Red Menace is the fourth episode of season two of The Mentalist.
Summary[]
Jane and the CBI investigate the murder of Gordon Hodge, a powerful attorney, who is responsible for allowing a vicious murderer, Van McBride, a leader of a motorcycle gang, to walk away a free man.
Recap[]
In Deefield California the team shows up at a crime scene in the woods. Jane gets out of the car and says, "Ah, lovely." Lisbon replies, "It's a crime scene." Jane says, "It's a lovely crime scene." Cho and Rigsby catch Jane and Lisbon up. The cops can't agree on the victim's death but they believe it's a carjacking gone wrong. The victim, a white male, was beaten to death. His wallet, cell phone, watch and one cufflink are missing. Jane notices the cufflinks are in the shape of a motorcycle wheel. Lisbon feels the type of beating the man took was personal, and took time. Jane gives a profile of the man and Lisbon says, "What he is is useless until we know who he is." Jane grabs the Bluetooth out of the man's ear and puts it on. Lisbon follows him and says with no phone, he can't make a call. Jane tells her that there is always one number standard on every phone and says, "Home." The phone rings and a woman picks up on the other end. Jane identifies himself, then provides a detailed physical description to the woman. She says it's her husband, Gordon Hodge. She asks if anything is wrong so Jane hands the Bluetooth to Lisbon and says, "It's for you."
Lisbon, Rigsby and Jane arrive at the Hodge residence. They meet with the widow, Nina Hodge and her son, Lucas, to get some background information on Gordon. He only had one client, "Sinner Saints," a motorcycle gang. The last time his widow saw him was the previous morning before he left for work. She admits he'd been more on edge the last few weeks and assumed it was something to do with work. Mrs. Hodge didn't ask because discussing his work was taboo. Rigsby asks, "Any of you ever meet any of those scumbags?" Lisbon winces when she hears this. When they leave, Lisbon tells Rigby to use professional standards the next time, he knows better. Jane sees Gordon's motorcycle sitting outside so he sits on it and plays with it. Lisbon's' phone rings, it's Cho. He calls to tell them that Hodge's car was pulled out of the lake a mile from where his body was found. Also, a few weeks prior to his death, Hodges was busted in a rest stop with drugs on him but the charges were dropped. They wonder if Gordon made a deal and turned informant.
Lisbon and Jane show up at the biker bar where Sinner Saints hangs out. Cho calls to let them know he did research and the DA definitely did not make any deals with Hodge, he's a solid lawyer as is the biker group. He advises them to stay away from the group. Too late, Lisbon and Jane walk into the bar and Lisbon holds up her badge and identifies herself. The room goes silent and everyone stares at her. She is looking for Von McBride. A man at the bar, Xander, says he's not there. A few other bikers stand up when Lisbon and Jane don't leave. Jane looks at the man in the back room playing pool. He heads back that way and starts talking to him. Turns out he is Von McBride. Sitting next to the pool table is his girlfriend. McBride won't talk to the cops without his lawyer present. They inform him the lawyer is dead, which McBride already knew but still won't talk to them on the good advice from his lawyer. Xander, whose standing behind him, tells them it's time for them to go. Turning to leave, Jane mentions an informant in the gang. When Xander asks him about it, Jane says he didn't mean to speak. This upsets Xander who starts to go after Jane but Lisbon stops him. She threatens to arrest Xander if he lays a hand on Jane. Xander dares her to try. Jane tells Zander his threats are empty because Lisbon is a state agent and he won't get away with it. He profiles Xander, saying he's empathetic. McBride chuckles and agrees with Jane's profile, then offers them both a drink.
Sitting at a table, McBride says he had nothing to do with Gordon's murder. He was aware Gordon was doing drugs and partying but he still did his job. McBride's claims he was in the bar with about 30 other guys at the time of the murder. Lisbon says until they solve the murder, she'll keep coming back to ask questions. McBride begins naming names of other gangs. They hear a woman screaming from the parking lot, Lisbon rushes out. A few of the men from the bar are dragging a woman across the parking lot. Lisbon orders them to release her, which they do. As she heads over to help the woman, she screams and calls them "Murderers," then gets in her truck and drives off.
