Previously on Elementary:
Detective Marcus Bell?
Deputy Strider Lincoln, U.S. Marshals Service.
My bosses hear good things about you.
They'd like you to consider
putting in an application.
I'll think about it.
You're too good a detective.
So I want something better for you.
Something... something more.
If you decide to see this thing through,
I'd be so proud of you.
I put in my application to the Marshals Service.
I report to training at Glynco in six months.
Six months notice.
That's more than fair.
Detective Grimes.
Holmes.
- Didn't know you were into scuba. - I'm not.
I needed this equipment to check on some pig carcasses
I submerged in several bodies of water outside the city.
I'm doing an experiment in taphonomy.
It's the study of how organisms decay.
I didn't hurt any of the pigs.
They were dead when I got them, in case you were wondering.
I have to go to work.
We'll talk soon, okay?
Returning to the scene of the crime?
What are you talking about?
Crossed paths with Detective Grimes downstairs.
Yeah, well, I had dinner
with him last night, and one thing led to another.
"One thing" often does.
Need I remind you we had plans for that man?
- No. - So you do realize
how sleeping with him could affect those plans?
Sure, but... No buts.
I thought you weren't even into Grimes.
I'm not.
- Then what's the big deal? - The big deal
is that you have effectively taken a player off the board,
so we should have discussed it first.
I'm not gonna call you every time I'm gonna have sex.
If you're worrying about inconveniencing me, don't.
What's one phone call every two to three years?
The other day, I thought we agreed
that Lena Romero was our top choice.
We did. In point of fact, I was planning to bring her
to the captain's attention this morning.
With your approval, of course.
Sure.
Excellent.
In the meantime,
just do your best not to sleep with her.
The last time I saw Irma
was just after 6:00 last night.
My girls have been threatened before,
but I never thought anybody would kidnap one.
Now, just so we're clear, ma'am,
Irma is one of your chickens?
Some people didn't like that we were here.
They said this was a community garden,
not a community farm, but I told them...
the commercial egg farming industry is a mess.
The way they treat their chickens...
it's a disgrace. If I'm going to eat eggs,
I want to know they came from chickens that were loved.
Chickens that were happy.
I'm assuming the threats you mentioned
came from your neighbors.
One neighbor, really.
And it wasn't a threat so much as a complaint.
Mr. Bembenek. That's his plot over there.
He thought the girls were noisy.
If he is the one who has Irma,
I don't even want to press charges.
I just want her back. Ma'am, when we pulled up,
you offered some water from your apartment.
Can we still take you up on that?
Of course.
I'll be right back.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you found Irma.
Yeah. Someone cut her head off.
11 George to Central.
Be advised we have the victim of a homicide at this location.
Please have a patrol supervisor and the squad respond.
11 George, copy that.
You called in the squad for a chicken?
She's not the only one missing her head.
? Elementary 6x15 ? How to Get a Head
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man
Victim's name was Gabriel Rojas.
How do we know?
His wallet was in his pocket.
He was a professor of religion
at Jackson Heights Community College.
It's a city job, so they had his fingerprints on file.
Good thing, too. 'Cause whoever cut off his head
took it with them when they were done.
Says the cause of death is unknown.
Lack of blood loss indicates
he was killed before he was decapitated.
Negative tox screen and the absence
of any other wounds makes me think
head trauma, probably bullet
or blunt object.
We won't know for sure
until the head turns up.
If it turns up.
You said the murder appeared occult in nature.
Medicolegal investigator spotted this
jammed into the stump
when she reported to the scene.
It's a chicken head.
There were also some melted candles
around the body.
Does that mean necessarily that the killer
was performing some sort of ritual?
No, but it's weird.
The killer was, in all likelihood, performing a ritual.
The ritual of obfuscation. Criminals have, for centuries,
used occult rites and symbols to distract
law enforcement from the true nature of their crimes.
I myself worked a string of murders in Brixton
where four vagrants, poisoned with strychnine,
were found with Communion wafers
nailed to their foreheads.
So, while the police rounded up the local Satanists,
I realized that the actual killer was
a vicar's wife who had taken out
insurance policies on the lot of them.
I don't know. Richard Ramirez drew pentagrams
on all of his victims' houses,
and he wasn't trying to obfuscate anything.
So, where is the chicken's body?
Lab.
It put up a fight before it died.
