The Glades s03e08 Episode Script
Fountain Of Youth
Welcome to paradise.
Or in the words of Ponce de León, La Florida, the place of flowers.
Now, Ponce first came to St.
Augustine in 1513 in search of a fabled fountain that rolled back the ravages of time for those lucky enough to bathe in it.
But our famous spring won't turn you into Selena Gomez.
[ Laughter .]
We can leave that to our spa's counselors and masseuses.
So, for now, just relax, recharge, and let our wonderful staff and healing waters bring you back to life.
[ All gasp .]
Oh, that's appealing.
So, I'm thinking change of plans and we go out for breakfast.
Oh, the clogged sink.
I totally forgot.
[Bleep.]
No, no, no, no.
It's no worries.
You study.
I'll plunge.
Thank you, but I think it's way past the plunging stage.
Mnh-mnh.
Watch this.
[ Cellphone chimes .]
The Attorney General's office? Like that hanging over my head is helping me focus.
I should've just slept with the guy.
[ Chuckles .]
I really thought that recording Jason Elkins trying to extort me for sex was a good plan.
It was a great plan right up until your attorney heard it and realized that Elkins' defense would probably use it against you.
I didn't record him to extort a better tax deal.
I recorded him to get his fat ass out of my house.
Cal, listen.
This isn't gonna derail your plans, okay? I'm guessing the Attorney General won't even allow it in court.
No harm, no foul, right? Which is more than what I can say for your sink.
Oh, hey, you might want to hit the tub next it's backed up with cereal.
Ew.
And all this plunging is just moving all that "ew" around.
I'd say you're gonna need your pipes snaked, lady.
And on that note, I'm out.
- Bye, honey.
- Bye, honey.
Bye, honey.
[ Door closes .]
You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was getting used to the idea.
It could be the stupid look on his mother's face every time you're around.
Aw.
[ Laughs .]
[ Cellphone rings .]
Yeah.
Jennifer.
Fountain of youth? Really? Spa has a mineral spring.
Was a tourist trap They kept the name for marketing.
Voted top spa in Florida three years in a row.
I always wanted to take Mike.
We love to spa together.
Mike? My boyfriend? Oh, right.
The whole long-distance thing.
Yeah, he's a commercial pilot.
Flies Orlando to London.
Very stressful.
Yeah.
That's a long-distance relationship.
You get used to it.
And it works with the job.
Brandy Phillips, 34, "retired" supermodel.
She bought the spa a few years ago.
Her husband, Bruce, is in Georgia for business.
He's been notified and is flying home.
Staff members found her when the spa opened at 11:00 A.
M.
Based on the degree of dermal saturation, I'd say she's been in the water about four hours.
She's got a nasty gash in the side of her skull and petechial hemorrhages, causing her to exhibit signs of asphyxiation and drow.
.
drowning.
Like maybe she put up a fight? And lost.
Think the killer knocked her out and finished her off in the fountain? Well, that would certainly explain this.
Ladies' diamond gold watch.
And, Brandy being blond, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that that's the killer's brown hair.
I'll get Daniel to do DNA swabs on the spa's customers and staff.
"B and B forever.
" Well, unless Brandy liked to share toilets with complete strangers, I would say this is from her husband, Bruce, with a "B.
" Ironic.
I bet she bought this place hoping to stay forever young.
And ended up forever dead.
What? Carlos: The body was in the water too long to establish time of death.
I'll have to get her on the table to confirm.
They were handing them out.
For guests.
What did the spa guide have to say? That Ponce de León wasn't looking for eternal life.
He was impotent, and he thought the fountain of youth would help him have kids.
So you know what that means.
That you have the attention span of a gnat? That our country was discovered by a man looking for Viagra.
And that this place is booked solid all year-round thanks to their world-famous fountain cure for aging.
"Human Growth Hormone deficiency analysis.
" High-tech snake oil.
HGH is produced naturally in the pituitary gland.
It adds muscle mass, increases our sex drive.
Over time, the brain produces less.
Quacks are injecting people full of HGH, claiming it will make them young again.
Wow.
$5,000 for a hormone work-up? Another grand a day for meals and accommodations, $2,000 more for injections.
This place isn't a fountain of youth it's a fountain of cash.
Groundskeepers found Brandy's cell.
She made two calls early this morning.
One at 6:52 to Tara and a second call, 7:05, to Bruce.
Who's Tara and why is Brandy calling her before her own husband? Good question.
I'll ask.
Tara.
Sorry.
My receptionist is late again, of all days.
So, it says here that Brandy was discovered at the age of 17 in an Orlando mall and then retired at the age of 30 with $100 million? She was a very generous and beautiful person inside and out.
Life rewarded her for that.
There's no pictures of you here, Dr.
Valdez.
Were you a silent partner? It's Tara.
And I'm the spa's medical director.
I developed the fountain cure at the University of Caracas in Venezuela.
So, Brandy was the beauty, you were the brains.
That's got to get old fast.
Jealousy? Not even close.
Brandy was like a sister to me.
Okay.
So, do you know why your sister was here so early in the morning? [ Telephone ringing .]
It was her beauty routine.
Every morning, she bathed in the fountain, did yoga, got a massage.
Everyone fears aging, especially a woman whose power is her beauty.
Especially if her doctor preys on those fears to bankroll a spa.
The spa was Brandy's idea.
She didn't care how old she was.
She cared how old she felt.
HGH helped her live a Fuller life.
Jennifer: Two cellphones usually means somebody's trying to hide something.
Do you know somebody named Chris? He texted her last night.
"I'm sorry.
Please give me another chance"? It was a work phone.
Brandy was happily married.
I would have known.
I'll get Daniel to track the number.
Brandy's father? Her father? [ Scoffs .]
Try her husband.
Bruce Phillips? FDLE.
I'm sorry about your wife.
Thanks.
I'm, uh, still, uh, a little kind of shaking.
And where'd you fly to? My auto-leasing business out of Valdosta.
It's, uh, more like a hobby, actually.
I'm retired.
I just, uh, flew up there yesterday to check in.
Valdosta? That's a short flight.
Just over the Georgia state line.
Any excuse to fly this baby.
- Salty Pete's? - Yeah.
Boiled peanuts.
Always get a bag when I'm up there.
Try one.
Yeah, I did sort of miss breakfast.
Thank you.
Do you have any idea why Brandy would have cheated on you with a guy named Chris? Excuse me? I'm sorry.
We found a second cellphone in your wife's office.
There were texts from somebody named Chris.
Do you have any idea who that is? No, I don't.
And Brandy wouldn't be cheating on me.
Yeah, well, you are twice her age.
And, you know, the ponytail? Hey, I can beat men half my age in the gym, the boardroom, or the bedroom, pal.
Courtesy of Dr.
Valdez's controversial HGH treatment.
Tara.
Yes, Tara.
Well, I discovered her and her treatment in Caracas.
I was her first U.
S.
patient.
And there's nothing controversial about it.
I mean, her fountain cure? It works.
And I am living proof of that.
I mean, I saw an opportunity.
I brokered a deal that brought Tara and my wife together to launch the spa.
Brokered? That's just a fancy way of saying "using other people's money," right? You, um You recognize this? I believe that's my wife's watch.
We found it at the crime scene.
Carlos: It was torn off her wrist during some kind of struggle.
And there was a length of hair caught in the watch's bracelet.
Same color as your hair.
Are you saying I'm a suspect? I just flew in from Georgia.
We just need a sample to rule out any other DNA that we may find.
It'll just take a minute.
Let's go.
Yeah.
Sure.
Fine.
Anything to catch this animal.
Enjoy those.
Really? You always eat the evidence? No.
Well, not always.
Daniel? Yeah, can you get me the flight plan for a G4, tail number, uh, November-577-Papa-9? Yeah, oh, and, uh, and I need you to do something else for me.
I looked into those texts from our victim's phone like you asked.
The number's from Raleigh, North Carolina, but it's registered to an Edward Holloway, a marine sergeant in Germany.
I left word at his base.
Anything on Brandy's credit cards? Nothing unusual, except for a charge for home life sciences.
They perform physicals at your house, the kind required for life insurance.
Check the beneficiary on the policy.
Maybe somebody killed her for insurance money.
I did.
Her policy was rejected.
Uh, insurance company couldn't legally say why, but it does make you wonder how a 34-year-old supermodel fails a physical.
Well, maybe she wasn't the world's most perfect woman after all.
On the outside, she was the picture of youth.
Inside, not so much More like 90.
Enlarged heart and liver, arthritic joints, hardened arteries.
She was mega-dosing HGH.
Made her body grow out of control.
Why would somebody take that much? Burn fat, tone without exercise, have more energy.
If a little's good, a lot's better.
Well, HGH has legit uses.
Childhood dwarfism, deterioration from aids.
But no one's done any kind of long-term study on this stuff in healthy adults.
If Brandy kept taking these levels, she would have died within a year.
But somebody beat HGH to the punch.
Pull Dr.
Valdez's prescription totals.
