Till Death Do Us Part I Recap
Buzz has arrived to document yet another crime scene for PHD. He is urged to hurry around to the back of the house. There is a body floating in the pool and Buzz must film it before they can pull it out of the water. This accomplished, Brenda tells the camera that a dog walker had arrived at the home of Mr. Oliver Henry and discovered the body. Tao mugs for the camera, but shows the victim’s drivers license as the method used for a positive identification.
“Hold it right there.” Some time later, Brenda, Pope, Commander Taylor and the rest of Brenda’s team are in court. The prosecutor speaks to the jury, promising to prove that the defendant had murdered Mr. Henry, warning the jury that the defense would try to say the victim had died an accidental death. He returns to the video to refute the claim. In the video, Brenda can be seen asking Buzz to get a close up view of contusions on the victim’s forehead, a ripped seam under the arm of his jacket, a tear in the knee of his pants and frayed pant cuffs as well. His shirt is pulled out of his waistband and there are scuff marks on the sides of his shoe heels, all documented for the jury by Buzz.
Returning to the time of the initial investigation, Sanchez is looking around the area and spies what could be drag marks on the concrete. Pointing them out to Brenda, he is ordered to look for similar marks closer to the pool. Gabriel is asked to lead Brenda to the victim’s closet. She enters a large, well-organized space and briefly examines a piece or two of clothing, noting no signs of wear. Gabriel is ordered to examine every item for signs of wear and Provenza is asked to take all the shoes into evidence.
Flynn stnds at the board in the murder room. He explains that the victim and his wife had, until recently, been partners in Henry and Henry, a local law firm. It was considered to be the number two firm in the city. Tao adds that the clientele had consisted of celebrities, politicians and the very rich. Daniels adds that fees were $500.00 an hour for associates, one had to double that if Oliver Henry himself was specifically desired.
Brenda keys in on the fact that Oliver Henry and his wife are no longer partners. Flynn explains that the Henry’s had divorced about three months previously, and the firm was in the process of being dissolved, but it was Mr. Henry that had been the real talent, his wife was thought to be an average attorney. Daniels interjects that Valerie Henry’s payoff was now anything but average, as she was still the named beneficiary of her husband’s ten million dollar life insurance policy - and she isn’t answering her phone. Sanchez hasn’t turned up anything useful in the neighborhood canvas. The neighbors don’t really seem to know each other, all he has is a kid who sys he saw a black BMW - possibly a convertible - parked in Mr. Henry’s driveway at 9 pm the night of the murder. Flynn adds that a black BMW in the Hollywood Hills doesn’t exactly narrow things down.
Pope enters to see what progress Brenda is making, adding that the press is already trying to pin the murder on one of Mr. Henry’s rich and famous clients. He needs to know something to pacify the press, but Brenda can’t help him. They are looking into all of the firm’s active divorce suits, giving them roughly 758 suspects, assuming it hadn’t been the wife. Pope is dismayed, and asks if they are sure the man didn’t simply fall into his own pool and drown by accident. As if on cue, Gabriel arrives to tell Brenda the medical examiner is ready to see her. Before she leaves for the morgue, team assignments are meted out. Every one of the Henry’s current clients are to be checked for criminal records and/or ownership of a black BMW, and the widow is to be found. She also wants the victim’s cell phone records examined to see who he had been talking to.
In the morgue, Dr. Morales is photographing the victim’s knuckles. They are bruised and scraped. He snaps a close up photo of Gabriel along the way. Brenda wants to know if the death could have been accidental, mindful of Pope’s admonishment not to make work for themselves. Morales doesn’t buy the accidental theory. If the scrapes had been present on one hand only, perhaps, but since the knuckles of both hands were injured, it looked more like the victim had been dragged from behind. Brenda counters, pointing out that the contusion to the head was on the front of the victim. Morales says the blow hadn’t hemorrhaged, meaning he could have run into a door or fell from less than his full height. Brenda and Gabriel attempt to re-enact how the injuries might have happened. As they conclude the exercise, Brenda points out that it only makes sense if the victim had been drugged or was drunk. Dr. Morales confirms there had been no alcohol in Mr. Henry’s system, but the tox report wasn’t back yet. Sitting up quickly from her position on the floor after the reenactment, Brenda asks Morales to check under the victims arm, recalling the tear in the suit jacket. Looking, Morales snaps a photo of the damaged skin under the victim’s armpit.
