Dropping quarters in the vending machine, Chief Keith Stewart is wondering why he spends so many evenings eating candy alone at his desk instead of going home to prepare a proper dinner. He's also wondering why Sharon sounded distracted and out of breath on the phone earlier. He thinks she might have been in the shower, and maybe she had to answer the phone dripping wet. His cell phone rings before he can pursue the thought any further. Glancing at the screen, he sees it's the call he's been waiting for.
Mark Evans finally talked himself out and nodded off in his bunk. The quiet man with the skull tattoo wasted no time signaling the guard who then called Chief Stewart; now the man who had been listening to Evans talk will do some talking of his own with the chief.
Lydia Cope is not happy. She's alone in a small, drab room wondering when or if she'll get to close her eyes and rest after the incredibly long and tedious day she's had. She was immediately separated from her husband upon arrival at police headquarters. She has no idea what's going on, but she's not all that worried; she's mainly just annoyed and tired. She has a tennis lesson scheduled in the morning after brunch at the club, and she's a little worried about having to reschedule if this drags on much longer, but other than that there's no real reason to worry when you have the power, connections, and money she and her husband enjoy.
Craig Cope isn't worried; he's mad. No one seems to know or care how important he is; no one is talking to him, and no one will answer his questions. Just as he's rising from the uncomfortable chair he has occupied for the last hour, Sharon Raydor enters on crutches. He appraises her with hard, cold eyes as she approaches the only other chair in the room. Before taking a seat, she holds her hand out and shakes the former senator's hand while introducing herself. He automatically turns on the charm as they sit across a small table from each other, and she leans the crutches against the wall next to her chair. "Captain Raydor, I don't know what I'm doing here. If this has anything to do with my daughter, please rest assured that you know more about it than I do. My wife and I just got home this evening; we've been traveling in Europe for weeks."
Before Sharon can reply, Andy walks in the room with a file folder in his hand. He puts the file down on the table in front of her; they make brief eye contact before he turns and leaves. Sharon says, "Your daughter told me she had no idea how to contact you."
"You've seen my daughter? How is she? Why is she incarcerated?"
"I'll be the one asking questions," Sharon says with a slight edge in her voice, "and I'm curious why she wouldn't know how to contact her parents."
Craig Cope makes direct eye contact with Sharon for just a moment before staring down at his hand resting on the table. He appears to be gathering his thoughts, but he's really working to control his temper. People do not speak to him the way this woman is speaking to him. Drawing in a deep breath, he replies in a condescending tone, "My daughter has no interest in her parents unless and until she requires money." Looking up with no emotion on his face, he unflinchingly stares in Sharon's eyes until she looks down at the folder on the table in front of her.
That's it; she thinks to herself. She's finally seeing the real Craig Cope, not the mask he wears for the benefit of other people, but the person he really is. Maybe now she can get somewhere with this man, and start to unravel this tangled mess. Before she has a chance to continue, she hears Andy, through her earpiece, telling her to meet him in the hallway.
"Please excuse me," she says. "I'll be back."
Cope is working hard to exhibit patience, but he feels this is ridiculous, and he's been kept waiting long enough. "Look, what's this all about? What am I doing here? And where's my wife?"
Walking out on crutches with the folder in her hand is proving difficult, but she needs to appear unflappable in front of this man. "As I said, Senator, I'll be back, and I'll still be the one asking questions." Turning away from him, she makes her way to the door. He stares at her back. If looks could kill, she'd be mortally wounded.
Approaching Sharon in the hall, Andy says, "Chief Stewart asked me to interrupt you. He claims to have information you need."
"Did he explain the urgency?"
"No, he just insisted on talking to you right away. I transferred his call to your office."
Sharon takes a seat behind her desk, and motions for Andy to sit. Putting the call on speakerphone, she gets right to the heart of the matter. "Chief, I'm in the middle of an interrogation. Is this really the best time to be talking?"
"Yes, you need to know what my informant just told me. Evans claims a high-ranking law enforcement official was providing Phillip Stroh with all manner of assistance including information, money, credit cards, ID, weapons, and equipment, and the informant wasn't completely clear on this part, but Evans says the official also has connections to Craig and Lydia Cope."
Sharon and Andy eye each other as the chief goes on to explain that Mark Evans also claims the corruption doesn't stop with the Copes.
"What does that mean?" Sharon asks.
"Well, Evans is implying more people are involved, but the informant's not sure how much of this information is real, and how much is just Evans loving the sound of his own voice. At any rate, the Copes are in this up to their eyeballs."
"Thanks, Chief. That is very helpful. Please keep me informed if you learn more, and I'll stay in touch from my end."
"Sure thing, Captain. I look forward to hearing from you."
I just bet you do, Andy thinks to himself, but he keeps a neutral expression on his face as Sharon ends the call. As soon as she puts the phone down, Andy says, "It sounds like we need to put the Copes under surveillance."
Sharon concurs. "I'm going to go make nice with them to give you time to make the arrangements before I release them. I don't want them to suspect they're suspects. If other people are involved, I want them to lead us to those people."
