Veronica Mars s03e15 Episode Script
Papa's Cabin
So here's something the freshman guidebook failed to address.
Your dad is acting sheriff.
He thinks your favorite professor may have murdered your favorite dean.
So where do you sit in class? Up front now seems awkward.
But isn't a seat in the back, like, hanging an "I think you're guilty" sign? I hope you're not relocating.
Oh, professor, no.
No, I was just I know, Veronica.
It's kind of a weird situation.
But I don't want you to think that this disagreement that your father and I are having will, in any way, affect things between us.
A student like you comes along once, maybe twice, in a career.
I'm glad that I get to be the one to mentor you.
And I really hope that you don't forget that amid all this I won't.
Thanks, Dr.
Landry.
- This doesn't make sense, Keith.
- Sheriff Mars, actually.
- I am acting sheriff now, so sorry.
- Okay.
Sheriff.
Why am I still here being questioned by you in that tone of voice? You said that you found my ex-husband's fingerprints all over Cyrus' computer keyboard.
Steve was clearly unstable.
You found his prints on the keyboard isn't that what you people call a smoking gun? "Goodbye cruel world.
" That sentiment uses 11 letters.
Unstable ex-husband Steve's prints are on every key on the keyboard.
And, of course, there's the matter of the gloves found in the incinerator.
Did the killer bother to wear gloves for the murder, only to take them off and leave prints all over the computer? So no, that's not what we call a smoking gun.
- I didn't kill Cyrus, Keith.
- Sheriff Mars.
You said you and Hank Landry were alone at the Neptune Grand on the evening of your husband's death.
But a witness heard two men fighting in your room at midnight.
You say you never left the hotel, but at 1:30 your car is checked out of valet and checked back in an hour later.
In that time, a phone call is made between your cell and Landry's.
You claim you never left the hotel and this call concerned toothpaste.
Roughly 30 minutes after your car is checked back in, a student passing near your husband's window heard the gunshot.
Toxicology reports show that your husband had a large dose of Xanax in his system.
The dean's assistant said he was out.
But records show you picked up a refill prescription for him earlier in the evening.
It just doesn't add up, Mindy.
I believe Hank Landry killed your husband, Mrs.
O'Dell.
I believe I can prove it.
My question to you is this: Are you gonna take the fall with him? The man who came to the hotel room that was Cyrus.
He was furious.
He had a gun.
Put the gun down, Cyrus.
Let's talk about this.
Oh, Cyrus? Oh, we're on a first-name basis now? I can see how you might be confused about our relationship what with you sleeping with my wife and all but let me remind you, I'm your boss.
Please put down the gun and then we'll talk.
- Cyrus, please.
- There's nothing to talk about.
You're done, Hank.
And I don't mean just at Hearst.
I mean everywhere.
No tenure, no more happy days in academia bedding students and easily charmed wives.
Cyrus, please.
He threatened to end his career? Well, Hank's career means everything to him.
Cyrus could kill him at every reputable college in the country.
Cyrus stormed out and Hank freaked.
I said that I would go and try and talk him down.
I went to the house, but his car wasn't there, so I went by his office.
- And the phone call? - Hank wanted to know how it went.
How did it go? Well, his office window had just been egged.
So he wasn't in a good mood.
What are you doing here? I'm here to ask you one more time, Cyrus, to please be merciful.
That's when you gave him the Xanax? I thought it'd do him some good.
Three pills? It practically left him helpless.
I just gave him the bottle.
He handled the dosage.
Look, I was there for five minutes.
He yelled.
I left.
End of story.
What did you tell Landry? Nothing.
When I got back, he wasn't there.
You came to me to prove your husband was murdered.
It didn't occur to you that your lover might have done it? I knew that Cyrus didn't kill himself.
I wanted to know who did.
Even if it was Hank.
You provided his alibi.
Until you told me about Hank's bloody clothes I believed someone else was responsible.
Cyrus had plenty of enemies.
You'll testify Hank was worked up? That he panicked at the thought of losing his career.
Yes.
I've known three men in your life, Mrs.
O'Dell.
Two are dead.
The great State of California may see to the third.
How am I supposed to react to that? Reflexively.
Don't leave town.
Many agencies requesting criminal profiles are unified by the misperception that the profiling process can somehow circumvent the work of analyzing physical evidence of a particular case Review conducted by Horvath and Meesig determined that physical evidence is used less than 25 percent in the cases All right, then.
May I ask what this is all about? I'm going to arrest you, Dr.
Landry.
You should feel free to dismiss your class.
There's no reason for your students to see you led out of here in cuffs.
Class, the acting sheriff has some questions he'd like to ask about a case.
So I'm gonna let you go early.
- Nice.
- Read chapter six by next class.
Say it again, please.
Into the microphone.
I'm happy to answer questions without a lawyer present.
Mindy flipped on you.
I don't believe you.
She said she went back to the dean's office that night.
She talked to her husband, gave him his Xanax.
When she got back, you were gone.
The dean was murdered at 3 a.
m.
Are you sure you don't want a lawyer? Mindy said the dean visited your hotel room.
She says he threatened to destroy your career and she went back to his office to try and plead for you.
That's what she said? That's all she said about his visit? Well the dean did more than threaten me.
No more happy days of academia bedding down impressionable students and easily charmed wives.
Cyrus, if you just put the gun away.
And you, you will find your things on the lawn tomorrow morning, okay? I'm so sorry I didn't take my friends' advice about marrying you.
But thank God I took their advice about a prenup.
We are done, and you get nothing.
Do you hear me? Nothing.
She didn't go back to save me, Keith.
She went back to save herself.
She was back at the hotel by the time the dean was dead.
- The ex-husband, Bitondo.
- It's not looking like Bitondo.
A maintenance worker found something interesting while cleaning out the incinerator at Hearst.
- You wanna fill me in? - A bag.
Containing a dress shirt and gloves.
Yours.
Covered in O'Dell's blood.
Mindy.
She set me up.
She could get to my clothes.
I don't know how she got her car back to the hotel.
Her alibi checks out.
How about you finally tell me where you were at 3 a.
m.
the night of December 10th? I left the hotel and drove home alone.
I stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes.
You charge them? No.
And the clerk didn't even look up from his little TV set.
Wait.
Can I bum one of those? Here.
Take two.
I don't really smoke.
So this mystery woman, anything you can tell me about her? Late 30s, early 40s.