There was blood on its talons
that we think came from the killer.
Any luck, his DNA is in the system.
Captain says there's someone at the precinct
who's pretty sure this was a legit occult murder.
Painted face, stovepipe hat?
String of shrunken heads around his neck?
No. Guy isn't a witch doctor.
He's a New York City councilman.
I appreciate you taking the time to meet me.
Gabriel was a good man, a good friend.
When my chief of staff told me how he died,
I realized that I had
to speak to someone.
Why is that?
Well, the captain was telling me you already know
that Gabriel was a professor of religion, but has anyone
spoken to you about his other...
job?
He was an expert in the occult.
He wrote extensively on different arcane religions.
Uh, Satanism,
Santeria, Wicca.
Whenever the police or FBI
came across a case that had occult elements,
they would ask for his help.
He was able to identify, for example,
that a series of pet mutilations in Illinois
were the work of someone who had read
a passage in a Satanic text,
and he traced it
to the man who had harmed the animals.
Another time, he was asked
to translate markings that had been carved
into the back of a woman who was murdered.
The message that he revealed
led to the killer, and he was arrested.
Obviously, you have not
had a need for his expertise here in the 11th.
No. This is our first occult killing.
It's my 20th.
In my experience, Councilman, the occult is used,
more often than not, to distract law enforcement.
The criminals who implement it
want us to look one way
while they shuffle off in another.
In my experience, occult crimes equal
occult criminals.
They truly believe in what they're doing.
What do you mean?
Two years ago, a grave was desecrated
in a cemetery in my district.
Someone broke into a crypt and stole the skull of a man
who had died a few years earlier.
That was how I met Gabriel.
I was referred to him. He thought it was
a practitioner of something called...
Palo Mayombe.
It's a black magic offshoot of Santeria.
Notable for its pantheon of colorful spirits
and a belief that certain vessels...
human bones, in particular... contain special powers.
I'd never heard of it.
Neither had the police.
But they asked around, and they discovered
that a young man who lived nearby had once
claimed that it was his religion.
They went to his house.
They found the skull in an iron cauldron in the basement.
Thanks to Gabriel, the man is in prison,
but what if he had followers?
What if they killed Gabriel
to avenge him?
So, who's up for a trip to see the guy
who stole the skull two years ago?
- Watson is. - I am?
Yeah. I'm gonna pay a visit
to Jackson Heights Community College,
see if someone there can point us in the direction
of a suspect less absurd than the disciple
of an imprisoned grave robber.
But first, I have to talk to the captain.
Do you have a moment?
- Sure. - Yeah. Um...
Would you agree I'm an excellent judge of character?
Sure.
Well, I recently had the pleasure
of making the acquaintance of a Lena Romero.
She's a detective out of the 116th.
Now, as it turns out, she's quite keen
on a transfer here to Major Cases.
That's great, but we don't have any openings right now.
But you will. In just a few short months,
Marcus will be leaving us for the U.S. Marshals.
And you've been looking for someone to replace him?
Well, not just me. Watson, too.
She actually liked a detective named Grimes,
but he fell out of contention late last night.
Now, during the course of her ten-year career,
Detective Romero has been awarded seven
Excellent Police Duty Medals,
five Meritorious Police Duty Medals.
She's made over 350 arrests.
Cut the crap, okay?
You're not looking for the best cop for me.
You're looking for the best cop for you.
Someone that'll work with you guys the way Marcus has.
Watson and I feel that, in order to do our best work,
the chemistry needs to be right.
I think it's less about chemistry
and more about a willingness to work
with a couple of civilians.
Wouldn't both be nice?
What's wrong with the detectives that work here already?
Nothing. They are, without doubt, the best of the best.
They're reflections of their captain in every way.
It's just...
You annoy a lot of them.
I annoy a lot of them.
Who is he again?
Gabriel Rojas.
He testified at your trial.
He's the one who told police
about Palo Mayombe.
Now, thanks to him, they were able
to figure out that you were the one
who stole the skull from that crypt.
Oh, yeah.
I think he had a mustache back then.
You said someone cut his head off?
You can understand why we wanted to talk to you, right?
No. Not really.
Two years ago, you stole a skull.
Now this guy is missing his head.
You think I killed him?
What, you think I got, like,
teleportation powers or something?
No. We don't think you're the killer,
but maybe you know the person who is.
