Dexter - "About Last Night" (Episode 309)

Dexter

Dexter woke up and went through his usual, pretense-filled routine (kissed the wife-to-be, fed the stepkids-to-be and dressed himself.) The night before there had been no pretense, as he and Miguel took the life of Billy - together. "Today", Dexter says, "someone knows my truth and shares my reality. I'm not alone." A distressed-looking Sylvia came over and asked Dexter about Miguel, who was out until all hours the night before. Dexter said Miguel was with him and that they were "hanging...being guys." Rita said Dexter did get in until late himself - midnight to be exact. Syl said Miguel had gotten home about an hour ago. She feared her husband was having an affair. Dexter said he didn't know where Miguel went after leaving him but said he had an important case and probably headed to his office. Rita tried to console Syl and Dexter wisely headed off to work, with a detour on the way. Dex immediately Went to Miguel's house. Miguel emerged in an extremely chipper mood, whistling "Camptown Races." Miguel says he feels real for the first time in his life. Dexter tells him that if they're going to continue with their extra curricular activities, that he's going to have to work on his alibis. Miguel said he went to Jack's Hideaway because he was so wired after the previous evening's activities. Dexter nabbed one of his victims outside of Jack's Hideaway and knew it closed at 2am. Dexter wondered if Miguel just lied to him.

Dex then headed to Anton's to look for any traces of blood. The place was clean. Angel wanted to know what Anton was doing back in town and Deb told him that he never left. Dexter found that there was no liner in the garbage can and the cops all headed down to the dumpster. They found a bag of trash that belonged to Anton splattered on the ground. Dexter found blood and hair on the wall by the dumpster. The skinner clocked him, smashed his head into the wall and tore off with him in his car. Angel put out a missing person report on Anton, ordered his photo sent to all media outlets and recruited some off-duty officers to man the phones. Deb asked Dexter if he thought Anton was alright, as he had been with the skinner for 24 hours. Dex said that the skinner started slow - and Anton had lots of skin (he was trying to be reassuring.) Deb said they needed to bring George King in for questioning. Quinn said they've been looking for him with no luck. Mario is still being held, but he's still not talking. Deb and Quinn head to King's house. Angel told them to keep things "above board" and wait until they got a warrant to search his place.

Anton was with the skinner and yeah, it's King. Anton's missing two patches of skin already. Anton keeps trying to tell King that the cops set him up and used him for bait and he didn't know where Freebo was. When he saw King polishing his knife, he knew he wasn't getting anywhere and said he'd show King where Freebo was. He also says he can get King the money Freebo owes him. King says he doesn't want money. He wants Freebo. It's about "respect." Anton's only got an hour to answer King's question. Dexter headed into the station and found LaGuerta trying to track down Ellen, who didn't show up at her hearing that morning. Harry from the grave said Miguel's late night activities and Ellen's disappearance could be coincidence. Deb and Quinn went to King's house - he wasn't there. Deb found a shed behind the house and broke into it (before the search warrant arrived) and found nothing. Dexter called to check in on Miguel. He said the motion hearing (that Ellen was supposed to be at) was continued, which worked in his favor.  Miguel told Dexter he didn't have to keep checking up on him. He did want to meet up for lunch, as he had some more "projects" in mind for them. The phones were ringing at the station after Anton's photo was shown on TV (even vice cop Barb was on hand to help out.) LaGuerta volunteers to help and question Mario. Vince was talking to Barb about the hookers she encountered on her beat. Angel pulled Vince aside and told him not to talk his filth to "his chick." Vince said that Barb started the conversation and said she was "the Wikipedia of perv."

Deb muttered and cursed until King showed back up at his house. King said he was home for breakfast and would be happy to answer their questions right there - as opposed to heading to the station - because he had trees to trim. Quinn told him they could hold him for questioning, but King knew they could only hold him for a day - and went peacefully to the station. Dexter knows that Mario is really, truly scared of King, he refuses to tell Maria anything. Quinn and Deb interrogate King. He's very respectful and learned "respect" during his time in Nicaragua. And that's all (supposedly.) Deb got in his face, accusing him of being the skinner in her brash, Deb way and Quinn sent her out for coffee. She saw Dexter watching the interrogation and noted that King looked "harmless", to which Dex replied, "They usually do." He tells her to trust her instincts on this case. She asks Dex how to crack his brain and Dex says they have some sort of code - and disrepspect is probably on his list of violations. Dexter asked LaGuerta about Ellen. She hasn't heard back and she's worried - Dex is too. He zipped over to Ellen home/office. Her car was there and there were no signs of foul play in the house. He sprayed some luminol on the floor and found blood. Dex said Miguel wouldn't have killed her because he and Miguel agreed. Harry popped in to say "hello" while waving dead Ellen's hand at him. Dex said Miguel wouldn't know what to do with a body because he never taught him. He stopped himself, because Miguel did think he knew how to dispose of a body - in an open grave.