Brunette.
I don't suppose you can tell me how your clothes ended up covered in the dean's blood? I suggest you find a lawyer.
A very good one.
You're a smart man.
You gotta see I have a case.
Professor Landry? Tim? Of course.
It's always Tim.
What's going on? - They think you killed the dean? - I didn't.
Their case is just There are two things you could do, though.
- I found a bug in my phone.
- A bug? I need to find out who put it there and how long it's been there.
Okay.
What else? I need you to find a needle in a haystack.
What the hell are you doing? - I'm - Formulating a lie, realizing it's futile begrudgingly telling the truth? - I'm trying to help Landry, okay? He gave your father the bug that someone planted in his phone.
I'm hoping it will lead to Mindy.
How is it gonna lead to Mindy? I don't know.
Serial numbers? - They don't have serial numbers.
- Well, I didn't know.
There's gotta be a way.
How would you do it? Well, first, I'd break into someone's office act really weaselly, and then ask their advice.
Pardon my manners, Veronica, but I'm a little desperate.
Landry, he didn't kill the dean.
Mindy's framing him.
He's a great man.
I'm gonna do everything I can to help him.
He has an alibi.
He was at a convenience store at the time of the murder.
And he's got the credit card receipt to prove it? No, but he talked to a woman, he gave her a cigarette.
I know it means nothing, but your dad doesn't believe him.
He's not looking for the witness.
I'm his only hope.
Unless you help me.
You want my help? Well, l I need it.
I'm not I'm not good in the field.
I am more of a thinker.
I have to find this woman, talk to her.
You might be an asset.
I don't know.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Lots of people come through here.
I don't, like, memorize their faces or anything.
Sorry.
How long do you keep the surveillance tapes? Like, no long.
It's not hooked up, it's just for show.
You usually work the night shift? Yes.
Are you gonna buy anything? This is ridiculous.
- Welcome to "in the field.
" - It just seems hopeless.
We have no idea who this woman is.
She could've just been driving through town or she could live next door and gone on vacation for a year.
Or she could have been a down-on-her-luck Catholic schoolgirl smuggling cantaloupes in her shirt.
So are they, like, shooting a Mötley Crüe video here, or? Strip City is just across the street, Buckcherry wrote it for Tori.
I have seniority.
Excuse me.
Hi.
Have you seen this guy? It would've been here eight weeks and two days ago, to be exact.
What are you? Some kind of little detective team or something? - As a matter of fact, we happen to be - We're just trying to find my dad.
He left home again without paying the rent.
I'm sure there's a valid reason, if we could just find Yeah, there's a valid reason.
Men are scum, mystery solved.
Except for you, Randy.
Let me see.
No.
I'd remember that one.
Two months ago? Any of you maybe bum a cigarette off him? Do we look like we smoke? - Yes.
- It's bad for your skin.
Sorry, we didn't see him, but try tomorrow.
Tori's on, and she smokes like a big old slutty chimney.
- Hey.
- Hey.
I didn't think you were gonna make it.
How was Econ? Econ? Tuesdays and Thursdays Econ? - That class about economics? - Oh, yeah.
I flaked.
We agreed, no lectures on college responsibility.
No.
I just I thought that was your only class today.
Yeah? And at the bottom, and we're done.
Regency Life Insurance is very sorry for your loss, Mrs.
O'Dell.
Well, that means a lot.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
You maybe interested in buying a boat? Yes.
I want that one.
All right.
So I'm a guy and I don't know or care about this stuff.
But I feel like I'm supposed to tell you this.
I'm starting to get a mustache? - No.
- Then why are you staring at my lip? - Because you just made me.
- Stop.
I saw Logan and Parker having lunch.
- Here? - Yeah.
In the cafeteria? At lunch time? God, why doesn't he just run me over with a truck? Man, I'm just telling you this because it looked like it was something.
Like they were connecting, you know? - What? - I'm just trying to figure out which Gilmore Girl you are.
I know he says he doesn't eat them but leave a jelly if you know what's good for you.
Last time you said that, you didn't actually get any jellies.
I almost had a heart attack.
Are you in trouble? Has anyone told you you look very convincing behind that desk? So is that a no on the trouble? I'm just saying I like it better when we're not civilians.
Speaking of, if I'm gonna be able to run red lights with impunity I think a siren would be helpful.
Care to tell me where you got Landry's case file? The filing cabinet.
I'm hoping his testimony might help us find his alibi.
Veronica.
Between his bloody clothes and Mindy's testimony things are not looking too great for Professor Landry.
They'll look better when we find this alibi, which we will.
Keith, D.
A.
's on line two.
Okay.
But you might also get used to the fact that he might have done it, sweetie.
Consider it.
This is Keith Mars.
Mindy O'Dell? Wasn't her deposition? What do you mean missing? Isn't that all the proof they need? I mean, why would Mindy leave if she weren't guilty? She's still got an alibi for the time of the murder.
Although, we know she gave him the Xanax maybe she set him up for the killer.
- What, like maybe Bitondo? - He is a guy who can be bought.
Or it could be anyone.
Everyone hated the dean.
Not everyone.
Strippers ahoy.
The one with the cigarette, that's Tori.
You are a thinker.
Let's see how you do in the field.
If you're wondering where I am I'm hanging out outside a convenience store eating CornNuts and watching strippers.
- Are you doing drugs? - No.
Good.
So Mindy definitely split town.
She shipped her kids to her parents in Surrey, England.
Which shouldn't be a problem since you know Landry did it.
No comment.
Now, it's 3 a.
m.
Can I expect you home anytime soon? Gotta go.
Out of CornNuts.
Bye.
Excuse me.
Can I ask you a quick question? Have you ever seen this guy? A few months ago.
He gave me a cigarette.
Why? So you say you saw Hank Landry the night of December 10th? I bummed a cigarette from him.
You remember some guy you met in a parking lot two months ago? He actually looked kind of like the guy I just broke up with and it kind of freaked me out.
What kind of loser breaks up with a girl two weeks before Christmas? And you're sure you saw Landry at exactly 3:30 that morning? - Around there, yeah.
- Were you wearing a watch, Miss? I stop there sometimes when my shift ends.
Hey, you know, I just came in here because they said the guy was in trouble.
I don't care if you believe me or not.
Thanks, you guys.
I wish there were a grade higher than an A.
