The Glades Episode 4.09 Fast Ball

A number of men play Jai Alai, the fastest sport in the world, in front of a large crowd at a fronton, an arena, while fans place bets at machines. Players use a cesta - a 3 foot long wicker basket - attached to their hand to catch balls thrown against a wall. After the game, a towel boy in the locker room finds a dead woman in a laundry bin.

At Callie's house, Jim mows the lawn as he and Callie wait for Jeff to return from his visit with his dad, who is in the Witness Protection Program. Tony, the U.S. Marshall who escorted Jeff to his dad, gives Jim a weird look. But Jim doesn't have time to ask him about it because he needs to run to his next case.

At the fronton, Carlos examines the body while Manus reports that Jai Alai brought in $60 million in revenue last year. She adds that unless you're a Seminole Indian Casino, in Florida you're not allowed to have gambling without also playing Jai Alai. This fronton just did $15 million in renovations to bring in more gamblers. The victim, who was identified by the towel boy as Lori Aest, has a gunshot wound to the neck. She's the first woman to go pro in the 600 year history of the sport. Carlos says the shape of the wound indicates she was shot at close range. In the locker room they find blood splatter on one of the showers and Daniel finds a cell phone on the floor. It is water logged, but he thinks he can fix it. Manus introduces them to Corinne Meltzer, the new owner. Her late father was a champion Jai Alai player in the 70s. She is upset about Lori's murder - she discovered her and helped her go pro - but she is worried they'll be shut down because of the murder; the season starts in three days and they risk losing a lot of money. Jim searches Lori's locker and finds photos of her with another Jai Alai player, Troy Douglas, a former college basketball player. He has an assault record.

Jim finds Troy at a bar in the poker room at the fronton. Troy says he fell in love with the game after he lost his scholarship. He even went to Spain to learn from the masters. He says the other guys on the team were weary of having Lori on the team, but changed their minds after they saw her play. She got to substitute in during the late games. Fans even started coming just to see her. On TV they see a promo for the "Battle of the Cestas" between Lori and a rival player. Sebastian Lorca. He says he's going to destroy Lori. Troy says Sebastian is a champion and has the most wins.

Jim pays a visit to Sebastian at his beach-front condo, where he's packing up to move. He says he's a simple man from a small village in San Sebastian. He says it's no surprise Lori was murdered. When he plays abroad he gets a lot of respect. But in America, fans don't respect the players. What he said about Lori was just in the heat of the moment and to get fans excited.

Daniel submerges Lori's phone in dry rice to try to fix it. According to phone records, he discovered Lori made two long distance calls to a Jai Alai school in Spain. She also spent a lot of time talking to her competitors. Manus reveals that before promoting the "Battle of the Cestas" between Lori and Sebastian, Corinne was promoting a big exhibition bout, "Clash of the Titans," featuring Sebastian and Troy. Troy was pushed out of the big event by Lori.

Michael Longworth is on the phone with the airline, trying to get to Rio. Jim can't believe his dad is going to end a 42 year marriage. Callie says when her dad walked out on her family, her mom was relieved. Jim says his mom is a scrapper and probably just got tired of scraps. Michael says the next flight to Rio is in three days. Jim's mother Joan pays the group a surprise visit. Immediately, she and Michael have an argument. She put their house in Arizona up for sale because they can't afford that house and the one in Chicago, and she's not moving to Arizona by herself. Jim says he's never heard them fight like this. Joan says she wants to buy a condo in Florida.

In the locker room, Jim tells Troy that Lori was calling the same Jai Alai school in Spain where he studied. She was trying to steal his thunder. Troy must have been jealous that Lori took his spot in the big match, so he killed her. Troy says there are 2,000 games a year; plenty of other opportunities to prove himself. He loves a challenge. He also says she was making money because she had just made a deal to be the spokesperson for Vale Jeans, a Spanish clothing company trying to break into the American market. He'd been playing for three years and they never approached him. He didn't kill her, but he knew he couldn't deal with the jealousy over that, so he broke up with her.

Carlos reports there was a .22 caliber bullet lodged in Lori's spine. Daniel found a .22 caliber gun hidden in a storm drain at the fronton's property. Manus reports Sebastian gets a bonus from the fronton every time he wins. But most of his money comes from Vale LLC, the same company where Lori is the new spokesperson. Spanish police can't prove it but they suspect that Sebastian has ties to ETA, a Basque separatist movement in Spain. The group is rumored to have been involved with political assassinations where people are shot in the neck at close range.