Rita was at an open house, when Miguel showed up, looking for his wife. She wasn't there, because she didn't feel up to it, so Rita subbed for her. Miguel gave her a bouquet of flowers meant for his wife. Rita said flowers were a good start, but he's an idiot. He told Rita he's not having an affair but she told him he's violated Syl's trust. Miguel said he needed space. He said things were falling apart around him and Rita reminded her that the same things were happening to Syl because she was his partner. Miguel said she was "wise" and the two of them had a little sit-down. Deb still wasn't getting anywhere with King and pinned him to the ground. She added that Mario was spilling his guts next door. She asks what he did to him that made him so scared. Quinn again came in and broke things up. Anton was still yelling for help. Quinn yelled at Deb about her interogation tactics. Deb said if Quinn hadn't made Anton a fake CI, that he wouldn't be in the mess he was in. Quinn told her that if she weren't boning Anton, that he would have had protective surveillance. Deb finally admitted that it was her fault, but Quinn also confessed that he used Anton. They've only got a few hours until they have to let King go.

Dex went out to check out the freshly dug graves at the cemetery. Dexter found Ellen's corpse in the second grave he looked in. He couldn't believe Miguel did it. Dexter covered up the body and ran into Harry, who said Miguel was making his own choices now. Dex said Ellen didn't deserve to die and waited for the "I told you so" from his father. Harry said there will be plenty more where Ellen came from. Dex said "no there won't." Dex met Miguel for lunch. Miguel asked Dex if he thought King was the skinner. Dex said he thought so. Miguel was heading to the precinct after lunch to discuss whether or not they were going to file charges against him. Miguel suggested that if the law couldn't get him, that they could. Dex asked if he was going to need some help or if it was just going to be a solo project and confronted him about Ellen. Miguel said they agreed not to kill her together and they didn't. He admitted that he should have told him and didn't mean to abuse his trust. He reminded Dex that he gave him the shirt that implicated him in Freebo's murder and said that their partnership is important to him. He says they'll think Ellen's death was the doing of one of her lowlife clients. Dex said there were to be no more individual projects. Miguel says he's a big boy and he knows what he's doing. Dex says he thinks he's untouchable but he's not - and it's time he learned that. Dex headed back to the cemetery and jumped into the open grave.
 Maria talked to Deb - there's nothing at all to implicate King in Anton's disappearance. Deb thinks her time would be better spent out of the interrogation room for now. Maria told Deb that someone told her she had a big wall around her. She thought it made her a better cop, but she was wrong. Dexter said Miguel was about to learn a hard lesson, as some boys playing at the cemetery found a body in an open grave. Miguel is trying to get King out (so he could take care of him as one of his projects. Maria pulls Miguel aside and asks him to pull some strings, because he owed them one for getting Ramon off the hook. Miguel said he'd do everything in his power to help her out. Angel got a call about another body - and everyone headed to the cemetery where Ellen's body was found. Poor Ellen was beaten, strangled and stabbed. Vince said the killer was a pro, because the body dump was clean. Dexter said it was because Miguel getting caught wasn't part of his lesson plan. LaGuerta showed up and was devastated to see Ellen lying dead on the ground. Dexter says "Too many people are affected when the innocent die" - that is part of the lesson plan. Miguel went up to Dexter and noted that he was just making a point, "follow the code or else." Miguel called Dexter "wise" and said he'd be a fool not to "follow his lead" (which is exactly what he said to Rita during their little chit chat.) He added "I think you're gonna save my life." Lesson learned...it seems.

Dex came home and was subjected to a wedding cake tasting. Rita told Dexter about Sylvia and Miguel. She said she intervened and apparently she was a very wise person, according to Miguel. She said they talked and she gave him some insight - and she could "save his life." Dexter knew them that Miguel was full of BS. When did he start lying? What about the shirt? Dex had to go look at some blood. Back at the station, LaGuerta was really shaken up but didn't want to go home. She said she had to "do something." Deb and Quinn still didn't have anything on the skinner case. Miguel volunteered to help and went to talk to King and offer him a deal. But he technically couldn't do that because King had no legal counsel. Angel said the camera in the interrogation room was "on the fritz" and Miguel headed in to talk, "off the record" to King. Dex dug up the shirt Miguel gave him and headed to the station. A while later Miguel came back out, he couldn't do anything and King was released. Dex passed him on his way out and would like to "get to know him better." Dex tested the blood on Miguel's shirt to see if it matched Freebo's blood. Deb's got an idea on how to get some information from Mario and asks Quinn to be her partner. Deb brings Mario home and he finds trimmed tree branches in the driveway. He's worried that King is after his family and tells Deb that King has a building that he rents wth cash, so there would be no records. As Deb headed off to the building, Quinn paid off some tree trimmers. Smart cookie, Deb. The pair were off to the building. Deb couldn't get the padlock off of the door so Quinn drove his car into the side of the building and they rescued Anton. Miguel went into Maria's office. She just couldn't go home. He tried to comfort her and said she's still got friends - like him. Dexter found a match for the blood on the shirt - it was cow's blood. He's been used the whole time. Dexter trashed his office and screamed "Miguel!" - in his fantasy, in reality Miguel popped into his office and asked Dex if he wanted to play golf the next day. Dexter knows he's got to keep up the pretense - for now.