Blue Skies (2026) s02e01 Episode Script

Welcome to the Sendoff 300,
a nonstop 300 mile race.
The finest mountain bikers in the world,
pushing themselves to the limit
for 36 hours of elbows out racing.
It's survival of the fittest,
and the fittest are the send-off team,
led by the veteran Declan Payne
and the young but promising Eli Cooper.
I'm Send Off CEO Dana Chuck,
and this is the Sendoff 300.
Remember,
everyone can follow their
favorite racer via GPS on the Sendoff app.
CEO Dana Chalk promised a drama
packed race and so far she has delivered a.
start to day one and already the heated
rivalry between veteran racer
Declan Payne versus rookie star
Eli Cooper has reached a boil as
these two are neck and neck for first place.
There's been drama
off the track as well.
While Payne is rumored to be in a
bitter contract battle
with the sendoff racing team,
the rookie Eli Cooper is rumored to
be signing a very lucrative new one.
Is it out with the
old and in with the new?
Only the finish line holds the end.
you kid?
How are those knees,
old man?
Did you get all that?
I caught it all.
Ping me the location.
I'll meet you there.
Copy.
And by the way,
it should be interesting to
get our old superintendent back.
Should be interesting indeed.
I hear he's a character,
but I'm happy that King got her
promotion and is back home in DC.
I'll see you on site.
You're still doing this thing,
huh?
OK,
we'll move over.
Come on,
boy.
Hey,
Sheriff.
Hey bro.
How is NPS's best detective?
Uh,
what does that make me?
Second best?
I don't know.
Nora and Meeks are pretty good.
Don't know if I'll get
used to calling you sheriff.
Interim sheriff.
It's only temporary until
this Al scandal is dealt with.
I'm just being of service.
Well,
if you need any pointers from
the second best detective at MPS,
let me know.
Um
Hey,
about the
whole turning down the NPS job.
Oh,
I'm just giving you a hard time.
No,
no,
no,
I know.
I just,
um,
I.
Never mind.
Shall we?
What do we have?
The deceased is Eli Cooper,
rising star on Team Sendoff,
really promising racer.
Word is he swerved wide on the turn,
took a tumble.
Initial thinking was that
the fall was the cause of death,
but it's not that big of a hill.
Exactly.
Unlikely,
agreed.
If it happens.
Medical examiner en route.
We're treating this like a crime
scene till they get here and tell us more.
Is there any witnesses?
Between the audience
and the send-off cameras?
Everyone was a witness.
Who was the first on scene?
The medic.
Come here.
Detective Larson,
Nick Sinclair,
race medic.
What can you tell
me about what happened?
Not much.
Got on scene,
assessed his vitals,
but no response.
How common is an accident
like this linked to death?
I'm not going to pretend to know
the ins and outs of mountain biking,
but as we all know,
mountain biking is dangerous.
People get hurt.
Thanks for your help.
We'll let you know if we need anything.
No problem.
I'm here.
I'll race.
OK.
What do we think about
the blue lips and fingers?
It could be
normal discoloration
setting in postmortem.
I don't think he's been
dead long enough for that.
And the hue of blue,
it looks different than
normal postmortem discoloration.
It looks normal to me,
but
I have been told by
multiple people that I am
slightly colorblind.
That black eye looks too
old to be caused by the fall.
I'm starting to think
this wasn't a simple accident.
We need to start talking to people.
Lauren and I will stay with
the body till he's picked up.
Sheriff,
care to knock on some doors with me?
After you,
detective.
Still feels crazy
hearing Ryan get called sheriff.
You think it's weird to hear.
It's even stranger to say.
Where is he,
ma'am?
Excuse me,
this is an active investigation.
We can't let you go in there.
I'm the person
putting on this entire event.
I'm sorry,
and you are
Dana Chuck,
sendoff CEO.
I heard what happened.
That's not just some racer who died.
He's one of mine.
You might want to
consider shutting down the race.
This race is
important to so many people.
I'm not ending it just
because of an accident.
No matter how tragic the accident was,
we need some time to
figure a few things out.
Anyone you know who may
have a bone to pick with Eli?
Let's start with Chad,
his trainer,
former trainer.
Eli fired him this morning.
Is Chad here?