Let's see what her HGH numbers tell us.
Were you able to establish the time and cause of death? Not yet With a body this messed up, I have to transect body tissues and do multiple testing.
Could take a while.
[ Cellphone chimes .]
Sorry.
Text alert.
Highway Patrol? Fashion police.
It's a media website.
Man on TV: Sources say Brandy Phillips' death was an early-morning accident.
And what sources are those? Tara: We will miss Brandy's beauty, her devotion to a healthy lifestyle.
Looks like the good doctor's already spin-doctoring the story.
This tragic, senseless accident took her from us far too early.
Yeah, but only by a year.
She's not worried about preserving her partner's memory.
She's worrying about preserving her treatment, because she knows that if word gets out that her cure killed Brandy Phillips, her fountain of youth spa is dead in the water.
- Thank you so much.
Woman: - Thank you.
To whom can I make this out? Uh, Dr.
Carlos Sanchez with an "S.
" Yeah.
He's our chief medical examiner.
He says your aging cure's a scam.
Obviously not, detective.
Oh, well, not so much a scam as a What was the other thing he said? Oh, a health risk That within a year, it would have caused the death of Brandy Phillips.
Someplace we can chat? [ Telephone ringing .]
Spa weekends starting at 10 grand, and you can't pay anyone to answer the phone? [ Beep .]
[ Ringing continues .]
Guess not.
Among other things, Brandy had an enlarged heart, liver, and the arthritic joints of a 90-year-old.
What? Did you know that she failed a life-insurance physical last month? - She never mentioned that.
- Or she did and you're lying.
I mean, you're an anesthesiologist, not an endocrinologist.
So that makes me a liar? Jim: No, what makes you a liar is saying you're an expert in a specialty that you have no training for.
So, 2,000 patients at $20,000 a year for HGH injections and tests? That's about Tch, tch, tch, tch, tch, carry the zero $40 million.
Plenty of motive to kill Brandy Phillips before the world found out it was your fountain cure that was about to do her in.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Ooh.
Wow.
See that? Answer the phone.
Not hard.
Daniel.
I talked to Holloway, the marine in Germany? He bought a prepaid cellphone for his stepdaughter, Christa Johnson, on her 18th birthday.
Hasn't heard from her since.
So, Chris is actually Christa.
That ring a bell, doctor? She's my receptionist.
Started three weeks ago.
The one that hasn't shown up for work for two days? [ Dog barking .]
Okay, angry dog, registered sex offender View of I-95.
Yeah, Casa de Christa has all the amenities.
Her landlord says she's been here for a month, already late on rent.
Christa Johnson? FDLE.
[ Knock on door .]
The door's open.
Jim: Looks like tinkerbell's in the wind.
[ Cellphone beeps .]
Colleen? Yeah, I'm gonna need that BOLO.
Johnson, Christa.
Uh, 18, brown hair, brown eyes, I'm thinking about 5'8".
Oh, and run her sheet, too.
It's looks like she was cozying up to the boss.
She was cozying up to somebody.
An earring box from Demint's minus the earrings.
Expensive? I'd kill for a pair.
How does an 18-year-old who can't pay her rent at a trailer park afford to shop at Demint's? She doesn't.
But I have an idea who does.
Manager at the Demint's in Palm Beach says Bruce is a regular.
Bought diamond earrings worth 20 grand last month.
[ Whistles .]
Yeah.
I put photos of the earrings and Christa out over the wire, like you told me to.
What put you onto Bruce? A man who brokers other people's money and has expensive taste in women? Not too big a leap.
Expensive taste in cars, too.
Check this out.
"Rare rides.
" His company in Valdosta.
He imports the latest sports cars Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches Leases them at a premium, sells them after a year, and writes off their depreciation as a tax loss.
So he gets the government to pay for his toys.
Neat trick.
Oh, he has a Wikipedia page? He was corporate raider in the '90s.
Ruthless.
He took over companies, gutted them for cash.
[ Pops lips .]
Moved on.
Did the same thing with his wives.
It says here Brandy is his sixth.
Divorced each one of them around 30 and traded her in for a younger model.
Did the same thing with his cars.
And it sounds like Bruce was taking Christa for a test drive.
[ Grunting .]
This part of the grieving process, Bruce? [ Breathing heavily .]
Working out helps me cope.
No, I mean your tomato face.
It looks like your head's about to explode.
Yeah, should we call Dr.
Valdez? I mean, a man your age can't be too careful.
It's niacin.
I take it to pump up my metabolism rate when I lift.
So, did you catch my wife's killer? Which wife? It's just, we noticed you had a few.
Six, to be exact, each one traded in for a newer model when they hit 30.
Yeah, well, Brandy was the end of the line for me.
What about Christa Johnson? You know, the 18-year-old you just dumped 20 grand on who's now on the run? Jennifer: We found a Demint's box in her trailer.
SKU number matched the earrings you bought last month.
Well, I bought those as an anniversary gift for Brandy, so Christa must have stolen them from her office.
Well, then why did Christa text an apology to Brandy the day before she was murdered? I'm thinking she was telling her about your affair.
And you being a five-time marital loser, killing Brandy's a lot cheaper than paying alimony, huh? How do you know it wasn't Christa? I mean, she's the one who's in the wind.
And her motive would be what? That she just wants to be with you that bad that she's gonna kill for you? [ Chuckles .]
Not seeing it, Arnold.
All right.
I think we're done here.
I think we're just getting started.
Arnold? Really? Hey, at least this time I didn't eat the evidence.
Oh! Oh! Oh, okay.
If the problem is the tree roots cutting into the septic line and clogging it up, well, then this snake should be cutting right through them.
Great.
No, actually, that's not great.
No, I have to testify tomorrow on a bench hearing to see if my tape is admissible.
Uh, your attorney's introducing it? Oh, no.
He's not.
But Elkins' defense team is.
Elkins knows that I recorded him, so he's trying to turn this into a he said/she said.
And Weiss said that if the judge believes him, that they could prosecute me for extorting an IRS agent.
How did this turn into such a nightmare? Okay, look, Cal.
Uh, Elkins is probably just trying to shake a deal out of the Attorney General.
No one wants the trouble and expense of a trial that's gonna be deadlocked.
Muddying the waters is a great way for the defense to keep it from going to a trial.
[ Laughing .]
Aah! No! [ Both laugh .]
Beautiful.
Speaking of muddying the waters, how bad is it? Well, uh You got a beer? for a new septic tank? Is that really the problem? I might be wrong.
But I'm not, unfortunately.
Great.
And even if I had it, it just feels like I'm chasing good money after bad.
No, I don't know.
You got great equity in the house, the market will bounce back way before you need to sell.
Unless I need to sell sooner.
Cal, you're not going to prison.
Right.
Okay, let's just say that I avoid that disastrous possibility.
I still have another year in Atlanta, and then my residency, wherever that ends up being.
Wherever that ends up being? Yeah.
I'm trying to find a match in Florida, but you saw what happened to Palm Glade.
I have to go where the work is.
Oh.
I mean I mean, yeah.
I-I-I mean, of course.
[ Cellphone rings .]
[ Groans, sighs .]
What do you got for me, Carlos? I found no water in Brandy's lungs or stomach.
She didn't drown.
Someone put her in the fountain to make it look that way.
- Then what's the cause of death? - Coronary arrest from asphyxiation.
Problem is, there's no ligature marks on her neck, so she wasn't strangled.
Right now, I'm thinking the head wound caused her to convulse and aspirate.
Or she was drugged with sleeping pills or barbiturates.
I'm running a tox screen.
Oh, thanks, Carlos, for narrowing it down to about a dozen possibilities.
Any chance we can get the hair DNA - back in our lifetime? - We took two dozen samples.
I'm working on it.
Who peed in your sandbox? Mm.
Our Christa's no angel, that's for sure.
She has quite the juvie record in North Carolina.
Ooh.
Shoplifting, vandalism, passed 5 grand in forged checks, six months' detention for fighting.
Jennifer: Robbery and assaults.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Maybe Bruce is right.
We should be looking much harder at her.
Yeah? Got it.
Thanks.
BOLO got a hit on the earrings.
Jackson Beach pawn shop.
The owner's buying time for you.
A grand? That's ridiculous.
The settings alone are worth a grand.
I'm seeing inclusions.
The cut and the color are also subpar.
Subpar? No, you're nuts.
That's 2 1/2 carats of flawless perfection.
Please, mister.
They're my mom's.
She got into a fight with her drunk-ass boyfriend and he called the cops, and she really needs me to bail her out.
Uh, yeah.
I'm looking for a going-away present for the little lady.
[ Grunts .]
Should have taken the offer, Christa.
Trust me, it's a lot better than ours.
Christa Johnson, you're under arrest for the murder of Brandy Phillips.
And I'll take those.
Yoink.
Brandy fired me, okay? For coming in late all the time.
So I texted her for a second chance to prove I wasn't who she thought I was.
The girl who was banging her husband? Bruce? That's disgusting.
He's, like, older than my stepdad's dad.
