Major Crimes s05e18 Episode Script
Bad Blood
A-ha! Landlord works quick.
I thought the same thing, but apparently the sign's been up for a few months.
So you can keep your faith in humanity another day.
I wouldn't count on it.
What happened? So Tori Duncan found the body of Mary Conrad, her 72-year-old aunt, when she dropped by to pick her up - for a doctor's appointment.
- Huh.
Well, her aunt still has a doctor's appointment, though I think we all know the diagnosis.
Now tell me, why is this a major crime? Dead aunt used to be a cop.
Used to be a cop.
- Mary, um - Conrad.
Right.
Mary Conrad.
The front door was obviously forced.
And personnel says Mary retired D1 from Fraud.
Joined the Academy in 1973.
1973? 1973 is the year I joined.
She must have been a classmate.
Oh, and she retired 23 years ago.
Well, you can lose the tone, Buzz.
Why don't I remember her? And this is all the rollout we do for a former cop? I mean, where's the media? Well, this was probably just a follow-home, sir.
There's, uh, no cash in her wallet, a bunch of drawers were pulled open.
She's the perfect target older, feeble, lives alone.
It's a sad way for a cop to go.
Is there any sign of a murder weapon? Uh, we found this, sir, near the body.
Someone wiped off the sides, sir, so blood, but no prints.
She was killed with her old badge? I assume she kept it displayed on top of the credenza - by the door.
- Kendall.
Kendall, time of death.
Uh, 9 to 11 p.
m.
last night.
She took three or four hits to the head, but just one blow would've done it.
Well these are uncertain times.
Sykes, I want you to, uh, call the number on this receipt and see if anyone in the grocery store remembers Mary Conrad.
Or if anyone noticed someone following her home last night.
Sir, I'm not sure a follow-home makes sense.
- Oh? - There's no damage to the deadbolt.
Well, it probably means that she heard a knock, Buzz, and then went to the door and opened it with the security chain still on it - to see who was outside.
- The door was smashed in, which makes perfect sense with a follow-home.
Yes, except why come all the way back to the door with the groceries in her hand and not set them over there Is that your big issue, the location of the groceries? Sorry, Columbo.
Mary was obviously turned around still holding the bag.
Don't make theories out of spilt milk.
Buzz has a point, though, Lieutenant.
Killing Mary with the badge seems more personal than opportunistic.
Well, maybe it was a follow-home until they saw the badge and then they realized that she was a cop.
I'm telling you, Julio, she looks so familiar.
And and Sykes said that she worked Fraud? - More like she was a fraud.
- What? In addition to pocketing all the cash we found in these, uh, children's birthday cards, Mary had a lot of mail and packages in her closet addressed to this complex, but not to Mary Conrad.
She was "collecting" her neighbors' mail.
That explains the random stuff in here, sir.
Well, taking things that didn't belong to her might've been a habit.
The grocery store called the cops on Mary - for shoplifting last night.
- What? At around 8 p.
m.
I'll get in touch with the reporting officers.
- Hey, police! - I need to get my Vitamix! Oh, hey, hey.
Stay on the other side of that tape, sir.
This is a crime scene.
What are you doing? Sure, of course, but, uh, you guys find a Vitamix in there? - Excuse me? A Vitamix? - It's like a blender.
How soon can I get that back? How soon do you want to be a suspect for murder? Look, everything on the inside of that apartment is evidence.
Oh, come on.
That Vitamix wasn't even hers.
I ordered it from Amazon, and I think she stole it off my doorstep.
And when I confronted the old bag, - she gave me this.
- Oh.
I remember Mary.
And if I'm right, there's somebody who knew her much better than I did.
Mary took a swing at me when I relieved her of duty.
Why were you investigating her, ma'am? Well, when she'd make an arrest for fraud, Mary sometimes accepted "thank-you gifts" from banks and retail outlets.
Oh, my gosh.
That is so against the rules.
Yeah, well, that didn't keep her from trying to justify it.
She even mentioned that FBI agents get to keep a percentage of confiscated funds.
Lucky bastards.
Where is she? Where is she But, you know, Mary's main defense was that her Captain didn't like having a woman in his unit.
Well, it was a bit of a boys' club back then.
Still is.
I'm not sure, though, how much of a committed feminist Mary was.
When I asked for her service weapon back, she called me a bitch.
Oh.
Well, that's shocking.
Funny that she turned out like that.
I'm sure I liked her in the Academy.
- Mm.
- You canned her, right? No, I offered her a demotion and a chance to work her way back up, but she retired instead Hi, we were asked to come up and debrief you on an incident report? Yeah, you guys dealt with Mary Conrad last night? Okay, well, look, we need you to review the footage off your body cams with us.
Buzz, are we all set up? Follow me, please.
Uh, Lieutenant, just a reminder, sir.
I have to leave early the day after tomorrow to get Mark's grandmother to appoint me his probate guardian before the judge, sir.
Right, right, right.
And then, I promised Mark that I would take him for a round of putt-putt, sir.
Putt-putt? I don't even think I know you anymore.
You call yourself police.
And you're out here accusing an old woman of stealing? I have a receipt.
What about for the stuff in your purse, ma'am? Don't "ma'am" me.
I am Detective Mary Conrad, retired, and I am investigating a fraud at this supermarket.
If you're retired, you don't have any jurisdiction here, ma'am.
Oh, okay.
We'll see about that.
Go ahead.
Cuff me.
Take me downtown.
Why did you deactivate your button cams when you left the store? 'Cause we weren't gonna arrest her.
Why not? Look, anybody working Olympic Division knows Mary.
She's caught shoplifting once a month.
And each time you let her go? What? Professional courtesy? She only steals little stuff candy bars, olive oil.
She's old.
Nobody wanted to press charges.
Mostly Mary's just a pain in the ass.
We didn't wanna waste time booking her.
With genuine bad guys on the street? No, we just we give whatever she's stealing back to the store, and that's it.
If she complained, you can see we did everything by the book.
We were very cordial.
Even offered to drive her home.
You did? Did she accept? She said she had an Uber waiting.
Oh.
So maybe it wasn't a follow-home murder.
It was an Uber-home murder.
Hold on.
Someone killed Mary Conrad? Yes.
I'm afraid so.
Did either of you notice her driver or if anyone might have followed her home? When she didn't call this morning, I knew something was wrong.
I was running behind, and whenever I wasn't on time, she, uh she If my wife or I were even a minute late picking up Aunt Mary, our phones would ring.
She, uh, valued promptness.
What Al wants to say is that Aunt Mary complained a lot.
And she did.
She was tough.
And grumpy.
Even the last - No wonder you liked her, sir.
- Well, yes, Julio.
I just can't remember why.
She was really needy.
But she, um, could be really funny, too.
You know, Aunt Mary had a lot of really good stories.
When I was little she used to play a lot of games with me.
I mean, she cheated, of course, but, uh, she was always obvious about it, so she, uh, you know, made me laugh.
Mary came back from the store last night in an Uber booked on your credit card, is that right? Probably, yeah.
We put the app on her phone a few months ago logged into our account.
Her driving had become really erratic.
She would just leave the car wherever she wanted.
After about 30 parking tickets, we, uh, convinced her to let other people drive her around instead.
She always got to ride Uber Select, too.
Which not even I'm allowed to do.
Because of her back pain, Wyatt.
Aunt Mary was in pain a lot of the time.
Did she have any new complaints recently? Anyone new bothering her or threatening her? Yes.
Oh, my God.
Yes.
Al, remember? A few weeks back she told us about this ex-con she had put in jail 20 years ago.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He just gotten out of prison, I guess, and he was coming around, screaming at Mary for ruining his life.
She, uh, she wanted the landlord to put up security cameras, but he just flat out refused.
I should've pushed him harder.
Do you have the ex-con's name? No.
She didn't say.
- My God.
