross.

For gross?

Yeah, gross.

It's part of what steered me to the crime scene unit, obviously. Right.

Yeah. You okay?

No, I'm just thinking you do have a comfort level with a lot of things.

And, you know, for a guy who spent time in prison, you surprisingly don't.

You know about that?

It's the other reason I wanted to work CSU. You know, I could request

background checks.

I'm kidding.

Are you having a good time?

I'm having a great time. Yeah, me too. I am, really.

It's just, it's a lot going on here.

It's a funny place for a first date, given all the distractions.

But, no, I'm having a great time. Well, if you think it's distracting now, wait

for feeding time. I mean, they dump chum in from the top, and it gets all bloody.

So you're just going to keep on messing with me, huh?

I'll stop.

Someday. Probably.

You know, I really don't feel threatened by mermaids.

I can do things they can't.

What, like walk?

Sure. That's what I meant. Walk.

Mm-hmm.

Oh. Sorry.

Oh.

Uh... Damn it, I'm sorry. I have to go. Right now? Yeah, the evidence fridge

lost power. The backup generator is on the fritz. And I need to move the

samples before they're toast. I'm sorry.

Oh, it's okay. Do you need help?

Oh, points for chivalry.

Actually, more points for wanting to move our date to a walk-in fridge filled

with yuck. But yeah, you're not authorized to maintain the chain of

custody. So thank you, though. But you stay. Stay. Enjoy yourself. Come on. I

think she likes you.

Everything is ruined.

Blair, I know you're upset, but we can still make the best of this, right? I

mean, today isn't about the weather. Have you looked outside?

The photos are going to be terrible.

What am I supposed to do with this?

We might as well not even get married.

I wouldn't go that far.

No. Ava promised us a hurricane.

This one's guaranteed to hit, she said. It didn't say guaranteed.

Whatever!

90%. And, by the way, if you guys can be that wrong, what are you even studying?

It's a little more complicated than that. No, it's simple.

Ava promised me a hurricane, and I promised my followers a hurricane

wedding. Dramatic photos, pounding rain, dark, angry skies.

That sky is so pleasant, I could puke.

Where are you going?

To find Ava.

Hurricane Matilda.

Hurricane Matilda.

Guys. Guys. Guys.

What are you doing? Well, Matilda's a no-show, so we're officially calling

this a no-hurricane party.

That's right. Whatever life throws at you, dude, you gotta make lemonade.

You know what I'm saying?

Okay. I'm glad you're having a good time.

Let's cool it on the no-hurricane talk, okay?

Blair's a little touchy about that right now.

And maybe it's time to cut Patrick off?

Hey, I Ubered.

Have you guys seen Ava? I saw her car outside so she's around here somewhere.

I need to find her before Blair does.

You've reached Ava. Leave a message.

Thanks for meeting me. It was so good to hear from you.

The last time I saw you was Professor Holt's retirement party three or four

years ago.

I thought we were going to have to cancel.

I was bracing for a hurricane.

Yeah, you and the whole coastline. We got lucky. Yes, we did.

Thank you.

I really appreciated your message when I was going through everything.

I'd have offered to do more, but I heard you were with Balmer, Sims, and

Gutierrez, so... I was in good hands. The best.

What?

Just wondering when you got so modest.

I remember you saying back in law school you were going to be the scariest

flipping defense attorney in Florida.

Only you didn't say flipping. I am pretty scary.

To a prosecutor, yes.

To someone who held your hair after you were over-served at Finney's Tavern one

night.

You and that steel trap that you call a break.

Glad I never had to face off against you in a courtroom.

Reason I called you?

is because my firm and I were wondering if you could help with the case.

Someone we believe was falsely accused, like yourself.

You know I haven't practiced in years, right? We were thinking you might help

in a different capacity.

You know the kind of clients we usually represent?

People who can't afford Bombersons and Gutierrez. People without your cachet.

People without your connections.

People who the media aren't so kind to.

You have become the face of how the system can get it wrong.

Or at least you could become the face.

So you're thinking if I show up at a press conference or two, help draw

attention to your client's case... You might get a fair shake.

I'd have to think about it. Not to mention learn about the case.

I'd expect nothing less.

His name is Gabriel Romero. Look it over. If there's anything more you want

to know, just ask.

