Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's the Word (2016) Movie Script
- Spare five bucks
for breakfast?
- Oh!
Elvis?
Elvis... Jones?
- Abby Knight!
- How are you?
- I'm good, real good!
Uh... not really.
I'm... not good at all.
- Elvis Jones.
You took me to senior prom.
- I remember.
- You were a real gentleman.
We had so much fun that night.
I lost track of you
after school.
- Yeah, well,
after school, I...
kicked around a little.
Some bad choices,
then in and out of
the system. Mostly in.
I just got back
from a year of that.
- I'm sorry, Elvis.
- Is this your shop?
- Yeah, it's new. But it's mine.
- Hey, you know what? I kind
of look at life like, um...
lilies. They're perennials.
So if they don't bloom one year,
they always have the next year.
They always have another chance.
- Yeah. Lilies.
That's cool.
Thanks for that.
I'm optimistic. Things
are gonna change for me.
- Hey look, here. Here's ten.
- Thank you.
- Take care of yourself, Elvis.
- Let me help you with that.
- Oh!
Thank you.
- Hey.
- Oh, Nikki, in a million years,
you are never going to believe
who I saw this morning.
- Elvis Jones.
- Wha--how do you do that?
[laughing]
- I saw him too.
- We dated. Model UN.
And now... he just
got out of jail.
- Yeah, a year for
breaking and entering.
- He asked me for money.
- What, like a hold-up?
- No, like a handout.
He clearly needed it.
I gave him ten bucks.
- Ten bucks?!
That's a nice breakfast.
- Man...
He was a good kisser.
[laughing]
- Oh... Oh, wow!
Fifteen orders so far.
That's pretty great
for a Tuesday.
- Yeah.
Look, four of the arrangements
are from...
that cheating dentist
over on Sair.
- Guilt roses.
I almost feel guilty
delivering them.
[laughing]
- I gotta jump out at noon.
Mother-daughter lunch.
- Ah, see,
I told you Mills College was
a perfect choice for Sydney.
Far enough away to live on
campus, but close enough
for Mom to drop in.
[laughing]
- So, are you eating right?
Exercising,
getting enough sleep?
- Yes, I am, when I can.
I'm so busy
with the flower shop,
the empty nest,
the moving on...
- Don't make me worry about you.
- Oh, you're being
the mom, I'm sorry.
OK, OK, look, I'm fine.
What about you, huh? How you
doing? Semester's still tough?
- Some days I really
wonder why I'm pre-law.
Right now, the only bar I can
conceive passing is the kind
with darts and a happy hour.
- I passed it; you'll pass it,
OK? It's a few years off anyway.
- What if I end up working
in law as long as you did,
and then end up
leaving it like you did?
- I left when I felt I had
stopped making a difference.
Doesn't mean you will.
And when Dad died,
none of it just seemed
as important.
- I think you miss it
a little bit.
- Just...
[laughing]
- [Hi, it's Nikki.
Please leave a message.]
- Hey, Nikki, I'm back.
I'm just gonna run and
get us some coffee,
so... call me if you...
You know what?
I'll get you coffee, but--Oh!
[tires screeching]
84A1G...
You idiot!
Oh, no!
- So you didn't
see who did this.
- No, it all happened so fast,
him racing out of
the alley... Thank you.
Maybe he was
wearing a jacket
with some kind of a logo on it,
and maybe he had, like,
curly dark hair.
- That's a lot of maybes.
- I just came
from New York.
I've had that car since
before Sydney was born,
not a scratch on it,
and now this.
- Just give the police a chance,
Abs. Maybe they'll find the guy.
- I have a feeling I'd ID
the guy faster if I put
my mind to it.
- OK, Sherlock.
But before you do that,
could you do me a favor first?
- Oh, I know that look.
What do you want me to do that
you know I don't want to do but
you'll get me to do anyway?
- Good. Do you remember
my cousin Penny?
- You've got so many.
- Penny! Penny, with the hair...
- Oh, pixie? OK, yeah.
- Yes!
- She was asking for some legal
advice and I thought of you.
- I don't do that anymore.
- Come on! You know you hate
to let all that amazing hard-
earned knowledge go to waste.
- All right, tell her
to stop by tomorrow.
- Great. I told her
you would say that.
- Why do you even ask?
[door opening]
- Hi, um, I'm just looking
for the owner of the...
dented Mercedes?
- Could be your
lucky day after all.
- That's me. I'm Abby Knight.
I'm also the owner of Bloomers.
- Hi. Marco Salvare.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm the new owner of
the Chicago Bar and Grill.
- Oh, excellent,
we're neighbors!
Nikki Bender,
assistant manager.
- Nice to meet you,
Nikki Bender. That's quite
a handshake. So, listen, Abby,
I saw you talking to the cop
outside and I just wanted to
make sure everything was OK.
- Well, it would be great
if I had the complete
license plate of the driver
who hit me.
- I can help you
get that information.
- Uh... how would you do that,
if you don't mind me asking?
- Well, you know, once a private
eye, always a private eye.
- You're a private...
Abby was a lawyer.
- Was.
- You would be a good team.
- I have a friend at the DMV.
I can give her a call and she
can help me with those numbers.
- That would be great!
Um, can I tell you what
the license plate--
- Sure.
- It's in the message.
- [I'll get you coffee--]
[crash]
[Oh!]
[84A1G... Idiot!]
- Yeah, then there's
a lot of bad words.
- OK, I got it.
- So, how can I repay you?
- Oh! Um, how about a dozen
roses? Purple, for passion.
- Well, purple's
for enchantment.
- Red's for passion.
Dark red if
she's really special.
- Alright, then dark red it is.
Can you guys deliver to my bar?
- Sure.
- And if I don't find the name
of the driver, trust me,
you can bill me.
- Fair enough.
- Great. Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
- You as well. All right.
Ciao, ladies. Have a good day.
- Bye-bye!
Oh... my!
- You are married!
- OK, I was just window-
shopping. You can actually buy.
[sighing]
- Have you been
talking to my daughter?
[police siren]
What's that?
Hold on just a second.
I'll be right back.
Officer Dunn? What happened?
- Would you come with me?
- What? Where?
- I'll explain on the way.
- What's going on?
- We found a dead body on Tanner
Street. Eyewitness saw a man
running from the old Hampton
Arms headed up the alley, the
one that lets out right there.
- When?
- A few hours ago,
around the time--
- My car was hit. Um, OK,
let me get my coat and
I'll be right back.
- OK. That's affirmative. We're
on the way. Yeah, coming in.
- Thank you.
- Detective Corbison.
- So, you're the one
with the hit-and-run.
- Yeah.
- What can you
tell us about the driver?
- Not too much, but I believe
he was driving a black Escalade.
I got a partial license plate
and I've already given that to--
- We got that already.
- Detective, I've got
another witness.
She saw Elvis Jones leave this
place around noon today.
- Elvis Jones?
Is he a suspect?
- Why, you know him?
- For years.
In fact, I just spoke
with him this morning.
- What time?
- Um, right before
I opened my shop,
so a little before 9.
- That would give him plenty
of time to kill someone.
- Trust me, Detective,
Elvis Jones was not the guy
I saw coming out of the alley.
- I didn't say he was. Bring
Jones in for questioning.
- I think you're making
a terrible mistake.
- Thanks for your time,
Ms. Knight.
If you think of anything
relevant, give me a call.
- Look at you, just...
business as usual,
as if you weren't just hanging
out at a murder scene.
- Something doesn't fit, Nik.
And I hate mums, OK?
- Whoa, hey, easy!
They're just flowers.
- Elvis is a disaster,
but he's not a murderer.
- Well, he has a record,
he's served time,
he's broke...
It's not impossible.
High school was ages ago, Abs.
- Bring this over to Marco.
- Ha, ha, ha!
Me? No, no, no.
You are gonna bring this
over to Marco. Come on.
- I--
- Just--
- OK, fine. Traitor.
- Just fix your hair
a little bit.
Oh, you look nice.
- Now this is
what I call service.
- Oh! Here you go.
- Thank you. They're beautiful.
Can I get you a drink?
Let's say pinot grigio.
- Beer. Draft.
- OK.
Hi, Emily. Can I get a couple
pints, please? Thanks.
- Look, I can't stay very long.
- But you look like you wanna
talk about something.
- Can we sit?
- I don't know,
do you have a reservation?
I'm kidding.
Of course we can sit.
- Thank you.
- So what's up?
- OK, here's the thing.
Getting information
about that SUV might be
a little bit tricky.
- OK, how so?
- Have you heard
about the murder?
- Uh, yeah, I mean, that's what
everyone's talking about.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Alright, well, did you hear
that a suspect was seen
coming out of the alley
just around the same time
that my car was hit?
- Well, it could be a
coincidence, Abby.
- Or not.
- You like to meddle,
don't you?
- OK, first of all,
I hate that word.
And... where do we go from here?
- Oh, we are not going anywhere,
but I'm gonna go down to the DMV
and see if my contact there
found anything.
- Is that who
the flowers are for?
- No, but that's
not a bad idea.
- OK, so, uh...
what's my assignment?
- Your assignment, Abby,
is to go back to work
and stay out of trouble.
- Cheers.
Latte, please.
- Abby.
Hey. Our new florist out
for a morning latte.
- That's what I love
about small towns.
If you don't know
what you're doing,
someone else tells you.
- Oh, you love it here,
otherwise you never would've
left that big bad city.
- Big, yes. Bad, no.
I'm glad to be back.
- So how's the flower game?
Blossoming?
- Really?
That's the best joke a smart
aleck like you can come up with?
It's great.
How's the DA's office?
- Never a dull moment.
- Like the murder
at the Hampton Arms?
- Sure, for example.
- Any updates for a curious
florist?
- Opportunist.
- Well, I might wanna
send flowers.
- Well, we did
just ID the victim.
His name hasn't been
released yet.
Some 20-year-old kid who'd
just moved into the building.
- Have you heard anything
about a suspect
who took off in
a black Escalade?
- Should I have?
- Don't ask me.
Ask Detective Corbison.
This is me.
- Well, hey, is there a chance
that maybe we could
grab a drink one night, you
know, talk about old times?
- Oh, uh, I'm really
buried at the shop.
Things are really sprouting.
I haven't "botany" time.
- Yeah, I get it. OK, no more.
- I'll leaf you with that, OK?
- You're a tough woman.
- No! Bye, Greg.
- Bye.
- I am sorry. I'm late.
But...
I came bearing caffeine.
- Oh my gosh, thank you.
I love you.
- Thank you.
- Oh, uh... you got
a phone call.
A Detective Corbison.
- Hmm!
I hope he wants
an arrangement.
"Detective Corbison
"leaving on vacation.
Any info or questions,
call Detective Brand".
He's going on vacation
in the middle of a murder
investigation?
- Well, maybe he had
non-refundable plane
tickets or something.
- Yeah, or something.
Hey, can you tell me something?
Did everyone I went
to high school with
move back? You're not gonna
believe who I ran into
at Twigg's.
OK, no, let me tell you.
Greg Morgan.
- Gorgeous Greg?
- Mm-hmm.
- I don't know who had the
bigger crush on him, you or me.
- Oh, you, by far. You told me
not to or we'd never be friends.
- I... I did?
- Ha, yeah, you did.
[laughing]
- Well, he's divorced.
- Honey, the only thing
that interests me
about Assistant DA Greg Morgan
is what he can tell me
about the murder.
- So you areplaying detective.
- Well, I just wanna know
who hit my car.
- Mm-hmm.
- And why Elvis
is a suspect, and...
why there was a murder.
[sighing]
- Abs!
OK, seriously.
Just...
be careful, OK?
I just got
my best friend back,
and I would really
like to keep her.
- I promise.
Promise.
- OK.
- Seriously?
- Hey, neighbor.
- Oh. It's you.
- You don't seem so enthused.
- I'm sorry, I just got a ticket
when there was still time left.
- That's fine, just fight it.
- I will.
- Good.
- So, how'd it go with your
friend at the DMV? Any news?
- Oh yeah, we're actually
gonna meet tonight.
I'll keep you posted.
- None of the gory details, OK?
Just... if you hear something.
- Will do.
- Did you know that the lead
detective on the murder case
went on vacation?
- I did, actually. Did you know
they ID'd the victim?
- Yes.
- Really?
- Uh-huh. Did you know his name?
- Billy Ryan.
- Wait, what? When
did that happen?
- This morning.
- I think I win that round,
didn't I?
I think I'm gonna like
this game.
Have a good day, Abby.
- Mm-hmm.
- OK, Penny, just tell Abby
what you need, OK?
She's here to help.
Thanks.
- It's simple: I want a divorce.
- Divorce is never simple.
What does he say?
- I don't know, he won't discuss
it. He won't discuss anything.
- Is there someone else?
- I don't know,
but there's definitely something
else. He's never home,
he's always working,
always taking meetings,
and if I ask him what it is
that he's so busy with,
he just tells me
not to worry, that
he's doing it for us.
There's no us. Not anymore.
Which is why I'm here.
- Where does he work?
- He owns Green Thumb Nursery.
- He's thatTom?
He's... That's a great business.
- Believe me, I know.
- Look, Penny, I don't
practice anymore.
But I can call this
lawyer, Dave King.
He's one of the best attorneys
I know. I went to law school
with him.
- See? I told you
Abby would help.
- Your pork chops were amazing.
- Don't get too used to them.
You just get them once a month.
I have to watch you.
- I love 'em.
Glad you picked up your mother's
cooking ability, God rest
her soul, and not mine.
Although I am king
of the microwave.
- Dad, that's even worse.
That's radiation.
- Oh, please.
[laughing]
- I'm serious.
Hey, Dad, when you were,
um, on the force,
did you ever work
with a Detective Al Corbison?
- Corbison, sure. Good cop.
- Is he?
- As far as I knew.
Why do you ask?
- I, uh, I ran
into him yesterday.
- At your flower shop?
- At a crime scene.
Have you been following
the Hampton Arms murder?
- What there is
so far to follow.
I did my share of investigating
at that place over the years.
What were you doing there?
- Technically,
I may be a material witness.
- To the murder?
- It's complicated.
- Abby, what are you
involved in?
- Nothing yet. My car was hit
by someone who may have been
fleeing the crime scene.
- Is that Corbison's
theory or yours?
- Both. Neither. I don't know.
They could be connected.
And get this.
Corbison skipped town.
Allegedly went on vacation.
- He didn't "skip town".
He probably is on vacation.
I did hear Elvis Jones
is a suspect.
- For real? That's ridiculous.
Elvis Jones couldn't even--
- Abby, Abby, just stay out of
this. Let the cops do their job.
