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Undertow

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Be afraid, be very afraid innocent civilians, for the Cold Case Squad is on the case.

The adventure begins when the team gets a new lead on the murder of a 3rd year law student named, Suzy Jenkins. A few years prior, Suzy had been murdered in her flat. Her roommate and fellow law student, Chloe Martin, found Suzy's body propped up against a chest of drawers in her bedroom late one night. It was believed that Suzy was killed while she was preparing to take a bath because in the adjacent bathroom the bath water was running and her bathtub had overflowed.

A man named Christopher Wright found Suzy Jenkins's wallet and rather than try and return the wallet, he used her credit card to access an adult entertainment website. It turns out that the Wrights were doing construction around their new home and the most likely explanation is that the construction forced the bag containing Suzy Jenkins's wallet to the surface. If that is true then Christopher Wright is just a dumb pervert and not a killer. Since the previous owner of the Wright house died Detective Inspector Spencer Jordan traces the estate agent who handled the sale of the house, Bryony Watts. Unfortunately Bryony is nowhere to be found, but Spence does find her boyfriend, which should give you a clue that this boyfriend guy is important. How often would we follow Spence track down the boyfriend of the woman who sold a house where a wallet was found along a riverbank? I'll tell you how many times, NEVER. Plus, Bryony's boyfriend, Steven Watts, is the same guy shown in the first few moments of the episode drawing a bath.

There is no use for any of us to try and pretend that Steven will be unimportant in this episode. Actually, even if you did try, Steven would do everything under the sun to convince you that he is important. In that first conversation between Spence and Steven, Steven reminded me of everyone's favorite serial killer, Thomas Rice from Life Sentence. That's not a good thing. Spence finds Steven Watts in prison. He is serving 9 months for benefit fraud. Steven has no information about Bryony for Spence and Spence is not interested in Steven's tale that he has been set up.

Dr. Felix Gibson does some testing on the items found along with Suzy Jenkins's wallet and, lo and behold, discovers saliva on a rag. The saliva matches another murder victim, Philippa Carrington. Philippa worked as a waitress in a Greek restaurant. Grace Foley and Peter Boyd decide that the thing to do is to have dinner at that restaurant, but before leaving, Grace takes the time to give Detective Constable Stella Goodman a lecture on the non-existence of randomness.

Speaking of randomness, Grace and Boyd munch down at the restaurant while gaining virtually no insight from the waitress or owner about Philippa. Richards, the owner tries in vain to throw suspicion his way by interjecting whenever Boyd asks the waitress a question about Philippa. It is almost as if he has something to hide. He may have something to hide, but it is not important to this case. What is important is that on the way to the ladies room, Grace discovers that there was an article about Philippa in the same newspaper which carried an article about Suzy Jenkins. Both articles were the human interest type with a photograph. Suzy's article told of her desire to one day become a teacher in South Africa. Boyd tells Grace to put the framed article in her bag while the owner is not looking.

Certain that two murders and two articles cannot be a coincidence, if only because there are no coincidences, Spence and Stella descend upon the newspaper's offices to plow through their microfilm. They uncover several women whose photographs appeared in the Mercury and subsequently, who were attacked or went missing. While Spence and Stella are plowing, they are watched closely by a reporter, Sarah Baker.

One of the missing persons Stella and Spence identify is Sophie Raikes. Sophia was a nurse who once delivered a baby in a hospital corridor. Boyd and Grace go to see Sophie's boyfriend, Ben Elwes, in hopes that he has some insights to shed on how Sophie can be connected to the other women. Ben says that he never believed that Sophie simply left him. They show him the newspaper article, which has a picture of Sophie in her nurse's uniform and Ben explains that people tried to convince him that she just wanted to move on. Ben has moved on; he has a new woman with a child in his life.

Intrepid reporter, Sarah Baker, makes the mistake of showing up at the Cold Case Offices. She is rebuffed by Boyd who likens small newspaper reporters to estate agents. Boyd gets Spence to throw her out. It is one of Boyd's over reactions; an over reaction since he knows that the Union Mercury has some connection to the crimes so why not avail himself of an insider?

Stella has mapped the locales where the women were attacked and has discovered a nice little circle. Grace spouts some psychobabble about people never having to go further than they need to go and contents herself with the fact that no one ever bothers to exert the energy to challenge her. Only Boyd can be counted upon to deliver the "you've got to be kidding me" expression of the week. Anyway, in the center of the magic circle or rather the killer's comfort zone, is the house Spence went to find estate agent Bryony Watts.

Just like that, we are back to Steven Hunt. The pattern of attacks stopped a year ago, Steven Hunt has been in prison for the past nine months. It is enough for Spence and Stella to pay another visit on Bryony's former employer to learn more about Byrony's boyfriend, Steven. Bryony's boss says that Steven worked there for awhile and had big plans but zero accomplishments. The one and only house Steven sold was to his own parents.

