Day Nine. Holder's wire tap falls through when the judge refuses to condone his use of the Patriot Act to hook Bennet Ahmed. Just as Holder and Linden think they're sunk, Amber Ahmed arrives at the station with Muhammed's phone number. The detectives find Muhammed at a public market and interrogate him until he cracks -- only he has nothing to offer on Rosie, just confirmation that she returned a book to the Ahmeds' apartment on Friday and an explanation that he and Ahmed were offering escape to a Somali girl whose parents wanted to circumcise her.
Ahmed gets all kinds of feisty and returns to school, inspiring a student walk-out. Meanwhile, Mitch gets all sorts of Lady Macbeth after Linden doesn't follow through on her promise to arrest Ahmed. Stan finds her weeping over the mishandling of the case and takes matters into his own hands. With the help of Belko, he finds Ahmed and beats the pulp out of him… just as Mitch finds the shirt she told Linden was at the mosque. Ahmed may be innocent! He also may be dead.
Richmond's smear tactics backfire. Big shock. Adams fights back by insisting he's been snip-snipped for many years now and fabricating the records to prove it. While he comes out smelling like a rose -- at least for now -- Richmond tries to maintain his connection to the Somali community, but his supporters are beginning to waiver in their enthusiasm for a man who has yet bring about any positive results, especially in light of recent anti-Muslim vandalism. Drexler also threatens to yank his support, so Richmond visits and wins $5 million over a little game of HORSE. The campaign lives another day, but can Richmond live with himself much longer?
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Previously: Richmond brought out the big guns, exposing Mayor Adams for supporting his mistress and love child. Timely, no? Mitch identified a T-shirt of Rosie's found inside the butcher shop. Ahmed was gently advised not to return to school for a while, then his wife overheard him having a phone conversation about forged passports.
As it were, Linden and Holder also overheard the conversation courtesy of a not-so-kosher wire Holder put on the Ahmeds' phone. We open as they sit with an Arabic translator, who tells them Ahmed said, "Muhammed, the police, they don't know anything." Then she gives them Muhammed's side of the conversation: "But someone told the police about the room. They know about the girl." Ahmed responds, "They won't be able to find you. We just need to stay calm, okay?" Muhammed agrees, then Ahmed says in English, "The passports will be arriving tomorrow. Call me when they do, then this will all be over."
Holder thinks it's a slam dunk and is certain his judge friend will grant them a retroactive warrant for the wire tap. Linden asks if they have the number of the incoming phone call. Holder tells her it'll take 24 hours but not to sweat it. "All we gotta do now is cross our Is and dot our Ts." Linden calls for patrolmen to monitor Ahmed's house until they get the warrant signed, then sends Holder to meet with his judge friend. As Linden runs outside, she gets a phone call from Mitch, who wants to apologize for being rude the day before. She asks if Linden has arrested Ahmed yet. Linden promises, "It'll be over tonight." Credits.
Mitch heads downstairs to find Stan arriving home. He immediately says he doesn't want to fight. She tells him, tears streaming, "It's over. They're arresting the teacher." She grabs hold of him fiercely, and he breathes a sigh of relief.
Downtown. Adams holds a press conference to refute the news about his mistress and love child. He insists that he underwent a vasectomy before the supposed love child was conceived. Back at Richmond HQ, they're watching the conference as Jamie lies through his teeth to a reporter and denies any connection to the story. On the TV, Adams calls the allegation "A desperate act by a desperate man." Well, at least we know one true statement came out of his mouth that night. Richmond turns off the TV and asks Gwen how the smear campaign is being linked back to him. It wasn't supposed to be traceable. Gwen assures him they're going to put out a statement about his thus far flawless record. "Thus far" being the key words there.
As they walk and talk, Richmond spots Linden out of the corner of his eye. She has come to get all the records of when Ahmed used the campaign car for All-Stars. Richmond insists she has all the records, she calmly tells him she doesn't. He takes his latent rage out on her, spitting that he has done everything in his power to aid her investigation and is "sick to death" of the implication that his campaign had anything to do with Rosie's murder. As he storms off, Linden -- unflappable as always -- reiterates that she needs the complete records. Richmond returns and asks angrily, "Did. He. Do. It?" Linden tells him matter-of-factly to have his staff send the files that night.
Back at the mayor's office, Adams is wrapping up interviews, bloviating about how Richmond's tactics are what give politics a bad name. Not licentiousness, adultery, and bold-faced lying, though. He heads over to his wife and kisses her on the cheek. She gives him a curt look in return. Adams' adviser tells him he handled the conference perfectly. Says Adams, "With enough conviction, the truth is whatever you say it is." He instructs his adviser to start paying his mistress double and get whatever medical documents he needs from his doctor. He says the story must end now and says he wants a sit-down with the head of the machinist union the morning. He adds, "Richmond's sinking, and the rats are going to start jumping ship." The adviser tells him word is Drexler's already pulled his funding. Adams says it's a shame because he would have liked to have screwed them both.