- Fine.
- Oh boy...
- [Hi, I'm Tom Harding,]
[owner and founder of
the Green Thumb Nursery,]
[family-owned for 17 years,]
[with the finest staff
available]
[to serve your every
gardening need.]
[So visit us today,
and don't forget:]
[ask for Tom.]
- OK. Thank you very much.
That was the Lutheran
Funeral Home.
They just ordered flowers
for Billy Ryan's funeral.
Did you know that Billy's
parents are Alice and Carl Ryan?
- The couple we did all those
anniversary flowers for?
- Yeah.
I didn't know
they even had a son.
- No, they never mentioned it.
- Maybe I should call that
Detective Brand just to see
if there are any new leads.
- About your car or about Elvis?
- OK, look, I just don't believe
Elvis would've done it.
He's a good guy.
He's made bad choices,
but he's not a murderer.
Something else happened there.
- The saddest thing is...
we hadn't spoken
to Billy in months.
- He pulled away from us.
- I'm so sorry.
I have a daughter, I...
I can't imagine.
- The last year
was really tough.
Billy changed.
He dropped out of college,
he moved out on his own...
- I just don't
understand it.
Why would anyone
want to kill Billy?
- Are you kidding me? What?
"Parked more than
18 inches from the curb."
- Seriously?
- What? You're like
half an inch from the curb.
What are you doing?
- I'm taking a picture of it,
because... that's legal.
Totally legal right there.
Hi.
I would like to appeal
these two tickets, please.
- Fill this out.
- Oh no, actually,
I would like an explanation
from the person
who issued these, because
they're clearly not right.
- Fill out the form.
It's all in there.
- OK, but you see,
what I have is a picture,
and here in this photo
you can see that my car
is actually almost parked
onthe curb,
not--
- You can pay the fine,
or you can fill out the form.
You'll hear back
in about a month.
- Here you go.
- What's this? It's incomplete.
- Oh, that's my phone number.
Please have the clerk of courts
call me or he will be hearing
from my lawyer.
- Who is that?
- Me.
Thank you for the pen.
Dave King!
- Abby Knight. Hey, thanks again
for referring Penny Harding.
- Oh, my pleasure. How
do you think she's gonna do?
- Depends. Husband says he
didn't want to divorce,
but once we filed,
he hired Ed Feinberg.
- The Terminator?
- Yeah.
Abby got real serious real fast.
- Makes sense, he's got
a big business.
Have you started discovery yet?
- We're putting subpoenas
together as we speak,
but I'm short-staffed right now.
It could take time.
- Well, you have set up
an emergency provisional
hearing, yes?
- Boy, you sure take
the 'ex' out of ex-lawyer.
Look, the hearing's already
set up for next week.
It will get Penny
some temporary funds, at least.
- You're the greatest.
Let me know if I can help
in any way, OK?
- You wanna find out
where Harding banks
his nursery income?
- You got it.
- I was kidding.
- I wasn't.
You said you were shorthanded.
Consider me a hand.
- Thank you.
- Bye.
- One pinot grigio.
- OK, so you were right
about the wine.
I'm sorry, I just don't like
when people think that
they've figured me out.
- Really?
- Yeah. Who's
the tank commander?
- What's that?
- Who's the tank commander?
- Oh, that's Sergeant Major
Marco Salvare, 75th
Army Ranger Unit.
- Wow! When? Where?
- First Gulf War,
Somalia, Haiti... Yeah.
You know what they say:
Join the army, see the world.
- Well, that's impressive.
And I just thought that you were
some guy trying to push
moderately priced pinot.
- See, we're the same. You
thought you'd figured me out.
- Well...
- Hey, enough about me.
How was the rest of your day?
- Uh, my day--nothing special.
I repotted a coleus,
I hit the flower mart,
I promised Billy Ryan's parents
I'd find their son's murderer...
- Yeah, nothing at all,
because you don't have
enough on your plate, right?
- No, because I have never seen
two such sad people,
and believe me, I've seen sad.
- And?
- And I'm thinking,
Sergeant Major, that
maybe you want to help me
with the investigation,
you know, on a sort of
official, as needed, basis?
- Because I don't have
enough on myplate.
- No, because I think
that we're actually
pretty good at this.
And I think that both of us
miss that part
of our job that was...
a little dangerous.
- I'm free tomorrow.
So what you're telling me is you
think Tom Thumb had something
to do with Billy's murder.
- Tom Harding. Green Thumb
Nursery. I don't know,
but given that Billy worked
for the man whose divorce
I'm kind of involved with,
I thought I'd do a little
multitasking.
- And what does that mean?
- Tom's wife is a friend.
She wants a divorce,
needed a lawyer.
I hooked her up with a friend
of mine. I'm just kind of
keeping an eye on things.
- And this is sort of just
typical behavior.
- Somebody hit my car;
I want to find out who, and for
some reason, things just got
a little muddier.
OK...
I'm gonna be real cool,
see if I can drum up
some intel, OK? Real cool.
- OK. Real cool.
- Ah! Ah!
- Aw, man... that's a mess.
- I'm really sorry.
I just... I kind of
bumped it and it all...
I'm really sorry.
I'm so clumsy.
Hey, it's a real shame about
what happened to Billy.
- Yeah, it's...
it was a real bummer.
- Were you two friends?
- I barely knew the guy.
Him and Buzz
were pretty close, though.
- Buzz?
- The store manager.
- Oh, the big boss.
- That's Mr. Harding. Buzz
is like his right-hand dude.
And that's him.
- Daryl!
Did you do all this?
- No, this lady did.
- I'm sorry.
- No, forget it. Is there
something I can help you find?
- Yes, I was...
- There you are, honey.
What happened here?
- I did that. I already
apologized,
no need to bring it up.
- Real cool.
- Hey, I'm really sorry
about what happened
to Billy Ryan.
- What's that?
- Billy? I was told that you two
worked together. I'm so sorry.
- Yeah, no, it's pretty awful.
How did you know Billy?
- Oh, well, I... we...
know his parents.
- Well,
I guess no one's safe, even
in a nice town like New Chapel.
- I heard he had a rough year.
- I wouldn't know.
I only saw him here, never
really got to know him.
Listen, I'm gonna get
some help with this, but...
if you need anything else,
you'll track me down, right?
- Promise.
- Alright.
- Hi.
Just the plant.
"I'm gonna be real cool".
- How was I supposed to know the
whole thing was gonna fall over?
- That's 9 dollars and 26 cents.
- Oh.
Oh, can I write you a check?
- Sure.
- OK, great.
Thank you so much.
- Check, huh?
- Yep.
I write a check, they cash
the check, and then bam!
I have their account number.
- Ah!
- Money trail.
The old canceled check ploy.
- Follow the money, I like it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I don't know if you noticed,
but that Buzz guy said he knew
nothing about Billy's life,
yet that Daryl kid said
that they used to hang out.
- I did notice, and either Daryl
is as dumb as a rake,
or Buzz is a lying
sack of manure.
- I think he likes you.
- Oh, great.
- I'm just saying, if you're
interested, I could set it up.
- Thanks, but no thanks.
I'm fine.
[laughing]
What about you?
- Oh, unfortunately
he's not my type.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
What about me? Um...
Well, I'm pretty simple really.
Married at 25,
divorced by 35,
and flying solo ever since. You?
- My husband Chuck died
two years ago.
I picked up the pieces,
and here I am.
- I guess that's what you meant
when you said "I've seen
sad people", huh?
- My daughter, Sydney. Chuck's
dead was very tough on her.
And...
Yeah, it was for me too.
- Well, shall we?
- Alright, well, thank you.
That was that Detective Brand.
Elvis is still a suspect.
They have no new leads,
zero to report.
Oh, and surprise, though: no
progress on my hit-and-run.
- Well, maybe it is good
that you're doing some
digging on your own,
now that you've got
GI Joe to protect you.
- Did you completely miss
the women's empowerment memo?
It was sent when
we were, like, ten.
- I am just saying.
- I get it, OK?
Maybe it isn't the worst thing
that one of us has seen combat.
- Morning, ladies.
- Wow!
Hey, Marco, we were
just talking about you!
- No, we weren't.
- Wow, look at these.
These are beautiful.
- Yeah, except for the mums.
So, what's up?
- Oh, um,
name and address
on our mystery SUV.
- Good work!
Thank you, Miss DMV.
- The power
of a dozen roses.
- Actually, truth be told,
Nikki, those roses and
those flowers
were for my mom's birthday.
Thank you very much, she
absolutely loved them.
I unfortunately had to use
my so very charming wit.
[phone ringing]
- And she still decided
to help you?
- Yeah, crazy, huh? So listen,
as far as this DMV information
goes, it's only half the battle.
Gotta make sure it's accurate,
so I was thinking a stakeout.
- A stakeout?
- Yeah.
You and me, alone
in a dark car, for hours.
- Abby, if you don't go, I will.
[clearing throat]
- Uh, what time...
partner?
- Wow! Did you pack
for a vacation?
[panting]
- Well, failing to prepare
is preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin.
- OK.
- So, where are we going?
- Uh, we're going to county
commissioner
Louis Vertucci's house. DMV gave
me two leads. I figured that was
the best place to start.
- Yeah, but Vertucci's like 60.
He's got gray hair. The guy
I saw was young.
- So? Maybe he had
someone else drive the car.
- Now we wait.
- We could be here for hours,
you know that, right?
- Don't think I didn't
take that into consideration.
I've got...
two meatball parm.
Four stars on Yelp.
We can eat healthy.
Three bags of pistachios.
Shuck, and then just throw
the shells on the ground.
It looks really cool.
I've got two thermoses
of coffee, black.
- Oh, thank you very much.
- And newspapers
to litter the dash.
- You're hysterical.
- Well, we could
be here for hours.
- Here's to teamwork.
- So, um...
why'd you ever quit being
a private investigator?
- Oh... wow, um...
I actually fell
into being a PI.
And then, uh... I was working
solo, and then I ended up
working for this company.
But to tell you the truth,
it was just... it was just the
loneliest job in the world.
- I can imagine.
- So I took a leap of faith,
grabbed my life savings,
and bought the Chicago
Bar and Grill.
- Oh, OK.
- What about you?
Why'd you quit being a lawyer?
- Well, I... I love the law.
Yeah. I love how
it can help people,
how it can improve their lives,
but I hate it when it's unfair,
which, for me, started to feel
like too much
of the time.
And then when Chuck died, I just
decided life was too short.
So I followed my bliss,
as they say,
and opened a flower shop.
[chuckling]
- And here we are,
drinking thermos coffee,
waiting for someone who probably
has nothing to do with anything,
to maybe show up.
- Well, clearly
we're thrill seekers.
[chuckling]
- Clearly.
Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. Garage door's opening.
- What do you see?
- I don't see anything yet.
Hold on.
- Oh! Same car, it has to be!
- Yeah, it's the Escalade.
- I can't see who's driving.
OK, here.
- The car's driver...
- OK.
- You see it?
- I see absolutely nothing.
- Abby, you've got
the lens caps on!
[laughing]
Let me try. Let me try.
[police siren]
I can't see, these things are...
Oh, no! Cops!
Look, do me a favor,
don't say anything, OK?
Let me handle this.
Hi, Officer. Is there a problem?
- Just making the rounds.
We've got some concerned
neighbors calling.
- Oh no, we were just sitting
talking, having some coffee.
- Having a picnic,
Mr., um, Blasko.
- Detective.
- Detective.
- You know, you're not supposed
to be parked here.
- Really?
I totally missed it, sir. So
sorry. It'll never happen again.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Well, he was a charmer.
We'll be back, buddy.
Alright... OK, what?
- "Don't say a word"? What?
Were you afraid that the little
lady was gonna flap her gums?
- No.
I've been dealing with beat cops
for years. I just thought I
could expedite matters, OK?
- Good save. Don't do it again.
- OK. Roger that, soldier.
- Dave King.
- [Dave, it's Abby.]
I found Tom's bank account info.
It's under "The Sprout Corp."
I got a number.
- [Now I just issue that
subpoena and see what Tom
might be hiding from Penny.]
- OK. Bye.
- Hi. I'm from Bloomers.
I'm just delivering there.
Is Greg Morgan around?
- I'll check. Can I tell him
who's here?
- Yes. Oh!
- Abby, hey. You shouldn't have.
- I didn't.
[laughing]
Do you have time for me?
Uh, may I speak
with you for a moment?
- Of course, yeah. Come on in.
Have a seat.
- Thank you.
- So,
can I get you anything?
- Yes, actually.
I... I need some information
about the Ryan investigation.
- Abby, you know I can't say
anything about that.
- I'm just curious.
Why did Detective Corbison
take his vacation now?
- It was a planned vacation.
With his family. A dead man
isn't going anywhere.
By the way, I did ask Corbison
about that black Escalade.
- And?
- Dead end.
And why didn't you tell me
about the hit-and-run?
Maybe I could've helped you.
- Well, maybe you still can.
[knocking on door]
Yeah, OK. I'm late
for a meeting right now,
but how about we pick this up
over dinner tonight?
- I'm having dinner
with my father tonight,
but how about lunch tomorrow?
- That works. Italian?
- Great.
- Alright, I'll set it up.
- Abby, even if you're right,
this is not worth getting
mixed up in.
I've seen too many
of these cases go south and
drag everyone down with them.
- Dad, if you had seen the look
in Billy's parents' eyes, you
would want to help them too.
- Believe me, 40 years on
the force, I know that look.
You can't bring back their son.
- I know, but then there's
Elvis. They wanna pin it on him!
- Abby, just leave it
to the cops!
Commissioner Vertucci!
- Please, don't get up.
- Commissioner,
how are you, sir?
- Detective Knight, I miss
seeing that mug of yours.
How's retirement?
- Oh, great for the golf game.
You know my daughter Abby? She
moved back, opened up Bloomers.
- Oh, the flower shop!
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice meeting you. Fantastic.
Your shop's getting
a lot of attention in town.
- For the right reasons, I hope.
[laughing]
- Good business
is good for New Chapel.
This strapping young man
here is my nephew Tony.
Just moved here from Chicago,
helping me out on a big job.
- What kind of big job, son?
- CPC. County Paving Project.
- Tony is our crew
supervisor. Good kid.
- I wonder,
what does a young hip crew
supervisor drive these days?
- What does he drive? He drives
me crazy, don't you, Tony?
[laughing]
Anyways,
I'll let you folks
get back to your food.
Abby, it was very nice meeting
you. If I need flowers,
I'll know who to call.
- Why in the world
would you ask Tony Vertucci
what he drives?