Back to the trial, with the resulting photo onscreen, Dr. Morales is on the witness stand. The prosecutor asks him the results of the tox screen, and Morales states the victim had Midazolam, or versed, a sedative not available by prescription, in his system at the time of his death. When questioned by the defense attorney, Morales has to admit that any health professional in a surgical field would have had access to the drug. The defense asks if it were possible the victim had given himself the injection of versed, and then stumbled and fell on his way to the pool, getting up and dragging himself to the water to die. Morales admits this is possible, and is cut off as he adds that it is an improbable scenario. Brenda is the next witness to be sworn in. Looking steadily at the jury, Brenda assures the prosecutor that she had tried to establish Mr. Henry’s death as either an accident or a suicide, but the more she looked at the evidence, the more certain she had become it had been murder.
Back to the time of the investigation, in their home, Fritz listens with one ear as Brenda complains that she cannot conclude that Mr. Henry’s death had been anything other than murder, especially given the tox screen results. Fritz asks what the drug had been, and as she tells him it had been versed, he interrupts her answer to complain that her car insurance payment is once more overdue. He scolds her, adding that if she would simply sign the form…he interrupts himself to ask what she is doing as she stands up and ransacks the kitchen. She admits she is looking for hidden sweets. Fritz has tossed them out. She asks why he would do such a thing; he did it because the doctor had told her to give up sweets. She groans, but returns to his original question. He points out that she needs to make a decision about whether or not she really wants to combine their finances. He has done all the work, but she has neglected to sign the forms provided. Brenda admits she had planned to take care if it next week. Fritz replies that she always says that; if she wants them to combine their finances, she should sign the form. If she doesn’t, she should just say so. Brenda reminds him that he had told her they would have a better chance of getting approved for a loan if they combined things. She sits down and signs the form, adding that he has done all the work, making her feel like she needs to contribute something to the effort. Fritz tells her he doesn’t mind doing it, that way he knows it has been done. Before leaving, he picks up her original thread of conversation, asking if she had found a vial and syringe with traces of the versed at the scene, or a glass with traces of the drug in it. She had not. Fritz illustrates how illogical it would have been for Mr. Henry to have given himself the drug and then dragged himself to his own pool to die, taking the time to hide any evidence of the versed first. Brenda is ready for work herself. As Fritz leaves, she picks up a single paper from the pile on the table and takes it with her. One more attempt to locate hidden sugar results in opening the freezer, only to find a note from Fritz: NO MORE SWEETS.
Entering the murder room, she is confronted by the sight of Provenza eating a huge donut. Focused on the sweet, she is barely able to concentrate as Flynn brings her up to date on their findings. Mr. Henry had been handling 23 divorces personally, and out of that group, he had been threatened either physically or verbally by eleven spouses. He had active restraining orders on four of the eleven. Provenza puts the donut down to walk to the board and point out the photo of one angry client that had actually peed on the divorce attorney’s car. Brenda looks longingly at the abandoned donut, finally reaching out to touch it with a fingertips as she inquires whether any of the eleven owned black BMW’s. There are seven possible matches in the group. Two had dark blue BMW’s, one drove a dark Mercedes. One of the four who had restraining orders out against them also drove a black BMW. As Provenza rushes to rescue his donut…or possibly to protect his Chief from her own cravings, Brenda asks that they pull in the client who had both a restraining order and drove a black BMW.
Cutting back to the trial, Brenda is still testifying. She is asked by the prosecutor how many people her team had under suspicion on the fourth day of the investigation. Brenda replies there had been eight, counting Valerie Henry, who had finally returned from out of town.
Returning to the investigation, Brenda is in her office, and the telephone on Brenda’s desk is on loudspeaker as she interviews Valerie Henry. Obviously, the Chief is on hold and is reluctant to hang up in order to question the newly widowed Mrs. Henry. Valerie assures Brenda that she had gone out of town immediately after learning of her ex-husband’s death, and had only returned that morning. This was done in order to avoid the press. She has no one that can confirm that she had stayed at her new apartment alone the night of her husband’s death. Brenda asks why the Henry’s had divorced. Valerie Henry admits that the couple had disagreed over money, mainly the way she had spent it. She tells Brenda that she had filed for divorce primarily to get attention from her husband, never thinking they would actually go through with it. Brenda asks Valerie whether her husband had a problem with drugs or alcohol, or if he had been depressed or suicidal. Mrs. Henry denies all of this, saying her husband was still proud of having been an Eagle Scout. She claims her husband was a very decent man, perhaps more decent than she herself had deserved. “Allstate Insurance, how may I direct your call?” No longer on hold, the sound of the receptionist on the phone interrupts the interview. Brenda apologizes and takes the call, stunning Gabriel. She slams down the phone in disgust after telling the receptionist she is calling to get a quote for a multi-car discount for herself and her fiancée, only to be put on hold once more. Valerie Henry admires Brenda’s ring and asks if she is getting married. Brenda finally admits she is, adding that putting all their finances together is becoming time consuming. Valerie points out that taking them apart is difficult as well. Brenda takes this opening to ask if Mrs. Henry was satisfied with her divorce settlement. Valerie says Henry had been fair, she had gotten a great deal of cash, he had kept the real estate and the dogs. She seems upset over the dogs, having wanted joint custody. Gabriel points out that she has the dogs now, and Valerie agrees that she does. Brenda narrows her eyes and watches the surprise cross Valerie Henry’s face as Brenda asks her if she knew she was still the beneficiary of her husband’s life insurance. Valerie asks Brenda if she is certain that information is correct, adding that every divorce attorney had problems with their client’s spouses, it came with the job. Brenda asks if Mrs. Henry knew of any particularly upset spouses. Valerie tells her that she wouldn’t know such, due to attorney-client privilege, but she was aware of some concern on her husband’s part over a FLARPL. “A what?” Brenda asks.