Maybe you had followers
back when you were practicing Palo Mayombe
and they didn't like what happened to you.
"Followers"?
Shoot. I didn't even have any friends.
That's the whole reason why I did it.
What do you mean?
I had bullies, okay?
Guys beat me up at school like every day.
I wanted it to stop.
You thought performing some ritual
was gonna make them leave you alone?
Yeah.
But not the way you guys are thinking.
I never even believed in Palo Mayombe.
It was just this freaky thing my Cuban grandmother
used to tell me stories of. Scary stories.
I thought that if people thought
I can curse them or something,
then maybe they'd leave me alone.
I told them I took the skull.
I wanted them to know.
It didn't work out.
I got beat up more, and then I got arrested.
Look, I'm sorry this man is dead,
but I had nothing to do with it.
How went your visit with the high priest of Palo Mayombe?
Poorly. Marcus and I don't think
he had anything to do with the murder.
How'd it go at the community college?
Also poorly. All I learned was that
Professor Rojas was beloved by students and faculty alike.
According to them, he didn't have
an enemy in the world, supernatural or otherwise.
Marcus reached out to a few other
occult experts around the country, but none of them
knew what to make of the killer's M.O.
They thought that he could be
performing some kind of a ritual.
Or he could just be a nutter.
How'd it go with the captain?
He's agreed to meet with Detective Romero.
- Well, that's great. - We'll see.
If she presents as impressively to him
as she did to us, then we're in good shape.
- And if she doesn't? - Mmm.
I suppose I'll have little choice but to sabotage
Marcus's training with the Marshals.
You're joking, right?
Probably.
What the hell was that?
Anything?
No. They ran away.
Too much to hope
we were the random targets of some oblivious young vandal?
Yeah, definitely.
_
Father Vega.
I'm Joan Watson. This is Sherlock, my partner.
We work with the NYPD.
We're investigating the murder of Gabriel Rojas.
You knew him?
Gabriel was one of my parishioners.
He was also my friend.
Do you know the particulars of his murder?
I know they took his head.
They said so on the news.
There is a rumor going around the church
that says this had something to do with a case
he assisted the police with several years ago?
Cerio Cristobal.
The kid who took the skull from the crypt.
Yes, I believe that is the name. Why?
Well, we were hoping that you could provide us
with an alternate theory.
Me?
Yeah.
Someone...
threw this through our window last night.
I'm sorry, I do not know who killed Gabriel.
But I do know who the person who wrote this note
thinks is responsible.
The name is on the bottle.
Champerico Rum?
Gabriel, like myself,
is originally from Guatemala.
Champerico Rum has a distillery and a bottling plant there.
Provides many jobs,
but the conditions are very bad.
Workers who have tried to unionize
are targeted by the MAGL.
Movimiento Armado para una Guatemala Libre.
It's a paramilitary group.
"Armed Movement for a Free Guatemala."
Some workers have been beaten by their soldiers.
Others have been killed.
Now, why would a paramilitary group care if
Champerico workers are trying to unionize?
That is a good question.
The prevailing theory is that
MAGL has an arrangement with Champerico Rum.
They are paid to terrorize the workers.
Not an uncommon practice in that part of the world.
Whatever the price, I'm sure it's far less
than allowing a union to form.
So, why would Champerico have wanted to kill Gabriel?
Gabriel had a nephew who worked at the plant.
Ivan. When Ivan tried to organize a walkout,
MAGL soldiers dragged him
from his home, drove away in a car.
He has not been heard from again.
Gabriel, he stayed in touch
with his friends, one of them a woman.
Valentina Duran.
She was exceptionally bright, exceptionally strong.
She, like Ivan, worked at the Champerico plant.
And like Ivan, she was determined
to see a union form.
Gabriel and I put her in contact
with an American group,
a federation of unions who does work
to organize labor in other countries.
Two weeks ago, she came here to meet with them
and promptly disappeared.
So you think
whoever threw that bottle
believes that Champerico was responsible.
Gabriel and I certainly found it suspicious.
The police looked into Valentina's disappearance
but came up with very little.
Gabriel, as you know, has some
experience with criminal investigation.
He decided to look into the matter himself.
Perhaps he came too close to the truth.
Detective Romero?
Captain Tom Gregson.
- Good to meet you. - Likewise.
