By Lady Lola
Day 4 comes and goes as Linden continues to half-ass her wedding planning, much to Rick's annoyance. Case-wise, she and Holder learn that it was Sterling in the sex tape, not Rosie. They question the supposed BFF and find out that Rosie was leading a secret life, taking the bus downtown, and had a key to a mysterious lockbox. Linden sends Holder on a long bus ride, resulting in a lead on her whereabouts in the days prior to her death and a new link to Richmond's campaign. Another lead comes when Linden finds Jack's cigarettes in his pillowcase. She decides to do a second sweep of Rosie's room and finds love letters from someone named Bennet.
Richmond's campaign is sinking as quickly as his car did in that pond. Gwen does her best to help Richmond by calling in both a smarmy basketball mogul with deep pockets and a vendetta against Mayor Adams, as well as her senator father. Meanwhile, it seems that Jamie is entertaining an offer to join Adams' campaign when in fact he's double-crossing the incumbent by insinuating himself in the campaign as a mole. I'm surprised he and Richmond aren't dizzy from all the spinning.
Stan and Mitch begin the grim business of planning Rosie's funeral. While they're arranging the transfer of the body, they get a look at Rosie's brutal autopsy photos -- you know, just in case Mitch hadn't already completely lost her mind. After berating a priest, she holds a candlelight vigil by Rosie's school locker and spends some time with Mr. Ahmed. In the midst of Stan's attempt to build a brighter future -- we learn he bought a house for the family shortly before Rosie's death -- his shady past with organized crime resurfaces and he's seen secreting away money for possibly nefarious means.
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Previously: Rosie was lost, then she was found. Jamie was found out as the mole (or was he?). Linden and Holder found a video tape of Kris and Jasper raping Rosie (or were they?).
We join Linden and Holder watching tweaker Kris in the throes of withdrawal as he sits in the SPD interrogation room. They finally enter the room. Linden sits wordlessly as Holder wheels in a TV monitor. Kris insists he didn't do anything. They continue to give him the silent treatment until Holder turns on the TV. It's the yearbook footage of Rosie at the dance. A guy asks Rosie where she sees herself in 10 years. She stammers a now tragic answer, "Uhhhh, who knows what happens? I mean, today is all that matters. And who knows? I want to see... everything, see the world. I am just so ready to start living." Linden pauses on a shot of Rosie's smiling, beatific face. She looks coldly into Chris's eyes and tells him to look at Rosie, to tell her that he didn't kill her, in essence to own up to whatever role he had in this disgusting series of events. Kris trembles as he looks at Rosie on the TV. Credits.
The morning, Kris is still waiting it out in the interrogation room. Holder thinks he's ready to break, but the boss isn't so sure. He tells Linden that Jasper is with his lawyer in the waiting room. They decide to parade him past Kris, hoping that the fear that Jasper will cut a deal will motivate Kris to talk. Before Holder goes in to continue with Kris, the boss tells him curtly, "That junkie in there looks better than you do. You should clean yourself up and put on a suit."
As Linden escorts Jasper into the boss's office for questioning, he stops and exchanges an uncomfortable look with Kris. Holder snaps at Kris, "Hey! Your date's with me." In the other room, the lawyer brusquely tells Linden Jasper is simply paying a "courtesy visit" and that all questions should be directed at him (the lawyer). Linden informs them that a video featuring Jasper, Kris and Rosie has been found. Jasper plays dumb, so Linden asks over-sweetly, "Would you like to see it?" and looks at him with a shit-eating grin.
Meanwhile, the Larsens begin the grim business of picking out a casket for Rosie. The perfectly non-offensive funeral director discusses all the various accouterments, from matching pillows and sizes to fit in burial vaults, before telling them that the caskets start at $2,000. He adds hastily, "Of course, there's always cremation... considerably less expensive." Stan says proudly, "No." Says the funeral director, "I understand." He goes over the floral options with Stan as Mitch wanders around, taking in the atmosphere of death. She settles on a model that costs $3,800. The funeral director adds again that they have reasonable payment plans, but Stan insists they can take care of it. The funeral director tries to push along the process, saying he'll need a nice dress for Rosie. "You would like her in a nice dress, wouldn't you?" Neither of them can say a word as they stare into the coffin. It may only be a few feet wide, a few feet deep, but to them it might as well be an endless abyss because, once Rosie goes is, she's never coming out.