I couldn't tell you.
If you haven't noticed,
I have a lot going on.
Do you know where Chad is staying?
Superintendent Fujihara Tyson.
Sorry,
I mean Clive.
Much better.
Well,
Well,
I retired a few years ago,
and here you've got
yourself a whole high-tech setup.
NPS has come a long way.
You should meet Betty.
Don't tell me we
have robot detectives now.
I wish.
No.
Betty's my drone.
I look forward to meeting Betty.
I'll be in my office.
Yes sir.
Any idea where to start?
Let's start there.
Hey,
boy.
I
Chad.
Yeah,
I think Blue here picked
up your scent from Eli Cooper.
I don't want to talk
about you like Cooper right now.
Actually,
let's talk about Eli,
even now that he's dead.
How did Eli get the black eye?
Did you give it to him?
What makes you think it's me?
We spoke to Dana Chalk.
Dana Chalk.
Don't listen to a word that
comes out of that woman's mouth.
She's a liar and a scammer.
What makes you say that?
For starters,
she owes Eli a ton of money,
and I know she doesn't have it.
How do you know she
doesn't have the money?
Because she keeps putting it off.
She's got an excuse for everything.
Did you give Eli the black eye?
I thought I already
answered that question.
You didn't
I didn't give him a black eye.
Thanks everyone
for coming.
I just want to say that uh
we're not here because we lost someone.
We're here because we love someone.
We all have grief.
But this is a place where we can
gather and find support from our neighbors.
This is a place for hope.
Remember,
grief
doesn't get any smaller.
We just,
we grow around it.
Welcome.
And I think that there's
something beautiful about that.
That's what we're here to learn.
Thank you.
Sorry.
That was the ME.
He agreed that the
discoloration was odd upon first glance.
That was quick.
It's preliminary,
but the color isn't typical cyanosis.
It looks more cherry than it should be,
which actually points to poison.
Poison?
So this could be murder,
potentially,
yeah.
Esposito,
do you copy?
What you got?
We just heard from the medical examiner.
It looks like foul play.
Ms.
I'm thinking we get a court
order and shut the race down.
Uh,
Dana Chalk won't like that.
Shutting down the
race means everyone leaves.
Everyone leaves means no suspects.
Good thinking,
Meeks.
Who knew?
I have my moments.
Ryan and I are going
to talk to Dana again.
Apparently she owed
Eli quite a bit of money.
All right,
I'll head back to HQ.
If you guys come
across any famous racers.
Grab me an autograph.
You know,
For my niece.
The sendoff 300 continues its grind.
Fans worldwide are shocked
and saddened over the reports
of the tragic death of
rookie star Eli Cooper.
Tributes are pouring in
from all over the globe,
and we want to express our thoughts
and prayers to Eli's friends and family.
As of now,
Dana Chalk has made
no official comment and
has been absent from
our race headquarters.
Meanwhile,
veteran racer Declan Payne,
who was within feet of
Cooper when tragedy struck,
is clocking his best time
ever and is leading the pack.
Hey,
about this morning.
What about it?
It seemed like you
had something else to say.
When?
Oh,
right.
Yeah,
you know what,
it's fine.
I'm good.
With me,
Blue.
To what do I owe the pleasure,
officers?
We wanted to ask you about
the money you owe to Eli Cooper.
I have many employees I owe money to,
and I always pay.
We're not talking about
a regular paycheck here.
Let me guess,
Chad Michaelis.
The big mouth spoke poorly of me.
Miss Chok,
did you owe Eli money?
Yes,
but I'm good for it.
It really wasn't an issue.
I don't want to be an alarmist,
Ms.
Chok,
but we have a dead
body and evidence of poison.
Poison.
Eli fell.
Both things seem to be true.
It's hard to look
past the fact that you seem
to have something to gain
financially from Eli being gone.
Why would I possibly want
my upcoming star athlete dead?
Eli Cooper is my
most valuable investment.
And Declan is being cut
from the team after this season.
We're putting all of our
proverbial eggs in Eli's basket.
Mo
Does Declan know that his
contract's being terminated?
Of course he does.
How'd he take it?
Not
well.
So he's going to fire me over text
like a coward after all these years?
Tyson found a social media
video showing Chad punching Eli.