Provenza explains the term to the team: Family Law Attorney’s Property Lien. Flynn makes a smart comment about this sounding like something you’d order at a Dairy Queen, and Provenza simplifies it for him; it’s a way for a divorce attorney to place a lien on a client’s property in order to assure he gets paid. Brenda orders her team to recheck the suspects to see if any of them have had a FLURPL, FLERPL…she cannot say it, but they are to check and see which of Mr. Henry’s clients he had taken one out against.
Flashing forward to the courtroom, Brenda is asked by the prosecutor what she had learned after checking for this information. Brenda still cannot master the acronym, causing Commander Taylor to roll his eyes, but she can state that they had found five FLARPL’s among Mr. Henry’s active cases, only one of which had been issued against a person who also owned a black BMW…”It was the defendant.” she states firmly. The prosecutor asks the judge for permission to stop for the day, a request the judge grants. Once out of the courtroom, Brenda finds Pope and Taylor waiting for her. Commander Taylor assures her she has charged the right person. Brenda thinks so as well, but she keeps going over and over the evidence in her head, adding that they wouldn’t be in this predicament if only she had managed to get a confession. Pope tells her she needs to let Commander Taylor coach her before confronting the press outside. Brenda cannot see the point in this, she knows exactly what she is going to say to them. Pope contradicts her, she is irritable and snaps at people. “I do not. ” Brneda snaps and brushes past the two men. Smiling as she approaches the swarming mob of cameras, Brenda addresses them briefly: “The LAPD has decided that Commander Taylor will be fielding all your questions today.” She brushes past the mob with a pleased look on her face as Pope looks stunned and Commander Taylor begins to stammer out a statement.
The next day, Brenda is recalled to the stand. The judge reminds her she is still under oath, and the prosecutor, Mr. Garnett, reminds Brenda that previously she had testified that her team had found five of Mr. Henry’s clients or spouses against whom he had filed FLARPL’s, and that one of them also owned a black BMW convertible.
Back in the murder room, during the investigation, Pope is asking to be brought up to date. Gabriel identifies the primary suspect at this point, a Dr. Jonathan Schafer. Brenda’s cell phone rings and she excuses herself to take the call, assuring Will Pope that she already knows what the team is going to tell him. “Multiple driver discount, that’s right, ” Brenda speaks into the phone. Gabriel and the team continue for Pope. Schafer is an ophthalmologist who had been known to have threaten Mr. Henry, leaving the threat on voice mail. Pope asks if the divorce had been acrimonious. Daniels admits that part doesn’t fit so well, since the Schafer’s appear to be reconciling. “WHAT?” Brenda exclaims from the back of the room, “That’s twice what I’m paying now!” Pope asks Brenda if there’s a problem, and she admits that she is trying to combine her car insurance with Fritz’ to get a discount, but has been unable to do so. Pope offers to handle it for her, adding that if it will free her up to fill in the blanks in her case, he will be happy to get a quote from his insurance guy. Brenda admits they do have a few blanks, adding that she is certain it had been murder, and felt strongly that Jonathan Schaefer is the right suspect. Pope tells her to be certain, she has enough evidence to ruin a man’s life, but not enough to convict him for murder.