Elsewhere, Holder visits his judge friend to get the emergency wire tap authorized. He presents the case to the judge, who seems good to go. Meanwhile, Linden is preparing her team outside the Ahmed apartment. Then the judge notices Holder has justified the wire tap via the Patriot Act. He puts the kibosh on the authorization on principle and will not be persuaded otherwise. No good deed by Holder goes unpunished, it seems. He calls Linden to tell her the bad news, and the bust is called off.
Day 9 starts with a thrashing of Linden and Holder by their boss. Linden takes the blame for Holder's wire tap, but the boss doesn't care who came up with the idea, he cares that it could have compromised their whole case. Linden thinks they can do a run-around and get the telephone to release Muhammed's number, but the boss is implacable: "I asked you to stay here this week to solve this case, not ruin my career." With that, Linden and Holder walk out with their tails between their legs.
Ahmed abode. Bennet idly threatens to sue the police for harassment as he gets ready to go to school. He quickly switches to suggesting they try out a new Chinese place for dinner. As he walks to the room, Amber checks his phone and finds Muhammed's number. The phone rings just as she is writing down the number, and Bennet appears in the room suddenly. He takes the phone call and walks away so she can't hear what he's saying.
Richmond HQ. Gwen and Jamie strategize how to work around Adams' latest volley. Jamie wants to dive further deep into the mud and try to flip Adams' doctor. Richmond walks in, wondering how their gambit has affected Adams' numbers. Alas, it looks like his support is the only thing slipping away. As Adams predicted, the machinists are thinking about backing out of supporting Richmond, as are the Somalis in the wake of anti-Muslim vandalism. Richmond admits he made a mistake listening to Jamie and deserves what he gets. The Somali Muslims, however, do not. He declares the mud-slinging over.
Larsen home. Terry tells Mitch she found some of Rosie's textbooks in her car. She was planning to drop them off at school on the way to work, but Mitch volunteers to take them. She immediately pores over the books, looking proudly at an assignment on which Rosie got an A.
Meanwhile, Amber calls Linden but gets cold feet.
Across town, Stan and Belko unload a truck for a family. Stan says the bank appraisers are dropping by the house he bought week. He's hoping he won't have to drop the price too much. Belko offers to help him fix any problems before they come and suggests he should keep the house. "Business'll turn around..." Just then, the young daughter asks for her bike. Stan reattaches the chain and tells her why it needs to be there. Belko watches as Stan relives his days teaching Rosie how to ride a bike. Stan lovingly fastens the girl's helmet on and watches wistfully as she rides down the road.
Mitch returns Rosie's books to Fort Washington, stopping in her tracks when she sees Ahmed walking in the door. She thought it would be over, but it's not.
SPD. "At least you got Sonoma," Holder tells Linden. "By the weekend, I'm going to be working security at the Space Needle." As Holder prattles on, Linden looks through the Qur'an Rosie borrowed from Ahmed. She finds a note in Rosie's handwriting that reads "Adela, Friday 11:45." As they're trying to figure it out, Amber appears outside Linden's door. Amber is hesitant to talk to them, but Linden cop-speaks that helping them will help Bennet. Amber asks, "Will it? Really?" Met with silence by the detectives, she hands over Muhammed's number and tells them about Bennet's conversation with him last night. Holder takes the number out of the room, and Linden assures Amber she's doing the right thing -- for herself and her daughter.
Ahmed heads into school to much rubbernecking from his colleagues. He ignores the awkwardness but can't ignore when Principal Meyers confronts him about their little "agreement." Ahmed says he never agreed to take time off and tells her to fire him if she thinks he's done something wrong. He heads into his classroom, which falls silent immediately. He starts to pull out his books and begin his lesson, but the students walk out one by one. Written on the board behind him is the word "KILLER" in blood red.
Downtown, Richmond visits the Imam of the Green Lake Mosque. Mosque members are painting over the walls, which has been vandalized with swastikas and phrases like "Go home," "Terrorists," and "Kill Muslims." Richmond promises to stand by the community and asks the Imam to trust him as he works with them to rebuild the community. The Imam says Adams also made all these promises years ago, and it meant nothing.
SPD. Holder has a DMV photo of Muhammed Hamid and a GPS triangulation of his location at a downtown market. As they start to pick him up, Mitch runs into them to tell them Ahmed was at the school and ask why this investigation isn't over yet. Linden says this will be over soon and asks for a little more time. Mitch says Ahmed is behaving like nothing ever happened, and that he's walking around... "free." Her voice is low, even more broken than before -- if that's possible.