- I was just being friendly.
- Oh. Mm-hmm.
- That was the car that hit me,
and that was the guy driving it,
I am almost positive.
- Well, I'm sorry, counselor,
but that's not gonna hold up
in a court of law, I'm afraid.
- Tony Vertucci
has been living and
working with his uncle.
He could've been driving
his SUV that morning.
- OK, remember the DMV
had a second possibility?
Turns out the driver of that
Escalade was Father O'Shea
from St. Cecilia's Church, so...
- Great.
Well, I'm not gonna
stake out a priest.
- Gentlemen, thanks.
Good night.
- I do think that
we should find out
where Tony Vertucci was
the morning my car was hit--
rule him in or out.
- You'd like me to ask around.
- Sure, and maybe my friend
the DA can help.
I'll ask him tomorrow. We're
having a... lunch... date.
- That's great. Just do me
a favor and spare me
the gory details, OK?
- Fair enough.
- Actually, I have a great idea.
Why don't you bring him here?
I can meet him and
tell you if I approve.
- Uh... not on your life.
It could get very romantic.
- Oh, I see.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Elvis?
- Oh...
- How's it going?
- Hi, Abby.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Can I buy you a cup of coffee?
Why are you the lead suspect
in the Billy Ryan murder?
- Lead suspect.
That's rich.
I was camping out in the
basement of the Hampton Arms.
I used to live there,
so I know
all the good hiding places.
Bigmouth landlady saw me leave
the next morning, told the cops.
- Did you know Billy?
- I've done a lot
of bad things, Abby,
but I would never kill anyone.
- Thank you.
- This is nice, Abby.
- Yeah, it is. I love
this restaurant.
Even as a kid, I loved it.
- I...
I meant this. Us.
- OK. Uh, so...
should we pick up
where we left off?
- What do you mean, like
10th grade, me asking
to copy your homework?
- That's hysterical. No.
Um... I meant
the Ryan case.
- You... you really
wanna talk about that?
- Or we could talk about
my case, the hit-and-run.
- OK, um...
What about it?
- I think the cops are
giving us the runaround.
- And by "us",
you mean Marco Salvare,
the bar owner slash
failed private eye?
- Not failed,
just over it. And how do you
know he was helping me?
- I guess I've just got
my finger on the pulse
of New Chapel.
- Oh, well...
I think the cops know more
than they're letting on.
When I mentioned the SUV
to Corbison, he was already
trying to bury the information.
- You told me
he knew nothing about it.
- And you believed him!
- Any reason I shouldn't have?
- I don't know. You're the one
with your finger
on the pulse of New Chapel.
[sigh]
- Look, Abby.
Around here,
the police are the good guys.
- And you should remember
that my dad was a cop,
so I know all about them,
good and bad.
I know it's only
temporary support
but I feel so much better!
- It's a great first step.
- Yes, and Big Dave here sure
got that judge to see
right through Tom's poverty act.
- Once Judge Mead took a look
at those business statements,
even the Terminator didn't
stand a chance.
- Penny!
You may have won this round.
Don't expect to win any others.
- Pleasure doing business
with you too, Tom.
- And you.
You dragged my wife into this,
didn't you?
- No. It was all Penny.
- Really?
Because until she met you, there
wasn't one word about a divorce.
- Don't blame Abby, Tom. Blame
yourself. You made the business
more important than us.
- I don't need you to tell me
how to run my business.
- Fine. You're on
your own now.
- I think it's best to stay out
of other people's lives.
- Well then you should
absolutely do that.
- Let's go, Tom.
There's no need for this.
- Thank you.
You're great!
- You're great! Come on!
[Dean Martin's Swayis playing]
He took one look at my car
and he panicked.
And the jacket
logo matches
the one on the SUV driver!
- Are you sure?
- Yes! As in very,
definitely, yes, I'm sure.
I think...
something strange.
I think
they're connected!
I think my car,
hit by Tony,
Tony running
from the apartment building,
Billy Ryan found dead
in said apartment...
- Hmm. How many reruns
of Columbodid you watch
last night by the way?
- Very funny.
They were
Murder She Wrote.
- Okay! Speaking of Tony,
I actually dug up
a little information on him.
- Do tell.
- Turns out he was charged with
aggravator assault last year
in Chicago. Bar fight,
charges dismissed.
Two years ago,
he was charged with four counts
of illegal gambling,
also dismissed.
- I bet uncle Louis
stepped in somehow.
Tony is bad news.
- You're not gonna'
like this one.
I also heard that he was
at a construction site
in Granville
when your car was hit.
- Hearsay, your honor, and what
about his reaction to my car?
- I don't know. Maybe he, uh,
hates vintage Mercedes.
- The point is,
we need to spy on Tony!
We need to gather
some intel,
maybe even get a photo of him
driving the SUV.
We need a stakeout!
- Abby, don't you think
you're going
a little too far with this?
- Not on the street this time.
And definitely away
from that bully Blasko. Look.
I Google map
Vertucci's house and...
look! We can sneak up
right up to it
from the lot behind.
- You're dangerous,
you know that?
- I'm thinking tomorrow,
late afternoon.
I checked and Tony's shift
ends at 4.
Well? What do you say?
You in?
- I...
- Yes!
Okay! Should we just
leave the car here?
- I don't know. At this point,
I'm just following your lead.
- You're
finally learning.
- Ha! Ha! Yeah.
- Okay!
- What are you doing?
- What do you mean?
- Stop crouching. You're
crouching down like you're
chasing a bear or something.
Just act natural. Calm down.
Alright, do me a favor.
Sit tight and I'll signal you
when it's safe to follow.
- Hey, wait!
- What?
- I thought now you were
all about following me.
- What?
- I'm kidding. Go.
- Oh! Jokes. Okay, good.
- Okay.
- What do you see?
- That's Vertucci's Bentley.
- If we're lucky, Tony's gonna'
be in his uncle's SUV.
We'll catch him
when he gets back here.
- Ah, fingers crossed!
- Okay. Let's go over here.
Oh! There's a car.
- Car?
- There's a car.
What do you see?
- It's an Escalade.
- I know it's an Escalade.
Who's driving?
- It's Tony and Vertucci
in the Escalade.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Hey, buddy! How are you?
Hey, come here. Come here.
Come here, buddy!
What are you doing? Sit. Sit.
- I hate dogs, Abby.
That's a big dog.
- Wait, there's
another car!
- It's Blasko.
- What is he doing here?
- Okay. They're talking.
Vertucci just handed him
an envelope!
With money in it!
- Yup!
- Hurry up!
- You know what, Abby?
We just witnessed a pay-off.
Thank you, perfect timing!
- Hey! Do you think
Vertucci paid Blasko
to cover up the murder?
- Look, let's not get ahead
of ourselves, alright?
All I got is Blasko accepting
cash. Why is anybody's guess.
- Would it kill you
to agree with me?
- I'm agreeing with you!
[loud barking]
- Oh! Oh!
- Come on! Hurry up!
Hurry up!
- I am hurrying!
[groan]
- Mom? You look beat.
Were you up all night watching
a Lojak marathon again?
- It's not Lojak, it's Kojak.
And no, I was just out late...
with a friend.
- Okay. Who's the guy?
- Oh! He's... Alright, look,
he's just a friend, okay?
It just started off
as a business thing.
- [So you're taking
my advice after all?]
[To think about dating again.]
[Mom, are you there?]
- Honey, I'm gonna' have to go.
I'll, uh... I'll call you.
Have a good day.
I love you, sweetheart.
- Police have arrested
Elvis Jones.
Jones, a known transient,
parolee and drug offender
was taken to county jail today
and charged
with second degree murder.
- This is wrong.
Elvis Jones is being framed.
He's an
easy target.
There's gotta' be
more to it!
- Maybe you can get Gorgeous
Greg to spill a thing or two.
Hey!
- Morning, ladies.
- Hey.
- Looks like Elvis is
gonna' be doing
a little jailhouse rock.
- Yeah. What's your take on it?
- I don't know, Abby.
It obviously looks a little
too easy for me.
- Well, I think
Detective Blasko framed him.
- Okay, uh, look.
Just sit tight, okay?
I'll put my fielders
all around town on Blasko
and see what we can find out.
- And I'll, uh...
I'll see what I can drum up
on other things.
- Cool!
- And oh! Marco?
- Yes.
- Um, "sit tight" is second only
to "don't say a word"
on the offensive scale.
- Okay!
Um, I'm gonna' go
and uh,
sit tight
and not say a word.
- Good idea.
- Yeah.
Ciao!
- Ciao!
And one for Abby!
- On the house. Because,
you know, as a proprietor,
you can never can
give away enough free stuff.
- Ha! Ha! Yeah, but think
about how happy it makes people.
- Is it making you happy?
- Well, as a matter of fact,
it is!
- Good!
- Oh! I got another
absurd parking ticket today.
- Abby, I wanted to ask you.
You don't think you're
being harassed, do you?
- Somebody's trying to tell me
something and I don't think it's
"you don't know how to drive".
- Then who is it?
- Well, the tickets started
after I reported
my hit and run,
so maybe it's somebody
who wants me to forget
all about it.
- Well, it could be somebody
who's got some...
pull in local
traffic enforcement.
- Like our
county commissioner.
- Abby, for your sake,
I hope it's not the case.
- That was great!
- Yeah, it was fun!
- Ah! It's so nice to have
a place to go to after work.
- Well, we love having you.
- Thank you.
- Uh, listen, Abby. I was just
wondering if maybe you and I
could, uh, grab dinner sometime.
You know, not connected
to the crime scene
here in New Chapel.
- Oh! Um.
That would be nice!
Let me think about it.
- Okay, yeah. Sure.
No, absolutely. Alright!
Have a good night!
- Thank you.
- What's wrong?
- I don't know. My...
- What's going on?
- My brakes aren't working.
- Okay. Hold on.
Don't move.
- Be careful.
- Okay. Abby,
your brake lines have been cut.
- What?
- Oughta' call 9-1-1.
Hi. Uh, listen. Can I get
a police officer or somebody
to come down here
to Chicago's Bar and Grill?
A friend of mine's car.
Their brake lines have been cut.
- [radio announcer]:
[Elvis Jones was arrested]
[in connection with the murder
of New Chapel resident]
[William Ryan.
He confessed today to killing]
[the 20 year-old
garden nursery worker.]
- No! Wha... No!
Thank you!
- I know, okay. I just heard.
- Do you believe it?
- I don't know what to tell you.
The guy confessed.
That's a huge move, Abby.
- Elvis Stone looked me
right in the eye
and he said that he would never
murder anybody, and guess what?
I believe him!
- Yeah. Did he tell you
he loved you on your
prom night too?
- Oh, you know what?
A] That's mean.
B] I think Louis Vertucci
paid off a cop to extract
that confession to cover up
for Tony's involvement,
and that cop
is Blasko.
- Why would Tony want
to kill Billy Ryan, huh?
- Why would Elvis Jones want to?
And it would not be Vertucci's
first cover-up.
- Come on, Abby! It was a misuse
of public funds and you know it.
That's far from murder!
He was cleared
of those charges.
I did my homework.
- But there is
still precedent,
just like
with Tony's assault charges
and all signs point
to Tony hitting my car
after fleeing
the scene of the murder.
- Abby, Tony's uncle gonna'
get in protection
and there's nothing you and I
can do to change that. Alright?
Just do me a favor: go back
to your fantastic flower shop
and forget about
this whole murder case.
- Fine. Then why don't you
go back to your fantastic
watering hole, and I will
send up a flyer if I need you.
Yikes!
They're everywhere!
- Help you?
- No! No, thanks.
I'm fine.
I'm just
buying a mum.
I love mums!
They may be my favorite flower!
- What does
a florist need with a mum?
- Why does a nursery manager
need a gun?
- Well, you
never know
what crazies might come
into the store.
- Okay! Uh,
on that note,
I'm going
to leave.
And I'm gonna' go pay
for this mum.
- You sure you don't want
a fresher one?
That one looks a little wilted.
- I like this one.
So, how's my favorite lawyer?
- Intrigued.
I just got the articles
of incorporation from
the Sprout Corp.
It seems that Harding also has
a sub-company called Roots Corp
and the CEO is Ed Feinberg.
- Harding's lawyer?
- Hmm-hmm.
- Well, that's convenient.
- Yeah.
- Okay, but why have
a separate business
from his nursery business?
What's he doing? Hiding money?
- Don't know. There's
no indication.
- Have you subpoenaed
the records yet?
- You do realize
it's only 9AM, right?
- Yeah. I'm gonna' go
talk to my plants.
[telephone ringing]
Check in with you later, okay?
- I'll talk to you soon, kiddo.
Dave King.
- I am really
enjoying this, Abby.
I'm glad you said yes. Again.
- Well,
I believe everybody deserves
a second chance.
- Tell that
to my two ex-wives.
- Two? I thought
it was only one!
- Some detective
you are!
- Well, I actually am
a pretty good detective
in my ex-lawyer
turned florist way.
- Really?
- Yeah. Uh...
Go ahead. Ask me about...
the Ryan murder.
- You wanna' talk
about the Ryan murder?
- Yes. Please.
- Please, just be honest
with me. Is this payback
for ignoring you in high school?
Because if you want an apology,
I can do that. I've had therapy.
- This is
not payback.
No apology needed,
but therapy is good.
Okay, look. I know
that Elvis Jones confessed
to the murder,
but did he give a reason why?
- I'm not at liberty to say.
- Oh!
- But, bottom line,
his fingerprints were found
in Billy Ryan's living room.
- And those were the only ones?
- Yeah.
The only ones
that matched any on file.
- Right. Look.
Let's just...
suppose that Elvis
was involved, okay?
What if
I told you...
that he didn't
act alone?
- Well, I'd say
you're nosy,
but I didn't
peg you
as a conspiracy nut.
[throat clearing]
Okay, so, who's
this co-conspirator?
- Tony Vertucci,
the commissioner's nephew.
- Oh, please don't!
- Come on! Listen to me!
Listen to me. My hit and run,
the morning of the murder.
I would bet my shop
that it's Tony.
He supposedly has an alibi.
I don't buy it.
- Uh, please, Abby.
- Fingerprint him!
Fingerprint him
and I guarantee you
that there will be
a match on file.
- Implicate the commissioner's
nephew? You're asking me
to commit career suicide!
- Okay!
- Alright, well,
what if I...
told you that...
I have photos
that prove
that the Vertuccis
were involved?
- Photos? What kind
of photos?
- No! Absolutely not! You can't
just go flashing around pictures
making random accusations
like that, Abby. You know that.
