Red Moon - Recap

A gala party was being held at a very expensive car show room in Sacramento one night, complete with Dom Perignon champagne and pricey Russian caviar, when a rich man who was attending decided to go open the trunk of his bright red Ferrari on display in the show room. A female companion at his side gasped in shock and dropped her flute of champagne when he opened the car's trunk: inside was curled the very dead body of one of the car dealership's prize salespeople, a lovely woman named Lizelle Douglas. Who could have killed her?

Agents Jane and Lisbon perused the site, asking questions of the salesmen present, one in particular named Kevin who seemed particularly shaken at Lizelle's death. Jane took an interest in this young man, questioning him closely to find out if he had been involved in any way with the dead woman when she was alive. Kevin admitted that he had found Lizelle very attractive, had asked her out several times and had been soundly rejected which angered him, but he said that he had nothing to do with her death. Jane was still suspicious but he proceeded to question the rest of the salesmen. He found out that several of the male salesmen had hit on Lizelle, but she had already had a boyfriend named Jeff Sparhawk, a would be struggling musician. The two lived together, Lizelle making most of the money between the pair, and she had brought home many expensive gifts from admirers both from work and from car buyers, but her heart had apparently been with Sparhawk.

Jane and Lisbon went to Sparhawk's apartment building when they heard what sounded like a gunshot. Drawing their own guns, they broke down the door to Sparhawk's apartment only to find the man smashing a guitar which he admitted to them belonged to him. His tear streaked face showed the agents that he was deep in grief over his dead girlfriend and they were gentle when they questioned the man about himself and the dead woman. He told the agents that he had loved Lizelle very deeply and had wanted to marry her, but they both had agreed to marry only after they had achieved financial security first. Jane noticed an expensive sketching hanging on one wall and asked Sparhawk about it. The man said that Larry Mashburn of Mashburn Avionics had given the picture to Lizelle, had admired the woman and had wanted to sleep with her but was refused. Sparhawk did admit to being jealous of Mashburn but did not think that it had gone any farther than Mashburn giving Lizelle the picture. Sparhawk began to cry when Lisbon talked to him, so the agents left him to his private grief.

Lisbon and Jane decided to track down the elusive Mashburn and question him about his involvement in Lizelle's life and death. The man was found in a local restaurant and being the generous playboy that he was, treated the agents to a lavish lunch. He admitted that he had been fascinated by the strong willed Lizelle and had given her that sketching, had tried to get her to sleep with him, but said that that was as far as it had gone, nothing more. He verbally sparred with Jane when Jane continued to press that Mashburn himself may have killed Lizelle, but did not admit to it. Jane was not convinced of his innocence and vowed to continue his investigation of the man. Lisbon was put off by Mashburn's pursuance of herself, but she knew what sort of man he was and just ignored his verbal advances and facial hints.

Back at the car dealership, Jane and Lisbon walked in on two salesmen arguing about something. Kevin had apparently stolen the other salesman's beef barley soup and the man was angry about it. Kevin told him he was nuts and to get over himself. Jane found the missing soup container hidden behind others in the lunchroom refrigerator and handed it to the upset man. He told the men to try to get along since they had just lost one of their fellow salespeople. Jane privately decided to watch Kevin because he felt there was something fishy about the man.

Jane stood at the pier where he and Jane hours earlier had seen Mashburn off in a speedboat. Jane decided to fish while waiting for Mashburn to return with his blond girlfriend, which they did a bit later on. The two men walked and talked, walking up to the posh eatery they had dined at earlier, taking time to sit amongst the diners and brag to each other about their accomplishments. Jane waxed elegant, calling attention to himself while doing parlor tricks, drawing the diners' rapt attention and enthusiastic applause. Walking to Mashburn's bright yellow Ferrari, Jane had Mashburn blindfold him and announced that he would drive Mashburn around the parking lot. The two men got into the flashy car and true to his word, Jane drove the car blindfolded purely on Mashburn's reactions. He brought the car to a screeching halt and thundering applause once more. He was walking away from the car when he heard a loud gasp: he had forgotten to set the parking brake and the car rolled over the cliff and into the ocean, smashing on the rocks below. It was a total loss and Mashburn decided to go to the car dealership where Lizelle had been found dead, to buy another car for himself.

Meanwhile, at Sparhawk's apartment building, the police were surrounding a very distraught Sparhawk who brandished a long sword around himself. The agents surrounded him, guns drawn, shouting, when Lisbon approached him, telling him to put down the weapon, that she wanted to talk to him, which she did gently when he surrendered. He said that he missed Lizelle, that he had wanted death by cop, but Lisbon talked him into taking another way out. He began to cry and said that he needed help, which Lisbon would make sure he would get.

At the car dealership, Mashburn and Jane tried out new cars, not finding one to either man's satisfaction, when salesman Kevin came out, telling the men that he had a very special car that he thought Mashburn would like. He led the men back into the back room where a bright fire red Ferrari stood, giving its selling points when Jane pointed out a ding in the front bumper. Kevin turned red, began to visibly panic, as Jane said that Kevin had killed Lizelle in revenge for turning him down, for being a better car salesperson that he was. Kevin broke and ran, but was stopped and handcuffed, taken away.

A very thankful and grateful Mashburn gave agent Jane a bright red Ferrari of his very own and when Jane drove it up to the FBI headquarters, Lisbon was at the front of the building. Jane called her down and as she admired the car, he invited her to hop in and take a ride with him. She did so and he took her down town to a posh eatery for lunch. Lisbon told him that he was going to start thinking he was Larry Mashburn, but Jane just said no, that would not happen and he smiled.

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