Instinct (2018) s02e04 Episode Script
Big Splash
1 DYLAN: Previously on Instinct Welcome to Abnormal Behavioral Analysis.
My name is Professor Dylan Reinhart.
Detective Elizabeth Needham, NYPD.
You're not just some boring old professor.
You're CIA? Retired.
DYLAN: You can't access sealed documents? - That's why they're sealed.
- That's why I have friends.
JULIAN: Don't tell me.
You need Intel and the NYPD is slowing you down.
- Just in case.
- If I were to call, - what would I call you? - Julian.
Lizzie, Dylan, meet Jules, our new computer associate.
- Nice to meet you both.
- DYLAN: This is Ryan, I'm helping him with the Sleeping Beauty case.
FUCCI: I've got a list of the family, friends and neighbors of the Sleeping Beauty vic.
- Let's start narrowing it down.
- Or we could open it up.
LIZZIE: You're gonna be a great father.
Any child would be lucky to have you and Andy as their dads.
Yes, I can verify that Samantha Amrimitsu works here.
It seems Sam is leaving because she is pregnant, and placing her baby for adoption.
You know when you said that babies don't just magically appear Are we ready for some magic? Well, if you don't like girls That are stronger than you And if you don't like girls that are faster than you And if you don't like girls that are smarter than you Well, then you might not like me Well, if you don't, don't - Well, if you don't - (LAUGHTER) - Faster than you - Well, if you don't like girls (LAUGHTER) You are perfection.
- How about now? - (LAUGHTER) S'up, girls? Alex, looking good.
Happy birthday.
Well, then you might not like me.
That dude is so creepy.
SHAYLA: Didn't stop you from dating him.
JUSTIN: Well, it appears he's working for you tonight.
Not for long.
Sounds like a job for stepmom.
- Hi, honey.
- Stepmom, you need to send that dude home.
Alex, what'd I tell you about talking to Ella that way? It's okay.
Honey, what did he do? He's a perv with a criminal record.
- I'll go talk to him.
- No, I'll handle it.
And you, enjoy your party.
Yup.
Thanks.
All I want is to make a big splash.
Something the school will be talking about all year.
Eh, I'm on a spaceship You got the kind of love that's taking me new places Eh, I found a spaceship Hey, Molly.
Ella, you okay? Yeah.
Who knew a sweet 16 could be so stressful? I haven't felt this anxious since we made our first chocolate soufflé together.
Have you seen a cater-waiter who looks like a perv? (LAUGHS) Uh, I saw a pervy one go that way.
Thanks, Molly.
Oh, no, no, no, that's totally fine.
Happy birthday, sweets.
Love you.
Love you, too, Mom.
- Are you sure you don't want to stay? - Yeah.
Have fun.
(DANCE MUSIC PLAYING) Shake the, shake the room, room, room Hey, are you the one who knows Alex? - Uh, yeah.
- Yeah, you need to go.
- You heard me.
Go.
- For real? Whatever, bitch.
Shake the, shake the room, room (MUSIC CONTINUES FAINTLY) Ella, it's almost time.
I need your help.
Coming.
I fired that guy.
(CHUCKLES) DJ: All right, all right, all right, party people! Now is the moment you've all been waiting for, 16 years in the making.
Turn your attention to the stage and greet our one and only birthday girl! (CHEERING) (GASPING, MURMURING) STEVE: Ella.
Ella! Ella! JUSTIN: People will definitely be talking about this.
God forbid you should fail to capture this vital moment of us getting coffee.
You get a free latte if you post a selfie here.
You get a free latte if you work at the NYPD here.
You're telling me this now? - Any word from Sam? - Uh-uh.
I think we should call her.
Right now.
She's talking to a case worker, all right.
It's an emotional process regardless of how amazing we are, and we are, let's face it, amazing.
We can't rush her.
It'll make Sam not want to place her baby with us.
Absolutely.
You're right.
Still, it has been four whole days, maybe we should call her.
You know, in every aspect of your life you have endless patience for human behavior, but in this one thing you are being a complete control freak.
Come on, control freaks are obsessive-compulsive, passive-aggressive, even mood disordered.
Mm-hmm.
So we agree.
JAY: So great to meet you.
RYAN: Thank you, Jay.
I really appreciate the help.
Not sure I was much, but I'll stay in touch.
Great.
Hey.
Did you make a new friend, or is Sleeping Beauty starting to stir? He was the bartender.
Served our victim the night she was killed.
You found a witness? - Well done, Detective Stock.
- Thank you.
Hopefully from there, I can start tracking her whereabouts the whole night leading up to her death.
Oh, if I can be of any help It's getting hard for me to stay away from this case.
All right.
Be sure to get the salt and pepper shakers, too.
(LAUGHS) Are you kidding me? This meal cost me 35 bucks.
The last time I spent that much on a meal, my cousin, he bet me that I couldn't eat 20 bratwurst.
Downed 22.
Oh, uh, Ryan, this is my husband, Andy.
Uh, Detective Ryan Stock.
Ah, the Cornhusker.
Wait, you're a Cornhusker? Badger.
But hey, don't be too down on yourself.
You guys beat us in 2012, right? Okay, okay.
I was gonna say nice to meet you, but now I'm not so sure.
Oh, sports.
Anyways, uh, I'll see you at the precinct.
Uh, Andy, nice to meet you.
You, too.
(SIGHS) Well, it's a good thing his personality makes up for, - you know, the ugly.
- (BOTH CHUCKLE) Hey, Sarge.
Still going to the game? Late night? No date? I'm saying words, right? Can someone please tell me what's going on? Very funny.
Where's my stuff? (SHRIEKS) (LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE) The pyrotechnics were Fucci's touch.
For what, may I ask? JASMINE: Attention, please.
Let's give it up for Elizabeth Needham, our newest second grader.
(HOOTING, APPLAUSE) - Needham! - JASMINE: I expect everyone to be at the Lighthouse Friday night.
That's an order.
- And, uh, Lizzie's buying, of course.
- Great.
(LAUGHTER) FUCCI: Better hit the ATM, Needham.
I'm going deep in the count.
- Okay.
- Don't get too comfortable, Detective Second Grade.
That's your new office.
Seriously? Jas, I can't take that.
FUCCI: Yeah, she can't.
That's where I take my naps.
I mean do my paperwork.
(PHONE CHIMES) Oh.
Wow.
You can move in later.
Looks like we may have a fresh one in Tribeca.
Oh.
Okay.
Uh, you can clean up this mess.
What'd I miss? Hey.
Well, someone seems to be walking with a more prominent posture tonight.
I usually walk like a primate? Technically, you are a primate.
No, I'm noticing a more authoritative strut, like maybe someone who was promoted to detective second grade.
I'd hug you if you weren't so averse to PDA.
I love PDA as long as it's not too public, or too affectionate.
Anyway, this is a crime scene.
Congratulations, Lizzie.
- I couldn't have done it without you.
- Hmm.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
(LAUGHS) A sweet 16.
What do they do for a wedding? Elope to Versailles and eat money? People tend to lower their inhibitions at over-the-top parties, which is probably why you don't like them.
But I've been to some fun ones.
(LAUGHS) Loi Krathong in Thailand, the Boryeong Mud Festival.
Yeah, I'm thrilled for you and your globetrotting blowouts, but these are kids.
These are not kids.
They're wolverines in glitter makeup.
Still, it's nice to make up for the parties I wasn't invited to when I was a kid, which was approximately all of them.
The vic is Ella Baynes, 37, wife and stepmother hosting this modest little shindig.
She fell just as the birthday girl was about to be announced.
Bulging C2, C3? - Broken neck.
- HARRIS: Yeah.
Very likely.
Facial trauma.
She hit hard.
I doubt we'll get anything off that.
- She fell from up there? - HARRIS: Yeah.
Anyone up here wearing high heels is risking their life.
Can't rule out an accidental fall.
