Life Episode 1.09 Serious Control Issues

Crews spreads out the contents of his conspiracy closet on the kitchen island to show Ted, who thinks it's all a bit crazy. Crews explains that not only did Rachel witness the murders, but Ames lied about it on the police report. And now Ames is dead, right after Crews saw him arguing with Jack Reese, the SWAT Team Leader on the Bank of LA case where all that money went missing. Ted has to agree that it's all beginning to sound scary. Crews is determined to bring what's hidden into the light.

Crews watches as Jack collects his morning paper, only to find an envelope containing Crews's photos of Jack arguing with Ames. Crews reports to a murder scene under a highway bridge. A girl with a guitar has had her throat slit, but there's no blood, so she must have been killed elsewhere. Crews spies two girls, and offers fruit in exchange for info. Josie lived with them under the bridge and hung out at a grocery store where some guy used to give her food in exchange for tunes.

Crews and Reese tell Davis that Josie had consensual sex about two hours before she was murdered. They decide to case the supermarket before the trail gets too cold. Crews asks Davis if there's anything he can do to help on the Ames investigation, but she sends him away to talk to Reese. IA is going to want to talk to her about Crews. The trouble he's making is beyond the department, and "they" can't let it get out. Davis isn't sure how much longer she can protect Reese from being set up.

At the grocery store, Crews and Reese run into skateboarder Nate, who has a distinctive carving on his skateboard, which matches one on Josie's guitar. Nate must have a good knife to carve like that, like Crews used to have until Reese took it away. Where's Nate's knife? Nate claims he doesn't know Josie. His overprotective father Ray, a grocery store employee, ends the interrogation and snatches Crews's card away from Nate.

Knowing Ray is still at work, Reese and Crews go by his apartment to question Nate, claiming that the lab will match the carving on his skateboard to the one on Josie's guitar. Nate admits that he and Josie were friends with benefits, and begs them not to tell Ray. Nate worked at the grocery store last night, his alibi. When he runs to get his time card Crews enters the apartment, despite Reese's protests, to see locks on the windows and Nate's bedroom door, indicating that Ray has serious control issues.

Nate asks the cops to leave, and they agree not to tell Ray about Josie if he helps prove his innocence. He admits that he used to hang out with Josie under the bridge, but they never had sex, even though he knew she was having sex with other guys, specifically a guy who delivered bread to the grocery store. When Ray arrives to kick the cops out, Crews accuses him of being a prison guard, and tells Nate to call 911 and ask for him by name if he's ever in trouble.

Reese yells at Crews for being out of control. She knows he's under a lot of pressure but he better buckle up or he's going to come loose. He's late to another meeting with IA investigator Raitt and Detective Union rep Garrity, where he admits to investigating "things" in order to complete his knowledge and purify his heart. Later, he watches through the glass as Davis, Raitt and Garrity argue. Stark shows up in a suit to meet with IA. He asks Crews if he should tell them the truth, since it didn't work out well 12 years ago.

Bread delivery guy Dean Gill hasn't shown up to work in three days and his truck is missing, so Crews and Reese visit his home. Hearing screams, they bust down the door with guns drawn to find Dean's home full of 36 mewling kittens. They notice the bread truck in the backyard, but Dean claims he's brought it home to wash it. Reese finds a guitar pick in the front seat, and Dean swallows it.

Back at HQ, Crews spies Jack in Davis's office. Crews admits that he put the photos in Jack's newspaper, and insists that he should be under investigation for Ames's murder. Jack claims that he and Ames argued all the time - about football. Davis throws up her hands and leaves. She then watches through the windows with Dani as Jack demands that Crews lay out his case. And he better keep Dani out of it.

Crews thinks that Dean saw something that he wanted and took it - now they have to find out what he wanted. Dean claims he never copulates, but when Reese threatens to match the DNA on the guitar pick when it comes out, he admits that Josie used to play guitar and sing in his truck for food. Davis informs Crews that IA is keeping him on duty, and asks Reese if she wants a new partner. She doesn't. A search warrant has come in for Ray's apartment, and Social Services will meet them there to check on Nate.

The landlord unlocks Ray's apartment, but it's been vacated. When Crews asks Reese about her father, she admits that she spent her childhood trying to figure out if he was mean or bad. This inspires Crews to wonder - where's all the cats that mothered Dean's kittens? They find tons of cats buried in Dean's yard with their throats slit. Dean finally admits that he wanted Josie's voice, so he took it.

Inspired by Dean's case, Reese wonders about Nate's mother - is it all about a custody beef? After investigating, the cops learn that Nate is really Steven Weston, snatched out of his yard at the age of three. Realizing that Ray trusts Nate despite the locks, they begin looking for them separately. Reese and Crews lead a SWAT Team to a remote homestead where Ray chops wood, claiming he has always lived alone.

Back at the precinct, Crews tells Ray that Nate's love for him will bring him in. Reese is just giving Crews back his knife when Nate calls. Nate admits that he just learned that Ray snatched him, and he wants to see him. Nate's real parents watch through the glass as Nate is lead the through the station to see Ray. Crews takes Nate to sit in a helicopter. Nate will never be like anyone else because of what's happened, and Crews knows what it's like, because the same thing happened to him.