Deception Episode 1.03 A Drop of Blood and a Microscope

Breaking news: Vivian's death has officially been ruled a homicide, and reporters are parked outside the Bowers' estate, trawling for footage of Edward, who's clearly the press' prime suspect. Chang, Gabe and Joanna watch live news coverage from the FBI building, as Edward nearly takes out a reporter leaving the family driveway. Chang's more interested in knowing whether there's been any progress locating Ben Preswick, Vivian's source and the father of her unborn baby. The cops and the FBI have no inkling of Ben's whereabouts, but Edward does, because he set Ben up with a safe house. Promising to protect Ben, Edward demands evidence of a Lyritrol cover-up - the evidence Vivian promised.

Disgusted, Will walks Joanna to her car. How could Julian give her a Mercedes? She can't give it back or she'll risk blowing her cover. Will's suspicious; is Joanna getting sucked in by the Bowers and their lifestyle? She reminds him that she's a cop with skills - which come in handy when she spies Julian about to attack reporters in front of Bowers HQ. When one of them digs too deep, pelting questions about Edward and Kimberly Yaeger, Julian attacks. Joanna steps in, muscling Julian out of the fray and into the lobby. Julian raises an eyebrow, so Joanna claims it's because of her self-defense class. Turning their conversation intimate, Julian thanks Joanna, then threatens to hire her away from his father so she can be his personal bodyguard. That way, nothing bad will ever happen to him again.

Julian proceeds to his father's office to meet with Edward and Robert, who received a call from the NYPD: Vivian was restrained and forcibly injected with heroin - and she was pregnant. Flashing back to the night of Vivian's death, Julian says nothing, but Edward claims he didn't know, nor did he know the baby's father. Attempting to look forward, Robert instructs Julian to keep his eye on the ball at the upcoming Lyritrol conference. Nevertheless, Julian's distracted and Edward knows it. Julian can't stop thinking about the argument he had with Vivian on the night of her death - when he punched her in the face, his ring leaving the distinctive bruise. Calling him a fraud, Vivian dares him to beat her to death or throw her in the river...

Robert and Edward take a walk through Central Park. Edward admits Samantha's probably leaving him and taking the kids. Robert has worse news: the board wants Edward to step down because of the rampant Kimberly Yaeger headlines and their result - slipping stock prices. And no, it doesn't seem Robert stuck up for Edward, agreeing only to be the messenger of bad news. Meanwhile, Joanna drives out to Edward's house to deliver an envelope. She's surprised to find Samantha packing up, preparing to move to California. Samantha's ready to talk: even though Edward and Vivian hadn't been close for years, six weeks ago, she started calling all the time. Joanna's just offering to stop by later for a chat when Sofia breezes in with her grandchildren, fresh off a spa day, but no less rude than usual.

Joanna reports what she learned about Edward to Will, along with her plan to ply Samantha for more info with a bottle of wine later that night. Will hangs up the phone just as a young, fast-talking woman runs up to him on the street to introduce herself as Nichole Frishette, a reporter for a tabloid called Fame Junkie. Having heard the FBI is investigating Vivian's case, she's wondering if they can help each other out. Nichole knows Vivian was pregnant and is trying to identify the father. Will's not interested until Nichole lets drop that she has an ass-load of photos of Vivian with a lot of different guys. Against his better judgment, Will offers to look at the photos; maybe he can help.

After school, Mia and her buddy Aaron are checking out photographs at a SoHo gallery. Annoyed by Aaron, Mia tells him that she's looking for a moment - something unbelievable - which is when she's approached by a handsome stranger, Kyle Farrell. Kyle knows Mia won't find the moment she's looking for in SoHo. Spying her camera, he wants to know why she isn't out hunting those moments for herself... and of course, he has some ideas of where she might find some. Within moments, Aaron is a third wheel and the flirting is hot and heavy. When her curiosity is amply piqued, Kyle asks Mia if she likes motorcycles, and they take off, leaving Aaron in the dust.

Back at the office, Robert asks Joanna to accompany Julian to the Lyritrol conference this afternoon - in fact, there's a car waiting downstairs. Joanna has a calming, positive influence on Julian, which is something Edward wants to encourage. On the way to the helipad with Julian, Joanna assumes they're going to Jersey, but he corrects her: they're going to the Bahamas and staying overnight. At the hotel, Julian wheels in a rack of high-end clothing, which he picked out for Joanna personally, so she's covered for any occasion. A bellman informs Julian per his request that Senator Dwight Haverstock has arrived. Joanna remembers Haverstock from her childhood, back when he was best friends with Robert. Julian informs her that the two men haven't spoken in years and he doesn't know why.