Easier for you to make him pony up the bling.
You know, taking candy from a 60-year-old baby.
He hit on me, but I told him I would never sleep with a married man.
Next thing I know, he's giving me jewelry.
Aw, he said you stole it.
Then he's a liar.
Yeah, that's what he said about you.
So, one of you two liars is telling the truth.
I'm not a thief, okay? Really? Oh, 'cause that's funny.
It says here that you stole $5,000 from a sunglass hut in Raleigh.
Just right there.
That is you, see? I was 15.
- I made a mistake.
- Jennifer: Now you're 18.
Next mistake will get you real time in real prison.
Which is really why you sent those texts to Brandy, but she refused to hear you out.
She was gonna report you for stealing the earrings, so you surprised her during her early-morning routine.
You knew no one else was there, so you cracked her head open, left her in the fountain to drown.
I swear I didn't kill Brandy, okay? I was home in bed that morning.
Can anyone verify that? No.
I mean, I live alone.
[ Clicks tongue .]
Being alone isn't a crime, okay? Doesn't make me a killer.
Whatever.
I didn't kill her.
And you can't prove that I did.
Not yet.
But if you did, trust me we will.
[ Door closes .]
Wow.
Look at you.
Professional and hot.
I like the direction this is going.
Yeah? 'Cause I left my one decent suit in Atlanta, and I really didn't feel like showing up at a sexual-harassment hearing wearing cutoffs and a tank top.
Is this too sexy? Not for me.
But I'm not sitting in judgment, professionally speaking.
[ Chuckles .]
Wow.
And that answers that.
You look amazing.
See? I shouldn't have barged in like that.
No, no, no.
No.
Thank you.
Uh, it's just you confirmed what I was already feeling, which means that I have to go home and change.
I'll see you later? Yeah, um, uh, good luck.
Tell me how it goes? Sorry.
No, just yeah.
What'd you make of Christa's story? I think she's a scared, little girl who raised herself and is probably a very good liar.
- So, you think she did it? - I think she did something.
Just not sure if it's murder.
Daniel? Sorry.
I checked with F.
A.
A.
They have no records of Bruce's G4 leaving Valdosta anytime before he says he did.
So, Bruce's alibi checks out.
Or it's the perfect cover.
Valdosta's only a 30-minute flight, and I'm sure that Bruce is certified in more than one plane.
Check and see if maybe he rented one? On it.
Also, I looked more into his financials.
Apparently, Bruce Phillips didn't retire.
He was forced out by junior management.
His takeover company was taken over? You can't make that up.
He took his buyout and bought Chinese Internet stocks.
[ Snaps fingers .]
Got wiped out.
So, how does he swing all the bling? His life was a business expense for Brandy.
The jet, sports cars, jewelry, even where he eats lunch at Blu Sushi every Thursday.
- Using Brandy's corporate credit card.
- Which was canceled the morning she died.
So, Brandy finds out that Bruce is trying to bang Christa, cancels his credit card.
Bruce cancels Brandy.
What? No? How can my company card be canceled? It's my company.
Damn it.
You mean your dead wife's company, Bruce.
The one you've been sponging off of to support your lifestyle since you've been thrown off the board of your own company.
Yep.
Ageless Beauty Industries.
How does that feel, Arnold? Whatever.
I'm hardly broke.
Unless you got something better than that, I'm late for my massage.
How about we found Christa? Yeah? You told me she ran.
We ran faster.
She said that you gave her the earrings to get her into bed.
But she wouldn't sleep with you because you're married and, you know, older than hell.
Oh, so I killed my wife to tap this lying piece of ass? No, you killed your wife because she found out you were trying to tap that piece of ass and she had had enough.
That's why she cut off your card.
You'd lose all your toys Your jet, your car, Sushi on Thursdays.
Brandy never cared how much I spent.
We were better than ever.
Had our health, wealth.
Well, her wealth, at least.
You were broke, she was dying.
Megadoses of HGH enlarged her internal organs.
She was under a doctor's care.
A doctor who cared more about writing her book, evidently, than Brandy's health.
You brought Tara's cure to the states.
You made your wife the face of it.
But when you found out that the cure was actually killing her, you had another investment going belly up like all your other investments.
Then you plan on cashing in your chips Oh, sorry Your wife's chips Before the world found out.
So, you killed Brandy, planned on dissolving the company into cash just like you've done with all your other companies.
There's only one little problem with your theory.
Oh? There are no chips to cash, not for me.
When we made the deal, I insisted that Tara sign a no-compete clause, saying she couldn't take the treatment regimen to any other spa.
Now, there's a sword that cuts both ways, huh? Meaning if Brandy dies, the deal's off? You got it, buddy.
All reverts back to Tara.
[ Engine turns over .]
And now that Brandy's gone, Tara calls all the shots.
And I guess her first shot was to cut me off.
So, are we done here? - For now.
- Good.
[ Engine revs .]
You thinking what I'm thinking? Absolutely.
Well, maybe not.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Carlos? I redid the tox screen based on your new working theory.
They came back clean for sleeping pills and barbiturates.
And her death wasn't caused by a head injury, either.
So, what caused her asphyxiation? I scoured her body.
I found needle marks on her hip and buttocks, which bear the markings of repeated injections of HGH.
Then I found this.
Not a user-friendly injection site.
It's either a weird coincidence or someone's using the head injury to hide the injection marks.
Yeah, but an injection of what, I'm not sure.
But since the tox reports came back clean, I'm thinking it has to be something fast-acting that quickly vanished from her body.
Like something an anesthesiologist would use? Well, you called this one right.
Tara Valdez is booked on the red-eye to Caracas tonight.
Not good.
She's got family there, and Venezuela doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.
S.
, so she gets there, she's gone.
Then let's make sure she doesn't get gone.
Te llamo cuando llegue.
SÃ.
Call who when you arrive? Can't this wait? I start my book tour tomorrow.
Jim: In Venezuela.
Yeah, smart move.
You won't be making it.
A search warrant for what? For this.
Succinylcholine, also known as sux.
It's a strictly-controlled anesthetic used to paralyze the throat and larynx of patients for intubations.
Which I am licensed for.
I carry sux for emergencies.
Like killing your partner, who was dying already and was going to lower the value of your booming spa business? Without supplemental oxygen, the patient can't breathe.
They'll asphyxiate in minutes and die awake, just like Brandy died.
Before you dumped her in the fountain to make it look like an accident.
Which, by the way, is what really sucks.
Tara: As I tell all of my clients, this is your chance to own a piece of the real Fountain of Youth.
That is a great pitch, especially the market research and growth potential.
I mean, who knew that anti-aging medicine could become a $300 billion global market in the next decade? Except someone who wrote a book on it.
That's why you're doing the book tour, because you wanted the fountain cure to be yours, not Brandy's.
Except Brandy has a controlling interest in the spa, which means she owns your research, so you had to kill Brandy so you could become a free agent.
- You went to "kerakas" - Caracas.
- That's what I said.
- I didn't kill her.
Oh, we checked the card-swipe log on the medical-supply room where you kept the sux.
Yeah, there were only two people in there on the day before the murder You and Brandy.
And I'm pretty sure Brandy didn't stab herself in the head with sux.
Oh.
There's something else you didn't do.
Take your own medicine.
What are you talking about? This.
Your hair.
We're testing it against the hair that we found at the crime scene.
But one thing this has already told us is the history of all the drugs you've ever taken.
[ Bottle thuds .]
Or, in your case, not taken.
You don't take HGH.
You never have.
You don't need to, because you have what money can't buy good genes.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You're a fraud.
A secret that Brandy probably found out.
And with a $300 billion global market at stake, a secret definitely worth killing for.
No.
That's not right.
Brandy didn't know.
No one did.
And I wasn't going to look for investors.
I was going to try to sell my shares.
To be free from Brandy.
From Bruce.
Brandy and I had an agreement to split the company Bruce would inherit all of her shares.
He already treated the company like his own personal checkbook.
You cut off his credit card.
What? To piss him off? He's insufferable.
I wanted out of the business before he ran it into the ground.
Well, you might be in luck, 'cause if Dr.
Sanchez finds sux in Brandy's system, you're out of the business for good.
Nice work.
Doctors are hard nuts to crack.
Piece of cake.
Thanks, Daniel.
Fell for it? Hook, line, and follicle.
You didn't screen her hair, did you? You went fishing.
And reeled in a big one.
Bruce he lied, said that Tara ran the spa.
But it's all his now.
[ Sighs .]
Whew! [ Sighs .]
What the hell are you doing? Same as you.
Well, not quite the same.
I'm sweating a suspect.
You're just sweating.
Profusely, I might add.
Why don't you get out of here before I break every bone in your body? Hostile takeover.
Yeah.
I get it.
It's kind of like your pattern, huh? Your wife's business takes off, you swoop in and take it over.
She does all the heavy lifting while you just take the shiny, new You know, I've taken about as much shit from you as I'm going to.
Fast cars, private jets.
