The Mysteries of Laura Episode 1.09 The Mystery of the Dysfunctional Dynasty

A little girl's dog runs into her neighbor's apartment. Inside, the girl finds its occupants, the elderly Mr. and Mrs. McCorsky, in their bed covered in blood. As the child screams, the wife utters her last word: "Daniel."

The twins have the day off school, and Laura is hurrying them out the door to their grandpa's house when Jake unexpectedly drops by. He's got a lead on a new nanny, Alicia, whom he invited for an impromptu interview. Frazzled, Laura tries to compose herself, only to discover the new nanny is someone she knows - the woman who once chastised the twins for urinating on each other in public. Now that's hard to come back from... Alicia is understandably reluctant to babysit for folks who can't keep their kids from "whipping out their dingalings" and is unimpressed by Jake and Laura's lack of discipline. But duty calls, so Laura and Jake head to work, leaving Alicia with the terrible twosome.

At the crime scene, Billy and Laura learn the McCorskys were killed by blunt force trauma, caused by a long, metallic object. Various items are missing from their home, including Mr. McCorsky's Rolex. They also notice a photo of the McCorskys with a smiling older man - perhaps he could help?

Back at the station, Max has a lead - the super said a painter recently redid the McCorsky's kitchen. Laura and Billy find him painting at a construction site, wearing Mr. McCorsky's gold Rolex. He admits to the theft but not to the murder. He does have one helpful lead though - he gave the couple a ride to the senior center last week.

Laura and Billy head to the center to speak with the activity director, Rosaline. She directs them to a sleaze ball lawyer who trolls the center looking for clients. So Billy and Laura meet with Russell Fine, who's covered in mosquito bites. He claims he helped the McCorskys rewrite their will. Their old one left everything to their son, Daniel, but they disowned him. Laura and Billy find Daniel's apartment totally cleared out. In the trash, Laura spots a ripped pamphlet for Righteous Church Life, with a blacked-out photo of the smiling guy from the McCorsky's apartment inside. Clearly Daniel doesn't like Pastor Bob.

Pastor Bob isn't a fan of Daniel either. He claims Daniel is a disturbed young man, and nothing his parents did could cure him of his homosexuality. That's why they disinherited him and left their money to the church. Pastor Bob reluctantly tells them about Daniel's boyfriend, Tariq Al Wazir. Jake and Meredith go looking for Tariq, and they catch him and Daniel coming home with Chinese food. Both men make a run for it, but don't get very far. Nothing makes a suspect look guilty quite like running. At the precinct, Daniel says he hasn't spoken with his parents in two years, and both men have solid alibis. Tariq has a theory: he was supposed to go back home for an arranged marriage, but he refused to go through with it. His older brother Kasib is furious and would do anything to make him fulfill his family obligation. Kasib, who has a history of violence, comes to New York every few months on business and to golf.

Billy and Meredith encounter Kasib and his surly bodyguards outside their hotel. He ignores Meredith and refuses to cooperate. Besides the golf and shopping, he and his mother dislike the city and can't wait to leave tomorrow. As the group walks away, golf bags in tow, Meredith has an epiphany - the McCorksys were killed by a long, metallic object... like a golf club!

Across town, Max is overly excited to be in the field with Laura, tracking down Kasib's mother. He scoured her social media for her favorite designers and is convinced she'll be shopping at a particular high-end boutique. As it turns out, he's right - Sahar is shopping there, with her slew of bodyguards. Posing as the store manager, Laura lures Sahar away from her guards to question her about Kasib's whereabouts last night. Kasib doesn't think it's seemly for women to be out at night, so she was locked away in her room. Laura appeals to her motherly instincts, and Sahar agrees to cooperate with Laura's plan...

Laura and Jake sit in an unmarked van outside Kasib's hotel, watching him head out to the gym. A "drunk" Meredith, armed with a sexy dress and a bottle of champagne, distracts Kasib's bodyguards, while Billy enters the family's luxurious suite with permission from Sahar. He finally finds what he's looking for: Kasib's golf clubs, one of which is covered in blood. Just then, Kasib heads back up to the suit. With seconds to spare, Billy escapes with the blood sample.

When the blood sample is a match for both McCorskys, Laura brings Kasib to the station. She and Meredith interrogate him, accusing him of killing Daniel's parents as a botched honor killing. Kasib explains he doesn't care that his brother is gay - he wanted him to follow through on the marriage because there's a billion-dollar merger at stake. He swears he didn't kill the McCorskys, and explains he left his golf bag at the country club overnight. Anyone could have gotten to it. Suddenly, Laura realizes Kasib is wearing bug spray - the golf course was chock-full of mosquitos. Laura recalls someone who should have worn bug spray...

Laura brings Russell into the station under the guise of representing Daniel, who has confessed. With Russell's help, he conspired to defraud his parents by sabotaging their will. Russell put a bogus clause in the will so when they died, it'd be invalid, with the understanding Daniel would pay him a cut down the line. But Russell couldn't wait for the McCorskys to die of natural causes - he was in debt up to his eyeballs. Russell followed Kasib to the golf course, which is where he got the bug bites, took Kasib's golf club, killed Daniel's parents and then snuck the club back into Kasib's bag. Case closed!

To celebrate, Meredith invites Billy to grab a beer. Dutch, of course. Meanwhile, Laura and Jake come home to find the twins have been abducted. In their place are little well-mannered angels, who have spent the day under the strict tutelage of Alicia. She's a miracle worker.