Can I see?

Okay,

so that's Ava, the victim. We paired up as research partners a lot. There you

go. In meteorology, right?

Not exactly, but close.

She was atmospheric science. I'm environmental engineering.

We tested things like how roof shingles will hold up in extreme wind.

How would you do that?

You blast extreme wind at them. Yeah, makes sense.

So can I ask why you're hiring a PI?

I mean, I talked to a friend with the FLPD.

They're already treating Ava's case as a homicide.

I don't mean to be disrespectful to your friend, but statistically, about 40% of

homicides go unsolved.

I don't want that to happen to Ava.

I'm hoping you can improve those odds.

And are you aware of the condition the body was found in? I mean, it sounds

like she was beaten pretty badly.

Anybody in her life that maybe had a bad temper or maybe a boyfriend that she

shouldn't have been with?

She didn't have a boyfriend.

But you could ask Heather.

That's her old roommate. She might know something I don't.

Were they close?

Kind of the opposite. They had a falling out, and then Heather moved into her own

place.

Oh, God.

You don't think Heather could have had something to do with it, do you?

Hey.

Welcome.

Thanks.

Touch anything that calls to you.

Except Kevin.

The cat?

He's here somewhere.

We honor his autonomy.

Of course.

You feel to me like a seeker.

Oh, well, I am looking for some answers.

You're Heather, right?

I'm R.J. Decker. I'm a private investigator. I'd like to ask you a few

questions about your ex-roommate.

Ava Kwan.

What's she saying I did now?

Well, she's not saying much of anything.

She was killed yesterday.

Sorry, it's just a lot to take in.

Do you mind telling me where you were yesterday afternoon between, say, three

and six?

What, you think I killed her?

I wouldn't call you a strong suspect, but I have to ask.

Ava's classmate, Sloan, she got the impression you guys didn't get along.

She said you moved out.

I was right here working.

Security cameras will show it.

As for me moving out, I'm pretty sure that's what Ava wanted.

She kept making up things to be upset about. I left the shower head wrong. I

parked in her parking space.

Said I stole a pair of earrings.

And none of that was true?

I think she just wanted to live alone, so I gave her what she wanted.

I can show you the texts.

Huh.

Uh, what?

The wedding you said Ava was killed at? Uh-huh. The bride, Blair, she started a

group text with all the guests.

I stopped paying attention because I didn't go.

Today she's on it.

Asking people to erase those things I said yesterday about Ava. Better if the

cops don't see that.

Okay, sorry.

What exactly did she say? I'm looking.

It was supposed to be this whole storm chaser wedding. The wedding was only a

go because Ava was positive that the hurricane was coming.

What? When the hurricane didn't come, Blair was pissed.

At Ava. Sorry. She was upset her wedding wasn't going to get rained on?

It's not what brides usually want, but still, people don't tend to kill over

the weather.

You sure about that?

Because those texts that Blair's asking people to delete before the cops see

them?

They literally say she's going to kill her.

I barely knew Ava.

I didn't even like her. You're not doing yourself any favors leading with that.

I just mean Ava was Ryan's friend.

One of his weather nerds. They're all supposed to be experts, which is why I

believed her when she said the hurricane was coming.

One of your friends was kind enough to share with us a few messages you sent

Ava yesterday.

You have no idea what you've cost me. I'm going to make you pay for this. The

minute I find you, I'm going to kill you.

I can see why you wanted people to delete those. I wanted them deleted so I

wouldn't look like a murder suspect.

Funny how trying to destroy evidence can backfire that way. I was exaggerating.

Would I have texted all of that if I did kill her?

Why were you so angry?

You didn't get your storm chaser wedding.

So what?

If you're not an influencer, you wouldn't understand.

Try me.

I spent years building a following, and I finally landed a top adventure brand,

Arctic Mountain.

And not just free products and an affiliate code, a real contract.

How much money are we talking? Depending on performance, a lot.

I promised my followers a wedding straight out of a disaster movie.

And instead, I got sunshine and butterflies and I looked like an idiot.

A few of the people I already interviewed, they all lost track of you

right before Eva's body was discovered.

You run off somewhere?

Well, yeah.

I was moping.

Look. That was taken right before the day was ruined.

Look at that dress.

These nails.

Do you honestly think I went outside and that I beat someone to death?