- I also know that right now,
justice is not being served.
- Okay, look. Until we're 110%
convinced of what we saw
[at the Vertucci's,
those pictures are off-limits,
[alright?]
- Well, you should be aware
that I called my insurance agent
and I told her to file the claim
against Vertucci.
- See, Abby, right there.
I mean, you just put your
whole safety at risk.
You know what? I'm done. I don't
know if I can do this anymore.
- Fine.
Bye.
- Bye.
- Thank you
for choosing Bloomers.
- Our first wedding!
And at the country club,
no less!
[squeals of excitement]
- Welcome to Bloomers!
How can I
help you?
- County building inspector.
Do you own the shop?
- Yes, but we had
an inspection
a couple months ago.
- No record of filing. You just
showed up on my schedule.
I'll just have
a look around.
You have some violations.
Unfortunately, I'm gonna'
have to shut you down.
- What kind of violations?
How can this be happening?
This is harassment!
- Lady, I just go
where I'm told.
- That inspector works
for the county,
meaning he works
for the commissioner...
who just decided
to play
his trump card.
- So then, can you afford
to be shut down?
- What do you think?
- Alright, well, that leaves you
two choices,
then, Abby.
One, you drop your insurance
claim against Vertucci
or, two, you call his bluff
and keep going.
- The key is why is it
so important
to Vertucci
that I drop the claim?
- Well, at the very least,
it's a political embarrassment.
A close family member being
charged with a hit and run.
- Right, and at worst,
he's covering up
that his nephew Tony was
involved in a murder.
- Look, Abby. Um...
You can't save the world.
- No, but I can
get an interim stay
and sue the county
for phony building violations.
- You wanted my advice, right?
Okay, here it is.
Call off
the dogs, Abby.
Re-open up
your shop.
- Well, what happened
to that army ranger
who made a career
out of fighting back?
- I guess he figured there were
certain things in life not
worth fighting for.
- Well.
I wish
he thought I was.
- Abby, come on.
- Thank you.
- So, dear daughter,
would you like
to tell me why
there's a "closed for repair"
sign on your shop door
or do I have to guess?
- Well, you could guess or...
I could just
make something up.
- So in the very
few months
you've been
back here,
you're going after Vertucci
for harassment,
your shop
has been closed
for violations
and you're involved
in a murder investigation?
- Dad, I know
that have made a mess
for myself, okay?
But I just...
You know what?
I know
that I'm onto something.
- You're just like
your mother, Abby.
Heart of gold,
spine of steel.
- What did I get
from you?
- Oh, good cops need
to see the bad guys pay.
Tough trade
in this world of ours.
- So give me
your professional opinion, huh?
Doesn't this
all seem suspect?
- Yeah.
It is.
I just want you
to be careful.
- I will.
I promise.
[cellular ringtone]
- What is it, honey?
- Oh! Oh! Nikki.
She's locked out of her house
and her husband's out of town,
and I'm the only one
with a key, so...
- Go! Take care
of your friend.
And I'll order
some disgusting dessert
you wouldn't
let me have.
Don't overdo it!
- You too, sweetheart.
I mean it. Okay?
- [sports announcer]:
And touchdown!
[patrons cheering]
[angry scream]
- Abby! What happened?
- I was out with my dad. I heard
the alarm and came to check.
Oh! Oh!
- We have got
to stop meeting like this.
- What happened?
- Looks like an intruder
forced open
your fire escape door.
Your back area's kind of a mess.
It's hard to tell
if anything
actually was taken.
- It's not exactly a leap
to wonder that whoever
cut her brakes could
have done this, right?
- Not a total leap, no,
but typically,
they are very different crimes.
- Ms. Knight, would there be
anyone looking to retaliate
against you for any reason?
- No. Not offhand.
I mean,
we don't get many
disgruntled customers
if that's what you mean.
- Well, we noticed the "closed
for repair" sign on the door.
Any trouble from that?
- No.
Not at all.
- Gentlemen, we'd like
to actually take some time
and look around, so if we find
that there's anything missing,
we'll be sure
to give you a call, okay?
- Please do. Goodnight, folks.
- Thanks guys.
- I don't know why
I was nervous. I didn't do
anything wrong.
- Of course not, no.
- Oh, what? So this is my fault?
- I didn't say that.
Not directly or anything.
- Okay, well, I happen to know
that it's not Tony Vertucci
because I saw him tonight
at the Elbow Room
and he was sitting at the bar
and he was watching the game
and then, guess what?
He went nuts
when his team lost!
- He went nuts...
- Crazy, smash-a-bottle nuts!
- Because he's a die-hard fan!
Look, he's also a gambler.
He probably took a major hit.
- Really? Or maybe this is
just another one
of Blasko's specials!
- Abby,
how bad do things have to get
before you realize
you gotta' back off
on Commissioner Vertucci, huh?
- If you had just let me
release those photos,
he could have been halfway
to jail right now.
- You are impossible!
- I like the word "committed".
- Good! I'm glad you like that
word, because you should be.
Committed.
Look. Um...
I got a bar to run,
so just...
Goodnight.
- Bye.
- "Elvis Jones dead"?
"In his cell"?
"Preliminary reports say
that Jones died of hanging."
Oh no! No, no!
- Abby! Abby, slow down!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, slow down!
What's wrong?
You okay?
- Have you heard?
- No, heard what?
- Elvis is dead.
He hanged himself
in his cell last night.
- Abby, I'm so sorry
to hear that.
I'm sorry.
- He was killed, Marco!
Somebody murdered him.
- Okay, look.
Calm down, alright?
Let's uh... Let's...
Let's just relax
for a second, alright?
- He was a mess,
but he wasn't suicidal.
- How do you know that, Abby?
- Because I talked to him!
He was upbeat.
He was optimistic.
- Well, he could have had
a breakdown too.
- Don't play
devil's advocate with me!
- Alright, alright.
- The guy was murdered.
- Well, I...
I think I'm starting
to agree with you.
- Oh!
Was that
so difficult?
I keep coming back
to Blasko on this.
On most things,
really. I...
What does
that mean?
- I do a little
of my own research on our
good friend Detective Blasko.
I found out
that Gilbert Blaskovich
It turned out he was a cop
in Ohio one time
before he was bounced
on extortion charges.
- And yet he was
still hired here?
- I guess he was
running away from his past
and he reinvented himself, yeah.
- What did he extort?
- Money from a drug dealer.
- Do you think Commissioner
Vertucci's in the drug business?
- I doubt it. It's too sordid.
I mean, he might be involved
in something... or he might
not be involved in anything.
You see, the fact of the matter
is, you and I don't know.
And until we do know, we need to
keep this to ourselves, okay?
Look, Abby.
We're partners,
aren't we?
- Yeah.
- On the plus side, it's giving
us a chance to get reorganized.
- Sweetie.
Thanks, but you don't have
to put a happy face on this.
- What's wrong, Abs?
- Have you seen the yellow mum
that I got from the nursery
the other day?
- Yeah, I put it
in the big fridge. It was
looking a little droopy.
- It's not here anywhere!
[cellular ringtone]
- Well, hello, Dave King!
I hope you're having
a better morning than I am.
- Actually, it's a great morning
for Penny Harding.
Tom Harding, not so much.
- Why? What's going on?
- [I just got the records
from the Roots Corp subpoena.]
Harding is hiding over
8 million bucks in that account.
That's 4 times as much as what
showed in his Sprout Corp.
- Wow, talk about deep roots!
What kind of business is it?
- Well, there's still no info,
but it's definitely lucrative
and secretive.
- That's always a shady mix.
- Exactly. Listen, I'll keep
digging. I'll let you know, OK?
- Alright, I'll catch you later.
- New Chapel authorities have
said today there will be
no investigation
into the apparent suicide
of Elvis Jones.
Jones was in jail for the murder of William Ryan.
- Well, isn't that convenient.
I was hardly cleaned out.
An old laptop, 80 bucks...
Oh, and an ugly mum plant
that I can't even swear
the intruder took.
- Mum? Like chrysanthemum?
- Yeah.
- It's a pretty
common plant, right?
- Yeah, really common, why?
- No reason, except one
was collected from
the Ryan murder scene.
Someone from Tom's Green Thumb
Nursery came to claim it
the other day.
I guess it was
just a coincidence.
- Why would they want
Billy's mum? They already
have a ton of their own.
And wait--you released
murder evidence?
- Not me. One of the
investigators clearly decided
it didn't matter to the case.
Abby, it's a crummy potted
plant. It was half dead.
You alright?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
I just have to get back to the
shop. I'll see you around, Greg.
What if Buzz or Harding or
somebody from the nursery wanted
my mum for the same reason
they wanted Billy's mum?
And why were they bringing
the mums out of the greenhouse
that day instead of in?
What is that? Is that some kind
of reversed delivery process?
- I don't know. Maybe somebody
ordered a whole lot of mums and
they were just picking them up.
- Or maybe there was something
about those off-limit mums
that made them extra special,
you know,
really valuable and worth
robbing or...
killing over. There's only
one way to find out: I'm
gonna storm the greenhouse
and get another one
of those mums. Why
does it have to be mums?
- OK, what is it
with you and mums?
- OK. When Chuck died,
I was a mess. I was depressed,
obviously, but...
you know, people came over
and they hugged and they cried
and they sent flowers,
and there was this one huge
arrangement of mums,
and they were mums,
just wilting mums...
...reminding me that
he was... dead.
- Abby, I'm so sorry--
- So, uh...
I'm good. I'm fine. And...
Do you want to come with me,
be my lookout or something?
- Yeah, of course. What time?
- Now. Let's go now.
- I can't right now.
It's almost lunch rush, I have
to be here. Can I come after?
- Don't worry about it, it's OK.
- You sure?
- I'm gonna go in by myself,
I'll get in, I'll get out.
Just... keep your phone on you,
in case--
- Alright, I will. Good luck.
Orchid bulbs.
"As thousands of new plants
can be reproduced from
a single bulb,
"the rarest or most endangered
of orchids can command
up to $50,000
apiece on the black market."
[banging on door]
[loud banging]
[men talking]
- [911, what's your emergency?]
- I need help. I'm at Bloomers,
on Franklin.
[line cuts]
- Where are you? Come on,
I just wanna talk.
- Put the lights on,
for God's sake. Find them.
- Ohh... What do we
got here, huh?
Come on, get up, get up.
Gimme the phone.
- Take it easy.
Take it easy.
I'm curious.
What part of "stay out of other
people's lives" didn't you
understand?
- What do you want?
- I'm pretty sure you know.
- I saw you leave the nursery
today and you weren't
empty-handed.
- Oh, that mum?
Well, I bought it.
You want a receipt?
- You're about 50 grand short.
- Enough. Where is it?
- It's behind those pots.
- Gimme the word, I'll end it.
- Put that gun away, I don't
want another mess!
- Hey, I told you that kid
jumped me, alright?
It was an accident!
- Shut up, you idiot. Now go
and get the rope in my car, now!
Now!
- So, what?
Buzz killed Billy Ryan, huh?
- What are you talking about?
- Billy found out about your
little orchid scheme and tried
to blow the whistle on you,
blackmail you, so you ordered
Buzz to get rid of him.
- I wouldn't be so quick
to defend Billy Ryan.
He was no boy scout.
- Yeah, what was he into
that you weren't?
- He ran a sweet little
sports betting operation, if you
must know. Very entrepreneurial,
I'll give him that.
- So you weren't the only
illegal businessman in town.
- Get up.
Let's go!
- Ah!
- You alright?
- Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine.
- When I called it went straight
to voicemail, so I thought
I'd come around and make sure
everything was alright.
My hand hurts.
- Your hand hurts?
I just...
- What?
Look at it. Look at it.
- Oh, I can imagine.
- Don't worry about those two.
They ain't going anywhere.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Officer.
Have a good night.
Wow, huh? You OK?
- Yeah. "Wow" is right. Man...
I still cannot figure out
how the police pegged it
on poor Elvis.
- Abby!
- Greg?
What are you doing here?
- Marco texted me.
Told me to get here ASAP.
- What? You two don't even
know each other.
- Actually, we do. As of today.
- Yeah, we talked this morning
and it got me thinking about
the Ryan murder.
Maybe a beat might have been
missed, especially when it
concerns Commissioner Vertucci.
- He came by the bar and
he wanted me to show him
the payoff pictures.
- What happened
to career suicide?
- I figured I could be
as brave as you.
And Marco added Blasko
to the mix
and I confronted him.
He folded and admitted
to harassing you,
the tickets, the dead flowers,
the cutting of the brake lines--
all his handiwork.
- And Elvis' arrest
and confession, ordered
by the commissioner.
- Yeah. He paid Blasko off
for the whole shebang.
- And Elvis' death...
- I suspect Blasko had
a hand in it as well.
But believe me, this part of the
investigation is just starting.
Thanks to you, Abby.
- Abby,
Tony Vertucci did hit your car,
but he didn't kill anyone. He
actually went over to Billy's--
- Tony went to Billy's
to place a sports bet,
saw Billy dead,
got scared and ran.
Harding told me all about
Billy's side job,
so the Tony piece
fits right in.
- Tony's got a huge gambling
debt and his uncle
tried to conceal it.
But with his visit to Billy
and your hit-and-run,
he was afraid that it might
place Tony at the murder scene.
- And it would give Tony
a motive for killing Billy,
whether he did or didn't.
Who wants that before
an auction day?
So does that mean the inspector
was all a part of the
commissioner's plan?
And...
that means that I can
open my shop again?
- Absolutely.
You're back in business.
- Congratulations, Abby.
- Yay!
- Hug?
- Oh...
- For old time's sake.
- OK.
Nikki is going to be jealous.
Alright, let go.
[laughing]
- See you soon.
- Thanks, Greg.
Have a good night, man.
- Alright, you too.
- Wow...
Nice work, partner.
- Well, I couldn't
have done it without you.
As a matter of fact, I wouldn't
have done it without you.
- Me neither.
- You have to promise me
one thing, though.
No more amateur sleuthing, OK?
Please.
- I cannot make a promise
that I can't keep.
- OK, then can you promise
to let me take you
on a proper date?
No stakeouts, no fistfighting,
no fake plant shopping. Please.
It would be nice.
- Now what would the fun
in that be?
[laughing]
Come on.
- You're terrible.
- Alright, I can
promise you something
regarding the date.
- Mm-hmm?
- And I can promise you
it'll be a date.
- Thank you.
Very much.
- Don't you have a bar to run?
- Yeah, I do.
Ciao.
- What are you looking at?
You're not so bad.
[Van Morrison - Into the Mystic]
Closed Captioning by SETTE inc.
for breakfast?