Why didn't she say? - That's okay We should check Mary's arrest records against all releases from state prisons - over the last two years.
- Already on it, Lieutenant.
We will follow up on this information right now.
She, um She was a good detective, wasn't she? She was unforgettable.
Sort of.
Sort of unforgettable.
So we should check out any store owners who might've been fed up with Mary's shoplifting.
Yes, and check the neighbors with missing mail.
Track down her driver from last night.
Fraud will have all her old cases up here shortly.
Or maybe we can identify the ex-con who supposedly paid her a visit.
Okay, that is enough to start.
Let's see if any of these leads/motives pay off.
Hang on.
We may have another one.
We found this box of dog biscuits in Mary Conrad's apartment.
- There's the happy couple.
- Ricky! Mom, Andy, congratulations! How does it feel to be engaged? Oh, uh Wait, what? - Engaged? Congratulations! - Congratulations.
Where's the ring? Didn't the Lieutenant buy you a ring, ma'am? - Oh, my God.
- Well, you're still engaged, right? - Well - Yes, we are.
We just haven't announced it yet, that's all.
Oh, no.
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
I I'm so sorry.
Really? I-I thought he knew not to bring it up.
I'm sorry.
You know what? Both of you, it's it's all right.
We were gonna have a little party, and, yes, Andy did, of course, give me a ring, but I left it at home because Oh, God.
Mom, I ruined your surprise.
I'm so sorry.
You know what? I am so happy to see you.
I am.
I am absolutely thrilled.
We will celebrate later.
I promise, okay? - Uh-huh.
Yep.
Uh, for now, Mike, you were saying? Ah, the future Mrs.
Flynn.
Oh, well, that's still under discussion.
But come on.
Anyway, I thought it odd Mary had an open box of dog biscuits in her apartment when she doesn't have a dog.
So I put one of the dog treats under the otoscope They're coated with rat poison.
Mary Conrad probably killed somebody's dog.
Well, you were right.
This list of motives just got longer.
Not bad, Andy.
Nice work.
Oh, well, I can't afford a ring as beautiful as she deserves, - but thanks.
- This is much more than enough.
So, did you pick a date? When's the ceremony? What? Rusty, how 'bout if we go and get some air, huh? Okay, sure.
You know, Ricky, there are issues.
Mom, no, no, no, no.
This is your time to be happy.
Don't postpone it.
I am trying to move things along, but I need a minute.
Well, I'm not telling you to get married today.
I'm just saying, take your foot off the brake.
But if I want to get married in the Catholic church oh.
- I don't know.
- I do.
I went to church last week.
I talked to the priest.
He said all of Dad's past behavior the drinking, gambling, disappearing acts they create grounds for an easy, straightforward annulment of your first marriage secured by your local bishop.
Your father is gonna have an issue with that.
- Oh, I already talked to him.
- You what? Yeah, three days ago.
So did Emily.
We walked dad through the entire thing and we made it abundantly clear that if he wants to continue to have a relationship with us, then he has to agree to the annulment.
And Jack was okay with all that? Oh, he was pissed.
But he agreed to sign a letter of approval.
I've already sent him a draft and he's promised to have it back to me by next week.
How did you know to talk to your father about my annulment? Mom, how could we not know what the church means to you? And how can we not go full out for our mother who gave so much to us? Is there something else? Yes.
I am not the only divorced Catholic in this relationship.
Oh! Mm Well, Andy's ex-wife remarried.
Isn't that grounds for annulment? An annulment of Andy's former marriage has got to be his idea, not mine, and certainly not yours.
Hmm.
Okay.
Well, then, would you consider getting married outside the church and finally stop letting them dictate who is and isn't your family? Lola was like my child.
I fell apart when she died.
Still difficult to talk about it.
When the vet said she'd been poisoned? Ooh.
It ran through your mind, then? That Mary might've done it? Oh, yes, instantly.
Why? Well, she just seemed so so smug after Lola passed away.
She asked me, "Where's your little girl?" And she had this look in her eye like she knew the answer already.
Yeah, well, Griffin, do you have any idea why Mary would have killed, uh - Lola.
- Lola? No! No, Lola never growled.
She didn't bark.
She was perfectly well-behaved.
She did sometimes go swimming in the pool, but no one ever complained about that.
I think Mary just wanted everyone else to feel as unhappy and lonely as she was.
She was a spiteful cow.
Bless her heart.
- She was spiteful? - Mm-hmm.
Really? So Mary didn't get a lot of visitors? Are you kiddin'? Nobody could stand Mary.
Finally got a hold of someone at Uber.
The driver that dropped off Mary picked up another passenger about three minutes later.
So unless he killed her at high speed He's not a suspect.
Anything else? He gave Mary a 1-star review, which is not a surprise.
Ooh.
Emerald cut.
- Very nice.
- Mm I would never say that I'm glad she's gone but things may be easier for me now.
I couldn't keep the units filled with Mary living there.
I had six different renters break their lease just to get away from her.
Why didn't you report her to the police? She kept telling me she was the police and that they would always take her side.
Oh, I lost some of my best renters 'cause of Mary.
Well, he had enough motive, but is he the type? Then there was this guy that'd been comin' around.
What guy? Well, the guy that kept, um, lurkin' outside the complex.
- It could be the ex-con Tori mentioned.
- When I approached him I have jackets on everyone Mary arrested and was released over the last couple of years.
Six men, all on parole.
Should make things easier.
They had this huge screaming match.
When did this happen? A week or two ago.
What did this guy look like? A height? Hair color, age, race? He was a white guy.
Probably 50's.
Tattoos all over.
Do you remember anything else about him? Oh, he was enormous, like a supersized fella.
How is this for supersized? Dustin O'Brien.
He was convicted of fraud in 1992.
All right, Griffin, would you write all this down for us, please? Sentenced to five years and an additional 20 for violent behavior and an escape attempt.
25 years, that's plenty of time to develop a grudge.
Yeah, and he was released last month.
Okay, while we are going through Mary's finances to make sure there's no motive there, Lieutenant, call Dustin O'Brien's parole officer.
Let's pay Mr.
Supersize a home visit.
He showed up for his appointment last Wednesday, but I don't know Dustin's whereabouts since then.
He lists this place as his current address.
His cousin's house, I think.
Sir.
I just wanted to remind you.
Julio, if you bring up your court hearing one more time, I am going to arrest you instead of this suspect.
Now I promise you, you will get out in time tomorrow to legally putt-putt your way through the windmill.
- Are you guys lookin' for Dustin? - We are.
Is he here? Nope.
Haven't seen him since a couple nights ago.
Are you gonna arrest him? Uh, you have a reason we should? Yeah, to get him off my couch.
- You want your cousin arrested? - Yeah, he's a freakin' drag, man.
No job, no help around the house, complaining about his life day in and out.
All the stuff I divorced my husband over.
We need to search your property.
Whatever.
If it'll help you take Dustin with you, I'll give you a guided tour.
So he's been sleepin' here.
All his stuff's in the hall closet.
I was, like, 10 when he went to prison.
I just let him stay here 'cause his brother won't talk to him.
Didn't think he'd be here this long.
He's takin' advantage.
Lieutenant, found a box of .
22s in here.
No sign of a gun.
There's your parole violation.
Come on, Dustin, you moron.
Guess who's home? Hey, Dustin.
You got a minute? Go, go, go! Whoa, whoa! You're staying here.
Stop! Stop, stop, stop! Shit! Excuse me, folks! I'm parallel on Avenue 28.
I'll cut him off at Albion.
Shit! Mr.
O'Brien, stay in your vehicle with your hands over your head! - Get down on your knees! - Get down.
Get down, asshole, or I'll shoot you dead! Wes! Stand down.
What? Lieutenant, we found ammunition.
Stand down.
I will handle this.
You do not fire your weapon unless you see a gun pointed at us.
