John arrives at the bar, going over in his mind the woman on the ferry that called him "Tommy". Digger points out that John is late and hears him talking, and wonders what his new worker's name is really is. As John grabs some bottles from behind the bar, Karen joins them and wonders who Tommy is. John explains about the woman, "Turquoise", on the departing ferry calling him Tommy, and how he saw her in color while everything else is black-and-white to him. He has vague memories of waking up naked in the forest, and says that by the time he got to the ferry terminal Turquoise was gone. John cut off a piece of the ferry window that Turquoise touched, and use the alcohol to bring out the fingerprint on the glass.
Walter Pickford gets up in the morning and dives into his backyard pool... and screams as he discovers that there's blood in the water. He calls the police, and Frank and his team arrive. The blood is human, enough to come from just one individual. Mrs. Pickford and her daughter Shayne swam in the pool the night before and the water was crystal clear, and the security system shows no intrusion. There's no trace of blood in the pipes leading to the blue.
At the station, Frank tells Jamie that Pickford's record is clean. Walter says the security system is to protect his family, and he runs an import/export company with no apparent enemies. Nance reports that the person the blood came from was killed within the last 24 hours.
John comes in and asks Frank to run the fingerprint through the computer records. He says that it could belong to his wife, and Frank notes that John has reported himself missing in 150 precincts over the past month. John refuses to elaborate, and Frank says that he'll help if John will help him. When John agrees, Frank takes him to the Pickford house. The daughter, Shayne, is smoking outside. John recognizes her Goth tattoo and asks her what she knows about the blood. Shayne figures that it involves either her a-hole father or herself, and sarcastically wishes John luck.
Looking around the outside of the house, John spots a garden hose, grabs it and some insecticide, and climbs up on the roof. He runs the hose down the drain pipe and demonstrates something could have been dumped into the pool. When Frank wonders why the person responsible went to such efforts, John finds a ladder print and works out that the person on it was a woman based on the depth of the impression. There's a petal from a Marsh bellflower where the killer climbed up, and Walter says that his brother has a ranch in one of the areas where the flower grows.
When Frank and John drive there, the SWAT team Frank called in reports that Walter's brother is missing and there are no signs of forced entry. They check the barn with the flowers outside and find the brother's corpse strung up from the rafters, dripping blood onto the floor. After they secure the crime scene, John examines the corpse and realizes that the body was embalmed by a professional, and he was given phosgene poison that made it look like he drowned. Jamie arrives and asks Frank why John--a civilian--is at their crime scene and handling the corpse without gloves. She tells John to leave, and John says that the dead man was alive while being embalmed. Jamie isn't impressed and has the police take John back to Seattle. As he goes, John reminds Frank to remember the fingerprint check.
Later, John puts up missing posters of him around Seattle and sees a jewelry store with wedding rings in the window. He goes inside and asks the clerk about wedding rings. The clerk has him try one on and tries to sell it to John, and he says that he needs more time to think about it. She gets some hand lotion to get it off, and John pays for the ring and leaves.
That night, John is in his apartment and makes a sketch of Turquoise. He goes to The Sea and plays the piano, and Jamie comes in and orders a Scotch from Digger. John notices her and finishes his song, then goes over. He knows that her father is highly placed in the Seattle PD, and tells Jamie that he can help her. Jamie has run his SSN and warns him not to play games with her. As she goes, Jamie notices that he has a tattoo and John dismisses it as a birthmark.
The next day, Karen arrives at John's apartment and discovers that he's moving all of the furniture. John says that he's getting rid of the furniture because none of it is him, and explains that the fingerprint revealed that Turquoise uses cheap hand lotion so he figures his tastes are too expensive. The walls are covered with John's thoughts about Tommy written out, and he explains that he's been trying to determine which Tommy in Seattle he is. Karen asks what is with him, and John says that he doesn't know who he is and he's nobody. She suggests that he's adopted and says that she doesn't know who her real mother is.
Frank comes in and sees the notes, and John introduces him to Karen. Karen heads to art class, and Frank tells John that fingerprint didn't come up with a match. He says that Jamie will come around and reminds John that he agreed to help. John perks up, and Frank says that forensic examination confirmed the corpse was embalmed. There are no prints or fibers on the corpse, and Frank says that there are traces of a rare herb on the fingers. John figures the killer was concerned about the soul of the building and cleansed the corpse for the afterlife journey. P&P does business with Vietnam, and John knows there are four funeral parlors in Little Saigon.
John and Frank go to Little Saigon and discover that one of the embalmers at a parlor, Nguyen, disappeared two nights ago. The parlor owner gives them Nguyen's address, and the two men go there and knock at Nguyen's door. No one answers, and Frank kicks the door in. Herbs are hung up in the kitchen, and Nguyen comes in, sees them, and runs, disappearing into the crowd.
