FBI: Most Wanted (2020) s04e08 Episode Script
Appeal
1
You good?
Just getting my 10,000 steps in.
Pete, relax. It's gonna go our way.
You said yourself, this case is a lock.
That was before they started
day two of deliberations.
You both know,
the longer the jury's out,
the less likely it is that
We have a verdict?
I had that jury eating
out of the palm of my hand.
Cheers.
But listen, this was a team effort,
which is why my illustrious second chair
gets the first break.
Aw, so I can kick your ass again?
Please. You got lucky last time.
Y'all really are lawyers
through and through.
Gluttons for punishment.
Come on.
Johnnie, slow down.
Walk faster.
This is fast as I go in heels.
Hi.
Uncomfortable workplace.
We're not at work, Johnnie.
Very true.
Hey, Kat.
Your way is definitely not faster.
No, wait, look.
The subway steps are
on this side of the street,
so now you don't have
to wait for the light.
- Okay.
- I have rights!
- I will get a lawyer!
- Great.
Maybe she knows mine.
What the hell is this?
Just some regular
Tuesday drama in New York.
Dude, don't get involved.
Me and my son. I don't have the money!
Get me the money,
and everything will be fine.
- Hey, hey!
- I don't have it!
Is this guy bothering you?
This guy is her landlord, all right?
He is a slumlord,
raising our rent by $2,000.
My son and I have been model
tenants for four years,
and out of nowhere
Can you pay the money or not?
I told you, I don't have it!
OK, so I show the apartment then.
To Barbie and Ken?
Like hell you are.
I still got five days left on my lease.
- I don't care
- Hey, hey, hey.
Let's just all take
a deep breath right now.
Stay out of this, all right, buddy?
- Or I'll call the cops.
- Call the damn cops.
Ray!
It's Remy. We got to go.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Give me the money or go.
How many times do I have
to tell you, I don't have it.
Then get your kid and get out!
Don't get too comfortable.
Jet's gassing up as we speak.
Ooh, Saint-Tropez?
Forrest City, Arkansas.
An entire district attorney's office
was assassinated last night.
That's a big crime for a tiny town.
What happened,
overwhelmed sheriff's office
call in overwhelmed Little Rock SSA?
Who called Isabel, who called me.
PD sent these over. They need help.
Well, I can see why.
Were these taken on a flip phone?
Shooting happened outside a bar.
Owner says he heard gunfire
just after 3:00 a.m., around closing.
- Any witnesses?
- You're looking at 'em.
Looks like they were
all shot multiple times.
Yeah. Look at the bodies.
Clearly not a pro.
Carnage suggests rage, meaning that this
wasn't some random drive-by.
Our unsub was targeting these lawyers.
Three prosecutors.
Is that the entirety
of the county's DA office?
Nearly. Katherine Sloane,
age 26, Peter Hill, age 29,
Johnnie Mow, age 28,
and then there's the district
attorney himself, Skip Hardy.
He survived?
He wasn't there in the first place.
- Where was he?
- I don't know.
You and I are gonna go ask him.
Everyone else,
I want boots on the ground
for whatever you can find, witnesses,
surveillance footage, victim profiles.
We need to find this unsub
before he takes someone else out.
Let's roll.
I have to ask,
why weren't you with them last night?
I don't drink.
I usually leave the victory
celebrations to my deputies.
I feel terrible.
I should have been there with them.
Where were you?
I was at my Bible study last night.
A big group of us, including the mayor.
We'll need a list of names to confirm.
I apologize. We have to be thorough.
Yeah, I get it. I've tried the cases.
Mom and kids murdered
while Dad's on vacation.
Chances are, Dad's your guy.
Is that how you thought
about your office?
Like family?
My deputies,
they called me their work dad.
Those kids were smart,
driven, relentless.
I may have been their boss,
but they were the ones teaching me.
Did any of them have
any enemies that you know of?
Hundreds.
Your job is to get the bad guys,
you run the risk of the bad
guys getting you back.
I reckon you both know what that's like.
So you think this is revenge
from an aggrieved defendant?
Forrest City may be a small town,
but we're the St. Francis County seat.
We try everything from arson
to aggravated theft
to first-degree murder.
And these are from the last five years,
all violent offenders, all with
axes to grind against my office.
Bastard's got to be in here.
Our team will help you with these.
Thank you.
Was that Remy?
Yeah, they confirmed the DA's alibi.
He's cleared.
Well, I hope you brought your popcorn.
Oh, yeah? What are we watching?
Hana versus Betamax.
Yeah, mock the millennial,
not the genius
who decided to install
an analog CCTV system.
OK, finally.
No, from this angle, we can kiss
any hope of facial rec goodbye.
Play it again.
So that's Johnnie,
and there's Kat and Pete.
Looks like they were
more than just coworkers.
See how fast she turns around?
It takes Pete and Johnnie at
least five seconds to turn and follow.
Driver must have called Kat's name.
Our unsub knew her.
OK, so the DA's office
wasn't the target.
It was Kat.
So let's pull all her phone calls,
emails, texts, both work and personal.
Did she have family in the area?
Yeah, her parents
live five minutes away.
I'll let Remy know.
The only thing Katherine ever
wanted to be was a lawyer.
She was so smart, so fierce.
We were so proud.
I just I can't believe
this is happening.
Arranging your own child's funeral.
We are so sorry.
No family should ever have
to go through this.
Can you tell us
about your daughter's work?
Kat was on the judge track.
Her first year with the DA's office,
and she still hadn't lost a case.
During that time,
did she receive any threats,
mysterious phone calls,
suspicious cars on the street?
I don't think so, but I don't know.
She spent most nights at her
boyfriend's up in Caldwell.
We'll talk to Pete Hill's family.
Kat's coworker?
That's not who she was dating.
Her boyfriend's name is Eli Dorflinger.
Mm-hmm.
Blood.
FBI! Drop the knife, Eli.
Come out slowly.
Get down on the ground.
Keep your hands where I can see 'em.
- Do you have any weapons on you?
- No.
I was just cleaning this guy.
It's a kindness, really.
Wild hogs wreak havoc on the ecosystem.
OK, get up. Get up.
You're FBI.
What's going on?
We need to know
where you were last night.
On my way to a duck blind.
Hunting in the middle of the night?
Hardy's almost three hours away.
I had to wake up early
to make it before sunrise.
Please, what's going on?
Eli, I'm sorry to tell you
that Kat Sloane was murdered last night.
She what?
We understand the two of you
were in a relationship.
We were together almost four years.
I don't understand.
- How did this happen?
- Well, you tell us.
You must have been pretty pissed
when you found out
about her and Pete Hill,
maybe enough to grab one
of your rifles and
Wait.
Kat was cheating on me?
- Lunch with a client?
- Something like that.
I hope you're billing
those hours, partner.
Always, man.
Hey, Scott.
You're late. You have my money?
Yep, and a little something extra.
Let's take a drive, amigo.
Get in.
We can cross Kat's boyfriend,
Eli, off our list of suspects.
He was freezing his ass off
in the woods all night
in a hunting blind.
How's it going with the DA's files?
It's a slog.
If I have to read one more case
about the illegal distribution
of moonshine, I'm gonna barf.
The sheriff cleared every
single person in this county
with an arrest warrant.
So we're nowhere on suspects
unless Hana has
any luck with the tip line.
I got something on the tip line.
We got to take this act on the road.
An anonymous caller overheard, quote,
"two Latino gang-looking guys"
boasting about the murder
of the guys
that put their boss in prison.
- Caller didn't leave a name?
- Probably too scared.
Especially if these guys
look like gangbangers.
When did the call come in?
About 30 minutes ago
from Hal's Sanitary Diner.
Mmm, sounds yummy. Close by?
Everything here is close.
Agent Scott, FBI.
