- A cooler containing a body over three years dead comes to Major Crimes, leading Brenda to consider four hostile suspects. Meanwhile, Brenda's niece outstays her welcome with Brenda and Fritz.
- Major Crimes has an interesting case on its hands when a large cooler with a body stuffed inside gets delivered to the squad room, shipped by the owner of a storage facility after reporting his suspicions to the police, who didn't respond. They soon identify the dead man as Doug Courtney, a ne'er-do-well who wasn't very reliable and was un-liked by almost everyone who may have cared about him at one time - his parents, girlfriend, landlord and high school best bud. Brenda devises a clever scheme to out the guilty party among them. Meanwhile, she and Fritz must deal with her niece Charlie, who isn't exactly following their house rules.—garykmcd
- A large box with a body stuffed inside leads Brenda in search of suspects, and she winds up with several: a scripture-thumping stepfather, a disgruntled ex-girlfriend, a buddy who was constantly hit up for money, and a landlord who simply hated the victim's guts. Gabriel is studying for the detective exam, so Brenda uses the case as a teaching tool. Meanwhile, Brenda's niece, Charlie, pulls a stunt so severe, she and Fritz are ready to put her on the next plane home.—TNT Publicity
- Things are slow as Provenza fills out a crossword puzzle and ignores the postman bringing in the mail. He calls for Buzz to sign for packages. There's a big one that doesn't belong to him. It's COD to Major Crimes. They open up the box and find a cooler inside. The gang all peers in. At the mention of duct tape Provenza perks up.
Cut to the team standing in the hallway as the bomb squad does its thing. A bomb guy gives them the all clear.
Sanchez wants to dig in, but Provenza suggests they move it first. Brenda's not there. Her office will do. Gabriel wants to call the chief, but Provenza thinks they shouldn't bother.
They open up the cooler. They're immediately overpowered by the strong stench of a soggy dead body. Now it's time to call Brenda.
Provenza interrupts Brenda and Fritz's futile attempts to entertain her niece Charlie (note: teens do not find Hollywood Blvd's stars cool) with word that they ended up with a crime scene. She asks where it is. He pauses.
Cut to her office again, the cooler being opened and everyone gagging again. Brenda's unclear how Jack in the Box ended up in her office.
Fritz and Charlie wait outside her office.
The box was sent by Greg Lewis from self storage. Tao arrives with scented candles. The coroner arrives, declaring it smells like murder. He's brought gangly, Brenda-crushing Terrance with him. He's Dr. Terrance now.
Brenda goes to apologize to Fritz and Charlie. They're not sure what to do with Charlie. She offers to cook dinner. Her motives are somewhat unclear.
Brenda interviews Greg Lewis. He says he reported the suspicious box to the LAPD four times over the last few months. Someone told him to send it to them. He's curious to know what was in it. He's tickled to hear the news, just what he guessed. He found the box in unit 943, rented by Doug Courtney, whose debit card expired. He couldn't reach him.
On his rental form, they find that Courtney listed his parents' mobile home. He has a record for minor stuff. He drives a red Camaro. The only activity on his bank account was from an offshore account. There was plenty of money still in it. The team places bets on where he might have fled to after offing Mr. Jack Box. (Provenza takes Mexico, Sanchez goes with Thailand and Tao speaks up for Kuala Lampur, in part because it's fun to say.)
Dr. Terrance calls for Brenda. He opens with: "Sorry it's taken so long, but I'm having a hard time getting this guy out of your box." (And...rimshot!)
He lifted his fingerprints. It's Doug Courtney.
At the house, Fritz signs for a small package. It's for Charlie, from a friend back home. Fritz tries to decide whether to linger to see what's in it, but opts not. He leaves as Charlie texts furiously.
Brenda and Gabriel go to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Dobson, Doug's parents. She quizzes him on questions that might be on the detective's exam. She reminds him that Doug wasn't reported missing, so they might be interviewing suspects.
Inside, Mr. Dobson quotes Bible verses to Brenda and says his son was into drinking and sex. He clarifies that Doug was only his step-son and was hard to reach, whereas he's had success with his mom, Sarah. The last time they saw him was three years ago. Sarah tries to say Doug seemed better then, but he shuts her up.