If you ain't living, you're dying, right, Arnold? But that was about to change with your wife's death, so you killed her All right.
That's it, asswipe.
On your feet.
Let's go, man.
- Attaboy, Bruce.
Come on.
- Yeah! Let's go! Come on! Right now! Threaten a police officer so I can hit you with a warrant and find out you're juicing on steroids, because, as we all know, that can make a sane man go into a homicidal rage, and you are anything but sane.
Yeah.
Damn it! Wow.
[ Groans .]
That had to hurt.
Elkins: I admit it was a mistake Agreeing to meet Miss Cargill at her home.
And I should have known better than to accept the wine, but I'm human.
I guess I didn't realize what was happening until she showed me that she had taped our conversation.
Did she tell you why she did that? Miss Cargill had perjured herself by signing fraudulent income-tax returns, and she wanted me not to refer them for prosecution.
She also wanted me to push through a very light payment schedule for her back taxes.
Frankly, given the situation I had foolishly walked into, I was afraid not to do exactly what she wanted.
Mm.
All right.
Thank you, Mr.
Elkins.
That's all.
[ Clears throat .]
Miss Cargill.
We've all heard the tape.
Tell us your recollection of events.
Um, after Mr.
Elkins made his proposition and assumed I agreed to it, he tried to kiss me, which I stopped by playing him back the recording.
And when he realized that I had recorded his intentions, he called me a bitch and tried to take my phone away.
Then what happened? I kneed him in the balls and told him to get out of my house.
[ Light laughter .]
[ Sighs .]
But, in fact, you did receive a favorable deal and were never brought up on criminal charges.
Isn't that correct? Look, I know what this might look like, and I can sit up here and play the victim like he just did, but I don't have to.
I was raising my son alone because my husband was in prison and I was afraid of this man, afraid that I had done something wrong by signing these returns, and he knew it.
But I'm not afraid of him now.
And, yes, I recorded his conversation without his consent, but I had to.
And if he thinks that I won't swear in court in front of a jury and tell my story so that no one ever has to go through what I went through that day, then he is very much mistaken.
All right, I think I got what I need.
I'll release my decision tomorrow.
[ Gavel bangs .]
I warned you this could happen.
He suing me over the steam? I wore a towel.
Daniel: The spa's legal charter, like you asked for.
Spells out ownership and rules of secession.
Confirming Bruce Phillips takes over the spa if Brandy dies.
Actually, Brandy's heir gets everything.
Wait, her heir? She never had children.
Carlos: DNA's back.
You're not gonna believe this.
I tested the killer's hair against Brandy to prove it wasn't hers.
It came back a mitochondrial match, which only occurs between women and confirms Brandy had a daughter Christa.
Her receptionist.
And maybe her killer.
Hmm.
Sephora, Chanel Nice stuff.
I found them in Christa's work desk, along with this.
Jim: Brandy's security card? I also checked Christa's search engine on her desktop.
"Basics of Succinylcholine" from a pharmacy school website.
So, it wasn't Brandy that opened the medical-storage room that night.
It was Christa.
We found Brandy's security card in your desk and your hair in the watband that got lost during the struggle.
You want to tell us how those got there? Okay.
Why don't we tell you a few things that we know? Like we know Brandy was your birth mom, Christa.
Figure she must have been about 16 when she gave you up, which I'm guessing is why you've been angry your whole life.
Jennifer: Your stepdad said you were a handful, called the adoption agency on your 16th birthday, asked them to contact your birth mom, who refused to meet you.
Which must have hurt like hell, you being rejected all over again.
So you stole money from the mall, you hired a private investigator, you tracked Brandy to the fountain spa, you moved to Florida, you got a job answering phones right outside her office, just waiting for your moment.
You knew your story would hurt her image, and you wanted payback.
When Brandy wouldn't pay you, you got your payback another way.
No, I never wanted her money.
Okay.
What did you want? To change her mind.
I thought if she got to know me as a person, maybe she'd let me in her life.
And at first, she was really nice.
She gave me makeup and clothes and told me funny stories and So, one day, after work, I told her who I was.
.
So she fired you, and she asked you to leave.
Said I violated her wishes, told me to never come back.
So I left, sent her those texts.
I went back the next morning.
She tried to pay me off.
I asked her why she was being so mean to me.
She went to call security, and I grabbed her, but the floor was wet and she slipped and she hit her head on the fountain, so I panicked and I ran.
I never meant to hurt her.
I just wanted her to know me.
[ Knock on door .]
[ Door closes .]
I transected tissue from Brandy's hidden injection site.
The sux was gone, but it decomposed into a metabolite called succinic acid, which I also found in Brandy's brain tissue.
I can say conclusively that the injection of sux she got the day she was murdered was definitely what killed her.
Brandy's security card to the medical-storage room was found in Christa's desk.
[ Cellphone rings .]
So that doesn't eliminate Christa.
No, but I'm guessing this will.
Daniel, did you find it? I wouldn't wait too long.
Jennifer: Pre-flight check? Where you headed? Valdosta.
Jim: Uh, so soon? I mean, you were just there.
Or at least your plane was.
You, my pony-tailed friend, were actually right here.
Yeah, check this out.
Here.
That's your Porsche crossing over the georgia/florida state-line toll booth at midnight on the day your wife was murdered and back through again at 3:00, same aftnoon.
Plenty of time for you to drive to St.
Augustine, kill your wife, and back to Valdosta - like you never even left.
- That's ridiculous.
You know how many black-on-black porsches there are in this state? [ Chuckles .]
Oh, oh.
Really? Really? Look.
Black porsches with your license plate on it? See that? Oh, also, we got another one.
Salty Pete's, which, I know, addictive as hell.
I can't stop anyway, you said Salty Pete's was in Valdosta.
It's actually in Olustee, Florida, just off the I-10.
And Salty Pete himself whose real name is Reuben, by the way.
It's kind of weird Well, he said that you were kind of agitated both times you pulled up in your Porsche.
Your business trip to Valdosta was just to establish an alibi.
So you came here, you saw Brandy and Christa fighting, you saw Brandy slip, cracked her head open.
You knew that not only did you have a solid alibi, but now you had someone you could frame it on.
You injected Brandy with a vial of sux that you stole from the spa's medical-storage room.
Using Brandy's security card, which you knew Christa kept in her desk.
And you used her computer to research the dosage of sux so it wouldn't get traced back to you.
You two, you can't prove any of tt.
Oh, actually Damn it.
We kind of can.
Your friend Reuben, he thought you were acting a little strange, so he saved this The sux that you threw away in his trash can.
Yeah.
Thank you.
[ Groans .]
She was dying right in front of my eyes.
She was supposed to be there for me, not the other way around.
Okay.
Who's gonna take care of you now, Arnold? Oh, wait.
I know.
Stark Penitentiary.
And I know it's not kind of spa living, but, hey, at least you have plenty of time to lift weights.
Thanks.
[ Sighs .]
You said "Arnold.
" [ Laughs .]
[ Sighs .]
This place is so beautiful.
Seems a shame to think what it was used for.
Even bigger shame to think that it almost ended up belonging to Bruce instead of you.
What are you talking about? Brandy changed the terms of her estate three months ago when the adoption agency contacted her to say that you wanted to meet her.
But But I don't get it.
She refused to meet me and And she was so nasty to me when I told her who I was.
Because she knew she was dying.
My guess is, she didn't want you to go through the pain of losing her a second time At least without something to remember her by.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Come here.
Come here.
Hey.
How'd it go? Callie: So, judge Pike believed my version of the story, and Weiss said that Elkins' lawyers were so scared of my testimony that they basically leapt at the state's deal.
[ Laughs .]
So no trial, and he's doing time.
and I'm free to go.
Yeah.
I noticed you're taking much more stuff to Atlanta.
Well, I don't want to have to buy a second set of clothes and all the things for the apartment.
Right.
Yeah.
Sure you can't stay for one more night? I mean, we could celebrate.
I'd love to, but the hospital's been more than understanding, and I have my third-year board exams coming up in a couple of weeks, and I really need to hunker down.
I know.
I know.
I know.
It's just, you know, it's disappointing.
I know.
For me, too.
Right.
You okay? Yeah.
You? I've got to go.
I want to get to Georgia before it gets too dark.
I know.
I know.
Um Wait.
Got a thermos? [ Laughs .]
Coffee.
Yes.
Black.
Nice and strong.
Route punched into the GPS? It's all punched in the GPS, although I think I cou get there with my eyes closed.
Needed you so which I will have to do if I don't leave, like, now.
Right.
Right.
Um, okay.
Have a safe trip.
I will.
Text me on the way? But not while you're driving.
I'll make you so proud of me we'll make 'em turn their heads I love you.
[ Exhales sharply .]
I love you.
[ Both chuckle .]
Okay.
Okay.
[ Engine turns over .]
- I'll text you.
- Just not while No, no.
Not while I'm driving.
- Right.
- Of course.
Say you'll be my darling be my baby now yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah be my baby be my baby be my baby say you'll be my darling be my baby be my baby now yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah be my baby be my baby
Or in the words of Ponce de León, La Florida, the place of flowers.
