The Listener Episode 1.04 Some Kinda Love

It's Saturday night, and Toby and Oz are out for a night on the town at hot club, The Mink Spot. Oz is convinced that bartender Leslie likes him because she's so flirty, and wants Toby to read her mind. When Oz asks Leslie if she wants to hit the after-hours clubs when she's through with work, Toby realizes that she's just after tips, but tells Oz that she's got a lot of baggage.

Meanwhile, Toby has caught the eye of Mina, a raven-haired seductress. Initial conversation shows they may have a lot in common, besides their red-hot mutual attraction. When an angry-looking man calls Mina away, she excuses herself, then returns moments later to pull Toby onto the dance floor. Later, Mina takes Toby home to her apartment, which he records using the video camera on his phone.

Toby is stuck by a white board covered with notes about a wrong diagnosis, but Mina claims it's boring work stuff and quickly erases it. After some wine, things are just starting to get more intimate when the doorbell rings. Mina tries to ignore it, but finally talks through the intercom to someone named Jason, who's obviously pestering her. Toby offers to take care of it, but Mina claims that she has some stuff she has to deal with before getting involved with anyone else. She'll call Toby in a few days.

The next day at work, Toby tells Oz that his timing was off, even though he tried not to read Mina's mind so as not to ruin the mood. The guys get a page calling them to Mina's apartment; the upstairs neighbor spied her dead body on the balcony. Detective Charlie Marks is already on the scene and has plenty of questions for Toby. Even though Toby explains that nothing happened and the date ended when Mina's ex Jason showed up, Charlie wants Toby's DNA. Toby didn't get a good look at Jason in the club, and can't identify him.

Mina's boss, Chief Pathologist Dr. Liam Farrell, shows up along with her co-worker Brenda Penny. Toby flashes on Brenda who's very upset, and Liam spies bruising on Mina's neck, concluding that she may have been strangled. Brenda reveals that Mina kept her private life private, and she left work yesterday per usual.

Toby kicks himself for leaving Mina; he knew something in her thoughts wasn't right. If he stayed, maybe she would still be alive. Now he wants to do something to help the cops solve the case. Oz thinks it should be easy. All Toby has to do in tune in to find her killer. Toby claims his ability doesn't work like that. Oz notices Elizabeth hyperventilating on a bench. Spying her peanut allergy bracelet, he pulls out an epi pen and flirtatiously clears her airway.

After dropping Elizabeth at the hospital, Toby checks in with Olivia, who's heard about Mina's death. Olivia became friendly with Mina through talking on the phone at work, but Mina never revealed any personal details. Olivia knows that Toby blames himself for Mina's death, and reminds him that it's not his fault.

Oz awkwardly presents Elizabeth with a bouquet of epi pens, remarking that she's had no visitors. Elizabeth explains that she just moved to town to take a job as an A&R exec at a record company, and asks if Oz is asking her out. If he did, she would say yes. When Oz gets flustered, Elizabeth offers her number. That way Oz can call if he feels like it, and she can take him out for a drink to thank him for saving her life.

Charlie questions Liam and Brenda at the morgue. Mina never mentioned a boyfriend or family, and her DNA analysis should be completed soon. Toby returns to The Mink Spot to introduce himself to bartender Adriana, Mina's friend. She knows Jason, whose last name is Cullen -- he's a bit of a freak, and Mina's bustin' outta that party. Toby flashes on Jason. Realizing that Adriana is unaware that Mina is dead, Toby delivers the bad news.

Toby leaves a message informing Charlie of Jason's last name, and before long a SWAT team is busting down Jason's door. Jason runs for it. Charlie chases him into an alley, and prepares to shoot as he runs headlong into an approaching car. In the ambulance, Charlie brings up Jason's record of sexual assault, at which Jason points out that he was found not guilty. When Charlie claims that Jason strangled Mina and they have his DNA, he denies it, and Toby's flash confirms Jason's innocence.

At the hospital, Olivia whisks Jason away for examination, leaving Charlie to demand why Toby was acting so strangely in the ambulance. Toby insists that Jason isn't the murderer, offering to bet Charlie's badge on it. Later that night, Toby watches the cell phone video he took in Mina's apartment and flashes on her white board. On the job, Mina confronts someone, there have been three deaths in a row, and something's wrong.

