03x02 - Where There's Smoke

[bunniefuu]

Previously on The Equalizer...

You have been through so much...

losing your friend,

learning about your mother's past

and what she's doing now.

Your world turned upside down.

I keep getting

these random feelings of dread.

Like something horrible
is going to happen.

I would never let anything
happen to you.

Mom, it's not me that I'm worried about.

It's you.

There's something going on

- that you both need to know about.
- Mom!

- Are you okay?
- No.

No, I'm-I'm not.
Some men, they took my mom.

You guys have a photo we can use
to help find your mom?

- Okay.
- Rob!

- Oh, thank god!
- Oh!

I can't believe I let this
happen in front of my family.

You know, I recently went
through something

I didn't think I'd make it back from.

Point is, I had to stay positive.

Especially in the darkest moments.

And you know
who helped me do that? Your mom.

- Are you okay?
- I'm so sorry.

Engine in need

of emergency assistance.

Two firemen trapped inside.
All available personnel

report to listed address.

Jeff!

Jeff!

Where'd you go?!

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

I'm trapped! No way out!

I'm on a-side of the building!
East corner!

All exits are blocked!
I need immediate assistance!

Help! Help!

Jeff! Jeff!

Clay?!

Jeff!

Clay!

I'm here. I got you, buddy.

Sorry, buddy.

I'm sorry.

Where the hell were you?!

You son of a bitch!

Hey! Hey!

That's enough!

Clear out! Clear out!

Move back!

What do you want from me?!

No!

Rough night?

I didn't sleep too well.

Where's Dee?

She got up early.

Didn't want to wake you.

Don't worry, mama.

She's gonna be okay.

Just...

She's been making such
good progress with her PTSD.

And then this?

I'm sorry, auntie.

Haven't even asked you how you're doing.

I'm okay.

Sleep's elusive. I still...

Occasionally jump
at my own shadow, but...

Working through it.

Well, be careful.

Trauma's tricky.

_

It can take a few days
before it kicks in.

_

I got to get to work.

What's the case?

Um, potential missing person.

Is it dangerous? Are you
gonna be out again all night?

Auntie, am I being interrogated?

Considering what
we've all just gone through,

I think I have a right to know.

Trust me, you don't want
to know everything.

In fact, I do.

You know what the worst part about

watching you get abducted was?

There wasn't a damn thing
I could do about it.

Never felt so...

Powerless, so...

Helpless.

Yeah, I get it.

No, you don't.

You've dealt with this kind of
situation for the last years.

You're-you're educated,

you're... trained.

You're a professional.

We are just...

Tourists.

If nothing else, we deserve a heads-up.

Tell you what...

I'll assess the case.

And if it seems dangerous,

then I'll let you know.

Okay.

So what makes you think
your father is missing?

I haven't heard from him in three days,

which is just... weird.

No texts, no phone calls. Nothing.

Your mom either?

No, but that's not unusual.

They're divorced.

Mm.

And you live with her?

Most days.

My dad's a firefighter,

so his schedule's super crazy.

Well, isn't it possible
he just got busy?

That's what I thought at first.

But... Yesterday,
he missed my soccer playoffs.

And he's never missed a game. Ever.

I'm telling you something
is wrong. I can feel it.

Did you inform the police?

I tried, but...

They said since he's an adult,

there's not a whole lot they can do.

That's why I came to you.

Where is your mom?

Why isn't she here?

She...

Thinks my dad's on another bender.

"Another"?

He had a problem.

He's been sober for two years.

Well, that's not easy.

Last time he drank,

he was cooking

and fell asleep.

And when I came out,
the kitchen was on fire.

And I made him promise me right then

that he'd never drink again.

I stayed up with him at night,

through the shakes and the sickness.

And it wasn't pretty, but he made it.

He went to all of his meetings,

and he earned his sobriety chip.

He did the work.

And he's never let me down since.

But if you don't believe me...

No.

It's just that you remind me

of someone I know.

And I know how she'd feel
if she were in your situation.

Does that mean you'll help me?

Can't make any promises.

But I'll look into it.

How's the family? They okay?

Well, Dee's been avoiding me,

and Aunt Vi has decided
she needs to be downloaded

on the dangers of every case.

I get it. It's a lot for them to handle.

Yeah, well, I can't promise
that, obviously, so...

What do I do?

Your best.

It's all you can do.

Your face.

I don't even know where to start.

What, did you start shaving

and change your mind halfway through?

- No.
- Aw, I like it.

It's like, uh, surf and turf.

Okay, I'm not even touching that one.

