The Glades Episode 4.07 Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

Jeff gets ready to leave for a two week stay with his dad. Because Ray's still in Witness Protection, Jeff will be accompanied by Tony, a U.S. Marshall, who can't let him know where he's going. Callie plans to spend a couple of nights at Jim's house, since the first couple of nights without Jeff are rough on her.

Jim investigates his victim: Walter Parnell, 63, found dead, surrounded by a shrine of candles, tea bags, tools, and other items. He died last night and had $2,000 in cash and credit cards on him. Walter ran a construction business. He also had a new, expensive watch on him with an inscription, "To our next sunset, Emily." It looks like an anniversary gift from his wife. It doesn't look like a robbery. Carlos finds blood on Walter's sleeve, but no wounds on him. The killer probably got cut dragging the body.

At Jim's house, Callie, who is just out of the shower and wearing a towel, thinks Jim is at the door. She drops the towel and opens it, but it's Jim's father, Michael. He had a layover on his way back from a sales call in Rio and wants to visit and meet his future daughter-in-law. She's mortified. Once she's recovered, she tells Michael over some beers that he's welcome to stay at Jim's house.

Manus says the victim has no next of kin; his wife, Emily, died the year before. But they should investigate Steven Gomez, who threatened Walter at a worksite. He was arrested for assault and criminal stalking. The arresting officer, Dave Hartwell, says Steven is worth looking into. Daniel says people at the specialty shop where the tea bags by the body were from, knew Walter; he was a health nut. The nearby tire tracks might be from a pickup truck or ATV. He'll find out what the tools are for.

Jim meets with Steven Gomez as he's blacktopping a driveway. Steven doesn't seem to care that Walter is dead, but says he was home that night with his family. Steven claims Walter didn't pay him for a roofing job he did, so Steven took his pay in lumber, which is why Walter had him arrested. Steven says Walter was racist and spread rumors about him, preventing him from getting a job. Jim notices the blacktop is just motor oil, and makes Steven give his elderly customer back her money. He's obviously a scam artist.

Carlos says the victim died of a massive heart attack; odd for a health nut. He found a leaf on the roof of Walter's mouth, covered in stomach acid, that doesn't match the tea leaves from the crime scene. Daniel identifies the tools as custom woodworking tools. There's brown stuff on one of them, but it's not blood. The tires come standard on a Bentley, but Walter drove a Caddy, which he sold last month. He also recently sold a house in Orlando and bought a two bedroom penthouse condo in Boca.

Jim goes to Walter's penthouse and finds Lily Truster, a beautiful blonde, who is surprised to learn someone murdered Walter, who she claims is her landlord. But Jim spots some men's clothes in the house and suspects they had a more personal relationship. He also doesn't buy that she could afford the rent on the ocean view condo on what she's making as a personal trainer. She says she doesn't need a man to take care of her. She was with family last night and gives Jim contact information so he can verify.

Jim finds Michael and Manus laughing in his office. Jim's happy to see his dad, but says he should have given him a heads up he was coming. But it was a last minute thing. Michael says he loves Callie and Jim's mom is going to love her, too. They make dinner plans. Daniel says the surveillance system at the condo isn't up and running yet, since it's brand new; Walter was the only tenant. But according to a traffic camera, only one car left the condo that night: a Bentley Mulsanne with tinted windows. The owner is Stefan Szabo. He has a long rap sheet for extortion and more.

Jim and Carlos visit Stefan's address, which is in an RV park, and find the Bentley. Carlos notices the place is full of Gypsies. Steven Gomez steps out of a camper and introduces himself as Stefan Szabo. He claims that someone stole his car from the park, killed Walter, dumped his body in the swamp, and brought the car back, which Jim finds hard to believe. Stefan says he was home with his family the whole night. He also claims Dave Hartwell, a racist cop, is framing him. Walter was paying him to harass him and his family. Jim thinks it's funny that he is playing the race card for two different ethnicities in one day. Stefan says his Gypsy culture may be a little closed off, but they don't kill. They believe spirits live on and if he killed Walter, he'd haunt him for eternity. Carlos spots poisonous leaves called foxglove, or Devil's Bells, in the park; a few leaves in a pot of tea can kill someone. It might match the leaf in Walter's mouth.

Jim meets with Dave and notices a big bandage on his arm. Dave says it's from gardening, one of the risks of retirement. He runs a company that helps small businesses fight Gypsy scams like hit-and-runs and grocery store falls. He says the Szabo clan, led by Stefan, made fifty grand in scams last month. Stefan is the craftiest con artist he ever nailed. Jim suggests he might have targeted Stefan, since he nailed him more than a dozen times. Jim mentions Szabo's claim that Dave was on Walter's payroll, but Dave says Stefan would say anything to beat a rap. Jim says Gypsies don't commit murder. Dave says that's why they have funerals where they leave things for the dead person to make peace with them. Dave was on Walter's payroll as a consultant because Stefan's clan targeted him. Dave says Jim should keep his eye on Stefan.

Jim and Callie prepare dinner while Michael takes a phone call; Jim says his dad is always working. When Michael returns from the call, he shows Callie how to samba.

