The Afterparty

She wants to see you. You wanna see her.

Nothing can ruin this night.

No!

- -

Xavier!

- -

- -

Hey, Cap.

Danner, what are you doing at Xavier's place?

Okay, you got me.

I heard it on the scanner. I picked up Culp.

- Let me take the lead. - Hey, Captain.

You can't, okay? You're not right for it, okay?

- Come on, Greg. You know I can do this. - Look at this place.

I can't risk it, Danner. It's too high-profile.

Chief already called in a ringer from LA.

- A ringer? Who? - A ringer?

Detective Germain. He caught the Tar Pits Strangler.

Oh, I know who he is. He's garbage, man.

Well, it doesn't matter. He'll be on the first flight in the morning.

He's taking lead detective.

What if I solve the case before he gets here?

Look. The victim was having an after-party for his high school reunion.

The guests are still in the house.

You could collect simple statements, nothing more. This is not your case.

- Do you understand? - Copy.

What did he say?

All right, everyone. I'm lead on this case.

Lead on the case!

Captain wants answers by the morning for this celebrity death.

She is in charge, as am I. Again, we are both in charge.

- All right. - Oh, my God.

It is really him. It's Xavier.

I need to take a moment.

Okay, so the victim seems to have fallen from his house.

It could be an accident or suicide.

No shirt? Mmm. His jacket's wet.

- You gonna sniff him like that? - Mm-hmm.

Yep. Whiskey and ginger ale.

Oh, my God.

There's shrimp everywhere. Cooked shrimp, so not from the ocean.

There's a blond wig over there.

Was someone playing "dress up and kill the rock star"?

There's something underneath him. Hmm.

Okay. We got a hat.

Can I get one of those yellow things with the numbers on 'em? Thank you.

Now how can it be a suicide if he's laying on top of the hat, huh?

The hat would fall off of his head and float down. The hat came down first.

Okay, maybe not a suicide. What if it's an accident?

What if he's looking out at the view over the balcony?

Plate of shrimp cocktail. He looks down. "I'm not wearing a shirt."

It's literally the first time that night he's realizing it.

The shock from that jostles the hat. It falls off the balcony.

- He 9-goes to get it. - I don't think so.

- 'Cause he has a contusion on his nose. - Someone punched him in the nose.

This is a murder.

How did this all go so wrong?

I didn't do it.

It's okay, man. Nobody thinks you did.

It's just...

I just... I can't.

I can't. I just... You... I just...

Yes. Yeah. I guessed the, uh, Wi-Fi password.

If anybody needs it, it's, um, "Xavier," all lowercase.

Uh, "Xavier." No?

More bandwidth for me.

Hello, everyone. I'm Detec...

- Whoa. Whoa. - Whoa, whoa. Shit.

Just slipped on a puddle right there. That's weird.

I'm, uh, Detective Danner. And this...

The hell is a arrow in the...

God, a shrub X?

The hell is goin' on up...

Culp. Uh, I'm Detective Culp.

Mmm. You rich people love to ski. Don't even need snow.

Y'all some messy white folks, I'll tell you that much. Oh, hey.

Uh, we will be collecting statements shortly.

So, get comfortable, folks. But not too comfortable.

Like wool pajamas.

Yes. And no social medias, please. We don't wanna turn this into a circus.

Even though it looks like.

Barnum and Bailey's done came through this bitch.

- Xavier's on TV. Dude, turn it up. - …sources on social media

confirm pop star, actor

- and celebrity humanitarian, Xavier… - Fuck.

…was found dead tonight,

his body discovered on the cliff below his second home in Belvedere

during an after-party for his high school reunion.

We get more now from Linda Dela Rosa.

Linda, can you give us the juicy details?

I'm here outside Xavier's Marin County compound

where there is no word yet from police

on whether foul play was a factor in this unthinkable tragedy.

