Elementary s05e22 Episode Script
Moving Targets
1 WATSON: Previously on Elementary I know you killed Jameel Clark.
WATSON: He's worked for months to embed himself in SBK.
An endeavor I cared more about before I knew he was a cold-blooded killer.
SBK is a ruthless drug gang.
(grunts) SHINWELL: You want to know who killed Jameel? SBK killed Jameel.
You're looking for someone who killed one person.
SBK kills dozens of people a year.
I'm gonna take SBK down.
And anybody who get in my way (groans) gonna get hurt.
HOLMES: It's of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and which are vital.
In this case, the key to the whole matter can be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's hand.
That little â12â in the corner matches the numbers in your checkbook.
You wrote that.
GREGSON: More importantly, you wrote this, the rest of the letter the victim was holding.
We found the shredded pieces of your missive in New York's Sunset Park recycling facility.
My partner spent most of last night reconstructing it.
I like puzzles.
GREGSON: It's an offer to pay William Kirwin for his silence.
And a pretty flirty one, at that.
We figure Kirwin witnessed you two breaking into the home of your neighbor, Mr.
Acton, while he was doing his security patrol.
And, instead of calling it in, he asked for a payout.
WATSON: So you lured him to your home and shot him.
And tried to make it look like he was killed interrupting another break-in.
Alex shot him.
Give me a deal and I'll give you the gun.
June, what the hell? (phone chimes) That business was a bad one.
Something amiss? Oh, no, um, it's just my mom, reminding me about, uh, coffee tomorrow.
(beeps) Test, test.
(sniffs) Okay.
You got this.
(rustling) (squeaking) Got you.
Elementary 5x22 Moving Targets That is curious.
Marcus said the victim had a paintball gun on her.
Which is odd in itself.
I was commenting on the nature of the paint.
Paintball pellets are filled with water-soluble dyes.
They create bright stains, but they're still easy to wash off skin and clothes.
But none of this dye came off on my finger.
This is Disperse Red 9.
That's the stuff in dye packs that banks use when they're being robbed, right? Mm-hmm.
This is the very opposite of washable.
Anything hit by one of these pellets would be stained for days, if not weeks.
Doesn't sound like something you could buy commercially.
Maybe a custom order? As I said, curious.
Hey.
Body's through here.
Ready to take a look? Unis found her after responding to a shots fired.
She took a shotgun blast to the chest, close range.
Buckshot? Double-aught.
Shooter meant business.
No ID on the body, probably taken by the killer, so for now, she's a Jane Doe.
WATSON: So these are spent paintball casings.
She fired a paintball gun at someone.
Then her target returned fire with a shotgun.
It's a pity the killer also took her body camera or we could've actually seen what happened.
How do you know she was wearing a body camera? This indentation here, it's the exact size and shape of a popular body camera clip-on mount.
Also, this is the charger for such a device.
BELL: Well, if you're right, got to think the killer didn't want to leave behind video of what he'd done.
HOLMES: There's more.
The victim's shirt has absorbed the blood unevenly.
It's more soaked in areas of excessive wear.
And the wear pattern is distinctive.
Hmm.
Sort of like a vest.
HOLMES: I submit the one which once abraded the shirt was of the bulletproof-variety.
It also appears she often wore a shoulder holster, and note her hairstyle-- it's off the neck, and she's not wearing any earrings.
BELL: You know what? Her fingernails were cut short and painted a neutral color; tactical boots; she's law enforcement.
Active, too, or why keep up the grooming standard? The FBI's NGI database has the fingerprints of anyone who's ever applied for a job in law enforcement, so it shouldn't take long to get a match.
I'll get someone on it.
I should get going, too.
Let me know if you get a positive ID.
Yeah, it's her.
It's Chief Vlasik.
Sorry for your loss.
Any idea what a small-town New Jersey police chief is doing running around New York with a paintball gun? None.
Choice of weaponry aside, can you think of anyone who would've wanted her dead? No.
Nanette was good people.
Everyone liked her.
Any chance this was about police business? It's hard see how.
She's out of her jurisdiction, no gun, no vest, no backup.
Cypress Grove is a quiet town.
She spent most of her time writing speeding tickets.
How did she seem at the office yesterday? I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks.
As far as I knew, she was on vacation with the kids, visiting family in California.
Called her sister on the way here, the kids are safe in San Diego, but her sister told me they all thought the chief was still in Cypress Grove, working.
So she sent her children away and then she lied to them and you about what she was up to.
Was she behaving erratically in the days leading up to her supposed vacation? Did you notice any atypical behavior? A few weeks ago, she, uh, spent an afternoon with her lawyer, going over some documents.
When I asked what it was about, she dodged the question.
But she seemed I don't know excited.
That's all I got.
(door opens, bell jingles) You came.
Your text said it was important.
About me and Sherlock If you brought me here to apologize, you can save it.
I know who you are, now.
I know what you are.
I'm only here because I'm a consultant for the police, and you're an informant inside a gang, that's it.
Then I'll get to it.
I'm hitting a roadblock.
I got a whole lot of evidence against SBK's rank and file.
But nothing on the leadership, the big rollers, 'cause I have no access.
What do you mean? They got me reporting to a lieutenant, G-Knot.
Real name, DaMarco Bridger.
He won't let his people meet with leadership directly, you got to report to him.
So I need him gone.
Not gone-gone, but I need him put away.
If police move on an SBK lieutenant, they might start to worry they've been compromised.
They would if you take him out on gang business.
Thing is, he got a side job.
Low-rent murder for hire.
I heard a guy had him strangle his ex-wife, and another guy had him run over his business partner, and the police didn't look at him in either case.
But you're hoping I could tie him to one or the other.
If you take Bridger off the streets, then I have a direct line to the top dogs at SBK.
And I can take them down for good.
We got these from Nanette Vlasik's lawyer.
A contract between Chief Vlasik and your production company for her to participate on a game show? Uh, Moving Targets isn't a game show, it's a competition reality series.
HOLMES: The term âreality television" is practically Orwellian, isn't it? I mean, you take would-be actors, you put them in manufactured situations and then you carefully shape a narrative from hundreds of hours of footage, all to create such groundbreaking fare as Lil' Catwalk, Dog Lawyers, and That's Nasty.
You're entitled to your opinion.
So, from the title of your show and the custom paintballs found at the crime scene, I'm guessing it's some kind of people-hunting-people, Most Dangerous Game kind of thing? Yeah, it's basically hide-and-seek.
We started with 30 contestants, we give them each the name of a rival and a paintball gun, we told them to hunt down, shoot their target, while avoiding whoever might be hunting them.
Yeah, the, uh, Disperse Red 9, that was my idea.
Wanted to make sure if someone got shot, they couldn't just wash away the evidence.
I recorded a segment about it, if you guys want to see it.
Jake isn't just a producer on the show, he's also the host.
So I'm guessing when someone eliminates a competitor, they take on that person's target? Yeah, and on and on until there's only one contestant left.
Last one standing gets $1 million.
Well, we're pretty sure Nanette Vlasik was wearing a body camera when she was shot, but it's missing.
I don't suppose there was also a film crew recording last night? No, unlike your average competition show, we don't-we don't have any film crews.
The competitors, they shoot their own footage using the body cameras.
âReality unfettered,â that's our catchphrase.
We give them cell phones for emergency contact, but otherwise, they're on their own.
So how was Vlasik doing on the show? Good.
Really good; with her police training, she'd already eliminated three other contestants.
Now, she was, uh she was looking like one of our favorites.
A million dollars is a pretty strong motive for murder.
Are you suggesting that Chief Vlasik's last target is a likely person to have killed her? BELL: She tags him with a paintball, he murders her to avoid elimination.