Because if you do, you should talk to the cops who got to the house first and

ask them if I had a single hair out of place.

It sucks that someone killed Ava, but it wasn't me.

Hey.

Some water.

Your fiancée, she's pretty animated, huh?

Yeah, I'd say animated is sort of her default setting.

But like I said, she didn't kill Ava. She was just mad at her about the mix-up

with the hurricane.

You weren't?

No, it wasn't Ava's fault.

Can I show you something?

Yeah.

Two nights ago, a little after midnight, Ava sent us this. Took it off the site

for the National Hurricane Center. They're the source for things like this.

Right. I mean, I see that's a hurricane, but so what? What am I missing?

This map showed Matilda was over the Abaco Islands.

They're part of the Bahamas, about 180 miles east of Florida.

Along with the high-pressure ridge that forced the storm west.

If a hurricane hits the Abacos, it's basically a lock to hit here. There's

nowhere else for it to go. That's why Ava jumped the gun. The thing is, this

map is wrong. Wrong? Wrong how?

I mean, storms change course all the time. They don't unhit an island.

This is the map that's up now.

It doesn't just say the storm changed course. It says Matilda never hit the

Abacus. So, sorry, the first map, the one that Ava saw, it showed something

that never happened?

How does the National Hurricane Center make a mistake like that?

I have no idea, but as mistakes go, it was colossal.

All of Florida woke up yesterday to the news that the hurricane turned, right?

But you must have missed it somehow.

I mean, if you hadn't, you wouldn't have gone ahead with the wedding prep, right?

It's just you and your friends.

You're literally students of the weather. How is it you didn't know the

latest?

I did.

Ava called me early yesterday and told me the storm wasn't coming.

She'd seen the new map.

But by then, Blair was already doing Blair. I just, I couldn't bring myself

to tell her.

And I thought that the us getting married part was more important than the

getting pics for her followers.

I guess I was wrong.

Wedding's on hold to the next hurricane.

I see.

What time did you talk to Ava?

Around 9 a.m. She told me she was heading down to the NHC in Miami.

She wanted to complain about the map in person. She was ticked.

How ticked?

Yeah, okay. I got it. Thank you so much.

Those two ain't gonna make it. Well, you never know. Love is weird.

You're weird.

What'd you think of the bride?

Didn't like her, as a person or a suspect.

Which is unfortunate, because so far, none of the wedding guests I've talked

to had a reason to hurt Ava, let alone beat her to death.

What if it wasn't a wedding guest?

You know how the bride was ticked at Ava for getting the forecast wrong?

Well, according to the groom, Ava was ticked at the National Hurricane Center.

He said she went down there yesterday to try to get someone fired for posting bad

information. You know if she succeeded? Yeah, a guy named Cody Janzik just got

shown the door.

What do you say? You want a road trip to Miami?

Oof, I can't. I got a dozen more wedding guests coming in to be interviewed.

Plus, I'm waiting on the Emmy's report.

But I have it on good authority. We're still not getting a hurricane, so have a

nice drive.

Hey, hey.

30 minutes? Are you serious?

Like I told you, best pastelitos this side of Havana. They're not just Kayla's

favorite. They're everyone's. But the guy that came down here to talk to you

could be in Havana by now.

Ah, karma wouldn't do that to you.

What? You just helped a friend inch that much closer than went in the heart of

his would-be woman. No, you did right by me.

Universal did right by you.

Eventually. Eventually.

Yeah. Speaking of would-be women, you still haven't told me how your date with

Trudy went yet.

Yeah, it was fine.

No, no, no, no. Don't give me no fine wish. Want some dish, son?

Of course, unless it went, you know, real bad.

No, it wasn't bad.

It was just hard to settle in. I was just, I was in my head. I was

overthinking things. It just made me wonder if a second date made much sense.

That's all.

Arch, it's rust.

You ain't been on a real date in what, years?

You married Catherine, an unmarried Catherine, then you went to prison where

if memory serves, no dates.

Then you got out and you gave everything you had to your new business.

I think you might be forgetting someone.

Amy, don't count that.

That wasn't dating. Honestly, I don't know what that was.

Did y'all kiss?

Come on, what didn't we do?

No, not Amy. You intrigued me. No, she had a work thing that came up. She had

to split. Well, then trust your boy.