- Oh!
Elvis?
Elvis... Jones?
- Abby Knight!
- How are you?
- I'm good, real good!
Uh... not really.
I'm... not good at all.
- Elvis Jones.
You took me to senior prom.
- I remember.
- You were a real gentleman.
We had so much fun that night.
I lost track of you
after school.
- Yeah, well,
after school, I...
kicked around a little.
Some bad choices,
then in and out of
the system. Mostly in.
I just got back
from a year of that.
- I'm sorry, Elvis.
- Is this your shop?
- Yeah, it's new. But it's mine.
- Hey, you know what? I kind
of look at life like, um...
lilies. They're perennials.
So if they don't bloom one year,
they always have the next year.
They always have another chance.
- Yeah. Lilies.
That's cool.
Thanks for that.
I'm optimistic. Things
are gonna change for me.
- Hey look, here. Here's ten.
- Thank you.
- Take care of yourself, Elvis.
- Let me help you with that.
- Oh!
Thank you.
- Hey.
- Oh, Nikki, in a million years,
you are never going to believe
who I saw this morning.
- Elvis Jones.
- Wha--how do you do that?
[laughing]
- I saw him too.
- We dated. Model UN.
And now... he just
got out of jail.
- Yeah, a year for
breaking and entering.
- He asked me for money.
- What, like a hold-up?
- No, like a handout.
He clearly needed it.
I gave him ten bucks.
- Ten bucks?!
That's a nice breakfast.
- Man...
He was a good kisser.
[laughing]
- Oh... Oh, wow!
Fifteen orders so far.
That's pretty great
for a Tuesday.
- Yeah.
Look, four of the arrangements
are from...
that cheating dentist
over on Sair.
- Guilt roses.
I almost feel guilty
delivering them.
[laughing]
- I gotta jump out at noon.
Mother-daughter lunch.
- Ah, see,
I told you Mills College was
a perfect choice for Sydney.
Far enough away to live on
campus, but close enough
for Mom to drop in.
[laughing]
- So, are you eating right?
Exercising,
getting enough sleep?
- Yes, I am, when I can.
I'm so busy
with the flower shop,
the empty nest,
the moving on...
- Don't make me worry about you.
- Oh, you're being
the mom, I'm sorry.
OK, OK, look, I'm fine.
What about you, huh? How you
doing? Semester's still tough?
- Some days I really
wonder why I'm pre-law.
Right now, the only bar I can
conceive passing is the kind
with darts and a happy hour.
- I passed it; you'll pass it,
OK? It's a few years off anyway.
- What if I end up working
in law as long as you did,
and then end up
leaving it like you did?
- I left when I felt I had
stopped making a difference.
Doesn't mean you will.
And when Dad died,
none of it just seemed
as important.
- I think you miss it
a little bit.
- Just...
[laughing]
- [Hi, it's Nikki.
Please leave a message.]
- Hey, Nikki, I'm back.
I'm just gonna run and
get us some coffee,
so... call me if you...
You know what?
I'll get you coffee, but--Oh!
[tires screeching]
84A1G...
You idiot!
Oh, no!
- So you didn't
see who did this.
- No, it all happened so fast,
him racing out of
the alley... Thank you.
Maybe he was
wearing a jacket
with some kind of a logo on it,
and maybe he had, like,
curly dark hair.
- That's a lot of maybes.
- I just came
from New York.
I've had that car since
before Sydney was born,
not a scratch on it,
and now this.
- Just give the police a chance,
Abs. Maybe they'll find the guy.
- I have a feeling I'd ID
the guy faster if I put
my mind to it.
- OK, Sherlock.
But before you do that,
could you do me a favor first?
- Oh, I know that look.
What do you want me to do that
you know I don't want to do but
you'll get me to do anyway?
- Good. Do you remember
my cousin Penny?
- You've got so many.
- Penny! Penny, with the hair...
- Oh, pixie? OK, yeah.
- Yes!
- She was asking for some legal
advice and I thought of you.
- I don't do that anymore.
- Come on! You know you hate
to let all that amazing hard-
earned knowledge go to waste.
- All right, tell her
to stop by tomorrow.
- Great. I told her
you would say that.
- Why do you even ask?
[door opening]
- Hi, um, I'm just looking
for the owner of the...
dented Mercedes?
- Could be your
lucky day after all.
- That's me. I'm Abby Knight.
I'm also the owner of Bloomers.
- Hi. Marco Salvare.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm the new owner of
the Chicago Bar and Grill.
- Oh, excellent,
we're neighbors!
Nikki Bender,
assistant manager.
- Nice to meet you,
Nikki Bender. That's quite
a handshake. So, listen, Abby,
I saw you talking to the cop
outside and I just wanted to
make sure everything was OK.
- Well, it would be great
if I had the complete
license plate of the driver
who hit me.
- I can help you
get that information.
- Uh... how would you do that,
if you don't mind me asking?
- Well, you know, once a private
eye, always a private eye.
- You're a private...
Abby was a lawyer.
- Was.
- You would be a good team.
- I have a friend at the DMV.
I can give her a call and she
can help me with those numbers.
- That would be great!
Um, can I tell you what
the license plate--
- Sure.
- It's in the message.
- [I'll get you coffee--]
[crash]
[Oh!]
[84A1G... Idiot!]
- Yeah, then there's
a lot of bad words.
- OK, I got it.
- So, how can I repay you?
- Oh! Um, how about a dozen
roses? Purple, for passion.
- Well, purple's
for enchantment.
- Red's for passion.
Dark red if
she's really special.
- Alright, then dark red it is.
Can you guys deliver to my bar?
- Sure.
- And if I don't find the name
of the driver, trust me,
you can bill me.
- Fair enough.
- Great. Nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
- You as well. All right.
Ciao, ladies. Have a good day.
- Bye-bye!
Oh... my!
- You are married!
- OK, I was just window-
shopping. You can actually buy.
[sighing]
- Have you been
talking to my daughter?
[police siren]
What's that?
Hold on just a second.
I'll be right back.
Officer Dunn? What happened?
- Would you come with me?
- What? Where?
- I'll explain on the way.
- What's going on?
- We found a dead body on Tanner
Street. Eyewitness saw a man
running from the old Hampton
Arms headed up the alley, the
one that lets out right there.
- When?
- A few hours ago,
around the time--
- My car was hit. Um, OK,
let me get my coat and
I'll be right back.
- OK. That's affirmative. We're
on the way. Yeah, coming in.
- Thank you.
- Detective Corbison.
- So, you're the one
with the hit-and-run.
- Yeah.
- What can you
tell us about the driver?
- Not too much, but I believe
he was driving a black Escalade.
I got a partial license plate
and I've already given that to--
- We got that already.
- Detective, I've got
another witness.
She saw Elvis Jones leave this
place around noon today.
- Elvis Jones?
Is he a suspect?
- Why, you know him?
- For years.
In fact, I just spoke
with him this morning.
- What time?
- Um, right before
I opened my shop,
so a little before 9.
- That would give him plenty
of time to kill someone.
- Trust me, Detective,
Elvis Jones was not the guy
I saw coming out of the alley.
- I didn't say he was. Bring
Jones in for questioning.
- I think you're making
a terrible mistake.
- Thanks for your time,
Ms. Knight.
If you think of anything
relevant, give me a call.
- Look at you, just...
business as usual,
as if you weren't just hanging
out at a murder scene.
- Something doesn't fit, Nik.
And I hate mums, OK?
- Whoa, hey, easy!
They're just flowers.
- Elvis is a disaster,
but he's not a murderer.
- Well, he has a record,
he's served time,
he's broke...
It's not impossible.
High school was ages ago, Abs.
- Bring this over to Marco.
- Ha, ha, ha!
Me? No, no, no.
You are gonna bring this
over to Marco. Come on.
- I--
- Just--
- OK, fine. Traitor.
- Just fix your hair
a little bit.
Oh, you look nice.
- Now this is
what I call service.
- Oh! Here you go.
- Thank you. They're beautiful.
Can I get you a drink?
Let's say pinot grigio.
- Beer. Draft.
- OK.
Hi, Emily. Can I get a couple
pints, please? Thanks.
- Look, I can't stay very long.
- But you look like you wanna
talk about something.
- Can we sit?
- I don't know,
do you have a reservation?
I'm kidding.
Of course we can sit.
- Thank you.
- So what's up?
- OK, here's the thing.
Getting information
about that SUV might be
a little bit tricky.
- OK, how so?
- Have you heard
about the murder?
- Uh, yeah, I mean, that's what
everyone's talking about.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Alright, well, did you hear
that a suspect was seen
coming out of the alley
just around the same time
that my car was hit?
- Well, it could be a
coincidence, Abby.
- Or not.
- You like to meddle,
don't you?
- OK, first of all,
I hate that word.
And... where do we go from here?
- Oh, we are not going anywhere,
but I'm gonna go down to the DMV
and see if my contact there
found anything.
- Is that who
the flowers are for?
- No, but that's
not a bad idea.
- OK, so, uh...
what's my assignment?
- Your assignment, Abby,
is to go back to work
and stay out of trouble.
- Cheers.
Latte, please.
- Abby.
Hey. Our new florist out
for a morning latte.
- That's what I love
about small towns.
If you don't know
what you're doing,
someone else tells you.
- Oh, you love it here,
otherwise you never would've
left that big bad city.
- Big, yes. Bad, no.
I'm glad to be back.
- So how's the flower game?
Blossoming?
- Really?
That's the best joke a smart
aleck like you can come up with?
It's great.
How's the DA's office?
- Never a dull moment.
- Like the murder
at the Hampton Arms?
- Sure, for example.
- Any updates for a curious
florist?
- Opportunist.
- Well, I might wanna
send flowers.
- Well, we did
just ID the victim.
His name hasn't been
released yet.
Some 20-year-old kid who'd
just moved into the building.
- Have you heard anything
about a suspect
who took off in
a black Escalade?
- Should I have?
- Don't ask me.
Ask Detective Corbison.
This is me.
- Well, hey, is there a chance
that maybe we could
grab a drink one night, you
know, talk about old times?
- Oh, uh, I'm really
buried at the shop.
Things are really sprouting.
I haven't "botany" time.
- Yeah, I get it. OK, no more.
- I'll leaf you with that, OK?
- You're a tough woman.
- No! Bye, Greg.
- Bye.
- I am sorry. I'm late.
But...
I came bearing caffeine.
- Oh my gosh, thank you.
I love you.
- Thank you.
- Oh, uh... you got
a phone call.
A Detective Corbison.
- Hmm!
I hope he wants
an arrangement.
"Detective Corbison
"leaving on vacation.
Any info or questions,
call Detective Brand".
He's going on vacation
in the middle of a murder
investigation?
- Well, maybe he had
non-refundable plane
tickets or something.
- Yeah, or something.
Hey, can you tell me something?
Did everyone I went
to high school with
move back? You're not gonna
believe who I ran into
at Twigg's.
OK, no, let me tell you.
Greg Morgan.
- Gorgeous Greg?
- Mm-hmm.
- I don't know who had the
bigger crush on him, you or me.
- Oh, you, by far. You told me
not to or we'd never be friends.
- I... I did?
- Ha, yeah, you did.
[laughing]
- Well, he's divorced.
- Honey, the only thing
that interests me
about Assistant DA Greg Morgan
is what he can tell me
about the murder.
- So you areplaying detective.
- Well, I just wanna know
who hit my car.
- Mm-hmm.
- And why Elvis
is a suspect, and...
why there was a murder.
[sighing]
- Abs!
OK, seriously.
Just...
be careful, OK?
I just got
my best friend back,
and I would really
like to keep her.
- I promise.
Promise.
- OK.
- Seriously?
- Hey, neighbor.
- Oh. It's you.
- You don't seem so enthused.
- I'm sorry, I just got a ticket
when there was still time left.
- That's fine, just fight it.
- I will.
- Good.
- So, how'd it go with your
friend at the DMV? Any news?
- Oh yeah, we're actually
gonna meet tonight.
I'll keep you posted.
- None of the gory details, OK?
Just... if you hear something.
- Will do.
- Did you know that the lead
detective on the murder case
went on vacation?
- I did, actually. Did you know
they ID'd the victim?
- Yes.
- Really?
- Uh-huh. Did you know his name?
- Billy Ryan.
- Wait, what? When
did that happen?
- This morning.
- I think I win that round,
didn't I?
I think I'm gonna like
this game.
Have a good day, Abby.
- Mm-hmm.
- OK, Penny, just tell Abby
what you need, OK?
She's here to help.
Thanks.
- It's simple: I want a divorce.
- Divorce is never simple.
What does he say?
- I don't know, he won't discuss
it. He won't discuss anything.
- Is there someone else?
- I don't know,
but there's definitely something
else. He's never home,
he's always working,
always taking meetings,
and if I ask him what it is
that he's so busy with,
he just tells me
not to worry, that
he's doing it for us.
There's no us. Not anymore.
Which is why I'm here.
- Where does he work?
- He owns Green Thumb Nursery.
- He's thatTom?
He's... That's a great business.
- Believe me, I know.
- Look, Penny, I don't
practice anymore.
But I can call this
lawyer, Dave King.
He's one of the best attorneys
I know. I went to law school
with him.
- See? I told you
Abby would help.
- Your pork chops were amazing.
- Don't get too used to them.
You just get them once a month.
I have to watch you.
- I love 'em.
Glad you picked up your mother's
cooking ability, God rest
her soul, and not mine.
Although I am king
of the microwave.
- Dad, that's even worse.
That's radiation.
- Oh, please.
[laughing]
- I'm serious.
Hey, Dad, when you were,
um, on the force,
did you ever work
with a Detective Al Corbison?
- Corbison, sure. Good cop.
- Is he?
- As far as I knew.
Why do you ask?
- I, uh, I ran
into him yesterday.
- At your flower shop?
- At a crime scene.
Have you been following
the Hampton Arms murder?
- What there is
so far to follow.
I did my share of investigating
at that place over the years.
What were you doing there?
- Technically,
I may be a material witness.
- To the murder?
- It's complicated.
- Abby, what are you
involved in?
- Nothing yet. My car was hit
by someone who may have been
fleeing the crime scene.
- Is that Corbison's
theory or yours?
- Both. Neither. I don't know.
They could be connected.
And get this.
Corbison skipped town.
Allegedly went on vacation.
- He didn't "skip town".
He probably is on vacation.
I did hear Elvis Jones
is a suspect.
- For real? That's ridiculous.
Elvis Jones couldn't even--
- Abby, Abby, just stay out of
this. Let the cops do their job.
- Fine.