So who was Chief Vlasik hunting? JAKE: This is Nanette's current target, Dr.
Charles Eriyo.
He's an ER resident at Chandler Memorial.
DARIA: He's also a vegetarian, a church-goer, and he volunteers with the homeless in his free time.
We call contestants like him âDudleys,â as in Dudley Do-Right.
Yeah, it's hard to imagine him doing what you think he did.
We'll give you whatever we have on him.
Hey.
How is Shinwell? Excuse me? Shinwell.
Shinwell Johnson.
Sleepy-eyed gang informant, chess aficionado, murderer-- ring any bells? You saw the text I got last night.
I did not.
You and your mother typically caffeinate at a coffee shop in Manhattan.
You and Shinwell, on the other hand, like to meet at a coffee bar in Bergen Beach.
The shop's signature blend has a high percentage of Sumatran beans, and that distinctive, pervasive scent wafted my way as soon as you took off your coat.
He said it was important.
I'm not a child.
You needn't keep such appointments from me.
A street gang needs dismantling, and he is, for better or worse, the best way to do that.
I've come to terms with the situation.
So how's it going here? Did the police find that doctor you texted me about? No.
Dr.
Eriyo is not answering the phone given to him by the producers of the show that he and Chief Vlasik were participating in.
And as it turns out, he's quite skilled at hiding in an open environment.
That is not surprising, given what I uncovered about him.
All this on Dr.
Eriyo? HOLMES: Turned out to be a bit of a mystery in his own right.
His official record is laudable.
He grew up in a Ugandan refugee camp.
He came to the U.
S.
when he was 19, thanks to a church group sponsorship.
Summa cum laude at university, then went on to medical school, where he graduated top of his class.
He now specializes in emergency medicine at one of New York's top teaching hospitals.
I'm sensing a âbut.
â Well, it's all built on a lie.
The producers of Moving Targets provided us with all of the footage they had on Dr.
Eriyo.
Not just gameplay, but also video from a meet and greet, where the players went over the rules, got to meet one another.
There was also this.
Ms.
Wyngold wanted them all to look their best, so she gave them makeovers-- haircuts, new clothes, that kind of thing.
This is from Dr.
Eriyo's wardrobe fitting.
WATSON: Those scars, they look decorative.
Ritual scarification, whilst on the wane, is still practiced by some rural African populations.
These scars identify Dr.
Eriyo as a member of the Karamojong tribe.
But there are other scars as well.
WATSON: Old bullet wounds.
HOLMES: This long one is from a panga.
It's an East African machete.
A curious collection of damage, for sure.
The last time it was described was 15 years ago, on this wanted poster.
WATSON: âAkello Akeny, a.
k.
a.
The Ghost of Gulu.
â Same facial features, same list of scars.
He and Dr.
Eriyo are the same person.
We thought we were looking for a sore loser on a game show.
It turns out our quarry used to be a child soldier in a rebel militia called Heaven's Shining Army.
Whilst he was almost certainly an unwilling conscript, he did lead a death squad responsible for hundreds of murders in and around the Ugandan city of Gulu.
I mean, in all our years together, Watson, we may never have seen a more accomplished killer.
A reality show managed to cast a war criminal as one of their contestants? Well, it's more complicated than that.
Akeny was a child soldier, so, obviously there's a great deal of coercion, et cetera, involved in their actions.
Unlike the many Nazis who came here after the Second World War, he is no longer wanted for the crimes he committed in Uganda.
It turns out the Ugandan government recently signed a treaty with Akello's militia that included an amnesty clause.
So as far as they're concerned, he's free and clear, and they don't want him back.
You issue a want card? I also had TARU ping the cell phone the Moving Targets gave him, but there was no signal.
The last time it connected to a tower was near Chelsea Piers.
You think he threw it in the Hudson River? So anyone know how to catch a ghost? I have a notion.
MAN (loudly): Three, two, one.
All right, great job, guys.
Left to right, split stretch.
Ten times, let's go.
Bo, same direction as everyone else.
Detective Acosta Oh, you Wendell's mom? Uh, I'm Joan Watson.
I work as a consultant for Captain Gregson at the 11th.
I'm sorry to bother you on your day off.
You caught the Veah Hayes murder case, right? That's right.
I may have a lead.
First guys on the scene thought it was an attempted rape.
She fought back, attacker strangled her.
My bosses pushed it as a serial.
Tried to connect it to that case in Kissena Park-- the jogger-- but I wasn't so sure.
Looks like you talked to the ex-husband a few times? Yeah.
Ezra Hayes.
Veah was suing him for unpaid alimony.
But the night of the murder, Ezra was working in one of his bodegas across town.
And he wasn't a match for the trace DNA evidence we found under Veah's fingernails.
No match, no witnesses, no prints, case went cold.
So what's your lead? I got an anonymous tip that Ezra Hayes hired an SBK lieutenant named DaMarco Bridger to kill his ex-wife.
If you check Bridges' DNA, I'm pretty sure it'll match.
It's gonna take more than a tip to get a warrant.
The M.
E.
who autopsied Veah found traces of wood dust in the wounds on her neck.
He thought it might transfers from the work gloves that the killer wore.
I looked into that.
The dust was from a high-end hardwood called âipeâ.
I checked with everyone in the area that sells or installs the stuff, but didn't turn up any suspects.
You were on the right track.
You just needed Bridger's name.
So, yesterday I went to his mother's house in New Rochelle.
Take a look at her front porch.
The wood.
It's ipe, isn't it? I knocked on her door, I told her I liked her deck.
When I said I might be interested in hiring her carpenter, she said that her son DaMarco installed it himself.
He did the work two years ago, right around the time that Veah was murdered.
That should be enough to get a warrant, right? Me, too.
I'll see you later.
All is well with Chantal? She started physical therapy today.
I asked her to call me and let me know how it went.
And? She crushed it.
Any sign of our target? As a matter of fact, there is.
I thought it best to wait for you.
So now that you're back Hello.
He's the police.
We know that you're a contestant on Moving Targets, but the game is over, and I really must insist you come with us.
WOMAN: Okay so the selfie I took outside this place is spreading on social media-- 200 shares already.
If that Dr.
Eriyo-- Akello-- whoever, is still trying to tag me, this should get his attention.
I've got to ask, how did you find me? The producers of Moving Targets provided us with your body-camera footage.
Most of which could only have been shot through the semi-translucent eye hole of an oversized mask.
I knew I couldn't count on winning a million bucks on a game show, so, you know, I kept my day job.
HOLMES: Hmm.
Well, I'd like to thank you again for cooperating so readily.
WOMAN: Please.
âCostumed Character Helps Catch Killer.
â I mean, that story's practically guaranteed to go viral.
I mean, that's the reason why I went on Moving Targets in the first place, to try and break out as an actor.
It seems like your would-be shooter has arrived.
(siren whoops) Hold it right there.
(tires screeching) Excuse me.
It's a, it's a toy.
Armed with a paintball gun and wearing a body camera, just like our victim.
Dr.
Eriyo, we've been expecting you.
Or do you prefer âAkelloâ? AKELLO: It's true, I have done terrible things in my life.
HOLMES: So you can confirm you were the Ghost of Gulu? Much to my shame.
But you must understand, Heaven's Shining Army kidnapped me when I was just a boy.
I was told if I did not follow orders, my father would be killed, and my mother and sister suffer even worse fates.
The only way I was able to escape was to fake my own death.
I got away.
I made a new life.
I don't think that'd be much comfort to your victims' families.
Nothing I do will ever make up for my crimes, but that won't stop me from trying.
It's the reason I went into emergency medicine.
I'll spend the rest of my life trying to help more people than I harmed.
It's the only way I can justify all the blessings I've received.