We'd like to ask you a few questions.
About?
Three county prosecutors
were murdered last night.
I know. Everybody's talking about it.
But I didn't know them, and I don't
know anything about what happened.
Got a call about two potential suspects
who were eating here about an hour ago.
I don't want any trouble.
We're not trying to get you in trouble.
- We just want to talk.
- Hey, Millie.
Is that four-top available?
Yeah, I just bussed it.
It's not polite to talk
business on an empty stomach.
- Mind if we sit?
- Sure.
All right.
Mm. Ah, thank you.
Oh, biscuits and gravy.
Now, these two aren't fans,
but I believe that's
because they haven't had them
the right way, hm?
With a little kick.
Hal makes ours with jalapeños and Rotel.
See, now, that sounds delicious.
Three orders, please.
- Anything else?
- Coffee.
- I'm good.
- I'm good, thanks.
Why are we wasting time on this, man?
Man, it's not about
the biscuits, all right?
It's about the gravy,
metaphorically speaking.
I'm not following.
You got to take it easy
with these folks down here, OK?
You can't just go barging thank you.
Appreciate it.
One second.
While we got you,
these two men that we got a tip about,
Latino men, the caller said
they might've been
gang members or something.
Yeah, I waited on them.
They sat over there,
ordered two three-plus-threes,
paid cash, and left.
You happen to hear
what they were talking about?
No, I was real busy.
But they weren't from
around here, I don't think.
Never seen them before.
What did they look like?
Regular. Kind of big.
- Definitely Hispanic.
- Mm-hmm.
One of them had a tattoo.
I remember that.
Perfect. You know what that looked like?
Sort of like a snake thing
wrapped around a number?
Here. Give me that napkin.
Probably easier just to draw it.
Just saying, a little
Southern charm goes a long way.
Yeah, you're a regular Andy Griffith.
Which makes you Barney Fife.
- Or Aunt Bee if she was younger.
- Rude.
Let me see that drawing she made.
This tattoo looks like a gang call sign.
I'm gonna see if Kristin
knows anything about it.
- What's up with you?
- Nothing.
I've just been thinking
about that argument
we saw this morning.
- The mom and the landlord?
- Yeah.
Landlords like that piss me off.
They're predators, raising
the rent just because they can.
Look, he's taking advantage of
a hardworking mom and her kid.
And by hardworking,
you mean attractive, right?
The two aren't
mutually exclusive, all right?
He's a bully,
and what he's doing is wrong.
So if I stand by
and just watch it happen,
what does that make me?
You want dirt on him?
Now, we both know
that's a bureau violation.
Not from the secure database,
just some open-source
reporting, old-school hacking.
Why do you think the FBI
recruited me in the first place?
The guys our tipster overheard
were members of the 7th Street Serpents.
It's a gang out of West Memphis.
Luis Trevino, king
of the 7th Street Serpents,
convicted last month on charges
of federal racketeering.
I combed the DA files.
There's no mention of a Luis Trevino
or anyone from the 7th Street Serpents.
That's because it was a federal case.
Here's a quote from a press
conference last Thursday.
"Federal officials would like to thank
"St. Francis County DA's office
for their ongoing role
in the investigation."
So our prosecutors'
investigative efforts
helped put Luis away.
And thanks to the public
shout-out, he knew.
It sounds like a motive to me.
Luis is awaiting trial
at FDC here in Forrest City.
He's been there since he got indicted.
So if he did order a hit
on our prosecutors,
it would have had to come from a phone.
How? All the calls are monitored.
Not the ones from his lawyers.
So you're thinking Luis used
his attorney to order the hit.
If he did, that's a crime.
Conversation's not protected.
Call Kristin and Barnes.
Tell them to get a warrant.
Head over to the detention center.
See if there's anything
on their recordings.
Last call Luis made
to his lawyer was yesterday.
So the morning of the shooting.
The hell's the holdup
with my appeal, man?
- That's Luis.
- You're kidding me, right?
That's his attorney, Scott Thomas.
I already told you, I'm not filing
another piece of paperwork
until I get paid.
I don't work for free, Luis.
All right. All right, chill.
Get my brother-in-law on the line.
Have they run this
three-way call game before?
I don't know,
I couldn't listen to any
attorney-client recordings
before y'all came with your warrant.
You see this in cartel cases a lot.
Represent your client by day,
run their drug business
from prison by night.
- ¿Bueno?
- Hermano.
My lawyer wants to get paid.
Tell him to take a number.
No, we should pay him.
And, Javi, give him
a little something extra.
- He earned it.
- Earned it?
- He lost Luis' trial.
- No, this is a hit.
Luis isn't telling Javier
to pay his lawyer.
He's telling him to kill him.
Probably arranged
the DA murders the same way.
Luis orders, Javier executes.
That's right.
You know this brother-in-law?
Yeah. He's been in here to see Luis.
Should have his info
in the visitor logs.
Javier Perez.
He lives in Madison.
FBI!
I'll go around the side.
FBI! Freeze!
Guys, in here.
That's him.
- That's Luis' attorney.
- Quiet and quick.
Get a coroner down here.
I'm gonna call the DA,
tell him we got the douchebag
who killed his people.
Thank you for your help, Prosecutor.
Hi, this is Dale Torres
at Hawkins and Associates Law Firm.
Sorry I can't take your call right now.
Leave your name and number,
and I'll call you back.
Mr. Torres, this is
Agent Ray Cannon with the FBI.
Look, I have some urgent information
regarding your partner, Scott Thomas.
I need you to give me a call back
at this number as soon as possible.
I just tried to notify
Thomas' law partner.
Got the voicemail.
Hey, check this out.
Now, this is from the gun
that Javier was using.
I took a picture of it
and sent it to ballistics.
Now, it doesn't match the shell casings
that were found outside the bar.
Where the three prosecutors were killed?
Mm-hmm, which means that
this is not the murder weapon.
All right, but it doesn't mean
that Javier didn't kill them.
He could've been smart
and switched out the gun.
Or somebody else did it
with a different gun.
Look, Kristin said that
what she heard on the tape
was Luis ordering Javier
to make the hit.
On his own lawyer, yeah,
but they didn't talk
about the prosecutors,
at least not in that conversation.
So you really don't think
that Javier is our fugitive.
I don't know, but we do have
to go back in that house
and try and find a different gun.
All right.
Hey, Remy.
Hey. What did the DA have to say?
He never answered my calls.
I just found out why.
Somebody killed him.
You're kidding me. When?
Not sure yet.
Courthouse bailiff found him
dead on the floor of his office.
I'm meeting
Barnes and Kristin there now.
Talk soon.
Well, this case just got a lot weirder.
You're telling me
nobody saw or heard anything?
Nothing, no, I found him like this
making my nightly rounds.
Why hasn't the scene been processed?
Why weren't you here sooner?
Four dead lawyers may be
no big deal in New York,
but my town is paralyzed by this.
A whole courthouse
being picked off, one by one.
Sheriff, one dead is one too
many, as far as I'm concerned,
but playing the blame game
just gives our perp more time
to plot his next move.
Why does the DA have a safe?
Oh, evidence storage.
I put sensitive stuff in there
Skip needs for court.
- Open it.
- Yeah.
- Well, that's weird.
- What?
Skip was in the middle
of a fentanyl possession trial,
and I put a baggie of it
in there yesterday.
And now it's gone.
Who's on trial in that case?
A guy named Jimmy Burnett.
I actually arrested him myself.
We need to see his file,
and I want to talk to
the courthouse security team.
Well, that'd be me.
Courthouse has cameras, correct?
Not in the offices,
but in all the courtrooms
and the garage entrance.
The surveillance office
is in the basement.
- I could show you.
- Yeah, I got it.
Body's still warm.
He's nowhere near rigor.
This happened in the last two hours.