Brenda and Gabriel interview Kristin Schafer, who says she last saw Mr. Henry a couple of days before he had died. Though her husband had been having an affair with a girl who worked in his office, he had convinced her that it was over, and that this had been the only time he had strayed. She had gone to tell Mr. Henry that she and her husband were attempting to reconcile. The woman keeps an eye out nervously on her young daughter in the next room, obviously not wanting her child to overhear the conversation. She assures them her husband had nothing to do with Oliver Henry’s death, pointing out that it made no sense. For starters, she reminds Brenda and Gabriel that her husband was an ophthalmologist, not a biker, and if she changed her mind and decided to go through with the divorce, killing her lawyer wouldn’t stop her. She would simply hire another one. When asked by Brenda, Kristin is unable to alibi her husband, admitting he still has a room at a hotel while they attempt to reconcile their marriage.
As they leave Kristin Schaefer’s home, Brenda asks Gabriel to find the receptionist Schafer had the affair with and bring her in for questioning. She also wants a warrant to search the BMW, hoping they can get that accomplished while she interviews the ophthalmologist. Pausing prior to getting in the car, she looks at Gabriel. “Sergeant, this IS a murder, isn’t it?” Gabriel tells Brenda that while he believes it is murder, the ophthalmologist’s wife makes a good point. He can’t figure out what Schaefer’s motive would have been, because one the divorce had been called off, the lien would have gone away. Brenda hopes she can get the doctor himself to answer that question.
Peeking through the door at her suspect, Brenda decides to disarm the man by letting her hair down and pretending to be a little ditsy. Schaefer seems fooled by her act and her pathetic eye doctor jokes. He gives her no indication he isn’t answering her questions honestly after she explains the LAPD is interviewing all of Mr. Henry’s clients and spouses. When asked, he claims to have been on a fishing trip with a friend named Topper Barnes, on a boat named the Superplum. They had sailed out of Marina Del Ray and were gone for four days. He goes so far as to offer a phone number for the friend in question.
In court, the tape of the interview is paused, and Brenda is still on the witness stand, now being cross examined by the defense attorney, Lucas Cordry. He asks her why she had selected Schafer as her suspect when he had clearly provided her with an alibi. Brenda is firm, “Well, as is often the case of those suspected of first degree murder, your client lied.” When pressed, she explains that the alibi could not be verified. Cordry attempts to plant the idea in the jurors minds that her team had been pressed by budget considerations to close the case rather than spend time verifying Dr. Schaefer’s alibi. But Brenda holds her ground; they couldn’t find Topper Barnes and his boat because they simply didn’t exist. “Time was not the issue.” Brenda assures the jury.
In the murder room, once more returning to the original investigation, Gabriel hangs up his phone and informs Brenda that SID needs two more hours to analyze the trace collected from Schafer’s BMW. Flynn and the rest of the team have similar bad news; no master search has turned up anything on a Topper Barnes, there is no record of a boat named the Superplum, and the cell phone number offered by Schaefer is a disposable cell phone. Sanchez arrives to let her know that Schafer’s receptionist, Michelle Edwards is waiting in an interview room. But first, Brenda can tell that Will Pope wants to see her in his office. She enters, apologizing about the time the case is taking, but Pope has something else on his mind. She won’t be getting a lower rate on her car insurance. Brenda is confused, he’d told her his broker could…Pope interrupts her. He suggests she needs to talk to Fritz. Brenda can tell Will is uncomfortable, and snaps at him to just tell her what he knows. She is stunned to hear that Fritz has 2 DUI’s on his driving record, from 5 years ago and about one month apart. Brenda cannot understand: “But Fritz doesn’t drink.” “Right.” is Pope’s reply. He asks her not to let Fritz know she had learned it from him, and apologizes. Brenda doubts Will Pope is truly sorry to give her bad news about Fritz.
Pulling herself together, Brenda enters the interview room where Provenza waits with Michelle Edwards, Schafer’s receptionist. Wasting no time, she establishes that Michelle’s affair with Jonathon Schafer had been the reason Kristin Schafer had filed for divorce. Michelle admits she had been fired when the Schafer’s had reconciled, and this had surprised her. When they were together, Jonathon had told her his marriage was over, the woman he really wanted was Michelle, but when Kristin had filed for the divorce, Jonathan had completely freaked out. Provenza sympathizes with the receptionist as he asks when she last spoke with the eye surgeon. Michelle had a single lunch with him after she had been fired, and she had called him when she heard his wife’s lawyer had been killed. He hadn’t been able to talk to her, he had been with his wife. When asked by Brenda, Michelle’s story matches Schafer’s; he had been on a fishing trip with a ‘Topper Somebody.’ But she had never seen the mystery friend or the boat.