A man who deserves none.
In the interviews you did for Moving Targets, you said that if you won, you were planning on giving the million dollars to charity? I only signed up for the show as a way to help the people of my homeland.
To bring attention to those who are suffering.
Were I to win, I'd hoped to open a free clinic in Gulu.
Sounds very important to you.
Was it important enough to kill another competitor to guarantee your victory? I know why you'd ask such a thing, but at this point in my life, I could never bring myself to kill another human being under any circumstances.
Certainly not over a game.
Check the footage from my body camera.
It will show you I had nothing to do with Nanette's death.
Actually, we already checked.
At the time of Nanette Vlasik's death, your camera was recording footage of different costumed characters around Times Square.
Exactly.
I was looking for my next target in the game.
BELL: Problem is, whoever was wearing that camera never spoke, never turned it on themselves, never filmed any reflective surfaces.
Could've been anyone carrying it around.
Did you talk to anyone when the camera wasn't rolling that night? Anyone who might remember you? These last few weeks, I took up old habits.
Talk to no one, avoid cameras.
I even threw away my phone so I couldn't be tracked.
I used all of my tricks, both during the game, and before it started.
What do you mean? They held a get-together for us, a week before the game began.
Yes, we're aware.
They filmed the gathering to help build their narratives.
This person hates that person.
This man is attracted to that woman, the usual nonsense, but I used it as a way to evaluate my competition, to identify the best players in the game, including Nanette Vlasik.
You realize you're admitting you considered her a threat.
I'll admit to more than that.
I stalked her.
Over the next week, I followed all the players I thought were threats.
Filmed them.
Studied their habits.
The same way I would research my targets back in Gulu.
I knew what people ate for lunch, who they were dating.
With Nanette Vlasik, I saw how much she loved her children, how dedicated she was to her job.
But I also saw something I could not explain.
And now, you tell me she's dead.
What did you see? One morning, she went into a strip club.
She seemed nervous-- evasive, even.
She was inside for only a few minutes, then she came out and quickly drove away.
It was odd.
I took pictures of the entire incident with a telephoto camera.
GREGSON: So now you don't like Akello for the murder? While his body camera footage is hardly an alibi, it does suggest his innocence.
And then, there are these photos he took.
The Glitter House? That's a place in Paterson, New Jersey.
You know it? By reputation.
All of it bad.
HOLMES: Note the envelope in Chief Vlasik's hand as she emerges.
It's about the length and width of U.
S.
currency.
If those are hundreds, we're talking at least a few grand.
The Glitter House is a mob front.
If Nanette Vlasik is walking out of there with money in her hand It could mean she was on the take.
It could mean more than that.
Our suspect pool isn't just a bunch of people playing a game anymore.
It's the Jersey mob, too.
Doesn't look good, does it? Chief Vlasik coming out of your place with an envelope like that? Could be a stack of napkins in there.
You don't know.
HOLMES: We don't.
But say she was in your pocket, and say the two of you had a falling out.
She wouldn't be the first of your associates to come to a bad end in a deserted location.
BELL: Al âNudgyâ Mancuso was bludgeoned to death in an upstate fishing cabin, Leo âTuna Townâ Divino was shot in a vacant Newark warehouse, and your brother-in-law Milo Spitz was found dead in his car at South Mountain Reservation.
Milo committed suicide.
He was stabbed 16 times.
Hardest he ever worked in his life.
You can see how, from our perspective, Nanette Vlasik's death fits a certain pattern.
(laughs) Well, you've obviously done your homework on me, so I'm figuring you know why I need this cane.
You were shot.
Theoretically, by a rival, and no one was ever arrested.
And since then, I've kept my guard up.
I asked Chief Vlasik to put patrol cars outside my house, make sure my kids get to school safe, let me know if there's anyone suspicious in town.
That kind of thing.
You co-opted the Cypress Grove Police and turned them into your own private security force.
Okay, everyone: take five.
Let's go.
You too, guys.
Few months back, Nanette went through a rough time.
Death in the family, I think.
Instead of mourning, she throws herself into her work.
Starts pulling late hours at the office, taking out-of-town meetings.
She even screened my calls a few times.
When I told her I didn't like that, she said she was working on a case.
âSomething big,â she said.
Then, about a month ago, she asked me for a favor.
She asked me to introduce her to a friend of mine, a guy who works at a big national bank.
He handles my more delicate transactions.
Your money launderer, she wanted to meet him.
I can't give you my friend's name.
But I can ask him what he and Nanette talked about.
'Cause if she was into something so big she needed help from a guy like him? That's the kind of thing that can get a person shot.
Courtesy of Detective Acosta.
He stopped by while you were in the shower.
Thanks.
He wanted you to know that an SBK member named DaMarco Bridger had been arrested, so I take it that brings to a conclusion your recent business with Shinwell? Yeah.
It does.
Because Acosta was not the only detective who came bearing gifts.
So Marcus brought these over.
He got them from Phil Righetti, who got them from his money launderer, who says they're copies of everything Nanette Vlasik asked him for.
Bank statements? From dozens of accounts and from to high-ranking police officers all over the country.
Wait, Nanette Vlasik asked Righetti's banker to look into cops? With good reason, apparently.
He claims that each of these account holders, most of them police chiefs or county sheriffs, received large wire transfers from the same offshore bank account.
They were taking bribes.
Not dissimilar to what happened between Vlasik and Righetti, but on a massive scale.
Okay, so who would bribe dozens of police chiefs and sheriffs? A drug gang? A foreign government? It's not clear.
What's also not clear is what Vlasik did with the information, if anything.
But it stands to reason she made some powerful enemies.
I'm hoping that the answer lies somewhere within.
So is there a particular stack that takes your fancy? Do you anticipate hearing from him again in the future? Who, Acosta? Shinwell.
I don't know, maybe.
I thought you said you'd âcome to termsâ with everything.
I did.
So what's the problem? There are times that I fear you still see him as a surgical patient, who, with your assistance, can survive, and even thrive.
Yet, despite your ministrations, he's not reformed one iota.
He still resorts to violence and deception as his first instincts.
Even his crusade to topple SBK is motivated purely by revenge.
Isn't that all that matters? Putting an end to SBK? Not to me.
You are accustomed to helping people who want to help themselves.
He's different.
Doesn't want to help himself, he just wants to hurt others.
I've become quite certain that in the end, he'll hurt you, as well.
You know, you make him sound like a lost cause.
Some people might've said you were a lost cause once.
Well, I may still be.
(chuckles) One of the reasons I work so hard not to lose myself is 'cause I fear I would also lose you.
Do you think Shinwell is putting forth a similar effort? You know, if we're gonna stay up all night, I'm gonna need coffee.
(door opens) You're sleeping.
Hmm? You never sleep.
I rarely sleep.
There is a difference.
Are you okay? I, uh (clears throat) I realized late last night, that while the members of law enforcement identified in these statements had motive to kill Nanette Vlasik, very few of them had the opportunity.
So I began to suspect that, uh, the killer might be at the other end of the transactions she uncovered.
So you think it's whoever's behind the bribes.
Unfortunately, Righetti's banker was unable to identify the initiating party, so I wondered if our old hacker friend, âSucking Chest Wound,â might fare any better.
He was able to trace the payments to Alpha Hawk Firearms, which is a Connecticut company which manufactures, among other killing machines, pistols for the military and law enforcement.
Now, in what is unlikely to be a coincidence, all of the individuals who received Alpha Hawk's payments went on to choose that company's pistols as their department's sidearm of choice.
That would mean a small-town police chief from New Jersey was taking on a weapons company that was bribing cops to buy their products.
That would've been way above her pay grade, wouldn't it? I wondered the same thing.