Dustin, you're injured.
You can't escape.
Stop where you are, or things are gonna get worse very, very fast.
Good.
Now get on your knees.
- Do you have a weapon? - No.
Get down on your stomach, hands behind your back.
Come on.
Aye, yi, yi.
Sykes, roll paramedics.
Please.
Please, I don't want to go back to prison, man.
How 'bout a hospital? - Wes, give me a hand.
Major Crimes, unit 1465.
Please have paramedics respond to our location.
- I have one male with traffic accident-related injuries.
Okay.
So all Andy has to do is show he was emotionally unprepared to be married to his first wife.
The bishop will grant the annulment.
- Couldn't be easier.
- Except that mom wants him to come up with the idea on his own.
- Mm.
- Why is she so set on getting married in a church anyway? I mean, she goes to mass a lot, but Andy doesn't.
I don't.
You don't, do you? I'm an Easter Catholic.
Look, it's it's not about us, okay? The church was Mom's support system while we were growing up.
They gave her a break on our education, they gave her child care when she worked late at night, and the church centers her.
It really does.
Look, maybe one way of handling this would be to ask Andy.
Ask Andy what? - Hey, good morning.
- Good morning.
Oh, uh Oh, uh, we were just gonna We wanted to know if you, uh Actually, there's there's there's no need to hide it, Ricky.
Um, Andy, we were just wondering a little bit about your last marriage.
Not that it is really any of our business.
No, no.
And if you don't want to discuss it with us, it's fine.
- Right.
- No, no, no, no, no.
I'm glad you asked.
I meant to give you boys some assurances about that.
Sandra, ah.
We married too young.
But my mom was getting older, and she wanted grandchildren, so we just went for it.
But when the kids were born, I wasn't ready.
Instead, I just drank too much and made mistakes.
The children kind of grew up without a father.
And all the while, Sandra was back home being the best mom she could, working full-time, trying to love me.
So it sounds to me like back then, you were just a little emotionally unprepared for marriage, maybe? Yeah, well, that's letting me off the hook a lot.
But you're not wrong.
Look The important thing is, I've accepted responsibility for my bad behavior, and I've worked hard at making amends.
And I don't ever want to be in that situation again.
Believe me.
Don't be worried.
I'm emotionally ready for your mom.
I am.
Everything you're asking him about happened years ago.
Is there anything Mr.
O'Brien can speak to that's not in the distant past? Well, you developed some violent tendencies in prison, didn't you? You assaulted a fellow inmate.
Yeah.
I became an animal to survive.
Yeah, you attempted to escape.
To go to my father's funeral.
He died when I was locked up.
So yeah, when I got out, I wanted to see what kind of life she was living after she ruined mine.
He blames Mary the way she blamed you for her demotion, ma'am.
- Mm-hmm.
- They had a few short conversations.
But there were no signs Detective Mary Conrad feared for her safety.
That bitch wasn't scared of me at all.
Dustin, please.
He wanted an apology.
Nothing more.
Until Sunday night.
When he suddenly wanted her dead? Let's hope so.
If we can't find any financial reason for someone to off her.
Outside her L.
A.
P.
D.
pension, $50,000 a year, - Mary had nothing but her family.
- What made Sunday stand out from all the other days he hated Mary Conrad? On Sunday, he witnessed Ms.
Conrad shoplifting at a local supermarket.
She was shoveling spices and candy and truffle oil in her purse.
Truffle oil.
That shit's expensive! Dustin alerted the store manager so the authorities could be called.
Not that it mattered.
They just let her go.
She was laughing about it when she got back home.
Getting out of her Uber, laughing.
Ah, so, you followed her back home.
Yeah, yeah.
We get it, Provenza.
You were right.
Who's to say he didn't just want to make sure - she got home safe? - So he wanted her arrested and he wanted her home safe? What's the matter with the way I said it? Well, Miriam, I guess you're gonna be using the SODDI defense.
SODDI? What? S-O-D-D-I.
Stands for, "Some other dude did it.
" It's a crude reduction by the police of a valid defense that keeps many innocent people out of jail.
But what exactly did some other dude do, Lieutenant? So far as Mary Conrad goes, I don't see a crime.
Mm.
How 'bout murder? We're sorry that we didn't mention it earlier, but we just assumed Dustin here would've told you how he broke down Mary's door and bashed in her head.
What the hell? I'm sure you can see my client's shock at learning of Ms.
Conrad's death.
- I'm equally surprised that - Great performance.
You know they have acting classes in prison now.
I didn't do it.
I didn't do it! - I don't believe you, Dustin.
- No, I'm serious.
If she's dead, then some other dude really did do it.
Look, I did go to her house that night like I said.
I thought about confronting her, following her inside.
I even went to the entrance.
I looked in the courtyard.
I saw I saw another guy coming out of her apartment.
Dustin, it sounds like you may be confused.
- I did, though, I did.
- It sounds like desperation, which could help us with a deal, but we still don't have any physical evidence.
Buzz, pull up the crime scene footage.
Maybe there's something we haven't noticed.
And he was looking around like he was upset.
Like he was looking to see if anybody was in the courtyard.
You know? Then he put his hands in his pockets and he walked away from Mary's place.
I moved back out of the way.
And when he got to the street, he took off runnin'.
- And he got in a black sedan.
- Oh.
A black sedan.
The most common vehicle on the streets of L.
A.
Let me guess the guy was medium height, medium weight.
- Pretty average-looking? - Yeah, yeah.
How do you know that? Because you're describing the most generic human on earth.
Dustin, please shut up.
My client had nothing to do with the murder of Mary Conrad.
And in fact, think about that while you consider - his so-called parole violation.
- Hang on.
There's actually something there.
Go back, Buzz.
If you wanna know why he attempted to avoid - a confrontation with the police - Hang on.
What do you see, Mike? First, look at him.
- Now look at the wall.
- brutal use of force.
If someone shoved this door open from the outside, especially someone as big as Dustin O'Brien The wall would've sustained damage.
But there's nothing there.
Not even scraped paint.
Buzz, do you have this wall very, very well-documented? - Yes, ma'am.
- Then, Julio, if you could provide us with a demonstration as to how this door may have been broken open.
Buzz, let's video this.
Wow.
And Sanchez probably isn't half as strong as Dustin O'Brien.
Though, you know, plenty tough.
So in order to leave no damage, the killer must've yanked the door open from the inside.
After Mary was dead.
And they had to be quieter, too.
It explains why no one reported a crash.
And why the groceries were spread out on the floor.
They were staged.
So the killer was inside waiting for Mary and only made it look like a break-in after the fact.
- Which means - I know.
It wasn't a follow-home.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What are you doing here? Telling Andy to get his marriage annulled.
Dude, hey.
That's exactly what Mom said not to do.
She made rules about this, Ricky.
Rules.
Damn the rules, Rusty.
I head home tomorrow.
- I'm not leaving this unresolved.
- Okay Mom isn't always right, you know? She spent far too much time waiting for my dad to come No, I've thought of another way.
What other way? There is no other way.
- Andy isn't picking up on the hint.
- He doesn't have to.
Look, I have a plan already in progress, okay? Just hear me out for a second.
Makes no sense.
The killer didn't force his way in.
Mary just opened the door for him? I doubt Mary liked anyone enough to just let them in.
Especially with an apartment full of stolen goods.
Someone was lying in wait.
Mary's landlord, Griffin.
He'd have a key.
Um, and Griffin had a serious motive.
He treated his precious little Lola like family.
And not only did Mary kill his dog, she was bad for business.
Did I misread our outraged landlord? Invite him back in, and this time let there be no doubt as to why he's here.
Wait, why why do I need an attorney? We're not saying you need one, Griffin.
We just like to give all our murder suspects - their Miranda rights.
- I'm a murder suspect? This is so rude! - Why?! - Mary killed your dog.