He definitely caused the black eye.
Can you have Tyson send me the video
and see if Nora can pay Chad a visit on it.
What do we got?
Preliminary toxicity test came
back positive for tetrahydrazole.
Is that the official cause of death?
Yeah,
but you know anything
about tetrahydrazoline?
No,
it's commonly found in eye drops.
Eye drops.
How much of this stuff
does it take to be lethal?
According to the ME,
not much,
and it works fast.
Tyson,
I need help locating a vehicle.
Beige sprinter van
with the plate XGP 352.
Should belong to a Chad Michaelis.
On it.
What you looking for,
kid?
I'm looking for a base burner
van that skipped town in a hurry.
Highway 18 headed east.
Why Highway 18?
Highway 18 is the
quickest route to the interstate.
Clive is good.
I'll find him.
You go.
Got it.
Thanks for coming.
Hope to see you again soon.
Thank you for sharing today.
Anything yet?
The last camera had
him turning south off 18.
You should be close.
Got eyes on Chad's van.
Leaving in a hurry?
I didn't do anything.
Lying to a detective
isn't exactly nothing.
What are you talking about?
Remember saying you didn't
give Eli Cooper a black eye?
We found a video.
You have quite the right hook.
Fine,
I punched Eli.
But the truth is I don't blame him.
It was Dana.
She's the one who made him sack me.
Uh-huh.
And remind me again
why you were fleeing.
I was scared.
Scared.
You're a big guy.
What are you scared of?
I got a threat.
They left it on my window.
Clearly it was Dana.
She's the type of woman that
threatens once and strikes second.
Don't suppose you
still have this threat,
do you?
No.
Do I have consent
to search your vehicle?
I can't believe Dana's
cutting deck with paint.
Dude's a mountain biking god.
I've been looking
through some web forms.
It seems our mountain biking
god isn't without controversy.
He's been accused of cheating and
tampering with opponent's equipment.
I said mountain biking god,
not a good person.
He's been penalized for this.
He's also been arrested for
drunk and disorderly conduct.
The toxicology
report says that the poison
found in Eli's system
is called tetrahydrazole.
It's most commonly used in eye drops.
Jody and I can talk to Declan.
Seems like a good next person to try.
I just need a ride to my truck.
Keep me in the loop.
Let me know if you need anything.
Thanks,
Tyson.
Mixed?
Where did Meek's go?
Let's check out what our
friend Chad has in his van.
That
is a lot of eyedrops.
So
Eye drops.
You got a pretty big bag of them.
Care to tell me why?
Right.
I don't understand.
You don't understand why I'm asking
about your gigantic bag of eye drops,
or
you don't understand why you have them.
They're just eye drops.
It's common for trainers to
carry them in that quantity,
especially in dry climates.
Look,
my job as a trainer is to make sure my
athletes have what they need at any given moment.
I have a bunch of protein bars too.
You're gonna arrest me for that?
Last I checked,
protein bars don't have
tetrahydrazoline in them.
What is that?
It's the poison we found in Eli Cooper.
I'll give you one guess what
tetrahydrazole is most commonly found in.
Want a hint?
You had a whole bag of them in your van.
Now
that's interesting.
That stay hydrated.
If you need any more gauze,
you let me know.
Oh,
no,
man,
I'm good,
Mr.
Payne.
I don't have time to chat.
I got 2 more hours of race time to
get in before I take my real break.
We're sorry to hear about your teammate.
Yeah.
Shame.
You don't seem very upset about it.
Yeah,
I put in the race.
You know,
we're athletes.
We're gonna win this thing for Eli,
you'd do the same thing for me.
We heard your contract was
being terminated after this season,
more specifically
terminated to promote Eli.
It's a tough sport.
Anything else
for now?
No.
Didn't want to talk to us too much.
No,
he did not.
We're going to have a tough
time getting that guy to cooperate.
Back to HQ.
So I did some digging
into Dana Chalk when I got
a call back from her
insurance company about the incident.
It looks like she recently
took out a policy on Eli Cooper.
How much is coming her way?
4.5 million.
That's a big payday now that Eli's dead.
I just don't think that
we have enough to hold him.
Yeah,
I spoke to Chad.
