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Cast[]

Main cast[]

Featured cast[]

Plot[]

"According to Azoff's research, the guitar once belonged to someone named Eric Clapton. Have you heard of him?"
— Holmes
At night, finishing a drywall job, Darren Azoff loads his pickup truck and is attacked by two men. Pushing him into the loading bay, Reese Vennek shoots him in the foot and asks where the Lady Frances is. Darren denies knowing anything about Frances which leads Vennek to continue to shoot him. Attached to a telephone pole over the truck is a BulletPoint listening device and at BulletPoint's office, analyst Cosmo Dellis listens to Darren's torture. At the NYPD boxing gym, Holmes and Shinwell box and then stop to play chess. (♫ Mylos - Body Fit ♫) Explaining that this trains the body to shift skills quickly, Holmes receives a text and heads to Darren's crime scene. Meeting Captain Gregson and Watson, Gregson explains that BulletPoint is in a pilot phase and identified the spot where the shooting took place.



S05E17-At crime scene
Our crime scene has literally driven away.
However, no evidence is found at the location leading Holmes to surmise that the shooting happened inside a vehicle. Knowing that the "Frances" referred to in the recording is in grave danger, they head to BulletPoint's office. Listening to the shooting recording with BulletPoint staff Thea Moser and Cosmo, they are also joined by Emily Gray, chief of staff to city councilman Slessinger and, Michael, who is on the mayor's staff. Having confirmed the shooting location from a shell casing, Moser and Cosmo explain that BulletPoint listens constantly, but only keeps recordings just before and after a gun shot. Moser provides copies of all of BulletPoint's data for Holmes' analysis. Leaving, Gregson tells Holmes and Watson that Slessinger is running for mayor and has accused the current mayor of not being tough on crime. As such, he's highly critical of initiatives such as BulletPoint.



S05E17-At Bulletpoint
If there are no incidents, then it just gets deleted.
After receiving a call from Detective Guzman that Shinwell narrowly survived a drive-by shooting, Watson heads to Shinwell's apartment where he casually says it's part of being in a gang. Only noticing that the car was a 2000's green Chevy, he asks Watson to not investigate the shooting. At the Brownstone, Watson finds Holmes has been calling various contractors to hear the sound their trucks make in order to match it to the sounds he heard Darren's truck make. Watson tells him about the green Chevy that shot at Shinwell as Detective Bell calls to report that a contracting company reported a stolen pickup truck belonging to dry waller Darren Azoff. Questioning Darren's wife, she identifies him from the BulletPoint recording and says he was having an affair but doesn't know the woman's name. From PVC piping Holmes finds in the Azoff's home, Bell searches cable companies for other residences in Darren's name.



S05E17-Ms Azoff
She'd be my best guess.
Finding Darren's other residence, Marjorie admits to being the woman Darren was having an affair with. Not knowing who Frances is and after being told the attack on Darren, she reluctantly lets them into her house. Holmes notices the home has recently been broken into and inside, many stolen items are found covered in drywall dust. Realizing Darren was stealing from homes he was drywalling, Marjorie doesn't know if any of the items Darren stole were taken. Seeing a photograph, Holmes believes the item that was taken was a vintage guitar that Darren was planning to sell. Stating Lady Frances was the name of the guitar, and not a person, he says it's worth $5M.



S05E17-Holmes guitar pic
We've been working under a misconception.
At the 11th Precinct, Holmes briefs Gregson, Gray and Michael on their findings and that the Lady Frances was a guitar stolen from Eric Clapton. Relieved that a woman's life isn't at stake, Michael and Gray argue over releasing this information to the press, each wanting to take political advantage. Reminding them Azoff's killer is still at large, a witness saw a man leave Azoff's with a guitar case just after BulletPoint recorded the attack on him. The recording also revealed that whoever hired Azoff's killer was the last owner of Lady Frances. Intending to track down the owner, Gregson asks Gray to tell her boss, Slessinger, that his criticism of the police isn't appreciated and that if he's elected mayor, they'll need to work together. Guzman arrives at the precinct and shows Holmes that the gun used in the drive-by matches that used in the murder of SBK gang member Jameel Clark twelve year ago.



S05E17-Guzman Holmes
That sounds personal.
Guzman indicates he won't tell Shinwell, fearing that he knew Jameel and might seek retribution. At the Brownstone, Watson meets with a guitar expert who confirms from the picture that Azoff had the authentic Lady Frances. Relating that he saw the guitar being played at a show by Joshua Chris a decade before, he suggests Watson speak to Chris' agent, Herman Wolf. On a college campus, Holmes speaks to Jameel Clark's younger brother, Damon. He claims to have not heard nor seen anything, even though Jameel was shot just outside his bedroom. As Holmes presses for details, Damon indicates he fears retribution if he talks and isn't concerned that Shinwell may be in danger. Having confirmed from Joshua Chris that Wolf was the owner of the Lady Frances, Wolf is shown that Azoff did dry walling at his studio and that a guitar is missing from the wall. Uncooperative until Holmes plays the recording of Darren's torture, Wolf admits that he was the owner.