Mindy's disappeared.
She got her insurance money and vanished.
We think there's a chance she was working with Steve Bitondo.
- lf you want, we can keep - No.
No, you've done too much already.
Thanks again.
Terrific work.
If I had to bet, I'd bet my Dad isn't gonna leave it at that.
We have to find those tapes.
If Mindy was working with Bitondo, I'd bet Steve was the one planting the bug in Landry's phone.
An insurance policy in case things went bad.
Bitondo's keys are still in evidence.
- Is there any way we get ahold - Is there any way? There's nothing here.
- What? - Nice gloves.
You headed to the parlor to strangle Colonel Mustard after this? We're breaking and entering, I can't leave prints.
Use your sleeve.
It's less creepy.
So where else would you hide illicit recordings? I didn't know Night Ranger had this many albums.
Well so there's these DVDs.
- Does he have A Bug's Life? - No.
But he does have Taps.
"December 10th, 1:30 a.
m.
" The night of the murder.
- Hello? - Mindy, for God's sake, come back.
- Hank, I have to go.
- Min, don't be stupid.
He's not exactly in control of himself and he's got a gun.
I won't let this happen, Hank.
I won't let him take everything.
I won't.
- Damn it.
I'll take care of this.
- How? Just I will, Mindy.
- Don't worry.
- No.
No, Hank, I can't risk it.
Anything else from that night? What's that one? It's that day Probably just another - Hello? - Hey, Hank.
Bob Reid at Pepperdine.
I'm calling about a job application we got from your teaching assistant, Tim Foyle.
He put you as a reference, so I'm calling for your thoughts.
Yeah, well, Tim is loyal and hardworking.
A good TA.
Kind of a kiss-ass.
Very linear thinker.
No imagination.
You could do worse, but honestly, Bob, at Pepperdine? I'm sure you can do better.
Tim.
No, it's fine.
It doesn't matter.
No, sir.
I'm just saying if your judge had given me the warrant to tap his phone, we wouldn't be having this problem.
And I asked for an ankle tracker.
Bye.
- You talk to the airports? - LAX, yeah.
But I'm still waiting to hear from John Wayne.
And you're not gonna, pilgrim, because what I am is dead.
- What are you doing here, Veronica? - Bringing you this.
It's a recording of Mindy and Landry's phone call from the night of the murder.
It really sounds like she did it, Dad.
I really think Professor Landry is innocent.
I'm glad you do, but right now, I'm more concerned with finding him.
- Wait, finding Landry? - Yeah.
He disappeared too.
So you finally got that boat that you always wanted.
Hi, my name is Carrie and I read one of your books.
I really enjoyed it.
Hour three of listening to the recordings off Landry's cell phone trying to find one that will connect Mindy and what I'm now afraid is her partner Professor Landry, to the dean's murder.
Or, just as importantly, discover where they might have gone.
All this sneaking around is driving me crazy.
I wish we could just take a time-out.
Yeah, tell me about it.
A week at Papa's Cabin? Oh, God, baby, that would be so great.
- Hello? - Hey, it's me.
Do you know if Landry's father or his grandfather has a cabin? A cabin? I don't know.
Why? They mention it on the tapes.
Papa's Cabin, like a getaway spot.
I've never heard of a cabin, but we could poke around.
Meet me at his house, I've still got his key.
Bye.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Long time, no see.
- Yeah.
What's up? Nothing.
No, it's just It's kind of weird.
I don't know if you know but Logan and I were, sort of, I don't know, hanging out.
Actually, Parker, I'm just running out.
Is it okay if we catch up later? Yeah, okay.
So guess who went to a class today.
Me.
And guess what, I learned.
You don't seem to be your usual ebullient self.
Actually, Logan, I have to - I don't know.
- What? Having a friend like Veronica, that's important to me.
I'm just worried, you know? Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Okay.
So I guess it's true.
Little future murderers play with dinosaurs like everyone else.
And have cuddly old grandpas.
Hey, Tim.
- I may have something.
- Me too.
This was on the fridge.
Looks more like a bar.
You think they remodeled? You think this is the same place? What's that? Oh, it was in the office trash.
What's he doing with a disposable cell phone? Get a pen and paper.
- What are you doing? - Redial.
- Hello? - Hi.
This is KRAC FM.
Congratulations.
You may have just won a new iPod.
To claim your prize, press pound.
Please hold.
So you get the phone number, then we look it up then you track down the address, right? That's one way to do it.
Hi, it's Anna from KRAC.
How are you? Good.
Is this real? If you can tell me our call number.
- Yeah, 103.
1 FM.
- And you win.
I just need you to confirm your name and address and the KRACking good-time van will show up with your iPod.
Sure.
J.
D.
Sansone, 18 Emberwood, number eight.
J.
D.
Sansone? Yeah, are you the radio people? My name is Miss Crockett.
This is my partner, Mr.
Tubbs.
We're here conducting an investigation.
An official investigation.
- For what? - How do you know Hank Landry? - From, like, the juvie board.
- Can you explain? Me and my buddies got nabbed stealing cough syrup J.
D.
Homework.
Now.
Who is it? Mom, this is Crockett and Tubbs? Yeah.
They're doing an investigation.
So it was blackmail? Hank was on the juvie board overseeing her son.
The kid was one strike away from foster care.
She says she was on her lunch break the other day and Hank called and threatened to take the kid off probation unless she showed up at that convenience store and said she saw Landry the night of the murder.
And Landry? Still gone.
No leads.
We're kind of busy, so if you two That's why we wanted to bring you these.
On the tapes Bitondo had, Landry referred to Papa's Cabin.
Like it was a getaway or hideout.
So we searched his house for ideas where that might be.
No property records, but we found these.
We're not sure if this is the place or not.
Do we know anything about Landry's dad? Grandfather.
He called him Papa.
Brewer Landry, lives in Florida.
This doesn't look like Florida.
Looks like the mountains.
Those are aspen trees.
Quaking aspens, so Western mountains.
And on this one, you can actually make out the license plate on this truck, navy letters on white.
The most common pattern, so it could be anywhere.
Virginia, Alabama, Illinois, Kansas Quaking aspens, Western U.
S.
Okay, so Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Utah or California.
California has red state letters, so does Washington.
Not on the endangered animals specialized plates.
- And that could be a whale.
- Or a lake, as in Crater Lake.