Richmond HQ. An advisor gives Richmond and Gwen gets the bad news that his campaign is hemorrhaging support, despite Yitanes' endorsement. Adams is playing the "dead girl" card left, right, and center. The advisor and Gwen propose a media blitz to reinforce his anti-crime message. Richmond frustratedly tells them to get on with it. Gwen asks, "With what money?" Richmond excuses the advisor. Gwen waits until he gets out of earshot to suggest they cut a deal with Tom Drexler, a Richie Rich with a vendetta against Adams. The idea doesn't sit well with Richmond, who still considers himself above the wheeling and dealing of politics -- even as he sinks further into it. Gwen insists he should at least talk to Drexler. She says using him was one thing Jamie was right about. Richmond is still skittish. He tells her to get his donor list so he can start making calls after his meeting.
Back at the SPD, Linden shows Jasper and his lawyer the El Diablo video. Jasper insists it's not what she thinks. "You don't seem like the type that shares your toys," says Linden. The lawyer tries to cut off the conversation, but Jasper insists on explaining himself.
Meanwhile, Holder pulls some "Scared Straight" shit on Kris, who just turned 18 and is eligible for some serious prison time. Through his shakes, Kris gives Holder attitude back, asking if the other cops know Holder is a junkie just like him. Holder sits silently until they see Jasper walking out with his lawyer. Holder says Jasper must have finked on Kris to get out that fast. Kris says Jasper is crazy, that he hated Rosie. Holder doesn't believe Kris's wingman act. Kris rocks back and forth as he insists Rosie treated him better than other kids did. Linden tries to break up the interrogation, but Holder thinks he's on to something and petulantly tells her to buzz off. Linden leaves in annoyance as Holder puts on the second half of today's feature presentation. Kris snarks that he wants popcorn, then laughs when he sees the video. "That's what you got?" he asks. "Man, you don't know shit."
Mayor Adams joins Jamie sits in a blue-collar bar down by the docks. He tells Jamie his hard-knock story about growing up waiting outside of this bar for his drunken old man. He spent hours looking at the bay and wanting more. Now he's got it, he says. Jamie tells him to spare the sob story, because Adams' plans to build megamall don't exactly lift up the everyman. Spits back Adams, "Screw the everyman. I'm the everyman." He wants a legacy. Adams notes that Jamie is from Pigeon Point, which Jamie dismisses as "white trash... just like you!" Just then a commercial for Adams comes on TV with the tag line "A vote for Adams is a vote for experience." He points to it as if to say, "See how much better I am at this than Richmond?" He says he's not surprised how things ended between Jamie and Richmond. He says Richmond is a carpetbagging rich kid, an amateur who doesn't know how to win because he never had to. "I believed in that guy," says Jamie. "I guess it was a one-way street." Adams says he called Jamie to this bar so he could invite him to "come over and be part of a winning team for once." Jamie looks at him thoughtfully.
Back at Richmond HQ, the councilman is calling in all his favors to no avail. Gwen makes a phone call to her father the Senator and books an appointment.
Fort Washington High School. Linden has returned to question Sterling. It turns out that it wasn't Rosie in the sex tape, it was Sterling. She was drunk, and Jasper thought it would be funny for her to put on Rosie's costume and make the tape. All the blood, she explains, was from one of his nosebleeds. Rosie had left by the time they all went down to The Cage. "You were mad at Rosie?" asks Linden. Sterling says Rosie changed after she broke up with Jasper. She never hung out anymore and would lie that she was with Sterling when she was off somewhere secret. Sterling says she saw Rosie get on the 108 bus outside of school several times. She thinks Rosie might have been seeing someone she couldn't tell anyone about. And just as Linden is getting a possible break, Holder swaggers in and blows the vibe. He blames Sterling for the slow investigation, and she shuts down, save to say that she only went down to The Cage with Jasper and Kris because they were being nice to her. She says jealously, sadly that no one was nice to her like they were to Rosie, and when Rosie was around it was like Sterling wasn't even there. She insists she didn't mean to hurt Rosie and asks, "Don't you ever just want to feel like you're here?"
Outside, Linden rationalizes that, if Rosie was having a secret affair, it would explain the fancy shoes she had. Also, the key they found on her, which didn't go to her locker. Nor, however, did they find a lockbox or any clues in her bedroom as to where she might have stashed love letters from her secret boyfriend. Holder says he'll talk to the Larsens, but Linden says she already has a plan to meet them at the station later that day. Holder finally lets out some of his anger at being virtually shut out of the case. Yet, when Linden asks if there's a problem, he shrinks back in deference. She spots the 108 bus behind them and tells Holder that it doesn't go through Rosie's neighborhood. Therefore, she must have been sneaking out to meet up with her boyfriend. She tells Holder to catch the bus and follow up on any leads he finds there.