Xavier was born Bay Area resident Eugene Xavier Duckworth Jr.,

the son of the owner of coffee chain Gene's Beans.

At the age of 21, Xavier went platinum with the song "X Marks the G-Spot"

From there, he turned to acting,

starring in jungle adventure Hungry Hungry Hippos,

and securing a People's Choice Award nomination

for his portrayal of Daryl Hall alongside Channing Tatum's Oates

in the musical biopic Private Eyes.

You see that? That right there is what we need.

- A broken record? - No, a smash hit!

This city will put you in its mouth, bite you up and spit you out.

It's a... It's an eater of men.

Wait.

What did you just say?

- Grab your ax. It's chart-breaking time. - Let's break them charts.

Come on. Let's eat.

- Okay. You go high. I'll go the same high. - Okay.

And a one, and a...

- Turn that mess off. - Yeah. Of course.

Now, everybody, uh, stay tuned.

You are wet.

Soaking wet.

We'll be right back. Y'all stay put.

Brett.

How many times tonight have I told you I don't wanna talk to you?

- Three times. - So why are you talking to me?

Because I know what you're hiding in your car.

And I know what you said to me in the hallway at the reunion.

- So… - So nobody needs to say anything.

About anything.

- Good. - Good talk.

That's all there needed to be said.

- Then why are we still talking? - We're not.

You are. You just said that.

Just 'cause it seems like you need the last word and it annoys me.

- Well, now I'm ending it. - Good.

There are some scrapes here on the railing.

- Could be the signs of a scuffle. - Shh! Can't hear.

- Done. - Now it is, yes.

One, two, three…

- Didn't agree to a one, two, three. - …over. Ah, my God!

Great.

So, we got Mr. Aggro and the train wreck.

Get the cornstarch.

- The plot thickens. - Mmm.

There's a drop of blood here on the balcony floor,

which is probably from Xavier getting punched in the nose.

And there are no security cameras in sight.

And beep boop boop beep ba bap beep boop...

I could be saying anything because you're not listening.

Oh, my God.

Don't you care about the...

Blood on the floor? Sure.

But I care more about

adorkable lover boy eyeing uptight artist girl.

Okay. He obviously is adorkable, but how do you know she's an artist?

Ink on her hands.

Pay attention, Culp. We're solving a murder.

Okay. There's too many of you to take down to the station.

So, I'll be interviewing you all here.

And I wanna talk to every single one of you.

Because the truth is, any one of you could be the murderer.

Now, you all went to your high school reunion this evening.

For what, second chances?

At life?

Love?

Something else?

Emotions are high.

Someone pushes your buttons, and all of a sudden,

snap, bam!

You lose it!

So it'll take a few hours.

- Are you serious? - Hours? Why?

What else you got to do in the middle of the damn night?

Why? We all know that Aniq killed him.

Oh, my God. No, I didn't!

- I'm guessing you're Aniq? - She's good.

Did you actually see him kill Xavier?

- No, but I did... - Sit your ass down.

You should be ashamed of yourself wearing heels that pregnant.

It's not good for your back.

Look. So, did anyone here actually witness Xavier's murder?

- No, ma'am... Officer. - No.

- No. - The murderer did.

Everyone else doesn't know what happened,

because we're all stars of our own movie.

The same thing could happen, but you see it in a different way.

And as a part of my process, I like to talk to each person.

I wanna hear your story. I wanna hear your mind movie.

- Mind movie? - You gather all that together,

- then you can get at the truth. - Agreed.

And the truth is that Indigo saw Aniq at the scene of the crime.

Indigo, tell her.

Darling, avec plaisir.

I was on the lower balcony with the Jennifers

while Ned was performing a ski-based art project

on a passed-out Aniq.

Oh, Ned. Come onto the terrace with me and stop taunting Aniq with your pranks.

This is more than a prank.

This is a metaphor for society's illusion of stability.

What? Whoa. Okay, dude, I… …do not know what that means.