It was starting to get out of control. Riggs and Palmer didn't feel safe. Roger drove to Denise's apartment to deliver the restraining order. Once he got there, he made his way to her apartment and knocked on the door.
"Denise Sousa?" Roger started.
"Yes?" She asked and saw Roger. "Oh, Detective Murtaugh. Where is Martin?"
Roger handed her a manilla folder. Denise opened it and saw it was a restraining order.
"What is this?"
"I'm here by giving you a restraining order to keep over 15,000 feet from Riggs and Palmer." Roger started.
Still confused, Denise looked up at Roger and said, "No. No, no, no, no, no. Martin loves me. He wouldn't do this to me."
"He doesn't love you! He's told you that! He loves Palmer and they're getting married. Hopefully you will get that through that thick skull of yours and leave them alone. If you violate the restraining order, bad things will happen."
Once Roger walked off and was out of her sight completely, Denise screamed as she tore up the restraining order. Roger just looked at her and kept walking. She got on her knees and hyperventilated.
Avery and Roger were going on the case when Riggs waltzed in Avery's office.
"Hey, Avery. I was wondering if you can give me three days off? I'm planning on surprising Palmer by making the nursery before the baby gets here."
"Really, Riggs? That's so sweet. Take as much time as you need." Avery said with a smile.
"Thanks, Avery. You're a real pal." Riggs patted Avery on the arm and started to walk off.
"Wait, Riggs," Roger started, "I might have a new lead on this case."
"Sorry, Rog! Can't hear you! Got a baby to plan for!" Riggs called out as he was heading out the door.
Roger looked at Avery and said, "Looks like I have to do this on my own."
Roger drove downtown and searched for the restaurant Denise claimed she "worked" at. Roger drove into an affluent community of LA and saw the restaurant, A Nova Cervejaria, the upscale Brazilian restaurant she talked about. Roger walked in and saw a pretty dark haired girl on the phone. She seemed to be the hostess.
"Hello. Welcome to A Nova Cervejaria. Just one for lunch?" She asked.
"Not today, no." Roger smiled at her. "I was wondering if your manager was here?"
He pulled out his badge and said, "Official police business."
The hostess nodded her head and said, "Give me one second to find him."
She got off her seat to go for a moment to find her boss. A few seconds later, the hostess came out with her boss. He was a middle aged Latino man.
"Yes? How can I help you?" He asked.
Roger pulled out his badged and said, "Yes. Roger Murtaugh of the LAPD."
The restaurant manager held out his hand and said, "Pedro Fernandes."
Roger shook Pedro's hand and said, "I just have a couple of questions regarding your employee, Denise Sousa?"
Pedro flinched a little. The hostess was confused. Pedro turned to the hostess and said to her in Portuguese, "Me dê alguns momentos. Por favor, mantenha todas as minhas chamadas (Give me a few moments to talk to the cop. Please hold all of my calls)."
"Sim, senhor (Yes, sir)." The hostess replied.
Pedro turned to Roger and said, "Follow me into the office."
Roger followed the restaurant owner into the back of the restaurant. As they passed by the bar, Pedro turned to Roger and asked, "May I offer you something to drink?"
"Oh I shouldn't drink on the job. Thank you, though."
Pedro nodded. Once they made it to the office, Pedro shut the door started to talk, "Denise doesn't work at the restaurant anymore. I let her go months ago."
"Was there a problem with her?" Roger asked.
"She was very unstable. Unstable as she was beautiful. When I hired her, I had no idea about how crazy she was. The customers loved her. She was a good employee had she not been as unstable as she was."
"What happened when she was let go?" Roger asked.
Pedro took in a deep breath and said, "She was obsessed with her boyfriend. She would come in late to work or leave early because she was worried her boyfriend wasn't being faithful when he had no reason to be. I've met the young man. He loved her and would even come in just to visit her."
Roger nodded his head at the information. Pedro sighed and started, "One day, she wasn't in her right mind set, making so many silly mistakes on the job. I reprimanded her only for her to react out of anger. She chased me with a steak knight she got off a table and started to attack me in front of customers and staff. I locked myself in the office and called the police."
Roger looked shocked. Pedro rolled his sleeves up and showed Roger the scars on his arm from when Denise attacked him.
"Shit…" Roger whispered to himself.
"I dropped the charges because she'd already been through enough but I did put a restraining order against her after I had fired her."
Roger shook his head and said, "Sorry that happened to you."
"Trust me. Had I known she was that crazy, I would've never hired her."
"Was she going to school when she worked for you?" Roger stated.
"Word about her violent behavior got out and her school had no choice but to kick her out. Why do you want to know about Denise?" Pedro asked.
Roger gave him a look.
Later on in the day, Roger went to a daycare. When questioning the family of their victim Brian, the sister was said to be a daycare teacher at a daycare in LA. Roger walked in the daycare only for the director to look up at him and said, "Can I help you, sir?"
Roger pulled out his badge and said, "Detective Roger Murtaugh of the LAPD. I'm looking for an employee of yours, Leanne Gallagher? I'm investigating the death of her brother, Brian."
The director got up and led Roger to a classroom where he found Leanne singing a song with a group of children sitting in a circle. The director said, "Miss Leanna, you have a visitor."
Leanne looked at Roger with wide eyes. The director of the daycare said she will take over the class while she was out of the room.
Once out of her classroom, Leanne looked up at Roger and said, "Did you find out who killed my brother and his girlfriend?"
"Not exactly." Roger replied.
"Then why are you here?"
"I may have a lead. Does the name Denise Sousa ring a bell?"
Leanne felt her heart drop to her stomach.
"That girl was poison to Brian. None of us liked her. What does she have to do..." Roger cut Leanne off.
"Is there anywhere we can talk?" Roger asked.
Leanne led Roger out to the playground and they sat on the benches outside.
"Tell me everything you know about her." Roger started.
"Denise dated Brian for a while. They met in college and he was captured at how beautiful she was. At first, she was very sweet and she loved Brian. Over time, her jealous nature started to show. It got nuts to the point where she would stalk him, call him up to 50 times a day, show up at places where he was with his friends or even private family events. He tried to break it off but she threatened suicide. He stuck around because he felt trapped."
Roger noticed Leanne start to tear up. He gave her a tissue and she wiped her eyes.
"How did he finally break it off?" Roger asked her.
"He got tired of being manipulated and finally ended it. This was when she was at the hospital for attempted suicide." Leanne explained.
Starting to put two and two together, Roger made a face.
"Miss Gallagher, I hate to tell you this but it might be possible your brother's ex may have had something to do with his death. It's possibly leading up to that."
Leanne was tearing up as Roger mentioned that.
"He didn't deserve that. He was only 22! My God, he was only a kid!" she cried, "I remember the day my mom told me I was going to have a new brother or sister. I wanted a brother so badly. The moment Brian was born, I was in love with how small he was and I vowed to protect him always. I cannot believe I couldn't protect him from that woman. I know she did it. I know she killed him."
Roger's heart hurt for Leanne. He patted her on the shoulder and said, "Miss Gallagher, I guarantee we will find who did this and if it was Denise, we will get her."