Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent

In Toronto's war on crime,

the worst offenders are pursued by the detectives

of the Specialized Criminal Investigations Unit.

These are their stories.

Loves to cook.

All right, two or more languages.

You lot are putting me to shame.

All right, what about loves live performance?

Hm.

Huh, Jim Coer, Peter Buff.

Edwin, we could be twins.

Back home, I once did

costume design for a theatre company in Nairobi.

I, uh, made this tie, actually.

All right. Forget twins.

You have way too much time.

I bet you're proud of your son.

Would you care to try

Len's famous date and walnut cookies?

Have fun.

All right, so, drinks coffee or tea...

Hey, Adam.

Oof, what happened there?

Sprained tendon. Just hit the bag wrong.

I used to do a bit of boxing back in the day.

- Wrist support is everything. - Yeah, thanks.

- Hey, Tevin. - Welcome back, Len.

Wait, a room?

Babe, it's a den.

It doesn't even have a door.

Yeah, but I have a nutribullet.

I thought that broke.

Which is why I need the roommate.

Whoa. Hi.

You don't tape over someone's face.

It's old news, Hazel.

That doesn't mean it's yours to cover.

All right, my bad.

- Thanks for bringing me. - Oh, don't mention it.

I've been where you are.

It's two doubles.

And, uh... I'm single.

Uh, leave the kid alone.

We're gonna find a spot.

Hey! Are you holding?

I know, I know. You drop it, I stack it.

Davie, what can I get you to drink?

What exactly are they saying?

Well, let them spin the story however they want.

As long as my name doesn't come up.

Yeah, all right, thanks. Keep me posted.

Are you there, Webb?

There's a traffic incident at Church and Wellesley.

Webb here, currently unavailable.

Hey, take it easy on him.

He just wants to see the show.

You don't speak to me about my son.

Let that be your first and last mistake.

So I said if she wants a nanny,

she can pay the payroll tax.

God, Em,

you're, like, the only woman I know that can't cardio

and gossip at the same time.

Couple of locals were getting their morning steps in

when they spotted him.

Call came in at 6:30 AM.

Any other witnesses?

Canvassing, but nothing yet.

We got a line search underway to look for the murder weapon.

The assault started up there on the pathway,

continued down, ended here.

Blunt force to the head.

Heavy on the trauma.

- You got a name? - Len Marsden, 55.

Cash, credit cards, looks like it's all here.

Been working this neighbourhood for a long time.

Muggings are rare. Murders... rarer.

Well, Rosedale's not exactly a... hotbed of sin.

Quiet, rich. One of the lowest crime rates

in the country, actually. Nice gig.

It was up until this morning.

Maybe it was a crime of opportunity.

Killer waited for the perfect moment.

Strikes hard, then moved on.

Moved over this way.

A freshly dug hole.

- Oh, boy. - Looks like the killer

was planning on burying the body.

Maybe something interrupted them.

The park lights are on timers.

Set to come on at dusk and turn off at dawn.

That one's still on. Its timer must be faulty.

And maybe the attack happened at night.

Light kicked on and spooked the killer mid burial.

Time of death is between 11 PM and two AM last night.

Cause of death, multiple traumatic blows to the head.

And when I say multiple, I mean that our victim

took a serious beating. He was dead

before the final blow even landed.

So, serious overkill.

Uh, what'd they use?

Some blunt baton-like weapon.

Any signs he fought back?

None. No defensive wounds.

It's hard to believe a man of Len's size

would go down without a fight.

He didn't defend himself because he couldn't.

Toxicology turned up a high blood alcohol level

and a high dose of ketamine.

Both ingested less than an hour before he died.

So, essentially, he was legless

by the time he got on the path.

Do we know what Len was doing

on the path so late in the first place?

His apartment's in Rosedale.

Ten-minute walk from the crime scene.

So, maybe somebody saw him

drunk, drugged, walking alone,

decided to take advantage.

Could be. Or it's just as possible

that somebody wanted him in that state.

As Bateman says, look at the size of the guy.

He'd be a lot easier to handle like that.

No next of kin, no financial activity yesterday.

Well. The man had nobody,

and yet half of Rosedale is calling in,

demanding to know what happened to him.

Okay, we'll head to his place.

Build a timeline forward.

Find out why big Len here didn't make it home last night.

Remember what they did to Jamie's son, Levi?

When they caught him with the neighbour boy.

They dragged him through their village. Flogged him.

Until he stopped breathing.

- It's not like that here. - Edwin,

do you think I wanted to do that last night?

I had to for you.

- Len. Len didn't deserve... - Never speak that name again.

Give me something.

Where are you?

Spoke with Len's landlord.

Last time she saw him was yesterday.

He was pulling out in his van around noon.

His van's back in the parking spot?

No, actually, just flagged it with CPIC.

Patrol are watching out for... What? What'd you find?

A calendar entry. Yesterday at noon.

N.H.U. Could be someone's initials?

No.

New Haven United Church.

Amen.

Len was a self-employed handyman.

I've been contracting him for years.

He's dependable, quiet.

- Always got the job done. - You two were close.

Not at first.

He mostly kept to himself.

But, uh, a few years back,

I asked him if he would help with some renovations.

Pews, benches, that sort of thing.

And then he was around a lot.

And did that change things between the two of you?

New Haven is a very inclusive space

and Len could see that.

Soon enough, he was a beloved member of the congregation.

This is gonna upset a lot of people.

Anyone in particular?

Someone that he'd been seeing a lot more of lately?

A young man named Edwin.

Uh, Kenyan, newcomer.

They met at a new Canadian tea recently and got on well.

Edwin stopped by yesterday to see Len.

They left together around seven.

Did he mention where they were going?

No.

But, strangely, I got an email this morning

from Edwin's father, Jeremiah.

He asked to be taken off the church event's mailing list.

I got the sense that...

he wasn't comfortable with Len and Edwin's friendship.

Thank you.

I just came from New Haven Church.

Minister Cade informed me that, um,

he received a strange request from you.

Why did you send that email?

I could not continue to accept help from a church

that welcomes people like Len.

Len was just like me.

He understood what it was like

to have a father who couldn't accept him

for who he was.

After you and Len left the church yesterday,

- where did you go? - He knew I was looking

for a queer community in Toronto,

so he offered to take me to a drag show.

I went to this show to get him.

He was drunk, dancing.

- So what'd you do? - I raised my voice.

- Is that all? - Broke some glasses.

I won't deny it, but no one was hurt.