FLOOD, WIND AND FIRE
Aired 12/03/07

Music List
"Where'd My Baby Go" - Dwayne Dopsie

Recap
Loretta Sweeney's childhood home has burned down. She's come down from Baton Rouge to meet the insurance adjuster, Sheldon Lear, who immediately offends her by looking for ways to deny her coverage. He insinuates she burned down the house herself and that being in Baton Rouge is a "story." When Loretta angrily shoves him, he nervously draws a gun on her. He then stumbles backwards and trips over a charred corpse.

Embry has a surprise announcement: Charlie's back on the force, on FAS. Love Tap's not thrilled. Embry says that Charlie will be working a desk job his first couple of weeks.

Cobb and Boulet are sent to Loretta's house, where they find the corpse is toothless. Was he homeless, a squatter? They meet Eileen McGillis, a beautiful but tough fire marshal. She thinks the death was accidental, but Cobb notices cracks in the jaw -- the teeth had been bashed out. Somebody didn't want this person identified by dental records. This may or may not be arson, but it's definitely homicide.

Charlie thanks Cobb for saving his life, and then tries to help identify the victim; Boulet's a bit cold to him, not quite ready to accept him. Why'd he get put on FAS? Eileen arrives and confirms that it was arson. And there are sparks flying between her and Cobb. The trio go to the M.E., who says the victim was strangled, though still breathing when the fire began. Toxicology finds minute traces of dihydrazino-s-tetrazine, a.k.a. DHT, a chemical accelerant; Eileen is familiar with it.

At home, Boulet and Ayana agonize over their increasingly tight financial situation. Ayana offers to take a job, but Boulet says they agreed that Tawni needs a mother. Still, Boulet's already working around the clock. They're going to need a miracle. And then the ceiling fan comes crashing to the ground, revealing that their home is riddled with dry rot.

Eileen and Cobb examine the burn site. She says she works with fire because her dad was a fireman; she knows fire inside and out. She compares the burn site to six other recent fires she thought were suspicious, but couldn't find any accelerant at. DHT leaves no trace, unless it enters a body.

At HQ, the theory is that the homeowners all hired the same person to torch their place for the insurance money. One of them is Edna Terrabone, the nurse who took care of Boulet's mother. Every claim was handled by TBD Insurance, and they were all denied. Charlie perks up at the mention of TBD; there's a missing persons report for a Brian Studler who worked for TBD. Interviewing the homeowners, particularly Edna, convinces Boulet they're innocent.

Charlie talks to the gang, saying he thought he'd end up in Vice. He tells a story about some vice cops who found that a drug dealer was using locker 714 at Union Passenger Terminal. They found ten grand there, arrested him -- then had to give it back and release him, because it turned out he was on the Federal payroll. He was an informant, ratting on the cartels, but still dealing.

Cobb and Boulet meet Sheldon Lear at TBD, who tells them Brian Studler hated his job; though he denied a lot of claims, there are four payouts he approved to the max. One of them was a man with the unfortunate moniker of Burt Reynolds. The duo interview Burt, who claims not to know the other three recipients of Brian's largesse. Burt says he liked Brian; he was fair. He's offended when accused of burning down his own home, and tells them to talk to the Fire Marshal, who ruled it an accident.

Cobb meets with Eileen that night. She has found that the accelerant used requires a license to purchase. She's also February in a "Smokin' Hot Firefighters of Louisiana" calendar. She bluntly propositions Cobb, and they sleep together.

Boulet and Ayana find the mold in their home is a health hazard. Their home will have to be rebuilt from scratch, or they'll have to move out. The only rentals they can afford are a one-bedroom that's much too small for their family, or a two-bed in a neighborhood where Tawni will have to go to a school plagued by knife fights.

In a remote part of town, Embry secretly meets with Charlie, who is trying to turn down an assignment that he thinks will cost him his acceptance with his friends in the department – but Embry says that this is the cost of being put back on the force.

Ernie Weiss, one of the homeowners on the list, has a license to buy the accelerant. His home is searched; there's no DHT. Ernie laughs off their accusations of arson. He didn't want his home rebuilt at all. He had a great job offer in Houston, but when the insurance claim was approved, his wife insisted on staying put to be near her mother.

Eileen discovers that all four fires with the approved insurance claims burned fast -- a property of DHT, as she dramatically demonstrates by dousing a stack of papers on Cobb's desk with DHT and burning it. She seems to be enjoy this demonstration a bit too much, discomfiting Cobb. She suggests there are two perps -- a killer and an arsonist.

Boulet, agonizing over his financial situation, goes to locker 714 at Union Passenger Terminal. He's ready to break into the locker and take the drug money, but just can't do it. Outside, he's confronted by a dismayed Charlie, who accuses him of being a dirty cop. The story and money were bait. Charlie's been charged with ratting on bad cops to help clean up the department. Boulet feels betrayed; Charlie says dirty cops aren't his brothers. Boulet ultimately convinces Charlie of his innocence. Charlie says there's a security camera but that he will take care of it. He destroys the tape and tells Embry that the recorder chewed it up.

Cobb confronts Eileen with her juvenile arrest record. She set a fire when she was fifteen. She says that was the only time. She had been acting out against her father. Cobb accuses her of setting the fires, though he says what he's trying to do is eliminate her as a suspect. She's offended.

Boulet calls. He and Charlie have found that Ernie and Burt both used to work for the same chemical plant before it went bust. And so did the other two names on the list. They all knew each other. Cobb leaves Eileen's, shamefaced.

Cobb, Boulet and Charlie meet at Ernie's place where they find Burt holding a gun to Ernie and forcing him to write a suicide note. Ernie is swearing that he didn't tell the cops anything, and says this was all Burt's idea. Burt killed Studler; Ernie had no idea he was in the house. Cobb and Boulet burst in. There is a standoff. Boulet tells Burt he understands that he just wanted to protect his family, put a roof over their heads. But what happens to his family if Burt forces them to blow him away? Burt backs down. The conspirators are arrested.

At HQ, Ernie says that Burt had sold this as a win-win for everybody. Their homes were rebuilt, and Brian got to feel he was doing some good for a change. But then Burt realized it'd draw attention to them if only their own homes were burnt, so they burned some "sacrificial lambs," like Edna's home, deliberately making them look like arson so Brian could deny the claims. When Brian found out, he threatened to go to the police, so Burt killed him.

Cobb goes to apologize to Eileen. He's used to looking for the worst in people, but he's the last person who should be judging people on their past. She won't look at him, but finally breaks the ice by promising to get him a copy of the calendar. That's something, and it'll have to be enough for now.

Boulet goes home to find volunteer workmen swarming his house, ripping out and replacing the drywall. A miracle came through. Edna is there. She says that because Brian was involved in all the fires, the insurance company decided to pay off all their claims to avoid a lawsuit. And they all pooled part of their settlements to pay to repair Boulet's home. Boulet holds back tears of gratitude as Ayana wraps her arms around him.