What do we have?

This the client?

Yeah.

I can't track her father down though.

His phone has been off-line.
I'm gonna try something else.

They seem really close.

Yeah, but sometimes
that bottle can get closer.

Especially when you're a firefighter.

No, yeah. One minute, you're...

A superhero, your life is on the line,

you're jacked up on adrenaline,

and the next minute, you're just...

Home, doing nothing.

Yeah, managing those swings
has got to be brutal.

What's worse is the care
firefighters get for both

mental and physical health is...

Severely lacking.

I had a cousin who was
a firefighter in the Bronx.

Family was supportive as much

as they could be,
but it all got so bad so fast.

I'm sorry.

- Thanks.
- All right. I got something. Look.

He's got a fitness tracker account.

If it's active,
it may tell us something.

Just give me a second.

Okay. Got a location. Check it out.

Heart's still b*ating.

But zero steps in the last three hours.

It's making me wonder whether or not

he started hitting
the bottle again and passed out.

Only one way to find out.

What are you gonna tell her if, uh...

If her father fell off the wagon?

Tell her the truth
as gently as I can give it.

She deserves to know.

Hello.

What?

You're not Jeff.

What do you want?

I just want to talk.

Would've straightened up a little more

if I knew you were coming.

On your wrist.

Where'd you get that?

Macy's.

I didn't steal it, okay?
I found it behind the...

Next to the car over there.

Mel, I found Jeff's car.

Sam was right.

Her father's in trouble.

I know that face.

Everything okay?

Question of the day.

Family stuff.

If you need anything, I'm here.

I don't know your aunt,

but that kid of yours,

she's a fighter.

I guess I owe you a talk, huh?

Wasn't gonna push.

Mel, what's up?

We did a prelim search
into Jeff's financials.

We came up empty. We're heading
to his fire station now.

You got to figure,
whatever's going on with Jeff,

someone there knows something about it.

Let me know what you find out.

All right.

Detective Dante.

- Got something?
- Only one usable print

that didn't belong to
the vehicle's owner.

A woman named Angela Barrett.

She have a sheet?

Domestic v*olence, multiple assaults.

But dismissed.

Not exactly a model citizen.

Any idea who she is?

No. But I'm gonna find out.

- Help you?
- Yeah.

Uh, we're looking for Jeff Doyle.

Join the club.

He was scheduled to work today.
He hasn't shown.

What do you two want with him?

We're from his, uh, support group.

- A.a.?
- Yeah.

Glad to hear he's sticking with it.

Like clockwork.

Except we haven't seen him
in a few days,

and he's not returning our calls.

Well, if anyone knows anything,
it's these two guys here.

Tall one and his buddy there.

Thick as thieves.
They're always together.

Maybe they can help.

Great. Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome.

_

Thanks.

Sup, guys?

Excuse us.

Sup?

Sup, bro?

What's happening? Are you
lowering your voice?

Oh, my god, no. What?

Haven't talked to Jeff all weekend.

Me either. Not since the Friday shift.

Any chance he's in some sort of trouble?

I doubt it. He's a good dude.

Been a straight arrow
ever since he stopped drinking.

Anyone you can think of that might, uh,

be holding a grudge against him?

That guy have beef with Jeff?

Let's just say they're not bffs.

Unless your best friend tries
to Bury an axe in your head.

Look, um...

We got to finish up here, all right?

Yeah. Thanks for your help.

Thank you.

Got no idea where he is,
but it's par for the course.

The guy's completely unreliable.

How so?

I don't know. Leaving the
station without telling anyone.

Taking off in the middle of a fire

as the roof almost collapses on my head.

So I-I take it you're
not his number one fan.

This place, you're only
as strong as your weakest link.

And when you're out there in
the middle of a Blaze,

you can't afford to have any weak links.

That why you two got into it?

I did what I had to do.

Well, what does that mean?

Means I gave him
a nice two-piece to the jaw.

Little side of pulaski?

It's a fire axe.

I wasn't gonna use it.

I was just trying to scare the prick.

Apparently it worked.
Haven't seen him since.

So they got into an altercation.

Well, when sharp objects are involved,

it's a bit more than an altercation.

Guy claims he's got an alibi.

Was out of town this weekend.

I'll look into it, make sure it's legit.

Well, it'd be pretty stupid
for him to do something to Jeff

right after their whole company
saw them get into it.

Yeah. You get anything from the car?

Yeah, single print.

Woman named Angela Barrett.

See what you can find on her.

Social media footprint,

credit cards, all of it.

I'm about to pay her a visit.

