- Brenda deals with a psychotic wannabe detective who holds the keys to her case involving the murder of a pick-up artist. Unfortunately, he also holds her evidence and Chief Pope's career in his delusional hands.
- Brenda and her team investigate the shooting of Mark Bernstein, aka Intrigue, who offers counseling on hooking up with hot babes. By the time Provenza and Flynn get there (with Chief Pope accompanying them on a ride-along), everything seems to be well in hand with Det. Richard Tracy, giving them a rundown on what he thinks happened. Pope is suitably impressed and Tracy offers to log in the evidence for them. One problem: there is no Det. Tracy on the force, and the wannabe detective is now going around impersonating the officers with their business cards. He's doing a pretty good job investigating the crime and seems to be one step ahead of everyone, but when they finally get him in custody, Brenda realizes that they need his help. Though he has more evidence than they do, it's Brenda who manages to get the confession in the end.—garykmcd
- Over breakfast in a diner, Flynn looks askance at Provenza as he eats (gasp!) melon. Provenza's gf of nine weeks, Lauren, says his diet makes him feel old (Flynn says it's his age). The two bicker as police cars race by sirens blazing outside. The sirens mercifully drown out Provenza's recitations of what looks to be very dirty sex acts, but is his aerobics routine.
Pope joins them, shedding "chief" for the day and there for his ride along, to be "one of the guys." He wants to break down walls in the department to unite divisions. He's distracted by the growing scene outside. Provenza solves the problem by closing the blinds.
Pope feels like checking out the scene, because, golly, he's a police officer. He strolls into a parking garage to assess the scene. He's immediately recognized by a guy in a suit who turns out to be Detective Richard Tracy, a new transfer to central division. Flynn and Provenza stroll on over, Provenza still mid-fruit. Tracy says he just called major crimes.
He lays out the crime. The victim was found at 7:30 am. in the parking garage. There was a close range shot to the face. "That suggests a personal attack, right?"
His wallet was there and a resident heard two shots and saw a woman run past. Then a BMW stopped behind the building and something was dropped out and a patrolman found a gun. He shows them the evidence in evidence bags, then helpfully offers to log it all in for them. They all work for the same woman, after all, Lady Justice.
He asks for their cards and they hand them over, all smiles and brown nosing. Pope is impressed that he stopped to check things out even though he was on his way home for the day. That's the kind of police work he wants to see. After he drives off, the guys are surprised by a shrieking young woman. She continues the histrionics back in the interview room with Brenda.
Watching in the interview room Pope asks Gabriel why they never showed up at the scene. They never got a call.
The shrieking woman, Marie, says the victim's name was "Intrigue," but his real name was Mark Bernstein. He died in her building.
When Brenda implies she might be responsible, Provenza replugs his ears, bracing for a shriek. Brenda flees to the hallway where she checks on the status of the evidence. It hasn't been logged in yet.
As the team walks into the squad room, Sanchez picks up on the name Intrigue. He knows of him, the "Hook-Up King." The Intrigue Technique was a way to pick up women. On the phone Pope asks what does someone mean there's no detective by that name?
Brenda listens and pulls out a binder as Pope identifies himself on the phone. She finds something in the binder and goes to clarify something with Pope...they handed all the evidence over to a Detective Dick Tracy? Pope gets off the phone quickly.
"OK," he says, "now, this is definitely a major crime."
Brenda asks Pope how they got snookered. "Tracy" knew Pope's mission statement and the caliber of the bullets used at 10th and Grand on Tuesday.
Brenda calls for warrants on Intrigue's and Marie's apartments. At the victim's place, the doorman is surprised the LAPD is back after just clearing his apartment. He checks the card he was given. Lt. Provenza of the Major Crimes Unit.
He took DVDS, books, bills. The doorman helped him carry out three boxes of stuff. As she asks him more questions, he says the questions are the same as the ones "Provenza" asked. Mark never had female visitors because one of the rules was that a man's home is his "sanctuary." Sanchez nods knowingly.
Gabriel finds a binder marked "Tapped Pilot Rough Cut," but the DVD is gone.
Flynn thinks "Tracy" is acting more like a wannabe detective than killer. Which leads Brenda to think his next step might be to notify the family.
They arrive at Intrigue's brother's house. Ken answers the door, clearly having been crying. He thinks they're from Crisis Response. "Chief Pope" told him to expect them when he was there an hour ago.
Two business cards down, one to go, Flynn notes to Provenza. "You served the warrant, Pope did the notification, I wonder what the hell I'm doing right now?"
Jill, a cable network executive, is in the living room. They were going over plans for the episodes. She says the show for Slag TV is going to be huge. Brenda explains that Crisis Response likes to make sure the notification was done properly as she asks her questions. "Chief Pope" wanted to know who Mark went home with the night before. They told him Jill's assistant Marie would know, but she's not answering her phone (probably because she's in their interview room at the station).
When Ken leaves the room, Jill says she thought Ken had a crush on her assistant.
Pope wants to know how "Dick Tracy" knew so much about him and the department. Back at the office they go over the new public transparency web site which, among other things, has cheesy photos of Pope astride a horse plus quotes from past speeches and frequently updated case details.
Intriguing Endeavors made $12 million last year and the FBI is investigating some offshore questions. Brenda may have a deal not to share info with Fritz, but Pope doesn't have that deal, he says.
Our saucy heroine realizes they know something "Tracy" doesn't, where the victim spent the night. Tao updates the on-line case file.
Cut to Tracy knocking on a door and identifying himself as Lt. Andrew Flynn to the woman who answers the door: Brenda. Buzz films as Flynn slams him against the wall and Sanchez and Gabriel take pleasure in arresting him as he insists he's the police.