At which point, Javier's body
was on his way to the morgue.
So there's no way he can be our unsub.
The killer has to work
in the courthouse, right?
Someone who could
gain entry late at night.
No one can enter or exit after hours
without swiping their badge.
- Who was here tonight?
- We can check the logs.
Let's do it.
Well, Skip's the only one
who hasn't swiped out.
Come on, dude. Besides him.
It looks like the last person to leave
was Joanna Orr, public defender.
- What time?
- 6:03 p.m.
Oh, wait, no, that's the time
of her final swipe out,
but she left once before that,
at 5:15, and came back 20 minutes later.
- Where does Joanna live?
- Not far.
- Over by the Walmart.
- Call Hana and Ray.
Get over there now.
Lock this woman down.
You don't think Joanna did this?
There's no way.
Let's look at the security footage.
Only got cameras on the
bottom floor of the garage.
Luckily, Joanna Orr parks there.
Her badge swiped in
at the entrance at 5:35 p.m.,
right about now.
- Is that Joanna's car?
- I don't think so.
No, she drives a 2014 Mazda.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Black SUV.
- That look familiar?
- Yeah, from outside the bar.
That's our unsub's vehicle.
Rewind.
- Stop.
- Zoom in.
28K-XQ8.
Which employee drives a
vehicle with that plate number?
- Judge Roarke.
- What?
Circuit judge, division six.
His courtroom's upstairs.
- Kristin, hey.
- Remy, listen.
Joanna Orr wasn't
at the courthouse tonight.
She bumped into someone
in the parking garage,
and her badge was stolen.
- The guy we're looking for is
- Howard Roarke, I know.
Our fugitive is a sitting judge,
and he's murdering prosecutors.
All right. BOLO's out on Roarke's SUV.
Find anything interesting
in his background?
Hardly. This guy's a total snooze.
Born in Forrest City.
Graduated Georgetown Law in '94,
then worked in the Baltimore
DA's office until '09.
OK, and then became a judge.
Carried a briefcase for a few years,
then ran his campaign
for criminal court justice
against an incumbent, which he won,
and has been on the bench ever since.
Talk about a career pivot.
Respected judge turned serial killer
of basically every prosecutor
who's ever had a case before him.
The question is, why?
Guys.
- Find anything?
- Motive, I think.
Now, Kat tried a case six
months ago in front of Roarke.
The defendant was charged with
two counts of felony sexual assault.
- So she won.
- The trial, yes.
The sentencing was a different story.
Now, she argued for ten years in prison,
but Roarke gave the defendant
two years, the minimum.
To say we're disappointed
in Judge Roarke's
insultingly light sentence
would be an understatement.
The last thing sexual assault victims
need added to the injury that they face
in the court of public opinion
is the insult
of being disrespected by the bench too.
First year on the job,
speaking truth to power.
I'd say that's courage.
No wonder her parents were proud of her.
No wonder Roarke was so pissed.
Hello?
This is the third time I've called.
I don't like being ignored.
I'm not
I'm not ignoring you. I'm at work.
You talk to the police or the FBI?
- No.
- Don't lie to me.
Judge, I'm not. I swear.
I didn't even know the FBI was here.
- Calm down.
- I can't.
Yes, you can.
You're not finished.
What?
I have something else I need you to do.
Judge, Judge, please,
I did what you asked.
I don't want to do any more.
I don't care what you want.
This is my time now.
My terms and my rules.
They thought I would
just sit back and take it,
but they were wrong,
and they're all gonna pay.
Who is? I have no idea
what you're talking about.
You will soon enough. They all will.
You have your laptop?
Yeah, but like I said, I'm at work.
Then tell them you need a break.
Go get it and call me back.
Knowing you, this won't take long.
I can't.
I will make this very clear.
If you don't do what I ask,
it's not just you I'm gonna find.
It's your mother
and your boyfriend in Brinkley.
Eric, right?
Oh, my God. You know about him?
What's wrong? You ashamed or something?
I thought your kind was all about pride
and shouting it from the rooftops
and making it so none of the rest of us
can't get a word in edgewise.
You got five minutes.
I'll be waiting.
Mrs. Roarke?
Call me Cynthia.
I don't want to be associated
with his name anymore.
I know this is a lot to take in.
It is, and it isn't.
I stopped recognizing the man
I married a long time ago.
He'd become so mean, so angry.
And I'm not trying to excuse it.
I just want you to understand that
He wasn't always like this.
Not at all.
When we met, he was kind,
thoughtful, ambitious.
Sure, but in the name
of a selfless cause, the law.
Was he already a judge when you met?
No.
No, we met when he moved
back from Baltimore.
He'd run for district attorney
there and lost,
so he came back to Forrest City
shortly after.
Probably thought
he'd had more party support
in his home county.
Which he got from marrying me.
My father was chief of police,
and everyone knows my mom.
Her family owns
the largest farm in Stuttgart.
Anyway, that was all a long time ago,
before his career stalled out.
Lately, all he did was stew.
His law school classmates,
his former colleagues,
they all seemed to be working
their way up to higher office
while he was stuck
on circuit court bench.
Is that what made him so angry?
Big time.
Blamed it on the system
for holding him back,
keeping him stuck.
All due respect, I'd argue
that men like your husband
created that system.
You try telling him that,
see what it gets you.
He left me with this.
He did that to you?
Five days ago,
he came home from a meeting
furious, screaming, throwing things.
When he turned on me, I packed his bags,
and told him to get out.
He was gone the next day.
Who was he meeting with?
An old friend of his, Arthur Hobbs.
He's president of the State Bar.
Roarke and I clerked together in D.C.,
so I guess that's why
I hoped our meeting
wouldn't hit him so hard.
What were you meeting about?
I'm chair of the nominating commission
for the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Howard had applied for an open vacancy,
and I had to give him the bad news.
He didn't get it.
No.
He was under serious
consideration at first.
We didn't realize we had
a problem until we started
sending out JNEs, surveys regarding
the judicial nominees, basically.
Sent to people who know the candidate.
Right.
Respondents' names and answers
are always kept confidential,
so we know we're getting the truth.
Which was what, exactly, for Roarke?
Ugly.
Allegations of sexual harassment,
bribes, improper bias.
Frankly, temperament unbefitting
a traffic court judge,
much less a justice
of the Court of Appeals.
Did you tell him what you found?
Yeah, and I told him never
to apply again.
As an old friend,
I was doing him a favor
by doing so discreetly.
He'd become something
of an activist judge
the last few years.
In a save the whales kind of way?
More of a save the marginalized
white man kind of way.
Well, we know of one
controversial rape case ruling.
Was his issue with people
of color, as well as women?
Yes. LGBT community too.
Whatever the opposite of woke is,
that's what Howard had become.
It wasn't a good look.
I'd say that look's gotten worse
since he's wanted
for the murder of four people,
including the St. Francis DA.
What? Skip Hardy?
You knew him?
We finalized our shortlist
of nominations
for the open vacancy yesterday.
Let me guess.
Skip Hardy was on the top of the list.
So Roarke just had any chance of career
advancement crushed on year
seven of an eight-year term.
Meaning he'd be facing
reelection next year
as a divorcee of the most well-connected
woman in St. Francis County.
For a guy whose veins pump
with ambition in place of blood,
that's a sentence worse than death.
So he snaps, kills Kat,
who publicly humiliated him
after his rape case sentencing.
Then kills Skip Hardy, a Black man
who made the commission's shortlist
for Roarke's beloved appellate
court instead of him.
But why kill Pete Hill and Johnnie Mow?
Are either of them in the JNE files?
Yes, both Johnnie and Pete have JNEs.
They both gave Roarke bad reviews.
- There it is.
- Those files are confidential.
- How'd Roarke get 'em?
- I'm looking into it now.