Yes.
Yes, she murdered my poor little Lola.
So I have motive, but I did not have the means.
The means? Got to love a suspect who's watched all the crime dramas.
I don't think it'd be too difficult for you to kill a 72-year-old woman.
And as the landlord, wouldn't you have keys to her apartment? Makes it easy for you to lie in wait.
Lie in w oh, my goodness.
Look, I'm not the only one with a key.
At least three other people had keys.
And so that's plausible deniability, right? You can't put me on trial if there's all these other other suspects.
Oh, my God.
Suspects.
I'm a suspect.
Forget that.
Who else had a key? Well, Tori did, of course.
- Tori Duncan, Mary's niece? - Yes! And why do you say, "of course"? Not everyone gives a key to their family member.
- It was Tori's apartment.
- It was? Yes! She and husband paid the rent.
And the utilities and everything else.
It was their names on the lease.
Why did Tori rent the apartment? Mary kept her pension.
- She had excellent credit.
- Tori came by an open house and told me about this elderly former-cop of an aunt.
She sounded like the perfect tenant, but Where did Mary's pension go? And what else is her family paying for, I wonder? $2,500 a month for rent, another $300 for utilities.
And the cars she booked ran another $140 a month.
Health care, supplemental insurance.
You even gave her an ATM card linked to your checking account.
So? Aunt Mary didn't have kids.
I was her next of kin.
But it had to have caused some strain.
When you take responsibility for another human life, strain is unavoidable.
Your aunt cost you over $4,000 a month.
- You lost your savings.
- What? Wyatt, please.
Are you saying that I'm not going to Georgetown because you were giving away my future to that old bitch? Wyatt! Your aunt was family, and we all had to make sacrifices.
- Oh, that is such bullshit.
- What about your life? Let's look at that, why don't we? The piano lessons, the braces, the private schools? Saving what we can for your college education? Did you ever hear me complain even once about having to pay for any of that? - Mom - Did you?! No.
No, Mom God, I'm sorry.
I-I didn't mean it like that.
I She was difficult.
She was trouble.
But she carried a gun and a badge for her entire career, and I was never gonna throw her out on the street.
Especially when she lost her pension.
Wait, ma'am.
She lost her pension? How how did that happen? She picked the lump sum distribution and invested it with the wrong person.
He promised her an annuity of $60,000 for life.
Hold on, you can get the lump sum distribution - of your retirement plan? - No.
Never.
And I checked.
Mary's pension went by direct deposit to a checking account every other week.
An account her niece obviously knew nothing about.
she was taken for all she had.
You people should've done something about that.
Okay, we can see how upset you are.
Let's get the rest of the questions we're required to ask you out of the way right now.
Ma'am, where were you and Wyatt on Sunday night? Are you serious? Did you hear anything that I just said? Did you hear what I just said? Where were you last Sunday night? Mom and I were at a seminar for making the most of your in-state university experience.
It lasted from 6 to 9 in Long Beach.
So a billion miles away from Aunt Mary's.
And your husband where was he? It's all right if you want to remain silent.
We'll just talk to you for a moment, Al.
After your son and wife left for Long Beach, you drove to Mary's apartment.
You parked your car down the street so Mary wouldn't see it.
We have a warrant for that car.
And while you're sitting here, not cooperating, your vehicle is being searched for traces of blood.
Plus we have multiple eyewitnesses that saw you enter and leave Mary's apartment right around the time of her death.
Well, that sounds promising.
And it's about 60% true.
They saw your black Honda Accord.
They even gave us your license plate number because they also saw you running from the building.
And that's 80% false, but when all else fails.
You snuck into the house of a defenseless old woman who had nothing to her name She didn't have nothing to her name.
Believe me.
Al, um, we have found more than enough evidence to prove that the murder was premeditated.
Is the death penalty something you want for yourself? For your family? There could be mitigating circumstances, Al, but only you can tell us that.
We could start with why now? I mean, after years of taking care of your wife's aunt, why now? On Friday, I got a call from the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions office.
When we moved Mary into her last apartment, I guess she didn't update her address.
So after a few years of getting returned mail and not being able to contact her, they called us.
And I find out I find out since the day she quit, Mary had a pension of $50,000 a year.
15 years we've been taking care of her.
Sacrificing for her.
My son, he's a bright, decent, hard-working, smart kid.
Sh She stole my son's future! I don't know, Captain.
We may be further from murder than it seems.
Can you tell us what Mary said to you the night you confronted her last Sunday? She said she never asked for our help, that what she had in her bank account was none of my business, and that maybe, if I'd been more responsible with our money, like her Is that when you grabbed her badge? Her badge.
What a joke.
Sitting around with all the stuff she stole.
No.
No, I, uh I didn't pick up the badge until I asked her to give me back enough of our money so I could send Wyatt to Georgetown.
She told me to leave the apartment.
Her apartment.
Then you picked up the badge.
But only because I couldn't find anything heavier.
Um those are really good mitigating factors, sir.
- Try and write them all down - Sorry, people.
What we have here is manslaughter.
The victim was a cop.
He waited for her in the apartment.
- Isn't that premeditation? - He paid the rent.
It was his apartment.
He had the right to enter.
And he didn't bring a weapon with him.
Yeah, but he knew the badge was there.
Mary is immensely unlikable.
A jury will sympathize with Al.
Not to mention that our eyewitness against him is a violent con who's been stalking the victim for weeks.
Al's lawyer will want a trial, and his client could walk, he could.
Poor Tori.
She worked so hard at keeping her family together, and it's splitting up anyway.
I mean, everyone always understands how rough it is for the victim's relatives, but no one ever thinks about the murderer's family, do they? And in this case, it's one and the same.
Hey, how'd it go? Great.
I won at golf.
And the judge said Julio would be the best guardian ever.
Well, if a judge says so, congrats.
Yeah, Julio.
Congratulations, man.
Yes, great going, Detective Sanchez.
But you're in it now, my friend, up to your neck.
Hey, don't pay attention to him.
You two will make a great family.
So do I get to call you Dad now? Oh, uh, well technically, I'm I'm not your father, I'm But I'm I'm your son, right? Um, technically, you're what's called "my ward.
" Technically? What's what's that? "Ward"? No, I don't want you to call me your ward.
How come I'm not your son? Um, okay.
How 'bout How 'bout this? Pato and patito.
Duck and little duck, like in "Make Way For Ducklings.
" Mi pato.
- Okay.
- Oh Here.
You check my addition.
Ah.
You heading out, Lieutenant? Can I take you for a drink? Oh, uh, well, I need to go by the cleaners, get my funeral suit.
I'm going to Mary Conrad's service tomorrow.
Maybe there'll be somebody there who can tell me why I can't remember her.
And asshole or not, she was still a cop.
Well, no matter what, Lieutenant, I promise to go to your funeral.
What makes you so sure I'm going first? and a bogey.
What's the total at the end? Hey, it's my ex-wife.
Oh, does she does she call you often? N-n-no.
No.
Hold on a second.
Uh, hey, Sandra.
What's up? I, uh I don't mind.
If that's what you want.
Yeah, sure.
Go ahead.
Send it.
Okay, bye.
Okay.
- You're not gonna believe this.
- Hmm? Sandra just filed paperwork with the church.
Huh! After all this time, she wants to have our marriage annulled.
What? Really? Oh! Wow.
Andy, wow.
That's crazy.
An annulment.
Are you okay with that? Um, well, I guess I have to be.
You know, the more I think about it, I think this could all turn out for the best.
You see, Sharon, a church wedding may not be totally out of the question.
Yes, indeed.
He moves in strange and mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
And good timing never ends.
I have almost my whole family here.
And I have an evening free for dinner.
Great.
I feel like celebrating.
- Hmm.
- Do you? Celebrating what? A deal.
What else do we celebrate around here? A deal.