Come on. We'll talk in my office.
Please.
Have a seat.
I, um... I have to admit,
when Sherlock and Joan approached me,
I thought it was a joke.
Two civilians headhunting for Major Case.
But then I looked into them and saw the work
they've done here. I was impressed.
Well, obviously, they felt the same way about you,
or you wouldn't be sitting in that chair.
You did some really good work at the 116.
Why do you want to leave?
It's less about leaving there
and more about wanting to come here.
The work that gets done here, it's...
some of the most important in the city.
I want to be a part of it.
You like the limelight, Romero?
No, sir. It-it's not like that.
I'm not looking to shine my star.
I want to challenge myself.
I want to help people.
Speaking of helping...
how much did Joan and Sherlock tell you about
what they do here?
They broke it all down.
They said they're only here by your good graces
and they lend a hand when you ask them to.
So they made it clear that if this were to work out,
you work for me, not for them. - Crystal.
They're good... I can tell... but they are...
they aren't sworn members of this department.
Your old C.O.,
Moira Baker, and I... we came on the job together.
- Oh, yeah? - Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna be talking to her about you,
and if she likes you as much as Joan and Sherlock,
who knows?
Maybe you got a future here.
Is there a problem?
No.
It's just that if you're gonna be talking to Lieutenant Baker,
then there is something you should know.
Something I didn't tell Sherlock and Joan.
That's Valentina's passport photo.
I gave it to the other police,
but I thought you might want it, too.
You're the one who reported her missing, right?
My group had arranged all her travel to New York.
We were supposed to meet at our headquarters
the day after she arrived.
When she didn't show,
I called the hotel.
They told me she never checked in.
That's when I called the police.
It's our understanding that your group
helps workers unionize in other countries.
Valentina was coming here so that we
could help her strategize.
The way Champerico treats its workers
is unconscionable.
We wanted things to change.
I have to admit, I'm a little surprised
an American labor group would be so interested
in helping workers unionize in other countries.
Why is that?
Maybe because so many American jobs
have gone to other countries. Respectfully,
that's a very old-school way of looking at it.
Most of us get that those jobs are gone.
They're not coming back.
Business globalization is here to stay.
The way to fight it is labor globalization.
That means pushing to improve conditions everywhere,
not just in the U.S.
When wages in other countries go up,
job migration is less attractive to the big companies.
More work stays here.
Ultimately, are we serving our own self-interests?
Yeah. But in the meantime, we get to give help
to a lot of people who need it.
In Valentina's case, we were too late.
Champerico has committed crimes in New York before, okay?
Like what?
Remember last year,
when that grassroots group was pushing the city council
to increase the excise tax on alcohol?
Yes.
That money was supposed to go
to addiction-focused health care and recovery support.
In the end, the tax was voted down,
but for months before, the people fighting for that tax
got hundreds of threatening phone calls.
"I know where you live."
"I know where your children go to school."
A few reported being followed by a car with tinted windows.
One woman managed to write down a license plate.
Guess who the police were able to trace it back to.
Champerico.
They said the car was stolen.
The police couldn't prove they were lying,
so they had to drop it.
Okay, but the tax you're talking about
would have affected all alcohol beverage companies,
not just Champerico,
so why would they have taken it so personally?
They're smaller. Family-owned.
The tax would have hurt them more than the big conglomerates,
so they did what they had to.
Just like they did with Valentina.
That one's one of my favorites.
It's from 1963.
Back then, these were posted all over the city.
Few years later, my dad passed away.
My mom told marketing to take the devil
out of all of our ads.
- "Sacrilegious," she said. - That's a shame.
Seems like a good marriage between pitchman and product.
Sherlock Holmes.
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.
Hey. When Morland Holmes asks you
to take a meeting, you take a meeting.
About that. Uh, the e-mail you received
didn't actually come from my father.
I hacked his account. The message was from me.
Okay.
My father's name holds weight with all the wrong
kinds of people. I'm not saying that you were
one of them, of course, but as the owner of a company
with profits in excess of a billion dollars last year,
seemed like a safe bet.
The truth is, Mr. Treadwell,
I'm here to discuss the disappearance
of a woman named Valentina Duran.
I'm sorry. I don't know that name.
Next, you'll be telling me that you don't pay paramilitaries
to crush the labor movement at your distillery in Guatemala.
Nancy, would you get security in here, please?