Book that second day. Get that first kiss.

Then see how in your head you are.

Okay.

I look like a man who just cleaned out his office. Do you?

All right.

I'm going to play this.

You stay here. You watch your pastries. If he needs any romantic advice, I'll

give you a signal.

Cody Janzyk?

Hey, how you doing?

I'm RJ Decker. I'm a private investigator.

I was hoping I could ask you a few questions about Ava Kwan.

Who? Ava Kwan.

Showed up at your work yesterday, got you fired for making a huge mistake with

that hurricane map.

Right. Sorry, yeah, they never told me your name, but that map was no mistake.

Okay. Next you're gonna tell me you weren't angry you got fired, yeah?

Actually, I wasn't. Is this like some sort of HR thing or something?

The center think I'm going to sue? Because I'm totally not.

Cody, let's go.

There's these people back here.

Look, I don't mind answering any questions for you because I got nothing

to hide.

But would you mind helping me carry these around back?

Yeah, sure.

All right.

All right.

Here, just sit right here.

Sorry, you made a cake of the map that got you fired?

Yeah, no, I told you. The map was no mistake. Put it on the website on

purpose. Yeah.

Here,

grab a drink.

We're having a party.

I can't believe that girl is really dead.

Yeah, she is.

She was killed only a few hours after she made that scene at your office.

That's a bummer.

But, uh, I never even saw her. Okay, hey, hey, hey. Someone died, okay?

Can you make this cake make sense?

You said you made money when you posted the wrong map. Explain.

You know about prediction markets?

I've heard of them. It's just the latest way to dress up online gambling, yeah?

Yeah, if you're gonna dress it up like frickin' Thanos.

Like that.

Sports books are limited to sports.

Prediction markets, you can bet on anything.

Like, is this going to be the year some billionaire is going to be stranded in

outer space?

Or if a new drug trial is going to tank? Or if a missing hiker gets found alive?

So the business model is basically monetize human misery, is that right?

Human misery is going to happen anyway. You might as well cash in on it. Then

that's what you did with the hurricane.

I set up a bet.

Will Matilda hit the abacus?

And since you worked for the National Hurricane Center, you were able to fake

the results in your favor.

You posted a map of Matilda over the islands, and you collected on your bet.

Look, the truth is, I hated my job.

I was getting fired anyways.

That part I'm in trouble believing.

The game in the prediction markets was just claiming my severance package in

advance.

Yeah, but here's the thing. You still committed a crime.

Fraud. You used your position at the NHC to manipulate the markets. If a client

exposed you, you still had motive to want her dead. No, I didn't. No?

No. I gambled that the center wouldn't press charges on me because they didn't

want that type of attention.

And I was right.

They just wanted me gone.

You can set up your own little bet, if you like.

Will Cody Jancic get arrested for killing somebody? And I'm going to tell

you right now, you're going to lose.

Because I didn't.

Enjoy.

Emmy, not exactly Balmer Sims and Gutierrez, is it?

Honestly, it's inspiring.

I'll try to remember that on tough days.

Were you inspired by what you read?

Let's you and me talk.

Gabriel's already served.

Ten years of life without parole. That was the deal his public defender took to

get the death penalty off the table.

Obviously, I wouldn't have settled.

Kelly, this is tough for me to get on board with.

I respect what you're doing, but you're talking about a client who confessed to

killing a police officer. I wouldn't have approached you if I wasn't

convinced that Gabriel didn't do it.

And I'd ask you to imagine the hurdles he's up against, because everyone reacts

the way you're reacting now.

If he didn't do it, why did he confess?

He was 18.

He was exhausted. He was worn down for hours.

And he was in bad withdrawal.

Later, when he retracted the confession, the judge refused to accept it.

Do you believe he's innocent?

In my bones.

And if you knew Gabriel the way I do... Then maybe that's what I need.

To know him.

Can you arrange a visit?

Hey! eyes up when you're walking otherwise you're gonna fall down the

stairs break your neck and turn into a crime scene i mean that would be one way

to get my attention

Well, thank you for saving my life. I appreciate it. Oh, don't make it weird.

I hear you're on the dead meteorologist case. Atmospheric scientist, but yeah.

Burrito, burrata.

How's it going?