- Specialized Oregon plates.
- Or Papa could be Ernest Hemingway.
Papa's Cabin.
"Papa's Cabin, Cabo San Lucas.
Unwind at the hideaway once beloved by Ernest Hemingway.
" - Anything? - Pretty positive ID from the manager.
Guy didn't rent a room.
Just paid to moor the boat.
Hello? I didn't kill him, Keith.
You must know this little trip to Mexico might lead me to take that statement with a grain of salt.
It was her.
Mindy? She did it, Keith.
- All I did for her and she set me up.
- What did? I tried to cover for her.
Put it on Bitondo.
- The keyboard? - Yeah, I just switched it with the dean's.
Might have worked too.
But then you took over as sheriff.
Where is she, Hank? Where's Mindy? It was an accident.
I just wanted to talk.
Find out how she could turn on me like that.
She must have thought I was gonna kill her.
We fought and I hit her and she fell over.
It was dark.
I looked, but But what? Where is she, Hank? l I swear.
I swear, Keith.
It was an accident.
Mars.
We're on a last-name basis now? We skipped right over androgynous nicknames? I tried calling you Chuckles, but it didn't stick.
You know, some people are afraid of you.
So, what's up, Echolls? Nothing, just I wanted to ask you about something.
You know? It's kind of weird, but You know, I was thinking of asking Parker out and I wanted to make sure it was cool with you.
Veronica, are you coming in? Yeah, one second.
Of course.
Thank you for asking.
Sure, I know we're friends.
Yeah.
See you.
Good luck.
- Oh, thanks for coming in.
- Yeah.
So since Landry's been, you know, arrested well, it's kind of caught everyone by surprise, including me, as you know.
Yeah, it kind of caught everyone by surprise.
Anyway, I've been asked to take over his classes until they can find a replacement.
And it's kind of a big job and as you are kind of a star pupil, I was hoping you might be my TA.
While I try to get a handle on all this.
Because I could really use the help.
- Of course.
- Great.
Can you pick up my dry cleaning? So as you probably know Professor Landry is no longer with us.
I will be your instructor for the time being.
So if you'll take your handouts from the Webber text - Yes? - What happened? What do you mean? I mean, our professor murdered the dean.
Can't we discuss that? I mean, this is Criminology, right? Well, it's a little awkward for me.
But okay.
This is Criminology.
So Landry kills O'Dell.
Crime of passion? Opportunity? Pre-meditation? What do we know? Well, passion clearly was a factor.
Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy and Landry were engaged in an affair.
The dean caught them, threatened to ruin them, destroy Landry's career.
So motives, pretty much a classic Is it true he got the idea from one of our perfect-murder papers? Possibly.
Again, opportunity.
The idea in this paper probably suited the situation.
He knew he had a limited window to act.
He knew the dean was drunk and upset.
And he had a gun.
So a fake suicide suited the circumstances.
Any chance the dean's wife helped set him up? He was drugged.
An anti-anxiety drug, yes, but he had a prescription.
Now, is it possible they colluded? Yes.
Will we ever know? With Mindy dead and Landry not speaking, probably not.
Landry was a smart man.
But the bloody clothes he thought he incinerated got stuck in a chute and once they were found, everything unraveled.
Another interesting thing about this case is once a perpetrator starts improvising the sloppier his work becomes.
They find the bloody clothes.
So Landry first tries to frame Mrs.
O'Dell's ex-husband.
And then when he was arrested, in this room, as you all remember he fakes an alibi.
How? He called a woman whose son he oversaw on the juvenile probation board.
It might've worked, actually.
If the phone he had called them with hadn't been found.
Again, chance.
If you remember from reading Holst 80 percent of Veronica? - When? - When what? When did he call her? Landry was arrested here and taken straight to the sheriff's department.
When did he have the time to make the blackmail call to fake his alibi? Well, someone mentioned the possibility that he and Mindy colluded.
- She could have called while - It was a male voice on the phone.
Then it's possible he called earlier.
Anticipating his arrest.
Remember, this is a man who, at this point, knew his crime had been exposed.
He knew Mindy was under investigation and had sent her children to relatives in England.
He could easily have assumed that she had turned against him.
Anyway, in 80 percent of cases the breakthrough evidence was obtained outside the usual police protocols.
An interesting point of Holst, I think he makes here is that Veronica? How did you know she sent her kids to England? I'm actually not sure, but So whoever bugged Landry's phone knew that the dean caught Mindy and Landry together.
And that the dean was drunk in his office.
If you're suggesting Bitondo killed him, it's possible.
If you follow the thread through So this person would also be aware that Professor Landry shot down your chances for a teaching job at Pepperdine.
- Yes, if they listened - To all the tapes.
Which it sounds like you did.
- I'm not sure I understand - I do.
When my dad called to tell me that Mindy had sent her kids to relatives in England, you couldn't have heard.
You were in a convenience store talking to a stripper.
You bugged my phone.
You bugged Landry's phone.
You knew he shot down your job application.
You knew the dean threatened him.
You knew the dean was zonked out on Xanax and Scotch in his office.
And you had access to Landry's clothes.
You murdered Dean O'Dell to destroy Professor Landry.
Because he used you, then betrayed you.
And when he said he had an alibi, you faked it.
So you'd be sure he'd go down.
Bet he'll change his mind about you not being that smart.
And in a shocking development in a local murder investigation Timothy Foyle, the teaching assistant of accused killer Hank Landry has confessed to the murder of Cyrus O'Dell.
The one big downside of justice: It feels good, but it doesn't change anything.
A killer's in jail, but the dean is still dead which remains, fundamentally, unfair.
- You got a confession? - I am that good.
So it's true what they say? There's a new sheriff in town? Until the special election, anyway.
- What you making? - Meat and potatoes.
I read somewhere that's what real men eat.
Is there a real man coming over? - So, what's gonna happen to Landry? - He's gonna be tried for manslaughter.
He killed Mindy O'Dell.
He confessed too.
- Man, you get everyone to confess.
- I think it's the uniform.
Do you have anything to confess? Yes.
You embarrass me.
Give me my meat, woman.
And in other news, a San Diego businessman was found dead in his Laguna Beach house.
- The discovery was made by - Turn that off, will you? - who told police she discovered the man's body You know I don't like you exposed to all this crime and violence.
It's gonna warp your mind.
Who am I kidding? Police have yet to make a ruling on the case.