A little while later, Linden and Holder are separately canvassing the market where Muhammed is. Holder calls and says he's got nothing, snarking, "I suck at this racial profiling stuff. This TSA job ain't happening." As she walks around scanning the crowd, Linden bumps into a woman on her cell phone. She gets the idea to call Muhammed. After a couple tries, she gets a visual on him. Unfortunately, at the same time, he gets a visual on her. She chases him through the market. At one point, he sprints past Holder, who circles around. A few seconds later, Muhammed is trapped between the two detectives. He prays as Holder cuffs him.
That night, Richmond visits a bar and drinks as he listens to Nina Simone wrap her velvety voice around "If I Should Lose You." Gwen joins him, urging him to open up about his wife's death, to let people in so they can see his real side. She tells him the people need a reason to believe in him again. Richmond refuses. "Then it's really over," says Gwen. He tells her Lily loved the song he's playing, how it meant a lot to them when he was in the peak of his career, being pumped up by fellow politicians. He said somewhere along the way, he stopped listening to Lily and only to them, then, as the song goes, he lost her. Gwen urges Richmond to listen to Lily now.
Stan returns home to find Mitch crying. She updates him on what happened -- or didn't, as it were -- with Ahmed. She rages at him for telling her to trust the police. "That man killed our child, and you let him go!" Stan backs away with a horrifying look in his eyes.
SPD. The boss tells Linden and Holder he doesn't care how they got Muhammed's number, but he can't keep the Feds out of the loop for long, so get a confession, stat. After he leaves, Holder says Muhammed has no prior and, thus, no reason to talk. Linden steels herself, and they go in.
Across town, Richmond visits Drexler to boldly ask for $5 million. He suggests Drexler view it as a charitable donation because he'll have a lot easier time getting his stadium if "philanthropist" is to his name in the papers instead of "coke, DUI, or hooker." Drexler says that it'll never say "loser" to his name, and Richmond shoots back that at least he has the balls to play a real opponent. Drexler proposes a high-stakes game: One shot. If Richmond makes it, it $5 million; if he misses, he resigns from the race.
Back at the SPD, Linden and Holder begin interrogating Muhammed. They tell him they know about his phone call with Bennet from the night before. "You just couldn't wait for your 72 virgins, huh?" asks Holder. "Or you just got a thing for little girls?"
Richmond takes his coat off at Drexler, and they exchange barbs about how Drexler was always the kid picked last and how Richmond is stalling. Richmond tells Drexler that if he makes the shot, he gets the money and the basketball he won it with because "after this, I won't be needing you anymore." Drexler says, "Guys like you always need guys like me, Richmond." Richmond takes his shot. Commercials.
SPD. Linden threatens says calmly that they'll have to hand Muhammed over to the FBI if he doesn't talk, and Holder is typically less subtle, threatening that the Virginia farm boys will pull some Guantanamo on his ass. Linden adds that his wife will be deported while his two children will be transported to a foster home since they're American citizens. Muhammed tells them to eff off. When Holder reminds him that expectant father Bennet will easily drop a dime on him, Muhammed cracks. He says "She come to Bennet's place that night. I let her in. Bennet, he did not want to at first, but I told him we must." Muhammed says they took the girl to the butcher shop because she kept crying. Linden asks if she tried to escape. Muhammed says no, that they moved her again before the cops and Feds stormed the place. He adds, "Now she is safe." He says they're waiting for passports to take the girl to Canada so her family can't find her. Suddenly things aren't adding up. Linden and Holder are both all, "What are you talking about?" Linden brings out a picture of Rosie, and Muhammad recognizes her from the papers. He confirms that she came by Bennet's that night and gave him a book, then left. He explains that he's talking about Aisha from their mosque, whose parents are planning a female circumcision. The translator explains the ritual and why a 12-year-old girl would be scared as Muhammad described "her." Of course the "her" he was talking about is Aisha, not Rosie. Linden demands Muhammad take them to Aisha.
They arrive at the safe house. As Muhammad knocks on the door, Linden gets a call that Bennet never arrived home from work that day. Elsewhere, down a dark road, Stan's van parks somewhere deserted. Belko and Stan rip Ahmed out of the car. He cries for his life, then tries to run. Belko catches him. Meanwhile, Mitch is doing laundry when she comes across the pink Grand Canyon T-shirt she mistakenly identified as the one at the mosque. She desperately calls Stan and leaves a message. Back at the safe house, Aisha finally answers the door with a timid look in her eyes, backing away slowly from the outsiders. Out in the darkness, Stan and Belko bash and smash Ahmed, punching and kicking him until his legs stop flailing. Richmond carries the basketball into his office and sits down. Amber looks at her baby girl's crib with worry. Mitch calls Stan again, frantic about what she has made happen. Linden drives as Holder puts out an APB for Bennet Ahmed. Stan punches Ahmed a few more times, and Belko kicks him in the ribs even as he ceases to respond to the pummeling. Their shadows stand ominously against the darkness.
week: The detectives look for Adela in hopes of cracking the case on Rosie. Richmond burns bridges. Mitch discovers Stan has lost $16,000. And Belko looks to be in prison.