Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.17 Angel's Knoll

A wedding rehearsal dinner is underway when lothario George Patrick rushes into the bathroom, his cousin Billy and Billy's father Eddie in hot pursuit. Billy can't believe George would hit on Abby, the bride-to-be. George denies it, then stalks off, leaving Billy to deal with Abby, who's pissed that the outbreak has halted the party. The next day, the wedding is about to start, but George is nowhere to be found. Billy and Eddie find George's hotel room door open, then break down the locked bathroom door to find George in the tub with his throat cut. Later, TJ and Morales meet Coroner Nishizawa on the scene, which looks like it was set up for a romantic tryst. A champagne glass was used to cut George's throat, and his watch and wallet are missing. After lifting George out of the tub, it appears he's missing more important things than a watch and wallet...

Nervous before his wedding, Billy stayed up all night with his best man and brother, so he checks out. Although George's phone includes several calls to an escort service, all of them were less than a minute, so no time to set up a date. The killer must have made the calls to cover his or her tracks. Billy's father tells the detectives that George was a floor manager at a casino in Downey, and he was hoping to bring a teacher named Liz Bennett to the wedding. The detectives interview Liz at her school. She explains that George was moving too fast for her, so she didn't attend the wedding. She wasn't crazy about his job, and George recently complained that he was having problems with Chinese pawn brokers at the casino.

TJ and Morales meet with Wrangler Casino's head of security Jim Reed, who introduces them to pawnbroker Mrs. Yu. Apparently, George had been borrowing heavily from her and threatening to throw her out of the casino if she refused to keep loaning. He kept saying that he would pay back his $100,000 debt all at once. The detectives search George's apartment to learn he had recently maxed out his credit cards, putting down payments on a house and boat in Cost Rica. Could he have been planning a casino heist with an accomplice who decided to get rid of him? They find a check for $1500 written to a medical supply company, which was signed by George, but written out by someone else, which seems to confirm their theory. Later, Morales receives a photo of George's new Costa Rican boat, dubbed "Teacher's Pet." Could Liz Bennett be George's accomplice?

TJ and Morales investigate Liz's abandoned apartment to find a laminating machine, a factory-issue Beretta grip and several disassembled routers. Meanwhile, Liz is in uniform, behind the wheel of an armored car parked outside the Wrangler Casino. She manipulates an app on her phone, which forces the casino's printer offline. As the other guards are delayed picking up money from Wrangler, Liz disappears with the truck and $1.5 million. Twenty minutes later, the detectives meet with armored car rep Stevens, who's activated the truck's tracking system, which quickly turns up two miles away, abandoned in an industrial garage.

Liz is nowhere to be seen, so TJ and Morales return to RHD to review security camera footage. Morales discovers that George rented the garage a month ago, as TJ spots a suspicious-looking woman in an electric wheelchair on the videotape. The wheelchair explains the $1500 check to the medical supply, and Liz could easily be hiding the stolen cash under her wheelchair, unbeknownst to anyone, as she boards a city bus. Through the MTA, the detectives learn that Liz proceeded to a Park and Ride, where she got in a white Hyundai, registered to Dan Rathman. Dan sold the car three months ago to his sister. He had no idea she was moonlighting as an armored car driver. Dan is very concerned and unable to believe his sister boosted a casino; his lawyer instincts kick in, and he promptly refuses to say anything more to the cops.

Luckily, Morales is three steps ahead and has already put in for Dan's cell phone records. Liz is using a no-name cell phone to contact him, and she's apparently already lawyering up, and has made contact with Joe Silman, a security captain at Folsom Prison. After a visit with the warden, the detectives manage to converge with Liz at a family restaurant, just as she slides an envelope stuffed with $50K onto Silman's lap. Silman immediately invokes before he and Liz are arrested and stuffed in a squad car for the long ride back to LA. Once they're gone, TJ and Morales toss Liz's car to find a motel key and a scrap of paper with Silman's phone number and a CDC inmate number. Warden Mellor confirms that the prisoner in question was on Silman's block. Walter Calvin is in year nine of 50 for swindling $30 billion, and yes, he does have a daughter named Liz. Was she trying to bust him out of jail?

TJ and Morales meet with Calvin and his lawyer Charles Kennedy at the prison. Oddly, Calvin's face shows signs of a severe beating, and he's still trying to proclaim his evidence. Since Liz is facing a murder charge, doesn't Calvin want to ease her burden by taking some weight for this caper? Kennedy interjects that he worked very hard to place Calvin in medium security and isn't about to let him talk his way into maximum. As for the cuts on Calvin's face? He slipped in the shower. Meanwhile, Dekker and Rubirosa meet with Liz and her attorney Gwen Turcot at the Lynwood County Jail to lay down their evidence. The cops found the stolen casino money in Liz's hotel room; she was arrested bribing a corrections officer; and they matched hairs in George's hotel room to her. Turcot isn't worried - the matching hairs could be exchange and transfer - and Liz insists she didn't murder George.