Yeah, well, I had a suspect that didn't really pan out, so now I'm thinking

maybe it wasn't personal after all. Maybe it was just a mugging gone wrong.

I just got this report on other crimes in the area the last few months. Yeah,

and? A lot of public urination.

Like a concerning amount.

And no muggings.

I'm bummed. I had to bail.

The other night. I was having such a good time.

Me too.

Would you believe, um... Yeah, I was actually a little nervous.

You know, that was my first date in a while.

Really? You were nervous?

You think I just go out with all the handsome PIs around here?

Well, you know, us handsome PI types, we don't really get nervous, so it's hard

for me to relate.

But my friend, he has this very interesting theory about how to get over

first date jitters.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, it's actually...

It's actually very effective.

I'm sorry.

Yeah. I am sorry. Tell me later. Okay.

Yeah. I'm walking in from the parking lot. You in the building? Because we

should talk.

Yeah.

Hey. Hey.

Emmy's report on Eva Korn. You need to see it.

Okay.

Blunt force, trauma, multiple impacts, broken bones, internal bleeding, so far

it's what we expected, yeah? Trust me, it isn't. Keep reading.

She had water in her lungs?

Cause of death was drowning. And that's not the half of it. They pulled debris

from her wounds.

Vegetation, building materials, and those internal injuries?

It's like they were sustained at over 100 miles an hour.

If the Emmy didn't know better, he'd say Ava Kwan died in a hurricane.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Matilda never made landfall.

This is my point.

How's somebody killed by a hurricane that never came?

They're cranking it up to 80 miles an hour now. I'm trying to be tough, but

I'm not sure how much more I can... That's how you get hurricane injuries

without a hurricane.

A hurricane simulator.

Yeah. I remember my client talking about the research she did with Ava Kwan, so I

looked into it.

Their school is a simulator just like this.

You load enough debris, you blast enough water, you can demolish a house.

You think someone used it to demolish Ava Kwan? It's a pretty elaborate way to

kill someone. I know, but it makes sense if you think a hurricane is coming.

Use a simulator to kill Ava. Dump her body outside the wedding where you know

she's expected to be. Until it takes the blame.

The simulator at your client's school. You got an address?

Detective, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it.

This group is like a family. No one here would have heard Ava, let alone lock her

in a simulator.

Well, for their sakes, I hope you're right.

Meantime, I'm going to need a list of everyone who has access to this place.

Can you put that together for me?

Of course.

I feel like I'm inside the world's biggest dishwasher.

Yeah, unfortunately, that's a pretty good analogy. One of the staff said

these fans get up to 140 miles an hour. The water gets pumped in at 1,000

gallons a minute. The whole thing goes from a breeze to a Category 4 hurricane.

Push of a button.

In other words, if the murder did happen here, all the evidence probably got

washed down the drains.

Detective, something you should see.

The store with the dent?

Recently cleaned. Both sides.

You can still smell the bleach.

But check out the vents.

That's blood.

Hair, too.

It's gotta be Ava's, right?

Our guy wiped it down, but he missed some?

If you're right.

Whatever happened to her started in here.

It ended in the simulator.

Lock this whole place down. We've got our crime scene.

I saw you on the news last month.

Everything that happened to you.

It's like we're in a club, you and me.

It must seem unfair that my situation was resolved so quickly.

No, ma'am, I don't think that way.

You didn't do what they said you did.

I was glad for you.

Tell me about what happened ten years ago.

The cop who died, Officer Werner.

I knew him.

We, like, got into it a few times.

I was using back then.

Heroin. Pulled smashing grabs.

Broke into cars.

Anything to get my fix.

Him and his partner picked me up more than once.

I said things I wish I didn't.

You threatened to kill Officer Warner.

A couple times.

Mostly to look tough.

Stupid. When I looked at your files...

There wasn't anything about an alleyway.

Because I didn't have one.

Where were you when Officer Werner was shot?

Had to guess.

In an alley somewhere, needle in my arm, million miles away.

If there was one good thing about ending up in this place, it was getting sober.

They have programs. I got my 10-year chip a couple months ago.

Now I try to help other guys.

Gabriel, I've told Emmy, in my words, why you confessed.

I think it might help for her to hear it in yours.

A little before this all happened, my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer.

She beat it that time.

