The Mysteries of Laura Episode 1.02 The Mystery of the Dead Date

Laura and Billy are called to the Neoteric Hotel to investigate the homicide of a woman in her early 40s who registered alone as Samantha Jones, but has no ID. M.E. Reynaldo reports that she was strangled, and there's a lot of skin under her fingernails. Laura notices the odor of funky cologne in the air and spies a new, discounted camisole, which leads her to the nearby store where it was purchased. After facing off with a snarky clerk, Laura has her victim's real name, Christa Chaise, whom she suspects was a lonely suburban gal looking for love.

Back at the precinct, Jake is winning hearts and minds with cronuts, a new coffee machine and his magnificent physique, earning him the moniker Captain Booty. The good news for Laura? Her divorce papers have finally been signed. Max locates Christa's home address on Staten Island. It turns out Peter Chaise has remarried a young trophy wife, and could care less that his ex has been murdered. Peter has a flimsy alibi and contends the divorce settlement has been rocky. Luckily, Max has come up with a second address for Christa's studio apartment. Laura senses a kindred spirit in Christa, which only increases when she meets Christa's young daughter, whom Peter didn't even mention! The landlord confirms Christa was lonely and looking for love on Passionpairing.com. Max and Meredith follow up on the other leads: Peter and his wife's alibi checks out, and the DNA found under Christa's nails doesn't match anyone in the system. However, three weeks ago, Christa filed a police report for assault against Ms. Pulaski, a fellow yoga student.

During a class, Ms. Pulaski quickly offends Laura, but does admit to an altercation over her ex, used car salesman Charlie Carazzo, whom Christa was dating. When Charlie sees Billy and Laura coming, he runs for it, so Laura hops in a used Prius to give chase. It turns out Charlie thinks they're after him for blowing up squirrels, which sours Laura on the prospect of dating altogether. How could this chooch have two women fighting over him? Jake has decided to start dating after a fashion; he's taking all his new employees out for a get-to-know-you drink, starting with Billy, leaving a sitterless Laura on kid duty - again. Laura decides it's high time for her to sign up for Passionpairing.com, and create a profile like Christa to attract her killer. When a sassy young arrestee named Sammi overhears Laura creating her profile, she offers plenty of sage advice, earning Laura's bemused respect.

The next morning, Jake is feeling bromanced, Billy is hung over and Laura has lined up 12 dates for that night. Jake offers to come with, but Laura tasks him with babysitting; Billy will be her wingman. Laura gets all dolled up for the singles bar, which makes her nose wrinkle in revulsion, but she's intent on finding Christa's killer. She's just ticking down the losers for Billy when a jerk dumps his drink down her back. Nice guy Kevin comes to her rescue, and Laura immediately notices his familiarly offensive cologne, so she stokes his rage and asks him out. Billy follows Kevin to the men's room, but he vanishes. Back at the precinct, Laura visits Sammi's cell to learn she's in jail for picketing her slumlord father, and asks for her help flushing Kevin out of Passionpairing.com. Within the hour, Laura meets Kevin in Central Park. When he reaches into his pocket, Billy charges in, scaring the bejeezus out of Kevin, who admits Christa called off their date on Monday night.

Kevin's interrogation reveals something interesting: the guy who dumped the drink down Laura's dress, Michael Devlin, was Kevin's hired wing man, who specializes in DWARFs. In fact, Michael has his own website, WinnerWingman.com, thus he's Laura's new suspect. When Jake refuses to pick him up for questioning, Laura reaches out to fellow online dater ScarredForever, aka DWARF Jenny, who admits Michael raped her on a date. Furious, Laura decides she's going to rope Michael in that night. When Jake forbids the sting, Laura reminds him they're no longer married - it's time for him to start acting like a boss who wants to catch a killer as much as she does. Jake caves, but only if the whole squad accompanies Laura to the singles bar as her wingman posse. Laura discreetly palms his phone and passes it off to Billy, allowing Meredith to scan his texts for a message from Christa on the night of her murder. Just as Jake decides to pull her out, Laura leaves with Michael, unaware her wingmen have all the evidence they need to arrest him.

Panicked that Laura's trying to catch Michael in the act, Jake calls in an order to shut down the block's electric. Back at Michael's party, Laura stalls, asking him for a striptease. When she tries to bail, Michael attacks, but Laura knees him in the balls - that's one for Christa! Just then the power goes out, allowing Michael to bounce back. He's just strangling Laura when her wingmen arrive to take him down.

The next morning, Max licks Laura's wounds and delivers some bad news: school daycare is cancelled. Luckily, Sammi's dad just posted bail at Laura's behest, and has offered to drop the charges against her as long as she stops protesting in his building. All this integrity sparks an idea in Laura: has Sammi done any babysitting? Only every weekend for nine years...