Gwen meets with her father, who expresses his condolence about "the dead girl." In nearly the same breath, he says, "I've been at this a lot longer than you have, Gwyneth. Maybe it's time for you to admit you've bet on the wrong horse." She insists she knows what she's doing, then asks the senator to set up a meeting with Tom Drexler. He thinks it's interesting that Gwen's working behind Richmond's back, that maybe she's better at the political game than he thought. She says she's doing things her way. "Your way?" he asks. "Is that what you call sleeping with your candidate?"
SPD. Linden works with the Larsens to arrange the transfer of the body from the coroner to the funeral parlor. She pulls out the bag of Rosie's belongings and asks if they recognize any of the items. She mentions that Rosie may have been seeing someone older, but they can't believe it. Says Mitch, "My daughter's not like that. You don't know her... you don't know anything about her." Too true. Linden gets a call from Reggie and steps out of the room. At that exact moment, a door is left open, and the Larsens get a view of Rosie's horrifying autopsy photos. They detail the clear signs of a struggle -- how she ripped off her nails, the rope burns on her wrists, the busted blood vessels in her eyes. In short, when Linden said Rosie didn't suffer, she lied.
Richmond and Gwen hit up Drexler's apartment for a cocktail party. Richmond is already wary because he thought he was getting a one-on-one with the young, cocky billionaire. Then he sees Adams, who is ready to schmooze with the best of them. Through their strained conversation, Adams makes it clear that he, too, knows about Gwen and Richmond's relationship, not to mention Jamie's possible part in the leak. He smugs, "In this racket, it's a miracle to find someone you can really trust." At that, Drexler notices the two candidates exchanging barbs and decides to throw in a few of his own. He makes it clear that Adams is a snake in the grass, then throws a few derisive Obama references Richmond's way. He challenges the two hopefuls to forego the election and play a game of pick-up basketball to determine who'll become mayor. Richmond classily declines, and Drexler smugly lets the conversation drop.
108 bus. Holder tells Linden that the bus is a dead end, but she tells him to keep on the trail.
They hang up as Linden boards Reggie's houseboat. She calls out and is startled when Rick grabs her from behind. He says that she wouldn't come down to Sonoma for the cake tasting, so he enlisted Reggie and Jack to bring the cake tasting to her. He teases her that she's not more excited, then apologizes for being sour the night before on the phone. She owns up to her part in their problems, and things seem smoothed over for now -- until he sees the cut on her arm. He asks, "It's not happening again, is it?" "What?" she asks. "Chasing after a dead girl." She claims it's just a scratch and that everything's fine. Her phone rings. She dismisses it as her "new partner" complaining again. Rick takes umbrage at her saying she has a new partner, as if to ask if she's planning on staying. She corrects herself, saying Holder's her replacement. Rick tells her he won't compete with a ghost. She insists he doesn't have to. They let go of the bickering and settle into a comfortable yet passionate embrace. Rick tells her Jack and Reggie will be gone the whole afternoon. He jokes, "Are you gonna put that gun away." She teases, "Maybe..." as she leads him into the bedroom.
The Larsens continue the planning of Rosie's funeral at their church. Stan looks over possible hymns while Mitch surveys the room. She sees a crucifix, with Jesus' bound hands and feet, his mournful expression. She thinks of Rosie. Stan snaps her out of her stupor to ask about the hymns. she stares at him blankly, and the priest glosses over, saying they'll go with "the usual." As they stand up to leave, he assures them that Rosie is in heaven now and that the Lord is watching over all of them. It's too much for Mitch. "What good is that to me? She's not supposed to be with God, she's supposed to be with me!" She wonders where God was when Rosie was out in the woods, hurt, scared and alone. The priest has no more consolation to offer, so they leave.
Drexler finds Richmond on his balcony. He says he thinks the waterfront needs a stadium. Richmond dismisses it as a vanity project, like Adams' waterfront plan. Drexler is unmoved by Richmond's seeming naiveté, which he takes as disingenuous politico-speak. He says, "I get it, you gotta stay in character. I respect that," then hands Richmond a check for $50,000. Richmond tries to hand it back, implying he won't have his palm greased so easily. Guesses Drexler, "Maybe one day you will." Either way, they have a common enemy in Adams, so he hopes Richmond can profit off of Adams' loss.