Grace and Boyd are now the ones who get to visit sociopath Steven in prison. Steven just tells them of his big plans, past and present. It is a similar conversation to the one he had when his parents came to visit him. His parents also brought him some "I've got big plans" reading material which probably gave him some more stuff to spout off to Grace and Boyd. Steven also tells them that he believes in "situational ethics." He explains that what might be unethical in one situation, can be ethical in others. He says if Boyd drops a 20 pound note on the floor and he picks it up and keeps it, then it is Boyd's fault for dropping the money. He does not really explain what about the situation could make that ethical.

Felix takes a new look at Suzy's hand. Due to improvements in forensic software, she can detect a bite mark on them. All she needs are some teeth and Steven Hunt has teeth. Felix and Spence go to prison to get an impression from Steven.

Boyd and Grace go to see Steven Hunt's parents in the home they bought from him. Weird thing, Steven's mother keeps calling Boyd, Inspector Boyd. Is this just another indication that she's a dimwit? Boyd and Grace try to make small talk with Steven's father, Donald, probably only because he is completely uninterested in small talk. The Hunt parents circle the wagons when Boyd asks to see Steven's bedroom. They fear that Steven is being set up again, this time for something much worse than benefit fraud.

Bad news in the lab. Felix does test after test, but she cannot match Steven Hunt to the bite mark on Suzy Jenkins hand. Boyd is not happy. He says Felix has done something wrong because he knows that it is Hunt. Boyd realizes that Steven is set to serve his entire sentence which no one does. It turns out that Steven was in a fight in prison which nullified his chance of getting out on good behavior. The fight knocked out a bunch of teeth which also nullified the significance of the mold Felix used to compare against Suzy's wound. Boyd was right all along.

You'll never guess what! Stella found Steven Hunt's missing girlfriend. She is alive and well and not interested in her old life. She does come into the office to tell the Cold Case team more about Steven. Now that they've met Steven the reason they were looking for her in the first place seems but a distant memory, but we know she was the estate agent who handled the sale of Christopher Wright's house. She tells them that one day Steven came in from a jog with scratches on his face. Steven said he was attacked by a dog. The timing was around the time jogger was attacked. Sophie didn't believe the story about the dog, but she did not say anything, she only left him.

Steven gets out of prison and is greeted with open arms by his mother and a personal invitation from Boyd to come in for questionning. Steven loves to chat about himself and does at length, but since they cannot charge him with anything they must let him leave when he asks to go. Boyd asks Grace what Steven will do next. She says, he's not a book, she just can't turn the page. I'm pretty sure he just wants her to make up some crap like usual, but she resists. She explains that psychopaths need an escalating sense of danger. Psychopaths and roller coaster junkies. She is positive that he will do it again. Although, it is a fallacy to believe they never stop (snicker).

Grace spends some quality time with Ben Elwes in the office. She must want to set him at ease because she meets with him in her office rather than in one of the interview rooms. Grace says that Ben's reaction to his girlfriend Sophie's disappearance is normal. When the interview is done, we get a first hand view of why average citizens are not allowed into the Cold Case Squad offices - Grace does not understand that you need to jump through hoops before you are allowed to read ThatBoardThingee. ThatBoardThingee contains all sorts of useful information about their cases and it is not just for anyone to read. Grace goes off to answer a telephone call and lets Ben read all the case info on ThatBoardThingee. Tsk-tsk. If she had only asked, I could have set up some deterrents for her.

Steven washes his sportscar while Spence and Stella observe from a nearby car. Their surveillance is what you might call open. Steven finishes washing the car, fills a large container with water, puts it into his trunk (boot) and they all drive off. Along the way, Steven's engine overheats and we he needed the container of water for his leaky radiator.

Grace realizes that it was odd for Suzy to be found wearing her pajamas when she was running the water to take a bath. It is unlikely that Suzy put her pajamas on before taking a bath. This suggests that the killler was the one running the water. Grace tests her theory out on Felix, who announces that she doesn't wear pajamas and that she has news about how Philippa Carrington died. Philippa did not die in the canal, the water in her lungs was tap water. Her killer probably drowned her in her bathtub. Her killer? Who am I kidding, not you, I hope. Steven is the killer. They keep showing us images of Steven killing people and doing other assorted evil deeds.

Grace and Felix bring their findings to Boyd. Grace realizes that Steven likes water, he really really likes water.

The next evil thing Steven does is to go swimming at a health club. Spence and Stella look on. Also while Spence and Stella look on, Steven holds a female swimmer underwater and drowns her. Spence has the misfortune of taking a call from his boss at that very moment and jokes that he is having a coffee. Boyd rushes down to the swim center and is not amused.

They all know Steven did it, yet no one saw him do it and there were a lot of people in the pool. Did I mention the two detectives following a suspected murderer? Steven has become more brazen and has deviated from his pattern of picking women out of the local newspaper. They don't say it, but apparently his nine months in jail really did change his life. Steven is sitting pretty, until a very ticked off Boyd has a chat with him in the locker room. Boyd questions him a bit, but decides quickly that the only way to get answers out of Steven is to treat him to his favorite fetish, a face full of water. Boyd grabs Steven and holds his head in a sink full of water. Grace and an officer have to rush in and pull Boyd away, thus saving Steven from drowning.