Yes, but the timing of it, the theatricality, suggests Ella's ending was premeditated.
- WOMAN: Hey! Stop! - BOYD: Get your hands off me! ALEX: What were you running away from, huh? - Get that out of my face.
- He was trying to get away! He did it! Take him! - You pushed her, you liar.
- All right, easy, easy, easy.
Will you take him, please? Oh, my God, it's Lord and Taylor of the Flies.
- This way.
Put that away.
- What's up with this guy? HARRIS: Name's Boyd Carter, cater-waiter.
Arrested for assault two years ago.
Our victim fired him shortly before her fatal fall.
Well, if this wasn't an accident, we have our first suspect.
Well, according to our mob of 16-year-olds, he's not just a suspect.
He's the murderer.
Who posted this? The question may be, who didn't? PODCKIM: They were about to announce Alex, you know, for her grand stage entrance.
We heard the commotion and the splash.
And the next thing we knew, she was facedown in fish.
Thank you, Kim.
I couldn't help but notice earlier that you keep your distance from the others.
- Thanks for noticing.
- Is there a reason for that? How long have you known the birthday girl? Alex.
Since our moms met in Mommy & Me.
- Childhood chums.
- I guess.
More so before the divorce left Alex with a new stepmom, Ella.
Alex didn't take it real well.
Kind of turned her into a bitch.
I-I mean, it's a cliché, but Step-Ella could be kind of evil.
And that's not displacement she really was.
Doesn't mean we wanted her to die.
Understood.
- I like you.
- SHAYLA: Hey.
You want to know what happened? That murderer was all lech-y with us, so Step-Ella canned him to make Alex like her.
EVIE: Details are sketchy, but from what I'm hearing, Boyd Carter, a high school-dropout waiter, has been taken into custody.
We have here a gentleman who, I think, works with the NYPD.
Although considering his dapper attire, I may be wrong.
Sir, uh, if we could get - a few words? - This is a crime scene, little lady.
How about a little respect? Sir, did you just call her "little lady"? - Give me those.
- Hey, you can't do that! Oh, quit whining.
It's a phone, not your kidneys.
- You'll survive.
- Actually, Evie's right you can't.
It's in violation of the Constitution under the Riley decision.
What are you, pre-law? Kim? She's AP English and AP History.
JUSTIN: AP Chem.
This is insane.
You know, I'm basically a victim here, too.
- Oh.
Yeah? How do you figure? - Look around.
It's all over social media that I'm a killer.
My parents are trying to raise bail money, and I'm not even under arrest.
Why didn't you leave after the victim fired you? Those girls wouldn't let me.
Isn't there a law against smearing people on the Internet? Libel? Or-or slander? - You should arrest them.
- OFFICER: Let's go.
Please tell me you found someone who caught it on their phone.
Not quite.
Lots of cheering, lots of screaming, no perp.
You get anything from the sweet 16 peanut gallery? Yes.
I am very worried about the future of mankind.
This constant urge to record and share everything - negatively affects our brain activity.
- Anything about our case? These kids are cut off from the very experiences they're trying to capture.
So, anything about our case? I'll put a call in to the judge to check their social media, and I'll keep a tight leash on the cater-waiter.
Reinhart and I will go back inside and talk to the vic's husband and stepdaughter.
- If you're done.
- I'm done.
But "social" and "media" are two words that do not belong together.
Okay, I'm done.
JASMINE: So Jules is this your first police station assignment as a computer guy? Yes, it is.
Corporate offices are more my bag, so to speak.
Must take some time getting used to dealing with cops all day.
Well, I did watch the Police Academy movies when I was a child, so I had some idea.
Are you single? Me? Uh, no, not exactly.
Oh, too bad.
Oh.
No.
Not for me.
I just I thought I saw some sparks between you and Lizzie.
Detective Needham? She's out of my league.
I wouldn't be so sure.
You should come to her party.
Thanks for the invitation.
She brought out the best in me.
In everyone.
Ella gave up her work so that she could be present for Alex, so that we could build a family.
What the hell happened? Can somebody tell me? We're working on that, Mr.
Gerich, I promise you.
To do that, we're gonna need more information from you.
Your first wife, was she here tonight? What does that matter? My mom came and gave me some makeup and a hug, and then she was out the door, because she couldn't stomach being here.
Alexandra, not the time, not the place.
- I'm sorry.
- We're all upset right now.
The divorce, a new marriage, Ella moving in.
It's all been really hard on Alex.
And now this.
Is there anyone else Ella was close with that we could talk to? (ALEX SNIFFLES) Uh, she had a friend here tonight, Molly.
It's hit her really hard.
We were friends.
For a long time.
Just when she was finally living the fairy tale.
LIZZIE: It's okay.
Take your time.
How did you two meet? Uh, at culinary arts school.
We were assigned to be partners and became close friends.
Ella was a nurturer.
She had a gift.
That girl could take any ingredients and create something delicious.
I couldn't form a plan without her.
Hiring an old friend, then, to work this party was a no-brainer.
Yeah.
We counted on each other.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do without her.
Detective Needham.
Excuse me.
Dead fish.
These were once perfectly happy koi fish, doing their best to adapt to their not-so-natural habitat.
You're wondering if these fish died because something on Ella's body was introduced to them - in their not-so-natural habitat.
- Mm-hmm.
- A contaminate? - Toxin? A toxin originating from Ella.
Yes, leaching into the water and killing these now not-so-happy fish.
I'll get CSU back here, get some water samples.
And don't let them forget those guys.
We can't assume they're red herrings.
Really? Not to pat myself on the back, - Oh, God forbid.
But if we are looking for poison, it may confirm my theory of a premeditated plan.
If she was carrying a toxin, she may have been dead or dying before she even hit the water.
Ella moved to New York from Erie.
Middle-class upbringing.
Parents deceased, and a sister who lives in Tampa.
This was her first marriage, and from everything I read, she seemed like a really nice person.
Am I boring you? I just can't understand why Sam hasn't called.
Andy doesn't think we should call her, but I think we should call her.
- What do you think? - I'm not gonna call.
You really want to know what I think? Don't answer that.
C.
O.
D.
is cervical fracture.
That's a broken neck.
Thanks.
We think something else may also have played a factor.
Of course you do.
What about her face? Looks like more than just trauma from the fall.
Skin irritation is not the C.
O.
D.
Can you imagine a world in which anything other than a broken neck could be a factor? Doug, her face swelled, like she had a reaction to something.
There was a waiter with a record in attendance.
Maybe he slipped something into her food or drink after she fired him? Revenge can serve to restore a psychological balance that had been disturbed.
Okay, Freud, can we put a hold on human behavior and stick to hard science, please? General tox screen came back negative.
There's no toxins in her stomach or esophagus.
So it wasn't ingested.
- Injected? - No needle marks.
I checked.
LIZZIE: Which means the toxin could have been inhaled or absorbed through the skin with a topical Maybe her makeup was laced with something.
I can't run a specific tox screen till I know what I'm looking for, so sleuth some more.
Our sweet 16 got her makeup from her mom right before she took off, early.
And then her ex-husband's new, younger wife died.
Always put your money on the jealous ex.
Hard science? Alex says you didn't stay very long - after she opened her gift.
- I felt far too uncomfortable.
It's another planet over there.
Over-the-top, tacky, ridiculous.
I want no part of that.
And I don't want Alex to, either.
Wrong values.
Steve and I share joint custody, so DYLAN: You don't seem all that broken up by any of this.
The whole thing is awful.
I feel for Alex.
On top of everything else, having to live with that memory.
When did things start to change between you and Steve? Well, Steve changed after he struck gold at work.
Our whole marriage was different after that point.
He wanted to be part of New York's moneyed world.
I don't care about that stuff as much.
As much as Ella? The struggling baker turned upper-class socialite? Yeah, I'd say Ella struck gold, too.
(SIGHS) Look, I don't like the idea of being replaced by a younger version of myself, but that doesn't mean I'm happy she's dead.