- Oh boy...
- [Hi, I'm Tom Harding,]
[owner and founder of
the Green Thumb Nursery,]
[family-owned for 17 years,]
[with the finest staff
available]
[to serve your every
gardening need.]
[So visit us today,
and don't forget:]
[ask for Tom.]
- OK. Thank you very much.
That was the Lutheran
Funeral Home.
They just ordered flowers
for Billy Ryan's funeral.
Did you know that Billy's
parents are Alice and Carl Ryan?
- The couple we did all those
anniversary flowers for?
- Yeah.
I didn't know
they even had a son.
- No, they never mentioned it.
- Maybe I should call that
Detective Brand just to see
if there are any new leads.
- About your car or about Elvis?
- OK, look, I just don't believe
Elvis would've done it.
He's a good guy.
He's made bad choices,
but he's not a murderer.
Something else happened there.
- The saddest thing is...
we hadn't spoken
to Billy in months.
- He pulled away from us.
- I'm so sorry.
I have a daughter, I...
I can't imagine.
- The last year
was really tough.
Billy changed.
He dropped out of college,
he moved out on his own...
- I just don't
understand it.
Why would anyone
want to kill Billy?
- Are you kidding me? What?
"Parked more than
18 inches from the curb."
- Seriously?
- What? You're like
half an inch from the curb.
What are you doing?
- I'm taking a picture of it,
because... that's legal.
Totally legal right there.
Hi.
I would like to appeal
these two tickets, please.
- Fill this out.
- Oh no, actually,
I would like an explanation
from the person
who issued these, because
they're clearly not right.
- Fill out the form.
It's all in there.
- OK, but you see,
what I have is a picture,
and here in this photo
you can see that my car
is actually almost parked
onthe curb,
not--
- You can pay the fine,
or you can fill out the form.
You'll hear back
in about a month.
- Here you go.
- What's this? It's incomplete.
- Oh, that's my phone number.
Please have the clerk of courts
call me or he will be hearing
from my lawyer.
- Who is that?
- Me.
Thank you for the pen.
Dave King!
- Abby Knight. Hey, thanks again
for referring Penny Harding.
- Oh, my pleasure. How
do you think she's gonna do?
- Depends. Husband says he
didn't want to divorce,
but once we filed,
he hired Ed Feinberg.
- The Terminator?
- Yeah.
Abby got real serious real fast.
- Makes sense, he's got
a big business.
Have you started discovery yet?
- We're putting subpoenas
together as we speak,
but I'm short-staffed right now.
It could take time.
- Well, you have set up
an emergency provisional
hearing, yes?
- Boy, you sure take
the 'ex' out of ex-lawyer.
Look, the hearing's already
set up for next week.
It will get Penny
some temporary funds, at least.
- You're the greatest.
Let me know if I can help
in any way, OK?
- You wanna find out
where Harding banks
his nursery income?
- You got it.
- I was kidding.
- I wasn't.
You said you were shorthanded.
Consider me a hand.
- Thank you.
- Bye.
- One pinot grigio.
- OK, so you were right
about the wine.
I'm sorry, I just don't like
when people think that
they've figured me out.
- Really?
- Yeah. Who's
the tank commander?
- What's that?
- Who's the tank commander?
- Oh, that's Sergeant Major
Marco Salvare, 75th
Army Ranger Unit.
- Wow! When? Where?
- First Gulf War,
Somalia, Haiti... Yeah.
You know what they say:
Join the army, see the world.
- Well, that's impressive.
And I just thought that you were
some guy trying to push
moderately priced pinot.
- See, we're the same. You
thought you'd figured me out.
- Well...
- Hey, enough about me.
How was the rest of your day?
- Uh, my day--nothing special.
I repotted a coleus,
I hit the flower mart,
I promised Billy Ryan's parents
I'd find their son's murderer...
- Yeah, nothing at all,
because you don't have
enough on your plate, right?
- No, because I have never seen
two such sad people,
and believe me, I've seen sad.
- And?
- And I'm thinking,
Sergeant Major, that
maybe you want to help me
with the investigation,
you know, on a sort of
official, as needed, basis?
- Because I don't have
enough on myplate.
- No, because I think
that we're actually
pretty good at this.
And I think that both of us
miss that part
of our job that was...
a little dangerous.
- I'm free tomorrow.
So what you're telling me is you
think Tom Thumb had something
to do with Billy's murder.
- Tom Harding. Green Thumb
Nursery. I don't know,
but given that Billy worked
for the man whose divorce
I'm kind of involved with,
I thought I'd do a little
multitasking.
- And what does that mean?
- Tom's wife is a friend.
She wants a divorce,
needed a lawyer.
I hooked her up with a friend
of mine. I'm just kind of
keeping an eye on things.
- And this is sort of just
typical behavior.
- Somebody hit my car;
I want to find out who, and for
some reason, things just got
a little muddier.
OK...
I'm gonna be real cool,
see if I can drum up
some intel, OK? Real cool.
- OK. Real cool.
- Ah! Ah!
- Aw, man... that's a mess.
- I'm really sorry.
I just... I kind of
bumped it and it all...
I'm really sorry.
I'm so clumsy.
Hey, it's a real shame about
what happened to Billy.
- Yeah, it's...
it was a real bummer.
- Were you two friends?
- I barely knew the guy.
Him and Buzz
were pretty close, though.
- Buzz?
- The store manager.
- Oh, the big boss.
- That's Mr. Harding. Buzz
is like his right-hand dude.
And that's him.
- Daryl!
Did you do all this?
- No, this lady did.
- I'm sorry.
- No, forget it. Is there
something I can help you find?
- Yes, I was...
- There you are, honey.
What happened here?
- I did that. I already
apologized,
no need to bring it up.
- Real cool.
- Hey, I'm really sorry
about what happened
to Billy Ryan.
- What's that?
- Billy? I was told that you two
worked together. I'm so sorry.
- Yeah, no, it's pretty awful.
How did you know Billy?
- Oh, well, I... we...
know his parents.
- Well,
I guess no one's safe, even
in a nice town like New Chapel.
- I heard he had a rough year.
- I wouldn't know.
I only saw him here, never
really got to know him.
Listen, I'm gonna get
some help with this, but...
if you need anything else,
you'll track me down, right?
- Promise.
- Alright.
- Hi.
Just the plant.
"I'm gonna be real cool".
- How was I supposed to know the
whole thing was gonna fall over?
- That's 9 dollars and 26 cents.
- Oh.
Oh, can I write you a check?
- Sure.
- OK, great.
Thank you so much.
- Check, huh?
- Yep.
I write a check, they cash
the check, and then bam!
I have their account number.
- Ah!
- Money trail.
The old canceled check ploy.
- Follow the money, I like it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I don't know if you noticed,
but that Buzz guy said he knew
nothing about Billy's life,
yet that Daryl kid said
that they used to hang out.
- I did notice, and either Daryl
is as dumb as a rake,
or Buzz is a lying
sack of manure.
- I think he likes you.
- Oh, great.
- I'm just saying, if you're
interested, I could set it up.
- Thanks, but no thanks.
I'm fine.
[laughing]
What about you?
- Oh, unfortunately
he's not my type.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
What about me? Um...
Well, I'm pretty simple really.
Married at 25,
divorced by 35,
and flying solo ever since. You?
- My husband Chuck died
two years ago.
I picked up the pieces,
and here I am.
- I guess that's what you meant
when you said "I've seen
sad people", huh?
- My daughter, Sydney. Chuck's
dead was very tough on her.
And...
Yeah, it was for me too.
- Well, shall we?
- Alright, well, thank you.
That was that Detective Brand.
Elvis is still a suspect.
They have no new leads,
zero to report.
Oh, and surprise, though: no
progress on my hit-and-run.
- Well, maybe it is good
that you're doing some
digging on your own,
now that you've got
GI Joe to protect you.
- Did you completely miss
the women's empowerment memo?
It was sent when
we were, like, ten.
- I am just saying.
- I get it, OK?
Maybe it isn't the worst thing
that one of us has seen combat.
- Morning, ladies.
- Wow!
Hey, Marco, we were
just talking about you!
- No, we weren't.
- Wow, look at these.
These are beautiful.
- Yeah, except for the mums.
So, what's up?
- Oh, um,
name and address
on our mystery SUV.
- Good work!
Thank you, Miss DMV.
- The power
of a dozen roses.
- Actually, truth be told,
Nikki, those roses and
those flowers
were for my mom's birthday.
Thank you very much, she
absolutely loved them.
I unfortunately had to use
my so very charming wit.
[phone ringing]
- And she still decided
to help you?
- Yeah, crazy, huh? So listen,
as far as this DMV information
goes, it's only half the battle.
Gotta make sure it's accurate,
so I was thinking a stakeout.
- A stakeout?
- Yeah.
You and me, alone
in a dark car, for hours.
- Abby, if you don't go, I will.
[clearing throat]
- Uh, what time...
partner?
- Wow! Did you pack
for a vacation?
[panting]
- Well, failing to prepare
is preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin.
- OK.
- So, where are we going?
- Uh, we're going to county
commissioner
Louis Vertucci's house. DMV gave
me two leads. I figured that was
the best place to start.
- Yeah, but Vertucci's like 60.
He's got gray hair. The guy
I saw was young.
- So? Maybe he had
someone else drive the car.
- Now we wait.
- We could be here for hours,
you know that, right?
- Don't think I didn't
take that into consideration.
I've got...
two meatball parm.
Four stars on Yelp.
We can eat healthy.
Three bags of pistachios.
Shuck, and then just throw
the shells on the ground.
It looks really cool.
I've got two thermoses
of coffee, black.
- Oh, thank you very much.
- And newspapers
to litter the dash.
- You're hysterical.
- Well, we could
be here for hours.
- Here's to teamwork.
- So, um...
why'd you ever quit being
a private investigator?
- Oh... wow, um...
I actually fell
into being a PI.
And then, uh... I was working
solo, and then I ended up
working for this company.
But to tell you the truth,
it was just... it was just the
loneliest job in the world.
- I can imagine.
- So I took a leap of faith,
grabbed my life savings,
and bought the Chicago
Bar and Grill.
- Oh, OK.
- What about you?
Why'd you quit being a lawyer?
- Well, I... I love the law.
Yeah. I love how
it can help people,
how it can improve their lives,
but I hate it when it's unfair,
which, for me, started to feel
like too much
of the time.
And then when Chuck died, I just
decided life was too short.
So I followed my bliss,
as they say,
and opened a flower shop.
[chuckling]
- And here we are,
drinking thermos coffee,
waiting for someone who probably
has nothing to do with anything,
to maybe show up.
- Well, clearly
we're thrill seekers.
[chuckling]
- Clearly.
Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. Garage door's opening.
- What do you see?
- I don't see anything yet.
Hold on.
- Oh! Same car, it has to be!
- Yeah, it's the Escalade.
- I can't see who's driving.
OK, here.
- The car's driver...
- OK.
- You see it?
- I see absolutely nothing.
- Abby, you've got
the lens caps on!
[laughing]
Let me try. Let me try.
[police siren]
I can't see, these things are...
Oh, no! Cops!
Look, do me a favor,
don't say anything, OK?
Let me handle this.
Hi, Officer. Is there a problem?
- Just making the rounds.
We've got some concerned
neighbors calling.
- Oh no, we were just sitting
talking, having some coffee.
- Having a picnic,
Mr., um, Blasko.
- Detective.
- Detective.
- You know, you're not supposed
to be parked here.
- Really?
I totally missed it, sir. So
sorry. It'll never happen again.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Well, he was a charmer.
We'll be back, buddy.
Alright... OK, what?
- "Don't say a word"? What?
Were you afraid that the little
lady was gonna flap her gums?
- No.
I've been dealing with beat cops
for years. I just thought I
could expedite matters, OK?
- Good save. Don't do it again.
- OK. Roger that, soldier.
- Dave King.
- [Dave, it's Abby.]
I found Tom's bank account info.
It's under "The Sprout Corp."
I got a number.
- [Now I just issue that
subpoena and see what Tom
might be hiding from Penny.]
- OK. Bye.
- Hi. I'm from Bloomers.
I'm just delivering there.
Is Greg Morgan around?
- I'll check. Can I tell him
who's here?
- Yes. Oh!
- Abby, hey. You shouldn't have.
- I didn't.
[laughing]
Do you have time for me?
Uh, may I speak
with you for a moment?
- Of course, yeah. Come on in.
Have a seat.
- Thank you.
- So,
can I get you anything?
- Yes, actually.
I... I need some information
about the Ryan investigation.
- Abby, you know I can't say
anything about that.
- I'm just curious.
Why did Detective Corbison
take his vacation now?
- It was a planned vacation.
With his family. A dead man
isn't going anywhere.
By the way, I did ask Corbison
about that black Escalade.
- And?
- Dead end.
And why didn't you tell me
about the hit-and-run?
Maybe I could've helped you.
- Well, maybe you still can.
[knocking on door]
Yeah, OK. I'm late
for a meeting right now,
but how about we pick this up
over dinner tonight?
- I'm having dinner
with my father tonight,
but how about lunch tomorrow?
- That works. Italian?
- Great.
- Alright, I'll set it up.
- Abby, even if you're right,
this is not worth getting
mixed up in.
I've seen too many
of these cases go south and
drag everyone down with them.
- Dad, if you had seen the look
in Billy's parents' eyes, you
would want to help them too.
- Believe me, 40 years on
the force, I know that look.
You can't bring back their son.
- I know, but then there's
Elvis. They wanna pin it on him!
- Abby, just leave it
to the cops!
Commissioner Vertucci!
- Please, don't get up.
- Commissioner,
how are you, sir?
- Detective Knight, I miss
seeing that mug of yours.
How's retirement?
- Oh, great for the golf game.
You know my daughter Abby? She
moved back, opened up Bloomers.
- Oh, the flower shop!
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice meeting you. Fantastic.
Your shop's getting
a lot of attention in town.
- For the right reasons, I hope.
[laughing]
- Good business
is good for New Chapel.
This strapping young man
here is my nephew Tony.
Just moved here from Chicago,
helping me out on a big job.
- What kind of big job, son?
- CPC. County Paving Project.
- Tony is our crew
supervisor. Good kid.
- I wonder,
what does a young hip crew
supervisor drive these days?
- What does he drive? He drives
me crazy, don't you, Tony?
[laughing]
Anyways,
I'll let you folks
get back to your food.
Abby, it was very nice meeting
you. If I need flowers,
I'll know who to call.
- Why in the world
would you ask Tony Vertucci
what he drives?
- I was just being friendly.