Then I remembered what Righetti said about Vlasik's recent hardship.
What, the death in her family? Not her family, precisely.
In February, one of her oldest friends was shot to death by her husband in a murder/suicide in Iowa.
This says that her husband had a history of mental illness.
Bipolar.
Mm-hmm.
Now, according to Vlasik's social media, she became quite obsessed with the recent federal law which eased restrictions on gun purchases by the mentally ill.
She felt that it enabled, or at the very least emboldened, her friend's husband.
Let me guess, Alpha Hawk lobbied for the bill.
Mm-hmm.
Specifically, their CEO, Clint Washburn.
So you think he's the one who bribed all those police chiefs to buy his guns.
He found out that Vlasik was looking into him and then had someone kill her? Mm.
Hope to know more shortly.
I'm due at the station to speak with Mr.
Washburn.
I'll get dressed.
No.
After you dozed off last night, you received a text message from Shinwell.
Apparently, your recent business is not finished after all.
(knock at door) Come in.
What's all this? Moving day.
DaMarco Bridger got arrested.
SBK leadership offered me his territory.
That means I'm moving back to the old neighborhood.
You could've told me all this over the phone.
You're right, I could've.
But I wanted to give you something.
What is this? My confession.
For killing Jameel.
That is everything that happened that night and everything that I did.
I don't understand, why are you giving this to me? Because his family deserves to know the truth about what happened.
And me, I deserve what's coming.
And you think that needs to happen soon, you give that to the people you work with, and they know where to find me.
But I'm telling you, Doc, I'm close.
Couple more months and this'll all be over.
SBK and their top brass will go away forever.
If I give this to the police, you're going away, too.
I didn't do all this because I wanted to get away with what I did.
I did it because I was trying to make up for it.
I'll be in touch.
WASHBURN: I'm sorry, I've never seen this woman before in my life.
HOLMES: Mr.
Washburn, you make your money manufacturing a product which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, so you'll understand if we don't readily take you at your word.
I'm not denying the things you say she found.
These bank transfers, I authorized all of them.
But she never approached me with them.
And, even if she had, it wouldn't have mattered.
BELL: Chief Vlasik uncovered evidence that you and your company had bribed dozens of cops across the country.
You really expect us to believe you think that's no big deal? It isn't a big deal because she wasn't the first one to figure out what I was doing.
I've already agreed to plead guilty to all of this.
I beg your pardon? The U.
S.
Attorney's office caught onto me, like, three years ago, and they found a lot more cases than she did.
Okay? We didn't find any prior arrests when we ran your name through the system.
Of course you didn't.
I have powerful friends.
The U.
S.
Attorney's office did me the courtesy of keeping this investigation under the radar.
They presented me with their findings months ago, my attorney's been working on a plea deal every since.
If you don't believe me, call him.
The final details are almost done, I agreed to a $10 million fine, no jail time, I step down as CEO of Alpha Hawk and start my retirement.
Presumably with a severance package worth far more than the fine you're being assessed.
(chuckles softly) You think I had this woman killed to get away with something, but that's crazy.
I already got away with it.
BELL: I hate to say it, but Washburn's plea deal checks out.
The U.
S.
Attorney's office agreed to a fine with no jail time.
There anything interesting in the case file? Well, Washburn was right, they identified many more cases of bribery than Vlasik.
How many more? Multiply by ten.
In the plea deal, do you see any evidence that the government confronted the policemen involved? No, looks like they wanted to secure Washburn's cooperation first, and kept everything under wraps.
Why, is that important? Extremely.
In fact, you could say that the secrecy around the case led to Vlasik's murder.
Had the killer known that the federal government already knew his secrets, he would've had no reason to kill her.
Are you saying you know who killed her? I have a likely suspect.
Apart from his surprise appearance in the case file, we have not a shred of evidence against him.
But I think I know where we could find some.
DARIA: I don't understand, you want us to help you arrest Dr.
Eriyo again? When I called the other day to see if you'd found him, you said you'd released him.
We didn't have enough evidence to hold him.
HOLMES: Nor did we have the right motive.
At the time of his questioning, we thought he'd killed Nanette Vlasik because of Moving Targets' million-dollar prize, but he argued quite effectively that that wasn't the case.
Well, if it wasn't for the money, then why did he kill Nanette? To avoid being tried for war crimes in Uganda.
HOLMES: Dr.
Eriyo's real name is Akello Akeny.
We believe that Nanette had uncovered a crime that he committed that, if exposed, would've triggered his extradition and possible execution.
Nanette Vlasik was investigating a gun company called âAlpha Hawk.
â She was looking for evidence that they'd been bribing cops.
She found it, and a whole lot more.
Alpha Hawk has also been engaging in illegal weapons sales.
One of their customers was Heaven's Shining Army, a rebel group in Uganda that Akeny used to be a part of.
Now, he helped arrange the sale.
And that's a violation of a treaty the group signed with the Ugandan government.
Chief Vlasik really had it in for Alpha Hawk.
We think she entered your competition to get closer to Akeny and gather more evidence against him.
BELL: What she didn't realize was he was scouting his opponents before the game even started.
We figured he found out what she was up to, lured her to that abandoned building, and killed her.
GREGSON: Problem is, we got plenty of motive, we got no proof.
What we really want is the murder weapon.
I don't see how we can help you with that.
BELL: Right now, Akeny is back at his house.
We think he's got the weapon there, but if we show up at his door, things could get ugly.
We'd prefer to avoid a gun battle.
You want us to lure him here.
BELL: Well, we thought you could call and say that, because the game's been called off, you're gonna divide the million dollars among the top-ranking contestants.
You just need him to come fill out some paperwork.
GREGSON: Once he's in custody, we can search his place for the shotgun used to killed Chief Vlasik.
We find it, case closed.
Okay, but it's late.
I-It'll seem suspicious if we ask him to come now.
First thing in the morning okay? Works for us.
(sirens wailing) BELL: Police! Put the gun down! Put your hands up! Turn around, put your hands behind your head.
Jake Bozeman, you're under arrest for the murder of Nanette Vlasik.
(handcuffs click) You lied to me.
Dr.
Eriyo, or Akeny, whatever you want to call him, he didn't broker a deal between Alpha Hawk and some rebel group.
You're right, we lied; we thought it might tempt you to plant the gun you used to kill Vlasik somewhere that might link back to him.
BELL: But, hey, you know the cops don't have to tell the truth to suspects, don't you? We didn't realize when we first met you that, prior to your career in television, you spent 15 years as a Texas Ranger.
I assume it was that background that helped you win the job as host on Moving Targets.
WATSON: Before you put in your papers in Texas, one of your last assignments was to serve on the panel that chooses the gear for all of the state police, correct? It's public record.
What's not public record, yet, is that while you were on that panel, the CEO of Alpha Hawk Industries, Clint Washburn, paid you hundreds of thousands of dollars to convince you to buy pistols from his company, and his company alone.
BELL: You pocketed enough money to quit the Rangers and roll the dice at a TV career.
But you knew that if the truth ever came out, you'd be looking at some serious prison time.
We're guessing you found out about Vlasik's investigation into Alpha Hawk when you helped the producers vet her for the show.
Are we right about that, or did you find out some other way? BELL: The saddest thing is, if you had known the U.
S.
Attorney's office was onto you, you might've let her live.
Since you didn't, you brought a shotgun to a paintball fight.
I'd like a lawyer now.
Guy like that, using the job to line his own pockets, I almost wish he hadn't put down his gun tonight.
Might wish that himself soon enough.
He's a former lawman and a TV personality; (phone chimes) prison will not be pleasant.
(singer vocalizing) (knocks on door) WATSON: Shinwell? (light switch clicking) Hello? (lightbulb buzzes) Shinwell!