Hey. Who the hell are you?

Hey!

I need an ambulance.

Hollis Avenue. Hurry.

Hang on. Hang on, hang on.

I know I've been secretive lately.

But there's something going on

that you both need to know about.

Mom!

Robyn!

Mom!

Robyn! No! Mom! Mom!

Okay, thanks for the update.

How's Angela doing?

She's stable for now.
That was the hospital.

You find anything on her?

Yeah, did a de dive.

I found a few tidbits you might enjoy.

So it turns out that Angela and
Jeff have been spending quite

a bit of time together.
Love at first sight?

Probably not.

Angela's been waitressing

at a restaurant that just so happened

to burn down last Friday.

And per the arson report...

Jeff's brigade responded to the Blaze.

Exactly. Looking into
the restaurant, it turns out

that every Friday an armored car

shows up and picks up
the weekly earnings.

Information Angela could slide to him.

Exactly! This particular fire...

Took place just an hour before

the payroll was due to be picked up.

So Jeff starts the fire
and uses the cover

of the Blaze to steal the money.

And the next day, Jeff disappears.

Two days later, Angela's sh*t.

Well, sounds like someone else put

all this together like we did.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, so...

Using Jeff's phone going off-line

as a frame of reference
for when he probably got taken,

I retraced his movements
up until that point

and found out

that he used a credit card
at a gas station

just an hour before he disappeared.

- You pull in the cams?
- Right here.

Okay, check him out.

There.

Someone else in the car with him.

Can you zoom in?

Yeah, it's not the ' s.
Of course I can.

Oh, man, that's Juan
and Derrick from the fire station.

They said they hadn't
seen Jeff all weekend.

Right, so much for best friends.

Why would they lie about being with Jeff

an hour before he disappeared, unless...

Unless they're the ones
that made him vanish.

Okay, so what are we thinking?
That Juan and Derrick

were in on this scheme,
and then it went bad?

What would make friends
turn on each other like that?

Greed.

Someone wants a bigger cut?

- Whoa.
- What?

I pulled up Juan
and Derrick's phone records

and their cloud backups
and check out this text exchange

they had just an hour
after Jeff is taken.

"X.M. Called again.

Meet me at The Cave."

"X.M." why does that sound familiar?

Look at the arson report.

The owner of the restaurant
that Jeff b*rned down.

Xavier Mannis.

X.M.

Harry, who is this guy?

Xavier Mannis, let's see.

Two stints in Rikers.

Extortion,
illegal possession of a firearm,

as*ault, aggravated as*ault,
attempted m*rder...

It might be easier to list
the crimes he hasn't committed.

NYPD still has an open file on him

for, uh, gambling and loan sharking,

and they think he's been laundering
the money through his restaurants.

But they haven't been able
to charge him with anything.

So with the police
breathing down his neck,

Xavier hires firefighters

to burn down his place
and collects the insurance.

Who better than firemen
to hide the signs of arson?

Okay, but what's "The Cave"?

Yeah, and why were they
in such a rush to get there?

Who you calling?

Someone who may know.

Hello?

- Sam, hey.
- Did you find him?

We're working really hard, but not yet.

But I have a question
to ask you that might help.

Do you remember your dad ever talking

about a place called "The Cave"?

It's what he and his friends
call captain Sanders' house.

They go there all the time
to play poker.

Okay, good.

That's helpful.

Does captain Sanders know
anything about where my dad is?

I don't know, but...

Look, just stay strong, okay?

I'll call you as soon
as I know anything for sure.

Okay. Thank you.

Please hurry.

All right, looking into captain Sanders.

-year, decorated veteran.

I mean, he was, he was one of the heroes

down at ground zero right after / .

Oh, yeah, we saw him at the firehouse.

Could he be involved in all of this?

I mean, Juan and Derrick
race over to his place

right after Jeff disappears,
it doesn't look great for him.

Rob?

Can you two go over
to the captain's house,

see what he has to say?

I got something to take care of.

All three options will do the job.

Just depends on your goal.

My goal?

To be honest, I'm not even sure.

I'll break it down for you.

Colt , semiautomatic.

Very high fire rate.

More quantity than quality.

Colt single action army, big and scary.

Whoever you point this at's
gonna change their underwear.

Walther p .

This baby's got the largest clip.

My personal choice
for the zombie apocalypse.

I shouldn't be here.

I'm...

I'm so sorry for...

For wasting your time.

Can I ask you what happened?

People don't show up
at sh**ting ranges on a whim.

I just never thought
I'd consider buying a g*n.