- Oh. Mm-hmm.
- That was the car that hit me,
and that was the guy driving it,
I am almost positive.
- Well, I'm sorry, counselor,
but that's not gonna hold up
in a court of law, I'm afraid.
- Tony Vertucci
has been living and
working with his uncle.
He could've been driving
his SUV that morning.
- OK, remember the DMV
had a second possibility?
Turns out the driver of that
Escalade was Father O'Shea
from St. Cecilia's Church, so...
- Great.
Well, I'm not gonna
stake out a priest.
- Gentlemen, thanks.
Good night.
- I do think that
we should find out
where Tony Vertucci was
the morning my car was hit--
rule him in or out.
- You'd like me to ask around.
- Sure, and maybe my friend
the DA can help.
I'll ask him tomorrow. We're
having a... lunch... date.
- That's great. Just do me
a favor and spare me
the gory details, OK?
- Fair enough.
- Actually, I have a great idea.
Why don't you bring him here?
I can meet him and
tell you if I approve.
- Uh... not on your life.
It could get very romantic.
- Oh, I see.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Elvis?
- Oh...
- How's it going?
- Hi, Abby.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Can I buy you a cup of coffee?
Why are you the lead suspect
in the Billy Ryan murder?
- Lead suspect.
That's rich.
I was camping out in the
basement of the Hampton Arms.
I used to live there,
so I know
all the good hiding places.
Bigmouth landlady saw me leave
the next morning, told the cops.
- Did you know Billy?
- I've done a lot
of bad things, Abby,
but I would never kill anyone.
- Thank you.
- This is nice, Abby.
- Yeah, it is. I love
this restaurant.
Even as a kid, I loved it.
- I...
I meant this. Us.
- OK. Uh, so...
should we pick up
where we left off?
- What do you mean, like
10th grade, me asking
to copy your homework?
- That's hysterical. No.
Um... I meant
the Ryan case.
- You... you really
wanna talk about that?
- Or we could talk about
my case, the hit-and-run.
- OK, um...
What about it?
- I think the cops are
giving us the runaround.
- And by "us",
you mean Marco Salvare,
the bar owner slash
failed private eye?
- Not failed,
just over it. And how do you
know he was helping me?
- I guess I've just got
my finger on the pulse
of New Chapel.
- Oh, well...
I think the cops know more
than they're letting on.
When I mentioned the SUV
to Corbison, he was already
trying to bury the information.
- You told me
he knew nothing about it.
- And you believed him!
- Any reason I shouldn't have?
- I don't know. You're the one
with your finger
on the pulse of New Chapel.
[sigh]
- Look, Abby.
Around here,
the police are the good guys.
- And you should remember
that my dad was a cop,
so I know all about them,
good and bad.
I know it's only
temporary support
but I feel so much better!
- It's a great first step.
- Yes, and Big Dave here sure
got that judge to see
right through Tom's poverty act.
- Once Judge Mead took a look
at those business statements,
even the Terminator didn't
stand a chance.
- Penny!
You may have won this round.
Don't expect to win any others.
- Pleasure doing business
with you too, Tom.
- And you.
You dragged my wife into this,
didn't you?
- No. It was all Penny.
- Really?
Because until she met you, there
wasn't one word about a divorce.
- Don't blame Abby, Tom. Blame
yourself. You made the business
more important than us.
- I don't need you to tell me
how to run my business.
- Fine. You're on
your own now.
- I think it's best to stay out
of other people's lives.
- Well then you should
absolutely do that.
- Let's go, Tom.
There's no need for this.
- Thank you.
You're great!
- You're great! Come on!
[Dean Martin's Swayis playing]
He took one look at my car
and he panicked.
And the jacket
logo matches
the one on the SUV driver!
- Are you sure?
- Yes! As in very,
definitely, yes, I'm sure.
I think...
something strange.
I think
they're connected!
I think my car,
hit by Tony,
Tony running
from the apartment building,
Billy Ryan found dead
in said apartment...
- Hmm. How many reruns
of Columbodid you watch
last night by the way?
- Very funny.
They were
Murder She Wrote.
- Okay! Speaking of Tony,
I actually dug up
a little information on him.
- Do tell.
- Turns out he was charged with
aggravator assault last year
in Chicago. Bar fight,
charges dismissed.
Two years ago,
he was charged with four counts
of illegal gambling,
also dismissed.
- I bet uncle Louis
stepped in somehow.
Tony is bad news.
- You're not gonna'
like this one.
I also heard that he was
at a construction site
in Granville
when your car was hit.
- Hearsay, your honor, and what
about his reaction to my car?
- I don't know. Maybe he, uh,
hates vintage Mercedes.
- The point is,
we need to spy on Tony!
We need to gather
some intel,
maybe even get a photo of him
driving the SUV.
We need a stakeout!
- Abby, don't you think
you're going
a little too far with this?
- Not on the street this time.
And definitely away
from that bully Blasko. Look.
I Google map
Vertucci's house and...
look! We can sneak up
right up to it
from the lot behind.
- You're dangerous,
you know that?
- I'm thinking tomorrow,
late afternoon.
I checked and Tony's shift
ends at 4.
Well? What do you say?
You in?
- I...
- Yes!
Okay! Should we just
leave the car here?
- I don't know. At this point,
I'm just following your lead.
- You're
finally learning.
- Ha! Ha! Yeah.
- Okay!
- What are you doing?
- What do you mean?
- Stop crouching. You're
crouching down like you're
chasing a bear or something.
Just act natural. Calm down.
Alright, do me a favor.
Sit tight and I'll signal you
when it's safe to follow.
- Hey, wait!
- What?
- I thought now you were
all about following me.
- What?
- I'm kidding. Go.
- Oh! Jokes. Okay, good.
- Okay.
- What do you see?
- That's Vertucci's Bentley.
- If we're lucky, Tony's gonna'
be in his uncle's SUV.
We'll catch him
when he gets back here.
- Ah, fingers crossed!
- Okay. Let's go over here.
Oh! There's a car.
- Car?
- There's a car.
What do you see?
- It's an Escalade.
- I know it's an Escalade.
Who's driving?
- It's Tony and Vertucci
in the Escalade.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Hey, buddy! How are you?
Hey, come here. Come here.
Come here, buddy!
What are you doing? Sit. Sit.
- I hate dogs, Abby.
That's a big dog.
- Wait, there's
another car!
- It's Blasko.
- What is he doing here?
- Okay. They're talking.
Vertucci just handed him
an envelope!
With money in it!
- Yup!
- Hurry up!
- You know what, Abby?
We just witnessed a pay-off.
Thank you, perfect timing!
- Hey! Do you think
Vertucci paid Blasko
to cover up the murder?
- Look, let's not get ahead
of ourselves, alright?
All I got is Blasko accepting
cash. Why is anybody's guess.
- Would it kill you
to agree with me?
- I'm agreeing with you!
[loud barking]
- Oh! Oh!
- Come on! Hurry up!
Hurry up!
- I am hurrying!
[groan]
- Mom? You look beat.
Were you up all night watching
a Lojak marathon again?
- It's not Lojak, it's Kojak.
And no, I was just out late...
with a friend.
- Okay. Who's the guy?
- Oh! He's... Alright, look,
he's just a friend, okay?
It just started off
as a business thing.
- [So you're taking
my advice after all?]
[To think about dating again.]
[Mom, are you there?]
- Honey, I'm gonna' have to go.
I'll, uh... I'll call you.
Have a good day.
I love you, sweetheart.
- Police have arrested
Elvis Jones.
Jones, a known transient,
parolee and drug offender
was taken to county jail today
and charged
with second degree murder.
- This is wrong.
Elvis Jones is being framed.
He's an
easy target.
There's gotta' be
more to it!
- Maybe you can get Gorgeous
Greg to spill a thing or two.
Hey!
- Morning, ladies.
- Hey.
- Looks like Elvis is
gonna' be doing
a little jailhouse rock.
- Yeah. What's your take on it?
- I don't know, Abby.
It obviously looks a little
too easy for me.
- Well, I think
Detective Blasko framed him.
- Okay, uh, look.
Just sit tight, okay?
I'll put my fielders
all around town on Blasko
and see what we can find out.
- And I'll, uh...
I'll see what I can drum up
on other things.
- Cool!
- And oh! Marco?
- Yes.
- Um, "sit tight" is second only
to "don't say a word"
on the offensive scale.
- Okay!
Um, I'm gonna' go
and uh,
sit tight
and not say a word.
- Good idea.
- Yeah.
Ciao!
- Ciao!
And one for Abby!
- On the house. Because,
you know, as a proprietor,
you can never can
give away enough free stuff.
- Ha! Ha! Yeah, but think
about how happy it makes people.
- Is it making you happy?
- Well, as a matter of fact,
it is!
- Good!
- Oh! I got another
absurd parking ticket today.
- Abby, I wanted to ask you.
You don't think you're
being harassed, do you?
- Somebody's trying to tell me
something and I don't think it's
"you don't know how to drive".
- Then who is it?
- Well, the tickets started
after I reported
my hit and run,
so maybe it's somebody
who wants me to forget
all about it.
- Well, it could be somebody
who's got some...
pull in local
traffic enforcement.
- Like our
county commissioner.
- Abby, for your sake,
I hope it's not the case.
- That was great!
- Yeah, it was fun!
- Ah! It's so nice to have
a place to go to after work.
- Well, we love having you.
- Thank you.
- Uh, listen, Abby. I was just
wondering if maybe you and I
could, uh, grab dinner sometime.
You know, not connected
to the crime scene
here in New Chapel.
- Oh! Um.
That would be nice!
Let me think about it.
- Okay, yeah. Sure.
No, absolutely. Alright!
Have a good night!
- Thank you.
- What's wrong?
- I don't know. My...
- What's going on?
- My brakes aren't working.
- Okay. Hold on.
Don't move.
- Be careful.
- Okay. Abby,
your brake lines have been cut.
- What?
- Oughta' call 9-1-1.
Hi. Uh, listen. Can I get
a police officer or somebody
to come down here
to Chicago's Bar and Grill?
A friend of mine's car.
Their brake lines have been cut.
- [radio announcer]:
[Elvis Jones was arrested]
[in connection with the murder
of New Chapel resident]
[William Ryan.
He confessed today to killing]
[the 20 year-old
garden nursery worker.]
- No! Wha... No!
Thank you!
- I know, okay. I just heard.
- Do you believe it?
- I don't know what to tell you.
The guy confessed.
That's a huge move, Abby.
- Elvis Stone looked me
right in the eye
and he said that he would never
murder anybody, and guess what?
I believe him!
- Yeah. Did he tell you
he loved you on your
prom night too?
- Oh, you know what?
A] That's mean.
B] I think Louis Vertucci
paid off a cop to extract
that confession to cover up
for Tony's involvement,
and that cop
is Blasko.
- Why would Tony want
to kill Billy Ryan, huh?
- Why would Elvis Jones want to?
And it would not be Vertucci's
first cover-up.
- Come on, Abby! It was a misuse
of public funds and you know it.
That's far from murder!
He was cleared
of those charges.
I did my homework.
- But there is
still precedent,
just like
with Tony's assault charges
and all signs point
to Tony hitting my car
after fleeing
the scene of the murder.
- Abby, Tony's uncle gonna'
get in protection
and there's nothing you and I
can do to change that. Alright?
Just do me a favor: go back
to your fantastic flower shop
and forget about
this whole murder case.
- Fine. Then why don't you
go back to your fantastic
watering hole, and I will
send up a flyer if I need you.
Yikes!
They're everywhere!
- Help you?
- No! No, thanks.
I'm fine.
I'm just
buying a mum.
I love mums!
They may be my favorite flower!
- What does
a florist need with a mum?
- Why does a nursery manager
need a gun?
- Well, you
never know
what crazies might come
into the store.
- Okay! Uh,
on that note,
I'm going
to leave.
And I'm gonna' go pay
for this mum.
- You sure you don't want
a fresher one?
That one looks a little wilted.
- I like this one.
So, how's my favorite lawyer?
- Intrigued.
I just got the articles
of incorporation from
the Sprout Corp.
It seems that Harding also has
a sub-company called Roots Corp
and the CEO is Ed Feinberg.
- Harding's lawyer?
- Hmm-hmm.
- Well, that's convenient.
- Yeah.
- Okay, but why have
a separate business
from his nursery business?
What's he doing? Hiding money?
- Don't know. There's
no indication.
- Have you subpoenaed
the records yet?
- You do realize
it's only 9AM, right?
- Yeah. I'm gonna' go
talk to my plants.
[telephone ringing]
Check in with you later, okay?
- I'll talk to you soon, kiddo.
Dave King.
- I am really
enjoying this, Abby.
I'm glad you said yes. Again.
- Well,
I believe everybody deserves
a second chance.
- Tell that
to my two ex-wives.
- Two? I thought
it was only one!
- Some detective
you are!
- Well, I actually am
a pretty good detective
in my ex-lawyer
turned florist way.
- Really?
- Yeah. Uh...
Go ahead. Ask me about...
the Ryan murder.
- You wanna' talk
about the Ryan murder?
- Yes. Please.
- Please, just be honest
with me. Is this payback
for ignoring you in high school?
Because if you want an apology,
I can do that. I've had therapy.
- This is
not payback.
No apology needed,
but therapy is good.
Okay, look. I know
that Elvis Jones confessed
to the murder,
but did he give a reason why?
- I'm not at liberty to say.
- Oh!
- But, bottom line,
his fingerprints were found
in Billy Ryan's living room.
- And those were the only ones?
- Yeah.
The only ones
that matched any on file.
- Right. Look.
Let's just...
suppose that Elvis
was involved, okay?
What if
I told you...
that he didn't
act alone?
- Well, I'd say
you're nosy,
but I didn't
peg you
as a conspiracy nut.
[throat clearing]
Okay, so, who's
this co-conspirator?
- Tony Vertucci,
the commissioner's nephew.
- Oh, please don't!
- Come on! Listen to me!
Listen to me. My hit and run,
the morning of the murder.
I would bet my shop
that it's Tony.
He supposedly has an alibi.
I don't buy it.
- Uh, please, Abby.
- Fingerprint him!
Fingerprint him
and I guarantee you
that there will be
a match on file.
- Implicate the commissioner's
nephew? You're asking me
to commit career suicide!
- Okay!
- Alright, well,
what if I...
told you that...
I have photos
that prove
that the Vertuccis
were involved?
- Photos? What kind
of photos?
- No! Absolutely not! You can't
just go flashing around pictures
making random accusations
like that, Abby. You know that.
- I also know that right now,
justice is not being served.