WATSON: He's worked for months to embed himself in SBK.
An endeavor I cared more about before I knew he was a cold-blooded killer.
SBK is a ruthless drug gang.
(grunts) SHINWELL: You want to know who killed Jameel? SBK killed Jameel.
You're looking for someone who killed one person.
SBK kills dozens of people a year.
I'm gonna take SBK down.
And anybody who get in my way (groans) gonna get hurt.
HOLMES: It's of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and which are vital.
In this case, the key to the whole matter can be looked for in the scrap of paper in the dead man's hand.
That little â12â in the corner matches the numbers in your checkbook.
You wrote that.
GREGSON: More importantly, you wrote this, the rest of the letter the victim was holding.
We found the shredded pieces of your missive in New York's Sunset Park recycling facility.
My partner spent most of last night reconstructing it.
I like puzzles.
GREGSON: It's an offer to pay William Kirwin for his silence.
And a pretty flirty one, at that.
We figure Kirwin witnessed you two breaking into the home of your neighbor, Mr.
Acton, while he was doing his security patrol.
And, instead of calling it in, he asked for a payout.
WATSON: So you lured him to your home and shot him.
And tried to make it look like he was killed interrupting another break-in.
Alex shot him.
Give me a deal and I'll give you the gun.
June, what the hell? (phone chimes) That business was a bad one.
Something amiss? Oh, no, um, it's just my mom, reminding me about, uh, coffee tomorrow.
(beeps) Test, test.
(sniffs) Okay.
You got this.
(rustling) (squeaking) Got you.
Elementary 5x22 Moving Targets That is curious.
Marcus said the victim had a paintball gun on her.
Which is odd in itself.
I was commenting on the nature of the paint.
Paintball pellets are filled with water-soluble dyes.
They create bright stains, but they're still easy to wash off skin and clothes.
But none of this dye came off on my finger.
This is Disperse Red 9.
That's the stuff in dye packs that banks use when they're being robbed, right? Mm-hmm.
This is the very opposite of washable.
Anything hit by one of these pellets would be stained for days, if not weeks.
Doesn't sound like something you could buy commercially.
Maybe a custom order? As I said, curious.
Hey.
Body's through here.
Ready to take a look? Unis found her after responding to a shots fired.
She took a shotgun blast to the chest, close range.
Buckshot? Double-aught.
Shooter meant business.
No ID on the body, probably taken by the killer, so for now, she's a Jane Doe.
WATSON: So these are spent paintball casings.
She fired a paintball gun at someone.
Then her target returned fire with a shotgun.
It's a pity the killer also took her body camera or we could've actually seen what happened.
How do you know she was wearing a body camera? This indentation here, it's the exact size and shape of a popular body camera clip-on mount.
Also, this is the charger for such a device.
BELL: Well, if you're right, got to think the killer didn't want to leave behind video of what he'd done.
HOLMES: There's more.
The victim's shirt has absorbed the blood unevenly.
It's more soaked in areas of excessive wear.
And the wear pattern is distinctive.
Hmm.
Sort of like a vest.
HOLMES: I submit the one which once abraded the shirt was of the bulletproof-variety.
It also appears she often wore a shoulder holster, and note her hairstyle-- it's off the neck, and she's not wearing any earrings.
BELL: You know what? Her fingernails were cut short and painted a neutral color; tactical boots; she's law enforcement.
Active, too, or why keep up the grooming standard? The FBI's NGI database has the fingerprints of anyone who's ever applied for a job in law enforcement, so it shouldn't take long to get a match.
I'll get someone on it.
I should get going, too.
Let me know if you get a positive ID.
Yeah, it's her.
It's Chief Vlasik.
Sorry for your loss.
Any idea what a small-town New Jersey police chief is doing running around New York with a paintball gun? None.
Choice of weaponry aside, can you think of anyone who would've wanted her dead? No.
Nanette was good people.
Everyone liked her.
Any chance this was about police business? It's hard see how.
She's out of her jurisdiction, no gun, no vest, no backup.
Cypress Grove is a quiet town.
She spent most of her time writing speeding tickets.
How did she seem at the office yesterday? I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks.
As far as I knew, she was on vacation with the kids, visiting family in California.
Called her sister on the way here, the kids are safe in San Diego, but her sister told me they all thought the chief was still in Cypress Grove, working.
So she sent her children away and then she lied to them and you about what she was up to.
Was she behaving erratically in the days leading up to her supposed vacation? Did you notice any atypical behavior? A few weeks ago, she, uh, spent an afternoon with her lawyer, going over some documents.
When I asked what it was about, she dodged the question.
But she seemed I don't know excited.
That's all I got.
(door opens, bell jingles) You came.
Your text said it was important.
About me and Sherlock If you brought me here to apologize, you can save it.
I know who you are, now.
I know what you are.
I'm only here because I'm a consultant for the police, and you're an informant inside a gang, that's it.
Then I'll get to it.
I'm hitting a roadblock.
I got a whole lot of evidence against SBK's rank and file.
But nothing on the leadership, the big rollers, 'cause I have no access.
What do you mean? They got me reporting to a lieutenant, G-Knot.
Real name, DaMarco Bridger.
He won't let his people meet with leadership directly, you got to report to him.
So I need him gone.
Not gone-gone, but I need him put away.
If police move on an SBK lieutenant, they might start to worry they've been compromised.
They would if you take him out on gang business.
Thing is, he got a side job.
Low-rent murder for hire.
I heard a guy had him strangle his ex-wife, and another guy had him run over his business partner, and the police didn't look at him in either case.
But you're hoping I could tie him to one or the other.
If you take Bridger off the streets, then I have a direct line to the top dogs at SBK.
And I can take them down for good.
We got these from Nanette Vlasik's lawyer.
A contract between Chief Vlasik and your production company for her to participate on a game show? Uh, Moving Targets isn't a game show, it's a competition reality series.
HOLMES: The term âreality television" is practically Orwellian, isn't it? I mean, you take would-be actors, you put them in manufactured situations and then you carefully shape a narrative from hundreds of hours of footage, all to create such groundbreaking fare as Lil' Catwalk, Dog Lawyers, and That's Nasty.
You're entitled to your opinion.
So, from the title of your show and the custom paintballs found at the crime scene, I'm guessing it's some kind of people-hunting-people, Most Dangerous Game kind of thing? Yeah, it's basically hide-and-seek.
We started with 30 contestants, we give them each the name of a rival and a paintball gun, we told them to hunt down, shoot their target, while avoiding whoever might be hunting them.
Yeah, the, uh, Disperse Red 9, that was my idea.
Wanted to make sure if someone got shot, they couldn't just wash away the evidence.
I recorded a segment about it, if you guys want to see it.
Jake isn't just a producer on the show, he's also the host.
So I'm guessing when someone eliminates a competitor, they take on that person's target? Yeah, and on and on until there's only one contestant left.
Last one standing gets $1 million.
Well, we're pretty sure Nanette Vlasik was wearing a body camera when she was shot, but it's missing.
I don't suppose there was also a film crew recording last night? No, unlike your average competition show, we don't-we don't have any film crews.
The competitors, they shoot their own footage using the body cameras.
âReality unfettered,â that's our catchphrase.
We give them cell phones for emergency contact, but otherwise, they're on their own.
So how was Vlasik doing on the show? Good.
Really good; with her police training, she'd already eliminated three other contestants.
Now, she was, uh she was looking like one of our favorites.
A million dollars is a pretty strong motive for murder.
Are you suggesting that Chief Vlasik's last target is a likely person to have killed her? BELL: She tags him with a paintball, he murders her to avoid elimination.
