Nightshade

Stilwell finds footage of a man in a floppy hat and sunglasses taking a yacht called the Emerald Sea out of the Black Marlin Club moorings on Monday the 19th, one week after Moss was fired. As the Emerald Sea passes in front of the control tower cameras, the man positions himself so that his face is obscured from the camera. A few hours later, when the Emerald Sea returns, the man hides his face again. When Stilwell learns that Moss’s official cause of death has been ruled blunt-force trauma, he begins to suspect that she was killed by a strike to the head with the missing marlin statue. He theorizes that the killer used the Emerald Sea to dump her body in the ocean. Stilwell vows to investigate further to prove that he is a better detective than Ahearn.

Stilwell travels to the mainland to continue his investigation, worrying Dano, who believes that the mainland is a dangerous place. In the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach, Stilwell visits the address on Leigh-Anne Moss’s driver’s license and job application. He interviews her ex-boyfriend Peter Galloway, who claims that they broke up because she had a habit of going after wealthy older men at work. He claims that she was sexually assaulted by her father as a child, and he implies that she has worked as a sex worker. Galloway denies knowing where Moss lived on the island, and he provides a clean alibi for the weekend when Stilwell believes she was murdered.

Stilwell meets with Gary Saunders, head of the Long Beach police dive team and an old mentor. Saunders reveals that Moss’s body was likely underwater for four to six days before it was discovered and that the body was wrapped in a sail bag. Stilwell realizes that this means the body was likely dropped from a sailing yacht like the Emerald Sea. Saunders warns Stilwell to drop the case, but Stilwell refuses.

Stilwell receives a call from Tom Dunne, the officer attacked by Merris Spivak the week prior. Dunne denies knowing Spivak but reveals that he worked in a prison where Spivak was incarcerated. Dunne seems unwilling to discuss the reason he was transferred to Catalina.

Stilwell travels to Marina Del Rey to meet Mason Colbrink, owner of the Emerald Sea. Colbrink explains that he was hosting a birthday party for his wife on the mainland during the weekend the statue went missing. He denies knowing Leigh-Anne Moss but repeats rumors about her habit of flirting with older men. He is shocked to learn that someone took the Emerald Sea out on Monday the 19th and claims that it was done without his permission. When Colbrink grows frustrated with the questioning, Stilwell reveals the truth about Moss’s death. Colbrink agrees to let Stilwell search the Emerald Sea to determine if the sail bag is missing but insists on accompanying him.

On the drive to the yacht club, Colbrink laments the damage that would accrue to the club’s reputation if a murder happened on the premises, infuriating Stilwell. Colbrink also admits to staying on the boat with a woman who is not his wife over the previous weekend. Stilwell searches the Emerald Sea and finds that the sail bag in question has tight fold lines, suggesting that it has been recently replaced. He also finds that the extra anchors stored on the ship match the size and brand found wrapped around Moss’s body. Knowing that there may be evidence onboard, he asks Colbrink not to allow anyone on the ship until a full search is conducted.

Stilwell decides to interview the sole crewmember of the Emerald Sea, Duncan Forbes. Forbes lives in the smaller town of Two Harbors, on the other side of the island, the only town on Catalina besides Avalon. Because he has an outstanding warrant for breaking probation, Stilwell is able to arrest Forbes and call him in for questioning. While waiting for deputies to bring Forbes in, Stilwell cleans out the interrogation room, which has long doubled as the station’s lost property office. Stilwell visits Tash Dano and is caught leaving by reporter Lionel McKey, who questions him about the buffalo mutilation and reports of local objections to the planned construction of a Ferris wheel. Stilwell refuses to discuss either topic.

When he returns to the station, Stilwell is annoyed to find that Lampley has put Forbes in a seat facing away from the camera and handcuffed him incorrectly. Stilwell moves Forbes into the correct seat and uncuffs him, confident that he could take Forbes down if necessary. Forbes insists that the arrest warrant is invalid because California has legalized marijuana in the time since his original arrest. Stilwell explains that the warrant is related to his probation, not the drug charge. He convinces Forbes to waive his right to an attorney in exchange for not formally arresting him. Forbes denies knowing Leigh-Anne Moss and provides an alibi for the weekend when Moss was killed. Stilwell believes that Forbes was not involved.

Stilwell removes Forbes from his list of suspects and begins to treat him as a witness. Forbes confirms that he sailed the boat with Colbrink from Catalina to Marina Del Rey the previous Monday. He admits that Colbrink was with a woman he called “Breezy.” Stilwell shows Forbes the suspicious footage from the Black Marlin Club; Forbes does not believe that the man boarding the Emerald Sea is Colbrink. He suggests that the man is attempting to steal from the ship and reveals that the sail bag and anchor were recently stolen. He replaced them using an account in Colbrink’s name. While cleaning, Forbes noticed a missing mop head and an empty bottle of cleaning solution.

As promised, Stilwell calls Forbes’s probation officer in Los Angeles and convinces him to drop the warrant. The officer agrees, mistakenly thinking that Stilwell has a position of authority on the mainland. Stilwell receives a call from Ahearn, who is furious after visiting Moss’s ex-boyfriend Peter Galloway and learning that Stilwell was there first. Stilwell and Ahearn’s commanding officer, Captain Corum, calls and demands to know why Stilwell is investigating Moss’s case. Stilwell explains the connection to the Black Marlin Club theft and lays out his theory that Moss was killed in the club with the statue and that her body was taken out of the harbor by the Emerald Sea. Corum puts Stilwell on the case alongside Ahearn and Sampedro.

Sampedro picks up Stilwell at the Long Beach harbor. On the drive to Los Angeles, Sampedro insists that he won’t be influenced by Ahearn’s feud with Stilwell and is dedicated to solving the Moss murder. To solidify Sampedro’s trust, Stilwell reveals the source of the feud: He formally accused Ahearn of ignoring crucial details in a case because the suspect was a former deputy. Stilwell admits that he should have gone to Captain Corum first. At the Los Angeles office, the team divides their duties. Ahearn and Sampedro plan to execute the forensics on the Emerald Sea and search Moss’s cell records. Stilwell arranges to investigate Moss’s life on Catalina and get into the Black Marlin Club.