Back at the ranch, Grace reprimands Boyd for his behavior. She says he has no idea how Steven would have responded to that treatment. He could very well escalate his attacks. Boyd and Grace keep talking about what it could "release in Steven" and let's face it, I think we all know what it could release in him.

Boyd tries a new approach. He goes to see Sarah, the local newspaper reporter he threw out of his office the other day. He tells her he wants her to print the story about the murders and attacks and to name Steven Hunt as the murderer and attacker.

Grace tracks down Steven's father at his fishing hole. Grace tells Donald that his son is some sort of aquapheliac. Okay, so I made up the term, but she does tell him that Steven gets his sexual jollies from water. He likes to drown women, he has done it before and he'll do it again.

Spence and Stella continue to trail Steven. Apparently, the surveillance game is such fun they are joined by Ben Elwes. Yes, it is true, his name does begin with B which may be why he beats Steven up in a glass elevator going down. Stella, and only Stella, rushes to Steven's aid in the busy shopping mall; the mall shoppers don't seem to be concerned. Ben says he is doing it to avenge his girlfriend Sophie Raikes. Steven says he has never heard of her. Steven is grateful for Stella's assistance and tries successfully to get her phone number.

Spence and Boyd (and me) think Stella is insane for giving an insane man her telephone number. Stella wants to set up a sting operation. Boyd says "absolutely not," which must be code for "okay, go ahead and do it." Despite the team's efforts, Steven has other plans and blows off his date with Stella, and instead, Steven meets with Sarah Baker. Sarah is very excited to snag this journalistic coup. It is the story of her career and her life, not coincidentally, it is the end of her career and her life.

The team regroups at the office and Boyd receives the devastating news that Sarah's body has been found. Boyd confesses to Grace that he gave Sarah, Steven's phone number. Grace cannot believe he would do something so idiotic, or dare I say, insane. Boyd blames it on the helpless feeling he had after the woman was murdered in the swimming pool while his detectives watched. To Grace, there was no upside to what Boyd did, either he would encourage vigilantes if Sarah just printed the story or he would put Sarah in danger when she followed up on the information Boyd gave her.

Steven killed Sarah at a rowing shed he used while in school. The tanks, which usually held large amounts of water, were empty for repair work so Steven had to be clever in finding a way to drown Sarah. It turns out all he needed was to hold her down, clip her nostrils and use the container of water he kept in his car to pour over her head. He also took a silver cross on a chain from Sarah that she wore as a memento. The problem is that they need to find a way to connect Steven with Sarah. The water in her lungs is a possibility, as is any trace of her in his car or putting Steven at the scene of the murder.

They get a search warrant for Steven's house. Boyd tries to beat Steven up again. Stella demands his clothes.

Grace does some detective work and we get a rare twist. One of these murders is not like the others, one of these murders just doesn't belong, if you've guessed that Sophie was killed by another, then I can stop singing this song. Ben Elwes was very interested in convincing everyone that Sophie was one of Steven's victims. He gave Sarah Baker information and he attacked Steven in public. Ben killed Sophie when she was leaving him and then buried her in the backyard. How come there's such a fuss made about getting planning council permission for building an addition to your house but no one thinks anything of burying their murder victims in the backyard.

A few lab miracles bring Steven closer to justice. Felix finds that the water that killed Sarah is consistent with the water from Steven's hose and the bird shit on his car is consistent with the birds who lived where Sarah was killed.

They bring Steven's mother into the office to try and figure out why Steven does what he does. His mother is no help, but instead has something like a panic attack when she sees some spilled water. His father finds Sarah's necklace in his tacklebox and goes home to drown Steven in the bathtub.

Maureen must have had something of a premonition because she rushes into the house with Boyd and Grace in tow in a panic. His father thinks that there was no reason for Steven to do what he did and Steven was never going to stop. He says that there was no deep dark secret in Steven's childhood, no family pattern of homicidal or deviant behavior. Nothing that would explain with any satisfaction why Steven did what he did. Donald may have a vested interest in saying this, since fishing is his hobby. Also, Steven and his mother did not have a healthy relationship. According to Bryony Watts, Steven's mother put deep scratches into Steven's new car after arguing with Steven about it. Steven would blame his mother for all of his problems. The parents supported Steven financially and coddled him through his numerous failures. Is Donald sure that there wasn't anything in Steven's past that if examined by the two people who knew him best, might have saved a couple of lives. Donald blamed the police for taking too long in catching Steven. Maybe it wasn't that they were taking too long, but rather that everyone involved was going about everything so poorly.

So, how did the squad do this week? Not that great. First, there was the fiasco at the swimming pool. Spence and Stella should have been paying much closer attention to the sexual predator murderer. Second, there is no excuse for Boyd setting up Sarah Baker to die. Finally, Steven's father had so little faith in the team's abilities, that he killed his own son. Okay, that last one is hard to pin on them, but you get the idea, this was not the Cold Case's Squad finest investigative hour.