High Potential

That's him, that's him.

Mr. Barrow. Got time for a picture?

Teddy.

Sure.

-What's your name? -Joanna.

Joanna, it's good to meet you.

She wants to be an astronaut.

Oh, yeah? And after you go to space, I want a picture with you.

Deal?

- Deal. - Go on, honey.

What's it like up there?

Well, um, I'll tell you.

You never get tired of the view.

16 sunrises, 16 sunsets every day.

And it has its challenges...

but I hope you get to see it someday.

Thanks for this.

- You folks have a good day. - You too.

That was so cool.

Now we're running late.

Come on, we can cut through it this way. Excuse us.

-You all right? -Yeah, I'm good.

Uh, just a little nervous about giving the speech.

Hey!

What the hell? What is wrong with people?

Teddy, are you okay?

Teddy? Oh, my God.

What is happening? What is happening?

Oh, my God. Get help! Get help!

Somebody help!

Oh, my God.

So you're just gonna fly to New York

and knock on Willa Quinn's door?

I've gone through all the proper channels.

So far I've been ghosted and shut down by a receptionist named Cleo.

So I'm just gonna go.

I'm tired of waiting.

Yeah, me too. All right, well, Ludo can watch the kids.

-I just got to run home-- -Absolutely not, Morgan.

Don't do this, okay? I'm going with you.

All right? I need to talk to this woman.

Soto is right. It's too risky, Morgan.

Willa's too much of an unknown, and what we do know worries me.

She erases problems for billionaires.

Her clients are senators and CEOs,

half the people who make the rules we enforce.

-I understand. And the other half-- -Enough.

I'm going alone.

Going where?

New York City.

I'm looking for a woman named Willa Quinn.

Her name was given to us by--

Erik Hayworth. Yeah, I know about him.

And Arthur.

All of it.

So you understand why I need to keep the circle small.

Sure.

-You're leaving now? -I got a plane to catch.

-Okay, if I go with you-- -Stop.

And if it gets messy with Willa?

Then it'll be my ass on the line, not yours.

I'm sure you have other things to take care of, Captain.

Oh, just dinner with my old man.

Trust me, I'd rather go with you.

- But I'm sure you'll keep us all posted.

Feel free to use my office.

Looks like you two are on the way to the Biltmore Hotel.

-Got a high-profile murder on our hands. -Who is it?

Teddy Barrow, former astronaut.

News says he's a big deal.

Yeah, he's a big deal. 680 days on the International Space Station.

Everything okay?

Yeah, I'm just glad Elliot's stuck at school.

I'm gonna have Detectives Ozdil and Forrester meet you there.

Teddy Barrow was on his way to give a keynote speech at a business symposium.

We're questioning all the attendants, but the event was publicized online,

so anyone in the world could have known he'd be here.

How do you kill someone with a pie?

Must've been laced with some kind of toxin.

Bystanders seem to be okay.

Hazmat cleaned and cleared the area, so it's not airborne.

And the woman who did this?

Teddy's aide chased her, but she got away.

This was taken right before it happened.

You can see the attacker in the background.

Anyone else get a look at her?

Victim's fiancée was next to him when it happened. Heidi Choi.

Paramedics are checking her out now, but it looks like she'll be okay.

Morgan and I will talk to her. You guys get any footage

the hotel has of the attack,

and push forensics to rush labs on the pie.

Find out what the hell we're dealing with.

Teddy and I, we worked together for 12 years,

me on the ISS ground team and him going up.

We always had feelings for each other, but we agreed to keep it professional.

Then about a month ago, he changed his mind on a dime.

We went on a few dates.

Things moved really fast, and...

...before you knew it, he was asking me to marry him.

I'm so sorry.

At first, I thought that woman was pulling some sort of terrible prank,

and then...

I saw that Teddy, he couldn't breathe and...

It's okay. Take your time.

I'm sorry, um, we got the hotel security footage.

You do not need to watch this.

It's all right. I wanna help.

Do you recognize her?

No, I don't. I'm sorry.

It's okay. If we have any other questions, we'll let you know.

We checked every angle. None give a good look at the woman's face.

We can still run it through facial recognition.

-Maybe we'll get lucky. -I think we just did.

You said this woman outran everyone, right?

Mm-hmm.

Okay, check out this footwork.

She is really booking it.

This woman is a serious runner.

And look at these impressions.

She was wearing track spikes,

and since the spikes are all clustered up at the front,

our killer was also a sprinter.

And based on her speed and how much ground she covered,

I'm guessing 11 seconds in the 100, give or take.

D1 speed. No wonder no one caught her.

Yeah, and look at this.

Her shoes are custom colors.

Yeah, red with a black heel stripe.

That's St. Emily's Women's College.

They have a D1 track and field team.

My ex went there. She was a big runner.

-Ran far away from commitment. -Yeah, I just checked their roster.

Only one sprinter there clocks an 11-second 100, Arden Prescott.

Let's pay a visit to St. Emily's, see if we can track her down.

-Track her down. -You gonna do this all day?

-I'll stop. -I think that's for the best.

What time is it? Yeah, I'll have to meet you there.

She had to bolt.

Hey, can I come in?

You heard about Teddy Barrow, huh?

I have a news alert.

When did you find out?

Well, actually, I just got assigned to his case.

-Really? -Yep.

Wow.

I'm really sorry.

I know how important he was to you.

I still can't believe he wrote me back

about how he was fixing the solar array wing

on the STS-126 mission.

-I really wanted to meet him. -I know you did.

And I wish you could have, because I bet you two have a lot in common.

Do you know what happened?

We're working on it.

I don't understand.

Teddy was so nice to everyone, and everyone loved him.

I don't know why anyone would want to hurt him.

That's what I'm gonna find out.

I mean, I pretty much promised him that we'd figure out what happened to Teddy.

Well, losing our heroes can be tough, even if we've never met 'em.

Yeah, and he basically inherited my brain, so unless he gets some answers,

he's never gonna stop thinking about it.

Let's get him some.

-LAPD. I'm assuming you're Christine? -Yeah.

We're looking for your roommate, Arden Prescott.

'Kay.

Uh, she's not answering her cell phone, and we spoke to her parents.

They don't know where she is either.

She's not here.

You mind if we come in?

When's the last time you saw Arden?

Um... maybe, like, yesterday?

So did she sleep here last night?

I don't know. Maybe.

Any idea where she might be now?

Look, she's just, like, my assigned roommate.

I don't really know her that well, and I gotta get to class, so...

Mind if we keep looking around?

Knock yourselves out.

Well, this place is gross.

Should've grabbed one of those hazmat suits from the crime scene.

Christine could be hiding somebody. Nobody can be that oblivious.

I don't know.

Teenagers are pretty good at ignoring things.

Judging by this room, the two are polar opposites,

so I wouldn't be surprised if they never speak at all.

How can you tell whose stuff is whose?

Because of what we know about them already.

Christine can't be bothered. She keeps to herself.

So those are her noise-canceling headphones.

Plus you saw her sense of fashion.

She's into anime, she loves fake nails.

And then there's Arden, the performer.

She works out,

she posts online,

and she sings.

Which tells us that this is Arden's desk.

Whoa, Morgan, keep your distance. There's an empty pie box in here.

We'll get it over to forensics.

You see anything else around here that would indicate why Arden might do this?