Hard Knocks - Recap

The scene opens with a 911 call and a man slumped against the wall dead. Meanwhile, Megan is getting ready for work and Lacey asks who the guy is. Megan asks her what she means and Lacey says that Megan has changed lip shades several times already. She tells her that it is Derek Ames, an FBI agent. Lacey looks him up and says that he is hot. She laughs. Megan gets a call from Peter and says that she has to go. She arrives at the scene of the crime and Peter asks her why she doesn’t answer her cell phone. He says that Derek has been calling telling that he has to cancel their coffee date and said that he doesn’t have Megan’s cell phone number. Megan says that she should have canceled on him first. Peter and Megan go up to the body and Sam says that the victim is Jake Brady, a 17-year-old boy who is far away from home. Megan sees bruising on his torso and finds black light paint on him. They see that there are arrows that are painted with black light paint and follow them to a place where a Rave happened. Megan wonders why no one cared that Jake left and died outside.

Bud and Sam go to the parents of Jake and the mother says that Jake is in his room. The father, Harvey, says that Jake knows not to disobey and says the victim is not his son. However, the mother comes outside and tells Harvey that Jake’s bed is made. At the Medical Center, Ethan comes in and says that there were no other substances and says that his alcohol was .09. Peter finds pills and Megan says that she is going to take them to another source because the drugs are most likely designer drugs. That source is Derek. Megan goes into his office and he apologizes for the coffee appointment. She says that it is no big deal. Megan tells him that she has a drug for him to look at. He asks if she needs anything else and Megan gives him her cell phone number. Megan gets back to the Medical Center and Bud asks what the cause of death is. She says that she is working on it. Ethan shows more bruising and sees ligature marks. Megan sees discrepancies on the time he was reported dead. She says that when Jake made the phone call, he had been dead for 4 hours already.

At the station, Bud tells Sam that the voice on the message and the voice message from earlier don’t match and that they need to find out who the other voice is. Sam says that Jake’s social page doesn’t really tell much. Bud sees the arrow from the crime scene. They follow it to a page where a girl named Jinx is in charge of it. At the Medical Center, Kate tells Todd that someone from Berkley called him and left a message. Megan says that they are getting a late start today. Todd thanks Megan for taking Lacey yesterday and she says that it is not a problem. Curtis comes up to Megan and Peter later and says that Jake died in place. Peter says that Jake’s stomach was empty and he has signs that he overdosed. Megan says that she is happy that Lacey is not at that stage yet and Curtis says that she is going to sneak out and says that they all did it. Megan says that she did once because her mother locked her in her room and made her learn Latin. She says something in Latin and Derek is right behind her speaking it too. Curtis says that they must be good at parties. Derek says that the drug is for ADHD. She says that she will run future tests on it. Derek says that she could have done this herself and she says that he could have called her. He says that he will give her the evidence back if she agrees to dinner. She agrees and Peter and Curtis smile at her.

Bud and Sam bring Jinx in and she says that she doesn’t know who Jake is and says that she doesn’t know anything about it. Bud and Megan go to Harvey’s house and he says that he never called back. Harvey says that he had to check his wife into the hospital. Megan says that they found ADHD medication on Jake and Harvey denies that Jake ever took the medication. Bud plays the recording and Harvey recognizes the voice as Patrick Spradlin. They bring him in and he admits to making the call. He says that he came outside and says that he freaked. However, he is not the one who hung the sign around his neck. He shows a picture that was on the school’s website and it is Jake with a sign around his neck stating “Dead Meat”. Back at the Medical Center, they realize that it was death by asphyxia. Megan looks at Ethan and Curtis to go to the Rave site and look for what could have tied Jake up. They get there and start rummaging through the trash. Ethan finds a feather boa and starts to dance to his own music. Curtis says that he never thought Ethan was that type of person and he says that he partied. They find a cord that matches up with the marks on Jake.

At Todd’s place, Todd tells Lacey that they might be moving to California because he got a job teaching at Berkley and being able to head up the Law department. He says that it is better for him and he says that he wants Lacey to be on board with this too. She says that she doesn’t know what to do. At the station, they find a match to the DNA found on the cord, but the DNA is restricted. Megan goes to Derek’s office and he says that he can’t open up restricted DNA results. He says that she can’t ask him for favors because they aren’t dating. She asks if it would be bad if they were. Later that night, Megan and Derek flirt and Megan gets on top of him. Lacey walks in on them before they go any further. Megan takes Lacey back to Todd’s house and knows that Lacey is planning to go to California. Lacey says that she doesn’t want to go, but feels that it is the best because things have changed. She says that she hasn’t had a real home in a long time. She says that she will talk to her tomorrow.

The next day, Sam and Bud go to see Maxine Hall, editor of the school website. She says that someone hacked her computer and put it into the system. Bud and Sam take Maxine’s computer. At the Medical Center, Megan asks if they got anything else and Ethan says that the DNA has both male and female chromosomes. Megan looks at the school pictures and sees that Maxine has a lot of athletics. However, David Morton, a feminine looking male, is singled out. Bud and Sam talk to him and he says that he tied Jake up and took the picture. They tell David that he killed him because he left him in the position. However, David says that Jake was still moving after he left and he didn’t untie him because he would have hurt him. At the Medical Center, Peter comes in and says that asphyxia wasn’t the cause of death and sees Todd come in. Megan and Todd talk in her office and he says that it is a big opportunity for him. She tells him that he is not going to take Lacey away and he says that when they were married, his career had to take a “back seat” and says that he wants to do this. She asks if he told Kate yet and he says that he doesn’t know what they are yet. Kate comes in and asks what is going on.

Kate and Todd talk and she asks how long has he known about this. He asks if she can come with them. Curtis and Megan talk about what could have killed Jake. Peter asks why Todd is in her office talking to Kate. Megan says that Todd is going to take Lacey to California. She says that one minute she feels like she is good and then someone comes around and punches her in the heart. She realizes what killed Jake. Derek comes in with roses and tells her to call him. Kate comes in and says that Todd wants her to go with him, but she told him that her life is not in California and either is Todd’s. Kate and Megan look at the bruise that is on Jake’s hard and says that he had a heart attack because someone hit him. They see the design of an Honor Society ring, the same as Jake’s father. Bud and Sam go to Harvey’s house and he says that he went back to work. Bud says that he is going to be a father in 7 months. They take his ring and he says that he doesn’t need it anymore. Kate gets into Megan’s office and tells her to call Derek. She says that she can’t lose him. She says that the Honor Society ring is supposed to be worn a different way. In the car, Sam says congratulations on the new life. They get into the station and Megan shows that before graduation, the ring is supposed to be facing toward you. She says that none of the Honor Society are athletes, but one person stands out to have enough strength to hit Jake, Maxine Hall.

Megan talks to Maxine when she gets into the station and Bud says that they know that Maxine was tutoring Jake. She admits that she and Jake kissed. She saw the picture and she went down to save him. She says that she wiped him up and then when he came to, he blames her for doing the thing to him. She says that he told her that he would never kiss a girl who looked like her. That is when she punched him. Derek tells Megan later, that Maxine won’t go to jail because it wasn’t intentional. Megan says that she is thinking about Lacey and not tonight. She says that she has to be around for her and says that she likes him, but it is not going to work. Todd comes over and asks where Lacey is. They argue back and forth and Derek says that Lacey is right behind them. Lacey says that she doesn’t want to go, but doesn’t want to ruin their lives. They ask what she wants and Lacey says that Megan knows the answer to that. The episode ends.

Written By David Sibert

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