A very good deal.
What number is that? Tell me.
Is that
I thought the same thing, but apparently the sign's been up for a few months.
So you can keep your faith in humanity another day.
I wouldn't count on it.
What happened? So Tori Duncan found the body of Mary Conrad, her 72-year-old aunt, when she dropped by to pick her up - for a doctor's appointment.
- Huh.
Well, her aunt still has a doctor's appointment, though I think we all know the diagnosis.
Now tell me, why is this a major crime? Dead aunt used to be a cop.
Used to be a cop.
- Mary, um - Conrad.
Right.
Mary Conrad.
The front door was obviously forced.
And personnel says Mary retired D1 from Fraud.
Joined the Academy in 1973.
1973? 1973 is the year I joined.
She must have been a classmate.
Oh, and she retired 23 years ago.
Well, you can lose the tone, Buzz.
Why don't I remember her? And this is all the rollout we do for a former cop? I mean, where's the media? Well, this was probably just a follow-home, sir.
There's, uh, no cash in her wallet, a bunch of drawers were pulled open.
She's the perfect target older, feeble, lives alone.
It's a sad way for a cop to go.
Is there any sign of a murder weapon? Uh, we found this, sir, near the body.
Someone wiped off the sides, sir, so blood, but no prints.
She was killed with her old badge? I assume she kept it displayed on top of the credenza - by the door.
- Kendall.
Kendall, time of death.
Uh, 9 to 11 p.
m.
last night.
She took three or four hits to the head, but just one blow would've done it.
Well these are uncertain times.
Sykes, I want you to, uh, call the number on this receipt and see if anyone in the grocery store remembers Mary Conrad.
Or if anyone noticed someone following her home last night.
Sir, I'm not sure a follow-home makes sense.
- Oh? - There's no damage to the deadbolt.
Well, it probably means that she heard a knock, Buzz, and then went to the door and opened it with the security chain still on it - to see who was outside.
- The door was smashed in, which makes perfect sense with a follow-home.
Yes, except why come all the way back to the door with the groceries in her hand and not set them over there Is that your big issue, the location of the groceries? Sorry, Columbo.
Mary was obviously turned around still holding the bag.
Don't make theories out of spilt milk.
Buzz has a point, though, Lieutenant.
Killing Mary with the badge seems more personal than opportunistic.
Well, maybe it was a follow-home until they saw the badge and then they realized that she was a cop.
I'm telling you, Julio, she looks so familiar.
And and Sykes said that she worked Fraud? - More like she was a fraud.
- What? In addition to pocketing all the cash we found in these, uh, children's birthday cards, Mary had a lot of mail and packages in her closet addressed to this complex, but not to Mary Conrad.
She was "collecting" her neighbors' mail.
That explains the random stuff in here, sir.
Well, taking things that didn't belong to her might've been a habit.
The grocery store called the cops on Mary - for shoplifting last night.
- What? At around 8 p.
m.
I'll get in touch with the reporting officers.
- Hey, police! - I need to get my Vitamix! Oh, hey, hey.
Stay on the other side of that tape, sir.
This is a crime scene.
What are you doing? Sure, of course, but, uh, you guys find a Vitamix in there? - Excuse me? A Vitamix? - It's like a blender.
How soon can I get that back? How soon do you want to be a suspect for murder? Look, everything on the inside of that apartment is evidence.
Oh, come on.
That Vitamix wasn't even hers.
I ordered it from Amazon, and I think she stole it off my doorstep.
And when I confronted the old bag, - she gave me this.
- Oh.
I remember Mary.
And if I'm right, there's somebody who knew her much better than I did.
Mary took a swing at me when I relieved her of duty.
Why were you investigating her, ma'am? Well, when she'd make an arrest for fraud, Mary sometimes accepted "thank-you gifts" from banks and retail outlets.
Oh, my gosh.
That is so against the rules.
Yeah, well, that didn't keep her from trying to justify it.
She even mentioned that FBI agents get to keep a percentage of confiscated funds.
Lucky bastards.
Where is she? Where is she But, you know, Mary's main defense was that her Captain didn't like having a woman in his unit.
Well, it was a bit of a boys' club back then.
Still is.
I'm not sure, though, how much of a committed feminist Mary was.
When I asked for her service weapon back, she called me a bitch.
Oh.
Well, that's shocking.
Funny that she turned out like that.
I'm sure I liked her in the Academy.
- Mm.
- You canned her, right? No, I offered her a demotion and a chance to work her way back up, but she retired instead Hi, we were asked to come up and debrief you on an incident report? Yeah, you guys dealt with Mary Conrad last night? Okay, well, look, we need you to review the footage off your body cams with us.
Buzz, are we all set up? Follow me, please.
Uh, Lieutenant, just a reminder, sir.
I have to leave early the day after tomorrow to get Mark's grandmother to appoint me his probate guardian before the judge, sir.
Right, right, right.
And then, I promised Mark that I would take him for a round of putt-putt, sir.
Putt-putt? I don't even think I know you anymore.
You call yourself police.
And you're out here accusing an old woman of stealing? I have a receipt.
What about for the stuff in your purse, ma'am? Don't "ma'am" me.
I am Detective Mary Conrad, retired, and I am investigating a fraud at this supermarket.
If you're retired, you don't have any jurisdiction here, ma'am.
Oh, okay.
We'll see about that.
Go ahead.
Cuff me.
Take me downtown.
Why did you deactivate your button cams when you left the store? 'Cause we weren't gonna arrest her.
Why not? Look, anybody working Olympic Division knows Mary.
She's caught shoplifting once a month.
And each time you let her go? What? Professional courtesy? She only steals little stuff candy bars, olive oil.
She's old.
Nobody wanted to press charges.
Mostly Mary's just a pain in the ass.
We didn't wanna waste time booking her.
With genuine bad guys on the street? No, we just we give whatever she's stealing back to the store, and that's it.
If she complained, you can see we did everything by the book.
We were very cordial.
Even offered to drive her home.
You did? Did she accept? She said she had an Uber waiting.
Oh.
So maybe it wasn't a follow-home murder.
It was an Uber-home murder.
Hold on.
Someone killed Mary Conrad? Yes.
I'm afraid so.
Did either of you notice her driver or if anyone might have followed her home? When she didn't call this morning, I knew something was wrong.
I was running behind, and whenever I wasn't on time, she, uh she If my wife or I were even a minute late picking up Aunt Mary, our phones would ring.
She, uh, valued promptness.
What Al wants to say is that Aunt Mary complained a lot.
And she did.
She was tough.
And grumpy.
Even the last - No wonder you liked her, sir.
- Well, yes, Julio.
I just can't remember why.
She was really needy.
But she, um, could be really funny, too.
You know, Aunt Mary had a lot of really good stories.
When I was little she used to play a lot of games with me.
I mean, she cheated, of course, but, uh, she was always obvious about it, so she, uh, you know, made me laugh.
Mary came back from the store last night in an Uber booked on your credit card, is that right? Probably, yeah.
We put the app on her phone a few months ago logged into our account.
Her driving had become really erratic.
She would just leave the car wherever she wanted.
After about 30 parking tickets, we, uh, convinced her to let other people drive her around instead.
She always got to ride Uber Select, too.
Which not even I'm allowed to do.
Because of her back pain, Wyatt.
Aunt Mary was in pain a lot of the time.
Did she have any new complaints recently? Anyone new bothering her or threatening her? Yes.
Oh, my God.
Yes.
Al, remember? A few weeks back she told us about this ex-con she had put in jail 20 years ago.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He just gotten out of prison, I guess, and he was coming around, screaming at Mary for ruining his life.
She, uh, she wanted the landlord to put up security cameras, but he just flat out refused.
I should've pushed him harder.
Do you have the ex-con's name? No.
She didn't say.
- My God.