Your dad is acting sheriff.
He thinks your favorite professor may have murdered your favorite dean.
So where do you sit in class? Up front now seems awkward.
But isn't a seat in the back, like, hanging an "I think you're guilty" sign? I hope you're not relocating.
Oh, professor, no.
No, I was just I know, Veronica.
It's kind of a weird situation.
But I don't want you to think that this disagreement that your father and I are having will, in any way, affect things between us.
A student like you comes along once, maybe twice, in a career.
I'm glad that I get to be the one to mentor you.
And I really hope that you don't forget that amid all this I won't.
Thanks, Dr.
Landry.
- This doesn't make sense, Keith.
- Sheriff Mars, actually.
- I am acting sheriff now, so sorry.
- Okay.
Sheriff.
Why am I still here being questioned by you in that tone of voice? You said that you found my ex-husband's fingerprints all over Cyrus' computer keyboard.
Steve was clearly unstable.
You found his prints on the keyboard isn't that what you people call a smoking gun? "Goodbye cruel world.
" That sentiment uses 11 letters.
Unstable ex-husband Steve's prints are on every key on the keyboard.
And, of course, there's the matter of the gloves found in the incinerator.
Did the killer bother to wear gloves for the murder, only to take them off and leave prints all over the computer? So no, that's not what we call a smoking gun.
- I didn't kill Cyrus, Keith.
- Sheriff Mars.
You said you and Hank Landry were alone at the Neptune Grand on the evening of your husband's death.
But a witness heard two men fighting in your room at midnight.
You say you never left the hotel, but at 1:30 your car is checked out of valet and checked back in an hour later.
In that time, a phone call is made between your cell and Landry's.
You claim you never left the hotel and this call concerned toothpaste.
Roughly 30 minutes after your car is checked back in, a student passing near your husband's window heard the gunshot.
Toxicology reports show that your husband had a large dose of Xanax in his system.
The dean's assistant said he was out.
But records show you picked up a refill prescription for him earlier in the evening.
It just doesn't add up, Mindy.
I believe Hank Landry killed your husband, Mrs.
O'Dell.
I believe I can prove it.
My question to you is this: Are you gonna take the fall with him? The man who came to the hotel room that was Cyrus.
He was furious.
He had a gun.
Put the gun down, Cyrus.
Let's talk about this.
Oh, Cyrus? Oh, we're on a first-name basis now? I can see how you might be confused about our relationship what with you sleeping with my wife and all but let me remind you, I'm your boss.
Please put down the gun and then we'll talk.
- Cyrus, please.
- There's nothing to talk about.
You're done, Hank.
And I don't mean just at Hearst.
I mean everywhere.
No tenure, no more happy days in academia bedding students and easily charmed wives.
Cyrus, please.
He threatened to end his career? Well, Hank's career means everything to him.
Cyrus could kill him at every reputable college in the country.
Cyrus stormed out and Hank freaked.
I said that I would go and try and talk him down.
I went to the house, but his car wasn't there, so I went by his office.
- And the phone call? - Hank wanted to know how it went.
How did it go? Well, his office window had just been egged.
So he wasn't in a good mood.
What are you doing here? I'm here to ask you one more time, Cyrus, to please be merciful.
That's when you gave him the Xanax? I thought it'd do him some good.
Three pills? It practically left him helpless.
I just gave him the bottle.
He handled the dosage.
Look, I was there for five minutes.
He yelled.
I left.
End of story.
What did you tell Landry? Nothing.
When I got back, he wasn't there.
You came to me to prove your husband was murdered.
It didn't occur to you that your lover might have done it? I knew that Cyrus didn't kill himself.
I wanted to know who did.
Even if it was Hank.
You provided his alibi.
Until you told me about Hank's bloody clothes I believed someone else was responsible.
Cyrus had plenty of enemies.
You'll testify Hank was worked up? That he panicked at the thought of losing his career.
Yes.
I've known three men in your life, Mrs.
O'Dell.
Two are dead.
The great State of California may see to the third.
How am I supposed to react to that? Reflexively.
Don't leave town.
Many agencies requesting criminal profiles are unified by the misperception that the profiling process can somehow circumvent the work of analyzing physical evidence of a particular case Review conducted by Horvath and Meesig determined that physical evidence is used less than 25 percent in the cases All right, then.
May I ask what this is all about? I'm going to arrest you, Dr.
Landry.
You should feel free to dismiss your class.
There's no reason for your students to see you led out of here in cuffs.
Class, the acting sheriff has some questions he'd like to ask about a case.
So I'm gonna let you go early.
- Nice.
- Read chapter six by next class.
Say it again, please.
Into the microphone.
I'm happy to answer questions without a lawyer present.
Mindy flipped on you.
I don't believe you.
She said she went back to the dean's office that night.
She talked to her husband, gave him his Xanax.
When she got back, you were gone.
The dean was murdered at 3 a.
m.
Are you sure you don't want a lawyer? Mindy said the dean visited your hotel room.
She says he threatened to destroy your career and she went back to his office to try and plead for you.
That's what she said? That's all she said about his visit? Well the dean did more than threaten me.
No more happy days of academia bedding down impressionable students and easily charmed wives.
Cyrus, if you just put the gun away.
And you, you will find your things on the lawn tomorrow morning, okay? I'm so sorry I didn't take my friends' advice about marrying you.
But thank God I took their advice about a prenup.
We are done, and you get nothing.
Do you hear me? Nothing.
She didn't go back to save me, Keith.
She went back to save herself.
She was back at the hotel by the time the dean was dead.
- The ex-husband, Bitondo.
- It's not looking like Bitondo.
A maintenance worker found something interesting while cleaning out the incinerator at Hearst.
- You wanna fill me in? - A bag.
Containing a dress shirt and gloves.
Yours.
Covered in O'Dell's blood.
Mindy.
She set me up.
She could get to my clothes.
I don't know how she got her car back to the hotel.
Her alibi checks out.
How about you finally tell me where you were at 3 a.
m.
the night of December 10th? I left the hotel and drove home alone.
I stopped at a convenience store for cigarettes.
You charge them? No.
And the clerk didn't even look up from his little TV set.
Wait.
Can I bum one of those? Here.
Take two.
I don't really smoke.
So this mystery woman, anything you can tell me about her? Late 30s, early 40s.
Brunette.