So who was Chief Vlasik hunting? JAKE: This is Nanette's current target, Dr.
Charles Eriyo.
He's an ER resident at Chandler Memorial.
DARIA: He's also a vegetarian, a church-goer, and he volunteers with the homeless in his free time.
We call contestants like him âDudleys,â as in Dudley Do-Right.
Yeah, it's hard to imagine him doing what you think he did.
We'll give you whatever we have on him.
Hey.
How is Shinwell? Excuse me? Shinwell.
Shinwell Johnson.
Sleepy-eyed gang informant, chess aficionado, murderer-- ring any bells? You saw the text I got last night.
I did not.
You and your mother typically caffeinate at a coffee shop in Manhattan.
You and Shinwell, on the other hand, like to meet at a coffee bar in Bergen Beach.
The shop's signature blend has a high percentage of Sumatran beans, and that distinctive, pervasive scent wafted my way as soon as you took off your coat.
He said it was important.
I'm not a child.
You needn't keep such appointments from me.
A street gang needs dismantling, and he is, for better or worse, the best way to do that.
I've come to terms with the situation.
So how's it going here? Did the police find that doctor you texted me about? No.
Dr.
Eriyo is not answering the phone given to him by the producers of the show that he and Chief Vlasik were participating in.
And as it turns out, he's quite skilled at hiding in an open environment.
That is not surprising, given what I uncovered about him.
All this on Dr.
Eriyo? HOLMES: Turned out to be a bit of a mystery in his own right.
His official record is laudable.
He grew up in a Ugandan refugee camp.
He came to the U.
S.
when he was 19, thanks to a church group sponsorship.
Summa cum laude at university, then went on to medical school, where he graduated top of his class.
He now specializes in emergency medicine at one of New York's top teaching hospitals.
I'm sensing a âbut.
â Well, it's all built on a lie.
The producers of Moving Targets provided us with all of the footage they had on Dr.
Eriyo.
Not just gameplay, but also video from a meet and greet, where the players went over the rules, got to meet one another.
There was also this.
Ms.
Wyngold wanted them all to look their best, so she gave them makeovers-- haircuts, new clothes, that kind of thing.
This is from Dr.
Eriyo's wardrobe fitting.
WATSON: Those scars, they look decorative.
Ritual scarification, whilst on the wane, is still practiced by some rural African populations.
These scars identify Dr.
Eriyo as a member of the Karamojong tribe.
But there are other scars as well.
WATSON: Old bullet wounds.
HOLMES: This long one is from a panga.
It's an East African machete.
A curious collection of damage, for sure.
The last time it was described was 15 years ago, on this wanted poster.
WATSON: âAkello Akeny, a.
k.
a.
The Ghost of Gulu.
â Same facial features, same list of scars.
He and Dr.
Eriyo are the same person.
We thought we were looking for a sore loser on a game show.
It turns out our quarry used to be a child soldier in a rebel militia called Heaven's Shining Army.
Whilst he was almost certainly an unwilling conscript, he did lead a death squad responsible for hundreds of murders in and around the Ugandan city of Gulu.
I mean, in all our years together, Watson, we may never have seen a more accomplished killer.
A reality show managed to cast a war criminal as one of their contestants? Well, it's more complicated than that.
Akeny was a child soldier, so, obviously there's a great deal of coercion, et cetera, involved in their actions.
Unlike the many Nazis who came here after the Second World War, he is no longer wanted for the crimes he committed in Uganda.
It turns out the Ugandan government recently signed a treaty with Akello's militia that included an amnesty clause.
So as far as they're concerned, he's free and clear, and they don't want him back.
You issue a want card? I also had TARU ping the cell phone the Moving Targets gave him, but there was no signal.
The last time it connected to a tower was near Chelsea Piers.
You think he threw it in the Hudson River? So anyone know how to catch a ghost? I have a notion.
MAN (loudly): Three, two, one.
All right, great job, guys.
Left to right, split stretch.
Ten times, let's go.
Bo, same direction as everyone else.
Detective Acosta Oh, you Wendell's mom? Uh, I'm Joan Watson.
I work as a consultant for Captain Gregson at the 11th.
I'm sorry to bother you on your day off.
You caught the Veah Hayes murder case, right? That's right.
I may have a lead.
First guys on the scene thought it was an attempted rape.
She fought back, attacker strangled her.
My bosses pushed it as a serial.
Tried to connect it to that case in Kissena Park-- the jogger-- but I wasn't so sure.
Looks like you talked to the ex-husband a few times? Yeah.
Ezra Hayes.
Veah was suing him for unpaid alimony.
But the night of the murder, Ezra was working in one of his bodegas across town.
And he wasn't a match for the trace DNA evidence we found under Veah's fingernails.
No match, no witnesses, no prints, case went cold.
So what's your lead? I got an anonymous tip that Ezra Hayes hired an SBK lieutenant named DaMarco Bridger to kill his ex-wife.
If you check Bridges' DNA, I'm pretty sure it'll match.
It's gonna take more than a tip to get a warrant.
The M.
E.
who autopsied Veah found traces of wood dust in the wounds on her neck.
He thought it might transfers from the work gloves that the killer wore.
I looked into that.
The dust was from a high-end hardwood called âipeâ.
I checked with everyone in the area that sells or installs the stuff, but didn't turn up any suspects.
You were on the right track.
You just needed Bridger's name.
So, yesterday I went to his mother's house in New Rochelle.
Take a look at her front porch.
The wood.
It's ipe, isn't it? I knocked on her door, I told her I liked her deck.
When I said I might be interested in hiring her carpenter, she said that her son DaMarco installed it himself.
He did the work two years ago, right around the time that Veah was murdered.
That should be enough to get a warrant, right? Me, too.
I'll see you later.
All is well with Chantal? She started physical therapy today.
I asked her to call me and let me know how it went.
And? She crushed it.
Any sign of our target? As a matter of fact, there is.
I thought it best to wait for you.
So now that you're back Hello.
He's the police.
We know that you're a contestant on Moving Targets, but the game is over, and I really must insist you come with us.
WOMAN: Okay so the selfie I took outside this place is spreading on social media-- 200 shares already.
If that Dr.
Eriyo-- Akello-- whoever, is still trying to tag me, this should get his attention.
I've got to ask, how did you find me? The producers of Moving Targets provided us with your body-camera footage.
Most of which could only have been shot through the semi-translucent eye hole of an oversized mask.
I knew I couldn't count on winning a million bucks on a game show, so, you know, I kept my day job.
HOLMES: Hmm.
Well, I'd like to thank you again for cooperating so readily.
WOMAN: Please.
âCostumed Character Helps Catch Killer.
â I mean, that story's practically guaranteed to go viral.
I mean, that's the reason why I went on Moving Targets in the first place, to try and break out as an actor.
It seems like your would-be shooter has arrived.
(siren whoops) Hold it right there.
(tires screeching) Excuse me.
It's a, it's a toy.
Armed with a paintball gun and wearing a body camera, just like our victim.
Dr.
Eriyo, we've been expecting you.
Or do you prefer âAkelloâ? AKELLO: It's true, I have done terrible things in my life.
HOLMES: So you can confirm you were the Ghost of Gulu? Much to my shame.
But you must understand, Heaven's Shining Army kidnapped me when I was just a boy.
I was told if I did not follow orders, my father would be killed, and my mother and sister suffer even worse fates.
The only way I was able to escape was to fake my own death.
I got away.
I made a new life.
I don't think that'd be much comfort to your victims' families.
Nothing I do will ever make up for my crimes, but that won't stop me from trying.
It's the reason I went into emergency medicine.
I'll spend the rest of my life trying to help more people than I harmed.
It's the only way I can justify all the blessings I've received.
A man who deserves none.