At the station, Van Pelt runs Gordon's cell phone rings. The day of his murder all but one of his calls was routine. He received a call from Constance Hoyt minutes before his death. VanPelt and Lisbon head back to the biker bar to confront Constance, who is McBride's girlfriend. When they arrive at the bar, Constance, aka Diamond, is coming out. She jumps on her bike, ignores Lisbon and takes off. A car chase begins with VanPelt driving. VanPelt takes a shortcut and cuts off Diamond, who dumps her motorcycle. "I gotta get you out of the office more," Lisbon tells VanPelt. They arrest Constance and bring her to the station.
Rigsby and Cho show up at Gordon's office. Cho wants to know why Rigsby hates bikers so much. Rigsby admits he used to be one, which surprises Cho. When they arrive at the main door, they notice it's been forced open. They draw their weapons and enter. They cautiously head to Hodge's office and walk in. The office is ransacked but there's nobody there. Cho shuts the door and on the back of it, in red writing it reads, "Burn in Hell."
Lisbon and Jane interrogate Diamond. Lisbon wants to know why she ran. Diamond says if she was seen talking to the cops, she'd be labeled a snitch. "Tell us about your affair with Hodges," Jane says. She denies any affair. Jane gets up and looks at Diamond's face and eyes and tells her they did have an affair. She admits they did for a few months but she called him to break it off the night he died but his phone went dead. The affair went on for a few months, just for fun. Hodge's treated her nice, unlike McBride who cheated on her. Lisbon asks Diamond who the woman in the parking lot was. Diamond doesn't know. She is afraid that if Von finds out about her affair, Gordon's won't be the only dead body. She tells them only one other person knew about the affair.
Lisbon returns to Hodge's home. She questions Mrs. Hodge about the affair. Nina admits she found a valet slip from a hotel in his pocket. One night she followed him, he went to the hotel and she saw him go into a room with "that biker girl." She confronted him about the affair and he told her he would end it. She never asked him about it again because she didn't want to hear him lie to her. Nina admits she knew about the drugs and partying but ignored it. She didn't want her son to know and now her husband is dead, so it doesn't matter.
Lisbon and Jane discuss Nina in the office. Rigsby knocks on the window and tells them they might want to see this. They review a security video taken across from Hodge's office. They see a woman going into his office and realize it's the same woman who was in the bar parking lot.
Lisbon and Jane make a return trip to the bar. They interrupt a private discussion between McBride and some of his men. Lisbon says she only has one question for him. He starts to give her a hard time but she tells him until the case is solved, she'll keep coming back to ask questions. He gives her a last name, Gutherie. McBride was accused of killing her brother. The trial ended a few weeks ago and he was cleared of all charges. Jane walks up and says, "If Hodge wasn't the informant in your gang, who was?" McBride insists there was no informant.
Cho interviews Gutherie. She is upset because Hodge lied in court about her brother during the trial. She vandalized his office and showed up at his house once, but his son came out and she didn't have a beef with him so she left. Felicia Gutherie tells Cho she didn't know what she was going to do, but the visit had taken place two days prior to Gordon's murder. She insists she didn't kill Gordon but she is sure as hell glad that he is dead. In the outer office, Cho admits they don't have enough to charge her, except they can hold her on the vandalism charges. Jane suggests they let her go, shadow her and see if she makes a mistake. Felicia is released from police custody. Jane gets up off the couch, says he needs fresh air because all the murder talk stinks.
Jane arrives at the Hodge house. Mrs. Hodge isn't home but Lucas is learning to drive. Lucas says his dad was at work, his mother in the shower the day Felicia showed up at their house. He saw her hop the fence so he went outside. She shouted stuff about his father and he felt sorry for her. Jane thanks him, then realizes he's having difficulty driving. Jane ends up taking him for a driving lesson. While Lucas is driving, Jane makes him feel at ease so he talks about his father. He admits he knew about the drugs, the affair, etc. but he loved his father. Lucas says his dad used to yell at him, was hard on him. When Jane questions him again about Felicia's "visit," he claims it was hard to tell what she said, she was just ranting.