The cops, they put me in one of those little rooms, the kind with the window

that looks like a mirror.

They kept me up for like 36 hours.

Kept telling me I did it.

Over and over.

I didn't do it.

I knew if I didn't, I would never.

But I was tired.

And then, I don't know, I guess someone told them about my mom because they

started telling me to think about what it would do to her, finding out I got

the death penalty.

They said if I confessed, I'd only get life.

You said your mom beat the cancer that time.

She did.

Till a few months ago, she'd visit me every week.

She's the one that hired miss Thornton She raised money from her church group

But the cancer came back Next to Gabriel's innocence.

It's the biggest reason we're fighting for a new appeal.

He might not have a lot more time to see her

Hey, did you get this list of names the professor sent over to us?

Everyone who had access to the simulator?

Oh, I didn't just see it. I started calling everybody on it. Okay,

engineers, data crunchers, plumbers, IT guys.

There's so many IT guys.

Next time I'm checking out the weather girl on Channel 7, I'm going to have a

whole new respect for the team that put her there.

But still, no one you like is a suspect?

No, we know where Ava was killed and how.

I'm not feeling any closer to who.

Hey, don't repeat that thing about the weather, girl. Catherine already thinks

I have a thing.

You found this on the floor of the break room?

Yeah, why?

Ava's ex-roommate, Heather, she said something about missing earrings.

I gave you a copy of those tags. Ava, Senator, do you still have those?

Here.

Let me see.

Thank you.

Yeah, Ava accused Heather of stealing her pair of earrings.

Yeah, the gold and turquoise ones.

Okay, so Heather didn't steal them. Ava lost them at work.

What? This t-shirt she was wearing.

Yeah.

Now you took my iguana shirt. That's two items she said were stolen.

Now both turning up connected to her murder. Okay, I'm with you on this. Not

feeling like a coincidence, but what are you getting at? What, do you like the

old roommate again? No, no, no, no, no. She had an alibi for her murder. What

I'm getting at is I think someone stole these items, but it wasn't the ex

-roommate, and it wasn't a thief.

A thief would have pawned the earrings. He never would have bothered with the T

-shirt in the first place. Okay, but if not a thief, who? How about a stalker?

That's definitely them.

That shirt might even be one of a kind. Some friend of hers silkscreened it.

Yeah, and these things never turned up, right?

I know. I never saw them again.

Did you ever notice anyone unfamiliar hanging around the building?

Maybe someone Ava seemed uneasy about?

No.

Can I ask how any of this is related? Because your questions are starting to

scare me a little. It's just a theory right now. One that was suggested by the

PI you met the other day.

But the pieces fit.

As you know, intimate items were disappearing from Ava's room. She was

convinced someone was going through her things.

And now, two of these items have turned up. One on her purse and one at her

place of work.

What? We're investigating the possibility Ava had a stalker.

Someone who got into your apartment somehow.

Some stalkers, they take items from the person they're obsessed with as

trophies, souvenirs.

Gives them a sense of control.

Helps them feed their fantasies.

Oh, my God.

When she asked me about this stuff, I was so dismissive. I thought she made

the whole thing up.

All that time, some creep might have been coming into our home.

I'm sorry. I never saw anyone strange around.

I can't help you.

Oh, hey. Hey.

Thanks for meeting with me. I know you're busy with a case. No, no, no. I

got a minute. This is the case file you were telling me about? Yeah. The guy you

think didn't kill a cop?

His name's Gabriel Romero. And you said his lawyers want you to help out on the

PR side of things, right? Okay.

Guess you want me to poke around, make sure you can feel good about backing his

cause? Actually, no.

I already told them I'm not doing the PR thing. I've spent... Too much time in

the spotlight already.

What I want is to hire you to find a real killer.

Problem? No, no, no, it's no problem. It's just, um, it's a big 10-year-old

case, cop killing.

I thought you liked the challenge.

It's just, what if I find out this guy really did it?

Then I'll be glad I was careful.

But my gut says he's innocent.

All right, let me dig into this right after.

Whatever it is you're doing, do you have to do it right now?

Well, truth be told, I should have got it done a long time ago.

Yeah, half these weather strips are so old, the first heavy rain we get, she's

going to laugh at them.

Huh. All this hurricane talk got my posterior in gear.

Be prepared, Arj.