Right away, Mr. Treadwell.
Now, if I were you,
I'd leave before they get here.
Actually, I was hoping to meet some of your henchmen.
I was wondering if one of them was the person
who cut Gabriel Rojas's head off.
What?
Gabriel Rojas.
He was decapitated two nights ago.
Left in a garden.
The guy on the news?
Yeah. He was investigating
the disappearance of Valentina Duran.
Um, Nancy, forget security.
Everything's fine in here.
Understood.
You think we beheaded someone because he was
looking into what happened to Valentina Duran.
So the name rings a bell, does it?
Oh, you've got a problem.
We didn't have anything to do
with what happened to Ms. Duran.
And I can prove it.
Hey, I was just about to call you.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Marcus and I just wrapped up with the woman
who reported Valentina Duran's disappearance.
I think Gabriel Rojas was right
to think that Champerico was behind it.
Yeah, of course he was.
Only one problem.
Champerico didn't kill her.
Are you sure?
Yeah, I'm positive. I just watched her
take out her rubbish.
I live here with five other women from my country.
They have jobs.
I'm still looking. I have faith.
My English is good, and I'm a hard worker.
You ran away when you got to New York. Why?
Two months ago, I learned I was pregnant.
The father and I decided
the best thing for our child was for me
to leave Guatemala and never go back.
There, I was the target of many threats.
I was followed wherever I went.
We both knew it was only a matter of time
before the MAGL soldiers
came for me, so...
we made a plan.
I would take advantage
of my trip to New York.
I would come here, and I would disappear.
Champerico would never know what happened to me.
Well, I'm sorry to say that Champerico knows
exactly what happened to you... 'cause they're the ones
who gave me this address.
- -=What? - Their surveillance was not
limited to Guatemala, so the second you arrived
at JFK, their people were watching you.
If it's any consolation,
they seemed to be very pleased
that you decided to disappear yourself.
You seem to have saved them the trouble.
We know you were friends
with the nephew of a man named Gabriel Rojas.
Were you aware that he was killed the other night?
Of course she was.
She's the one who threw the bottle through our window.
This writing is a match
for the message we received.
It's yours, isn't it?
How did you know where we lived?
When Gabriel had died, I looked for more news on my phone.
Beneath one of the articles, in the comments section,
one of Gabriel's students said
there was a detective named Sherlock Holmes
who had given his business card.
Our address isn't on my business card.
I did a search for your name.
I found your address on a Web site
for something called, uh...
ESOOPI?
The Empire State Order of Private Investigators.
Our address is on their Web site?
So you sent us to Father Vega because you knew
he would tell us about Champerico.
You think they were behind Gabriel's murder. Why?
Three days ago, Gabriel found me.
I begged him to forgive me
for abandoning our cause, but...
he said he understood.
He told me he would keep my secret.
He was a very good man.
Now, we thought that Champerico Rum
was behind Gabriel's murder
because he was investigating your disappearance.
They didn't want him exposing what they had done,
except they hadn't done anything.
They knew you were alive this whole time,
so why would they have killed Gabriel?
Because I gave him something.
Something very dangerous.
On the left, soldiers of the MAGL.
On the right, men working private security
for the Champerico management in Guatemala City.
Look at the tattoos.
Here and here.
They are the same man.
The other workers
at the plant and I,
we pooled our money and hired a detective.
We asked him to help us prove
there is a link between Champerico
and the MAGL.
He took the pictures on the right.
When we compared them to the pictures
we already had of the soldiers,
we found many similarities.
Whenever our people are hurt or killed by the MAGL,
Champerico says it's a coincidence.
But these photos show the soldiers
are on the company's payroll.
They work as bodyguards.
I believe you, but unfortunately,
the quality of many of these photographs is poor.
Even if it weren't, Champerico could say
that these men hid the fact that they were soldiers.
Gabriel said the same thing.
But before he left,
he asked me to send these to him.
He said he would keep studying them,
see if he could find anything useful.
The next day, he was murdered.
That can't be just a coincidence.
Moira.
I am... I'm so sorry I'm late.
Forget it. I know how the job is.
Oh, I thought you would have blocked it out by now.
So...
how's private security treating you?
Well, I'm expensing this Pinot in the middle of the day.
Does that answer your question?
Greener pastures, Tommy.
You should think about it.