Brenda heads directly for the snack machine and a candy bar, only to be interrupted by Gabriel. He has good news. SID has matched hair found in Schafer’s car with the dogs at Oliver Henry’s house. He’s had Schafer brought back in for more questions. Ecstatic, Brenda takes the file from him and heads in to speak with the surgeon. Feeling Gabriel’s stare, she allows herself only a sniff of the candy before tossing it in a trash can.
Jonathan Schafer is waiting with Flynn. He is upset to have been recalled to talk with Brenda again. Abandoning the dumb blonde routine, Brenda tells him that she has been unable to confirm his alibi, adding that she believes both he boat and Topper Barnes are completely made up. Schafer tells her that he has called his lawyer. Brenda asks why he needed one. He was angered to find that his car had been searched while he spoke with her the first time, and he hadn’t been fooled by her dumb blonde routine. She counters by telling him that talking to her will save a lot of embarrassment for his wife and daughter, but he is firm. Brenda tells Flynn to place the surgeon under arrest. Knowing nothing of the SID report, Flynn looks surprised. She hasn’t gotten a confession, a real first for his Chief, but he complies with the arrest.
Gabriel enters the electronics room and gives the file to Tao. Flipping through it, Tao looks concerned, and leaves in search of Brenda. Finding her in the hall, he reviews the case file with her, pointing out the problem.
Brenda meets with Will Pope, Commander Taylor and Deputy District Attorney Garrett. Pope asks her to explain her concerns about the search warrant. She tells the lawyer that some of her evidence might be inadmissible in court. He thinks aloud: “Well, if it were just the matter of the transposed license plate numbers, I could probably swing that, but…” Brneda is surprised to learn there is another problem with her warrant. “Detective Daniels was very specific about what you were looking for in Schafer’s car, and no where does it mention dog hair.” He thinks it will all come down to what a judge rules. He looks hard at Brenda, asking if she is certain this is the guy. She absolutely is.
Again, we return to the trial. Lucas Cordry, the defense attorney, is hammering Brenda. He insists she has no evidence to prove her theory of the crime. He wonders if she can prove there was a crime, much less whether his client had done it. The drugs found in Oliver Henry’s system had been established in court as possibly self-administered; Henry could have fallen into the pool. Brenda brings up the scuff marks, but Cordry is ready for her. He asks if she has any proof that Mr. Henry had ‘injured his footwear’ the same night he’d been murdered. She does not. He dismisses her case as a collection of frayed clothing, a few scrapes and bruises, and a BMW seen in the victim’s driveway… Brenda agrees this is true. He asks her if she has any physical evidence at all. Brenda doesn’t answer, and Cordry asks that the judge make her respond. The judge admonishes Brenda to answer with a yes or a no. Brenda says she doesn’t have a yes or no answer to the question. Cordry is angered; “The LAPD found no evidence specifically linking my client to the scene of the crime, isn’t that what you’re telling us?” he demands. Brenda disagrees, that is not what she is saying. “I’m sorry, you have other evidence?” Cordry is sarcastic, but Brenda looks pleadingly at the judge, who appears to nod. As Cordry continues to badger her, she says she did have other evidence, mentioning the dog hair. The defense attorney explodes, Brenda knows this evidence has been excluded by the court. But the judge disagrees, it had been excluded until Cordry himself had specifically demanded whether or not Brenda had ANY physical evidence. Pope and Commander Taylor exchange triumphant glances. Brenda has found a way to get her evidence into the trial. As Brenda explains to the jury that Mr. Henry had owned two dogs and hair from those dogs had been found in the defendant’s car, Cordry doesn’t appear as upset as he should at the turn of events. He is reading a note handed to him as he messed up his cross-examination of Brenda. He asks to approach the bench, and tells the judge of a new witness. The missing Topper Barnes has just reappeared. A recess is granted.
In the hallway outside the courtroom, DDA Garnett is furious. As Pope and Taylor decry the timing of Topper Barnes’s arrival and assure the prosecutor they had done everything possible to locate the witness, Brenda is more practical. She asks Garnett what she needs to do. He explodes; “Break Schafer’s alibi, other wise jeopardy is attached, the case gets dismissed or goes to the jury, the guy walks and I look like an idiot. Plus, we’ll never be able to prosecute anyone else for this murder because the case we’re having now creates all the reasonable doubt a jury is going to need to let the next defendant off the hook.” He stomps away, leaving Brenda to exit the courthouse with Pope and Taylor. As they are mobbed by the press, Taylor is asked by the media for an update. This is simply not Brenda’s day. Taylor has a very short statement: “Actually, Chief Johnson will be taking your questions today.” Leaving Brenda to deal with the press, he mutters under his breath that he hopes she has a nice weekend.
To be continued…
