Motive Episode 4.08 Foreign Relations

Julian, college frat boy, is murdered by a clothing designer whose younger sister is a freshman computer geek. An Interpol agent is called to work as a liaison with Angie.

Victim: Julian Bishop, a sexy-pants British college kid

Killer: Whitney Fraiser, a clothing designer

The Discovery: Julian is found dumped on campus, where he was a fourth year history major on a foreign student visa.

The Investigation: Detectives Angie Flynn and Brian Lucas talk to the victim's fraternity brothers and learn Julian was hammered at a kegger the night before and left with an older brunette.

A search of his room finds a surprising discovery in his bed: a naked coed named Paige. A freshman named Derek told Paige to wait in Julian's bed for him during the party, so she went upstairs. But Julian never showed and she passed out. She's not the mystery brunette. Lucas compiles a list of all the brunettes Julian was hooking up with. It's a long list.

Interpol sends a liaison to work the case, the dashing Scottish Agent Jack Stoker, because Julian's mother is a prominent politician in London who has already survived one assassination attempt. They think Julian's death is politically motivated.

Dr. Betty Rogers announces that Julian was bound and gagged before he died of an overdose of a date rape drug.

At Julian's gym, they find his locker contains a stack of passports, including one for Derek. They turn out to be real. Whatever he was up to, Julian's bank account was healthy.

Lucas finds a witness who mentions Julian making out with his "geeky" tutor and they identify her as Karis Fraiser. She was reported missing two weeks ago by her older sister and guardian, Whitney.

Angie talks to Whitney, who says her sister abruptly moved out of her dorm.

Agent Stoker drops by Angie's place one morning with breakfast, making himself at home. Having been bribed with food, Angie doesn't mind.

The detectives find that the Canadian embassy in Germany was broken into six months ago by the Christian Way, a white power terror group that targeted Julian's mom. But Stoker has an alternate theory: he thinks Julian was one of them.

Looking through the Christian Way files, Angie recognizes the Gaelic cross pin that Julian had.

Meanwhile, Derek is kidnapped off the street by Julian's compatriots, who beat him up for talking to Whitney when she comes looking for her sister. Derek returns to his dorm, bruised and bloodied, and runs into Angie and Stoker. At the station, Christian Way calls Derek an expensive lawyer, but the detectives explain it's just to get him released so they can finish the job. Realizing he's in over his head, Derek tells the detectives the terror group has something planned for today at 2:30 p.m.

The detectives head to the warehouse site where Derek was taken and run into Whitney looking for her sister. Then something explodes.

But Stoker thinks it's just a distraction.

When the detectives notice Whitney has Julian's cross pin, she admits everything and turns over his things. Digital Forensics cracks Julian's laptop and finds four recently-signed lease agreements. Emergency Response Team busts into all four locations. They find Karis the computer whiz at the keyboard in one of them hacking air traffic control and spouting hate speech. With disaster imminent, Angie and Stoker employ the super-technical unplug-the-computer approach and successfully foil the attack.

Background: Karis Fraiser was a normal but overlooked smart girl who tutored Julian in computer science. He pretended to like her and slept with her to convince her to work with him. He was the "honey pot" for his group, who needed Karis for their attack.

The Motive: When three weeks went by with no sign of Karis, Whitney was desperate to find the sister she raised. She knew Julian's name and tracked him down, going to the frat party and spiking Julian's drink, then got him to leave with her and tied him up in the back of her van. In his drugged stupor, he told Whitney he has big plans for Karis on Thursday, but then he passed out. Whitney bashed his head against the truck floor, trying to revive him, but it was too late.

The Squad: At the station, Staff Sgt. Oscar Vega tells a TV reporter the justice system failed would-be bomber Susan Bailin, earning him a reaming from the brass. Sympathizing with a woman who nearly blew up the station isn't his best career move.

Later, Vega calls Lucas in to his office. He knows the prosecutor shared her concerns about Betty's attacker's case with Lucas and Vega has his doubts about the witness who recently came forward. Lucas admits he's behind it and Vega tells him to lay low, but doesn't tell him to call it off.

Bowchikawowow: Angie and Stoker celebrate closing the case by having a drink at her place. He decides he's in the mood for some Scotch. She is, too. They practice some, uh, foreign relations in her bedroom.