Now, Ponce first came to St.
Augustine in 1513 in search of a fabled fountain that rolled back the ravages of time for those lucky enough to bathe in it.
But our famous spring won't turn you into Selena Gomez.
[ Laughter .]
We can leave that to our spa's counselors and masseuses.
So, for now, just relax, recharge, and let our wonderful staff and healing waters bring you back to life.
[ All gasp .]
Oh, that's appealing.
So, I'm thinking change of plans and we go out for breakfast.
Oh, the clogged sink.
I totally forgot.
[Bleep.]
No, no, no, no.
It's no worries.
You study.
I'll plunge.
Thank you, but I think it's way past the plunging stage.
Mnh-mnh.
Watch this.
[ Cellphone chimes .]
The Attorney General's office? Like that hanging over my head is helping me focus.
I should've just slept with the guy.
[ Chuckles .]
I really thought that recording Jason Elkins trying to extort me for sex was a good plan.
It was a great plan right up until your attorney heard it and realized that Elkins' defense would probably use it against you.
I didn't record him to extort a better tax deal.
I recorded him to get his fat ass out of my house.
Cal, listen.
This isn't gonna derail your plans, okay? I'm guessing the Attorney General won't even allow it in court.
No harm, no foul, right? Which is more than what I can say for your sink.
Oh, hey, you might want to hit the tub next it's backed up with cereal.
Ew.
And all this plunging is just moving all that "ew" around.
I'd say you're gonna need your pipes snaked, lady.
And on that note, I'm out.
- Bye, honey.
- Bye, honey.
Bye, honey.
[ Door closes .]
You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was getting used to the idea.
It could be the stupid look on his mother's face every time you're around.
Aw.
[ Laughs .]
[ Cellphone rings .]
Yeah.
Jennifer.
Fountain of youth? Really? Spa has a mineral spring.
Was a tourist trap They kept the name for marketing.
Voted top spa in Florida three years in a row.
I always wanted to take Mike.
We love to spa together.
Mike? My boyfriend? Oh, right.
The whole long-distance thing.
Yeah, he's a commercial pilot.
Flies Orlando to London.
Very stressful.
Yeah.
That's a long-distance relationship.
You get used to it.
And it works with the job.
Brandy Phillips, 34, "retired" supermodel.
She bought the spa a few years ago.
Her husband, Bruce, is in Georgia for business.
He's been notified and is flying home.
Staff members found her when the spa opened at 11:00 A.
M.
Based on the degree of dermal saturation, I'd say she's been in the water about four hours.
She's got a nasty gash in the side of her skull and petechial hemorrhages, causing her to exhibit signs of asphyxiation and drow.
.
drowning.
Like maybe she put up a fight? And lost.
Think the killer knocked her out and finished her off in the fountain? Well, that would certainly explain this.
Ladies' diamond gold watch.
And, Brandy being blond, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that that's the killer's brown hair.
I'll get Daniel to do DNA swabs on the spa's customers and staff.
"B and B forever.
" Well, unless Brandy liked to share toilets with complete strangers, I would say this is from her husband, Bruce, with a "B.
" Ironic.
I bet she bought this place hoping to stay forever young.
And ended up forever dead.
What? Carlos: The body was in the water too long to establish time of death.
I'll have to get her on the table to confirm.
They were handing them out.
For guests.
What did the spa guide have to say? That Ponce de León wasn't looking for eternal life.
He was impotent, and he thought the fountain of youth would help him have kids.
So you know what that means.
That you have the attention span of a gnat? That our country was discovered by a man looking for Viagra.
And that this place is booked solid all year-round thanks to their world-famous fountain cure for aging.
"Human Growth Hormone deficiency analysis.
" High-tech snake oil.
HGH is produced naturally in the pituitary gland.
It adds muscle mass, increases our sex drive.
Over time, the brain produces less.
Quacks are injecting people full of HGH, claiming it will make them young again.
Wow.
$5,000 for a hormone work-up? Another grand a day for meals and accommodations, $2,000 more for injections.
This place isn't a fountain of youth it's a fountain of cash.
Groundskeepers found Brandy's cell.
She made two calls early this morning.
One at 6:52 to Tara and a second call, 7:05, to Bruce.
Who's Tara and why is Brandy calling her before her own husband? Good question.
I'll ask.
Tara.
Sorry.
My receptionist is late again, of all days.
So, it says here that Brandy was discovered at the age of 17 in an Orlando mall and then retired at the age of 30 with $100 million? She was a very generous and beautiful person inside and out.
Life rewarded her for that.
There's no pictures of you here, Dr.
Valdez.
Were you a silent partner? It's Tara.
And I'm the spa's medical director.
I developed the fountain cure at the University of Caracas in Venezuela.
So, Brandy was the beauty, you were the brains.
That's got to get old fast.
Jealousy? Not even close.
Brandy was like a sister to me.
Okay.
So, do you know why your sister was here so early in the morning? [ Telephone ringing .]
It was her beauty routine.
Every morning, she bathed in the fountain, did yoga, got a massage.
Everyone fears aging, especially a woman whose power is her beauty.
Especially if her doctor preys on those fears to bankroll a spa.
The spa was Brandy's idea.
She didn't care how old she was.
She cared how old she felt.
HGH helped her live a Fuller life.
Jennifer: Two cellphones usually means somebody's trying to hide something.
Do you know somebody named Chris? He texted her last night.
"I'm sorry.
Please give me another chance"? It was a work phone.
Brandy was happily married.
I would have known.
I'll get Daniel to track the number.
Brandy's father? Her father? [ Scoffs .]
Try her husband.
Bruce Phillips? FDLE.
I'm sorry about your wife.
Thanks.
I'm, uh, still, uh, a little kind of shaking.
And where'd you fly to? My auto-leasing business out of Valdosta.
It's, uh, more like a hobby, actually.
I'm retired.
I just, uh, flew up there yesterday to check in.
Valdosta? That's a short flight.
Just over the Georgia state line.
Any excuse to fly this baby.
- Salty Pete's? - Yeah.
Boiled peanuts.
Always get a bag when I'm up there.
Try one.
Yeah, I did sort of miss breakfast.
Thank you.
Do you have any idea why Brandy would have cheated on you with a guy named Chris? Excuse me? I'm sorry.
We found a second cellphone in your wife's office.
There were texts from somebody named Chris.
Do you have any idea who that is? No, I don't.
And Brandy wouldn't be cheating on me.
Yeah, well, you are twice her age.
And, you know, the ponytail? Hey, I can beat men half my age in the gym, the boardroom, or the bedroom, pal.
Courtesy of Dr.
Valdez's controversial HGH treatment.
Tara.
Yes, Tara.
Well, I discovered her and her treatment in Caracas.
I was her first U.
S.
patient.
And there's nothing controversial about it.
I mean, her fountain cure? It works.
And I am living proof of that.
I mean, I saw an opportunity.
I brokered a deal that brought Tara and my wife together to launch the spa.
Brokered? That's just a fancy way of saying "using other people's money," right? You, um You recognize this? I believe that's my wife's watch.
We found it at the crime scene.
Carlos: It was torn off her wrist during some kind of struggle.
And there was a length of hair caught in the watch's bracelet.
Same color as your hair.
Are you saying I'm a suspect? I just flew in from Georgia.
We just need a sample to rule out any other DNA that we may find.
It'll just take a minute.
Let's go.
Yeah.
Sure.
Fine.
Anything to catch this animal.
Enjoy those.
Really? You always eat the evidence? No.
Well, not always.
Daniel? Yeah, can you get me the flight plan for a G4, tail number, uh, November-577-Papa-9? Yeah, oh, and, uh, and I need you to do something else for me.
I looked into those texts from our victim's phone like you asked.
The number's from Raleigh, North Carolina, but it's registered to an Edward Holloway, a marine sergeant in Germany.
I left word at his base.
Anything on Brandy's credit cards? Nothing unusual, except for a charge for home life sciences.
They perform physicals at your house, the kind required for life insurance.
Check the beneficiary on the policy.
Maybe somebody killed her for insurance money.
I did.
Her policy was rejected.
Uh, insurance company couldn't legally say why, but it does make you wonder how a 34-year-old supermodel fails a physical.
Well, maybe she wasn't the world's most perfect woman after all.
On the outside, she was the picture of youth.
Inside, not so much More like 90.
Enlarged heart and liver, arthritic joints, hardened arteries.
She was mega-dosing HGH.
Made her body grow out of control.
Why would somebody take that much? Burn fat, tone without exercise, have more energy.
If a little's good, a lot's better.
Well, HGH has legit uses.
Childhood dwarfism, deterioration from aids.
But no one's done any kind of long-term study on this stuff in healthy adults.
If Brandy kept taking these levels, she would have died within a year.
But somebody beat HGH to the punch.
Pull Dr.
Valdez's prescription totals.
Let's see what her HGH numbers tell us.