If someone hacked the server
before me, I'll find them.
Bottom line,
Roarke's furious the universe
hasn't bestowed upon him the
accolades he feels he's owed.
So instead of taking
responsibility for it,
he takes his rage out on the people
he thinks halted his success
because of their own.
OK, I got it.
The appellate commission's server
was hacked by an IP address
registered to a Samuel Gray.
He's on probation
after serving time for hacking.
Guess who sentenced him.
The Honorable Judge Howard Roarke.
Looks like he works
at a catfish restaurant
about a half mile from here.
I'm dropping you a pin now.
Got it.
Oh, hey, Chip.
You know our VIP patient
will be here soon, right?
I'm ready.
All right. Well, I'm off.
Good luck.
Have a good one.
I didn't have a choice.
Howard said either hack the
appellate commission server,
or he'd revoke my probation.
So I sent him the JNEs.
Then what, Sam?
You're deep in here. Come on.
Keep talking.
He called me two hours ago,
asked me to hack
into Health Forward Labs
and get him their employee directory.
Health Forward Labs, why?
- I don't know. He didn't say.
- Hey, Remy.
Roarke's SUV was found abandoned
on a residential street in Crystal Hill.
When PD went door-to-door
looking for witnesses,
they found a neighbor dead.
His name was Chip Fox.
Never heard of him.
I don't know anything
about this, I swear.
Get him out of here.
I didn't please.
Found him. Chip Fox, 52 years old.
No criminal record.
Works as a scrub tech
at Health Forward Labs.
What's his connection to Roarke?
I don't know. The only thing that
pops up when I search him online
is this article from the
"Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,"
where Chip Fox is quoted
as a front-line worker.
Says he personally COVID
tested governor Nancy Novak
three times at St. Michael's Hospital
in Little Rock last week.
I'm just surprised we didn't find
Governor Novak's face on a
dart board in Roarke's office.
As governor, she's the one
who picks the next justice
for the Court of Appeals.
He remind you of anyone?
Early 50s, hazel eyes, he's bald.
He looks like Roarke.
Chip has no connections
to the legal system,
so this wasn't revenge.
What if Roarke went to him
for the same reason
he bumped into Joanna Orr,
to steal his ID?
But why kill him in the process?
Because if Chip Fox is dead,
he won't be clocking in to work today,
leaving Roarke to show up in his place.
Roarke is impersonating Chip to
get close to the governor of Arkansas.
He's going after her next.
Hey, I got the governor
for COVID testing.
Thanks.
Yep, photo ID?
All right.
Looks like I'm going first.
All right. Head back for me, please.
Really?
And they trust you with a gun.
Head back for me, please.
Watch and learn, Daniel.
All right.
Let's roll.
I'm serious.
I'll never hear the end of it
if I'm late to this fundraiser.
Dan?
Oh, my God.
Help!
He needs a doctor!
Here, brother.
- What happened?
- I don't know.
- I'm just a tech.
- Get a doctor.
Something's wrong.
Governor?
- I don't feel well.
- Governor.
Governor. Stay with me.
Stay with me. Governor.
Governor. Governor.
Alert hospital security.
Tell them to lock
the whole building down.
We do not want to start a panic.
The governor's SUV is
designed to withstand a bomb.
She's right.
All right, Novak's detail
will put a bullet
inside Roarke's head
before he can get a shot off.
So unless he's learned how
to kill by osmosis
How much fentanyl was in Skip's safe?
Bailiff said the charge was
for second-degree possession.
That means at least a gram,
and enough to kill someone.
Crushed up and coated on a COVID swab,
you'd be dead in minutes.
- Breath is tachy.
- She's not breathing.
- What do you got?
- Low pulse.
I got no vitals.
Fentanyl OD.
Narcan. Give them Narcan.
Got it.
- Where'd he go?
- Who?
The guy that tested her.
I don't know. He was right here.
She's alive. She's breathing.
Spread out, he can't be far!
- FBI! Don't move!
- Got him.
- He's getting in his car.
- Hey, get down!
- Get down, down!
- Get down, get down!
- Hey, move!
- Move!
Get out of the way! I don't have a shot.
I'll cut him off at the exit.
38-2 responding to shots fired
at COVID testing site at the hospital.
This is unit 622. We are en route.
Good job.
You did what you had to do.
The governor all right?
Yeah.
She's gonna make it.
It's like a silent disco in here.
Sorry, I'm just thinking.
About what, the case?
About all the hate. What's it for?
Look, we got Roarke
before he killed the governor.
He can't hurt anyone else.
Look, I'm not talking about
the most wanted murderers.
I'm talking about the bigots.
My high school counselor
who would never shut up
about how
"surprisingly articulate" I was
for a kid from the Lower Ninth Ward.
The crooked cops
my dad tried to put away,
but somehow were set free because of,
ah, inconsistencies
in the investigation.
That's code for a Black
FBI agent investigating
a white sergeant, by the way.
Hm.
I'm talking about the ones
who refused to believe
that I earned my Quantico spot
on my own merit,
the ones who attribute my
success to the color of my skin.
You know, I had to work twice
as hard to get half as far.
Roarke really saw himself
as an endangered species,
the victimized white man.
Oh, man, I know a thousand Roarkes.
- What about that landlord?
- What about him?
- He's a Roarke.
- Oh, he's definitely a Roarke.
Yeah.
And the tenant he was trying to evict
- Oh, the future Mrs. Cannon?
- Oh, whoa.
Let's pump the brakes a little.
Look, it's gonna be her kid
who wears the scar.
Hm? I was 15 when Katrina hit.
We thought the flood
was gonna be the hard part,
but the real danger came after.
Restructuring,
also known as gentrification.
Restructured my uncle
right out of his home,
my best friends out of our school.
You know, the folks
that moved in had the audacity
to call my neighbors refugees.
Like we were the interlopers.
It's like watching the water bust
through the levee all over again.
We couldn't do nothing to plug it up.
That landlord's name
is Gunnar Jovanovic.
I found some pretty heavy dirt
on him if you wanna hear it.
No.
Ray, these are public records.
We're not doing anything wrong.
I just I don't feel good
digging like this.
Okay, fine, totally get it.
I know that one person couldn't
change what happened in your city.
But maybe you could change what happens
in this woman and her son's life.
I didn't get to introduce
myself the other day.
Special Agent Ray Cannon, FBI.
Hey, look, this is all legal, OK?
If they can't pay, they can't stay.
Yeah, no. I completely agree.
Speaking of, who's gonna
move into your place?
- What?
- Your apartment.
Yeah, I was wondering
who was gonna move in
when you go to prison for tax evasion.
See, raising the rent, that's one thing.
Skimming the difference off the top,
that's a whole 'nother animal.
Now, by my calculations,
you owe $75,000 in back taxes.
Now, I can call my buddies
down at the IRS
and get this handled, or you can draw up
another lease for these nice folks.
I know what it looks like
when a bully games the system,
but we're not gonna
have that today, right?
Wow, that was
thank you.
It's not a big deal.
Actually, it kind of is.
I'm Cora, and this is my son, Caleb.
I'm Ray.
You're really an FBI agent?
I sure am.
Can I see your gun?
No, I usually don't have it
when I'm not working.
What about you?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
NFL quarterback,
like Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson.
OK, all right. Well, you know what?
I look forward
to seeing you play one day.
Can I help you take these back inside?
Actually, I have a better idea.
Would you mind?
I'm not very good.
Yeah, no worries.
All right, let's see what you got.
All right? Come on.
- Ready?
- Yep.
Oh!
OK.
Yeah, kid's got an arm on him.
Actually, he's got two of 'em.
I see what you did there.
Funny.
All right, young king.
I'm going long, all right?
Ten hut.
- Oh!
- Oh!
- Let's go!
- Ready?