I get to take my pension, salary's great,
and I finally leave work at work.
Do me a favor... don't ever mention that to my wife.
So, what's up?
Why'd you want to see me?
Lena Romero.
Thinking about her for Major Case?
- Mm-hmm. - That's terrific.
- So, she's got your mark? - Absolutely.
But you already knew that, so why are you here?
You've seen her annual evaluations,
and I could've given you the thumbs-up on the phone.
There was an incident she told me about.
Happened when she was first starting out.
She and her partner pulled over someone on an open warrant.
The partner thought he saw the guy go for a gun,
so he opened fire.
Turned out there was no gun.
So he planted one from his own glove box.
And Romero went along with it.
I remember.
She was still green.
Tough spot to be in.
But she came clean.
A week later.
Still, she got in front of it.
And I notice she told you about it too.
Yeah, she did.
And believe me...
that means something.
But I gotta know... was this an isolated case?
Or were there other incidents like that?
Lena's creative.
That's part of why she closes so many cases.
But she keeps her nose clean.
She knows where the line is.
"Creative."
What exactly is that supposed to mean?
And you've turned all the pictures upside down.
I thought we needed a new perspective.
Because bats have solved so many homicides.
I have another idea.
Maybe we're not seeing anything
in these pictures worth killing over
because there is nothing
worth killing over in these pictures.
I must concede that is a distinct possibility.
If there's any great secret that Champerico Rum
wants to keep under wraps, I can't imagine what it is yet.
Could be you're right.
Maybe we're looking at this whole thing
from the wrong angle.
Maybe we're overlooking the most obvious suspect.
Valentina Duran.
Think about it... she's been living in hiding.
Maybe she panicked when Gabriel found her,
and then killed him, and then dumped him in that garden.
If she killed him, why did she throw
a bottle through our window?
Maybe she wanted Champerico to take the blame
and she knew that Father Vega would point us
in their direction and not hers.
Or maybe I need sleep.
That seems more likely.
All right, let's just call it a night.
And we'll just look at this with fresh eyes tomorrow.
This is how a bat would look at the problem.
Marcus, it's late. You're either calling
with very good news or very bad news.
I guess that sort of depends.
Gabriel Rojas's head just turned up.
Thought you and Joan would want to come see it.
Some homeless people sleep here
when it's not too cold.
One of them found this
and freaked.
Which is understandable, of course.
Looks like our killer
was performing some kind of ritual.
Or they're just trying to distract us again.
He looks different without the toupee, huh?
So that is him?
Councilman Ledesma.
Captain gave him a call as a courtesy,
and he came right over.
But I bet he'll be gone
by the time the news vans get here.
You know how politicians are.
He won't want any of the cameras
seeing his bald spot.
Well, one already did.
And it's going to help us prove that he killed Gabriel Rojas.
Detective.
I came straight over when I got your message.
This is Maxine, my chief of staff.
Pleasure.
You said that there was news
about Gabriel's case?
A lot of news, actually.
But I think it's best if Maxine wait out here.
Some of what we have to show you...
it's pretty graphic.
Some might call it hair-raising.
Of course.
Councilman. I don't know how much
you paid for your toupee, but I just wanted
to assure you it was worth it.
Um... thank you?
When you sat here the other day,
your hairpiece had me fooled.
If it hadn't, I would have realized
that you murdered Gabriel Rojas much sooner.
What?
What the hell is this?
The day before he died,
Gabriel received a collection of photos.
They were gathered from workers
in Guatemala from a rum plant.
Now, they believe
that their employer was in bed
with a paramilitary group.
Now, the person who gave him the photos
thinks he was killed over them.
That seemed unlikely.
We studied them for hours, and we could find
little that would hurt the rum company.
But when we saw you in your natural state last night,
we realized that there were some images
that could be harmful to you.
Now, the person who took these photos
was focusing on the bodyguard,
but they could not help but catch
the meeting that was going on
between the bodyguard's employer
and this man.
The first man, a member of Champerico's
upper management in Guatemala, arrives with this briefcase,
but when the meeting concludes,
the briefcase leaves with this man.
And you think I am that man?
We looked at your social media.
We know you and your wife took a trip to Guatemala last year,
and the dates coincide with the day
these picture were taken.
But that's not the only interesting
thing about the timing. The New York City Council
was about to vote on an alcohol tax
that was gonna hurt Champerico's business.