Were you able to establish the time and cause of death? Not yet With a body this messed up, I have to transect body tissues and do multiple testing.
Could take a while.
[ Cellphone chimes .]
Sorry.
Text alert.
Highway Patrol? Fashion police.
It's a media website.
Man on TV: Sources say Brandy Phillips' death was an early-morning accident.
And what sources are those? Tara: We will miss Brandy's beauty, her devotion to a healthy lifestyle.
Looks like the good doctor's already spin-doctoring the story.
This tragic, senseless accident took her from us far too early.
Yeah, but only by a year.
She's not worried about preserving her partner's memory.
She's worrying about preserving her treatment, because she knows that if word gets out that her cure killed Brandy Phillips, her fountain of youth spa is dead in the water.
- Thank you so much.
Woman: - Thank you.
To whom can I make this out? Uh, Dr.
Carlos Sanchez with an "S.
" Yeah.
He's our chief medical examiner.
He says your aging cure's a scam.
Obviously not, detective.
Oh, well, not so much a scam as a What was the other thing he said? Oh, a health risk That within a year, it would have caused the death of Brandy Phillips.
Someplace we can chat? [ Telephone ringing .]
Spa weekends starting at 10 grand, and you can't pay anyone to answer the phone? [ Beep .]
[ Ringing continues .]
Guess not.
Among other things, Brandy had an enlarged heart, liver, and the arthritic joints of a 90-year-old.
What? Did you know that she failed a life-insurance physical last month? - She never mentioned that.
- Or she did and you're lying.
I mean, you're an anesthesiologist, not an endocrinologist.
So that makes me a liar? Jim: No, what makes you a liar is saying you're an expert in a specialty that you have no training for.
So, 2,000 patients at $20,000 a year for HGH injections and tests? That's about Tch, tch, tch, tch, tch, carry the zero $40 million.
Plenty of motive to kill Brandy Phillips before the world found out it was your fountain cure that was about to do her in.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Ooh.
Wow.
See that? Answer the phone.
Not hard.
Daniel.
I talked to Holloway, the marine in Germany? He bought a prepaid cellphone for his stepdaughter, Christa Johnson, on her 18th birthday.
Hasn't heard from her since.
So, Chris is actually Christa.
That ring a bell, doctor? She's my receptionist.
Started three weeks ago.
The one that hasn't shown up for work for two days? [ Dog barking .]
Okay, angry dog, registered sex offender View of I-95.
Yeah, Casa de Christa has all the amenities.
Her landlord says she's been here for a month, already late on rent.
Christa Johnson? FDLE.
[ Knock on door .]
The door's open.
Jim: Looks like tinkerbell's in the wind.
[ Cellphone beeps .]
Colleen? Yeah, I'm gonna need that BOLO.
Johnson, Christa.
Uh, 18, brown hair, brown eyes, I'm thinking about 5'8".
Oh, and run her sheet, too.
It's looks like she was cozying up to the boss.
She was cozying up to somebody.
An earring box from Demint's minus the earrings.
Expensive? I'd kill for a pair.
How does an 18-year-old who can't pay her rent at a trailer park afford to shop at Demint's? She doesn't.
But I have an idea who does.
Manager at the Demint's in Palm Beach says Bruce is a regular.
Bought diamond earrings worth 20 grand last month.
[ Whistles .]
Yeah.
I put photos of the earrings and Christa out over the wire, like you told me to.
What put you onto Bruce? A man who brokers other people's money and has expensive taste in women? Not too big a leap.
Expensive taste in cars, too.
Check this out.
"Rare rides.
" His company in Valdosta.
He imports the latest sports cars Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches Leases them at a premium, sells them after a year, and writes off their depreciation as a tax loss.
So he gets the government to pay for his toys.
Neat trick.
Oh, he has a Wikipedia page? He was corporate raider in the '90s.
Ruthless.
He took over companies, gutted them for cash.
[ Pops lips .]
Moved on.
Did the same thing with his wives.
It says here Brandy is his sixth.
Divorced each one of them around 30 and traded her in for a younger model.
Did the same thing with his cars.
And it sounds like Bruce was taking Christa for a test drive.
[ Grunting .]
This part of the grieving process, Bruce? [ Breathing heavily .]
Working out helps me cope.
No, I mean your tomato face.
It looks like your head's about to explode.
Yeah, should we call Dr.
Valdez? I mean, a man your age can't be too careful.
It's niacin.
I take it to pump up my metabolism rate when I lift.
So, did you catch my wife's killer? Which wife? It's just, we noticed you had a few.
Six, to be exact, each one traded in for a newer model when they hit 30.
Yeah, well, Brandy was the end of the line for me.
What about Christa Johnson? You know, the 18-year-old you just dumped 20 grand on who's now on the run? Jennifer: We found a Demint's box in her trailer.
SKU number matched the earrings you bought last month.
Well, I bought those as an anniversary gift for Brandy, so Christa must have stolen them from her office.
Well, then why did Christa text an apology to Brandy the day before she was murdered? I'm thinking she was telling her about your affair.
And you being a five-time marital loser, killing Brandy's a lot cheaper than paying alimony, huh? How do you know it wasn't Christa? I mean, she's the one who's in the wind.
And her motive would be what? That she just wants to be with you that bad that she's gonna kill for you? [ Chuckles .]
Not seeing it, Arnold.
All right.
I think we're done here.
I think we're just getting started.
Arnold? Really? Hey, at least this time I didn't eat the evidence.
Oh! Oh! Oh, okay.
If the problem is the tree roots cutting into the septic line and clogging it up, well, then this snake should be cutting right through them.
Great.
No, actually, that's not great.
No, I have to testify tomorrow on a bench hearing to see if my tape is admissible.
Uh, your attorney's introducing it? Oh, no.
He's not.
But Elkins' defense team is.
Elkins knows that I recorded him, so he's trying to turn this into a he said/she said.
And Weiss said that if the judge believes him, that they could prosecute me for extorting an IRS agent.
How did this turn into such a nightmare? Okay, look, Cal.
Uh, Elkins is probably just trying to shake a deal out of the Attorney General.
No one wants the trouble and expense of a trial that's gonna be deadlocked.
Muddying the waters is a great way for the defense to keep it from going to a trial.
[ Laughing .]
Aah! No! [ Both laugh .]
Beautiful.
Speaking of muddying the waters, how bad is it? Well, uh You got a beer? for a new septic tank? Is that really the problem? I might be wrong.
But I'm not, unfortunately.
Great.
And even if I had it, it just feels like I'm chasing good money after bad.
No, I don't know.
You got great equity in the house, the market will bounce back way before you need to sell.
Unless I need to sell sooner.
Cal, you're not going to prison.
Right.
Okay, let's just say that I avoid that disastrous possibility.
I still have another year in Atlanta, and then my residency, wherever that ends up being.
Wherever that ends up being? Yeah.
I'm trying to find a match in Florida, but you saw what happened to Palm Glade.
I have to go where the work is.
Oh.
I mean I mean, yeah.
I-I-I mean, of course.
[ Cellphone rings .]
[ Groans, sighs .]
What do you got for me, Carlos? I found no water in Brandy's lungs or stomach.
She didn't drown.
Someone put her in the fountain to make it look that way.
- Then what's the cause of death? - Coronary arrest from asphyxiation.
Problem is, there's no ligature marks on her neck, so she wasn't strangled.
Right now, I'm thinking the head wound caused her to convulse and aspirate.
Or she was drugged with sleeping pills or barbiturates.
I'm running a tox screen.
Oh, thanks, Carlos, for narrowing it down to about a dozen possibilities.
Any chance we can get the hair DNA - back in our lifetime? - We took two dozen samples.
I'm working on it.
Who peed in your sandbox? Mm.
Our Christa's no angel, that's for sure.
She has quite the juvie record in North Carolina.
Ooh.
Shoplifting, vandalism, passed 5 grand in forged checks, six months' detention for fighting.
Jennifer: Robbery and assaults.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Maybe Bruce is right.
We should be looking much harder at her.
Yeah? Got it.
Thanks.
BOLO got a hit on the earrings.
Jackson Beach pawn shop.
The owner's buying time for you.
A grand? That's ridiculous.
The settings alone are worth a grand.
I'm seeing inclusions.
The cut and the color are also subpar.
Subpar? No, you're nuts.
That's 2 1/2 carats of flawless perfection.
Please, mister.
They're my mom's.
She got into a fight with her drunk-ass boyfriend and he called the cops, and she really needs me to bail her out.
Uh, yeah.
I'm looking for a going-away present for the little lady.
[ Grunts .]
Should have taken the offer, Christa.
Trust me, it's a lot better than ours.
Christa Johnson, you're under arrest for the murder of Brandy Phillips.
And I'll take those.
Yoink.
Brandy fired me, okay? For coming in late all the time.
So I texted her for a second chance to prove I wasn't who she thought I was.
The girl who was banging her husband? Bruce? That's disgusting.
He's, like, older than my stepdad's dad.
Easier for you to make him pony up the bling.