Daniel discovers $30,000 worth of luxury items on Walter's card. Jim says it sounds like the Sweetheart Swindle, a classic Gypsy con where hot, young women get rich, old widowers to buy them expensive gifts, which they then sell. He was probably too embarrassed or too scared to go to the cops. Often the woman's husband threatens to beat up the victim. Carlos says the leaf from Walter's mouth is foxglove. It contains a natural source of digitalis, a heart medicine. According to Walter's medical records, he wasn't on the medicine, but the tox screen showed his blood had a lethal dose.

Jim takes Lily in for Walter's murder. Her real name is Inna Szabo and she's pulled Sweetheart Swindles before. Her rap sheet is longer than her husband's. Jim says he knows she's been getting gifts from Walter, which she then gave to her husband, Stefan, to sell. She says Jim can't make her testify against Stefan in court, but Jim knows that Gypsies don't get marriage licenses, so the law doesn't apply. Inna says she wasn't in a relationship with Walter. He was just nice and generous. Jim thinks Inna poisoned him with foxglove tea and then she and Stefan gave him a Roma burial to save their souls. But Inna claims they were both with family the night Walter was murdered.

Carlos finds someone cleaned the carpet in the Bentley, but discovers vomit under the front seat that was a match for Walter's DNA and tested positive for digitalis. Also Walter had a broken kneecap, a sign of intimidation. He is testing the cigarette butts found in the car. If it matches the blood from Walter's shirt, they can prove Stefan was with him at the time of his death. Daniel says the brown stains on the tools are lignin, a compound used to fill keel joints on boats. But if Walter owned a boat, they can't find it. It may have been cash or wasn't registered. Gypsies believe items left with the dead are things they'll need in the next life, which may indicate why his watch wasn't taken - so he can sail off into the sunset with his dead wife. According to Stefan's credit card statement, he pays for a storage locker.

Jim and Michael walk through a storage facility together and Michael is annoyed Jim never told him that Callie's ex-husband is a criminal. Jim says they don't talk anyway, which is why he never mentioned it. They change the subject to Jim's parents' new house. Jim is shocked to learn his father is delaying the move. His mother retired so that she could oversee construction of the house. But Michael says the land isn't going anywhere. The two come upon Stefan's locker. Jim opens it and, among other items in there used for scams, they find an environmental impact study - the first step to getting investors. It is for a marina that has deep water for yacht for high-end customers. Inna must have stolen the study from Walter. The marina project looks like it's worth $20 million.

Daniel tells Jim he learned that Walter recently bought sealing compound for a boat. He also noticed that Dave was running a credit check on Walter to track his spending. Manus says that Walter put up his entire net worth as collateral for the marina project, including his condo. Dave also put up his entire 401K. Maybe Dave is looking for a way to get back some of his money.

Jim finds Dave at the marina and says he must be angry that he sunk his entire nest egg into his friend's project only to lose it to Gypsies. Dave denies killing Walter; he was trying to protect him. Walter gave him an inside tip, but he got greedy. Jim thinks Dave killed Walter, but is trying to pin it on the Szabos.

Daniel says Inna Szabo filed a Joint Tenancy Deed on Walter's condo. If the owner dies, the co-signer becomes the owner. But it's meaningless since the bank just took possession of the condo.

Jim finds Inna at the RV park. He knows that she planned on using the condo as a ticket out of her Gypsy life. But she says she would never leave her family. Jim thinks once Inna realized the marina project was fake and she had cozied up to Walter for nothing, she killed him. Inna denies it and puts a curse on him.

Tony stops by the precinct to tell Jim that based on a conversation with Jeff, he thinks Ray might be considering opting out of Witness Protection. This could put Jeff and Callie in danger of the people Ray helped put away.Michael tells Jim and Manus that the impact study should have cost Walter about $50,000, which he couldn't afford. It was a fake - recycled from an old project Walter oversaw a decade ago. Any official would have spotted the dummied up report, including Dave. The cash in Walter's wallet smells of motor oil, which Stefan uses in his scams. Jim realizes the Szabos didn't scam Walter, he was scamming them.

Jim catches Stefan scamming an elderly woman in a parking lot. Jim says he knows Walter was running a scam on Szabo. Walter let Inna run up his credit cards, then "conveniently" let it slip that he had a multi-million dollar marina project, but needed $50,000 for the impact study. That's why Szabo's clan went on a $50,000 scamming rampage last month. When Stefan realizes he was being scammed, he killed Walter. But Stefan denies killing Walter, saying no Szabo would kill. They'd bring shame upon the clan.

Jim finds Inna on Walter's boat with her belongings. He found her through the GPS on Stefan's car, which saves a history of locations. She was stalking Walter last week and found out he bought a boat and was planning on sailing off into the sunset with her family's money. Jim says Stefan is not Inna's husband; he's her brother or cousin, which was confirmed from the blood left on Walter's sleeve. Jim spots cuts all over Inna's arms. She poisoned Walter so that she could take the boat and escape her family. Dave broke Walter's knee to try to intimidate him into giving him his money back. Inna admits to killing Walter. She was going to take his boat and the money he had taken from her family to start a new life.

Jim arrives to take Michael to the airport. But Michael asks to spend a few more days at Jim's house. He's trying to work some stuff out with Jim's mom. He admits he's not ready to retire, but Jim's mom is. He can't just walk away from his booming business. Jim is upset that his parents' marriage is in trouble.