Jim goes to the fronton, where Corinne is announcing that they're giving fans the chance to play against Sebastian. Jim heckles Sebastian and says the sport doesn't look so hard. Corinne gets upset with Jim because he's disrupting the pre-season. Instead of leaving, he joins the line of fans competing against Sebastian. Jim misses the first three balls, but catches the third. Sebastian denies killing Lori over his lost Vale deal, saying he has plenty of money.

Manus and Jim look over the contents of Lori's car, which contains boxes of files. She obviously snuck them out of the fronton. The paperwork contained information about all of the gambling that goes on there, not just about Jai Alai.

Jim visits Corinne at her office, where she has a lunch spread out. He helps himself to Corrine's food, including a $900 Jamon Ibericao leg of ham (or pata negra). Jim reveals the paperwork Lori had was about revitalizing the Jai Alai players union. Lori was trying to get the casino workers' union to allow Jai Alai players to join them. She was calling players to talk about the union. Since Corinne is management, she is against the players unionizing. Jim has a warrant to get information from her office.

Callie and Joan walk and talk while shopping, where Joan mentions that she's excited to get a condo and live on her own, though she's not looking to meet anyone. Callie can relate from her experience living alone in Atlanta, where she learned a lot about herself.

Carlos tells Jim that the gun Daniel found is the murder weapon. There is an unidentified substance on the gun grip, which he's analyzing. Daniel says he found a petition in Corinne's files signed by all the fronton workers in support of the Jai Alai players joining the casino workers' union. Corinne would definitely have wanted to stop that. Daniel also discovered Troy was on Corinne's computer skyping with Sophia Garita, a big name from back in the day, who's at the Jai Alai school in Spain.

Jim talks to Tony, who says that Ray is trying to renegotiate his deal. He wants lifetime supervised visitation with Jeff. His deal now is that when Jeff turns 18, he's no longer allowed to see his dad again unless he also joins the Witness Protection Program. But that would mean Callie would never see him again. Tony says Ray's taking steps so he doesn't lose touch with his son.

Jim confronts Troy with a photo of Troy and Sophia, who is his wife. Her family owns the Jai Alai school in Spain. He thinks Troy killed Lori because she was jealous of his wife. But Troy claims Lori knew they were over and they wouldn't be getting back together. He loves his wife. He had no reason to kill Lori.

Daniel and Jim go over footage of Sebastian and Lori playing together and they see her hit him on purpose with the ball.

Jim shows Sebastian a letter of complaint from Lori to Corinne that stated he was harassing and bullying her on the court. Sebastian says he didn't kill her, but he had planned to kill her on the court when the new season started.

Joan and Michael look at photos of a one-bedroom condo Joan is planning to check out. She doesn't need a lot of room because she wants to travel. Michael says he's wishes he had known about her condo plans sooner so that he could go see them with her. She says she doesn't need his help.

Daniel reports Lori's phone is fixed. There was a number was on the screen, but she didn't hit send. Jim and Carlos head to the fronton where Carlos wants to place a bet and Jim has a suspect to arrest, Troy. Jim arrests him on stage during the live simulcast, while the audience (including Carlos), boos.

At the station, Jim shows Troy that the last number Lori dialed before she died was his home phone number in Spain, which is also his wife's number. But Troy says that when he skyped with his wife the day before, she was upset to learn Lori died and had no idea Troy had an affair with her. Lori didn't tell Sophia anything. Lori and Troy had plans to talk about things after their respective games - she lost her match so she finished early and she said she'd wait for him. He last saw her in the hallway outside the locker room.

Manus shows Jim the most recent bank statement from the fronton. It seems low. Carlos shows Jim the report that shows the mystery substance on the gun.

Jim catches Corinne playing Jai Alai. She complains that Jim's arrest caused them to lose a ton of money. Jim reveals the substance on the gun was from a pata negra ham, like the one in Corinne's office. Corinne killed Lori because she was trying to organize a union and a strike. Corinne denies the players would strike because the last one, in 1988, lasted 3 years, and didn't end well for the players. But Jim argues that this time the strike wouldn't turn out well for her. The state requires a minimum of 40 Jai Alai games per season for her to keep the casino open. She wouldn't be able to pay the $15 million bank loans in the players were on strike. Corinne admits killing Lori because she helped Lori go pro and then Lori stabbed her in the back.

The family hangs out and plays ping pong in Jim's yard. Joan returns from visiting the condo and she loves it. Michael finally admits he doesn't want her to buy a condo that he isn't going to live in. She agrees. It looks like they're going to work things out. Jim says he thinks his dad just retired. Michael and Joan leave for the airport. They won't be buying a condo, but did found a nice timeshare in Florida so they can spend time with Jim and Callie. Jim is thrilled his parents will be staying together.