Outside Felicia's home, Rigsby and Cho are staking it out. Cho wants to know if Rigsby has spoken to VanPelt yet, which Rigsby says no. They hear a loud rumble of noise and realize it's trouble. McBride and his gang believe Felicia killed Gordon so they are coming to seek revenge. Cho calls for backup and takes a shotgun out of the trunk. Rigsby stands in the middle of the road, gun drawn and his badge out. Felicia comes out and Cho sends her back inside, telling her to get down and hide. The gang stops in front of Rigsby. McBride claims they aren't doing anything wrong. Rigsby says they are carrying concealed weapons, disorderly conduct, loud tail pipes and there's probably a few outstanding warrants for some of the gang members. Cho pumps a round in the chamber and aims at McBride. McBride says he'll be seeing them as the gang rides off.
Lisbon and Jane show up at Felicia's. She demands to know from Lisbon why officers were at her house. Jane comes outside from the house with a cup of tea. Jane tells Felicia that they think she killed Gordon so Cho and Rigsby were watching her. When Lisbon looks at him, he says she wouldn't have believed they were just in the neighborhood. Felicia is angry that Jane was in her house searching her underwear drawer. Jane says it was her closet because he was looking for blood splattered shoes. She yells she wants them off her property so Lisbon sends Jane away. He walks up to Cho and Rigsby and they tease him about searching the house. He admits he found nothing but didn't look in the trash. Not happy with getting the dirty job, Rigsby dumps Jane's tea then heads towards the trash cans to throw the cup away. When he opens it, he calls Lisbon over. When they look inside, they find Gordon's missing cufflink. They arrest Felicia for murder.
When they arrive with Felicia at the station, VanPelt tells Lisbon and Jane that the Hodge's are there. Lisbon doesn't understand why until Jane says he asked them to come. He brings Felicia into the room with them. He wants Lucas to tell him if Felicia is the woman who he saw that day on their property. He tells him to follow his instincts and that if she is the one, she'll go away for a really long time. Lucas says yes, so Jane has them haul her away to be booked for murder. Lucas hesitates and clearly wants to say something but his mother won't allow the cops to question him. He finally blurts out that Felicia didn't do it, because he did. When they interrogate him, Lucas admits Felicia told him how his father had lied in the murder trial. He felt sorry for her. That night his father was giving him a driving lesson. Lucas couldn't concentrate and was driving badly. Gordon's phone kept ringing, he was on the cell phone and kept yelling at Lucas. Lucas had finally had enough and ripped the phone from his father's hand when it rang. When he answered it, he heard Diamond on the other end, talking sweetly. He hung up, pulled over and got out of the car. He and his father exchanged words and he threw his father's cell phone into the woods. His father threw him down and when Lucas went to get up, he saw a rock. He picked it up and struck his father in the head with it. Panicked, Lucas called his mother who told him what to do. They got rid of the car and the cell phone, stole the wallet, keys, etc. and he left the cufflink in Felicia's garbage. He never wanted to do it, and kept wanting to come clean but his mother wouldn't let him. He apologized and asked if it would all be okay. Jane responded that it would, someday. VanPelt told Mrs. Hodge that they needed to talk.
McBride is sitting at the bar, chatting with his buddies when his cell phone rings. He listens to the caller and looks around, then hangs up. He tells the guys he'll be right back. He heads outside, looks around, then takes a few steps away from the bar. McBride hears a noise, sees movement and looks up. Jane steps out from behind a pole wearing a trench coat and hat. He and McBride walk up to each other and McBride teases Jane for his "costume." Jane only wanted to meet with him to tell him Lucas had killed his father. Just then, the other biker's step out so Jane hands McBride a white envelope. He tells him not to look guilty and leaves. McBride turns out and tells the other guys it's not what it looks like. They grab the envelope from him, open it and find it's filled with cash. Jane set McBride up to look like an informant. The other guys grab him and drag him inside. From a distance, Felicia Guthrie is watching with a big smile on her face. She starts her truck and drives off, feeling justice has been done.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
- Robin Tunney as Teresa Lisbon
- Tim Kang as Kimball Cho
- Owain Yeoman as Wayne Rigsby
- Amanda Righetti as Grace Van Pelt
Guest Cast[]
- Abby Brammell as Constance 'Diamond' Hoyt
- Mac Brandt as Xander
- Julia Campbell as Nina Hodge
- Jesse James as Lucas Hodge
- Mark Pellegrino as Von McBride
- Molly Price as Felicia Guthrie
- Tom Adams as Gordon Hodge