The Mysteries of Laura Episode 1.12 The Mystery of the Fateful Fire

Smoke billows out of a Lower East Side tenement on Plymouth Street. In the crowd, Gloria Leighton cries frantically for her eight-year-old son Shawn, who's still in the building. A man named Gil Carter exits the building carrying Shawn in his arms and, after a quick chat, hands the boy to his relieved mother.

Laura has just brought her local barista to justice for ripping off his clients, earning their applause. Another mom, Kate, recognizes her - didn't she see Laura's name on the school's Winter Carnival sign-up sheet? Laura's making the class booth, right? Kate would have signed up, but after checking out the class Pinterest page, she chickened out. Decidedly uncrafty, Laura knows she didn't sign up... but Jake did, because she said she wanted to get more involved with the twins' school. Sadly, creating a carnival booth, ring-toss game and snowman decorations and baking 200 snowman cookies are definitely not in Laura's wheelhouse - especially since she has to do it all in 48 hours. Jake wants to flake, but Laura knows that dads get a free pass, while everyone will blame the mom. Since she's between cases, Laura demands two vacation days to nail the Winter Carnival.

Laura makes a beeline for Max, asking him to explain what a Pinterest is, and what it has to do with the Winter Carnival. That's when stunning Angela Ryan, FDNY arson investigator, introduces herself to Laura. She's come about the fire on Plymouth since there was an unidentified body found in the basement. It takes Laura a minute to realize Angela is an ex-girlfriend of Jake's, and she's none too happy about it. Angela's "do me" boots are proof she's on the prowl and not focused on the case. Telling Max to keep her updated, Laura huffs off to crafty purgatory.

Billy and Meredith meet Angela and Jake at the burned-out building. Angela's thinking the fire may have started with faulty wiring. The unidentified victim wasn't a tenant; everyone had moved out except Gloria and her son Shawn, since the building was scheduled to be converted to condos. Shawn's rescuer, Gil, now New York City's hometown hero, is on the scene giving interviews, so Jake shows him a photo of dead guy John Doe, an Asian teen who had hot pepper smeared all over his hands, wrists and elbows. Though Gil has lived across the street from the building for years, he's never seen the guy before.

At home, Laura has put together a list of class moms, who all refuse to help with the crafting. She's stuffing her mouth when Max calls to update her on the case: The team is canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone recalls a messy eater, because of the hot peppers. Laura knows from experience that messy eaters don't spill on their wrists. However, her mom's arthritic bridge partner used to rub pepper on her joints. Could John Doe have tendonitis? After learning John Doe was found in flip-flops and socks, Laura tells Max to check local basketball courts. When Max calls in the lead, Jake knows Laura couldn't resist chiming in, so he tries to jump in on a game at a local court. Jake gets nothing but lip, so Meredith sinks a long shot and gets her ID: Kevin Park, age 16. Apparently, Kevin liked basketball better than schoolwork, so when his parents told him to get his grades up or get off the team, he ran away and started squatting in the basement of the Plymouth building.

Angela tells the team that the FDNY believes the fire started in a trash can full of accelerants outside Gloria's apartment, which seems suspicious. That's when Max hears Laura bellow from the precinct kitchen. She claims she's come for packing peanuts - they make great snowflakes - but he knows she's spying on Angela. Laura denies it, but her fire is lit as soon as she hears that Angela thinks it's arson - which means Kevin's death is now a homicide. Laura thinks the team should be on the street working the case, but they're all going for ramen burgers - Angela's treat. For Laura, it's another indication of Angela's ultimate plan: She's befriending co-workers in a bid to win back Jake.

Now that the fire's been ruled an arson, Meredith is re-interviewing witnesses, starting with Gloria. She's convinced her scuzzy slumlord David Grant started the fire. With no heat or AC, the other tenants left, but Gloria can't afford to move. Max reports back to Laura, who's attempting to papier-mâché bags of packing peanuts into something resembling a snowman, while gossiping about Angela and Jake's history. When Angela went backpacking in South America for six months, Jake went to the police academy where he met Laura. The rest is history. Oh, and Laura is certain - landlord David Grant will have an ironclad alibi. And indeed, he was at a boxing event in Atlantic City. Angela theorizes that he paid an arsonist, and has already assembled a file of 57 known pyromaniacs whose MOs match the fire. One thing's for sure, the heat between Angela and Jake is still there.

