The Firm Episode 1.10 Chapter Ten

The three unknown men approach the house. Mitch is figuring out how to escape just as someone grabs Claire through a window. Luckily, it's Ray, who was attempting to warn them about the men. "What're we going to do?" Claire cries.

Three weeks earlier, Mitch takes on the new case of a local priest. At the office, Mitch tells Ray he left his briefcase in his car, an accidentally smart move as two agents are listening via a hidden recorder. At his church, Father Diaz introduces Mitch to Elena Vasco, who interviewed for a nanny job for the Kent family three days ago. The family's three-month-old Tyler has been kidnapped and the police are investigating Elena for the crime. Elena swears she didn't kidnap the child, but before Mitch can get any useful information from her, the police bust into the church to arrest Elena. Mitch accuses the lead detective, Detective Young, of going "storm trooper" on his innocent client instead of trying to find the baby. Detective Young justifies his actions by producing a baby blanket, which he claims was buried in Elena's backyard last night.

Abby holds a parent-teacher conference for Kyle Hannon because he's missed the last two projects. When his father makes a gesture towards Kyle with his hand, Kyle quickly raises his arms to shield himself, as if he was expecting a blow. Kyle explains that he simply didn't do his projects, and his parents drag him from the room, promising to deal with the situation. At home, Abby weighs the pros and cons of reporting the incident, but Mitch doesn't think she has substantial evidence. Mitch's case flashes across the TV screen, revealing Tyler's hysterical mother Heather begging Elena to bring her baby home safely. Concerned, Abby counsels Mitch to drop the media-heavy case to protect their family against Joey Morolto.

Images of Mitch being hounded by reporters play across Joey Morolto's TV screen. According to Joey's consigliere, they're out of time: they must kill Mitch now or look weak to their enemies and allies. Later, the consigliere drags in Dominic, one of Joey's soldiers, covered with blood. He came to assassinate Joey! In response, Joey holds an "open forum" inviting the Morolto family to challenge his authority face to face. No one does, so he reveals his a plan to kill Mitch McDeere. However, no one is to touch Mitch before the appointed time. Dominic sits on the opposite end of the table, and as Joey circles, he coolly shoots Dominic in the back of the head.

Having started her office job at one of Noble's subsidiaries, Tammy tries to navigate her new office's file database... if she could find it! Clearly interested in more than her work ethic, her boss Noah shows her the "vertically integrated" database that connects to all Noble's subsidiary's files. Tammy finds the Moxon file easily, but it's password protected. Rejecting Noah's lunch invite, Tammy rushes into his office to copy the protected files. As they begin downloading, Noah returns for his phone. Caught in the act, Tammy attempts to seduce him, drawing his attention away from the computer, claiming she planned a special webcam performance for when Noah got back! Stammering that he's married, Noah runs out of the office, just as the files are successfully copied.

Elena's case is before Judge Hawthorne and the courtroom is packed with reporters. The judge calls both attorneys to the bench, reminding them the media is waiting for a screw up. ADA Mary Connor believes Elena had cause to kidnap Tyler: her own baby died last year, and Tyler filled the void. Judge Hawthorne rules a probable cause hearing is necessary. As Elena paces in jail, Mitch questions her: does she know anything about Tyler's whereabouts? Elena adamantly claims she would never put another mother through losing a child. Father Diaz waits to visit Elena, whom he's certain is innocent. When Mitch inquires about his certainty, Father Diaz only says he believes in faith, not vision.

Unsure of the result, Abby nervously asks Kyle to stay after class. His homework is in on time, but he's sat out of gym class, claiming to have bruises from skateboarding. When Kyle tries to leave, Abby asks point-blank whether his father hit him. Offended and upset, Kyle denies any abuse and demands Abby leave him and his father alone.

Questioning Detective Young on the stand, Mitch sums up the argument for Tyler's blanket: it was found in a common area of Elena's apartment building with no trace of her DNA. The witness only knows the digger of the hole where it was buried is female. Due to lack of evidence, Mitch asks the jury not be permitted to see the blanket because the mere sight of it may cause them to respond irrationally. Judge Hawthorne denies the motion. Leaving the courtroom, Mitch has no comment for the reporters.

Silence is an attorney's worst enemy because it means you're hiding something, admonishes the firm's media guru, Jessica Voss. The media is kicking his ass, so Mitch needs to win them over with his verbals and non-verbals. Ninety percent of communication is non-verbal, so Mitch must use his posture, his eyes, his smile. Jessica books him for Debra Cain's cable news show, where he can hopefully rebuild bridges.