You know, taking candy from a 60-year-old baby.
He hit on me, but I told him I would never sleep with a married man.
Next thing I know, he's giving me jewelry.
Aw, he said you stole it.
Then he's a liar.
Yeah, that's what he said about you.
So, one of you two liars is telling the truth.
I'm not a thief, okay? Really? Oh, 'cause that's funny.
It says here that you stole $5,000 from a sunglass hut in Raleigh.
Just right there.
That is you, see? I was 15.
- I made a mistake.
- Jennifer: Now you're 18.
Next mistake will get you real time in real prison.
Which is really why you sent those texts to Brandy, but she refused to hear you out.
She was gonna report you for stealing the earrings, so you surprised her during her early-morning routine.
You knew no one else was there, so you cracked her head open, left her in the fountain to drown.
I swear I didn't kill Brandy, okay? I was home in bed that morning.
Can anyone verify that? No.
I mean, I live alone.
[ Clicks tongue .]
Being alone isn't a crime, okay? Doesn't make me a killer.
Whatever.
I didn't kill her.
And you can't prove that I did.
Not yet.
But if you did, trust me we will.
[ Door closes .]
Wow.
Look at you.
Professional and hot.
I like the direction this is going.
Yeah? 'Cause I left my one decent suit in Atlanta, and I really didn't feel like showing up at a sexual-harassment hearing wearing cutoffs and a tank top.
Is this too sexy? Not for me.
But I'm not sitting in judgment, professionally speaking.
[ Chuckles .]
Wow.
And that answers that.
You look amazing.
See? I shouldn't have barged in like that.
No, no, no.
No.
Thank you.
Uh, it's just you confirmed what I was already feeling, which means that I have to go home and change.
I'll see you later? Yeah, um, uh, good luck.
Tell me how it goes? Sorry.
No, just yeah.
What'd you make of Christa's story? I think she's a scared, little girl who raised herself and is probably a very good liar.
- So, you think she did it? - I think she did something.
Just not sure if it's murder.
Daniel? Sorry.
I checked with F.
A.
A.
They have no records of Bruce's G4 leaving Valdosta anytime before he says he did.
So, Bruce's alibi checks out.
Or it's the perfect cover.
Valdosta's only a 30-minute flight, and I'm sure that Bruce is certified in more than one plane.
Check and see if maybe he rented one? On it.
Also, I looked more into his financials.
Apparently, Bruce Phillips didn't retire.
He was forced out by junior management.
His takeover company was taken over? You can't make that up.
He took his buyout and bought Chinese Internet stocks.
[ Snaps fingers .]
Got wiped out.
So, how does he swing all the bling? His life was a business expense for Brandy.
The jet, sports cars, jewelry, even where he eats lunch at Blu Sushi every Thursday.
- Using Brandy's corporate credit card.
- Which was canceled the morning she died.
So, Brandy finds out that Bruce is trying to bang Christa, cancels his credit card.
Bruce cancels Brandy.
What? No? How can my company card be canceled? It's my company.
Damn it.
You mean your dead wife's company, Bruce.
The one you've been sponging off of to support your lifestyle since you've been thrown off the board of your own company.
Yep.
Ageless Beauty Industries.
How does that feel, Arnold? Whatever.
I'm hardly broke.
Unless you got something better than that, I'm late for my massage.
How about we found Christa? Yeah? You told me she ran.
We ran faster.
She said that you gave her the earrings to get her into bed.
But she wouldn't sleep with you because you're married and, you know, older than hell.
Oh, so I killed my wife to tap this lying piece of ass? No, you killed your wife because she found out you were trying to tap that piece of ass and she had had enough.
That's why she cut off your card.
You'd lose all your toys Your jet, your car, Sushi on Thursdays.
Brandy never cared how much I spent.
We were better than ever.
Had our health, wealth.
Well, her wealth, at least.
You were broke, she was dying.
Megadoses of HGH enlarged her internal organs.
She was under a doctor's care.
A doctor who cared more about writing her book, evidently, than Brandy's health.
You brought Tara's cure to the states.
You made your wife the face of it.
But when you found out that the cure was actually killing her, you had another investment going belly up like all your other investments.
Then you plan on cashing in your chips Oh, sorry Your wife's chips Before the world found out.
So, you killed Brandy, planned on dissolving the company into cash just like you've done with all your other companies.
There's only one little problem with your theory.
Oh? There are no chips to cash, not for me.
When we made the deal, I insisted that Tara sign a no-compete clause, saying she couldn't take the treatment regimen to any other spa.
Now, there's a sword that cuts both ways, huh? Meaning if Brandy dies, the deal's off? You got it, buddy.
All reverts back to Tara.
[ Engine turns over .]
And now that Brandy's gone, Tara calls all the shots.
And I guess her first shot was to cut me off.
So, are we done here? - For now.
- Good.
[ Engine revs .]
You thinking what I'm thinking? Absolutely.
Well, maybe not.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Carlos? I redid the tox screen based on your new working theory.
They came back clean for sleeping pills and barbiturates.
And her death wasn't caused by a head injury, either.
So, what caused her asphyxiation? I scoured her body.
I found needle marks on her hip and buttocks, which bear the markings of repeated injections of HGH.
Then I found this.
Not a user-friendly injection site.
It's either a weird coincidence or someone's using the head injury to hide the injection marks.
Yeah, but an injection of what, I'm not sure.
But since the tox reports came back clean, I'm thinking it has to be something fast-acting that quickly vanished from her body.
Like something an anesthesiologist would use? Well, you called this one right.
Tara Valdez is booked on the red-eye to Caracas tonight.
Not good.
She's got family there, and Venezuela doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.
S.
, so she gets there, she's gone.
Then let's make sure she doesn't get gone.
Te llamo cuando llegue.
SÃ.
Call who when you arrive? Can't this wait? I start my book tour tomorrow.
Jim: In Venezuela.
Yeah, smart move.
You won't be making it.
A search warrant for what? For this.
Succinylcholine, also known as sux.
It's a strictly-controlled anesthetic used to paralyze the throat and larynx of patients for intubations.
Which I am licensed for.
I carry sux for emergencies.
Like killing your partner, who was dying already and was going to lower the value of your booming spa business? Without supplemental oxygen, the patient can't breathe.
They'll asphyxiate in minutes and die awake, just like Brandy died.
Before you dumped her in the fountain to make it look like an accident.
Which, by the way, is what really sucks.
Tara: As I tell all of my clients, this is your chance to own a piece of the real Fountain of Youth.
That is a great pitch, especially the market research and growth potential.
I mean, who knew that anti-aging medicine could become a $300 billion global market in the next decade? Except someone who wrote a book on it.
That's why you're doing the book tour, because you wanted the fountain cure to be yours, not Brandy's.
Except Brandy has a controlling interest in the spa, which means she owns your research, so you had to kill Brandy so you could become a free agent.
- You went to "kerakas" - Caracas.
- That's what I said.
- I didn't kill her.
Oh, we checked the card-swipe log on the medical-supply room where you kept the sux.
Yeah, there were only two people in there on the day before the murder You and Brandy.
And I'm pretty sure Brandy didn't stab herself in the head with sux.
Oh.
There's something else you didn't do.
Take your own medicine.
What are you talking about? This.
Your hair.
We're testing it against the hair that we found at the crime scene.
But one thing this has already told us is the history of all the drugs you've ever taken.
[ Bottle thuds .]
Or, in your case, not taken.
You don't take HGH.
You never have.
You don't need to, because you have what money can't buy good genes.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You're a fraud.
A secret that Brandy probably found out.
And with a $300 billion global market at stake, a secret definitely worth killing for.
No.
That's not right.
Brandy didn't know.
No one did.
And I wasn't going to look for investors.
I was going to try to sell my shares.
To be free from Brandy.
From Bruce.
Brandy and I had an agreement to split the company Bruce would inherit all of her shares.
He already treated the company like his own personal checkbook.
You cut off his credit card.
What? To piss him off? He's insufferable.
I wanted out of the business before he ran it into the ground.
Well, you might be in luck, 'cause if Dr.
Sanchez finds sux in Brandy's system, you're out of the business for good.
Nice work.
Doctors are hard nuts to crack.
Piece of cake.
Thanks, Daniel.
Fell for it? Hook, line, and follicle.
You didn't screen her hair, did you? You went fishing.
And reeled in a big one.
Bruce he lied, said that Tara ran the spa.
But it's all his now.
[ Sighs .]
Whew! [ Sighs .]
What the hell are you doing? Same as you.
Well, not quite the same.
I'm sweating a suspect.
You're just sweating.
Profusely, I might add.
Why don't you get out of here before I break every bone in your body? Hostile takeover.
Yeah.
I get it.
It's kind of like your pattern, huh? Your wife's business takes off, you swoop in and take it over.
She does all the heavy lifting while you just take the shiny, new You know, I've taken about as much shit from you as I'm going to.
Fast cars, private jets.
If you ain't living, you're dying, right, Arnold? But that was about to change with your wife's death, so you killed her All right.