Why didn't she say? - That's okay We should check Mary's arrest records against all releases from state prisons - over the last two years.
- Already on it, Lieutenant.
We will follow up on this information right now.
She, um She was a good detective, wasn't she? She was unforgettable.
Sort of.
Sort of unforgettable.
So we should check out any store owners who might've been fed up with Mary's shoplifting.
Yes, and check the neighbors with missing mail.
Track down her driver from last night.
Fraud will have all her old cases up here shortly.
Or maybe we can identify the ex-con who supposedly paid her a visit.
Okay, that is enough to start.
Let's see if any of these leads/motives pay off.
Hang on.
We may have another one.
We found this box of dog biscuits in Mary Conrad's apartment.
- There's the happy couple.
- Ricky! Mom, Andy, congratulations! How does it feel to be engaged? Oh, uh Wait, what? - Engaged? Congratulations! - Congratulations.
Where's the ring? Didn't the Lieutenant buy you a ring, ma'am? - Oh, my God.
- Well, you're still engaged, right? - Well - Yes, we are.
We just haven't announced it yet, that's all.
Oh, no.
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
I I'm so sorry.
Really? I-I thought he knew not to bring it up.
I'm sorry.
You know what? Both of you, it's it's all right.
We were gonna have a little party, and, yes, Andy did, of course, give me a ring, but I left it at home because Oh, God.
Mom, I ruined your surprise.
I'm so sorry.
You know what? I am so happy to see you.
I am.
I am absolutely thrilled.
We will celebrate later.
I promise, okay? - Uh-huh.
Yep.
Uh, for now, Mike, you were saying? Ah, the future Mrs.
Flynn.
Oh, well, that's still under discussion.
But come on.
Anyway, I thought it odd Mary had an open box of dog biscuits in her apartment when she doesn't have a dog.
So I put one of the dog treats under the otoscope They're coated with rat poison.
Mary Conrad probably killed somebody's dog.
Well, you were right.
This list of motives just got longer.
Not bad, Andy.
Nice work.
Oh, well, I can't afford a ring as beautiful as she deserves, - but thanks.
- This is much more than enough.
So, did you pick a date? When's the ceremony? What? Rusty, how 'bout if we go and get some air, huh? Okay, sure.
You know, Ricky, there are issues.
Mom, no, no, no, no.
This is your time to be happy.
Don't postpone it.
I am trying to move things along, but I need a minute.
Well, I'm not telling you to get married today.
I'm just saying, take your foot off the brake.
But if I want to get married in the Catholic church oh.
- I don't know.
- I do.
I went to church last week.
I talked to the priest.
He said all of Dad's past behavior the drinking, gambling, disappearing acts they create grounds for an easy, straightforward annulment of your first marriage secured by your local bishop.
Your father is gonna have an issue with that.
- Oh, I already talked to him.
- You what? Yeah, three days ago.
So did Emily.
We walked dad through the entire thing and we made it abundantly clear that if he wants to continue to have a relationship with us, then he has to agree to the annulment.
And Jack was okay with all that? Oh, he was pissed.
But he agreed to sign a letter of approval.
I've already sent him a draft and he's promised to have it back to me by next week.
How did you know to talk to your father about my annulment? Mom, how could we not know what the church means to you? And how can we not go full out for our mother who gave so much to us? Is there something else? Yes.
I am not the only divorced Catholic in this relationship.
Oh! Mm Well, Andy's ex-wife remarried.
Isn't that grounds for annulment? An annulment of Andy's former marriage has got to be his idea, not mine, and certainly not yours.
Hmm.
Okay.
Well, then, would you consider getting married outside the church and finally stop letting them dictate who is and isn't your family? Lola was like my child.
I fell apart when she died.
Still difficult to talk about it.
When the vet said she'd been poisoned? Ooh.
It ran through your mind, then? That Mary might've done it? Oh, yes, instantly.
Why? Well, she just seemed so so smug after Lola passed away.
She asked me, "Where's your little girl?" And she had this look in her eye like she knew the answer already.
Yeah, well, Griffin, do you have any idea why Mary would have killed, uh - Lola.
- Lola? No! No, Lola never growled.
She didn't bark.
She was perfectly well-behaved.
She did sometimes go swimming in the pool, but no one ever complained about that.
I think Mary just wanted everyone else to feel as unhappy and lonely as she was.
She was a spiteful cow.
Bless her heart.
- She was spiteful? - Mm-hmm.
Really? So Mary didn't get a lot of visitors? Are you kiddin'? Nobody could stand Mary.
Finally got a hold of someone at Uber.
The driver that dropped off Mary picked up another passenger about three minutes later.
So unless he killed her at high speed He's not a suspect.
Anything else? He gave Mary a 1-star review, which is not a surprise.
Ooh.
Emerald cut.
- Very nice.
- Mm I would never say that I'm glad she's gone but things may be easier for me now.
I couldn't keep the units filled with Mary living there.
I had six different renters break their lease just to get away from her.
Why didn't you report her to the police? She kept telling me she was the police and that they would always take her side.
Oh, I lost some of my best renters 'cause of Mary.
Well, he had enough motive, but is he the type? Then there was this guy that'd been comin' around.
What guy? Well, the guy that kept, um, lurkin' outside the complex.
- It could be the ex-con Tori mentioned.
- When I approached him I have jackets on everyone Mary arrested and was released over the last couple of years.
Six men, all on parole.
Should make things easier.
They had this huge screaming match.
When did this happen? A week or two ago.
What did this guy look like? A height? Hair color, age, race? He was a white guy.
Probably 50's.
Tattoos all over.
Do you remember anything else about him? Oh, he was enormous, like a supersized fella.
How is this for supersized? Dustin O'Brien.
He was convicted of fraud in 1992.
All right, Griffin, would you write all this down for us, please? Sentenced to five years and an additional 20 for violent behavior and an escape attempt.
25 years, that's plenty of time to develop a grudge.
Yeah, and he was released last month.
Okay, while we are going through Mary's finances to make sure there's no motive there, Lieutenant, call Dustin O'Brien's parole officer.
Let's pay Mr.
Supersize a home visit.
He showed up for his appointment last Wednesday, but I don't know Dustin's whereabouts since then.
He lists this place as his current address.
His cousin's house, I think.
Sir.
I just wanted to remind you.
Julio, if you bring up your court hearing one more time, I am going to arrest you instead of this suspect.
Now I promise you, you will get out in time tomorrow to legally putt-putt your way through the windmill.
- Are you guys lookin' for Dustin? - We are.
Is he here? Nope.
Haven't seen him since a couple nights ago.
Are you gonna arrest him? Uh, you have a reason we should? Yeah, to get him off my couch.
- You want your cousin arrested? - Yeah, he's a freakin' drag, man.
No job, no help around the house, complaining about his life day in and out.
All the stuff I divorced my husband over.
We need to search your property.
Whatever.
If it'll help you take Dustin with you, I'll give you a guided tour.
So he's been sleepin' here.
All his stuff's in the hall closet.
I was, like, 10 when he went to prison.
I just let him stay here 'cause his brother won't talk to him.
Didn't think he'd be here this long.
He's takin' advantage.
Lieutenant, found a box of .
22s in here.
No sign of a gun.
There's your parole violation.
Come on, Dustin, you moron.
Guess who's home? Hey, Dustin.
You got a minute? Go, go, go! Whoa, whoa! You're staying here.
Stop! Stop, stop, stop! Shit! Excuse me, folks! I'm parallel on Avenue 28.
I'll cut him off at Albion.
Shit! Mr.
O'Brien, stay in your vehicle with your hands over your head! - Get down on your knees! - Get down.
Get down, asshole, or I'll shoot you dead! Wes! Stand down.
What? Lieutenant, we found ammunition.
Stand down.
I will handle this.
You do not fire your weapon unless you see a gun pointed at us.
Dustin, you're injured.
You can't escape.
