The Finder Episode 1.11 The Inheritance

Isabel introduces Walter to fellow evening law student Joyce Weatherby. Joyce says that her father, Stan, wanted to meet and talk with her about her inheritance, but then he suddenly died. Police believe that Stan jumped from a window, a suicide; Joyce believes that he was murdered. Walter says that he doesn't find murderers.

Joyce then goes to Leo's bar with a shoebox with Stan's belongings, noting that after her mother died, Stan spent his days at the racetrack. He withdrew $4,256 before he died, but the money is gone. Walter agrees to find it.

Walter and Leo go to the track with a betting slip that indicates Stan bet the money on a horse that didn't win. An usher remembers that Stan always sat in the same seat - into which he'd carved a horseshoe - and that he claimed to have a winning system.

Walter and Leo go to the stables, where Walter whispers in a horse's ear. He says the horse remembers Stan witnessing an argument between three men who are now leading a horse named Sweet Stakes. Walter asks the trio about Stan, whom they deny knowing. Walter notes Sweet Stakes has a bad knee, takes a photo of the trio, and asks Isabel to run a background check on them.

That night, Walter asks Timo - who used to hang around the track when he was a child - to accompany him and Leo. Knowing that there are no security cameras in the tack room, Timo picks the lock. Walter finds a white powder and an amber liquid, which he samples. The powder is baking soda; the liquid's an energy drink. Timo says the combination would make a horse run faster.

Walter then inserts a hand into a drawer, gets stuck by a syringe, and becomes paralyzed. Leo brings Walter back to the bar, where Isabel identifies the men: trainer Ed Beiderman, who received Sweet Stakes when the owner went bankrupt; journeyman jockey Lazlo Levy; and Gary Anthony Jones, recently arrested for smuggling exotic reptiles. Despite having a bad knee, Sweet Stakes recently won two races.

Walter remembers that cobra venom can cause paralysis; he theorizes that the venom was used to kill the pain in the horse's knee because it wouldn't show up on blood or urine tests.

Meanwhile, Willa discovers documents in Stan's shoebox indicating that he owed $200,000. Joyce explains that this is her student loan statement. Will also finds Gary's business card, which she gives Walter.

When Walter and Isabel arrive at Gary's home, they find he's been bitten by a cobra when he sat down - the cage had been left open. Now paralysis is setting in. As Gary admits that Stan learned they doped Sweet Stakes and they paid him $51,072 to keep quiet, the cobra is about to strike Walter, so Isabel shoots it, and Gary dies.

The investigating detective calls Gary's death an accident, but Walter notes that the cold-blooded snake would've stayed near the heater, so it must've been placed on Gary's chair. Isabel adds Gary recently asked the betting commission for a plea deal, making Ed and Lazlo the likely suspects. Walter takes the rats that were the snake's intended food.

Back at the bar, Walter puts on Stan's glasses, examines his papers, and has a revelation. Meanwhile, when Isabel and Joyce leave their classroom, Ed attacks Joyce and demands the $51,072, but Isabel scares him away.

Walter explains Stan used his system to bet the $4,256 on a horse at 11-1 odds, which would've paid $51,072. After he lost, Stan knew he'd been cheated, but he only withdrew the $4,256. When Walter discovers how Stan's system works by having the rats race, he'll find the rest.

After Isabel and Joyce arrive with news of the attack, Walter has the rats race and learns that Stan's system works.

Timo follows Willa to the track and bets $2,000 on a horse named Pharaoh's Favorite, using Stan's system. Isabel bets on the same horse for Walter, and it wins. Walter believes that Stan bet the $51,072 on a horse at 4-1 odds before he called Joyce, which would've paid off her student loan. That horse was Pharaoh's Favorite, so if they can find Stan's betting slip . . .

Timo wants to give Stan's system to Uncle Shadrack so he'll allow Timo to marry Magdalena. Willa explains that the system won't work for everyone, but she's got a plan to get Timo some big money. Later, Leo discovers Willa filling out college applications.

Meanwhile, as Joyce recounts Stan telling her a childhood story about St. Dunstan and the origins of the lucky horseshoe, Lazlo appears and incapacitates Walter. When Walter revives, Ed's there with a gun, demanding Stan's betting slip.

Walter says that it's in this container, then he blows the powder inside into Ed's face and hits him. Lazlo attacks Leo, who reluctantly decks him. When police arrest the duo, Walter says Lazlo entered Gary's house through the doggie door and loosed the cobra that killed Gary. Meanwhile, Willa tells Timo about her scheme to apply for hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans.

Walter and Joyce go to the track and find the betting slip in an envelope taped underneath the seat where Stan carved that horseshoe. Joyce cries tears of joy.

Back at the bar, Walter tells Isabel that he used the money she won on Pharaoh's Favorite to buy Sweet Stakes. A rescue agency will be picking up the horse in couple days, but right now, they'll go for a ride.