Lydia's pleased to finally be in the same room with her husband, and relieved that she will not be forced to reschedule her brunch and tennis lesson in the morning. She's only half paying attention to Captain Raydor who seems to have finally figured out that she's not dealing with average, ordinary people. The more the captain talks, the more her husband appears to calm down.
Opening the folder Andy prepared for her earlier, she thrusts a picture at the pair and says, "Before I release you, please identify the man in this picture."
Craig replies, "That's Dr. Blaine Hill, he's our partner in the winery we own outside Sacramento."
Sharon says, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but your partner is dead, and your daughter confessed to his murder." Sharon finally has Lydia's full attention. She grabs her husband's arm and they look at each other, but don't speak. It occurs to Sharon that neither one of the people sitting across from her look all that shocked or surprised. The room is very quiet. Sharon's waiting for them to ask a bunch of questions, but no one is making a sound, so she shows them another picture. "Please identify this man."
Craig doesn't answer right away. He looks down at the picture then back at his wife again, and finally says, "That's Phillip Stroh. We hired him to represent Theresa in a legal matter several years ago."
"Are you aware of Stroh's whereabouts?"
Not hesitating for a second, Craig Cope says, "No, of course not. I saw the news reports on TV when Stroh murdered that judge and disappeared a long time ago, but that's all I know."
Sharon asks the same question of Lydia Cope and gets the same quick answer. She's not at all surprised, but she's trying to buy time to set up surveillance of the couple.
Opening the folder again, she shows them a recent picture of Mark Evans and asks, "Can either of you identify this man?"
The couple look at the picture for a few seconds before Craig loses his patience and says, "Look, I have no idea who he is or what we're doing here. My wife and I are tired, and ready to go home." Sharon is more than happy to send them home. She's certain they'll be back soon, and the next time there will be a very different outcome.
She and Andy discuss the Copes while he drives her home. Eventually, they stop talking and Sharon stares out the passenger window. She's wondering if maybe they can pick up where they left off before the chief called and set the events in motion which put a halt to their romantic evening; however, it's almost midnight by the time they reach her condo, and they both have to be ready for another long day in just a few hours. Turning the car off, Andy reaches for her hand and says, "This isn't how I wanted our night to end, but I'm exhausted."
"I know; I am too," she says. "But, I really need to tell you something." She squeezes his hand, looks into his eyes with a sad face, and chews on her bottom lip. Uncharacteristically, she's having trouble expressing herself. She looks down at their joined hands and releases a deep breath.
The silence is starting to bother Andy. His imagination is running wild, and for just a second it flashes in his mind that she's struggling because she needs to give him bad news and she's not sure how to do it.
"I need you to know how much I appreciate you," she says.
She's trying to let me down easy, he thinks.
"Working with you tonight, even without the rest of the team, was fantastic. I don't want that to end. I don't want you to retire," she says.
All the tension in his body evaporates at the sound of her words. "There's not a chance," he says. "I know I've talked about it, but I'm not ready to do it. Please don't give it another thought."
She's so relieved. "You anticipate my needs without my even having to ask. I know it's selfish of me, but you make it so much easier to do my job. Just knowing you have my back makes me feel like I can accomplish almost anything. I haven't always had that in my career, or my life for that matter."
He kisses the back of her hand he's been holding while they've been talking. Replacing her hand with her lips, she gives him a scorching good night kiss.
Mark Evans slept great, and wakes up the following morning starving for breakfast. Remembering the night before and all the talking he did, he experiences a moment of regret, but it's only a moment. He's too cocky and full of himself to spend a lot of time second guessing his actions. Besides, he's never seen the quiet man with the skull tattoo talk to another living soul.
Theresa wakes up determined to talk to her mother. She has no desire to talk to her father; he's much harder to manipulate than her mother. She's very surprised when her mother's cultured voice answers on the first ring. Theresa knows the drill and waits for the recorded message to announce that it's a collect call from jail. Her mother must agree to accept the charges before they can talk. Suddenly, Theresa hears a click and the line goes dead indicating that her mother has not accepted the charges. Her face feels hot when she realizes her mother doesn't intend to talk to her.
Lydia Cope is running late for brunch and tennis, and she's in no mood to listen to her daughter whine. In the car, on the way to their club, she and Craig avoid talking about their daughter or any other unpleasant subject. Craig drops her off in the circular drive in front of the ornate building. She'd like him to stay and eat with her, but she understands he has work to do.
He's distracted and annoyed with all the traffic; he never notices the blue car that's been following him since he left home. Pulling into the parking lot of the marina, Cope hurries out of his car. The two undercover detectives in the blue car watch him climb onto a sailboat. The detective in the passenger seat picks up a pair of binoculars, and adjusts them for a few seconds. The detective in the driver's seat asks, "Can you see anything?"
"Yeah, Cope is talking to a guy I recognize. I'm pretty sure that's Chief Fritz Howard."