Or that I killed her.
Strong motive, works in cosmetics, practically fleeing the scene of the crime.
But what kind of mother spends years giving her child love, then knowingly traumatizes that child at her sweet 16 party? Why, Dr.
Reinhart, are you letting your objectivity slip? You're thinking like a parent.
Oh, my God, I am.
I cannot lose control of my rational, unemotional approach to human behavior.
- It's what I do.
- Too late.
Late.
Oh, my God, I'm late for class! - I'm driving.
You won't be late.
- Will you put the sirens on? - No.
- But you're a detective second grade.
Now you're not even getting the light bar.
Ah.
Six minutes, 47 seconds tardy.
I stand here before you ashamed.
(LAUGHTER) No, really.
I pride myself on my punctuality.
When I fail your young, impressionable minds, I am diminished.
(SIGHS) For about 15 seconds.
(LAUGHTER) Self-image is greatly affected by social evaluation.
I work to earn your respect, to gain influence, to attain status.
And then you, depending on my vibe decide what kind of person I am, what group you're gonna put me in.
Maybe you'll stick me with, uh, Rebecca, Garrett and Nicholas because they are late for absolutely everything.
(LAUGHTER) Or maybe you're gonna put me in the group with X-Man and Sully, because they're not afraid of anyone and "rules are for schmucks, bro.
" (LAUGHTER) The problem is, and this goes for everyone, we have no say in the status we get.
Status exists solely in the minds of others.
And yet, we obsessively pursue it.
(PHONE CHIMES) Of course now, in the age of social media, we can have absolute knowledge of the group we have been relegated to, the label we have been given, how many "likes" we have.
(PHONE CHIMES) Hey, Sully, how about you demonstrate the art of rule-breaking somewhere else, okay? (LAUGHS): I think you want to see this, Professor.
This is a crime scene, little, little, little, little lady How about a little respect Little, little lady - How about a little respect? - What the? - (LAUGHTER) - This, this is a crime scene Little, little, little, little lady How about a little respect? Little, little lady How about a little respect? This, this is a crime scene DYLAN: 43,000 views? Is that a lot? How about a little respect? (MUSIC PLAYING FAINTLY) (SIGHS) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (CHATTER CONTINUES) (PHONE RINGING) Hey.
So the foundation found in Ella's makeup contains an unusually high alkaline content.
Higher than anything found in her home.
Oh, so someone must've doctored it at the party before Ella - applied it to her face? - It's certainly looking that way.
We're looking into anyone who may have had access to her makeup or bag before and during the party.
Hopefully we find something soon.
(QUIETLY): In other news, there is a GIF of me doing the rounds on the Internet.
Uh, it's pronounced GIF.
And it's not a GIF, it's a video.
How do you know? Show me your computer screen right now.
My own partner.
Complicit in my viral spiral.
Oh, it's just a little harmless fun.
I am a public figure.
It must stop.
You can't control social media.
Oh, well, when you have your own GIF or GIF, or whatever it's called, then talk to me.
(MUTTERS) Bye.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Yeah.
Come in.
Brand-new office and this is how you thank me? Sad, empty walls? - Give me some time.
- Mm.
- You know - Wall art, chalkboard paint, murals.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Oh.
My apologies.
I'll come back later.
JASMINE: No, come on in.
I was just heading out.
I'm told this room needs another port installed.
Oh, that sounds super important.
I'll leave you two alone.
You can discuss it further.
(DOOR CLOSES) Okay, that was weird.
She thinks we have chemistry.
She told you that? Please, open the door before anyone else thinks we have chemistry.
In a minute.
I gave Jasmine my official cover story, but I want you to know that Jules has to take a little time off.
Where? A region outside New York City.
A region? How long for? Are we talking days, weeks? Depends on the assignment's difficulty assessment.
What's that? Like, one to ten? Ten being most likely to be dismembered? Please trust me and know I will do my best to make it back for your party.
Forget about my party.
Just make it back safe.
I really love what you've done with the place.
This is a, this is a crime scene (LAUGHTER) Little, little lady, how about a little respect? Little lady? - This is painful.
- It's priceless.
Who made it? ZACK: A teenage boy at the crime scene.
FUCCI: That's impressive.
My kid once spent an entire hour tangled in our garden hose.
Play it again.
(LAUGHTER) Uh, here he is.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE) Please, no.
Hey, Detective Second Grade on deck! At ease.
And enough, really.
I think the biological mom is still relevant, but no way our cater-waiter concocted an alkaline poison - the same night he was fired.
- I agree.
I just can't get the teenagers out of my mind.
Why, because of your GIF? Because unlike most teenagers, this crew demonstrates a rare combination of ingenuity and stupidity.
You should make a point right about now.
DYLAN: What if Ella dying was an accident? The kids clearly don't like her, we know Alex hated her, but I don't see them as killers.
LIZZIE: So maybe the poison makeup was a teen prank gone bad? Its planning, its plotting, its execution surpasses putting a frog in a teacher's drawer or putting hot sauce in the underwear of an eighth grade classmate.
Just once.
If it was a prank, they could have pulled it off together.
They seem to do everything else together.
So let's search their social media accounts.
We got the warrant.
You never had that kind of decisiveness as a third grade detective.
Promotion changes people.
Come on, get in here.
This is more horrifying than any crime scenes I've been to.
Don't.
Does that say 100,000 views? I'm getting this off the Internet before I lose all my professional credibility.
Yeah, you can't take things off the Internet.
What, you think I'm happy there's a photo of me from college vomiting in a mailbox? But I have to, before Sam sees it.
She's thinking of giving her firstborn to that.
That's what Andy's for.
How about a little respect? 300 likes? That's not even a great photo.
Alex was popular, and clearly not liking Ella moving into the house.
Look at these private posts to her friends early in the year.
"I wish I could kick the bitch out.
" "She thinks she's a swimsuit model, gag.
I'm so done with her.
" (EERIE SOUND EFFECT PLAYS) LIZZIE: Alex posted this three months ago.
DISTORTED VOICE: You're going to die.
What if the teens aren't the killers? Just Alex is.
And she used her party to make this GIF a reality? SHAYLA: Alex is up in her room.
JUSTIN: And way too upset to talk to anyone.
LIZZIE: Maybe you can help us.
Know anything about this? (EERIE SOUND EFFECT PLAYS) JUSTIN: Yeah, I think that GIF's from, like, the Obama administration? Dial it back, smart-ass.
So you've seen it before? A rando vid Alex posted? It's NBD.
You don't know what NBD is? Of course I know what NBD is.
SHAYLA: "Alex on Ella" is not some state secret.
Ella was her stepmom.
Everyone hates stepmoms.
That goes back to ancient times.
Oh, like the Obama administration? STEVE: Okay, Alex doesn't need gatekeepers right now, guys.
Go home, let the detectives do their jobs.
No big deal.
NBD.
Oh, of course.
(ALEX CRYING) You made this? No.
I just reposted it because it was a thing, making fun of stepmoms.
I know I didn't act like it, but I really got to like Ella.
Party-planning and hanging out with her, and I loved how happy she made you.
Why didn't you ever tell her? - Or me? - I should have, but it felt like a betrayal to Mom.
If you didn't post this, who did? Kim.
Your oldest friend.
That Kim? STEVE: That doesn't sound like her.
ALEX: Kim's done a lot of things that don't sound like Kim.
Can you be more specific, please? Letting people cheat off her in calculus or chem lab.
She never used to do that.
It's stuff to fit in with the rest of us.
STEVE: Fit in? You two have been friends since you learned to crawl.
I have new friends, I guess.
Kim tries, but stuff happens, and it isn't the same.
We aren't the same.
Maybe Kim made that GIF for Alex in an attempt to be included.
Right, and she took the stepmom hate to another level with a prank, only it went very, very wrong.
She's a smart kid.
One of her subjects is AP Chem.
