- With Patty's help, Ellen hires her investigator, Malcolm, to look into her sister's drug case. She also asks him to look into her own background and particularly her one time babysitter, Ann. Patty meanwhile is under threat of removal from the Tobin case when a group petitions the judge in the case to remove her. She explains the lead with Tessa Marchetti but he gives her one week to come up with something concrete or she's out. Tom wants to lean on Tessa but Patty flatly refuses. Under ever increasing financial pressure, Tom ignores Patty's orders and approaches Tessa pushing the young woman into the arms of the DA. Marilyn Tobin meanwhile is outraged that the charity she has supported for many years will not allow her to make the annual trip to Africa. She suggests to Ray Winstone that he get Stuart Zedeck to help her out.—garykmcd
- Ellen visits the woman in her dreams to learn if she is her birth mother but actually learns something far different about her family. Just as Patty decides to move against Tessa, the DA arrests the young woman. Ellen convinces her to turn to Patty for help but finds herself suspended when her boss finds out what she has been up to. Patty however thinks she now knows what was going on with Tessa's regular visits to Antigua and convinces the DA to let Tessa make one more trip to the island. Ray Winstone has to deal with his own problems when his father shows up at his office unexpectedly, threatening to reveal his secrets.—garykmcd
- Ellen walks into Patty's apartment, carrying flowers. She finds a young brunette in the kitchen, cooking. She treats Ellen like she's a little girl and Ellen calls her mom. She lets her stir the marinara. She sees a Polaroid in it of her as a young girl. Ellen wakes up.
Ellen visits her sister Carrie in prison. Carrie apologies for not telling her the truth before. She says a friend from high school wanted meth, so she sold her some. She says she's never sold before and was just trying to help a friend. Her friend gave her up. Ellen asks if there's anything else she should know. Carrie says no. She says she found someone who can help.
Tom brings Patty Tessa's flight logs, showing she started making her Antigua trips on Thanksgiving. They think the money was there and on Thanksgiving, Tessa started moving it out.
Alex Benjamin comes in to tell them the plaintiffs have demanded a meeting.
In Joe's hotel room, Lenny tells him Patty talked to Tessa and she covered for them. He's not happy Tessa's been meeting with his mother.
The Tobin plaintiffs tell Patty she's not getting the job done. They need money. Patty tells them they only have 3 percent now. She assures them there's a lot more. But they tell her they want her replaced.
Tessa walks down the street with a boy and Joe stops her. They've never met. She tells him his dad was always great to her and her mom. Joe tells her that won't change. He tells her he appreciated her not telling Patty about Thanksgiving. He gives her an envelope and tells her to let him know if she needs anything else.
Tom, Patty and Ellen meet. Patty says they do nothing, but Tom wants to pressure Tessa. They get in a shouting match. She wants to write a brief to defend themselves. Tom storms out. Ellen tells Patty she set up a meeting with Malcolm.
Marilyn bursts into Lenny's office, in tears because her African foundation sent her check back and won't let her go on the annual Tanzania trip. She thinks someone on the board might be sympathetic to letting her back in - Stuart Zeddeck.
Tom tells his wife if they get taken off the case they won't ever recover the money. He says they have to sell anything they can to keep paying their parents' mortgages. He mentions a witness Patty doesn't want him to talk to.
Ellen gets flak from her boss Gates for not having linked the Tobins to Danielle Marchetti's death.
Lenny calls Zeddeck about the charity and getting Marilyn back in.
Ellen meets with Patty's all-purpose security guy, Malcolm. He says if Carrie's friend testifies, she's looking at jail time. He says Patty told him to do anything necessary to help, he checks that Ellen knows what that means. She does, but doesn't want him acting without talking to her.
Tom sits at his desk and looks at pictures of his family, feeling the weight of his financial situation. He goes to talk to Tessa, opening by telling her they know she lied. He tells her he wants her to know the truth, that the Tobins had her mother killed. She thinks a doctor screwed up. He asks for the truth about Thanksgiving, but she walks away.
Lenny serves up a drink for a woman who probably charges by the evening. The phone rings. A man's voice says "tell me I'm not racist."
We see it's Lenny's dad, saying he's got a mailman named Chung and he hasn't been getting his checks, so is Chung stealing them or should he open his mouth to the Tobins? Lenny says he hasn't been sending them and warns him not to threaten him.