Stop where you are, or things are gonna get worse very, very fast.
Good.
Now get on your knees.
- Do you have a weapon? - No.
Get down on your stomach, hands behind your back.
Come on.
Aye, yi, yi.
Sykes, roll paramedics.
Please.
Please, I don't want to go back to prison, man.
How 'bout a hospital? - Wes, give me a hand.
Major Crimes, unit 1465.
Please have paramedics respond to our location.
- I have one male with traffic accident-related injuries.
Okay.
So all Andy has to do is show he was emotionally unprepared to be married to his first wife.
The bishop will grant the annulment.
- Couldn't be easier.
- Except that mom wants him to come up with the idea on his own.
- Mm.
- Why is she so set on getting married in a church anyway? I mean, she goes to mass a lot, but Andy doesn't.
I don't.
You don't, do you? I'm an Easter Catholic.
Look, it's it's not about us, okay? The church was Mom's support system while we were growing up.
They gave her a break on our education, they gave her child care when she worked late at night, and the church centers her.
It really does.
Look, maybe one way of handling this would be to ask Andy.
Ask Andy what? - Hey, good morning.
- Good morning.
Oh, uh Oh, uh, we were just gonna We wanted to know if you, uh Actually, there's there's there's no need to hide it, Ricky.
Um, Andy, we were just wondering a little bit about your last marriage.
Not that it is really any of our business.
No, no.
And if you don't want to discuss it with us, it's fine.
- Right.
- No, no, no, no, no.
I'm glad you asked.
I meant to give you boys some assurances about that.
Sandra, ah.
We married too young.
But my mom was getting older, and she wanted grandchildren, so we just went for it.
But when the kids were born, I wasn't ready.
Instead, I just drank too much and made mistakes.
The children kind of grew up without a father.
And all the while, Sandra was back home being the best mom she could, working full-time, trying to love me.
So it sounds to me like back then, you were just a little emotionally unprepared for marriage, maybe? Yeah, well, that's letting me off the hook a lot.
But you're not wrong.
Look The important thing is, I've accepted responsibility for my bad behavior, and I've worked hard at making amends.
And I don't ever want to be in that situation again.
Believe me.
Don't be worried.
I'm emotionally ready for your mom.
I am.
Everything you're asking him about happened years ago.
Is there anything Mr.
O'Brien can speak to that's not in the distant past? Well, you developed some violent tendencies in prison, didn't you? You assaulted a fellow inmate.
Yeah.
I became an animal to survive.
Yeah, you attempted to escape.
To go to my father's funeral.
He died when I was locked up.
So yeah, when I got out, I wanted to see what kind of life she was living after she ruined mine.
He blames Mary the way she blamed you for her demotion, ma'am.
- Mm-hmm.
- They had a few short conversations.
But there were no signs Detective Mary Conrad feared for her safety.
That bitch wasn't scared of me at all.
Dustin, please.
He wanted an apology.
Nothing more.
Until Sunday night.
When he suddenly wanted her dead? Let's hope so.
If we can't find any financial reason for someone to off her.
Outside her L.
A.
P.
D.
pension, $50,000 a year, - Mary had nothing but her family.
- What made Sunday stand out from all the other days he hated Mary Conrad? On Sunday, he witnessed Ms.
Conrad shoplifting at a local supermarket.
She was shoveling spices and candy and truffle oil in her purse.
Truffle oil.
That shit's expensive! Dustin alerted the store manager so the authorities could be called.
Not that it mattered.
They just let her go.
She was laughing about it when she got back home.
Getting out of her Uber, laughing.
Ah, so, you followed her back home.
Yeah, yeah.
We get it, Provenza.
You were right.
Who's to say he didn't just want to make sure - she got home safe? - So he wanted her arrested and he wanted her home safe? What's the matter with the way I said it? Well, Miriam, I guess you're gonna be using the SODDI defense.
SODDI? What? S-O-D-D-I.
Stands for, "Some other dude did it.
" It's a crude reduction by the police of a valid defense that keeps many innocent people out of jail.
But what exactly did some other dude do, Lieutenant? So far as Mary Conrad goes, I don't see a crime.
Mm.
How 'bout murder? We're sorry that we didn't mention it earlier, but we just assumed Dustin here would've told you how he broke down Mary's door and bashed in her head.
What the hell? I'm sure you can see my client's shock at learning of Ms.
Conrad's death.
- I'm equally surprised that - Great performance.
You know they have acting classes in prison now.
I didn't do it.
I didn't do it! - I don't believe you, Dustin.
- No, I'm serious.
If she's dead, then some other dude really did do it.
Look, I did go to her house that night like I said.
I thought about confronting her, following her inside.
I even went to the entrance.
I looked in the courtyard.
I saw I saw another guy coming out of her apartment.
Dustin, it sounds like you may be confused.
- I did, though, I did.
- It sounds like desperation, which could help us with a deal, but we still don't have any physical evidence.
Buzz, pull up the crime scene footage.
Maybe there's something we haven't noticed.
And he was looking around like he was upset.
Like he was looking to see if anybody was in the courtyard.
You know? Then he put his hands in his pockets and he walked away from Mary's place.
I moved back out of the way.
And when he got to the street, he took off runnin'.
- And he got in a black sedan.
- Oh.
A black sedan.
The most common vehicle on the streets of L.
A.
Let me guess the guy was medium height, medium weight.
- Pretty average-looking? - Yeah, yeah.
How do you know that? Because you're describing the most generic human on earth.
Dustin, please shut up.
My client had nothing to do with the murder of Mary Conrad.
And in fact, think about that while you consider - his so-called parole violation.
- Hang on.
There's actually something there.
Go back, Buzz.
If you wanna know why he attempted to avoid - a confrontation with the police - Hang on.
What do you see, Mike? First, look at him.
- Now look at the wall.
- brutal use of force.
If someone shoved this door open from the outside, especially someone as big as Dustin O'Brien The wall would've sustained damage.
But there's nothing there.
Not even scraped paint.
Buzz, do you have this wall very, very well-documented? - Yes, ma'am.
- Then, Julio, if you could provide us with a demonstration as to how this door may have been broken open.
Buzz, let's video this.
Wow.
And Sanchez probably isn't half as strong as Dustin O'Brien.
Though, you know, plenty tough.
So in order to leave no damage, the killer must've yanked the door open from the inside.
After Mary was dead.
And they had to be quieter, too.
It explains why no one reported a crash.
And why the groceries were spread out on the floor.
They were staged.
So the killer was inside waiting for Mary and only made it look like a break-in after the fact.
- Which means - I know.
It wasn't a follow-home.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What are you doing here? Telling Andy to get his marriage annulled.
Dude, hey.
That's exactly what Mom said not to do.
She made rules about this, Ricky.
Rules.
Damn the rules, Rusty.
I head home tomorrow.
- I'm not leaving this unresolved.
- Okay Mom isn't always right, you know? She spent far too much time waiting for my dad to come No, I've thought of another way.
What other way? There is no other way.
- Andy isn't picking up on the hint.
- He doesn't have to.
Look, I have a plan already in progress, okay? Just hear me out for a second.
Makes no sense.
The killer didn't force his way in.
Mary just opened the door for him? I doubt Mary liked anyone enough to just let them in.
Especially with an apartment full of stolen goods.
Someone was lying in wait.
Mary's landlord, Griffin.
He'd have a key.
Um, and Griffin had a serious motive.
He treated his precious little Lola like family.
And not only did Mary kill his dog, she was bad for business.
Did I misread our outraged landlord? Invite him back in, and this time let there be no doubt as to why he's here.
Wait, why why do I need an attorney? We're not saying you need one, Griffin.
We just like to give all our murder suspects - their Miranda rights.
- I'm a murder suspect? This is so rude! - Why?! - Mary killed your dog.
Yes.
Yes, she murdered my poor little Lola.