In the interviews you did for Moving Targets, you said that if you won, you were planning on giving the million dollars to charity? I only signed up for the show as a way to help the people of my homeland.
To bring attention to those who are suffering.
Were I to win, I'd hoped to open a free clinic in Gulu.
Sounds very important to you.
Was it important enough to kill another competitor to guarantee your victory? I know why you'd ask such a thing, but at this point in my life, I could never bring myself to kill another human being under any circumstances.
Certainly not over a game.
Check the footage from my body camera.
It will show you I had nothing to do with Nanette's death.
Actually, we already checked.
At the time of Nanette Vlasik's death, your camera was recording footage of different costumed characters around Times Square.
Exactly.
I was looking for my next target in the game.
BELL: Problem is, whoever was wearing that camera never spoke, never turned it on themselves, never filmed any reflective surfaces.
Could've been anyone carrying it around.
Did you talk to anyone when the camera wasn't rolling that night? Anyone who might remember you? These last few weeks, I took up old habits.
Talk to no one, avoid cameras.
I even threw away my phone so I couldn't be tracked.
I used all of my tricks, both during the game, and before it started.
What do you mean? They held a get-together for us, a week before the game began.
Yes, we're aware.
They filmed the gathering to help build their narratives.
This person hates that person.
This man is attracted to that woman, the usual nonsense, but I used it as a way to evaluate my competition, to identify the best players in the game, including Nanette Vlasik.
You realize you're admitting you considered her a threat.
I'll admit to more than that.
I stalked her.
Over the next week, I followed all the players I thought were threats.
Filmed them.
Studied their habits.
The same way I would research my targets back in Gulu.
I knew what people ate for lunch, who they were dating.
With Nanette Vlasik, I saw how much she loved her children, how dedicated she was to her job.
But I also saw something I could not explain.
And now, you tell me she's dead.
What did you see? One morning, she went into a strip club.
She seemed nervous-- evasive, even.
She was inside for only a few minutes, then she came out and quickly drove away.
It was odd.
I took pictures of the entire incident with a telephoto camera.
GREGSON: So now you don't like Akello for the murder? While his body camera footage is hardly an alibi, it does suggest his innocence.
And then, there are these photos he took.
The Glitter House? That's a place in Paterson, New Jersey.
You know it? By reputation.
All of it bad.
HOLMES: Note the envelope in Chief Vlasik's hand as she emerges.
It's about the length and width of U.
S.
currency.
If those are hundreds, we're talking at least a few grand.
The Glitter House is a mob front.
If Nanette Vlasik is walking out of there with money in her hand It could mean she was on the take.
It could mean more than that.
Our suspect pool isn't just a bunch of people playing a game anymore.
It's the Jersey mob, too.
Doesn't look good, does it? Chief Vlasik coming out of your place with an envelope like that? Could be a stack of napkins in there.
You don't know.
HOLMES: We don't.
But say she was in your pocket, and say the two of you had a falling out.
She wouldn't be the first of your associates to come to a bad end in a deserted location.
BELL: Al âNudgyâ Mancuso was bludgeoned to death in an upstate fishing cabin, Leo âTuna Townâ Divino was shot in a vacant Newark warehouse, and your brother-in-law Milo Spitz was found dead in his car at South Mountain Reservation.
Milo committed suicide.
He was stabbed 16 times.
Hardest he ever worked in his life.
You can see how, from our perspective, Nanette Vlasik's death fits a certain pattern.
(laughs) Well, you've obviously done your homework on me, so I'm figuring you know why I need this cane.
You were shot.
Theoretically, by a rival, and no one was ever arrested.
And since then, I've kept my guard up.
I asked Chief Vlasik to put patrol cars outside my house, make sure my kids get to school safe, let me know if there's anyone suspicious in town.
That kind of thing.
You co-opted the Cypress Grove Police and turned them into your own private security force.
Okay, everyone: take five.
Let's go.
You too, guys.
Few months back, Nanette went through a rough time.
Death in the family, I think.
Instead of mourning, she throws herself into her work.
Starts pulling late hours at the office, taking out-of-town meetings.
She even screened my calls a few times.
When I told her I didn't like that, she said she was working on a case.
âSomething big,â she said.
Then, about a month ago, she asked me for a favor.
She asked me to introduce her to a friend of mine, a guy who works at a big national bank.
He handles my more delicate transactions.
Your money launderer, she wanted to meet him.
I can't give you my friend's name.
But I can ask him what he and Nanette talked about.
'Cause if she was into something so big she needed help from a guy like him? That's the kind of thing that can get a person shot.
Courtesy of Detective Acosta.
He stopped by while you were in the shower.
Thanks.
He wanted you to know that an SBK member named DaMarco Bridger had been arrested, so I take it that brings to a conclusion your recent business with Shinwell? Yeah.
It does.
Because Acosta was not the only detective who came bearing gifts.
So Marcus brought these over.
He got them from Phil Righetti, who got them from his money launderer, who says they're copies of everything Nanette Vlasik asked him for.
Bank statements? From dozens of accounts and from to high-ranking police officers all over the country.
Wait, Nanette Vlasik asked Righetti's banker to look into cops? With good reason, apparently.
He claims that each of these account holders, most of them police chiefs or county sheriffs, received large wire transfers from the same offshore bank account.
They were taking bribes.
Not dissimilar to what happened between Vlasik and Righetti, but on a massive scale.
Okay, so who would bribe dozens of police chiefs and sheriffs? A drug gang? A foreign government? It's not clear.
What's also not clear is what Vlasik did with the information, if anything.
But it stands to reason she made some powerful enemies.
I'm hoping that the answer lies somewhere within.
So is there a particular stack that takes your fancy? Do you anticipate hearing from him again in the future? Who, Acosta? Shinwell.
I don't know, maybe.
I thought you said you'd âcome to termsâ with everything.
I did.
So what's the problem? There are times that I fear you still see him as a surgical patient, who, with your assistance, can survive, and even thrive.
Yet, despite your ministrations, he's not reformed one iota.
He still resorts to violence and deception as his first instincts.
Even his crusade to topple SBK is motivated purely by revenge.
Isn't that all that matters? Putting an end to SBK? Not to me.
You are accustomed to helping people who want to help themselves.
He's different.
Doesn't want to help himself, he just wants to hurt others.
I've become quite certain that in the end, he'll hurt you, as well.
You know, you make him sound like a lost cause.
Some people might've said you were a lost cause once.
Well, I may still be.
(chuckles) One of the reasons I work so hard not to lose myself is 'cause I fear I would also lose you.
Do you think Shinwell is putting forth a similar effort? You know, if we're gonna stay up all night, I'm gonna need coffee.
(door opens) You're sleeping.
Hmm? You never sleep.
I rarely sleep.
There is a difference.
Are you okay? I, uh (clears throat) I realized late last night, that while the members of law enforcement identified in these statements had motive to kill Nanette Vlasik, very few of them had the opportunity.
So I began to suspect that, uh, the killer might be at the other end of the transactions she uncovered.
So you think it's whoever's behind the bribes.
Unfortunately, Righetti's banker was unable to identify the initiating party, so I wondered if our old hacker friend, âSucking Chest Wound,â might fare any better.
He was able to trace the payments to Alpha Hawk Firearms, which is a Connecticut company which manufactures, among other killing machines, pistols for the military and law enforcement.
Now, in what is unlikely to be a coincidence, all of the individuals who received Alpha Hawk's payments went on to choose that company's pistols as their department's sidearm of choice.
That would mean a small-town police chief from New Jersey was taking on a weapons company that was bribing cops to buy their products.
That would've been way above her pay grade, wouldn't it? I wondered the same thing.
Then I remembered what Righetti said about Vlasik's recent hardship.