That's it, asswipe.
On your feet.
Let's go, man.
- Attaboy, Bruce.
Come on.
- Yeah! Let's go! Come on! Right now! Threaten a police officer so I can hit you with a warrant and find out you're juicing on steroids, because, as we all know, that can make a sane man go into a homicidal rage, and you are anything but sane.
Yeah.
Damn it! Wow.
[ Groans .]
That had to hurt.
Elkins: I admit it was a mistake Agreeing to meet Miss Cargill at her home.
And I should have known better than to accept the wine, but I'm human.
I guess I didn't realize what was happening until she showed me that she had taped our conversation.
Did she tell you why she did that? Miss Cargill had perjured herself by signing fraudulent income-tax returns, and she wanted me not to refer them for prosecution.
She also wanted me to push through a very light payment schedule for her back taxes.
Frankly, given the situation I had foolishly walked into, I was afraid not to do exactly what she wanted.
Mm.
All right.
Thank you, Mr.
Elkins.
That's all.
[ Clears throat .]
Miss Cargill.
We've all heard the tape.
Tell us your recollection of events.
Um, after Mr.
Elkins made his proposition and assumed I agreed to it, he tried to kiss me, which I stopped by playing him back the recording.
And when he realized that I had recorded his intentions, he called me a bitch and tried to take my phone away.
Then what happened? I kneed him in the balls and told him to get out of my house.
[ Light laughter .]
[ Sighs .]
But, in fact, you did receive a favorable deal and were never brought up on criminal charges.
Isn't that correct? Look, I know what this might look like, and I can sit up here and play the victim like he just did, but I don't have to.
I was raising my son alone because my husband was in prison and I was afraid of this man, afraid that I had done something wrong by signing these returns, and he knew it.
But I'm not afraid of him now.
And, yes, I recorded his conversation without his consent, but I had to.
And if he thinks that I won't swear in court in front of a jury and tell my story so that no one ever has to go through what I went through that day, then he is very much mistaken.
All right, I think I got what I need.
I'll release my decision tomorrow.
[ Gavel bangs .]
I warned you this could happen.
He suing me over the steam? I wore a towel.
Daniel: The spa's legal charter, like you asked for.
Spells out ownership and rules of secession.
Confirming Bruce Phillips takes over the spa if Brandy dies.
Actually, Brandy's heir gets everything.
Wait, her heir? She never had children.
Carlos: DNA's back.
You're not gonna believe this.
I tested the killer's hair against Brandy to prove it wasn't hers.
It came back a mitochondrial match, which only occurs between women and confirms Brandy had a daughter Christa.
Her receptionist.
And maybe her killer.
Hmm.
Sephora, Chanel Nice stuff.
I found them in Christa's work desk, along with this.
Jim: Brandy's security card? I also checked Christa's search engine on her desktop.
"Basics of Succinylcholine" from a pharmacy school website.
So, it wasn't Brandy that opened the medical-storage room that night.
It was Christa.
We found Brandy's security card in your desk and your hair in the watband that got lost during the struggle.
You want to tell us how those got there? Okay.
Why don't we tell you a few things that we know? Like we know Brandy was your birth mom, Christa.
Figure she must have been about 16 when she gave you up, which I'm guessing is why you've been angry your whole life.
Jennifer: Your stepdad said you were a handful, called the adoption agency on your 16th birthday, asked them to contact your birth mom, who refused to meet you.
Which must have hurt like hell, you being rejected all over again.
So you stole money from the mall, you hired a private investigator, you tracked Brandy to the fountain spa, you moved to Florida, you got a job answering phones right outside her office, just waiting for your moment.
You knew your story would hurt her image, and you wanted payback.
When Brandy wouldn't pay you, you got your payback another way.
No, I never wanted her money.
Okay.
What did you want? To change her mind.
I thought if she got to know me as a person, maybe she'd let me in her life.
And at first, she was really nice.
She gave me makeup and clothes and told me funny stories and So, one day, after work, I told her who I was.
.
So she fired you, and she asked you to leave.
Said I violated her wishes, told me to never come back.
So I left, sent her those texts.
I went back the next morning.
She tried to pay me off.
I asked her why she was being so mean to me.
She went to call security, and I grabbed her, but the floor was wet and she slipped and she hit her head on the fountain, so I panicked and I ran.
I never meant to hurt her.
I just wanted her to know me.
[ Knock on door .]
[ Door closes .]
I transected tissue from Brandy's hidden injection site.
The sux was gone, but it decomposed into a metabolite called succinic acid, which I also found in Brandy's brain tissue.
I can say conclusively that the injection of sux she got the day she was murdered was definitely what killed her.
Brandy's security card to the medical-storage room was found in Christa's desk.
[ Cellphone rings .]
So that doesn't eliminate Christa.
No, but I'm guessing this will.
Daniel, did you find it? I wouldn't wait too long.
Jennifer: Pre-flight check? Where you headed? Valdosta.
Jim: Uh, so soon? I mean, you were just there.
Or at least your plane was.
You, my pony-tailed friend, were actually right here.
Yeah, check this out.
Here.
That's your Porsche crossing over the georgia/florida state-line toll booth at midnight on the day your wife was murdered and back through again at 3:00, same aftnoon.
Plenty of time for you to drive to St.
Augustine, kill your wife, and back to Valdosta - like you never even left.
- That's ridiculous.
You know how many black-on-black porsches there are in this state? [ Chuckles .]
Oh, oh.
Really? Really? Look.
Black porsches with your license plate on it? See that? Oh, also, we got another one.
Salty Pete's, which, I know, addictive as hell.
I can't stop anyway, you said Salty Pete's was in Valdosta.
It's actually in Olustee, Florida, just off the I-10.
And Salty Pete himself whose real name is Reuben, by the way.
It's kind of weird Well, he said that you were kind of agitated both times you pulled up in your Porsche.
Your business trip to Valdosta was just to establish an alibi.
So you came here, you saw Brandy and Christa fighting, you saw Brandy slip, cracked her head open.
You knew that not only did you have a solid alibi, but now you had someone you could frame it on.
You injected Brandy with a vial of sux that you stole from the spa's medical-storage room.
Using Brandy's security card, which you knew Christa kept in her desk.
And you used her computer to research the dosage of sux so it wouldn't get traced back to you.
You two, you can't prove any of tt.
Oh, actually Damn it.
We kind of can.
Your friend Reuben, he thought you were acting a little strange, so he saved this The sux that you threw away in his trash can.
Yeah.
Thank you.
[ Groans .]
She was dying right in front of my eyes.
She was supposed to be there for me, not the other way around.
Okay.
Who's gonna take care of you now, Arnold? Oh, wait.
I know.
Stark Penitentiary.
And I know it's not kind of spa living, but, hey, at least you have plenty of time to lift weights.
Thanks.
[ Sighs .]
You said "Arnold.
" [ Laughs .]
[ Sighs .]
This place is so beautiful.
Seems a shame to think what it was used for.
Even bigger shame to think that it almost ended up belonging to Bruce instead of you.
What are you talking about? Brandy changed the terms of her estate three months ago when the adoption agency contacted her to say that you wanted to meet her.
But But I don't get it.
She refused to meet me and And she was so nasty to me when I told her who I was.
Because she knew she was dying.
My guess is, she didn't want you to go through the pain of losing her a second time At least without something to remember her by.
[ Cellphone rings .]
Come here.
Come here.
Hey.
How'd it go? Callie: So, judge Pike believed my version of the story, and Weiss said that Elkins' lawyers were so scared of my testimony that they basically leapt at the state's deal.
[ Laughs .]
So no trial, and he's doing time.
and I'm free to go.
Yeah.
I noticed you're taking much more stuff to Atlanta.
Well, I don't want to have to buy a second set of clothes and all the things for the apartment.
Right.
Yeah.
Sure you can't stay for one more night? I mean, we could celebrate.
I'd love to, but the hospital's been more than understanding, and I have my third-year board exams coming up in a couple of weeks, and I really need to hunker down.
I know.
I know.
I know.
It's just, you know, it's disappointing.
I know.
For me, too.
Right.
You okay? Yeah.
You? I've got to go.
I want to get to Georgia before it gets too dark.
I know.
I know.
Um Wait.
Got a thermos? [ Laughs .]
Coffee.
Yes.
Black.
Nice and strong.
Route punched into the GPS? It's all punched in the GPS, although I think I cou get there with my eyes closed.
Needed you so which I will have to do if I don't leave, like, now.
Right.
Right.
Um, okay.
Have a safe trip.
I will.
Text me on the way? But not while you're driving.
I'll make you so proud of me we'll make 'em turn their heads I love you.
[ Exhales sharply .]
I love you.
[ Both chuckle .]
Okay.
Okay.
[ Engine turns over .]
- I'll text you.
- Just not while No, no.
Not while I'm driving.
- Right.
- Of course.
Say you'll be my darling be my baby now yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah be my baby be my baby be my baby say you'll be my darling be my baby be my baby now yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah be my baby be my baby