Elsewhere, Stan takes Belko to the house he bought for his family before Rosie died. It was supposed to be a surprise, but now they can't afford it with all the unexpected expenses. They look at the perfect, white house that will never be Stan's after all, and Belko says if they want to do something about Richmond, they can "take care of it -- like old times." Stan says resolutely, "I don't do that anymore." Belko leaves him be.
High school. Sterling walks absent-mindedly to her locker, listening to her iPod. Some jerk grabs her from behind and cops a feel while inviting her to the Cage. She pushes him off, and he smugs, "Remember, Sterling, no means yes." She leans into her locker, broken, then picks herself back up and carries on with her day. She stops in her tracks in the middle of the hall when she sees Mitch. They plod toward each other, exchange a tearful hello, and hug. Sterling apologizes for what's happened. Mitch insists she has nothing to apologize for. They pull away from each other as Mitch strokes Sterling's hair. Sterling assures Mitch that Rosie was happy the last time she saw her. They stare into each other's eyes. Mitch asks if Rosie was seeing anyone, but Sterling doesn't know specifics. Mitch leans in for another hug, but this one is too long, too desperate. Sterling excuses herself, and Mitch stands in the empty hall.
Stan visits Janek Kovarsky, a Polish mob boss. He says he is overwhelmed by the bills right now. Kovarsky gives him a hard time for ignoring him for the last 17 years (all of Rosie's life). Stan says, "You know why." He stands up to leave, but Kovarsky tells him to wait. He puts down a stack of cash and says, "Family always comes first." Stan takes the money and says in disgust, "We were never family."
Holder is still riding the 108 bus when the shift changes. He asks the new driver if he recognizes Rosie. He does, saying Rosie stood out because there weren't many white girls on this route. She always took it to the end of the line.
Reggie's houseboat. Linden takes a smidge of icing from the cake tasting, then looks back into the box of belongings she was packing up when this case began. She takes out the drawing that she discussed with Holder just three days ago. As she sits down to look at it, she feels something in the pillowcase of Jack's bed. She looks inside and sees cigarettes. She's irritated, but it gives her an idea.
Mitch is looking at the impromptu altar set up at Rosie's locker when Mr. Ahmed finds her. He sits down to her and introduces himself as Bennet. He says Rosie was the kind of kid that inspired him to be a teacher. "Rosie wanted the world, you know?"
Stan enters Rosie's room and heads into her closet. He riffles half-heartedly through her clothes, reminiscing about each piece. He leans in and breathes in Rosie's perfume. He is startled by Linden, who says she needs to do another check of Rosie's room. She apologizes for what happened at the station. Stan says she should have told them what really happened to Rosie. He walks out angrily. She shuts the door behind him and makes a beeline for Rosie's pillowcase.
Back at the high school, Mr. Ahmed tells Mitch Rosie loved poetry and literature. He hands her Rosie's favorite book.
Back at the houseboat, Rick arrives to find Jack eating their wedding cake samples. Realizing that they're in this together, he challenges Jack to help him finish off all the cake between the two of them. It's probably the first time they've bonded, and at Linden's expense.
Holder follows a kid in a Fort Washington letterman jacket off the 108 bus. He watches as the kid walks down some stairs into a building.
Meanwhile, Richmond meets up with Jamie, who is actually insinuating himself into Adams' campaign to do recon for Richmond. He says Adams hasn't admitted to planting the leak yet, but to give him time. Fake out! Jamie wonders how Richmond knew he wasn't the mole. "Because if you wanted to screw me," says Richmond, "you'd have found a smarter way to do it." Jamie chuckles as Richmond drives off.
Holder steps into the building. There's a Richmond campaign poster and a banner that says "Seattle All-Stars." Holder asks a man in charge if he's ever seen Rosie there. The guy points to a photo and says she used to come in with the guy in the photo. Back at the Larsens, Linden thinks she's reached a dead end. Then she turns on Rosie's globe lamp and discovers a shadow inside. She opens up the lamp to find a letter that starts, "Dear Rosie, You're an old soul trapped in a young body..." What follows is a passage from Beryl Markham's West with the Night --
"There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo."
As Linden reads, Gwen joins Richmond watching his new billboard go up. Stan stashes the money from Kovarsky in his office. Holder goes over to the picture frame and sees Mr. Ahmed in the photo. The bottom of the letter is signed, "Bennet." Mitch hands back the book to Mr. Ahmed. He looks at her as if to say, "No keep it." It seems Holder was right, and there's more to this student-teacher relationship than previously imagined.
Discuss the episode in our forums, then check out our guide to our favorite dead TV characters.
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