Let's go.
There we go, buddy.
You good?
Just getting my 10,000 steps in.
Pete, relax. It's gonna go our way.
You said yourself, this case is a lock.
That was before they started
day two of deliberations.
You both know,
the longer the jury's out,
the less likely it is that
We have a verdict?
I had that jury eating
out of the palm of my hand.
Cheers.
But listen, this was a team effort,
which is why my illustrious second chair
gets the first break.
Aw, so I can kick your ass again?
Please. You got lucky last time.
Y'all really are lawyers
through and through.
Gluttons for punishment.
Come on.
Johnnie, slow down.
Walk faster.
This is fast as I go in heels.
Hi.
Uncomfortable workplace.
We're not at work, Johnnie.
Very true.
Hey, Kat.
Your way is definitely not faster.
No, wait, look.
The subway steps are
on this side of the street,
so now you don't have
to wait for the light.
- Okay.
- I have rights!
- I will get a lawyer!
- Great.
Maybe she knows mine.
What the hell is this?
Just some regular
Tuesday drama in New York.
Dude, don't get involved.
Me and my son. I don't have the money!
Get me the money,
and everything will be fine.
- Hey, hey!
- I don't have it!
Is this guy bothering you?
This guy is her landlord, all right?
He is a slumlord,
raising our rent by $2,000.
My son and I have been model
tenants for four years,
and out of nowhere
Can you pay the money or not?
I told you, I don't have it!
OK, so I show the apartment then.
To Barbie and Ken?
Like hell you are.
I still got five days left on my lease.
- I don't care
- Hey, hey, hey.
Let's just all take
a deep breath right now.
Stay out of this, all right, buddy?
- Or I'll call the cops.
- Call the damn cops.
Ray!
It's Remy. We got to go.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Give me the money or go.
How many times do I have
to tell you, I don't have it.
Then get your kid and get out!
Don't get too comfortable.
Jet's gassing up as we speak.
Ooh, Saint-Tropez?
Forrest City, Arkansas.
An entire district attorney's office
was assassinated last night.
That's a big crime for a tiny town.
What happened,
overwhelmed sheriff's office
call in overwhelmed Little Rock SSA?
Who called Isabel, who called me.
PD sent these over. They need help.
Well, I can see why.
Were these taken on a flip phone?
Shooting happened outside a bar.
Owner says he heard gunfire
just after 3:00 a.m., around closing.
- Any witnesses?
- You're looking at 'em.
Looks like they were
all shot multiple times.
Yeah. Look at the bodies.
Clearly not a pro.
Carnage suggests rage, meaning that this
wasn't some random drive-by.
Our unsub was targeting these lawyers.
Three prosecutors.
Is that the entirety
of the county's DA office?
Nearly. Katherine Sloane,
age 26, Peter Hill, age 29,
Johnnie Mow, age 28,
and then there's the district
attorney himself, Skip Hardy.
He survived?
He wasn't there in the first place.
- Where was he?
- I don't know.
You and I are gonna go ask him.
Everyone else,
I want boots on the ground
for whatever you can find, witnesses,
surveillance footage, victim profiles.
We need to find this unsub
before he takes someone else out.
Let's roll.
I have to ask,
why weren't you with them last night?
I don't drink.
I usually leave the victory
celebrations to my deputies.
I feel terrible.
I should have been there with them.
Where were you?
I was at my Bible study last night.
A big group of us, including the mayor.
We'll need a list of names to confirm.
I apologize. We have to be thorough.
Yeah, I get it. I've tried the cases.
Mom and kids murdered
while Dad's on vacation.
Chances are, Dad's your guy.
Is that how you thought
about your office?
Like family?
My deputies,
they called me their work dad.
Those kids were smart,
driven, relentless.
I may have been their boss,
but they were the ones teaching me.
Did any of them have
any enemies that you know of?
Hundreds.
Your job is to get the bad guys,
you run the risk of the bad
guys getting you back.
I reckon you both know what that's like.
So you think this is revenge
from an aggrieved defendant?
Forrest City may be a small town,
but we're the St. Francis County seat.
We try everything from arson
to aggravated theft
to first-degree murder.
And these are from the last five years,
all violent offenders, all with
axes to grind against my office.
Bastard's got to be in here.
Our team will help you with these.
Thank you.
Was that Remy?
Yeah, they confirmed the DA's alibi.
He's cleared.
Well, I hope you brought your popcorn.
Oh, yeah? What are we watching?
Hana versus Betamax.
Yeah, mock the millennial,
not the genius
who decided to install
an analog CCTV system.
OK, finally.
No, from this angle, we can kiss
any hope of facial rec goodbye.
Play it again.
So that's Johnnie,
and there's Kat and Pete.
Looks like they were
more than just coworkers.
See how fast she turns around?
It takes Pete and Johnnie at
least five seconds to turn and follow.
Driver must have called Kat's name.
Our unsub knew her.
OK, so the DA's office
wasn't the target.
It was Kat.
So let's pull all her phone calls,
emails, texts, both work and personal.
Did she have family in the area?
Yeah, her parents
live five minutes away.
I'll let Remy know.
The only thing Katherine ever
wanted to be was a lawyer.
She was so smart, so fierce.
We were so proud.
I just I can't believe
this is happening.
Arranging your own child's funeral.
We are so sorry.
No family should ever have
to go through this.
Can you tell us
about your daughter's work?
Kat was on the judge track.
Her first year with the DA's office,
and she still hadn't lost a case.
During that time,
did she receive any threats,
mysterious phone calls,
suspicious cars on the street?
I don't think so, but I don't know.
She spent most nights at her
boyfriend's up in Caldwell.
We'll talk to Pete Hill's family.
Kat's coworker?
That's not who she was dating.
Her boyfriend's name is Eli Dorflinger.
Mm-hmm.
Blood.
FBI! Drop the knife, Eli.
Come out slowly.
Get down on the ground.
Keep your hands where I can see 'em.
- Do you have any weapons on you?
- No.
I was just cleaning this guy.
It's a kindness, really.
Wild hogs wreak havoc on the ecosystem.
OK, get up. Get up.
You're FBI.
What's going on?
We need to know
where you were last night.
On my way to a duck blind.
Hunting in the middle of the night?
Hardy's almost three hours away.
I had to wake up early
to make it before sunrise.
Please, what's going on?
Eli, I'm sorry to tell you
that Kat Sloane was murdered last night.
She what?
We understand the two of you
were in a relationship.
We were together almost four years.
I don't understand.
- How did this happen?
- Well, you tell us.
You must have been pretty pissed
when you found out
about her and Pete Hill,
maybe enough to grab one
of your rifles and
Wait.
Kat was cheating on me?
- Lunch with a client?
- Something like that.
I hope you're billing
those hours, partner.
Always, man.
Hey, Scott.
You're late. You have my money?
Yep, and a little something extra.
Let's take a drive, amigo.
Get in.
We can cross Kat's boyfriend,
Eli, off our list of suspects.
He was freezing his ass off
in the woods all night
in a hunting blind.
How's it going with the DA's files?
It's a slog.
If I have to read one more case
about the illegal distribution
of moonshine, I'm gonna barf.
The sheriff cleared every
single person in this county
with an arrest warrant.
So we're nowhere on suspects
unless Hana has
any luck with the tip line.
I got something on the tip line.
We got to take this act on the road.
An anonymous caller overheard, quote,
"two Latino gang-looking guys"
boasting about the murder
of the guys
that put their boss in prison.
- Caller didn't leave a name?
- Probably too scared.
Especially if these guys
look like gangbangers.
When did the call come in?
About 30 minutes ago
from Hal's Sanitary Diner.
Mmm, sounds yummy. Close by?
Everything here is close.
Agent Scott, FBI.
We'd like to ask you a few questions.
About?