Top student might have access to peroxides, acids.
And the know-how to use it discreetly.
KIM: It felt good making everybody laugh.
I-I just wanted Alex back.
I mean, those girls, they're always, like, standing guard around her, and I know Alex better than any of them.
It's not fair.
It's hard enough, you know? On the upside, we understand you already received a scholarship offer from MIT.
DYLAN: You mentioned AP Chem.
Students don't have access to chemicals at school, do they? Just the teachers.
And me.
So what? LIZZIE: We have reason to believe that a toxin was used on Ella.
This toxin contributed to her death.
You're not saying my daughter had something to do with this? I-It was cool to hate on her stepmom, but I-I would never take it to that level.
Never.
I think it might be a good time to call our lawyer.
Why don't we take advantage of your new office? Oh, nah, I can't think in there.
The poison, the timing, the sophistication.
The girl is perfectly capable.
She knows pH better than her ABCs.
And she did call Ella "evil stepmom.
" Maybe she was trying to finish the fairy tale on Alex's behalf.
(SIGHS) I don't think those kids even know those fairy tales, unless they're posted on Instagram.
No, the motive's off.
This is about feeling left out, friendship, friendship lost.
Alex left Kim behind.
But why would Kim hold Ella responsible for that? So who did Ella leave behind? We've been looking at the wrong friendship.
Molly Tynan.
Molly said that she and Ella were best friends, how they counted on each other.
She even said she wasn't sure what she'll do without Ella.
They were both bakers.
Maybe they had a culinary idea or venture.
DYLAN: Hmm.
LIZZIE: There it is.
They've been forging this business plan since they were students.
At least until Ella married up, and then instead of being a business partner, Molly found herself in the role of hired help at Ella's party.
That has a sting to it.
DYLAN: Question now is, did Molly choose to sting back? If Molly truly did poison her friend, what better place to take Ella down than in front of her new family and social circle.
Okay, maybe behaviorally it lines up, but we need something more tangible to make it stick.
What toxin could this woman have used that wouldn't show up on a general tox screen? Well, something specific, specialized.
She's a cook.
She knows ingredients.
Ella's makeup had a high alkaline trace.
Fruit has a high alkaline content.
Poison fruit? The poison apple.
A fairy tale symbol of beauty, ugliness, envy.
If bitten, it causes a deathlike sleep.
Ella wasn't the evil stepmother.
She was Cinderella.
It was her friend who is evil.
Your baby's never gonna fall asleep with you reading the fairy tales.
Not all tales are make-believe.
There is a real fruit named manchineel.
"The little apple of death.
" I doubt Molly would have been cooking with poison apples.
But a culinary artist would know where to find them.
The beach apple believed to have killed Ponce de León was green, sweet-smelling.
But the sap inside was toxic, causing burn-like blisters to the skin on contact.
Mix a concentration of that sap into some makeup and Our grim tale becomes a swan dive.
Can I help you? Molly, we spoke to you regarding Ella's death.
Yes.
Has something come up? We think you may have something to do with it.
How so? (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) She was poisoned, Molly.
Would you happen to know anything about that? No.
Poisoned? Uh, no, should I? Could you show me your right hand, please? Please.
DYLAN: Blisters consistent with the kind we found on Ella's face.
If we were to test your hand, compare it to Ella, what would we find? She wasn't supposed to die.
It was it was just a little bit, so that she'd break out into a rash.
You just wanted to embarrass her in front of the new people in her life.
Take her down a peg or two.
She was living in make-believe.
Pretending to, uh, be somebody that she wasn't.
She gave up on our dream.
People don't change like that! LIZZIE: You're under arrest.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER) Little lady, how about some respect? Little lady, how about some respect? - Wow, your GIF's getting a lot of love.
Yes, almost, uh, 200,000 views.
- Whoa.
- What's the record? - ZACK: For one video? - Yeah.
Around, like, 5.
4 billion.
(LAUGHTER) FUCCI: Close, close.
DYLAN: It's not a competition.
- Okay? It's just - Good, good.
FUCCI: Oh! Detective Second Grade on deck! (RYAN GRUNTS) Uh-oh.
What's going on here? LIZZIE: Just taking my desk back.
You can have my office.
Really? I-I can have your private office? FUCCI: Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, you've already been in the precinct for, like, two weeks.
Okay.
What? I missed this.
I miss you guys.
But if any of you call me Detective Second Grade again, you'll regret it.
Detective Needham, you're giving up some prime real estate there.
Yeah, it's not so prime when you're off on your own.
For better or worse, this squad is my family, and I'm not about to be left out of it.
HARRIS: Tox screen's back on Ella's makeup.
The chemical phorbol, linked to a class of apple tree.
Well done.
(GROANS) NBD.
Nobody beats Dylan.
G-I-A-R.
Uh, give it a rest.
(CHUCKLING) There are still steps involved.
I know, yes, yes, steps, lots of steps.
B-But just tell me, how did she say it? Tell me exactly, word-for-word.
Okay, well, I didn't exactly have a stenographer handy, but she said, "I would like to meet to talk about the possibility of adoption.
" Oh! I love that sentence.
I love every word, even the punctuation.
But not in a controlling way.
I-I want to say sorry for being a little too much about the whole calling-Sam thing.
This adoption, it it reminds me of my childhood, and I'm controlling that by being controlling.
Look, I get it.
That was your way when you didn't fit in.
But you're a grown-up now.
Yeah.
I'm a grown-up who still doesn't fit in.
It's just, with our child, I - want to get a lot of likes.
- And you will.
You will be the Kardashians of parenting.
That came out wrong.
Hey, speaking of social media, Sam had a lot of high praise for your viral video.
- Are you serious? - Mm-hmm, yes.
She said it made her laugh.
(CHUCKLES) LOL, social media.
- No.
Mm-mm.
- (LAUGHS) Oh.
- Hey! - (LAUGHTER) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) DYLAN: Coming up to 200K! Half of which, I think, are yours.
Elizabeth Needham, second grader! (ALL HOOTING, CHEERING) Second grade! LIZZIE: Easy on the shots! Okay? Even a second grade detective has a max on her credit card.
You know, I didn't make second grade - till I was almost 40.
- We talking second grade detective or just second grade? (LAUGHTER) HARRIS: So now that you are single, maybe you'll let me set you up.
Oh.
Well, is he funny? Yes.
Though not always intentionally.
Hmm.
What celebrity does he look like? Uh, I get "the Jewish Richard Gere" a lot.
Water, please.
The good thing, Sergeant, is neither one of us are gonna remember this on Monday.
Oh, yeah, but I am.
(LAUGHTER, CHATTER CONTINUES) FUCCI: Who wants another round on Lizzie? MAN: Lizzie, I'll take one.
FUCCI: Here, make mine a double.
I'm just gonna Hey.
Are you okay? Yeah.
Jay, the bartender who can I.
D.
the Sleeping Beauty killer, - he wants to meet up right now.
- Well, good.
It means he must have discovered something else.
And at this hour, it must be something that can't wait.
Where are you meeting? Uh, Ludlow and Division.
- That's not far.
I'll drive.
- Okay.
How long How long till I'm all gone? Here you go.
Thanks.
'Cause here I am Just stumbling down Elysian Fields Stand down, Detective Second Grade.
You pulling rank on me? Always.
(DOOR OPENS) (MAN GROANS) Sorry I'm late.
Hey, Jimmy.
(SIGHS) I thought Jules would show up, too.
A rooftop meeting.
What could possibly go wrong? Well, you could have stayed in the car.
Jay? Jay? Detective Stock.
I'll call him.
(LINE RINGING) (PHONE RINGING NEARBY) - (GUN COCKS) - (RINGING CONTINUES) (RINGING CONTINUES) (RECORDED): Hey, it's Jay.
Leave a message.
RYAN: It's Jay.
DYLAN: Why leave a photo of the body and not the body itself? "It's on"? He changed his signature.