He's been told he can't leave
the area for the 2nd time now.
We don't have enough to hold him,
not as of yet,
but trust me,
I'm looking.
I just got off the phone with Ryan.
Looks like Dana recently took out a
life insurance policy on Eli Cooper.
She's got over 4 million coming her way.
That's quite the price tag.
Dude's worth more
dead than alive to Dana.
Has anyone seen blue?
What
Ah.
Ah,
I like the new officer.
It smells kind of funny.
Doesn't know his own strength,
do you,
boy?
Uh,
Clive,
Fujihara.
If you want to stay on my good side,
you'll call me Clive.
Larson.
It's a
pleasure to meet you,
sir.
I mean,
Clive.
The group speaks highly of you,
Larson.
Then again,
I've seen the people
Meeks hangs out with.
Good to have you back,
Clive.
Nora.
Well,
let's put all the cards on the table,
shall we?
Walk me through this case.
We have death caused by poison
and multiple suspects with motives.
A lot of questions
and not a ton of answers.
What do we know
about this poison so far?
The amount used and the type,
that's it so far.
I'll dig into it,
see how long it takes for
the poison to take effect.
Any theories on how the
poison would be administered?
According to the ME,
there was no sign of
injection on the body,
probably not through the eyes,
since that's its intended use.
He had to drink it.
The water bottles,
right?
That would be the easiest
way to administer the poison.
Let's wait until morning.
But sir,
Clive,
the longer we leave
the bottle out there,
the slimmer the
chances of us finding it.
Hear me out
right now,
all these,
uh,
what's it,
water bottles send off,
same thing.
They're scattered all over the park,
but as we speak,
the trash is being collected.
I'll send a ranger to pick up the bins,
have them here by morning.
Instead of scouring the park,
let's just dig
through a few bags of trash.
Agreed,
agreed,
agreed.
Let's call it a day.
There's still more to be done tonight.
No off button,
huh?
Famously,
no.
Come on,
Larson,
I know you know
murder's unsolved in a day.
Rest on it.
Tomorrow we start fresh.
Meeks,
you're on trash duty.
Can I at least use Blue to help?
It's up to Blue.
Look at you asking for Blue's help.
Dogs love trash.
Listen,
I just want to say
I'm happy to be back.
I expect the best from all of you.
Especially you.
And you should
expect the same from me.
Just
Not before 9.
Come on,
Blue.
Looks like we have a visitor.
So what was the turnout like today?
Couple of newbies.
You're doing such a good thing,
Dad.
People need things like this.
They need a community leader.
Community leader.
And
that was always more
your mother's domain.
Well,
maybe the torch has been passed on.
So,
how goes working with
the rugged new sheriff?
Must be nice.
Rugged,
huh?
You don't think so?
I like working with him.
Ryan's good at what he does.
So,
I know I keep saying that I'll
make it to one of your meetings.
It's just with work I get it.
It's not one thing,
it's another.
Exactly.
Heard a little
something about the bike incident
at the race today.
You know how these things go.
Lots of questions,
not a lot of answers.
Well,
at least NPS has their
best and brightest on it.
I was actually talking about Blue.
That's twice in one day.
You keep upstaging me,
you'll be sitting in the back room now.
Yeah,
hey,
hey,
if there's any updates on the case,
just let me know,
cause I'm just heading back right now.
I'll be in the office all week.
Yeah,
still reapers.
The steel reapers.
Welcome to the final
day of the sendoff 300.
Fans are still reeling from the
shocking death of rookie racer Eli Cooper,
and without him in
the final day of the race,
sendoff 300 fans have very little doubt
that veteran racer Declan
Payne may coast to another victory.
Sendoff CEO Dana Chalk has
still made no official comments.
The NPS detectives have
simply stated that the investigation
into Eli Cooper's death
remains open and ongoing.
Huh?
Here goes nothing.
Search
Do you think?
Search.
Is this because I said you love trash?
Up to 15 minutes,
right?
That's how long it takes
for the poison to take effect.
Now that I have access
to all the send-off footage,
hopefully I can find the moment
when Eli drinks from the bottle.
And what happens to
the bottle afterwards?
Exactly.
OK,
got it.
Wait,
there's no bottle on Eli.
Scroll back.