Three county prosecutors
were murdered last night.
I know. Everybody's talking about it.
But I didn't know them, and I don't
know anything about what happened.
Got a call about two potential suspects
who were eating here about an hour ago.
I don't want any trouble.
We're not trying to get you in trouble.
- We just want to talk.
- Hey, Millie.
Is that four-top available?
Yeah, I just bussed it.
It's not polite to talk
business on an empty stomach.
- Mind if we sit?
- Sure.
All right.
Mm. Ah, thank you.
Oh, biscuits and gravy.
Now, these two aren't fans,
but I believe that's
because they haven't had them
the right way, hm?
With a little kick.
Hal makes ours with jalapeños and Rotel.
See, now, that sounds delicious.
Three orders, please.
- Anything else?
- Coffee.
- I'm good.
- I'm good, thanks.
Why are we wasting time on this, man?
Man, it's not about
the biscuits, all right?
It's about the gravy,
metaphorically speaking.
I'm not following.
You got to take it easy
with these folks down here, OK?
You can't just go barging thank you.
Appreciate it.
One second.
While we got you,
these two men that we got a tip about,
Latino men, the caller said
they might've been
gang members or something.
Yeah, I waited on them.
They sat over there,
ordered two three-plus-threes,
paid cash, and left.
You happen to hear
what they were talking about?
No, I was real busy.
But they weren't from
around here, I don't think.
Never seen them before.
What did they look like?
Regular. Kind of big.
- Definitely Hispanic.
- Mm-hmm.
One of them had a tattoo.
I remember that.
Perfect. You know what that looked like?
Sort of like a snake thing
wrapped around a number?
Here. Give me that napkin.
Probably easier just to draw it.
Just saying, a little
Southern charm goes a long way.
Yeah, you're a regular Andy Griffith.
Which makes you Barney Fife.
- Or Aunt Bee if she was younger.
- Rude.
Let me see that drawing she made.
This tattoo looks like a gang call sign.
I'm gonna see if Kristin
knows anything about it.
- What's up with you?
- Nothing.
I've just been thinking
about that argument
we saw this morning.
- The mom and the landlord?
- Yeah.
Landlords like that piss me off.
They're predators, raising
the rent just because they can.
Look, he's taking advantage of
a hardworking mom and her kid.
And by hardworking,
you mean attractive, right?
The two aren't
mutually exclusive, all right?
He's a bully,
and what he's doing is wrong.
So if I stand by
and just watch it happen,
what does that make me?
You want dirt on him?
Now, we both know
that's a bureau violation.
Not from the secure database,
just some open-source
reporting, old-school hacking.
Why do you think the FBI
recruited me in the first place?
The guys our tipster overheard
were members of the 7th Street Serpents.
It's a gang out of West Memphis.
Luis Trevino, king
of the 7th Street Serpents,
convicted last month on charges
of federal racketeering.
I combed the DA files.
There's no mention of a Luis Trevino
or anyone from the 7th Street Serpents.
That's because it was a federal case.
Here's a quote from a press
conference last Thursday.
"Federal officials would like to thank
"St. Francis County DA's office
for their ongoing role
in the investigation."
So our prosecutors'
investigative efforts
helped put Luis away.
And thanks to the public
shout-out, he knew.
It sounds like a motive to me.
Luis is awaiting trial
at FDC here in Forrest City.
He's been there since he got indicted.
So if he did order a hit
on our prosecutors,
it would have had to come from a phone.
How? All the calls are monitored.
Not the ones from his lawyers.
So you're thinking Luis used
his attorney to order the hit.
If he did, that's a crime.
Conversation's not protected.
Call Kristin and Barnes.
Tell them to get a warrant.
Head over to the detention center.
See if there's anything
on their recordings.
Last call Luis made
to his lawyer was yesterday.
So the morning of the shooting.
The hell's the holdup
with my appeal, man?
- That's Luis.
- You're kidding me, right?
That's his attorney, Scott Thomas.
I already told you, I'm not filing
another piece of paperwork
until I get paid.
I don't work for free, Luis.
All right. All right, chill.
Get my brother-in-law on the line.
Have they run this
three-way call game before?
I don't know,
I couldn't listen to any
attorney-client recordings
before y'all came with your warrant.
You see this in cartel cases a lot.
Represent your client by day,
run their drug business
from prison by night.
- ¿Bueno?
- Hermano.
My lawyer wants to get paid.
Tell him to take a number.
No, we should pay him.
And, Javi, give him
a little something extra.
- He earned it.
- Earned it?
- He lost Luis' trial.
- No, this is a hit.
Luis isn't telling Javier
to pay his lawyer.
He's telling him to kill him.
Probably arranged
the DA murders the same way.
Luis orders, Javier executes.
That's right.
You know this brother-in-law?
Yeah. He's been in here to see Luis.
Should have his info
in the visitor logs.
Javier Perez.
He lives in Madison.
FBI!
I'll go around the side.
FBI! Freeze!
Guys, in here.
That's him.
- That's Luis' attorney.
- Quiet and quick.
Get a coroner down here.
I'm gonna call the DA,
tell him we got the douchebag
who killed his people.
Thank you for your help, Prosecutor.
Hi, this is Dale Torres
at Hawkins and Associates Law Firm.
Sorry I can't take your call right now.
Leave your name and number,
and I'll call you back.
Mr. Torres, this is
Agent Ray Cannon with the FBI.
Look, I have some urgent information
regarding your partner, Scott Thomas.
I need you to give me a call back
at this number as soon as possible.
I just tried to notify
Thomas' law partner.
Got the voicemail.
Hey, check this out.
Now, this is from the gun
that Javier was using.
I took a picture of it
and sent it to ballistics.
Now, it doesn't match the shell casings
that were found outside the bar.
Where the three prosecutors were killed?
Mm-hmm, which means that
this is not the murder weapon.
All right, but it doesn't mean
that Javier didn't kill them.
He could've been smart
and switched out the gun.
Or somebody else did it
with a different gun.
Look, Kristin said that
what she heard on the tape
was Luis ordering Javier
to make the hit.
On his own lawyer, yeah,
but they didn't talk
about the prosecutors,
at least not in that conversation.
So you really don't think
that Javier is our fugitive.
I don't know, but we do have
to go back in that house
and try and find a different gun.
All right.
Hey, Remy.
Hey. What did the DA have to say?
He never answered my calls.
I just found out why.
Somebody killed him.
You're kidding me. When?
Not sure yet.
Courthouse bailiff found him
dead on the floor of his office.
I'm meeting
Barnes and Kristin there now.
Talk soon.
Well, this case just got a lot weirder.
You're telling me
nobody saw or heard anything?
Nothing, no, I found him like this
making my nightly rounds.
Why hasn't the scene been processed?
Why weren't you here sooner?
Four dead lawyers may be
no big deal in New York,
but my town is paralyzed by this.
A whole courthouse
being picked off, one by one.
Sheriff, one dead is one too
many, as far as I'm concerned,
but playing the blame game
just gives our perp more time
to plot his next move.
Why does the DA have a safe?
Oh, evidence storage.
I put sensitive stuff in there
Skip needs for court.
- Open it.
- Yeah.
- Well, that's weird.
- What?
Skip was in the middle
of a fentanyl possession trial,
and I put a baggie of it
in there yesterday.
And now it's gone.
Who's on trial in that case?
A guy named Jimmy Burnett.
I actually arrested him myself.
We need to see his file,
and I want to talk to
the courthouse security team.
Well, that'd be me.
Courthouse has cameras, correct?
Not in the offices,
but in all the courtrooms
and the garage entrance.
The surveillance office
is in the basement.
- I could show you.
- Yeah, I got it.
Body's still warm.
He's nowhere near rigor.
This happened in the last two hours.
