25 Alive

Lindsay drives to an appointment with her therapist, Dr. Sidney Greene. She describes the trauma of her dog’s illness and of discovering that her former partner, Jacobi, was murdered.

Dr. Greene diagnoses Lindsay with PTSD and recommends therapy and antidepressants. Lindsay rejects retiring or transferring, but she agrees to therapy, deciding to postpone medication. He advises her to tell her husband Joe about the diagnosis.

At home, Lindsay finds her daughter Julie upset about their dog Martha. An update from the vet shows no change in Martha’s condition. Rich texts that the undercover visit to Julio’s was a dead end. When Joe comes home, Lindsay breaks down and tells him that Jacobi has been murdered.

The next morning, Lindsay speaks with Jacobi’s girlfriend, Miranda Spencer. Miranda reveals that Jacobi had recently received a $1 million settlement, providing a possible motive for his murder, but won’t tell Lindsay what it is for. She also tells Lindsay that Jacobi backed up his phone’s photos to hard drives he kept in his sock drawer. They agree to meet, and Lindsay asks her to bring the drives.

Lindsay meets Miranda, who reveals that Jacobi’s birdwatching was a cover for his private investigation into a cold case of a teenage girl’s murder in Golden Gate Park. He believed that years ago, while walking in the park early one morning, he witnessed the killer disposing of the body. On the hard drives, Lindsay finds blurry photos of an unidentified man near the pond, whom she suspects killed both the girl and Jacobi.

Two days after the murders, Lindsay’s task force meeting yields no new leads. Lindsay compiles the official murder books while her colleague, Brenda Fregosi, helps sort through mostly unhelpful tips from a public hotline.

Lindsay goes to Julio’s bar to investigate the matchbook lead. The bartender does not recognize Jacobi’s photo and confirms that the bar gives out matchbooks freely. Lindsay leaves with no new information.

Lindsay receives a call from her friend Cindy, who has a lead but refuses to share it over the phone, insisting on a meeting at a diner early the next morning.

At home, Joe tells Lindsay and Julie that Martha has tumors along her spine and requires surgery. To comfort Julie, Joe arranges for them to bring one of Martha’s favorite toys to the vet clinic.

At Grumpy Lynn’s Diner, Cindy reveals her lead: the murder of a college student, Sadie Witt, in Verne, Nevada. A note found on her body read, “I said. You dead” (102), confirming a link between the murders. Cindy is flying to Nevada soon to meet the lead detective.

In Verne, Nevada, Cindy interviews Detective Sergeant Steven Wilson off the record. He details the Sadie Witt case: She was stabbed after her father, who was in prison for abusing her, transferred the family home to her to stop her from filing a lawsuit. Wilson has no leads and is surprised to learn of two San Francisco homicides with the same signature.

San Francisco Chief of Police Charles Clapper convenes the task force to announce Jacobi’s funeral arrangements.. Clapper reads from a note written by Jacobi requesting a small service and expressing his love for Miranda.

On the day of the funeral, Lindsay, Claire, Yuki, Cindy, and Rich Conklin attend the service at St. Mark’s Church. Pastor Casey Elliot begins the service and calls Miranda to speak.

Miranda delivers a moving eulogy about her love for Jacobi. Overcome with grief, she nearly collapses and is helped back to her seat by her daughters. The pastor then invites Lindsay to speak.

Lindsay gives a eulogy for her partner and mentor, recalling how Jacobi walked her down the aisle at her wedding when her own father failed to appear. She concludes by calling him a hero.

After the funeral, Cindy shares details of the Sadie Witt murder with Lindsay, including that Sadie acquired the family home just before she was killed. Lindsay theorizes that the killer targets people who have recently received a financial windfall, realizing that all three victims—Witt, Robinson, and Jacobi—fit this pattern.

The four friends—Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Yuki—gather at Susie’s Café, their unofficial headquarters. The owner offers condolences and a round of drinks on the house.

The women toast Jacobi’s memory. Yuki becomes emotional, and they share fond memories of Jacobi. They clasp hands in a moment of shared grief.

After dinner, Claire spontaneously joins a limbo contest at the restaurant. The rare moment of joy lifts their spirits.

Professional killer Tiago Garza surveils a house from a gardener’s truck, having earlier deceived a police officer with a fake ID. He watches his targets, a man and a woman, leave the house separately, each followed by a police car.

Tiago Garza breaks into the target house and hides, prepared to wait for hours until the couple returns.

Garza hears the couple come home and go through their nightly routine. After 1:00 am, he enters the master bedroom and shoots the sleeping couple. He decapitates them with a machete, places their heads in the bathtub, and meticulously cleans the scene before leaving.

On Sunday morning, Lindsay and Julie visit Martha, who is awake after her surgery. After dropping Julie at the babysitter’s, Lindsay decides to run some errands. While driving, she is intercepted and pulled over by Lieutenant Brady, who orders her to follow him to a double homicide.

Lindsay follows Brady to a large crime scene, where she will act as the primary investigator until a fellow investigator, Cappy McNeil, arrives. Yuki Castellano is already there securing warrants.

Inside the house, Crime Scene Unit (CSU) Director Eugene Hallows shows Lindsay and Brady the gruesome scene: two decapitated bodies in the master bedroom. Hallows identifies the victims as Judge Martin Orlofsky, the judge from the Dario Garza trial, and his wife, Sandra. Lindsay realizes the murder is a message related to Yuki’s case.

Lindsay waits in a squad car until Cappy arrives to relieve her. She confirms the victims’ identities before leaving.

Back at the homicide squad, Lindsay, Sonia Alvarez, and Rich Conklin review the crime scene photos. Rich reports a lead: An officer on the judge’s protection detail had questioned a suspicious gardener whose ID belonged to a deceased person.