So I have motive, but I did not have the means.
The means? Got to love a suspect who's watched all the crime dramas.
I don't think it'd be too difficult for you to kill a 72-year-old woman.
And as the landlord, wouldn't you have keys to her apartment? Makes it easy for you to lie in wait.
Lie in w oh, my goodness.
Look, I'm not the only one with a key.
At least three other people had keys.
And so that's plausible deniability, right? You can't put me on trial if there's all these other other suspects.
Oh, my God.
Suspects.
I'm a suspect.
Forget that.
Who else had a key? Well, Tori did, of course.
- Tori Duncan, Mary's niece? - Yes! And why do you say, "of course"? Not everyone gives a key to their family member.
- It was Tori's apartment.
- It was? Yes! She and husband paid the rent.
And the utilities and everything else.
It was their names on the lease.
Why did Tori rent the apartment? Mary kept her pension.
- She had excellent credit.
- Tori came by an open house and told me about this elderly former-cop of an aunt.
She sounded like the perfect tenant, but Where did Mary's pension go? And what else is her family paying for, I wonder? $2,500 a month for rent, another $300 for utilities.
And the cars she booked ran another $140 a month.
Health care, supplemental insurance.
You even gave her an ATM card linked to your checking account.
So? Aunt Mary didn't have kids.
I was her next of kin.
But it had to have caused some strain.
When you take responsibility for another human life, strain is unavoidable.
Your aunt cost you over $4,000 a month.
- You lost your savings.
- What? Wyatt, please.
Are you saying that I'm not going to Georgetown because you were giving away my future to that old bitch? Wyatt! Your aunt was family, and we all had to make sacrifices.
- Oh, that is such bullshit.
- What about your life? Let's look at that, why don't we? The piano lessons, the braces, the private schools? Saving what we can for your college education? Did you ever hear me complain even once about having to pay for any of that? - Mom - Did you?! No.
No, Mom God, I'm sorry.
I-I didn't mean it like that.
I She was difficult.
She was trouble.
But she carried a gun and a badge for her entire career, and I was never gonna throw her out on the street.
Especially when she lost her pension.
Wait, ma'am.
She lost her pension? How how did that happen? She picked the lump sum distribution and invested it with the wrong person.
He promised her an annuity of $60,000 for life.
Hold on, you can get the lump sum distribution - of your retirement plan? - No.
Never.
And I checked.
Mary's pension went by direct deposit to a checking account every other week.
An account her niece obviously knew nothing about.
she was taken for all she had.
You people should've done something about that.
Okay, we can see how upset you are.
Let's get the rest of the questions we're required to ask you out of the way right now.
Ma'am, where were you and Wyatt on Sunday night? Are you serious? Did you hear anything that I just said? Did you hear what I just said? Where were you last Sunday night? Mom and I were at a seminar for making the most of your in-state university experience.
It lasted from 6 to 9 in Long Beach.
So a billion miles away from Aunt Mary's.
And your husband where was he? It's all right if you want to remain silent.
We'll just talk to you for a moment, Al.
After your son and wife left for Long Beach, you drove to Mary's apartment.
You parked your car down the street so Mary wouldn't see it.
We have a warrant for that car.
And while you're sitting here, not cooperating, your vehicle is being searched for traces of blood.
Plus we have multiple eyewitnesses that saw you enter and leave Mary's apartment right around the time of her death.
Well, that sounds promising.
And it's about 60% true.
They saw your black Honda Accord.
They even gave us your license plate number because they also saw you running from the building.
And that's 80% false, but when all else fails.
You snuck into the house of a defenseless old woman who had nothing to her name She didn't have nothing to her name.
Believe me.
Al, um, we have found more than enough evidence to prove that the murder was premeditated.
Is the death penalty something you want for yourself? For your family? There could be mitigating circumstances, Al, but only you can tell us that.
We could start with why now? I mean, after years of taking care of your wife's aunt, why now? On Friday, I got a call from the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions office.
When we moved Mary into her last apartment, I guess she didn't update her address.
So after a few years of getting returned mail and not being able to contact her, they called us.
And I find out I find out since the day she quit, Mary had a pension of $50,000 a year.
15 years we've been taking care of her.
Sacrificing for her.
My son, he's a bright, decent, hard-working, smart kid.
Sh She stole my son's future! I don't know, Captain.
We may be further from murder than it seems.
Can you tell us what Mary said to you the night you confronted her last Sunday? She said she never asked for our help, that what she had in her bank account was none of my business, and that maybe, if I'd been more responsible with our money, like her Is that when you grabbed her badge? Her badge.
What a joke.
Sitting around with all the stuff she stole.
No.
No, I, uh I didn't pick up the badge until I asked her to give me back enough of our money so I could send Wyatt to Georgetown.
She told me to leave the apartment.
Her apartment.
Then you picked up the badge.
But only because I couldn't find anything heavier.
Um those are really good mitigating factors, sir.
- Try and write them all down - Sorry, people.
What we have here is manslaughter.
The victim was a cop.
He waited for her in the apartment.
- Isn't that premeditation? - He paid the rent.
It was his apartment.
He had the right to enter.
And he didn't bring a weapon with him.
Yeah, but he knew the badge was there.
Mary is immensely unlikable.
A jury will sympathize with Al.
Not to mention that our eyewitness against him is a violent con who's been stalking the victim for weeks.
Al's lawyer will want a trial, and his client could walk, he could.
Poor Tori.
She worked so hard at keeping her family together, and it's splitting up anyway.
I mean, everyone always understands how rough it is for the victim's relatives, but no one ever thinks about the murderer's family, do they? And in this case, it's one and the same.
Hey, how'd it go? Great.
I won at golf.
And the judge said Julio would be the best guardian ever.
Well, if a judge says so, congrats.
Yeah, Julio.
Congratulations, man.
Yes, great going, Detective Sanchez.
But you're in it now, my friend, up to your neck.
Hey, don't pay attention to him.
You two will make a great family.
So do I get to call you Dad now? Oh, uh, well technically, I'm I'm not your father, I'm But I'm I'm your son, right? Um, technically, you're what's called "my ward.
" Technically? What's what's that? "Ward"? No, I don't want you to call me your ward.
How come I'm not your son? Um, okay.
How 'bout How 'bout this? Pato and patito.
Duck and little duck, like in "Make Way For Ducklings.
" Mi pato.
- Okay.
- Oh Here.
You check my addition.
Ah.
You heading out, Lieutenant? Can I take you for a drink? Oh, uh, well, I need to go by the cleaners, get my funeral suit.
I'm going to Mary Conrad's service tomorrow.
Maybe there'll be somebody there who can tell me why I can't remember her.
And asshole or not, she was still a cop.
Well, no matter what, Lieutenant, I promise to go to your funeral.
What makes you so sure I'm going first? and a bogey.
What's the total at the end? Hey, it's my ex-wife.
Oh, does she does she call you often? N-n-no.
No.
Hold on a second.
Uh, hey, Sandra.
What's up? I, uh I don't mind.
If that's what you want.
Yeah, sure.
Go ahead.
Send it.
Okay, bye.
Okay.
- You're not gonna believe this.
- Hmm? Sandra just filed paperwork with the church.
Huh! After all this time, she wants to have our marriage annulled.
What? Really? Oh! Wow.
Andy, wow.
That's crazy.
An annulment.
Are you okay with that? Um, well, I guess I have to be.
You know, the more I think about it, I think this could all turn out for the best.
You see, Sharon, a church wedding may not be totally out of the question.
Yes, indeed.
He moves in strange and mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
And good timing never ends.
I have almost my whole family here.
And I have an evening free for dinner.
Great.
I feel like celebrating.
- Hmm.
- Do you? Celebrating what? A deal.
What else do we celebrate around here? A deal.
A very good deal.
What number is that? Tell me.
Is that