Pause.
Eli had the bottle before
the fall,
which means
it must have come off the
bike when he went off course.
Larson,
I think your dog is broken.
Let me guess,
he didn't search when you wanted him to.
Yeah,
how'd you know?
Because the bottle we're
looking for is still in the park.
The steel reapers.
Cam Bergdorf.
Hey Sheriff.
Hey,
hey,
I need a favor.
Can you pull up some information on
Forensic Files case number SD 202500338?
Happy to.
Sheriff's department
doesn't have their own whiz kid,
not since the shake-up
and budget cuts,
so
you're the only whiz kid I got.
I'm on site.
I'll see if Blu can find the bottle.
See what you can find.
Search.
You've got mail.
You folks get my email?
Now all we need is for the missing
bottle to have Dana's prints on it.
Let's solve some crime,
people.
Boy,
Blue found the bottle.
Blue strikes again.
Bring in the water bottle,
but first swing by
and pick up Dana chalk.
What's happened with Dana?
We have a video of her handing
Eli a send-off bottle before the race.
She's officially suspect.
Copy that.
Come on,
boys.
Oh,
Hello.
Francine Hill.
Bill
Larson.
Well,
Bella,
I just figured,
if we're going to be lunching in the same
place and we're in the same support group.
We might as well sit together.
Please.
Thank you.
I told you for the
umpteenth time I have nothing to hide.
$4.5 million is a lot of money.
Depends.
How about on an
insurance policy and an athlete?
Taking out insurance policies on
athletes is a normal practice in my business.
I need to protect my investment.
You know,
a lot of people
are telling me that things are normal,
that actually end up being
directly connected to a murder case.
Like this photo of you handing a
sendoff water bottle to Eli Cooper.
So what?
It's a water bottle.
Not when Eli was poisoned by
drinking from a send-off bottle,
it's not.
You could also tell us about the
threatening note you left for Chad.
I don't know anything about that.
She's gonna ask for a lawyer.
And
the last thing this lady
wants is to look more guilty.
I'll bet you 5 then.
Deal.
I want a lawyer.
Yeah,
but
You got a minute?
Now that Dana is lawyering up,
yeah,
what's up?
Well,
if I know you,
nothing cheers you up more than
finding out new information on a case.
I think Declan gave
Eli the water bottle.
And if this is the
bottle containing the poison,
then Eli should go off
course in about 15 minutes.
One step ahead of you,
I stitched together a timeline.
Should be right around.
Pam,
15 minute mark.
This
confirms that the bottle
was given to Eli by Declan Pang.
Great work.
Declan's credit whereabouts?
There,
he's in the
designated Sector 7 rest area.
Meeks,
check if Ryan has the
fingerprint results from forensics.
Where are you off to?
Jacquelinen owes me some answers.
Blue,
let's go.
You got 1/6 sense or something?
I was about to call you.
I wish
Jody told me to give you a ring.
Got those forensic results for me.
The bottle Blue found tested positive
for tetrahydrazole and 3 sets of prints.
31 belonged to Eli Cooper.
One was Declan Paynes,
which we pulled from a prior arrest,
and the third set is a mystery.
No match on that yet.
It can never just be easy,
can it?
Preaching to the choir.
Declan,
Could I borrow you a minute?
You have 30 seconds.
Do you remember handing Eli
Cooper a bottle of sendoff water?
I have no idea.
If you say that I did,
then I did.
Sharing water isn't a crime.
sharing water isn't a crime,
but giving someone
water containing poison is.
Right now the
investigation is looking at you.
Let me ask you something.
Do you have enough to arrest me?
I'll see you after I win.
Keep an eye on Declan's tracker
and deploy some rangers here as well.
I'm coming back in.
Man,
I'd be bummed to find
out Declan Payne is a killer.
This is why they say
never meet your heroes.
He could still be innocent
until proven guilty.
All right,
walk me through what happened.
I arrived on site.
I spotted Declan after
talking to Nick Sinclair.
Declan was immediately combative.
Wait,
the medic's name is Nick Sinclair?
Yeah,
why?
That's how I know him.
Nick Sinclair used to be a pretty
big mountain biker back in the day.
It's been a few years,
he got injured.
It's hard to remember the details,
but
He never raced again.