I don't suppose you can tell me how your clothes ended up covered in the dean's blood? I suggest you find a lawyer.
A very good one.
You're a smart man.
You gotta see I have a case.
Professor Landry? Tim? Of course.
It's always Tim.
What's going on? - They think you killed the dean? - I didn't.
Their case is just There are two things you could do, though.
- I found a bug in my phone.
- A bug? I need to find out who put it there and how long it's been there.
Okay.
What else? I need you to find a needle in a haystack.
What the hell are you doing? - I'm - Formulating a lie, realizing it's futile begrudgingly telling the truth? - I'm trying to help Landry, okay? He gave your father the bug that someone planted in his phone.
I'm hoping it will lead to Mindy.
How is it gonna lead to Mindy? I don't know.
Serial numbers? - They don't have serial numbers.
- Well, I didn't know.
There's gotta be a way.
How would you do it? Well, first, I'd break into someone's office act really weaselly, and then ask their advice.
Pardon my manners, Veronica, but I'm a little desperate.
Landry, he didn't kill the dean.
Mindy's framing him.
He's a great man.
I'm gonna do everything I can to help him.
He has an alibi.
He was at a convenience store at the time of the murder.
And he's got the credit card receipt to prove it? No, but he talked to a woman, he gave her a cigarette.
I know it means nothing, but your dad doesn't believe him.
He's not looking for the witness.
I'm his only hope.
Unless you help me.
You want my help? Well, l I need it.
I'm not I'm not good in the field.
I am more of a thinker.
I have to find this woman, talk to her.
You might be an asset.
I don't know.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Lots of people come through here.
I don't, like, memorize their faces or anything.
Sorry.
How long do you keep the surveillance tapes? Like, no long.
It's not hooked up, it's just for show.
You usually work the night shift? Yes.
Are you gonna buy anything? This is ridiculous.
- Welcome to "in the field.
" - It just seems hopeless.
We have no idea who this woman is.
She could've just been driving through town or she could live next door and gone on vacation for a year.
Or she could have been a down-on-her-luck Catholic schoolgirl smuggling cantaloupes in her shirt.
So are they, like, shooting a Mötley Crüe video here, or? Strip City is just across the street, Buckcherry wrote it for Tori.
I have seniority.
Excuse me.
Hi.
Have you seen this guy? It would've been here eight weeks and two days ago, to be exact.
What are you? Some kind of little detective team or something? - As a matter of fact, we happen to be - We're just trying to find my dad.
He left home again without paying the rent.
I'm sure there's a valid reason, if we could just find Yeah, there's a valid reason.
Men are scum, mystery solved.
Except for you, Randy.
Let me see.
No.
I'd remember that one.
Two months ago? Any of you maybe bum a cigarette off him? Do we look like we smoke? - Yes.
- It's bad for your skin.
Sorry, we didn't see him, but try tomorrow.
Tori's on, and she smokes like a big old slutty chimney.
- Hey.
- Hey.
I didn't think you were gonna make it.
How was Econ? Econ? Tuesdays and Thursdays Econ? - That class about economics? - Oh, yeah.
I flaked.
We agreed, no lectures on college responsibility.
No.
I just I thought that was your only class today.
Yeah? And at the bottom, and we're done.
Regency Life Insurance is very sorry for your loss, Mrs.
O'Dell.
Well, that means a lot.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
You maybe interested in buying a boat? Yes.
I want that one.
All right.
So I'm a guy and I don't know or care about this stuff.
But I feel like I'm supposed to tell you this.
I'm starting to get a mustache? - No.
- Then why are you staring at my lip? - Because you just made me.
- Stop.
I saw Logan and Parker having lunch.
- Here? - Yeah.
In the cafeteria? At lunch time? God, why doesn't he just run me over with a truck? Man, I'm just telling you this because it looked like it was something.
Like they were connecting, you know? - What? - I'm just trying to figure out which Gilmore Girl you are.
I know he says he doesn't eat them but leave a jelly if you know what's good for you.
Last time you said that, you didn't actually get any jellies.
I almost had a heart attack.
Are you in trouble? Has anyone told you you look very convincing behind that desk? So is that a no on the trouble? I'm just saying I like it better when we're not civilians.
Speaking of, if I'm gonna be able to run red lights with impunity I think a siren would be helpful.
Care to tell me where you got Landry's case file? The filing cabinet.
I'm hoping his testimony might help us find his alibi.
Veronica.
Between his bloody clothes and Mindy's testimony things are not looking too great for Professor Landry.
They'll look better when we find this alibi, which we will.
Keith, D.
A.
's on line two.
Okay.
But you might also get used to the fact that he might have done it, sweetie.
Consider it.
This is Keith Mars.
Mindy O'Dell? Wasn't her deposition? What do you mean missing? Isn't that all the proof they need? I mean, why would Mindy leave if she weren't guilty? She's still got an alibi for the time of the murder.
Although, we know she gave him the Xanax maybe she set him up for the killer.
- What, like maybe Bitondo? - He is a guy who can be bought.
Or it could be anyone.
Everyone hated the dean.
Not everyone.
Strippers ahoy.
The one with the cigarette, that's Tori.
You are a thinker.
Let's see how you do in the field.
If you're wondering where I am I'm hanging out outside a convenience store eating CornNuts and watching strippers.
- Are you doing drugs? - No.
Good.
So Mindy definitely split town.
She shipped her kids to her parents in Surrey, England.
Which shouldn't be a problem since you know Landry did it.
No comment.
Now, it's 3 a.
m.
Can I expect you home anytime soon? Gotta go.
Out of CornNuts.
Bye.
Excuse me.
Can I ask you a quick question? Have you ever seen this guy? A few months ago.
He gave me a cigarette.
Why? So you say you saw Hank Landry the night of December 10th? I bummed a cigarette from him.
You remember some guy you met in a parking lot two months ago? He actually looked kind of like the guy I just broke up with and it kind of freaked me out.
What kind of loser breaks up with a girl two weeks before Christmas? And you're sure you saw Landry at exactly 3:30 that morning? - Around there, yeah.
- Were you wearing a watch, Miss? I stop there sometimes when my shift ends.
Hey, you know, I just came in here because they said the guy was in trouble.
I don't care if you believe me or not.
Thanks, you guys.
I wish there were a grade higher than an A.
Mindy's disappeared.
She got her insurance money and vanished.