Boy Scouts motto.

Got it. Okay. Yeah, I have to go meet Mel.

Let me get back to you.

Okay. Good seeing you. Good seeing you.

Hey, how'd it go with Ava's roommate?

Well, no insight into who her theoretical stalker might be, but

talking to her did make me think of another question. What? Someone was

taking trophies from Ava's apartment. Someone we think is connected to the

hurricane simulator.

Somehow, she identified this person, confronted him at work, and got herself

killed. Okay, here's my question. How did she end up in the iguana shirt?

Say you're right. She found our guy's secret stash that day.

Why put this shirt on? It's a weird time to change your clothes, no?

What if he put it on her?

Why would he do that?

What if he had to?

Stalker attacks Ava. Ava fights back. Maybe even draws blood.

Some of it gets on her?

Yeah. Now he's got a problem.

He's got a body with his DNA on it.

He's also got a solution.

The shirt he stole from her. So he changes her into it.

Ava didn't have any DNA or skin under her nails. The simulator probably took

care of that. But our guy, he would still have defensive wounds.

I didn't see anyone with wounds when we went to the lab, did you?

No, but even if Ava scratches arms, all it would take is a long-sleeved shirt to

hide them.

You could get a court order, make them prove they don't have scratches.

Are you forgetting how many names were on the list of people who had access to

that simulator?

There's no court order that would let us compel that many people to take their

shirt off.

Something like this, it needs to be targeted.

What? No, just... Before I came here, I was at FM Station.

Wish was doing some work on the bar. He was making sure everything was hurricane

ready. I'm sorry, is this relevant how?

That list of names we have, I may know a way we can narrow it down.

Man, do all college kids just wander in whenever they feel these days?

It wasn't like that when I was in school.

Well, I cut class a lot. I wouldn't know.

Most of the work that we do is independent study.

You guys find out what happened to Ava?

Matter of fact, we think we did. Yeah.

Someone had been sneaking into her apartment, going through her stuff,

even. Took a couple things.

You mean like a perv? We think Ava discovered the stolen things here, along

with the person who took them. So he killed her.

You two scram.

Mind rolling up your sleeves, Patrick?

What? Why me?

It's a fair question. You want to take it?

Something occurred to me about the day Ava was killed.

Almost everybody here knew the hurricane wasn't coming.

The killer didn't know that, obviously.

He was counting on the hurricane to cover up his crime.

Some of the things that Big Storm's about to hit might try and do some prep,

make sure they have the things they need. That's why I had officers canvass

the hardware stores around here.

One of them had surveillance footage of you, buying batteries, plywood, propane.

No one else who had access to this place.

No one, Patrick.

Just you.

That was enough to convince a judge to issue a court order compelling you to

let us look for defensive wounds Roll up your sleeves, please

I

never meant to hurt

her I was in love with her

i didn't think anyone was going to be here on account of the storm i came in

to get some rain gear i tried to explain it to her

but she wasn't listening you know

you couldn't let her go

not after you hurt her not after everything you've done so you put her in

the simulator

And then you stood there while it finished at the job. Go! Please!

And

there

I dream in silence.

Turn around.

Turn around.

I'm surprised that you would pick anywhere near water after our first

date. I mean, I'll admit, the mermaids were a little unnerving at first.

But get this, I asked around after you left. Turns out they're just women in

mermaid costumes.

Get out. I don't know.

Anyway, there's a bunch of really nice restaurants that way. No sea creatures,

but you can take the pick. Okay. I accept your terms. Lead the way.

Actually, um... What?

Can I kiss you first?

Just to get it out of the way, before anything else interrupts us. Get it out

of the way, because that's so romantic.

Okay.

I see the wisdom in this.

Yeah? Yes.

All right.

Well, now we can eat our dinner.

But does that mean, like... We're not going to kiss at the end of this date.

Oh, no, no, no, no. We can pull one, okay? Three.

Okay.

Here you go.

Thank you.

It's crazy.

Your friend has her own law firm, but she doesn't validate parking?

Mel, hey.

You scared me. What are you doing here?

I heard you were looking to give a little help to Gabriel Romero.

Did RJ tell you?

No.

Mel, why are you here?

Helping your friend.

Helping Gabriel Romero would be a mistake.

I'm here to make sure you understand why.