Most people don't.

Until they need one.

You sure this is your first time?

Looks like nobody's home.

Let's poke around.

Funny, you're walking differently

than you did at the fire station.

What? How?

- Oh, what's up?
- What's up?

- I was not.
- Yeah, you totally were.

Look, it's, like, a primal thing

for dudes, you know? We're like lizards.

Know how they puff their throats
out to appear more menacing?

You know, you got to let everyone know

that you're not lunch.

- What about my lunch?
- Well...

Oh, no.

What?

Is it just me or does that
look like a freshly dug grave?

You thinking what I'm thinking?

Unfortunately yes.

There might be shovels in the garage.

Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.

No...

I'll just, I'll be right back.

Mom? Hey.

Is everything okay?

Was gonna ask you the same thing.

I've been calling
and texting you all morning.

- You haven't responded.
- Really?

I don't text you back for a few hours,

and you run me down?

Are you tracking my phone?

Only because I didn't hear
back from you.

After what just happened,
I needed to know you were okay.

Dee, I need to know
where your head is at.

Where my head is at?

My mom is tracking me down
in the middle of the street.

How do you think that
that makes me feel?

That's just it, I don't know!

Not until you let me in and tell me.

Look, there is nothing
in the world I want more

than for your life to be better.

And I know I haven't exactly

done that recently.

Hey, Dee?

You coming?

Can we, uh, talk about this later?

Can we?

I promise.

I'll see you at home.

Hey, Rob.

How's it going?

No sign of the captain,
but looks like something

was recently buried in the backyard.

Something?

Yeah, like, body-sized.

- We're digging now.
- Oh, we're digging?

We'll tell you what we find.

I'm on my way to meet Dante
at the fire house.

He's picking up Derrick and Juan.

About time they start talking.

Right on time.

Looks like they just
got back from a fire.

_

All good?

It's Sam. I don't want to lie to her.

I also don't want her to lose hope.

Not until we know for sure.

_

There they are.

That a burn bag?

Be a good way to sneak
stolen cash from a Blaze.

You don't think they pulled another job?

Let's find out.

- Yo!
- Run for it!

Stop! Police!

Where is he?

Where's Jeff Doyle?

You know, um...

Maybe we should be doing this
in shifts, right?

With these shoes? No.

Carry on. Right.

Okay.

That look like a body bag to you?

Stop!

You got exactly ten seconds
to get the hell off my property.

Easy.

I know you two from this morning.

A.A. My ass.

Why are you digging up my lawn?

Okay, we're just looking for Jeff.

Jeff? What the hell makes you
think he'd be in that hole?

We believe that Derrick and Juan

had something to do
with his disappearance.

Right after he went missing,

we tracked them to this location.

They came by the other day.

I didn't see them dig any hole.

Hold up, you think they k*lled Jeff

and buried him here?

They were like brothers.

Look, with your permission,

we-we'd like to find out.

Is it Jeff?

Only thing dead in here is
a whole lot of presidents.

The hell have my boys gotten into?

You know where that money came from?

We think that Jeff, Derrick and Juan

set fire to a restaurant
to cover robbing it.

Never in a million years

could I imagine them doing
a thing like that, never.

Well, they did.

The question is, why-why did
they bring it here?

Jeff Doyle's missing, possibly dead.

You and Juan are the prime suspects.

And you've got nothing to say to me?

Not ratting on my family.

"Family"?

Juan's halfway to Canada
by now with that money.

Which means you take
the whole rap alone.

You are gonna tell the detective

what he wants to know.

And you're gonna do it now.

Did you steal that money?

- Why?
- For you!

We did it for you.

Look, it was supposed
to be a one-time deal.

All right, easy.

Nobody gets hurt.

We wanted to help you with...

Your situation.

What situation?

My medical condition.

I was a first responder on / .

I, like a lot of us,
ingested a lot of toxic dust.

Developed asthma.

Couple years later, multiple myeloma.

I was treated, i-I've been lucky.

I'm in remission, but...

No! They buried him in medical bills.

Yeah, but this is not...

Cap, we know you're about
to lose the house.

No, Derrick, this is not the way...

It's not fair!

It is not fair, cap!

You almost got k*lled down there.

And they hung you out to dry.

We put our lives on the line every day

and they don't give
a damn about us, cap!

Obviously, there's still a lot
of resentment amongst the ranks.

Son...

Listen to me.

The only thing that matters

is what happened to Jeff.
You got to tell me.

- Did you do something to Jeff?
- No, no.

Then tell me what happened.