Jake finds Laura rummaging through the precinct kitchen's recycling. Could it be that she has an issue with Angela? When Max ribs Laura about going through the garbage just like his landlord, a light bulb goes off. She bets that slumlord David Grant knows which of his tenants likes playing with fire! Max starts cross-indexing and comes up with a suspect, Jasper Schecter. Jake and Angela proceed to Jasper's apartment, but he runs for it, so they chase him across the rooftops. Ultimately, Angela leaps across a gap in the building to take Jasper down - in those boots? Hawt! Back at the precinct, Jasper claims he's innocent, having been rehabilitated. Angela pulls out her lighter. Entranced by the flame, Jasper admits he watched the fire on Plymouth - just like the rest of the neighborhood, including a thug with a neck full of prison tattoos who ran away from the fire. Victor demands a lawyer, so Angela leaves to call Legal Aid, surprised to find that Laura has been watching the interrogation. When Angela boasts about nailing her perp, a snooty Laura tells her Jasper seems innocent - what about the thug? That's when Angela asks if Laura's attitude is about more than the case. If so, they should get her issue out in the open. Laura claims that while she's after Kevin Park's murderer, Angela and her "do me" boots are clearly after something else. For this next line, Laura pulls out her finger and puts it right up in Angela's face. If Angela wants to get back together with Jake - fine. But she shouldn't let the case go sideways in the meantime.

Billy finds Laura at home, pouring wine down her throat in an attempt to make a ring-toss game out of empty bottles. When he asks her about her issues with Angela, she waves him off. That's when another lightning bolt hits. Could Gloria have a murderous ex with a neck full of tattoos who started the fire? Billy visits Gloria at the diner where she works to ask about any old relationships that went south. Gloria dated a guy named Cliff Gaskin - no tattoos - who used to beat her when he drank, but he's in jail. Billy checks the Corrections website to learn Gaskin was released a week ago, which puts fear in Gloria's heart. The night she had Cliff arrested, he swore he would kill her.

It's not long before Meredith is questioning Cliff, who admits he was at Gloria's place on the night of the fire. Even though Gloria has a restraining order against him, Cliff wanted to check on her after seeing news of the fire on TV. He got sober while in jail and wants to make amends. When the fire started, he was feeding 200 homeless guys at a Bowery soup kitchen. At home, Laura watches another reporter interview hometown hero Gil, who claims he was sleeping at the time of the fire until Gloria's screams woke him up. Then he smelled smoke. Laura smells smoke too, but it's her 12 dozen snowman cookies turning black. Epic mom fail. Her next move? Calling chef Tony to place an order for cookies, booze and a little nooky. Tony's quick to intuit that even though she's locked in craft jail, Laura's unable to leave the arson case alone. Despite the nooky, Laura turns her attention back to Gil's interview, just as he's lamenting his inability to save Kevin - he doesn't feel like the hero he was last time. It seems that a few years ago, Gil was able to save a subway jumper in DC. When Tony asks about the odds of two rescues, Laura charges off to meet Billy at Calligan's. Maybe Gil is addicted to the attention given a hero and wanted another golden moment? Could their hero also be their killer?

It's not long before Jake and Angela are interviewing Gil, who's happy to help. Max interrupts, dropping a stack of files. In the ensuing hubbub, he pastes his phone under the table so Laura can listen in while creating her ring-toss game at home. Gil recounts his story, which doesn't make sense to Jake; the timeline is off. Angela attacks, accusing Gil of performing the rescue for the glory. Just as Gill demands a lawyer, Laura's ring-toss game crashes to the floor, exposing her eavesdropping to Jake and Angela. Undaunted, Laura uses the twins' Lego set to recreate the crime scene, running the timeline again and again. Gil was in the burning building far too long. She replays video footage of the rescue to see Shawn whispering something to Gil - what was it? Laura calls Alicia to babysit, then proceeds to the basement laundry of Gloria's building, which has been out of order for a very long time.

Laura stops in the diner where Gloria works to flash her badge, bond over single working motherhood and ask a few questions. Well acquainted with epic mom fails, Laura understands why Gloria left Shawn home alone. When Gloria claims she was just doing laundry, Laura knows she's lying. That's why it took Gil so long to find Shawn - no one was there to tell him which apartment he was in! Gloria breaks down, admitting that her boss threatened to fire her unless she worked late, and Shawn was already asleep. Then she saw her building on fire, and Gil told her not to tell anyone that she wasn't home; he lied to protect her and Shawn. But Laura knows it was freezing that night. What if Shawn woke up cold and alone? Laura turns to Shawn, fully knowing it was he who set the fire - in this case, to keep warm. Gil is free to go, his hometown hero status intact, and after the entire team credits Laura with the solve, she softens enough to compliment Angela's boots. For her part, Angela admits she was trying to make an impression - on Laura, not Jake. She'd been dumped only once in her life, and it was for Laura, so Angela was super intimidated. And the truth is, she is interested in Jake, but she wouldn't want to get in the way of anything. Laura gives Angela her blessing, then heads out to the Winter Carnival, where she earns the grudging respect of the other moms.