Hoping to catch Liz off guard, Dekker mentions that her father has been assaulted seven times in his first five months of incarceration - could Calvin have used some of his hidden money to buy protection? Turcot finally offers that Liz was told that unless she paid Silman, the guards wouldn't guarantee Calvin's safety; thus her defense: she acted under a threat to her father's life. The DAs realize they have to build a better case, so Rubirosa visits Dan, who explains that Liz was his father's little princess - and that his father is toxic, having caused the suicide of his eldest son. Whatever Liz did, Calvin manipulated her. When Rubirosa pushes, Dan admits that Kennedy showed him a video three months ago of a badly beaten Calvin, who claimed his life was in danger if he couldn't pay for protection. Dan refused to help, but Liz was freaking out.

Dekker and Rubirosa confront Silman. In the last three months, Calvin filed four reports of injury. All were written up by Silman, and each event occurred the day before a visit from lawyer Kennedy. Nevertheless, Silman claims Calvin was shaking down his daughter. According to Calvin, all his money was locked up; he needed Liz to get him fresh cash. Besides, the money wasn't for protection, but for living the "good life" behind bars. The DAs meet with upscale hooker Jenn Mackie, who warns them not to believe anything Silman says. Every two weeks, she'd find a limo waiting for her with rich boy snacks. Silman arranged for conjugal visits with Calvin in the prison trailer, and Jenn was paid $5,000 in cash. Although they hadn't seen each other in recent months, Calvin claimed his daughter was getting him more cash.

The DAs figure that Calvin has been laying out over $200,000 a year for his "good life" - while in prison. Whatever Liz did, Calvin should own half of it. It's not long before Calvin's in arraignment court, pleading not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of grand theft. Afterwards, Dekker and Rubirosa meet with Liz and her lawyer to disclose their discovery - Calvin was spending the money Liz gave him on prostitutes and party favors. They're prepared to offer her a plea bargain in exchange for testimony against her father, but she refuses. After Liz huffs out, her lawyer pulls the DAs aside, concerned about her retainer, paid by Kennedy. A few days ago, she received a wire that was routed through a series of banks, originating from an offshore account at the Commercial Bank of Madagascar. Could the account belong to Calvin? And if it aids in the recovery of assets of all the people Calvin ripped off, would the DAs show Liz some leniency?

Still in Folsom, Calvin continues to maintain he's broke. When Dekker pulls out paper on the Madagascar bank, Calvin's finally ready to make a deal, knowing that it will take a very long time to locate his money. The DAs are willing to offer a suspended sentence for Calvin admitting his role in the truck heist. Kennedy counters, demanding a guarantee that Calvin will be transferred to a minimum-security prison. But DA Hardin's not willing to accept their offer, since the Feds are drooling, hoping to recover the swindled billions. That's when Rubirosa makes an odd discovery. Calvin's estranged ex-wife purchased a condo 12 years ago using a bank account in Bermuda - and the account number is the same as the Madagascar bank account number.

Rubirosa visits with Melora Rathman, who's still steaming with resentment for her ex, Calvin. After he was arrested, Melora tried to protect her kids by having them take her last name. Even though everyone thinks she knows where he stashed the money, she doesn't. But she does know how Calvin ran his circuitous scam through the Madagascar bank, and if they fall for it, they'll be chasing paper for years. Rubirosa and Dekker head back to Folsom to accuse Calvin of tricking them into thinking he hid his money in Madagascar so he could close a deal for placement in minimum security. Calvin offers to tell what he knows - that Liz told him she cut George's neck with the champagne glass - in exchange for his coveted transfer. Dekker will only agree provided Calvin corroborates his story. Kennedy promises an audiotape, but only if Dekker will agree to the deal.

Back at the DA's office, Liz and Calvin listen to the tape, where Liz says she wants to make George "go away." It's not the strongest statement, but something else gets the lawyers attention. Both Calvin and his favorite hooker Jenn refer to Liz as "the little princess." TJ and Morales haul Jenn into interrogation and waste no time telling her they're aware that she de-balled one of her johns with a knife 10 years ago - even if it was self-defense. Still, they try to push her into admitting she murdered George on Calvin's behalf. Dekker and Rubirosa watch from the observation gallery, getting frustrated, and ever more convinced that Calvin masterminded George's murder and Jenn committed it. The DAs know that Jenn knows they have nothing to put her at the scene - but someone's going to have to break...

The DAs bring in Liz and her lawyer to listen to the taped phone call Calvin gave them - effectively throwing her under the bus - but Liz still won't betray her father. Pulling out the stops, the lawyers show Liz the video of Jenn's interrogation, where she delivers Calvin's unadorned truth. Calvin talked a lot about his kids - and how they're just mouths to feed. Apparently, he called Liz "the little monkey" in private because he could make her do whatever he wanted. Dekker encourages Liz to act in her own self-interest, but she gets emotional, telling a story from her childhood when her father saved her life. She'll never turn against him.