He's starting to enjoy it.
RYAN: He's toying with us.
My name is Professor Dylan Reinhart.
Detective Elizabeth Needham, NYPD.
You're not just some boring old professor.
You're CIA? Retired.
DYLAN: You can't access sealed documents? - That's why they're sealed.
- That's why I have friends.
JULIAN: Don't tell me.
You need Intel and the NYPD is slowing you down.
- Just in case.
- If I were to call, - what would I call you? - Julian.
Lizzie, Dylan, meet Jules, our new computer associate.
- Nice to meet you both.
- DYLAN: This is Ryan, I'm helping him with the Sleeping Beauty case.
FUCCI: I've got a list of the family, friends and neighbors of the Sleeping Beauty vic.
- Let's start narrowing it down.
- Or we could open it up.
LIZZIE: You're gonna be a great father.
Any child would be lucky to have you and Andy as their dads.
Yes, I can verify that Samantha Amrimitsu works here.
It seems Sam is leaving because she is pregnant, and placing her baby for adoption.
You know when you said that babies don't just magically appear Are we ready for some magic? Well, if you don't like girls That are stronger than you And if you don't like girls that are faster than you And if you don't like girls that are smarter than you Well, then you might not like me Well, if you don't, don't - Well, if you don't - (LAUGHTER) - Faster than you - Well, if you don't like girls (LAUGHTER) You are perfection.
- How about now? - (LAUGHTER) S'up, girls? Alex, looking good.
Happy birthday.
Well, then you might not like me.
That dude is so creepy.
SHAYLA: Didn't stop you from dating him.
JUSTIN: Well, it appears he's working for you tonight.
Not for long.
Sounds like a job for stepmom.
- Hi, honey.
- Stepmom, you need to send that dude home.
Alex, what'd I tell you about talking to Ella that way? It's okay.
Honey, what did he do? He's a perv with a criminal record.
- I'll go talk to him.
- No, I'll handle it.
And you, enjoy your party.
Yup.
Thanks.
All I want is to make a big splash.
Something the school will be talking about all year.
Eh, I'm on a spaceship You got the kind of love that's taking me new places Eh, I found a spaceship Hey, Molly.
Ella, you okay? Yeah.
Who knew a sweet 16 could be so stressful? I haven't felt this anxious since we made our first chocolate soufflé together.
Have you seen a cater-waiter who looks like a perv? (LAUGHS) Uh, I saw a pervy one go that way.
Thanks, Molly.
Oh, no, no, no, that's totally fine.
Happy birthday, sweets.
Love you.
Love you, too, Mom.
- Are you sure you don't want to stay? - Yeah.
Have fun.
(DANCE MUSIC PLAYING) Shake the, shake the room, room, room Hey, are you the one who knows Alex? - Uh, yeah.
- Yeah, you need to go.
- You heard me.
Go.
- For real? Whatever, bitch.
Shake the, shake the room, room (MUSIC CONTINUES FAINTLY) Ella, it's almost time.
I need your help.
Coming.
I fired that guy.
(CHUCKLES) DJ: All right, all right, all right, party people! Now is the moment you've all been waiting for, 16 years in the making.
Turn your attention to the stage and greet our one and only birthday girl! (CHEERING) (GASPING, MURMURING) STEVE: Ella.
Ella! Ella! JUSTIN: People will definitely be talking about this.
God forbid you should fail to capture this vital moment of us getting coffee.
You get a free latte if you post a selfie here.
You get a free latte if you work at the NYPD here.
You're telling me this now? - Any word from Sam? - Uh-uh.
I think we should call her.
Right now.
She's talking to a case worker, all right.
It's an emotional process regardless of how amazing we are, and we are, let's face it, amazing.
We can't rush her.
It'll make Sam not want to place her baby with us.
Absolutely.
You're right.
Still, it has been four whole days, maybe we should call her.
You know, in every aspect of your life you have endless patience for human behavior, but in this one thing you are being a complete control freak.
Come on, control freaks are obsessive-compulsive, passive-aggressive, even mood disordered.
Mm-hmm.
So we agree.
JAY: So great to meet you.
RYAN: Thank you, Jay.
I really appreciate the help.
Not sure I was much, but I'll stay in touch.
Great.
Hey.
Did you make a new friend, or is Sleeping Beauty starting to stir? He was the bartender.
Served our victim the night she was killed.
You found a witness? - Well done, Detective Stock.
- Thank you.
Hopefully from there, I can start tracking her whereabouts the whole night leading up to her death.
Oh, if I can be of any help It's getting hard for me to stay away from this case.
All right.
Be sure to get the salt and pepper shakers, too.
(LAUGHS) Are you kidding me? This meal cost me 35 bucks.
The last time I spent that much on a meal, my cousin, he bet me that I couldn't eat 20 bratwurst.
Downed 22.
Oh, uh, Ryan, this is my husband, Andy.
Uh, Detective Ryan Stock.
Ah, the Cornhusker.
Wait, you're a Cornhusker? Badger.
But hey, don't be too down on yourself.
You guys beat us in 2012, right? Okay, okay.
I was gonna say nice to meet you, but now I'm not so sure.
Oh, sports.
Anyways, uh, I'll see you at the precinct.
Uh, Andy, nice to meet you.
You, too.
(SIGHS) Well, it's a good thing his personality makes up for, - you know, the ugly.
- (BOTH CHUCKLE) Hey, Sarge.
Still going to the game? Late night? No date? I'm saying words, right? Can someone please tell me what's going on? Very funny.
Where's my stuff? (SHRIEKS) (LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE) The pyrotechnics were Fucci's touch.
For what, may I ask? JASMINE: Attention, please.
Let's give it up for Elizabeth Needham, our newest second grader.
(HOOTING, APPLAUSE) - Needham! - JASMINE: I expect everyone to be at the Lighthouse Friday night.
That's an order.
- And, uh, Lizzie's buying, of course.
- Great.
(LAUGHTER) FUCCI: Better hit the ATM, Needham.
I'm going deep in the count.
- Okay.
- Don't get too comfortable, Detective Second Grade.
That's your new office.
Seriously? Jas, I can't take that.
FUCCI: Yeah, she can't.
That's where I take my naps.
I mean do my paperwork.
(PHONE CHIMES) Oh.
Wow.
You can move in later.
Looks like we may have a fresh one in Tribeca.
Oh.
Okay.
Uh, you can clean up this mess.
What'd I miss? Hey.
Well, someone seems to be walking with a more prominent posture tonight.
I usually walk like a primate? Technically, you are a primate.
No, I'm noticing a more authoritative strut, like maybe someone who was promoted to detective second grade.
I'd hug you if you weren't so averse to PDA.
I love PDA as long as it's not too public, or too affectionate.
Anyway, this is a crime scene.
Congratulations, Lizzie.
- I couldn't have done it without you.
- Hmm.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
(LAUGHS) A sweet 16.
What do they do for a wedding? Elope to Versailles and eat money? People tend to lower their inhibitions at over-the-top parties, which is probably why you don't like them.
But I've been to some fun ones.
(LAUGHS) Loi Krathong in Thailand, the Boryeong Mud Festival.
Yeah, I'm thrilled for you and your globetrotting blowouts, but these are kids.
These are not kids.
They're wolverines in glitter makeup.
Still, it's nice to make up for the parties I wasn't invited to when I was a kid, which was approximately all of them.
The vic is Ella Baynes, 37, wife and stepmother hosting this modest little shindig.
She fell just as the birthday girl was about to be announced.
Bulging C2, C3? - Broken neck.
- HARRIS: Yeah.
Very likely.
Facial trauma.
She hit hard.
I doubt we'll get anything off that.
- She fell from up there? - HARRIS: Yeah.
Anyone up here wearing high heels is risking their life.
Can't rule out an accidental fall.
Yes, but the timing of it, the theatricality, suggests Ella's ending was premeditated.