Charlie revisits Liam to ask if it's possible that Mina wasn't strangled. Liam wonders if Mina had a pre-existing condition like a twisted artery in her neck, and Brenda confirms that she did. She just thought it was irrelevant. Liam points out that plaque may have loosened when Mina's neck was grabbed, and could have travelled to the brain to trigger cerebral ischemia, which would look just like strangulation. Even though time of death is hard to pinpoint, Mina could have died after Jason left.

Oz finds a note left by Elizabeth on his locker. Toby doesn't have to read his mind to know Oz isn't going to call her -- why not? Nervous, Oz claims he just doesn't want to, just as Ryder shows up with Elizabeth, who has come bearing the gift of oranges and some CDs, in thanks for Oz saving her life. After she leaves Ryder claims his first wife was crazy, too. Toby corrects him -- Elizabeth is crazy in love with Oz.

Oz hangs out at Toby's loft, where Toby shows him the cell phone video. Explaining that Jason's not guilty, Toby pulls up a photo collage of a guy that he doesn't know, but was occupying Mina's mind on their one night together. Toby visits Charlie. Even though the coroner backed Toby's story of Jason's innocence, she's still going to arrest him for manslaughter. When Toby pulls out his photo collage, claiming that he saw the guy outside of Mina's apartment, Charlie scoffs.

Charlie's boss wants to know what Toby wanted, and warns her to figure out why Toby is poking around in the case. Later, Toby and Oz struggle to carry heavy Gary down a fire escape while talking things through. Disgusted, Gary points both guys in the right direction. Elizabeth freaks Oz out because she's a real, live hot woman who he might actually be able to have a relationship with. And did Toby think of running his photo collage through the police database? He must have some connections. At the same time, Toby and Oz come up with the same idea -- Stolarski.

Officer Stolarski is a creature of habit. While he's in a restaurant getting his usual lunch, Toby sneaks into his squad car with a flash drive to access the police database. Passing by, a 10-year-old pesters Toby, who claims he's a cop, while learning his guy is named George Arthur Worthy, and he's dead. Escaping back to the paramedic van, Toby and Oz deduce that Worthy was one of the names written on Mina's white board.

Toby and Oz proceed to Mina's apartment to find her file on Worthy, along with files on Stephen Cash, Sandra Lemon and Karl Lake, all listed on the white board. All autopsy reports are signed by Liam. Toby proceeds to the hospital, where Olivia finds him mucking around in the hospital database. Worthy's autopsy report claims he died of class four congestive heart failure, but according to Mina's notes, he really died of medical error die test that overloaded his kidneys. Olivia is confident that Mina was onto something.

In the ambulance, Oz cautions Toby. He's talking about a cover-up at a major government agency, and someone already succeeded in shutting Mina up. Toby visits Charlie and hands over Mina's files, explaining that she was building a case against Liam when she was killed. Before long, Charlie hauls Liam down to HQ for interrogation. Liam insists he's unaware of the fake autopsies and would never have killed Mina anyway. Nevertheless, Charlie arrests him for evidence tampering.

Charlie is surprised to find Toby still hanging out at the station, but promises him that they'll get a confession out of Liam. The only problem? Toby's now convinced that Liam is innocent. After flashing on Liam, Toby tells Charlie that he's innocent and pleads with her to order a second autopsy on Mina. Toby runs to the morgue to find Brenda zipping up Mina's body bag.

Toby claims that he's come to retrieve Mina's body for a second autopsy, and immediately flashes on Brenda's panicked mental reaction. Brenda relives pushing Mina to the floor of her balcony, and tries to prevent Toby from leaving by grabbing onto Mina's gurney. When that doesn't work, Brenda claims that she'll lose everything and never meant to hurt Mina. She pushed and Mina fell and hit her head. Charlie walking in, demanding an explanation. Brenda just wanted Mina to stop her investigation, and was trying to protect her lover, Liam.

It's another Saturday night, and once again, Toby and Oz are hanging at The Mink Spot. Once again, Oz asks Toby to read a woman's mind to see if there's any interest. Claiming the woman isn't Oz's type, Toby rubs his temples, pretending to get a signal from a chick that's really into Oz -- it's Elizabeth. Elizabeth pulls Toby onto the dance floor, promising a long, fun night. Meanwhile, back at the police station, Charlie looks disturbed as she pages through Toby's criminal files.