That night at the station, Stella accesses the CCTVs along Nguyen's escape route. They figure he went to P&P warehouse at the docks and the two men go there.
The next morning, Shayne arrives at the P&P office and clocks in. Her doing so secretly sets off a fuse, and Walter arrives early, and Shayne complains that she's stuck there. The fuse sets off a fire, and John and the police arrive just as Walter grabs a fire extinguisher. John sees the label on the fire extinguisher and stops Walter, Afterward, the police confirm that the fake extinguisher was filled with phosgene, and Joihn realized the label was for dry chemicals, when the building code requires wet chemicals. An officer finds the real extinguisher in the nearby alley. Jamie is impressed despite herself, and tells Walter and his wife that they're placing him under protective custody at a safehouse, while Mrs. Pickford and Shayne will stay with Mrs. Pickford's mother. Mrs. Pickford thanks John for saving her family's lives and leaves, and Jamie complains that John could have been wrong and the Seattle PD would have been sued. However, she thanks him for having the hunch.
Once Jamie leaves, Frank shows Shayne his birthmark. He admits that he doesn't know what it means and asks Shayne. She doesn't know, and Shayne says that her family are freaks. She notices his ring and asks what his family is like, and John says that his family is non-descript. John explains that Walter has people already pissed at him. Walter comes over and interrupts her before she can explain further, and Shayne tells John that his birthmark looks like an astrological sign and it's cool.
That night, John returns home and finds Karen there, crying. She says that she lost her keys and was locked out of her apartment so she came there. John figures that she's not okay, and Karen finally says that Digger fired her when he found her fake ID showing she wasn't 18. She suggests that she work as John's assistant, and John tells her that he's a loner. Angry, Karen tells him that attachments are what he's trying to make and leaves.
John goes through the computer records trying to find Turquoise, wondering who she is. He goes to The Sea and Digger pours him a drink. John asks Digger how it feels to be married, and Digger says that it feels like a combination between a sunset and a root canal.
Back at his computers, John tries to work out why someone would simulate drowning to kill a victim. He checks P&P's records and discovers that a shipping container is missing. The next day, John calls Frank and Jamie to the P&P dock and explains about the missing container. They figure it was dumped in the harbor, and soon dredge it up. When they open the container, the police discover that it's filled with corpses of Vietnamese immigrants.
John and the police go to Nguyen's apartment, and Jamie wonders how long the Pickfords were smuggling immigrants on the side. John and Frank figure Nguyen didn't come to them because the immigrants were breaking the law by having themselves smuggled in, and John finds photos of the Pickfords in a phone book. The address of the safehouse is also there, and they realize that Nguyen followed Walter there. Before they go, Jamie tells John to leave it to them. John looks at a photo of Nguyen with his daughter, and finds Issaquah circled in the phone book, and remembers that Mrs. Pickford said her mother lives in Issaquah.
On the way to Issaquah, John is caught in a traffic jam. He spots a motorcycle and hotwires it, then drives it around the cars.
Nguyen loads a dart with phosgene.
Joihn drives through a ped mall.
Frank and Jamie call ahead and confirm that Walter is unharmed at the safehouse.
Nguyen goes to the backyard fence and prepares to shoot Shayne with the dart. John arrives and calls to him, and says that he knows what happened to Nguyen's daughter and brother. When Nguyen hesitates, John jumps him and the gun goes off. Nguyen shoots himself in the leg and dies, and Joihn looks over at Shayne, who has heard the commotion.
Later at the station, the police arrest Pickford. John tells Jamie that he figured Nguyen was exacting revenge, and Jamie concedes that John could help the police. Shayne is in the lobby, and John sits with her and asks if she's going to be okay. She wonders who he is, and wonders if his wife is Jane Doe. John assures her that she's going to be okay, and he knows because he knows everything.
John goes to the ferry terminal and sits on the dock, looking out at the water. The hot dog man who served him before recognizes him, and figures that John is looking for a lady. He advises John that the lady will turn up, but only if John stops looking. The hot dog man gives John a hot dog on the house, and as John walks off he is able to remove the wedding ring. He remembers Turquoise calling "Tommy", and throws the ring out into the water.
Later at the bar, Karen packs her things. John comes in and tells her that he could use an attachment after all. He tells her to help get his furniture back inside as her first assignment, and sees a discarded newspaper with a front page story about "Savant Doe" aiding the police. Back at his apartment, John puts the newspaper clipping up on the wall with his research.
At a secret intelligence base, a technician sees the article online. He prints it out and takes it to his superior, Yellow Teeth. She takes it and smiles, and looks out the window at the Middle Eastern cityscape.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 29, 2019