Haverstock embraces Julian warmly, claiming he's looking forward to his Lyritrol presentation. After giving his condolences on Vivian's death, untimely or otherwise, he lights his Montecristo with a distinctive lighter and moves out. Julian explains Haverstock has sway with the FDA because he heads a Senate subcommittee on corruption. Right now, they have to kiss his ass if they want to get Lyritrol through the FDA. Back in New York, Will's getting bored looking at random photos of Vivian until he spots Brent Baird, Dwight Haverstock's chief of staff. What's Vivian doing with him? Nichole's not happy - Brent can't be Vivian's baby daddy! - but Will's excited to finally have a new lead. Meanwhile, Kyle takes Mia to an abandoned building in the South Bronx on the edge of a construction site, promising excitement.

Back in the Bahamas, Julian proves himself to be a very effective speaker at the conference, telling the story of a young girl with cancer as the inspiration for Lyritrol and touching Joanna's heart. Haverstock's not listening, because he's making moves on a young lady named Wendy. Will calls Joanna to tell her about the Haverstock connection - could Vivian have gone to him with her suspicions about Lyritrol? When Will hears steel drums in the background, Joanna admits she had to go to a conference in the Bahamas, which is where Haverstock is right now. Will warns her to remember who she is, because Julian's clearly trying to get in her pants.

Later that night, Edward stops by the house where Samantha's busy packing to tell her the board wants him to step down. Samantha thinks it might be a good thing: they could leave together and finally be free of his family! Claiming he doesn't want to run away, Edward grows silent. Samantha asks if this is what he was arguing with Vivian about? He refuses to say, but he does seem to accept his wife's invitation to move to California. Meanwhile, Mia's taking photos while a raucous punk band performs at the abandoned building for a wild crowd. When Mia goes off in a corner, a pierced guy asks her to take his picture, and it's not long before he's trying to make off with her camera. Kyle runs to the rescue, savagely punching the dude into submission. Mia can't help it; she kind of likes the whole deal...

Robert and Sofia play cards in bed while discussing Edward's plight. Of all the children, Edward showed the most promise, but he doesn't seem to have any fight left in him, which breaks Robert's heart. And now his marriage is crumbling... Sofia offers to talk to Samantha to set things right. After the conference, Joanna and Julian take a walk on the beach, which seems romantic until they spy a very drunk and topless Wendy tied to a lifeguard stand... It seems it was Haverstock who tied her up. Haverstock wants to know whether Julian has managed to iron out Lyritrol's inconvenient flaws. It really doesn't matter anyway. Lyritrol won't get past the FDA until Julian gets Haverstock a sit-down with Robert.

Sleeping in his bed for the first time in weeks, Edward is wakened by a phone call from Ben, who's out at a bar, drowning his sorrows. He can't stop thinking about Vivian, and he needs to get into Bowers Pharmaceutical's IT room. All he needs is five minutes to finish what Vivian started. When Ben demands to know if Edward's going to protect him like he promised, Edward flashes back to a time when he was clearly backing out of a deal with Vivian, claiming he had to protect his family. Telling Ben it's complicated, Edward hangs up, then checks on his sleeping daughters.

Back at the hotel, Joanna asks Julian what Haverstock was saying about Lyritrol's flaws. Innocent as a choirboy, Julian claims he doesn't know - the trials went great! He invites Joanna for a nightcap in his room, where she spies an intruder and jumps on him. Joanna's about to chase the guy onto the beach, but Julian pulls her back - what is she thinking?! Joanna has cut her foot in the melee, so Julian fixes her up. Joanna wants to know why the guy went for Julian's laptop but didn't take any money? Julian leans in for a kiss, which Joanna returns until she comes back to her senses. This time, it's Julian who calls it a night and leaves. Back in New York, Mia has been up all night, making out with Kyle.

The next morning, Edward attends a meeting of the board, who try to soft peddle their goal of firing Edward. Maybe it's best that he focus his efforts on his family right now. Edward flashes back to his fight with Vivian, then six weeks clean. If he blows the whistle on Lyritrol, he'll be leaving his family unprotected. Vivian reminds Edward that he promised to help her; she knows he wants to do the right thing. Called out of his reverie, Edward's focus is laser. He reminds the board that the press has nothing on him but untrue accusations, then calls out every single board member's peccadilloes, including gambling debts, hit-and-run and philandering. Edward excuses himself to get back to his busy schedule and leaves the boardroom, his job intact.