- Okay, look. Until we're 110%
convinced of what we saw
[at the Vertucci's,
those pictures are off-limits,
[alright?]
- Well, you should be aware
that I called my insurance agent
and I told her to file the claim
against Vertucci.
- See, Abby, right there.
I mean, you just put your
whole safety at risk.
You know what? I'm done. I don't
know if I can do this anymore.
- Fine.
Bye.
- Bye.
- Thank you
for choosing Bloomers.
- Our first wedding!
And at the country club,
no less!
[squeals of excitement]
- Welcome to Bloomers!
How can I
help you?
- County building inspector.
Do you own the shop?
- Yes, but we had
an inspection
a couple months ago.
- No record of filing. You just
showed up on my schedule.
I'll just have
a look around.
You have some violations.
Unfortunately, I'm gonna'
have to shut you down.
- What kind of violations?
How can this be happening?
This is harassment!
- Lady, I just go
where I'm told.
- That inspector works
for the county,
meaning he works
for the commissioner...
who just decided
to play
his trump card.
- So then, can you afford
to be shut down?
- What do you think?
- Alright, well, that leaves you
two choices,
then, Abby.
One, you drop your insurance
claim against Vertucci
or, two, you call his bluff
and keep going.
- The key is why is it
so important
to Vertucci
that I drop the claim?
- Well, at the very least,
it's a political embarrassment.
A close family member being
charged with a hit and run.
- Right, and at worst,
he's covering up
that his nephew Tony was
involved in a murder.
- Look, Abby. Um...
You can't save the world.
- No, but I can
get an interim stay
and sue the county
for phony building violations.
- You wanted my advice, right?
Okay, here it is.
Call off
the dogs, Abby.
Re-open up
your shop.
- Well, what happened
to that army ranger
who made a career
out of fighting back?
- I guess he figured there were
certain things in life not
worth fighting for.
- Well.
I wish
he thought I was.
- Abby, come on.
- Thank you.
- So, dear daughter,
would you like
to tell me why
there's a "closed for repair"
sign on your shop door
or do I have to guess?
- Well, you could guess or...
I could just
make something up.
- So in the very
few months
you've been
back here,
you're going after Vertucci
for harassment,
your shop
has been closed
for violations
and you're involved
in a murder investigation?
- Dad, I know
that have made a mess
for myself, okay?
But I just...
You know what?
I know
that I'm onto something.
- You're just like
your mother, Abby.
Heart of gold,
spine of steel.
- What did I get
from you?
- Oh, good cops need
to see the bad guys pay.
Tough trade
in this world of ours.
- So give me
your professional opinion, huh?
Doesn't this
all seem suspect?
- Yeah.
It is.
I just want you
to be careful.
- I will.
I promise.
[cellular ringtone]
- What is it, honey?
- Oh! Oh! Nikki.
She's locked out of her house
and her husband's out of town,
and I'm the only one
with a key, so...
- Go! Take care
of your friend.
And I'll order
some disgusting dessert
you wouldn't
let me have.
Don't overdo it!
- You too, sweetheart.
I mean it. Okay?
- [sports announcer]:
And touchdown!
[patrons cheering]
[angry scream]
- Abby! What happened?
- I was out with my dad. I heard
the alarm and came to check.
Oh! Oh!
- We have got
to stop meeting like this.
- What happened?
- Looks like an intruder
forced open
your fire escape door.
Your back area's kind of a mess.
It's hard to tell
if anything
actually was taken.
- It's not exactly a leap
to wonder that whoever
cut her brakes could
have done this, right?
- Not a total leap, no,
but typically,
they are very different crimes.
- Ms. Knight, would there be
anyone looking to retaliate
against you for any reason?
- No. Not offhand.
I mean,
we don't get many
disgruntled customers
if that's what you mean.
- Well, we noticed the "closed
for repair" sign on the door.
Any trouble from that?
- No.
Not at all.
- Gentlemen, we'd like
to actually take some time
and look around, so if we find
that there's anything missing,
we'll be sure
to give you a call, okay?
- Please do. Goodnight, folks.
- Thanks guys.
- I don't know why
I was nervous. I didn't do
anything wrong.
- Of course not, no.
- Oh, what? So this is my fault?
- I didn't say that.
Not directly or anything.
- Okay, well, I happen to know
that it's not Tony Vertucci
because I saw him tonight
at the Elbow Room
and he was sitting at the bar
and he was watching the game
and then, guess what?
He went nuts
when his team lost!
- He went nuts...
- Crazy, smash-a-bottle nuts!
- Because he's a die-hard fan!
Look, he's also a gambler.
He probably took a major hit.
- Really? Or maybe this is
just another one
of Blasko's specials!
- Abby,
how bad do things have to get
before you realize
you gotta' back off
on Commissioner Vertucci, huh?
- If you had just let me
release those photos,
he could have been halfway
to jail right now.
- You are impossible!
- I like the word "committed".
- Good! I'm glad you like that
word, because you should be.
Committed.
Look. Um...
I got a bar to run,
so just...
Goodnight.
- Bye.
- "Elvis Jones dead"?
"In his cell"?
"Preliminary reports say
that Jones died of hanging."
Oh no! No, no!
- Abby! Abby, slow down!
Hey, hey, hey!
Hey, slow down!
What's wrong?
You okay?
- Have you heard?
- No, heard what?
- Elvis is dead.
He hanged himself
in his cell last night.
- Abby, I'm so sorry
to hear that.
I'm sorry.
- He was killed, Marco!
Somebody murdered him.
- Okay, look.
Calm down, alright?
Let's uh... Let's...
Let's just relax
for a second, alright?
- He was a mess,
but he wasn't suicidal.
- How do you know that, Abby?
- Because I talked to him!
He was upbeat.
He was optimistic.
- Well, he could have had
a breakdown too.
- Don't play
devil's advocate with me!
- Alright, alright.
- The guy was murdered.
- Well, I...
I think I'm starting
to agree with you.
- Oh!
Was that
so difficult?
I keep coming back
to Blasko on this.
On most things,
really. I...
What does
that mean?
- I do a little
of my own research on our
good friend Detective Blasko.
I found out
that Gilbert Blaskovich
It turned out he was a cop
in Ohio one time
before he was bounced
on extortion charges.
- And yet he was
still hired here?
- I guess he was
running away from his past
and he reinvented himself, yeah.
- What did he extort?
- Money from a drug dealer.
- Do you think Commissioner
Vertucci's in the drug business?
- I doubt it. It's too sordid.
I mean, he might be involved
in something... or he might
not be involved in anything.
You see, the fact of the matter
is, you and I don't know.
And until we do know, we need to
keep this to ourselves, okay?
Look, Abby.
We're partners,
aren't we?
- Yeah.
- On the plus side, it's giving
us a chance to get reorganized.
- Sweetie.
Thanks, but you don't have
to put a happy face on this.
- What's wrong, Abs?
- Have you seen the yellow mum
that I got from the nursery
the other day?
- Yeah, I put it
in the big fridge. It was
looking a little droopy.
- It's not here anywhere!
[cellular ringtone]
- Well, hello, Dave King!
I hope you're having
a better morning than I am.
- Actually, it's a great morning
for Penny Harding.
Tom Harding, not so much.
- Why? What's going on?
- [I just got the records
from the Roots Corp subpoena.]
Harding is hiding over
8 million bucks in that account.
That's 4 times as much as what
showed in his Sprout Corp.
- Wow, talk about deep roots!
What kind of business is it?
- Well, there's still no info,
but it's definitely lucrative
and secretive.
- That's always a shady mix.
- Exactly. Listen, I'll keep
digging. I'll let you know, OK?
- Alright, I'll catch you later.
- New Chapel authorities have
said today there will be
no investigation
into the apparent suicide
of Elvis Jones.
Jones was in jail for the murder of William Ryan.
- Well, isn't that convenient.
I was hardly cleaned out.
An old laptop, 80 bucks...
Oh, and an ugly mum plant
that I can't even swear
the intruder took.
- Mum? Like chrysanthemum?
- Yeah.
- It's a pretty
common plant, right?
- Yeah, really common, why?
- No reason, except one
was collected from
the Ryan murder scene.
Someone from Tom's Green Thumb
Nursery came to claim it
the other day.
I guess it was
just a coincidence.
- Why would they want
Billy's mum? They already
have a ton of their own.
And wait--you released
murder evidence?
- Not me. One of the
investigators clearly decided
it didn't matter to the case.
Abby, it's a crummy potted
plant. It was half dead.
You alright?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
I just have to get back to the
shop. I'll see you around, Greg.
What if Buzz or Harding or
somebody from the nursery wanted
my mum for the same reason
they wanted Billy's mum?
And why were they bringing
the mums out of the greenhouse
that day instead of in?
What is that? Is that some kind
of reversed delivery process?
- I don't know. Maybe somebody
ordered a whole lot of mums and
they were just picking them up.
- Or maybe there was something
about those off-limit mums
that made them extra special,
you know,
really valuable and worth
robbing or...
killing over. There's only
one way to find out: I'm
gonna storm the greenhouse
and get another one
of those mums. Why
does it have to be mums?
- OK, what is it
with you and mums?
- OK. When Chuck died,
I was a mess. I was depressed,
obviously, but...
you know, people came over
and they hugged and they cried
and they sent flowers,
and there was this one huge
arrangement of mums,
and they were mums,
just wilting mums...
...reminding me that
he was... dead.
- Abby, I'm so sorry--
- So, uh...
I'm good. I'm fine. And...
Do you want to come with me,
be my lookout or something?
- Yeah, of course. What time?
- Now. Let's go now.
- I can't right now.
It's almost lunch rush, I have
to be here. Can I come after?
- Don't worry about it, it's OK.
- You sure?
- I'm gonna go in by myself,
I'll get in, I'll get out.
Just... keep your phone on you,
in case--
- Alright, I will. Good luck.
Orchid bulbs.
"As thousands of new plants
can be reproduced from
a single bulb,
"the rarest or most endangered
of orchids can command
up to $50,000
apiece on the black market."
[banging on door]
[loud banging]
[men talking]
- [911, what's your emergency?]
- I need help. I'm at Bloomers,
on Franklin.
[line cuts]
- Where are you? Come on,
I just wanna talk.
- Put the lights on,
for God's sake. Find them.
- Ohh... What do we
got here, huh?
Come on, get up, get up.
Gimme the phone.
- Take it easy.
Take it easy.
I'm curious.
What part of "stay out of other
people's lives" didn't you
understand?
- What do you want?
- I'm pretty sure you know.
- I saw you leave the nursery
today and you weren't
empty-handed.
- Oh, that mum?
Well, I bought it.
You want a receipt?
- You're about 50 grand short.
- Enough. Where is it?
- It's behind those pots.
- Gimme the word, I'll end it.
- Put that gun away, I don't
want another mess!
- Hey, I told you that kid
jumped me, alright?
It was an accident!
- Shut up, you idiot. Now go
and get the rope in my car, now!
Now!
- So, what?
Buzz killed Billy Ryan, huh?
- What are you talking about?
- Billy found out about your
little orchid scheme and tried
to blow the whistle on you,
blackmail you, so you ordered
Buzz to get rid of him.
- I wouldn't be so quick
to defend Billy Ryan.
He was no boy scout.
- Yeah, what was he into
that you weren't?
- He ran a sweet little
sports betting operation, if you
must know. Very entrepreneurial,
I'll give him that.
- So you weren't the only
illegal businessman in town.
- Get up.
Let's go!
- Ah!
- You alright?
- Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine.
- When I called it went straight
to voicemail, so I thought
I'd come around and make sure
everything was alright.
My hand hurts.
- Your hand hurts?
I just...
- What?
Look at it. Look at it.
- Oh, I can imagine.
- Don't worry about those two.
They ain't going anywhere.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Officer.
Have a good night.
Wow, huh? You OK?
- Yeah. "Wow" is right. Man...
I still cannot figure out
how the police pegged it
on poor Elvis.
- Abby!
- Greg?
What are you doing here?
- Marco texted me.
Told me to get here ASAP.
- What? You two don't even
know each other.
- Actually, we do. As of today.
- Yeah, we talked this morning
and it got me thinking about
the Ryan murder.
Maybe a beat might have been
missed, especially when it
concerns Commissioner Vertucci.
- He came by the bar and
he wanted me to show him
the payoff pictures.
- What happened
to career suicide?
- I figured I could be
as brave as you.
And Marco added Blasko
to the mix
and I confronted him.
He folded and admitted
to harassing you,
the tickets, the dead flowers,
the cutting of the brake lines--
all his handiwork.
- And Elvis' arrest
and confession, ordered
by the commissioner.
- Yeah. He paid Blasko off
for the whole shebang.
- And Elvis' death...
- I suspect Blasko had
a hand in it as well.
But believe me, this part of the
investigation is just starting.
Thanks to you, Abby.
- Abby,
Tony Vertucci did hit your car,
but he didn't kill anyone. He
actually went over to Billy's--
- Tony went to Billy's
to place a sports bet,
saw Billy dead,
got scared and ran.
Harding told me all about
Billy's side job,
so the Tony piece
fits right in.
- Tony's got a huge gambling
debt and his uncle
tried to conceal it.
But with his visit to Billy
and your hit-and-run,
he was afraid that it might
place Tony at the murder scene.
- And it would give Tony
a motive for killing Billy,
whether he did or didn't.
Who wants that before
an auction day?
So does that mean the inspector
was all a part of the
commissioner's plan?
And...
that means that I can
open my shop again?
- Absolutely.
You're back in business.
- Congratulations, Abby.
- Yay!
- Hug?
- Oh...
- For old time's sake.
- OK.
Nikki is going to be jealous.
Alright, let go.
[laughing]
- See you soon.
- Thanks, Greg.
Have a good night, man.
- Alright, you too.
- Wow...
Nice work, partner.
- Well, I couldn't
have done it without you.
As a matter of fact, I wouldn't
have done it without you.
- Me neither.
- You have to promise me
one thing, though.
No more amateur sleuthing, OK?
Please.
- I cannot make a promise
that I can't keep.
- OK, then can you promise
to let me take you
on a proper date?
No stakeouts, no fistfighting,
no fake plant shopping. Please.
It would be nice.
- Now what would the fun
in that be?
[laughing]
Come on.
- You're terrible.
- Alright, I can
promise you something
regarding the date.
- Mm-hmm?
- And I can promise you
it'll be a date.
- Thank you.
Very much.
- Don't you have a bar to run?
- Yeah, I do.
Ciao.
- What are you looking at?
You're not so bad.
[Van Morrison - Into the Mystic]
Closed Captioning by SETTE inc.