Brenda asks if Doug left anything behind last time and purposefully spills iced tea as she does. She goes to get a paper towel as Mr. Dobson asks why they're really there. Brenda sees a red Camaro parked in the carport outside.
Gabriel's about to officially notify them when Brenda interrupts, saying that Gabriel is there because they think Doug was the victim of identity theft. She says she'll let him explain as she goes out and looks through her car.
Gabriel vamps, with something about Brazil and $20,000 in charges.
Outside, Brenda opens the dusty Camaro. She finds bundles of lottery tickets in the glove compartment and pictures of him with a woman, plus mail addressed to him and Tara Latimer. She takes a gym bag out of the trunk and leaves. At the office, Flynn goes through the bag full of swim trunks and gear and decides Doug was a surfer. Tao reports more than 200 lottery tickets, all with the same numbers. Gabriel says Doug's mail from his PO Box showed he owed money to everyone. Dr. Terrance arrives with a cause of death. He says Doug was well preserved but had two bullet wounds to the back.
He's putting the time of death at May 21, 2006, sometime after 6:12 p.m.
He pulls out newspapers that were in the bottom of the cooler from May 21. And a receipt for two hot dogs and a 40 oz from 6:12 p.m.
Provenza talks with Tara in the interview room. She met him at the casino where she worked. He gambled there. They moved in after a month. She has no idea how he paid the rent after she left. She says the landlord hated him.
Cut to the landlord, saying he hated him and Doug was always spinning stories about why he was short on rent.
Tara notes that the lottery numbers he played were his and his parents' birthdays. She seems to think he's a big loser, and that his job was fake.
Cut to Jordan Wallace, his best friend from high school who acted as a reference, but never employed him. Wallace owns a global real estate company now. The three don't have kind words for Doug. Tara calls him a pig, the landlord calls him an a--hole and Jordan calls him a leach.
Doug owed Jordan $10,000. Jordan remembers Doug not showing up when he went over to help him move his stuff into a storage facility.
The landlord found his place empty. Tara told him Doug moved his stuff to the storage facility. He hated him because Doug slept with his daughter.
Tara hated him because he cheated on her and took all her money.
Brenda calls them all suspects.
Back at home, Brenda arrives to find Charlie cooking. Brenda asks what the delicious smell is. Charlie says it's a surprise, but she promises they're going to have a lot of fun tonight.
Brenda sniffs her way through the house and finds brownies in Charlie's room. She takes one. Rur-roh.
Later, she wobbles out into the dining room, a little too relaxed. She tells Charlie they need to talk. She had a brownie. Or two, or three. Charlie looks totally freaked out. But Brenda says they're the best brownies she's ever had in her entire life. Brenda is stoned out of her freaking mind.
Later, lying on the living room floor, Brenda talks through the case, trying to figure out who could have done it. But then her words start to sound funny and she's singing Willie Nelson.
Fritz comes home to this scene, his wife on her knees, singing to him. He looks at her eyes, immediately figures out what's up and asks Charlie what's going on. Brenda shows him the brownies. He suggests she go to bed.
Fritz is not amused. "Who the hell do you think you are, bringing marijuana into my house?" he asks Charlie. He figures her friend sent her weed - and he signed for it. He asks her if she knows what could have happened if he'd eaten one, telling her he's in AA. He's yelling. "It's not my fault you're a drunk," she says, snottily.
He picks up her phone and finds her friend's number. He's calling her parents. He tells Charlie to go to her room and that she's going home as soon as possible.
Brenda comes out, asking about the fuss. Fritz tells her they're sending Charlie back. This spurs a Brenda realization, even while stoned. She writes down "send back." And then she takes a nap.
The next day, she doesn't understand her note. At work, Gabriel tells her Mrs. Dobson is waiting for her in her office...which still smells like decomposing Doug.
Mrs. Dobson says she has information on Doug that she couldn't tell her in front of her husband. She said Doug keeps in touch with her. He's been writing, until about five months ago. She hands over the letters.