What, the death in her family? Not her family, precisely.
In February, one of her oldest friends was shot to death by her husband in a murder/suicide in Iowa.
This says that her husband had a history of mental illness.
Bipolar.
Mm-hmm.
Now, according to Vlasik's social media, she became quite obsessed with the recent federal law which eased restrictions on gun purchases by the mentally ill.
She felt that it enabled, or at the very least emboldened, her friend's husband.
Let me guess, Alpha Hawk lobbied for the bill.
Mm-hmm.
Specifically, their CEO, Clint Washburn.
So you think he's the one who bribed all those police chiefs to buy his guns.
He found out that Vlasik was looking into him and then had someone kill her? Mm.
Hope to know more shortly.
I'm due at the station to speak with Mr.
Washburn.
I'll get dressed.
No.
After you dozed off last night, you received a text message from Shinwell.
Apparently, your recent business is not finished after all.
(knock at door) Come in.
What's all this? Moving day.
DaMarco Bridger got arrested.
SBK leadership offered me his territory.
That means I'm moving back to the old neighborhood.
You could've told me all this over the phone.
You're right, I could've.
But I wanted to give you something.
What is this? My confession.
For killing Jameel.
That is everything that happened that night and everything that I did.
I don't understand, why are you giving this to me? Because his family deserves to know the truth about what happened.
And me, I deserve what's coming.
And you think that needs to happen soon, you give that to the people you work with, and they know where to find me.
But I'm telling you, Doc, I'm close.
Couple more months and this'll all be over.
SBK and their top brass will go away forever.
If I give this to the police, you're going away, too.
I didn't do all this because I wanted to get away with what I did.
I did it because I was trying to make up for it.
I'll be in touch.
WASHBURN: I'm sorry, I've never seen this woman before in my life.
HOLMES: Mr.
Washburn, you make your money manufacturing a product which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, so you'll understand if we don't readily take you at your word.
I'm not denying the things you say she found.
These bank transfers, I authorized all of them.
But she never approached me with them.
And, even if she had, it wouldn't have mattered.
BELL: Chief Vlasik uncovered evidence that you and your company had bribed dozens of cops across the country.
You really expect us to believe you think that's no big deal? It isn't a big deal because she wasn't the first one to figure out what I was doing.
I've already agreed to plead guilty to all of this.
I beg your pardon? The U.
S.
Attorney's office caught onto me, like, three years ago, and they found a lot more cases than she did.
Okay? We didn't find any prior arrests when we ran your name through the system.
Of course you didn't.
I have powerful friends.
The U.
S.
Attorney's office did me the courtesy of keeping this investigation under the radar.
They presented me with their findings months ago, my attorney's been working on a plea deal every since.
If you don't believe me, call him.
The final details are almost done, I agreed to a $10 million fine, no jail time, I step down as CEO of Alpha Hawk and start my retirement.
Presumably with a severance package worth far more than the fine you're being assessed.
(chuckles softly) You think I had this woman killed to get away with something, but that's crazy.
I already got away with it.
BELL: I hate to say it, but Washburn's plea deal checks out.
The U.
S.
Attorney's office agreed to a fine with no jail time.
There anything interesting in the case file? Well, Washburn was right, they identified many more cases of bribery than Vlasik.
How many more? Multiply by ten.
In the plea deal, do you see any evidence that the government confronted the policemen involved? No, looks like they wanted to secure Washburn's cooperation first, and kept everything under wraps.
Why, is that important? Extremely.
In fact, you could say that the secrecy around the case led to Vlasik's murder.
Had the killer known that the federal government already knew his secrets, he would've had no reason to kill her.
Are you saying you know who killed her? I have a likely suspect.
Apart from his surprise appearance in the case file, we have not a shred of evidence against him.
But I think I know where we could find some.
DARIA: I don't understand, you want us to help you arrest Dr.
Eriyo again? When I called the other day to see if you'd found him, you said you'd released him.
We didn't have enough evidence to hold him.
HOLMES: Nor did we have the right motive.
At the time of his questioning, we thought he'd killed Nanette Vlasik because of Moving Targets' million-dollar prize, but he argued quite effectively that that wasn't the case.
Well, if it wasn't for the money, then why did he kill Nanette? To avoid being tried for war crimes in Uganda.
HOLMES: Dr.
Eriyo's real name is Akello Akeny.
We believe that Nanette had uncovered a crime that he committed that, if exposed, would've triggered his extradition and possible execution.
Nanette Vlasik was investigating a gun company called âAlpha Hawk.
â She was looking for evidence that they'd been bribing cops.
She found it, and a whole lot more.
Alpha Hawk has also been engaging in illegal weapons sales.
One of their customers was Heaven's Shining Army, a rebel group in Uganda that Akeny used to be a part of.
Now, he helped arrange the sale.
And that's a violation of a treaty the group signed with the Ugandan government.
Chief Vlasik really had it in for Alpha Hawk.
We think she entered your competition to get closer to Akeny and gather more evidence against him.
BELL: What she didn't realize was he was scouting his opponents before the game even started.
We figured he found out what she was up to, lured her to that abandoned building, and killed her.
GREGSON: Problem is, we got plenty of motive, we got no proof.
What we really want is the murder weapon.
I don't see how we can help you with that.
BELL: Right now, Akeny is back at his house.
We think he's got the weapon there, but if we show up at his door, things could get ugly.
We'd prefer to avoid a gun battle.
You want us to lure him here.
BELL: Well, we thought you could call and say that, because the game's been called off, you're gonna divide the million dollars among the top-ranking contestants.
You just need him to come fill out some paperwork.
GREGSON: Once he's in custody, we can search his place for the shotgun used to killed Chief Vlasik.
We find it, case closed.
Okay, but it's late.
I-It'll seem suspicious if we ask him to come now.
First thing in the morning okay? Works for us.
(sirens wailing) BELL: Police! Put the gun down! Put your hands up! Turn around, put your hands behind your head.
Jake Bozeman, you're under arrest for the murder of Nanette Vlasik.
(handcuffs click) You lied to me.
Dr.
Eriyo, or Akeny, whatever you want to call him, he didn't broker a deal between Alpha Hawk and some rebel group.
You're right, we lied; we thought it might tempt you to plant the gun you used to kill Vlasik somewhere that might link back to him.
BELL: But, hey, you know the cops don't have to tell the truth to suspects, don't you? We didn't realize when we first met you that, prior to your career in television, you spent 15 years as a Texas Ranger.
I assume it was that background that helped you win the job as host on Moving Targets.
WATSON: Before you put in your papers in Texas, one of your last assignments was to serve on the panel that chooses the gear for all of the state police, correct? It's public record.
What's not public record, yet, is that while you were on that panel, the CEO of Alpha Hawk Industries, Clint Washburn, paid you hundreds of thousands of dollars to convince you to buy pistols from his company, and his company alone.
BELL: You pocketed enough money to quit the Rangers and roll the dice at a TV career.
But you knew that if the truth ever came out, you'd be looking at some serious prison time.
We're guessing you found out about Vlasik's investigation into Alpha Hawk when you helped the producers vet her for the show.
Are we right about that, or did you find out some other way? BELL: The saddest thing is, if you had known the U.
S.
Attorney's office was onto you, you might've let her live.
Since you didn't, you brought a shotgun to a paintball fight.
I'd like a lawyer now.
Guy like that, using the job to line his own pockets, I almost wish he hadn't put down his gun tonight.
Might wish that himself soon enough.
He's a former lawman and a TV personality; (phone chimes) prison will not be pleasant.
(singer vocalizing) (knocks on door) WATSON: Shinwell? (light switch clicking) Hello? (lightbulb buzzes) Shinwell!