Life Episode 1.03 Let Her Go

A Mercedes has crashed into a ravine, and its female passenger has been shot dead in the stomach. Crews proceeds down the ravine to find a man with a bloody gash on his forehead jingling a set of car keys. He's waiting for his wife outside their favorite restaurant, and thinks Crews is the valet. Wondering where his wife got to, the guy finally realizes that Crews is definitely not the valet.

Dani and Crews check out the Mercedes. The bullet went from the back seat through the front passenger seat and entered the victim's stomach, so she was turned around. Dani and Crews visit the husband, Peter Stylman, in the hospital. He remembers nothing. His head hurts and he has to go home and tell his kids that their mother is dead. Meanwhile, Ted takes a swim, getting nervous when a coyote appears to stare at him in the middle of the day.

Dani and Crews go over Peter's timeline: he left the restaurant with his wife at 9:45, confirmed by several witnesses. The GPS in his car indicates that Peter stopped at a gas station. The attendant did notice that Peter was talking to a really big Latino guy with a lot of tattoos but didn't see anything else. Later, Crews head to a bar and accosts Ames, the detective that investigated his murder case 12 years ago. Crews shows him the crime scene photo of Rachel's bed - she must have witnessed the murders. Putting money on the bar for Ames next round, Crews leaves.

Crews asks Peter if he's heard of the practice of trepanning - drilling a hole in the skull to release spirits. He wants Peter to release what happened in the car and let Shelby go. Peter claims that the big guy from the gas station forced them into the car with a gun. After Peter fought the guy, Shelby got shot, and the guy jumped out. Peter continued driving, but when he put his hand over Shelby's wound, he lost control of the car and crashed, so he was unable to get to the hospital before she died.

Dani tells Karen that the prints from the car came back - the gas station guy is Manny Umaga, a huge Samoan with a record of carjacking. Peter hasn't identified him because they were looking at the wrong mug shots. Karen wonders if Peter's sudden recall is credible, but congratulates the partners on their good work.

Dani and Crews proceed to a garage presided over by Maldito, wizard of the restored muscle car. Crews is in heaven, setting his eyes on Maldito's own tricked out 1987 Buick Grand National. Manny owes Maldito $11,000 and he's eager to collect. He knows where Manny is, and offers to accompany the cops on a sting operation, warning that they'll need much bigger cops to nab Manny.

A SWAT team kicks in the door to Manny's crappy apartment, but he's ready for them, throwing a flashbang into their path. Crews stays on Manny's tail, only to lose his hearing when Manny tosses another flashbang. Suddenly, Manny turns, throws Crews against a wall and holds a knife to his neck. Crews smiles - he already has his knife poised at Manny's crotch. Dani shows up to make the arrest. Back at the station, Peter hesitates, failing to identify Manny as his wife's killer.

Dani asks Crews to turn over his knife or she'll burn him with IAD for not using his service weapon when he should have. She wants to know that her partner is a cop and not a con. Crews gives Dani his knife. Constance shows up to diffuse the tension and introduces herself to Dani. She scolds Crews for talking to Ames - this could jeopardize his settlement, and Crews might get himself killed.

Ted doesn't like the pack of coyotes that have been hanging around the house, but Crews seems to admire their survival instincts. Crews has a new car - Maldito's Buick. Enjoying his maiden ride, he pulls over his ex-wife Jennifer and her new husband Gary, making him get out of the car. Crews gets in the driver's seat for the first conversation he's had with Jennifer since getting out of prison. He wants to know Rachel's whereabouts, but Jennifer claims she's gone to a new family with a new name - no one knows where. Crews plants a giant kiss on Jennifer and exits the car.

Manny maintains that Peter shot Shelby and gets crazy. When Crews moves to subdue him, Manny bounces his head against a table, and calls Crews crazy for pulling a knife on him. Later Karen watches video of the interrogation with Crews and Dani. Dani claims that Manny is lying, but Crews admits to pulling the knife. Dani's lying to protect him because that's what partners do. Karen gets it, but orders them to let Manny go before they get hit with a lawsuit.

Ted is having chain link fence installed around the pool, but when Crews sees it, Ted realizes his mistake and takes it down. Dani and Crews proceed to the Stylman house for the funeral, and Peter admits that he's giving his kids to his mother-in-law. Dani figures it's just as well, since they came to arrest him. Crews pushes Peter, who slaps him in the face, then breaks down.

Peter admits that he didn't fight Manny. Instead he offered to bring him to the house and give him $10,000 in cash. Shelby freaked out because Peter didn't think of protecting their children, and attacked Manny, who shot her. Despite the fact that Peter's finally told the truth, Dani knows a jury will never believe him, because he changed his story too many times.

Maldito and his crew pick up Manny and escort him into the back of their customized van to celebrate his freedom. Maldito still wants his money, so Manny offers to take them to Peter's where he knows there's $10,000, which he'll split with them. Manny killed Shelby for nothing - imagine what he'll do to Maldito if he doesn't accept the deal. Maldito tells Manny to check out his sound system - it just recorded Manny's confession. Afterwards, Crews brakes the Buick for a coyote, and winds up in a staring contest.