As Mitch, Abby, Tammy and Ray watch the case's review on TV, Tammy notices that Heather's boyfriend and Tyler's father, Matt, drops Heather's hand during the press conference. They don't seem to have a connection. "People don't like to say this aloud," Mitch says, "but the parent is often the culprit."

Ray proceeds to the hotel room next to Matt's, then convinces the hotel maid he's a bed bug investigator. She drops her armful of bed linens and runs off, leaving Ray to his own devices. Ray slips a tiny camera under Matt's door to watch his movements. Nothing happens until a blonde girl enters the room, obviously not Heather, who is a brunette. After the girl leaves, Ray confronts Matt with the video footage. Matt confesses he and Heather dated in high school, but fought constantly. The blonde girl, Amber, was a Stanford student he began dating when he broke up with Heather. Heather moved to Washington, D.C. by herself. One day, Matt received an email saying she was pregnant with his child. Though Matt gave her abortion money, Heather chose to have the baby anyway. Once he saw Tyler's picture, Matt decided they needed to be a family. Though he has yet to meet Tyler and doesn't love Heather, Matt would never do anything to harm his son.

Kyle's parents storm into Abby's classroom after school, demanding to know why a social worker appeared at their house this morning. Abby explains that under law, she's obligated to report potential cases, but his parents aren't having it. "I'll have your damn job," threatens Mr. Hannon. After a discussion with Principal Irwin, Abby learns that until Kyle's situation is cleared up, she can't teach. As Mitch theorized, Abby didn't have sufficient evidence to call social services on Kyle's parents.

Mitch is joined on Debra Cain's show by Father Diaz and Heather. Debra drills Mitch on the case. When Mitch begins to forget his coaching, Jessica walks him through the interview with non-verbal cues from off-camera. As Mitch speaks, Heather begins to cry uncontrollably, so much so that she eventually runs out of the room. Father Diaz follows to counsel her. A moment later, Mitch pursues them, but not before Heather relays information to Father Diaz. As Heather again runs off, Mitch demands Father Diaz tell him what she said, but Father Diaz insists it stay between a troubled girl and her counselor.

Back in court, Mitch attempts to persuade Judge Hawthorne to force Father Diaz to the stand. Whatever Heather told him was obviously of importance. Father Diaz himself stands up and requests he not be made to break his vow to God, while Elena watches Heather breaking into tears in the gallery seats. Insufficient evidence linking the importance and relevance of Heather's statement compels the judge to deny Mitch's request.

Claire overhears Abby and Mitch discussing Kyle's potential abuse. Fearing for her mom's job, Claire confronts Kyle at school the next day. She confesses she knows how hard it is to keep a big secret, referencing her own experience in witness protection. She can't share her secret, but encourages Kyle to tell. As he pulls away from his locker, Claire sees Kyle's black and blue skin under his sweatshirt. Eventually, a smiling Claire brings Kyle to Abby's office because he wants to tell her the truth. His dad recently got the night shift at work and he used to help Kyle with his homework. Kyle's mom abuses him when his dad isn't around; his dad doesn't even know it happens.

Tammy reads the emails pouring in about Tyler's whereabouts. Most of them are crazy, but the same email is sent every hour on the hour. The sender claims Tyler is actually her son; her email attachment shows Tyler cuddled in another woman's arms. The next day, Mitch reveals to the court that the photos of Heather and Tyler were photoshopped. Tyler's real mom is Zoe Keller. Heather simply wanted her boyfriend back in her life, so she fabricated the whole kidnapping story and created the photos. As Mitch clicks through the real mother's pictures, he challenges Heather to produce one photo that doesn't look exactly the same. Sobbing, Heather says she can't. The judge has heard enough to incriminate Heather, so he abolishes the case, setting Elena free and placing Heather under arrest.

Meanwhile, Ray's been working the Sarah Holt case. He bribes a prison guard to steal her lunch tray, complete. Via Sarah Holt's fingerprints, Ray discovers she was formerly in the army. However, her name was Sarah Dawson then; Sarah was married. Ray believes there's a connection between Sarah's ex-military background and the tattooed army man who chased Mitch. As they discuss the case's new turn, Tammy suddenly recoils in horror. The stolen numbers she's been working on are case file numbers for Noble patients, all of whom have died in the last year. The files are inactive because the patients are dead. Margaret Whitaker, the woman Sarah Holt is charged with killing, has a file. Immediately, the two guys listening on the other end of the bug in Mitch's briefcase call their boss, Kevin Stack. The McDeeres are getting too close, and they've got a problem.

Three weeks later, Mitch devises a distraction by using blood from Abby's cut to create a path, leading the unknown henchman straight into Ray's golf club.