S05E17-Watson guitar expert
I stared at her for over an hour.
Claiming that he hired someone to find the guitar, not to kill anyone, he says his man went to Azoff's house but the guitar was already gone and says he'll contact him. At his home, Cosmo holds the Lady Frances and speaks to a man. (♫ The Frost - It's So Hard ♫) Indicating that he heard Darren give his torturer his address, Cosmo beat the torturer to Azoff's house and took the guitar. Saying he deleted the address from the BulletPoint recording, he offers to sell the guitar and split the money with the man. Handing him the guitar, the man beats Cosmo to death with it. At the precinct, Gregson shows Holmes and Watson a TV interview in which Slessinger maligns the current mayor for not supporting programs like BulletPoint, which he credits with finding Darren's murderer, Reese Vennek. In "the box", told of the evidence against him, Vennek provides the name of his accomplice and the location of Darren's body.



S05E17-With Wolf
The people are gonna want someone to pay.
Knowing Wolf gave him up, Vennek says that Wolf emphatically wanted whoever took his guitar killed. Indicating he's only admitting to killing Darren, Gregson, Holmes and Watson are confused when Vennek says he found a second man dead, Cosmo. Arriving at Cosmo's house, Holmes explains to Bell and Watson that Cosmo must have heard Azoff's address from BulletPoint and got to the guitar before Vennek could. Vennek found Cosmo had the guitar when he learned that Cosmo bought a vintage guitar case to keep the Lady Frances in. Although the scene has been cleaned, a pick guard with blood on it is found under the stove. Believing that the Lady Frances was used to beat Cosmo, which would have destroyed the guitar, they're confused why Cosmo was killed. At the boxing gym, Holmes tells Shinwell that the gun used for the drive-by matches that used to kill Jameel.



S05E17-At Cosmos
He's died the most rock-and-roll death imaginable.
Shinwell says that he and Jameel held up a liquor store in Atlantic City with some friends Jameel knew from there. The store owner killed one of the friends and he believes that the friend's brother killed Jameel in NYC as retribution. At BulletPoint, Bell and Watson accuse Moser of killing Cosmo to cover up his tampering and theft which if revealed, would severely hurt their chances of winning a contract with the city. Moser shows them a report she's drawn up to send to the city that Cosmo was also creating fake gunshot incidents. An ex-cop, Moser is mortified at Cosmo's crimes which leads Bell and Watson to wonder why he was adding the fake incidents. The next morning at the Brownstone, Holmes wakes Watson by loudly playing the gunshot that Cosmo copied many times into the BulletPoint recordings.



S05E17-Bulletpoint fraud
I'm doing the right thing.
Having stayed up all night, he tells Watson that he's found Jameel's killer. Showing her a map and handing her a file, he's also found Cosmo's killer who he says will be arriving at the precinct in a hour and asks her to handle it. Meeting Bell and Gregson at the precinct, they are joined by Councilman Slessinger who they accuse of killing Cosmo with the Lady Frances. Showing him a map of NYC where Cosmo planted fake gunshots, they note the gunshots are in areas the councilman claimed were crime-ravaged and had promised to clean up if elected. Cosmo's father is one of Slessinger's major supporters and knowing Cosmo since his youth, he employed him to plant the phony gunshots to help him win the election. However, knowing Cosmo was a guitar nut and realizing he stole the Lady Frances, he knew that if Cosmo was caught by police, he might confess to helping Slessinger rig the election.



S05e17-Slessinger finale
It is a '57 Desperado, same model and year.
Arriving at Cosmo's home, Slessinger killed him with the Lady Frances, eliminating two threats to being elected. Outraged and threatening to fire them all when he's elected mayor, Gregson asks to see Slessinger's hands. Told that beating someone while holding a guitar neck would result in cuts, Slessinger's hands exhibit cuts that match the fret width of the Lady Frances. Told that blood was found at Cosmo's murder scene that wasn't his, Gregson gives Slessinger a warrant for his DNA. Holmes surprises Damon Clark on campus, who doesn't want to speak to Holmes. Telling him to listen, Holmes relates Shinwell's story why Jameel was killed which he's found Shinwell heard from a fellow inmate when in prison. Having found that Damon's sister owns a car matching the description of the one used in the drive-by, Holmes accuses Damon of shooting at Shinwell because it was Shinwell who killed Jameel.



S05E17-Slessinger green
You got rid of him.

Music[]

  • Mylos - Body Fit plays at the episode beginning as Holmes and Shinwell "chess box."
  • The Frost - It's So Hard plays as Cosmo takes the Lady Frances out of the guitar case and talks to his killer.

Trivia[]

  • Although Eric Clapton did have a guitar stolen from him, it wasn't a 1957 Carfax Desperado but a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard which was stolen in 1966. Clapton also didn't tour in 1971, the time that Holmes indicates the Desperado was stolen.
  • The character Thea Moser is played by Michele Hicks, wife of Jonny Lee Miller.

Quotes[]

I am not holding a $600,000 guitar right now.

— Watson

Gallery[]

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