We think there's a chance she was working with Steve Bitondo.
- lf you want, we can keep - No.
No, you've done too much already.
Thanks again.
Terrific work.
If I had to bet, I'd bet my Dad isn't gonna leave it at that.
We have to find those tapes.
If Mindy was working with Bitondo, I'd bet Steve was the one planting the bug in Landry's phone.
An insurance policy in case things went bad.
Bitondo's keys are still in evidence.
- Is there any way we get ahold - Is there any way? There's nothing here.
- What? - Nice gloves.
You headed to the parlor to strangle Colonel Mustard after this? We're breaking and entering, I can't leave prints.
Use your sleeve.
It's less creepy.
So where else would you hide illicit recordings? I didn't know Night Ranger had this many albums.
Well so there's these DVDs.
- Does he have A Bug's Life? - No.
But he does have Taps.
"December 10th, 1:30 a.
m.
" The night of the murder.
- Hello? - Mindy, for God's sake, come back.
- Hank, I have to go.
- Min, don't be stupid.
He's not exactly in control of himself and he's got a gun.
I won't let this happen, Hank.
I won't let him take everything.
I won't.
- Damn it.
I'll take care of this.
- How? Just I will, Mindy.
- Don't worry.
- No.
No, Hank, I can't risk it.
Anything else from that night? What's that one? It's that day Probably just another - Hello? - Hey, Hank.
Bob Reid at Pepperdine.
I'm calling about a job application we got from your teaching assistant, Tim Foyle.
He put you as a reference, so I'm calling for your thoughts.
Yeah, well, Tim is loyal and hardworking.
A good TA.
Kind of a kiss-ass.
Very linear thinker.
No imagination.
You could do worse, but honestly, Bob, at Pepperdine? I'm sure you can do better.
Tim.
No, it's fine.
It doesn't matter.
No, sir.
I'm just saying if your judge had given me the warrant to tap his phone, we wouldn't be having this problem.
And I asked for an ankle tracker.
Bye.
- You talk to the airports? - LAX, yeah.
But I'm still waiting to hear from John Wayne.
And you're not gonna, pilgrim, because what I am is dead.
- What are you doing here, Veronica? - Bringing you this.
It's a recording of Mindy and Landry's phone call from the night of the murder.
It really sounds like she did it, Dad.
I really think Professor Landry is innocent.
I'm glad you do, but right now, I'm more concerned with finding him.
- Wait, finding Landry? - Yeah.
He disappeared too.
So you finally got that boat that you always wanted.
Hi, my name is Carrie and I read one of your books.
I really enjoyed it.
Hour three of listening to the recordings off Landry's cell phone trying to find one that will connect Mindy and what I'm now afraid is her partner Professor Landry, to the dean's murder.
Or, just as importantly, discover where they might have gone.
All this sneaking around is driving me crazy.
I wish we could just take a time-out.
Yeah, tell me about it.
A week at Papa's Cabin? Oh, God, baby, that would be so great.
- Hello? - Hey, it's me.
Do you know if Landry's father or his grandfather has a cabin? A cabin? I don't know.
Why? They mention it on the tapes.
Papa's Cabin, like a getaway spot.
I've never heard of a cabin, but we could poke around.
Meet me at his house, I've still got his key.
Bye.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Long time, no see.
- Yeah.
What's up? Nothing.
No, it's just It's kind of weird.
I don't know if you know but Logan and I were, sort of, I don't know, hanging out.
Actually, Parker, I'm just running out.
Is it okay if we catch up later? Yeah, okay.
So guess who went to a class today.
Me.
And guess what, I learned.
You don't seem to be your usual ebullient self.
Actually, Logan, I have to - I don't know.
- What? Having a friend like Veronica, that's important to me.
I'm just worried, you know? Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Okay.
So I guess it's true.
Little future murderers play with dinosaurs like everyone else.
And have cuddly old grandpas.
Hey, Tim.
- I may have something.
- Me too.
This was on the fridge.
Looks more like a bar.
You think they remodeled? You think this is the same place? What's that? Oh, it was in the office trash.
What's he doing with a disposable cell phone? Get a pen and paper.
- What are you doing? - Redial.
- Hello? - Hi.
This is KRAC FM.
Congratulations.
You may have just won a new iPod.
To claim your prize, press pound.
Please hold.
So you get the phone number, then we look it up then you track down the address, right? That's one way to do it.
Hi, it's Anna from KRAC.
How are you? Good.
Is this real? If you can tell me our call number.
- Yeah, 103.
1 FM.
- And you win.
I just need you to confirm your name and address and the KRACking good-time van will show up with your iPod.
Sure.
J.
D.
Sansone, 18 Emberwood, number eight.
J.
D.
Sansone? Yeah, are you the radio people? My name is Miss Crockett.
This is my partner, Mr.
Tubbs.
We're here conducting an investigation.
An official investigation.
- For what? - How do you know Hank Landry? - From, like, the juvie board.
- Can you explain? Me and my buddies got nabbed stealing cough syrup J.
D.
Homework.
Now.
Who is it? Mom, this is Crockett and Tubbs? Yeah.
They're doing an investigation.
So it was blackmail? Hank was on the juvie board overseeing her son.
The kid was one strike away from foster care.
She says she was on her lunch break the other day and Hank called and threatened to take the kid off probation unless she showed up at that convenience store and said she saw Landry the night of the murder.
And Landry? Still gone.
No leads.
We're kind of busy, so if you two That's why we wanted to bring you these.
On the tapes Bitondo had, Landry referred to Papa's Cabin.
Like it was a getaway or hideout.
So we searched his house for ideas where that might be.
No property records, but we found these.
We're not sure if this is the place or not.
Do we know anything about Landry's dad? Grandfather.
He called him Papa.
Brewer Landry, lives in Florida.
This doesn't look like Florida.
Looks like the mountains.
Those are aspen trees.
Quaking aspens, so Western mountains.
And on this one, you can actually make out the license plate on this truck, navy letters on white.
The most common pattern, so it could be anywhere.
Virginia, Alabama, Illinois, Kansas Quaking aspens, Western U.
S.
Okay, so Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Utah or California.
California has red state letters, so does Washington.
Not on the endangered animals specialized plates.
- And that could be a whale.
- Or a lake, as in Crater Lake.
- Specialized Oregon plates.
- Or Papa could be Ernest Hemingway.