When we took the money,

we didn't know who owned the place.

But we found out real fast.

Xavier Mannis.

Who's Xavier Mannis?

Not someone you want to steal from.

He must've saw Jeff and Angela together.

And realized that he was
using her to case the place.

So after the fire...

He grabbed Jeff.

He told Juan and I we had hours

to bring him double what we stole.

Or else Jeff is dead.

That's why you pulled that job today.

We'd only done it once
before, Juan and I.

We didn't know...

If we'd be able to pull it off again.

See, that's why we buried the
first score in your yard, cap.

If anything happened
to us, you'd be notified,

but at least you'd have the money.

Juan's still planning on taking
that money to Mannis, isn't he?

That's why you wouldn't talk.

You didn't want us trying to stop him.

When and where's this exchange
supposed to go down?

Mannis said no cops.

All right, as long as we show up alone

with the money, he'd let Jeff go.

Consider who Mannis is.

A career criminal
with a long history of v*olence.

Just because you keep your word,
you think he'll keep his?

Wake up.

I got your money. Now let him go.

Slight change of plans.

- We had a deal.
- Had a deal.

If I let this pass and
word gets out in the streets

that people can rip me off...

Well, I simply can't have that.

That's Juan's car.

Looks like he made the meet.

They're inside. No sign of Mannis.

There's a fire. We need to save them.

Be careful, we don't
know who else is in there.

- You good?
- They're gonna burn alive.

- Help!
- Help us!

- Watch out!
- Keep going!

- Somebody please!
- Over here!

- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm good, go ahead.

Come on!

Hey, backdraft! Backdraft!

We're trapped!

The stairs, that's our only chance.

Follow me.

Robyn! Robyn, can you hear me?!

Robyn! Robyn!

You okay?

Yeah.

Could you stop almost dying?

It's k*lling me.

I'll try.

For you.

- Dad!
- Sam!

Dad!

Hey.

End of the day,
that's what it's all about.

Family.

No, no, no!
What's happening to my money?

The hell?!

No, no, no, no, no!

Xavier Mannis, you're under arrest.

You got nothing on me.

Actually, we've got you
on attempted m*rder,

which is your third strike.

Rest of it's just gravy.

Hands behind your back.

Let's go.

Ah, it's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

- What, your mustache?
- Well, yes, that of course.

But when a guy like...

Xavier Mannis can turn over a new leaf

and embrace the joys of philanthropy.

Yeah, it's the perfect way
to clean dirty money.

Give it to a good cause.

Hey.

Hey.

So...

You finally gonna show me
what you've been working on?

Mm-mm.

It's not like that.

You do not get to stroll in here

as if everything is okay.

You didn't call, you didn't text,

you did not tell me
what this case was about.

- Things got a little bit...
- You broke our agreement.

Listen, if it had been dangerous,

I promise I would have called.

If it was dangerous?

Is that why you smell like a bonfire?

What I meant was...

...if I knew it was dangerous
to you or Dee.

But that doesn't make it right.

So... I'm sorry.

And I know exactly how you feel.

I hunted Dee down today
because she didn't text me back.

- Then I did the same thing to you.
- Robyn?

I understand that you have a certain...

...skill set.

That makes you feel
that you have a responsibility

to help others.

- Aunt Vi...
- No, no, hear me out.

You have to understand something.

I have a responsibility, too.

To protect Dee.

And you.

Even if you don't think you need it.

And that starts with me knowing

what the hell is going on.

Okay, okay.

I hear you, auntie.

But the hard truth is...

I will never

be able to tell you everything.

But what I can promise...

Is to do better.

I can.

I'm gonna hold you to that.

I know.

Dee's upstairs.

She's been waiting for you.

I'm gonna go talk to her.

Hey.

Before you say anything...

Mom, I know you're
only checking up on me

because you're worried.

Because of what happened.

But, mom, I'm okay.

I'm not saying
that it wasn't a big deal.

But really, mom.

I'm good.

I mean, I feel like I've come out

of my...

PTSD issues...

Even stronger.

Like I can really handle this.

I don't doubt that.

But this is what I do.

And even I'm struggling a bit.

What do you mean?

Hard to sleep.

Crazy dreams.

Dreams?

Weird dreams, disturbing dreams.

Hey.

Well...

Well, maybe I'm the one who
should be checking up on you.

Maybe you should.

Do you know how much I love you?

I love you, too.

And I understand it.

But...

It's a lot.

Well, just know that everything I do,

is just me trying to help.

I get it.

Mom, if you really want to help,

don't smother me.

Train me.