Doug was in Hawaii, then Australia.
Later, Tao says the postal cancellations are valid. But how did a man who's been dead for three years send mail so recently?
Dr. Terrance appears, having been summoned. She tells him about her contradictory evidence. He respectfully tells her she's wrong.
He found two hot dogs and malt liquor in Doug's stomach, which matches with the receipt dated 2006. Terrance starts to get prickly, saying if she finds fault with his conclusions he'd be happy to send Mr. Box back to her....
Brenda has her "send back" realization again (with better chances of remembering it this time). She thanks Terrance profusely and wraps him in a hug that Provenza has to help her out of, making Terrance's year.
She sends people out for plastic sheets and four coolers. Whoever killed Doug is going to be surprised when he's sent back, she explains.
Pope comes in later to find coolers wrapped in plastic and duct tape. "Oh, please tell me we haven't been sent four more dead bodies," he says. Brenda says it's part of the plan. Each cooler has a GPS and video camera. They're going to his parents, landlord, ex-girlfriend and friend. Whoever opens the box is innocent. Because if they don't open it, they know what's inside. (The money came from the last of Buzz's grant.)
The team watches the video monitors as nothing happens. Tara opens her cooler. Flynn collects on his bet. Tao says Wallace is moving his cooler.
Brenda doesn't want the murder suspect to see a cop car in the rear view. She borrows Buzz's Prius over his pleas to keep it safe and that he just washed it.
In the hybrid, Brenda continues quizzing Gabriel for his test. The main reasons for murder are jealousy, revenge and profit.
They rule out jealousy as a motive for Jordan Wallace. When they come to profit, Gabriel notes all Doug had was the Camaro and the $6,500 transferred from his off-shore account.
Brenda calls Fritz. He bought a ticket for Charlie for 7 a.m. the next day. But Brenda wants to talk about another kind of ticket.
At the office, Tao watches Mr. Dobson and the landlord open their coolers.
Brenda tells Gabriel that Fritz confirmed that Jordan has recently been to all the places Mrs. Dobson got letters from.
Tao calls, reporting on the cooler openings. And he's figured out the motive. Doug's numbers hit the lottery on May 19 for $15 million, but Jordan cashed the ticket.
By the GPS, they see Jordan has pulled off the road. The drive up in sneaky Prius silent mode and get out to find Jordan digging a hole.
Brenda tells him she's guessing if they open the cooler they're going to find someone they're looking for. Gabriel opens it so Doug can't see the contents. Back in the office, Tao gets a good remote video angle of Gabriel fake reeling from stench before announcing that Doug is in the box.
Brenda tells Jordan that usually she likes confessions, but digging a hole in the desert for a body is good enough. She asks him about the lottery numbers. He denies that he killed Doug for the winnings. Brenda pauses as she accuses, so Gabriel steps in and finishes up laying out the evidence about the letters.
Brenda says sending letters to Doug's mom was cruel, but Jordan says he gave her something Doug never did: attention. He says Doug would have blown all the money at the casino. They arrest him.
Walking back to the car, Gabriel thanks Brenda for all her support with the detective prep. At the Prius, Brenda grimaces when she thinks she sees a dent. It's hard to tell. The car is caked with desert dirt.
Back at her office, Brenda breaks the news to Doug's mom, including that he won the lottery. She'll get it as his only next of kin. Brenda suggests she might use the money to stand up for herself. She feels horrible for giving up on her own son. Brenda asks how a mother can give up on her own child.
Brenda arrives home to find Fritz about to take Charlie to the airport. She tells Charlie to take her bags back to her room. Charlie wants to go home, but Brenda threatens her with federal charges.
Fritz isn't thrilled. He calls Charlie self-centered and disrespectful. Brenda calls her 16. Brenda points out that he's the one who wants kids, and if he can't handle this... She says they can't give up on her. She wants them to hold onto her a little while longer so she knows she has someone she can rely on. Fritz says that's exactly what a good mother would say. He asks if she would have really arrested her.
"No," Brenda tells him, "I would have let you do it."
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