Papa's Cabin.
"Papa's Cabin, Cabo San Lucas.
Unwind at the hideaway once beloved by Ernest Hemingway.
" - Anything? - Pretty positive ID from the manager.
Guy didn't rent a room.
Just paid to moor the boat.
Hello? I didn't kill him, Keith.
You must know this little trip to Mexico might lead me to take that statement with a grain of salt.
It was her.
Mindy? She did it, Keith.
- All I did for her and she set me up.
- What did? I tried to cover for her.
Put it on Bitondo.
- The keyboard? - Yeah, I just switched it with the dean's.
Might have worked too.
But then you took over as sheriff.
Where is she, Hank? Where's Mindy? It was an accident.
I just wanted to talk.
Find out how she could turn on me like that.
She must have thought I was gonna kill her.
We fought and I hit her and she fell over.
It was dark.
I looked, but But what? Where is she, Hank? l I swear.
I swear, Keith.
It was an accident.
Mars.
We're on a last-name basis now? We skipped right over androgynous nicknames? I tried calling you Chuckles, but it didn't stick.
You know, some people are afraid of you.
So, what's up, Echolls? Nothing, just I wanted to ask you about something.
You know? It's kind of weird, but You know, I was thinking of asking Parker out and I wanted to make sure it was cool with you.
Veronica, are you coming in? Yeah, one second.
Of course.
Thank you for asking.
Sure, I know we're friends.
Yeah.
See you.
Good luck.
- Oh, thanks for coming in.
- Yeah.
So since Landry's been, you know, arrested well, it's kind of caught everyone by surprise, including me, as you know.
Yeah, it kind of caught everyone by surprise.
Anyway, I've been asked to take over his classes until they can find a replacement.
And it's kind of a big job and as you are kind of a star pupil, I was hoping you might be my TA.
While I try to get a handle on all this.
Because I could really use the help.
- Of course.
- Great.
Can you pick up my dry cleaning? So as you probably know Professor Landry is no longer with us.
I will be your instructor for the time being.
So if you'll take your handouts from the Webber text - Yes? - What happened? What do you mean? I mean, our professor murdered the dean.
Can't we discuss that? I mean, this is Criminology, right? Well, it's a little awkward for me.
But okay.
This is Criminology.
So Landry kills O'Dell.
Crime of passion? Opportunity? Pre-meditation? What do we know? Well, passion clearly was a factor.
Dean O'Dell's wife Mindy and Landry were engaged in an affair.
The dean caught them, threatened to ruin them, destroy Landry's career.
So motives, pretty much a classic Is it true he got the idea from one of our perfect-murder papers? Possibly.
Again, opportunity.
The idea in this paper probably suited the situation.
He knew he had a limited window to act.
He knew the dean was drunk and upset.
And he had a gun.
So a fake suicide suited the circumstances.
Any chance the dean's wife helped set him up? He was drugged.
An anti-anxiety drug, yes, but he had a prescription.
Now, is it possible they colluded? Yes.
Will we ever know? With Mindy dead and Landry not speaking, probably not.
Landry was a smart man.
But the bloody clothes he thought he incinerated got stuck in a chute and once they were found, everything unraveled.
Another interesting thing about this case is once a perpetrator starts improvising the sloppier his work becomes.
They find the bloody clothes.
So Landry first tries to frame Mrs.
O'Dell's ex-husband.
And then when he was arrested, in this room, as you all remember he fakes an alibi.
How? He called a woman whose son he oversaw on the juvenile probation board.
It might've worked, actually.
If the phone he had called them with hadn't been found.
Again, chance.
If you remember from reading Holst 80 percent of Veronica? - When? - When what? When did he call her? Landry was arrested here and taken straight to the sheriff's department.
When did he have the time to make the blackmail call to fake his alibi? Well, someone mentioned the possibility that he and Mindy colluded.
- She could have called while - It was a male voice on the phone.
Then it's possible he called earlier.
Anticipating his arrest.
Remember, this is a man who, at this point, knew his crime had been exposed.
He knew Mindy was under investigation and had sent her children to relatives in England.
He could easily have assumed that she had turned against him.
Anyway, in 80 percent of cases the breakthrough evidence was obtained outside the usual police protocols.
An interesting point of Holst, I think he makes here is that Veronica? How did you know she sent her kids to England? I'm actually not sure, but So whoever bugged Landry's phone knew that the dean caught Mindy and Landry together.
And that the dean was drunk in his office.
If you're suggesting Bitondo killed him, it's possible.
If you follow the thread through So this person would also be aware that Professor Landry shot down your chances for a teaching job at Pepperdine.
- Yes, if they listened - To all the tapes.
Which it sounds like you did.
- I'm not sure I understand - I do.
When my dad called to tell me that Mindy had sent her kids to relatives in England, you couldn't have heard.
You were in a convenience store talking to a stripper.
You bugged my phone.
You bugged Landry's phone.
You knew he shot down your job application.
You knew the dean threatened him.
You knew the dean was zonked out on Xanax and Scotch in his office.
And you had access to Landry's clothes.
You murdered Dean O'Dell to destroy Professor Landry.
Because he used you, then betrayed you.
And when he said he had an alibi, you faked it.
So you'd be sure he'd go down.
Bet he'll change his mind about you not being that smart.
And in a shocking development in a local murder investigation Timothy Foyle, the teaching assistant of accused killer Hank Landry has confessed to the murder of Cyrus O'Dell.
The one big downside of justice: It feels good, but it doesn't change anything.
A killer's in jail, but the dean is still dead which remains, fundamentally, unfair.
- You got a confession? - I am that good.
So it's true what they say? There's a new sheriff in town? Until the special election, anyway.
- What you making? - Meat and potatoes.
I read somewhere that's what real men eat.
Is there a real man coming over? - So, what's gonna happen to Landry? - He's gonna be tried for manslaughter.
He killed Mindy O'Dell.
He confessed too.
- Man, you get everyone to confess.
- I think it's the uniform.
Do you have anything to confess? Yes.
You embarrass me.
Give me my meat, woman.
And in other news, a San Diego businessman was found dead in his Laguna Beach house.
- The discovery was made by - Turn that off, will you? - who told police she discovered the man's body You know I don't like you exposed to all this crime and violence.
It's gonna warp your mind.
Who am I kidding? Police have yet to make a ruling on the case.