Back at the office, Buzz tries to show Provenza how to work the interview room web cams.
Flynn reports that Marie drives a company car, a BMW.
Fritz saunters in, saying the FBI was investigating the company because of questionable release forms signed by women used in on-line videos. With Mark dead, the profits go to Ken.
"Dick Tracy" is really Jonathan Baird and he has no criminal record. He scored high on the LAPD exam twice, but failed the psychological portion. Gabriel reports that Baird has great handwriting, but his notes are all in some sort of code. Tao's having no luck with the victim's computer, it won't boot.
Brenda and Flynn visit Baird, who's feeling "incredibly underappreciated." He doesn't want to debate, he wants to arrest a killer. He gets fired up, telling them they're losing time. He asks to be referred to as "detective" while he's on duty.
He shouts at Brenda and Flynn, saying he's way farther along on the investigation than they are. Brenda tries a new approach, asking if he has a theory on the crime. She asks him to bring them up to speed.
In the squad room, he draws a careful diagram of the parking garage, with the word "MURDER" written really big, with an exclamation point - per proper police protocol, we presume. "The parking garage, cold, dank, unforgiving, as mundane as evil itself..." he begins. Brenda interrupts but he shouts that he has to set the right tone.
Then he describes how he thinks Intrigue was killed. Eventually he mentions the witnesses' name and a description of a thin woman leaving the scene.
Finally, he says, the TV show they were working on will provide motive. He turns to Tao, telling him that even if the computer doesn't boot up, you should still open the D drive. He pops out a DVD.
A TV pilot plays, showing Intrigue teaching his classes and later picking up a woman in a bar and going home with her - filming them in bed using his cell phone. A graphic explains that "she got tapped." Classy stuff. Finally, Intrigue goes to his car, saying a clean getaway is important, which is why his car has a silent alarm.
Later, they show the woman he picked up watching the footage and reacting with some colorful descriptions of what she was going to do to him. They filmed eight episodes. "He did this to eight women and he only got shot once?" Brenda exclaims.
Brenda goes back to Baird, wanting to know what's on Intrigue's computer, which Baird locked with a password. He says he'll tell her if she can transfer to her squad. Brenda says sure and Baird finally figures out she's lying when his request for a badge and a gun is met with dull stares. As they haul him away he shouts for his union rep.
Gabriel rounds up the eight women from Tapped. Brenda wants four in each room and she tells Gabriel to add Marie the Screamer to the line up when she says, but not a minute before.
Provenza brings in one of the witnesses.
Baird wishes Brenda good luck solving the crime without Intrigue's computer password. She gets in his face, as is her way, telling him she might charge him with accessory after-the-fact. He asks if she ever gets tired of playing the bad cop.
Brenda finds Pope, who's sitting glumly. She tries to reassure him they're close to solving the case, which should help smooth over the morning's incident. But Pope says when it goes to trial Baird will testify that he handed over all the evidence, including a loaded gun, so he's screwed either way.
"Maybe not," says Brenda. She tells him she could really use his help.
Brenda walks up to Baird, calling him Detective Tracy and asking for the evidence. He says he's not going to give her any of that because she's not his boss. "But I am," Pope says, hands on hips. He continues, doing his best Western lawman impression, telling "Detective Tracy" that Brenda isn't treating him properly and doesn't respect things like he does. He gives up the password: Crimestoppers.
Tao, Brenda and Pope go through Mark/Intrigue's computer. They find the focus group results. Tao prints them as Buzz says Jill the TV exec is in the interview room.
Brenda tells Jill she has a bad surprise for her. Gabriel brings in Marie. Brenda asks Jill if she'll testify she knew about Marie's ongoing affair, Jill says yes. Brenda asks Jill to calm Marie down, telling her to place in front of the camera.
Jill goes in and the witness points to someone on Provenza's computer screen. He calls Brenda and tells her she has her ID.
Pope uncuffs Baird. No, he's not free to go, but Pope does think he deserves to see the confession.
They usher all the women out of the interview room except Jill as Flynn reads her her rights. She denies her involvement, but Brenda says she knew Marie was sleeping with Mark, which means she knew he'd be leaving her place, per the rule, early in the morning. She also had access to the black BMW. And she lied about it being a big hit. The focus testing showed the audience loathed the concept and the star.
And the eye witness saw her leaving the scene. Brenda thinks she killed him to save her career.
She explains that when she signed him she thought he had a likable vulnerability, but it turned out on camera he was a psychopath. She told him to change his approach, but he wouldn't listen. His web business was still booming. He used her just like he used every other woman, Jill says.
In the interview room, Dick Tracy/Baird is impressed by Brenda. "You just tapped out," Brenda tells Jill.
In the squad room, Baird writes his report, with flourishes of purple prose irritating everyone when he shouts that he knows what he's doing. Gabriel quietly asks Brenda why she's having him write a report. Because when he says "served a warrant" it means "forged legal documents," went into the victim's apartment = trespassing, removing evidence = theft. And when he signs it it'll be his confession.
Brenda stops in Pope's office, where he's reading Flynn and Provenza's great fiction of the morning's events. He's still worried about what happens when they go to trial. But Brenda talked to the DA, who found the victim despicable and agreed to a plea. Pope worries what the team will think of him if he lies in his report. Brenda says they'll think he's one of the guys. They lie to him all the time. It's the one thing that unites every division of the LAPD.
Brenda slings her purse over her shoulder and gives Pope a big wink. "Nighty, night, crime stopper."
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