The Sixteen Byte Data Chip and the Brown-eyed Fox - Recap

At the office, E.L. is posing as a reporter on the phone to scam his way out of being evicted from his housing project. Lionel comes in, types up a report, and notes that E.L. is jumping back forth from reality to fantasy too much, and that he should devote his energy to legitimate endeavors. E.L. notes that Lionel has some issues with reality himself, but Lionel insists that Matt Savage novels are based on reality. He gives E.L. some boring cases to handle and leaves. E.L. decides to read the most recent Mark Savage novel instead. A young singer, Lola Marshall, comes in to hire the agency to find her missing brother Norman, a computer programmer. She explains that she lost him a week ago, and then a few days later three men abducted her, took her to a room, and put Norman on the phone. Norman said she'd be okay as long as she did what she was told. Lola went to the police and gave them the phone number she heard, based on the dial tone. The police tracked the phone number to a general surety company, but nobody there claimed to know anything about Norman. E.L. immediately takes the case, explaining that he goes on his gut feelings.



Lola drives them to the company and E.L. calls the security guard, setting himself up as a police sergeant on an investigation. He then goes in, unaware that two men are watching him. They make a call to someone that Lola has hired another detective. Meanwhile, E.L. notices that the head programmer, Lieber, is working with his people and desperate to stop something that is costing them millions. E.L. talks to Robin Colby, the office manager. She claims she's never heard of Norman Marshall and E.L. asks her to go and ask the other employees. Once she's gone, E.L. calls Lionel at the office and pretends to be a client, and then informs Lionel they have a new client. He asks Lionel to meet them at lunch. Robin returns and says that no one has heard of Norman.

At lunch, Lionel admits that there's not much they can do, Disappointed, Lola notes that she hired the Harry Vernon Agency first and they also didn't come up with anything. E.L. insists on helping her over Lionel's objections and offers to pay for lunch. He then steps away and pretends to be a gourmet chef who received a bad dish so he can get a free meal. When E.L. returns, he discovers that Lionel was paged to the back alley. When he goes to investigate, he discovers that one of the men watching the company has captured Lionel and has him in a limo, and the man captures E.L. as well.



Their abductor, Cletus, offers them a deal. He offers them $5,000 to pretend to look for Norman, and notes that he'll kill them and Lola if they don't. As they go, E.L. scuffs the tire. Once Cletus leaves, E.L. explains that he took the money because there was no other way out. Lionel refuses to drop the case and E.L. agrees, much to Lionel's surprise. However, he wonders if E.L. has any romantic interest in Lola. E.L. denies it in Matt Savage prose style, and explains that he scuffed the tire so they could find it at the hotel. Lionel has made note of the brand of whiskey Cletus was drinking, and stole a button from the car to identify it.

The partners go to see Lola and a college linebacker, Jim, runs interference. Lola tells him to let them in and Jim leaves for surgery, and Lola explains that he's a surgeon. She angrily demands to know why they left her and explains that she's hired someone else. However, she apologizes when they explain that they were abducted as well.



Cletus goes to see his boss, Walter Burton, and tells them that he paid off the agency. Once he leaves, Burton goes back to playing poker with his friends and discusses how Victor is down in Panama, worried about the $6 million in stock he's lost and how he'll soon be losing more.

As they continue their investigation, E.L. wonders if Jim is involved with Lola, and Lionel figures he's jealous. They find the car and identify it as belonging to Walter Burton. Lionel knows he's a pro football owner, and E.L. goes in posing as a flower arranger, with Lionel behind him. However, Cletus is in the lobby, spots them, and gives chase. The partners duck into a room and apparently slip out the window. Once Cletus leaves, Lionel and E.L. emerge from the closet and figure Cletus is going after Lola. They follow him and get the attention of some police. The police follow them to Lola's house and Cletus and his fellow thug are forced to escape without her. The police come in and insist on giving them a ticket, and wonder if Lionel is nuts. The partners figure that Cletus disposed of Harry Vernon and take Lola with them to the detective's office.



E.L. picks the lock and Lionel finds a recording device that Vernon used to record confidential calls. They play back the recordings and learn that Vernon was talking to Victor Molina in Panama. Molina says that he's pleased with what Vernon dug up, will pay him the agreed-upon fee, and will be arriving the next day. Lionel finds newspaper clippings about Molina involved in tax evasion. He wonders why Burton is involved and figures the company computer has somehow been rigged. Lionel explains that he's an experienced computer programmer from his days as a broker and E.L. says they'll go in and have him dig around in the computer.

Back at the company after hours, E.L. talks their way past the security guard by claiming Lionel is a police captain. Lionel starts overacting and E.L. gets him out before he messes things up. Lionel confirms that they've lost $8 million, and a genius programmer set up the computer to liquidate the company. Using his accounting skills, Lionel tracks the top earner in the company and gets his address but not his name.



Burton and his partners hook up a videoconference to Molina in South America. Molina knows that they're gutting his company, and figures they'll call the police on him if he comes to deal with it. He explains that he's got enough assets to remain where he is, but they figure he's broke. Burton and his people boast that they used a computer programmer to hack the system. Molina responds by saying he'll be back to get everything they stole, and if they turn him in then he'll tell the police how they killed Norman and where they hid the body. Once Molina signs off, Burton admits that Cletus killed Norman by accident and it was a mistake.

At the office, Lionel gets his precision target pistol ready in its box. They then go to the parking garage where the car is and determine it belongs to Molina. However, Cletus spotted them on the surveillance camera and is ready for them. He takes them up to Molina's apartment and Lionel tries to bluff their way out. Cletus doesn't believe him, searches Lionel and E.L., and orders Lola to strip. E.L. tries to bluff by claiming they're CIA operatives, but Cletus doesn't believe it. He ties up the partners and puts them in the bedroom with Lola. They get free and E.L. kisses Lola. She wonders why he did it, and then asks him to untie her hands. They kiss again and Lionel tells them to save it for later. He tells E.L. to distract Cletus while he gets his gun. E.L. starts an argument and when Cletus' thug comes to investigate, and Lionel goes for his target pistol. However, Cletus already removed it from the box and points it at him.



The next day, Molina arrives and finds Cletus waiting for him in the building's parking garage. He shows Molina Vernon's corpse in the back of his trunk, and takes Vernon upstairs to sign over his company to Burton and the others. They explain that they had Norman killed and buried in an orange grove, and they plan to force Molina to participate in killing Lola, Lionel, and E.L. and burying them in the same place. As Cletus takes the trio out with Molina, Lionel points out that if they don't move his car, the police will realize something is going on. When Cletus' partner goes to move it, Lionel hits the gate activator remote in Molina's car, locking the other man out. E.L. and Lola attack Cletus and disarm him, and E.L. gets the gun and takes Cletus captive.

Later, Lola explains that she's leaving town to visit family and say she might be back in a month or two. She admits that E.L. is a remarkable man, but notes he has all the traits of a con man. However, she thanks him for being there when she needed him. He offers her his condolences about Norman and they kiss one last time. E.L. returns to the office and explains to Lionel that Lola is gone.



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