You were one of the most outspoken opponents of the tax,
weren't you, Councilman?
This is crazy.
Did I go to Guatemala? Yes.
But are you really under the impression that I was
the only man with a bald spot in the entire country?
Hair loss patterns are hardly fingerprints,
but they are very distinctive.
And yours is a match for the one in that photograph.
Your friend,
Gabriel Rojas, recognized it, too.
He saw what we saw:
you taking a bribe.
He blamed Champerico for the death
of his nephew, and he confronted you.
When you couldn't convince him
that the man in these pictures wasn't you, you killed him.
You hit him in the head with something heavy.
We're not sure where you decapitated him,
but you took his body to a place you knew:
a community garden
in the heart of your district.
Chicken head and a few candles later,
and you had a scene that fit the story
that you planned to tell the next day:
Gabriel was done in by an occult killer,
not a crooked politician.
Okay.
Let's pretend for a second that that is me.
You have no proof that there's any money in that briefcase.
If I didn't take a bribe, I have no motive to kill Gabriel.
You're right, we can't prove
that there was money in that briefcase.
But luckily, we don't have to.
So, the dead chicken scratched its killer before it died.
His blood was on her talons.
We're certain that when we test it against yours,
it'll be a match.
You might not find these pictures
very compelling, but a judge sure did.
This is a warrant to compel
a DNA sample from you.
Wanted to see me?
Yeah. Close the door, would you?
I want to talk to you about Lena Romero.
I'm not gonna be bringing her here
when Marcus leaves.
Your meeting went poorly?
No. She did great.
She's smart, capable, resourceful.
She's the real deal.
So I don't understand.
Her old C.O. called her "creative."
You know what that's code for.
You've heard it enough.
It's the word that cops tend to use
when they talk about you and Joan.
You two want to search someplace without a warrant,
you do it.
And then, if you need to,
you claim that you heard someone yelling for help from inside.
You want the cops to look at someone,
but you don't have cause?
You call in an anonymous tip.
You're angry.
You did a lot of research about Romero.
You honestly gonna tell me you didn't know this about her?
I didn't view it as a negative.
Of course you didn't.
She's a kindred spirit.
Which is exactly what you and Joan don't need.
You think it was an accident,
me hooking you up with Marcus six years ago?
I knew you just like I knew him.
He knew where the lines were.
He wasn't gonna let you hurt yourself or me.
Oh, he was my babysitter.
Yeah, he was.
But luckily for both of us, it turned into something
more than that, something special.
Lightning struck.
Now the question is... can it strike again?
'Cause if it can't, I don't know how much longer
you, me and Joan have together.
I love what you did for him.
Getting him a shot with the Marshals.
He deserves it.
But replacing him, it isn't gonna be easy.
We're gonna have to try harder than this.
For both of our sakes.
No, we don't want to be
taken off the registry.
We just don't want our home address listed.
It's gonna take a week? Why?
Okay, you know what? I-I'll... I'll call.
I'll call back. Thanks.
Hi.
I wanted to give you this.
It's money for the window I broke.
If it isn't enough, let me know.
I'll pay you when I have the difference.
- Honestly... - I insist.
After all you did for Gabriel...
it's the least I can do.
I'm glad that you came.
I was gonna actually come and see you tomorrow.
Please.
So, I've been doing, uh, a lot of research lately
on good products for newborns.
So I went out today and picked up
a few items that I think you'll need.
No, I... I can't.
Please. Now it's my turn to insist.
Hope that's not evidence you're destroying.
Well, in a manner of speaking, it is.
Evidence of a bad idea.
Couldn't help but notice you and the captain talking earlier.
Everything okay?
Yeah.
You sure?
Quite.
Well, listen. Chantal's working late.
I was gonna grab a bite at Carnahan's.
- Any interest? - Home of the Shamrock Poppers.
Yeah, deep-fried jalapeņos and cheese
rolled in green bread crumbs.
You a fan?
I'd sooner eat a pig carcass rotting in a shallow pond.
And I could, 'cause I've got access to several.
Well, come on.
First round of Poppers is on me.
I'm gonna miss you.
Uh, we should hurry up if, uh, you want to get a table.
Not according to my watch.
You and me?
Still got plenty of time.
You're not wearing a watch.
Man, you really are a master of observation.
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man