At which point, Javier's body
was on his way to the morgue.
So there's no way he can be our unsub.
The killer has to work
in the courthouse, right?
Someone who could
gain entry late at night.
No one can enter or exit after hours
without swiping their badge.
- Who was here tonight?
- We can check the logs.
Let's do it.
Well, Skip's the only one
who hasn't swiped out.
Come on, dude. Besides him.
It looks like the last person to leave
was Joanna Orr, public defender.
- What time?
- 6:03 p.m.
Oh, wait, no, that's the time
of her final swipe out,
but she left once before that,
at 5:15, and came back 20 minutes later.
- Where does Joanna live?
- Not far.
- Over by the Walmart.
- Call Hana and Ray.
Get over there now.
Lock this woman down.
You don't think Joanna did this?
There's no way.
Let's look at the security footage.
Only got cameras on the
bottom floor of the garage.
Luckily, Joanna Orr parks there.
Her badge swiped in
at the entrance at 5:35 p.m.,
right about now.
- Is that Joanna's car?
- I don't think so.
No, she drives a 2014 Mazda.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Black SUV.
- That look familiar?
- Yeah, from outside the bar.
That's our unsub's vehicle.
Rewind.
- Stop.
- Zoom in.
28K-XQ8.
Which employee drives a
vehicle with that plate number?
- Judge Roarke.
- What?
Circuit judge, division six.
His courtroom's upstairs.
- Kristin, hey.
- Remy, listen.
Joanna Orr wasn't
at the courthouse tonight.
She bumped into someone
in the parking garage,
and her badge was stolen.
- The guy we're looking for is
- Howard Roarke, I know.
Our fugitive is a sitting judge,
and he's murdering prosecutors.
All right. BOLO's out on Roarke's SUV.
Find anything interesting
in his background?
Hardly. This guy's a total snooze.
Born in Forrest City.
Graduated Georgetown Law in '94,
then worked in the Baltimore
DA's office until '09.
OK, and then became a judge.
Carried a briefcase for a few years,
then ran his campaign
for criminal court justice
against an incumbent, which he won,
and has been on the bench ever since.
Talk about a career pivot.
Respected judge turned serial killer
of basically every prosecutor
who's ever had a case before him.
The question is, why?
Guys.
- Find anything?
- Motive, I think.
Now, Kat tried a case six
months ago in front of Roarke.
The defendant was charged with
two counts of felony sexual assault.
- So she won.
- The trial, yes.
The sentencing was a different story.
Now, she argued for ten years in prison,
but Roarke gave the defendant
two years, the minimum.
To say we're disappointed
in Judge Roarke's
insultingly light sentence
would be an understatement.
The last thing sexual assault victims
need added to the injury that they face
in the court of public opinion
is the insult
of being disrespected by the bench too.
First year on the job,
speaking truth to power.
I'd say that's courage.
No wonder her parents were proud of her.
No wonder Roarke was so pissed.
Hello?
This is the third time I've called.
I don't like being ignored.
I'm not
I'm not ignoring you. I'm at work.
You talk to the police or the FBI?
- No.
- Don't lie to me.
Judge, I'm not. I swear.
I didn't even know the FBI was here.
- Calm down.
- I can't.
Yes, you can.
You're not finished.
What?
I have something else I need you to do.
Judge, Judge, please,
I did what you asked.
I don't want to do any more.
I don't care what you want.
This is my time now.
My terms and my rules.
They thought I would
just sit back and take it,
but they were wrong,
and they're all gonna pay.
Who is? I have no idea
what you're talking about.
You will soon enough. They all will.
You have your laptop?
Yeah, but like I said, I'm at work.
Then tell them you need a break.
Go get it and call me back.
Knowing you, this won't take long.
I can't.
I will make this very clear.
If you don't do what I ask,
it's not just you I'm gonna find.
It's your mother
and your boyfriend in Brinkley.
Eric, right?
Oh, my God. You know about him?
What's wrong? You ashamed or something?
I thought your kind was all about pride
and shouting it from the rooftops
and making it so none of the rest of us
can't get a word in edgewise.
You got five minutes.
I'll be waiting.
Mrs. Roarke?
Call me Cynthia.
I don't want to be associated
with his name anymore.
I know this is a lot to take in.
It is, and it isn't.
I stopped recognizing the man
I married a long time ago.
He'd become so mean, so angry.
And I'm not trying to excuse it.
I just want you to understand that
He wasn't always like this.
Not at all.
When we met, he was kind,
thoughtful, ambitious.
Sure, but in the name
of a selfless cause, the law.
Was he already a judge when you met?
No.
No, we met when he moved
back from Baltimore.
He'd run for district attorney
there and lost,
so he came back to Forrest City
shortly after.
Probably thought
he'd had more party support
in his home county.
Which he got from marrying me.
My father was chief of police,
and everyone knows my mom.
Her family owns
the largest farm in Stuttgart.
Anyway, that was all a long time ago,
before his career stalled out.
Lately, all he did was stew.
His law school classmates,
his former colleagues,
they all seemed to be working
their way up to higher office
while he was stuck
on circuit court bench.
Is that what made him so angry?
Big time.
Blamed it on the system
for holding him back,
keeping him stuck.
All due respect, I'd argue
that men like your husband
created that system.
You try telling him that,
see what it gets you.
He left me with this.
He did that to you?
Five days ago,
he came home from a meeting
furious, screaming, throwing things.
When he turned on me, I packed his bags,
and told him to get out.
He was gone the next day.
Who was he meeting with?
An old friend of his, Arthur Hobbs.
He's president of the State Bar.
Roarke and I clerked together in D.C.,
so I guess that's why
I hoped our meeting
wouldn't hit him so hard.
What were you meeting about?
I'm chair of the nominating commission
for the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Howard had applied for an open vacancy,
and I had to give him the bad news.
He didn't get it.
No.
He was under serious
consideration at first.
We didn't realize we had
a problem until we started
sending out JNEs, surveys regarding
the judicial nominees, basically.
Sent to people who know the candidate.
Right.
Respondents' names and answers
are always kept confidential,
so we know we're getting the truth.
Which was what, exactly, for Roarke?
Ugly.
Allegations of sexual harassment,
bribes, improper bias.
Frankly, temperament unbefitting
a traffic court judge,
much less a justice
of the Court of Appeals.
Did you tell him what you found?
Yeah, and I told him never
to apply again.
As an old friend,
I was doing him a favor
by doing so discreetly.
He'd become something
of an activist judge
the last few years.
In a save the whales kind of way?
More of a save the marginalized
white man kind of way.
Well, we know of one
controversial rape case ruling.
Was his issue with people
of color, as well as women?
Yes. LGBT community too.
Whatever the opposite of woke is,
that's what Howard had become.
It wasn't a good look.
I'd say that look's gotten worse
since he's wanted
for the murder of four people,
including the St. Francis DA.
What? Skip Hardy?
You knew him?
We finalized our shortlist
of nominations
for the open vacancy yesterday.
Let me guess.
Skip Hardy was on the top of the list.
So Roarke just had any chance of career
advancement crushed on year
seven of an eight-year term.
Meaning he'd be facing
reelection next year
as a divorcee of the most well-connected
woman in St. Francis County.
For a guy whose veins pump
with ambition in place of blood,
that's a sentence worse than death.
So he snaps, kills Kat,
who publicly humiliated him
after his rape case sentencing.
Then kills Skip Hardy, a Black man
who made the commission's shortlist
for Roarke's beloved appellate
court instead of him.
But why kill Pete Hill and Johnnie Mow?
Are either of them in the JNE files?
Yes, both Johnnie and Pete have JNEs.
They both gave Roarke bad reviews.
- There it is.
- Those files are confidential.
- How'd Roarke get 'em?
- I'm looking into it now.
If someone hacked the server
before me, I'll find them.
