Life Episode 2.15 I Heart Mom

Crews, Reese and Stark are called to a roofless house, where a man lies dead of a gunshot wound on the top floor. But, that's not all, the victim's throat and mouth is stuffed full of twenty dollar bills. Based on the weathering of the house, the roof appears to have been off for quite some time. Starks finds a car registered to a Roy McCullough from JHY Construction. Crews and Reese visit JHY Construction and talk to Sasha and Ian, who think they're a couple looking for a roof. However, when Reese reveals they're detectives and asks if Roy worked there, Sasha becomes visibly shaken.

Sasha and Ian, who say they were at the office doing taxes at the time of the murder, imply that Roy had other businesses on the side where he may have made some enemies. They search Roy's car and find several signs for different roofing companies. Yet, no roofing supplies. It appears Roy was running a scam.

They talk to Roy's previous customers, including Red Pesca, who's dressed in winter wear and has a cold because he's still roofless due to being scammed by Murray and Sons. He says Roy's company took the roof off his house and then wanted to charge him triple their previous agreement to put on the new one. Red threatened to sue and Roy told him to go ahead, he'd just declare bankruptcy and start a new company under a different name.

All Roy's other customers say they had the same experience, ending up with a roofless house. This includes Mrs. Ford, an elderly woman who also fell victim to Roy. She said Roy was polite, and that she'd written him so many checks because he kept losing the ones she'd given him. She believed him because he was well... so polite. "But I guess he was just a thieving prick in the end," Mary adds.

That night, Crews "abducts" Rayborn again outside a nightclub, having stuffed his driver into the trunk. Crews asks why he wanted him to go after Roman Nebakov. Rayborn says he has to show him something first, but it will take a while to get it. He'll call Crews when he does. The next day, Reese learns that Red owns the house where Roy was murdered. They take Red into the station where he denies killing Roy. Red says that Roy offered him two roofs for the price of one -- one for his home and one for a house he was flipping. He couldn't sell the house with no roof, so the bank foreclosed on it.

At the mansion, Ted's estranged daughter Anne visits him after calling him out of the blue. He's pleasantly surprised that she called and says she's grown into a beautiful young woman. Anne, on the other hand, seems nonplussed about the meeting. Ted says she can call him dad if she wants to. She says she doesn't want to. Nervously, he invites her in and is surprised when a TV crew comes in with her.

Crews pulls off Red's gloves and sees he has leather gloves on underneath. They ask him to take those off. When he won't, Reese threatens to get a warrant. At that, Red takes them off and goes berserk, punching the brick wall until his knuckles are bloody. After he finishes, they notice he already had scabs on his hands and ask if he was trying to cover them up. When they tell Red they're going to scan Roy's body for his DNA, Red admits going to Roy's office to ask for his money back. When Roy laughed at him, he beat him up. He only took the two-for-one roof deal because he found Sasha attractive.

Reese learns from the medical examiner that Roy was beaten hours before he was shot. Also, when someone has money problems like he does, they don't stuff a ton of twenty dollar bills down his throat. Research reveals that out of sixty complaints against Roy, one customer, Mary Ford, withdrew hers. Crews talks to Sasha and Ian and gets nothing, while Reese visits Mary, who is living at her son William's house. William dotes on his mother, who says she withdrew her complaint at her son's request.

Crews and Reese go to William's antique store where they encounter a blind sales associate who is winding the clocks. They meet William, who says that after he and his mom prayed on it, they withdrew the complaint, as there's enough hate in this world. But, it appears William has spread around plenty of hate in his life. Formerly in The Vandals biker gang where he was known as Sweet William, he has a long history of violence and assaults. Crews, Reese and Tidwell think Roy might have met his end by scamming the wrong guy's mother.

Crews visits Rayborn on his yacht and asks what it is he wanted to show him. Rayborn shows him a deep fried scorpion and says he'll tell Crews everything if he eats it. Crews takes a bite and Rayborn tells Crews they took the money from the Bank of Los Angeles and a lot more. Jack Reese grew a conscience and donated his to charity. The others invested their money. Roman was one of their investments, but he was a bad man. Crews thinks the dying Rayborn wants to clear his conscience before he goes. Rayborn says he knows he's going to hell, but wants some justice before he dies.

William says that "Sweet William" is long gone. He credits his mother for straightening him out, telling him to make himself right in the eyes of his maker. They ask William if he has an alibi for when Roy was killed. Tidwell asks them to step out to the office, where about twenty tough bikers have gathered. All say they rode with William to Oxnard the day of the killing, camped out, then rode back the next day. With the bikers is Mary Ford. Tidwell, Crews and Reese figure the bikers are lying about the alibi and if that's so, why are Ian and Sasha still working the scam, knowing that William killed Roy?

Crews visits Sasha on a construction site where several roofers are working on a man's house. Crews flat out accuses her of scamming people, and says they're pretty sure that William killed Roy. She says if that's the case, then arrest him. He asks why she's still working the scam, and did William take over the business? She claims it's a legitimate business that she and Ian own, but Crews says he knows all the roofers on site work for William. Under their watchful eyes, Crews asks Sasha to come with him. With barely veiled fear, she says she can take care of herself.

At the mansion, Ted learns that Anne is married and only wants to talk to Ted for her oral history project. She's not interested in knowing about him nor does she want to volunteer any information about herself. Ted refuses to cooperate and she storms off. At the station, Amanda, owner of the security company providing protection for Rayborn, shows Crews gruesome pictures of Rayborn's boat, covered with blood. She says the Coast Guard found the boat adrift, but no body. If the blood is Rayborn's, her company owes his estate 15 million dollars. She thinks Crews killed Rayborn, as he was on his boat this morning.

Reese and Tidwell tell Crews that William makes a habit of taking over businesses and leaving a mark on his victims. One man had his tongue cut out, another's fingers were broken, and thinking of the man at the antique store, another blinded. They find Wayne Hall, the blind man, in the park. They ask him about signing over his business and how he became blind. They learn that Wayne stole drugs from William, who took revenge. They want to know what William is selling besides antiques. Wayne doesn't tell them directly; all he says is, "China clock."

They raid the antique store and find the China clock. William tries to block Crews from taking it, but he says Reese will shoot if he strikes him. Crews gets the clock and drops it on the floor. It shatters, spilling several baggies of heroin. William denies knowing it was there. Reese reminds him that his mother was taken advantage of, and wonders how safe she'll be with William in jail. At that, William wants to make a deal. He opens his safe and hands a .45 in a Ziploc bag to Crews, saying Ian used it to kill Roy. One problem though. Roy was shot with a .38.

At the station, William is clearly perplexed. The gun has Ian's prints on it but it isn't the murder weapon. William says Ian offered to kill Roy in exchange for not being harmed. They go to DHY Construction and ask Sasha and Ian about the gun. Sasha says Ian gave her one to protect herself after Roy was killed, but Ian denies it. She takes out the gun from her desk, putting her fingerprints on it. All part of Ian's plan. He even asks if Sasha will need a lawyer. Crews asks him if he remembered to wipe his prints off the bullets. Clearly, from Ian's reaction, he didn't.

Crews goes to Rayborn's boat to look at the crime scene. He wonders if Rayborn's really dead, or if this is part of his elaborate plan to get justice.