Stalker

Previously on "Stalker"...

- You're not coming back, are you? - Why would you say that?

- My instinct would be to run. - That is what you did, Jack.

Except I didn't run away.

I ran to something... my son.

What would you be running to?

I wanted to look in on an old case. It's personal.

Stan Gardner.

Love obsession case.

Stan's wife was seeing other men,

and he strangled her.

I just would really appreciate

your fresh eyes on it.

I think Stan Gardner's innocent.

Where would you begin your investigation?

I would start with your ex-husband.

He was sleeping with the victim.

When you first filed a report

against your husband Darren Tyler

3 months ago, he was harassing you

over your breakup.

Why are you stalking your ex-wife?

Look. I know things didn't end well.

- I got help. - What kind of help?

I joined a love and sex addicts support group.

Darren has an alibi.

Who else could it be?

I started to wonder who did

attack Pam in her house.

The attacker jimmied the window,

found the weapon inside the house,

and laid in wait for his victim,

which is the exact M.O. of the killer

in this case.

Francine Johnson.

You think these two cases may be related.

There's more than just two.

I found 4 murders

with the same M.O.

Each victim in all 6 cases

had a stalker who attended a love and sex addiction

support group.

So we've got a serial killer out there.

All of these men were accused

of stalking their ex-wives,

girlfriends, or past relationships,

the most recent being Pam Tyler,

who survived her attack,

but Francine Johnson was not so fortunate,

nor the 4 other cases I've uncovered

with great similarity,

murders where we presumed the women to be killed

by the men who were stalking them.

How are they similar?

To clarify... 4 cases where the murdered victims'

stalkers were convicted.

One has since died, two are serving life sentences,

and one is on death row.

All in the last 5 years.

Yes. 6 female victims who all share a common link.

Their stalkers all lived in Los Angeles,

where they attended sex and love addiction meetings.

Now each victim was attacked in their own home.

The attacker entered through a jimmied window.

Sometimes, the victim was home.

In each case,

the assailant used a weapon found inside the home,

a house tool, rope,

a kitchen knife.

The assailant wore a ski mask.

And how do we know this?

From the surviving victim Pam Tyler.

So just the one case.

There's clearly an erotic nature to the attacks,

which suggests that the murderer enjoyed

stalking his prey.

Hello?

Hey. What's up?

Yeah, I have the morning off.

Brian showed up yesterday.

It's like he's following me everywhere.

It's really creeping me out.

Just a sec, Megan. I think I heard something.

Hey. Yeah. It was nothing.

That definitely defines an M.O.

Serious hindsight coincidence.

Or a serial killer.

Ehh. Oh, that's where you lose me.

Thanks for the coffee.

Detective, why do you take offense

at the idea of a serial killer?

I'll admit we don't know who killed Francine Johnson,

but to suggest a serial killer means

that Robbery Homicide arrested the wrong man

not once but in 4 previous murder cases.

Heh. Amanda.

Trent's right. It also means that

my office wrongly convicted 4 men of murder.

It's not statistically possible

in all levels of incompetence.

Look. I understand that this may be hard to swallow,

but we have to be thorough.

If all the victims' stalkers attended addiction meetings,

that alone is suspect.

4 of these cases have convictions.

All we are asking is to an open an investigation.

You want me to bring this to the D.A.?

Heh heh. Good luck with that.

Bye, guys.

I'm gonna need a lot more evidence.

I commend you, Janice.

This is a very compelling argument,

but I cannot bring this to the D.A.

I need more.

Sorry.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm on my way there.

Mm-hmm.

Nice to see you.

Hi!

- Morning. - Morning.

Are you waiting for me?

Uh, Amanda told me you were coming today,

so I had Tim from downstairs call me

the moment you entered the building.

That's sweet.

I just wanted a second before everything got

crazy busy.

OK.

So you decided to come back.

Yeah. Someone I respect told me that I shouldn't

be running if I didn't know where I was running to,

so I listened.

And, uh...

The other night?

Yes?

We kissed.

We did.

And then you ran home.

I did not.

Yeah, you did.

Well, I... I ran because I kissed my boss.

It was awkward.

Yeah. Now we're at work talking about it.

More awkward.

I just wanted to clear the air,

you know, see how you felt about it,

see if I still have a job or not.

Oh. No. You're fired.

The reason I took off is because I... I

wasn't sure if the timing was right.

I felt like I was taking advantage

of the moment or something,

and I... I wanted to apologize if I...

if I crossed the line.

Did I cross the line?

I kissed you, too, Jack.

It goes both ways.

Heh. Yeah.

Why don't we do this? Why don't we talk about it later

outside of work?

- Yeah. - OK.

Yes.

You're back!

Don't get up. I'll come to you.

Agh. Go easy with the love.

I'm a work in progress.

How are you?

I'm good. I just got to take it easy is all.

It's so good to have you back.

I read up on your serial killer theory.

How did Robbery Homicide react?

Didn't go over well with Trent.

It's because love and sex addicts isn't

enough of a connection.

We got to narrow it further.

There are over 300 meetings in L.A. each week.

If we can find one specific meeting

that can link all of the stalkers in each murder,

it will be hard to argue that it's not a serial killer.

Oh, how I've missed you.

Good morning.

Morning.

I hear your board review went well.

Thank you for your kind words.

I know you had a lot to do with me returning so quickly.

I only spoke the truth.

They asked me to stay on for a couple of weeks

to ease your transition.

I'm in Frazier's office. He's on leave.

Of course.

Have you heard anything more

about Stan Gardner's appeal?

No, but the judge granted my request

to visit him in prison.

Have you approached your ex-husband yet?

Not yet.

I want to hear Gardner's side of the story

before I speak to Will.

Are you sure you want to take this on?

I would think that it would bring up so many feelings.