- WOMAN: Hey! Stop! - BOYD: Get your hands off me! ALEX: What were you running away from, huh? - Get that out of my face.
- He was trying to get away! He did it! Take him! - You pushed her, you liar.
- All right, easy, easy, easy.
Will you take him, please? Oh, my God, it's Lord and Taylor of the Flies.
- This way.
Put that away.
- What's up with this guy? HARRIS: Name's Boyd Carter, cater-waiter.
Arrested for assault two years ago.
Our victim fired him shortly before her fatal fall.
Well, if this wasn't an accident, we have our first suspect.
Well, according to our mob of 16-year-olds, he's not just a suspect.
He's the murderer.
Who posted this? The question may be, who didn't? PODCKIM: They were about to announce Alex, you know, for her grand stage entrance.
We heard the commotion and the splash.
And the next thing we knew, she was facedown in fish.
Thank you, Kim.
I couldn't help but notice earlier that you keep your distance from the others.
- Thanks for noticing.
- Is there a reason for that? How long have you known the birthday girl? Alex.
Since our moms met in Mommy & Me.
- Childhood chums.
- I guess.
More so before the divorce left Alex with a new stepmom, Ella.
Alex didn't take it real well.
Kind of turned her into a bitch.
I-I mean, it's a cliché, but Step-Ella could be kind of evil.
And that's not displacement she really was.
Doesn't mean we wanted her to die.
Understood.
- I like you.
- SHAYLA: Hey.
You want to know what happened? That murderer was all lech-y with us, so Step-Ella canned him to make Alex like her.
EVIE: Details are sketchy, but from what I'm hearing, Boyd Carter, a high school-dropout waiter, has been taken into custody.
We have here a gentleman who, I think, works with the NYPD.
Although considering his dapper attire, I may be wrong.
Sir, uh, if we could get - a few words? - This is a crime scene, little lady.
How about a little respect? Sir, did you just call her "little lady"? - Give me those.
- Hey, you can't do that! Oh, quit whining.
It's a phone, not your kidneys.
- You'll survive.
- Actually, Evie's right you can't.
It's in violation of the Constitution under the Riley decision.
What are you, pre-law? Kim? She's AP English and AP History.
JUSTIN: AP Chem.
This is insane.
You know, I'm basically a victim here, too.
- Oh.
Yeah? How do you figure? - Look around.
It's all over social media that I'm a killer.
My parents are trying to raise bail money, and I'm not even under arrest.
Why didn't you leave after the victim fired you? Those girls wouldn't let me.
Isn't there a law against smearing people on the Internet? Libel? Or-or slander? - You should arrest them.
- OFFICER: Let's go.
Please tell me you found someone who caught it on their phone.
Not quite.
Lots of cheering, lots of screaming, no perp.
You get anything from the sweet 16 peanut gallery? Yes.
I am very worried about the future of mankind.
This constant urge to record and share everything - negatively affects our brain activity.
- Anything about our case? These kids are cut off from the very experiences they're trying to capture.
So, anything about our case? I'll put a call in to the judge to check their social media, and I'll keep a tight leash on the cater-waiter.
Reinhart and I will go back inside and talk to the vic's husband and stepdaughter.
- If you're done.
- I'm done.
But "social" and "media" are two words that do not belong together.
Okay, I'm done.
JASMINE: So Jules is this your first police station assignment as a computer guy? Yes, it is.
Corporate offices are more my bag, so to speak.
Must take some time getting used to dealing with cops all day.
Well, I did watch the Police Academy movies when I was a child, so I had some idea.
Are you single? Me? Uh, no, not exactly.
Oh, too bad.
Oh.
No.
Not for me.
I just I thought I saw some sparks between you and Lizzie.
Detective Needham? She's out of my league.
I wouldn't be so sure.
You should come to her party.
Thanks for the invitation.
She brought out the best in me.
In everyone.
Ella gave up her work so that she could be present for Alex, so that we could build a family.
What the hell happened? Can somebody tell me? We're working on that, Mr.
Gerich, I promise you.
To do that, we're gonna need more information from you.
Your first wife, was she here tonight? What does that matter? My mom came and gave me some makeup and a hug, and then she was out the door, because she couldn't stomach being here.
Alexandra, not the time, not the place.
- I'm sorry.
- We're all upset right now.
The divorce, a new marriage, Ella moving in.
It's all been really hard on Alex.
And now this.
Is there anyone else Ella was close with that we could talk to? (ALEX SNIFFLES) Uh, she had a friend here tonight, Molly.
It's hit her really hard.
We were friends.
For a long time.
Just when she was finally living the fairy tale.
LIZZIE: It's okay.
Take your time.
How did you two meet? Uh, at culinary arts school.
We were assigned to be partners and became close friends.
Ella was a nurturer.
She had a gift.
That girl could take any ingredients and create something delicious.
I couldn't form a plan without her.
Hiring an old friend, then, to work this party was a no-brainer.
Yeah.
We counted on each other.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do without her.
Detective Needham.
Excuse me.
Dead fish.
These were once perfectly happy koi fish, doing their best to adapt to their not-so-natural habitat.
You're wondering if these fish died because something on Ella's body was introduced to them - in their not-so-natural habitat.
- Mm-hmm.
- A contaminate? - Toxin? A toxin originating from Ella.
Yes, leaching into the water and killing these now not-so-happy fish.
I'll get CSU back here, get some water samples.
And don't let them forget those guys.
We can't assume they're red herrings.
Really? Not to pat myself on the back, - Oh, God forbid.
But if we are looking for poison, it may confirm my theory of a premeditated plan.
If she was carrying a toxin, she may have been dead or dying before she even hit the water.
Ella moved to New York from Erie.
Middle-class upbringing.
Parents deceased, and a sister who lives in Tampa.
This was her first marriage, and from everything I read, she seemed like a really nice person.
Am I boring you? I just can't understand why Sam hasn't called.
Andy doesn't think we should call her, but I think we should call her.
- What do you think? - I'm not gonna call.
You really want to know what I think? Don't answer that.
C.
O.
D.
is cervical fracture.
That's a broken neck.
Thanks.
We think something else may also have played a factor.
Of course you do.
What about her face? Looks like more than just trauma from the fall.
Skin irritation is not the C.
O.
D.
Can you imagine a world in which anything other than a broken neck could be a factor? Doug, her face swelled, like she had a reaction to something.
There was a waiter with a record in attendance.
Maybe he slipped something into her food or drink after she fired him? Revenge can serve to restore a psychological balance that had been disturbed.
Okay, Freud, can we put a hold on human behavior and stick to hard science, please? General tox screen came back negative.
There's no toxins in her stomach or esophagus.
So it wasn't ingested.
- Injected? - No needle marks.
I checked.
LIZZIE: Which means the toxin could have been inhaled or absorbed through the skin with a topical Maybe her makeup was laced with something.
I can't run a specific tox screen till I know what I'm looking for, so sleuth some more.
Our sweet 16 got her makeup from her mom right before she took off, early.
And then her ex-husband's new, younger wife died.
Always put your money on the jealous ex.
Hard science? Alex says you didn't stay very long - after she opened her gift.
- I felt far too uncomfortable.
It's another planet over there.
Over-the-top, tacky, ridiculous.
I want no part of that.
And I don't want Alex to, either.
Wrong values.
Steve and I share joint custody, so DYLAN: You don't seem all that broken up by any of this.
The whole thing is awful.
I feel for Alex.
On top of everything else, having to live with that memory.
When did things start to change between you and Steve? Well, Steve changed after he struck gold at work.
Our whole marriage was different after that point.
He wanted to be part of New York's moneyed world.
I don't care about that stuff as much.
As much as Ella? The struggling baker turned upper-class socialite? Yeah, I'd say Ella struck gold, too.
(SIGHS) Look, I don't like the idea of being replaced by a younger version of myself, but that doesn't mean I'm happy she's dead.
Or that I killed her.