Tessa Marchetti goes to the DAs office. She wants to talk to someone about an investigation.
She asks Ellen and her coworker Nick if the Tobins are suspects. Ellen says they can't talk about it. Tessa tells her Tom Shayes approached her. Ellen apologizes, gets Tessa's number and hustles her out.
Nick connects the dots, remembering Tom's name as someone Ellen had him do a favor for. She asks him not to go to their boss. She says she's using Patty because she's better than their boss and when she gets the money back they can get their murderer. She offers to share credit with Nick when that happens. He's in.
The African charity's board votes on whether Marilyn Tobin should be allowed to go on the trip. Zeddeck abstains on a tie, then says he doesn't think she should go.
Ellen yells at Tom for talking to Tessa, but he says they ruined his life and stole his life savings. Ellen reconsiders. She tells him not to tell Patty and to blame her if Patty finds out. She says she'll handle Tessa.
Patty meets with the judge, who reviews her brief. He's persuaded by the plaintiff's arguments. She suggests she could use her own resources to go after the money. He threatens to have her disbarred if she does. "When I find the Tobin's money, no one's going to care how I did it," she says. The judge gives her one week.
Ellen has her dream again, walking in on the woman with flowers in her hand. She wakes up with a start. She goes through childhood photos, including many with her sister. She sees one of the woman, holding the same flowers.
Lenny breaks the bad news about Africa to Marilyn. He tells her Zeddeck said he did everything he could, but couldn't change their minds. Lenny's receptionist buzzes him that a man named Albert Wiggins is there for him. It's his father. He tells her he can't meet with him now.
His dad busts in, acting like a harmless old man and introducing himself as Lenny's old law professor. He tells him he's thinking of moving to the city, and just wants Lenny to know he'll be around.
Ellen's mom comes up to her apartment while her dad waits downstairs. She shows her mom the old photo. It's an old babysitter named Ann. She asks her mom if she ever slept at her house. Her mom is sort of alarmed but pretends not to be, and Ellen tells her she thinks she remembers sleeping there.
Nick goes in to talk to his boss. He tells Gates Ellen's been talking to Patty.
At night, Malcolm gets into Ellen's car. He tells her that her sister has been lying to her and has been selling for a while. Malcolm suggests there are things they can do to make the witness think twice about testifying. Ellen contemplates, then says she'll handle it herself.
She asks about the other thing. Her name's Ann Connell, she lives about 100 miles out of the city.
Lenny thanks Zeddeck for handling things with Marilyn. Zeddeck says the less scrutiny on her, the better. He hands Lenny a bag of cash - the black duffel we know later ends up in Tom's trunk.
At Patty's apartment, Ellen tells Patty what Malcolm found about her sister. Ellen wonders if her sister deserves to go to jail. She knows her parents would be devastated and is worried about her baby.
Patty asks Ellen how she thinks Tom is doing. Ellen claims not to talk to him much. Patty says he's been tense. Ellen changes the topic to Patty's potential renovation.
Ellen meets with her sister in prison and shows her the picture of Ann. Carrie asks where she found the picture and says she shouldn't have shown it to their mother. Ellen remembers Carrie saying she was adopted when they were kids, but Carrie brushes it off. She asks if Ellen can help with her case. "Yes, I can," Ellen says, "but I'm not going to."
She tells her she did it to herself.
Lenny gets a drink with his dad in a dive and tells him he knows people who can hurt him. His dad tells him he thought Lenny got out of the business when he left, but he's pulling the biggest con of all. Lenny says it's not a con, the Tobins are like family.
His dad says he didn't come there to spoil Lenny's "game." He thinks Louis Tobin stashed money and he wants in.
Tessa meets with Ellen on the street. Ellen tells her she could lose her job for talking to her and tells her they think the Tobins are involved in her mother's death and they're concerned for her safety. She gives her a number.
Cut to Tessa calling Patty. She's a few blocks away.
"I wonder why she decided to talk," Patty says. "I have no idea," Tom says.
Cut to Ellen driving. She calls in to work, saying she won't be there tomorrow. The photo of the woman is on the seat next to her.
Patty and Tom worry because Tessa's not there.
As Tessa's crossing the street a car pulls up in front of her and detectives get out. She's under arrest. They put her in the back with Curtis Gates.
Ellen drives to the country as a nursery tune plays.
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