Bottom line,
Roarke's furious the universe
hasn't bestowed upon him the
accolades he feels he's owed.
So instead of taking
responsibility for it,
he takes his rage out on the people
he thinks halted his success
because of their own.
OK, I got it.
The appellate commission's server
was hacked by an IP address
registered to a Samuel Gray.
He's on probation
after serving time for hacking.
Guess who sentenced him.
The Honorable Judge Howard Roarke.
Looks like he works
at a catfish restaurant
about a half mile from here.
I'm dropping you a pin now.
Got it.
Oh, hey, Chip.
You know our VIP patient
will be here soon, right?
I'm ready.
All right. Well, I'm off.
Good luck.
Have a good one.
I didn't have a choice.
Howard said either hack the
appellate commission server,
or he'd revoke my probation.
So I sent him the JNEs.
Then what, Sam?
You're deep in here. Come on.
Keep talking.
He called me two hours ago,
asked me to hack
into Health Forward Labs
and get him their employee directory.
Health Forward Labs, why?
- I don't know. He didn't say.
- Hey, Remy.
Roarke's SUV was found abandoned
on a residential street in Crystal Hill.
When PD went door-to-door
looking for witnesses,
they found a neighbor dead.
His name was Chip Fox.
Never heard of him.
I don't know anything
about this, I swear.
Get him out of here.
I didn't please.
Found him. Chip Fox, 52 years old.
No criminal record.
Works as a scrub tech
at Health Forward Labs.
What's his connection to Roarke?
I don't know. The only thing that
pops up when I search him online
is this article from the
"Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,"
where Chip Fox is quoted
as a front-line worker.
Says he personally COVID
tested governor Nancy Novak
three times at St. Michael's Hospital
in Little Rock last week.
I'm just surprised we didn't find
Governor Novak's face on a
dart board in Roarke's office.
As governor, she's the one
who picks the next justice
for the Court of Appeals.
He remind you of anyone?
Early 50s, hazel eyes, he's bald.
He looks like Roarke.
Chip has no connections
to the legal system,
so this wasn't revenge.
What if Roarke went to him
for the same reason
he bumped into Joanna Orr,
to steal his ID?
But why kill him in the process?
Because if Chip Fox is dead,
he won't be clocking in to work today,
leaving Roarke to show up in his place.
Roarke is impersonating Chip to
get close to the governor of Arkansas.
He's going after her next.
Hey, I got the governor
for COVID testing.
Thanks.
Yep, photo ID?
All right.
Looks like I'm going first.
All right. Head back for me, please.
Really?
And they trust you with a gun.
Head back for me, please.
Watch and learn, Daniel.
All right.
Let's roll.
I'm serious.
I'll never hear the end of it
if I'm late to this fundraiser.
Dan?
Oh, my God.
Help!
He needs a doctor!
Here, brother.
- What happened?
- I don't know.
- I'm just a tech.
- Get a doctor.
Something's wrong.
Governor?
- I don't feel well.
- Governor.
Governor. Stay with me.
Stay with me. Governor.
Governor. Governor.
Alert hospital security.
Tell them to lock
the whole building down.
We do not want to start a panic.
The governor's SUV is
designed to withstand a bomb.
She's right.
All right, Novak's detail
will put a bullet
inside Roarke's head
before he can get a shot off.
So unless he's learned how
to kill by osmosis
How much fentanyl was in Skip's safe?
Bailiff said the charge was
for second-degree possession.
That means at least a gram,
and enough to kill someone.
Crushed up and coated on a COVID swab,
you'd be dead in minutes.
- Breath is tachy.
- She's not breathing.
- What do you got?
- Low pulse.
I got no vitals.
Fentanyl OD.
Narcan. Give them Narcan.
Got it.
- Where'd he go?
- Who?
The guy that tested her.
I don't know. He was right here.
She's alive. She's breathing.
Spread out, he can't be far!
- FBI! Don't move!
- Got him.
- He's getting in his car.
- Hey, get down!
- Get down, down!
- Get down, get down!
- Hey, move!
- Move!
Get out of the way! I don't have a shot.
I'll cut him off at the exit.
38-2 responding to shots fired
at COVID testing site at the hospital.
This is unit 622. We are en route.
Good job.
You did what you had to do.
The governor all right?
Yeah.
She's gonna make it.
It's like a silent disco in here.
Sorry, I'm just thinking.
About what, the case?
About all the hate. What's it for?
Look, we got Roarke
before he killed the governor.
He can't hurt anyone else.
Look, I'm not talking about
the most wanted murderers.
I'm talking about the bigots.
My high school counselor
who would never shut up
about how
"surprisingly articulate" I was
for a kid from the Lower Ninth Ward.
The crooked cops
my dad tried to put away,
but somehow were set free because of,
ah, inconsistencies
in the investigation.
That's code for a Black
FBI agent investigating
a white sergeant, by the way.
Hm.
I'm talking about the ones
who refused to believe
that I earned my Quantico spot
on my own merit,
the ones who attribute my
success to the color of my skin.
You know, I had to work twice
as hard to get half as far.
Roarke really saw himself
as an endangered species,
the victimized white man.
Oh, man, I know a thousand Roarkes.
- What about that landlord?
- What about him?
- He's a Roarke.
- Oh, he's definitely a Roarke.
Yeah.
And the tenant he was trying to evict
- Oh, the future Mrs. Cannon?
- Oh, whoa.
Let's pump the brakes a little.
Look, it's gonna be her kid
who wears the scar.
Hm? I was 15 when Katrina hit.
We thought the flood
was gonna be the hard part,
but the real danger came after.
Restructuring,
also known as gentrification.
Restructured my uncle
right out of his home,
my best friends out of our school.
You know, the folks
that moved in had the audacity
to call my neighbors refugees.
Like we were the interlopers.
It's like watching the water bust
through the levee all over again.
We couldn't do nothing to plug it up.
That landlord's name
is Gunnar Jovanovic.
I found some pretty heavy dirt
on him if you wanna hear it.
No.
Ray, these are public records.
We're not doing anything wrong.
I just I don't feel good
digging like this.
Okay, fine, totally get it.
I know that one person couldn't
change what happened in your city.
But maybe you could change what happens
in this woman and her son's life.
I didn't get to introduce
myself the other day.
Special Agent Ray Cannon, FBI.
Hey, look, this is all legal, OK?
If they can't pay, they can't stay.
Yeah, no. I completely agree.
Speaking of, who's gonna
move into your place?
- What?
- Your apartment.
Yeah, I was wondering
who was gonna move in
when you go to prison for tax evasion.
See, raising the rent, that's one thing.
Skimming the difference off the top,
that's a whole 'nother animal.
Now, by my calculations,
you owe $75,000 in back taxes.
Now, I can call my buddies
down at the IRS
and get this handled, or you can draw up
another lease for these nice folks.
I know what it looks like
when a bully games the system,
but we're not gonna
have that today, right?
Wow, that was
thank you.
It's not a big deal.
Actually, it kind of is.
I'm Cora, and this is my son, Caleb.
I'm Ray.
You're really an FBI agent?
I sure am.
Can I see your gun?
No, I usually don't have it
when I'm not working.
What about you?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
NFL quarterback,
like Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson.
OK, all right. Well, you know what?
I look forward
to seeing you play one day.
Can I help you take these back inside?
Actually, I have a better idea.
Would you mind?
I'm not very good.
Yeah, no worries.
All right, let's see what you got.
All right? Come on.
- Ready?
- Yep.
Oh!
OK.
Yeah, kid's got an arm on him.
Actually, he's got two of 'em.
I see what you did there.
Funny.
All right, young king.
I'm going long, all right?
Ten hut.
- Oh!
- Oh!
- Let's go!
- Ready?
Let's go.
There we go, buddy.