Strong motive, works in cosmetics, practically fleeing the scene of the crime.
But what kind of mother spends years giving her child love, then knowingly traumatizes that child at her sweet 16 party? Why, Dr.
Reinhart, are you letting your objectivity slip? You're thinking like a parent.
Oh, my God, I am.
I cannot lose control of my rational, unemotional approach to human behavior.
- It's what I do.
- Too late.
Late.
Oh, my God, I'm late for class! - I'm driving.
You won't be late.
- Will you put the sirens on? - No.
- But you're a detective second grade.
Now you're not even getting the light bar.
Ah.
Six minutes, 47 seconds tardy.
I stand here before you ashamed.
(LAUGHTER) No, really.
I pride myself on my punctuality.
When I fail your young, impressionable minds, I am diminished.
(SIGHS) For about 15 seconds.
(LAUGHTER) Self-image is greatly affected by social evaluation.
I work to earn your respect, to gain influence, to attain status.
And then you, depending on my vibe decide what kind of person I am, what group you're gonna put me in.
Maybe you'll stick me with, uh, Rebecca, Garrett and Nicholas because they are late for absolutely everything.
(LAUGHTER) Or maybe you're gonna put me in the group with X-Man and Sully, because they're not afraid of anyone and "rules are for schmucks, bro.
" (LAUGHTER) The problem is, and this goes for everyone, we have no say in the status we get.
Status exists solely in the minds of others.
And yet, we obsessively pursue it.
(PHONE CHIMES) Of course now, in the age of social media, we can have absolute knowledge of the group we have been relegated to, the label we have been given, how many "likes" we have.
(PHONE CHIMES) Hey, Sully, how about you demonstrate the art of rule-breaking somewhere else, okay? (LAUGHS): I think you want to see this, Professor.
This is a crime scene, little, little, little, little lady How about a little respect Little, little lady - How about a little respect? - What the? - (LAUGHTER) - This, this is a crime scene Little, little, little, little lady How about a little respect? Little, little lady How about a little respect? This, this is a crime scene DYLAN: 43,000 views? Is that a lot? How about a little respect? (MUSIC PLAYING FAINTLY) (SIGHS) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (CHATTER CONTINUES) (PHONE RINGING) Hey.
So the foundation found in Ella's makeup contains an unusually high alkaline content.
Higher than anything found in her home.
Oh, so someone must've doctored it at the party before Ella - applied it to her face? - It's certainly looking that way.
We're looking into anyone who may have had access to her makeup or bag before and during the party.
Hopefully we find something soon.
(QUIETLY): In other news, there is a GIF of me doing the rounds on the Internet.
Uh, it's pronounced GIF.
And it's not a GIF, it's a video.
How do you know? Show me your computer screen right now.
My own partner.
Complicit in my viral spiral.
Oh, it's just a little harmless fun.
I am a public figure.
It must stop.
You can't control social media.
Oh, well, when you have your own GIF or GIF, or whatever it's called, then talk to me.
(MUTTERS) Bye.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Yeah.
Come in.
Brand-new office and this is how you thank me? Sad, empty walls? - Give me some time.
- Mm.
- You know - Wall art, chalkboard paint, murals.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR) Oh.
My apologies.
I'll come back later.
JASMINE: No, come on in.
I was just heading out.
I'm told this room needs another port installed.
Oh, that sounds super important.
I'll leave you two alone.
You can discuss it further.
(DOOR CLOSES) Okay, that was weird.
She thinks we have chemistry.
She told you that? Please, open the door before anyone else thinks we have chemistry.
In a minute.
I gave Jasmine my official cover story, but I want you to know that Jules has to take a little time off.
Where? A region outside New York City.
A region? How long for? Are we talking days, weeks? Depends on the assignment's difficulty assessment.
What's that? Like, one to ten? Ten being most likely to be dismembered? Please trust me and know I will do my best to make it back for your party.
Forget about my party.
Just make it back safe.
I really love what you've done with the place.
This is a, this is a crime scene (LAUGHTER) Little, little lady, how about a little respect? Little lady? - This is painful.
- It's priceless.
Who made it? ZACK: A teenage boy at the crime scene.
FUCCI: That's impressive.
My kid once spent an entire hour tangled in our garden hose.
Play it again.
(LAUGHTER) Uh, here he is.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE) Please, no.
Hey, Detective Second Grade on deck! At ease.
And enough, really.
I think the biological mom is still relevant, but no way our cater-waiter concocted an alkaline poison - the same night he was fired.
- I agree.
I just can't get the teenagers out of my mind.
Why, because of your GIF? Because unlike most teenagers, this crew demonstrates a rare combination of ingenuity and stupidity.
You should make a point right about now.
DYLAN: What if Ella dying was an accident? The kids clearly don't like her, we know Alex hated her, but I don't see them as killers.
LIZZIE: So maybe the poison makeup was a teen prank gone bad? Its planning, its plotting, its execution surpasses putting a frog in a teacher's drawer or putting hot sauce in the underwear of an eighth grade classmate.
Just once.
If it was a prank, they could have pulled it off together.
They seem to do everything else together.
So let's search their social media accounts.
We got the warrant.
You never had that kind of decisiveness as a third grade detective.
Promotion changes people.
Come on, get in here.
This is more horrifying than any crime scenes I've been to.
Don't.
Does that say 100,000 views? I'm getting this off the Internet before I lose all my professional credibility.
Yeah, you can't take things off the Internet.
What, you think I'm happy there's a photo of me from college vomiting in a mailbox? But I have to, before Sam sees it.
She's thinking of giving her firstborn to that.
That's what Andy's for.
How about a little respect? 300 likes? That's not even a great photo.
Alex was popular, and clearly not liking Ella moving into the house.
Look at these private posts to her friends early in the year.
"I wish I could kick the bitch out.
" "She thinks she's a swimsuit model, gag.
I'm so done with her.
" (EERIE SOUND EFFECT PLAYS) LIZZIE: Alex posted this three months ago.
DISTORTED VOICE: You're going to die.
What if the teens aren't the killers? Just Alex is.
And she used her party to make this GIF a reality? SHAYLA: Alex is up in her room.
JUSTIN: And way too upset to talk to anyone.
LIZZIE: Maybe you can help us.
Know anything about this? (EERIE SOUND EFFECT PLAYS) JUSTIN: Yeah, I think that GIF's from, like, the Obama administration? Dial it back, smart-ass.
So you've seen it before? A rando vid Alex posted? It's NBD.
You don't know what NBD is? Of course I know what NBD is.
SHAYLA: "Alex on Ella" is not some state secret.
Ella was her stepmom.
Everyone hates stepmoms.
That goes back to ancient times.
Oh, like the Obama administration? STEVE: Okay, Alex doesn't need gatekeepers right now, guys.
Go home, let the detectives do their jobs.
No big deal.
NBD.
Oh, of course.
(ALEX CRYING) You made this? No.
I just reposted it because it was a thing, making fun of stepmoms.
I know I didn't act like it, but I really got to like Ella.
Party-planning and hanging out with her, and I loved how happy she made you.
Why didn't you ever tell her? - Or me? - I should have, but it felt like a betrayal to Mom.
If you didn't post this, who did? Kim.
Your oldest friend.
That Kim? STEVE: That doesn't sound like her.
ALEX: Kim's done a lot of things that don't sound like Kim.
Can you be more specific, please? Letting people cheat off her in calculus or chem lab.
She never used to do that.
It's stuff to fit in with the rest of us.
STEVE: Fit in? You two have been friends since you learned to crawl.
I have new friends, I guess.
Kim tries, but stuff happens, and it isn't the same.
We aren't the same.
Maybe Kim made that GIF for Alex in an attempt to be included.
Right, and she took the stepmom hate to another level with a prank, only it went very, very wrong.
She's a smart kid.
One of her subjects is AP Chem.
Top student might have access to peroxides, acids.
And the know-how to use it discreetly.