Mountain biker Nick Sinclair
suffers career-ending injury.
Investigation underway.
He lied.
Nick told me he didn't
know anything about biking.
Why would he do that?
Was there anyone else
involved in the incident,
Declan Payne.
Tyson,
scroll the footage back to
Declan at the last water station.
There,
zoom in on that frame.
I bet the 3rd set of
fingerprints would be Sinclair's.
Eli Cooper was never the target.
Declan handed his bottle to Eli,
which means Declan was the target,
and Declan's still out there.
And so is Nick.
We need to go
now.
You guys take the quad in case
he goes somewhere the truck can't.
I'll get Betty airborne.
Come on,
buddy.
Do we have Declan's location?
Yeah,
we've got him on the track raft.
He's coming around the bend soon.
OK,
when he reaches you,
stop him and I'll get Nick.
Copy.
Bernard,
do you copy?
I got eyes in the sky.
Declan's coming around the bend now.
Not let Declan drink the water.
Nick Sin Clair,
you're under arrest for
the murder of Eli Cooper.
What are you doing?
Get out of my way.
She just saved your life.
Got to Declan before he took a sip.
Just before,
as close as it gets.
I'm willing to bet forensics will
find tetrahydrazoline in that bottle too.
Man,
this one was a whirlwind from the jump.
So Declan was the target all along.
How did we miss it?
So Eli Cooper,
he was killed by drinking a
chemical administered via a water bottle.
We spent so much time
trying to figure out where
the poison came from
and who handed it off,
but
the poison wasn't meant for Eli.
It was meant for Declan's Payne.
I'm not going to pretend to know
the ins and outs of mountain biking.
The second I said
Nick's full name to Meeks,
he remembered how he knew him.
Meek's remembering him was the key,
and Nick was caught in a lie.
Declan ruined Nick's biking career.
Nick had a plan to take revenge.
Eye drops and water is undetectable,
till it's too late.
He just didn't account for
Declan giving his water to Eli.
So what you're saying is,
since I recognize Nick as the key,
technically I solved the crime.
This guy.
Yeah.
These fries are
great.
Oh,
I don't know how you guys eat like that.
I'm including Blue in you guys,
by the way.
I don't know how you can run around
chasing bad guys all day and end it with a salad.
It's because Meeks has a
limited amount of actual running.
Well,
you see,
when you run fast,
you don't have to run far.
That mixed with my
extremely healthy diet,
I'm at the peak of human performance.
Mm hmm,
right,
smell that.
Um-hum,
smells good,
right?
All right,
give this to.
Uh,
Sheriff.
That still sounds weird.
Got the forensic report you wanted?
Pretty interesting read.
The rounds pulled from Cam
Bergdorf were 55 A1 EPR rounds.
That sounds
fancy for a biker gang.
Check out the other page.
The weapons these rounds come
from are inaccessible to the public.
Correct.
All the bullets and
guns come from one source.
US military.
What are the steel reapers
doing with military grade weapons?
Whatever.
And then back to
Chicago for a little bit.
So,
I've been here and there myself.
But at the end of the day,
I just
found that here.
It's better.
Ah,
same.
Well,
it took my wife pushing for it,
you know.
She really loved it here.
Took me a little bit longer.
You can't beat the fuse.
And it's a plus that
my daughter lives in town.
The man of mystery has a daughter.
I do.
We are peeling back layers.
Her name's Jodi.
And
And
Something tells me that I need to
be the one to dig for answers with you.
Well,
you know,
we've been here a while.
I don't want to keep you any longer.
Yeah,
I'm,
I'm good here,
if you are.
He's good.
Where do I start?
Start at the beginning.
OK.
Hello.
Hey Sheriff.
Fully loaded fries.
I didn't know Meeks was buying tonight.
for sharing.
Yeah.
Detective,
I'd like to report a crime.
What are you doing here?
How are you even here right now?
When did you get here?
You're only just finding me?
Hey,
hey,
how about we take a breath
and then you can ask me anything.
Guys,
guys,
I want to introduce you to one of
the most important people in my life.
We served overseas together.
Everyone,
this is Ernie Estevez.
Ernie,
tell us everything.
Who are you?
From the start,
from the start.