Women's Murder Club: The Past Comes Back to Haunt You (Episode 7)

And here I am, round two of Women’s Murder Club. Let’s all count our Angie Harmon blessings!

The entire club is at the crime scene, even Cindy, to see dead guy of the week number two: Ben Cooper, a warehouse janitor. When the girls are done their powwow, Cindy gets into her car which is harbouring a visitor! His name is Jamie Galvan, son of Paul Galvin. Galvin Senior is on death row for raping and killing Assistant District Attorney Tracy Wellings. Ben Cooper was the star witness for the case. Jamie claims that he wanted to recant his testimony – he published this on an internet site devoted to his dad’s case. He was actually meeting Cooper to talk about it, but when he got there, he was already dead. He tried to help, but it was too late. All he managed to do is to get a little blood on his shirt. But Jamie recognised Cindy from her picture next to her by-lines. He’s read her stuff and knows she’s all about fairness and justice. So, not knowing what else to do, he snuck into her car and scared her half to death. She agrees to help him, mostly because he’s, like, cute, and stuff.

Cindy goes to her club friends and they get all overprotective. He did sort of carjack her after all. So suspicion shifts to him: he had the means, motive and opportunity. Lindsay and Jacobi try to track him down. But before they manage to get to the door of his apartment building, it blows up. I *hate* when that happens. But don’t worry, Jamie was not in the building at the time.

Meanwhile, Jill goes to see his dad on death row. He explains that he was a drunkard and actually doesn’t remember what happened that day. He knew Tracy because they lived in the same building, and when he was having trouble getting a job because of his DUI spotted record, Tracy offered to write him a character reference. He got a little crush on her and sent her flowers a few times, but he says he stopped when she didn’t respond to his advances. He seems sweet, but he’s resigned to dying. Jill sees the goodness in his eyes (and the shameful uselessness of his lawyer) and decides to do everything in her power to delay his execution until they get to the bottom of this. However, she’s having some trouble: the transcripts of the case are missing, and it was her DA office that helped him get put away. So, she asks Hanson to file a stay of execution since she’s sorta on the wrong side of the fence, and he does. I’m assuming the writers want us to warm up to him and see he has a heart. He’s not just a misogynist pig that thinks with his dumb stick *all the time.* I’m touched. Really. However, the judge isn’t: motion denied. Cindy is upset, so much so she is arrested for contempt. Apparently, if you’re not a lawyer, you shouldn’t be arguing the merits of a case in open court. Who knew? Anyhow, during the proceedings, since they were both on the original case, Denise and an old school lawyer, Mr Pratt, are defending the DA’s office. While Pratt argued their side, he mentions one of the things the case rested on was the fact that Ben Cooper gave an exact description of Paul Galvin. At this, Denise’s right eyebrow shoots right up. Next thing you know, Jill gets an “anonymous” envelop with the transcripts of the original case on her doorstep. Jill confronts Denise who says Pratt took Ben’s deposition, he may have botched things up to cover up the fact he had an affair with Tracy. Denise swears she thought Paul was the guy at the time. She also threatens to tell Jill’s boyfriend about her indiscretion with Hanson if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut about Denise’s little tip. Woah. How very evil. That’s like Dallas evil.

Before the arrest for contempt mishap, Cindy had trapped Jamie into meeting Lindsay and Jacobi. He was not pleased – he gave Lindsay a black eye while trying to run away. Oops. He’s arrested but quickly cleared of Ben’s murder. His DNA was compared to the DNA found under Ben’s fingernails: no match. However, the stuff under his fingernails was a match to blood from an as of yet to be identified donor found at Tracy’s original crime scene. It seems whoever killed Tracy tried and succeeded in keeping Ben quiet.

While Lindsay and Jacobi have moved on to pressing Mr Pratt for information, Jill went to take an affidavit from Tracy’s building Super. He invites her in, and as she walks in, he leans down to move some luggage out of the way. She notices some scratches on the back of his neck. Turns out, Ben had epithelials under all of his fingers except his thumbs. This is probably because he was holding back the assailant the same way you would choke a person – the assailant would have scratches only on the back of his neck… just like this guy. Now comes a whole bunch of suspense and nail biting anticipation, but just as the Super starts getting his murderer look on, Lindsay and Jacobi walk in and he confesses to killing Tracy and Ben and blowing up Jamie’s house, seconds away from Paul’s execution time. He’s just your run of the mill cold blooded rapist/killer.

As for Lindsay and Tom, well, she had a little bit of a pregnancy scare – but it turned out to be just anaemia. Tom, of course, knows nothing of this. Lindsay only told Claire about her horizontal monkey dance and her recently missed period. Claire was all, “Oh no you di-ent!” But Lindsay also expressed some sadness over a missed opportunity with the former love of her life. So Claire gives her hope: things will eventually work out, not now – but soon!

Alright, now I’m out. My left arm is cramping up. I got my flu shot today and my limb is not pleased with me. I’m not even sure why I took it. I haven’t gotten the flu in ages, but they were giving it out for free at work, and it felt rude to decline. That’s right, I had a vaccine out of politeness. My mom would be so proud.