KIM: It felt good making everybody laugh.
I-I just wanted Alex back.
I mean, those girls, they're always, like, standing guard around her, and I know Alex better than any of them.
It's not fair.
It's hard enough, you know? On the upside, we understand you already received a scholarship offer from MIT.
DYLAN: You mentioned AP Chem.
Students don't have access to chemicals at school, do they? Just the teachers.
And me.
So what? LIZZIE: We have reason to believe that a toxin was used on Ella.
This toxin contributed to her death.
You're not saying my daughter had something to do with this? I-It was cool to hate on her stepmom, but I-I would never take it to that level.
Never.
I think it might be a good time to call our lawyer.
Why don't we take advantage of your new office? Oh, nah, I can't think in there.
The poison, the timing, the sophistication.
The girl is perfectly capable.
She knows pH better than her ABCs.
And she did call Ella "evil stepmom.
" Maybe she was trying to finish the fairy tale on Alex's behalf.
(SIGHS) I don't think those kids even know those fairy tales, unless they're posted on Instagram.
No, the motive's off.
This is about feeling left out, friendship, friendship lost.
Alex left Kim behind.
But why would Kim hold Ella responsible for that? So who did Ella leave behind? We've been looking at the wrong friendship.
Molly Tynan.
Molly said that she and Ella were best friends, how they counted on each other.
She even said she wasn't sure what she'll do without Ella.
They were both bakers.
Maybe they had a culinary idea or venture.
DYLAN: Hmm.
LIZZIE: There it is.
They've been forging this business plan since they were students.
At least until Ella married up, and then instead of being a business partner, Molly found herself in the role of hired help at Ella's party.
That has a sting to it.
DYLAN: Question now is, did Molly choose to sting back? If Molly truly did poison her friend, what better place to take Ella down than in front of her new family and social circle.
Okay, maybe behaviorally it lines up, but we need something more tangible to make it stick.
What toxin could this woman have used that wouldn't show up on a general tox screen? Well, something specific, specialized.
She's a cook.
She knows ingredients.
Ella's makeup had a high alkaline trace.
Fruit has a high alkaline content.
Poison fruit? The poison apple.
A fairy tale symbol of beauty, ugliness, envy.
If bitten, it causes a deathlike sleep.
Ella wasn't the evil stepmother.
She was Cinderella.
It was her friend who is evil.
Your baby's never gonna fall asleep with you reading the fairy tales.
Not all tales are make-believe.
There is a real fruit named manchineel.
"The little apple of death.
" I doubt Molly would have been cooking with poison apples.
But a culinary artist would know where to find them.
The beach apple believed to have killed Ponce de León was green, sweet-smelling.
But the sap inside was toxic, causing burn-like blisters to the skin on contact.
Mix a concentration of that sap into some makeup and Our grim tale becomes a swan dive.
Can I help you? Molly, we spoke to you regarding Ella's death.
Yes.
Has something come up? We think you may have something to do with it.
How so? (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) She was poisoned, Molly.
Would you happen to know anything about that? No.
Poisoned? Uh, no, should I? Could you show me your right hand, please? Please.
DYLAN: Blisters consistent with the kind we found on Ella's face.
If we were to test your hand, compare it to Ella, what would we find? She wasn't supposed to die.
It was it was just a little bit, so that she'd break out into a rash.
You just wanted to embarrass her in front of the new people in her life.
Take her down a peg or two.
She was living in make-believe.
Pretending to, uh, be somebody that she wasn't.
She gave up on our dream.
People don't change like that! LIZZIE: You're under arrest.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER) Little lady, how about some respect? Little lady, how about some respect? - Wow, your GIF's getting a lot of love.
Yes, almost, uh, 200,000 views.
- Whoa.
- What's the record? - ZACK: For one video? - Yeah.
Around, like, 5.
4 billion.
(LAUGHTER) FUCCI: Close, close.
DYLAN: It's not a competition.
- Okay? It's just - Good, good.
FUCCI: Oh! Detective Second Grade on deck! (RYAN GRUNTS) Uh-oh.
What's going on here? LIZZIE: Just taking my desk back.
You can have my office.
Really? I-I can have your private office? FUCCI: Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, you've already been in the precinct for, like, two weeks.
Okay.
What? I missed this.
I miss you guys.
But if any of you call me Detective Second Grade again, you'll regret it.
Detective Needham, you're giving up some prime real estate there.
Yeah, it's not so prime when you're off on your own.
For better or worse, this squad is my family, and I'm not about to be left out of it.
HARRIS: Tox screen's back on Ella's makeup.
The chemical phorbol, linked to a class of apple tree.
Well done.
(GROANS) NBD.
Nobody beats Dylan.
G-I-A-R.
Uh, give it a rest.
(CHUCKLING) There are still steps involved.
I know, yes, yes, steps, lots of steps.
B-But just tell me, how did she say it? Tell me exactly, word-for-word.
Okay, well, I didn't exactly have a stenographer handy, but she said, "I would like to meet to talk about the possibility of adoption.
" Oh! I love that sentence.
I love every word, even the punctuation.
But not in a controlling way.
I-I want to say sorry for being a little too much about the whole calling-Sam thing.
This adoption, it it reminds me of my childhood, and I'm controlling that by being controlling.
Look, I get it.
That was your way when you didn't fit in.
But you're a grown-up now.
Yeah.
I'm a grown-up who still doesn't fit in.
It's just, with our child, I - want to get a lot of likes.
- And you will.
You will be the Kardashians of parenting.
That came out wrong.
Hey, speaking of social media, Sam had a lot of high praise for your viral video.
- Are you serious? - Mm-hmm, yes.
She said it made her laugh.
(CHUCKLES) LOL, social media.
- No.
Mm-mm.
- (LAUGHS) Oh.
- Hey! - (LAUGHTER) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) DYLAN: Coming up to 200K! Half of which, I think, are yours.
Elizabeth Needham, second grader! (ALL HOOTING, CHEERING) Second grade! LIZZIE: Easy on the shots! Okay? Even a second grade detective has a max on her credit card.
You know, I didn't make second grade - till I was almost 40.
- We talking second grade detective or just second grade? (LAUGHTER) HARRIS: So now that you are single, maybe you'll let me set you up.
Oh.
Well, is he funny? Yes.
Though not always intentionally.
Hmm.
What celebrity does he look like? Uh, I get "the Jewish Richard Gere" a lot.
Water, please.
The good thing, Sergeant, is neither one of us are gonna remember this on Monday.
Oh, yeah, but I am.
(LAUGHTER, CHATTER CONTINUES) FUCCI: Who wants another round on Lizzie? MAN: Lizzie, I'll take one.
FUCCI: Here, make mine a double.
I'm just gonna Hey.
Are you okay? Yeah.
Jay, the bartender who can I.
D.
the Sleeping Beauty killer, - he wants to meet up right now.
- Well, good.
It means he must have discovered something else.
And at this hour, it must be something that can't wait.
Where are you meeting? Uh, Ludlow and Division.
- That's not far.
I'll drive.
- Okay.
How long How long till I'm all gone? Here you go.
Thanks.
'Cause here I am Just stumbling down Elysian Fields Stand down, Detective Second Grade.
You pulling rank on me? Always.
(DOOR OPENS) (MAN GROANS) Sorry I'm late.
Hey, Jimmy.
(SIGHS) I thought Jules would show up, too.
A rooftop meeting.
What could possibly go wrong? Well, you could have stayed in the car.
Jay? Jay? Detective Stock.
I'll call him.
(LINE RINGING) (PHONE RINGING NEARBY) - (GUN COCKS) - (RINGING CONTINUES) (RINGING CONTINUES) (RECORDED): Hey, it's Jay.
Leave a message.
RYAN: It's Jay.
DYLAN: Why leave a photo of the body and not the body itself? "It's on"? He changed his signature.
He's starting to enjoy it.
RYAN: He's toying with us.