High Potential

All right, check your gear.

This is rarefied air, my friends.

HALO jumps aren't something a lot of civilians get to do.

Yeah!

We're jumping at 30,000 feet. Mask up. Stay calm.

Remember your training.

Let's go, guys.

Whoo! That is what I'm talking about, baby.

Damn, you landed like a bullet.

Hey, guys, I think there's something wrong with Padilla.

Padilla! Hey!

I am so excited about this one.

Okay, Morgan.

Dare I ask why?

The guy's alive when he jumps, and dead when he hits the ground.

You're not excited to figure out how you kill someone midair?

We can't assume that.

Could be he lost consciousness midair and died on impact when he hit the ground.

Why would we be here if the medical examiner didn't think it was murder?

Just try to keep your enthusiasm at an appropriate level.

What do we know?

Captain Alonso Padilla, retired Air Force Special Recon.

Worked as a therapist on base but still served in the reserves.

Taught skydiving here twice a week.

Seemed like everyone liked him, until this. It was a routine jump.

ME found this in his jumpsuit.

"I know what you're doing. Stop or die."

One of Padilla's students could've slipped that into his pocket.

Or maybe someone else did it on the ground.

The point of the note was to get him to back off whatever he was doing.

Why threaten the guy if you're about to kill him?

Plus, this wasn't written today.

I left my phone in the car. Give me yours.

Uh, the last time I let you borrow my phone--

I changed the ringtone to "Baby Got Back." I haven't heard the end of it.

Just give me your phone. This is work-related.

It wasn't funny.

See, when you write with ink, at first, the line is sharp,

but because the ink has solvents in it, over time, the line fades.

That's why you get that little halo around the letters.

A few days later, the solvent evaporates, and the dye stays where it is.

So, this was written at least a few days ago.

And Padilla was just walking around with a death threat in his pocket?

Maybe he was trying to figure out who wrote it.

Maybe he was using it as motivation.

Well, whatever it is, it's safe to say Padilla didn't stop

and the killer followed through.

I think it's time to talk to his students.

Couldn't he just've had a heart attack, plain and simple?

Why? Did Padilla mention feeling sick? Anything unusual?

No, he was in good spirits.

Had a good talk with Suzie, the medical examiner.

-She gets it. -She gets what?

-Hi, I'm Morgan. -Ethan.

I was just about to ask how long you'd known Alonso Padilla.

Couple weeks. I just started coming here.

Did he seem nervous about the jump?

Not from what I could tell.

Look, I wish I could help you out, but if you want to speak to someone

who knew him much better than I did, that would be Tina.

I own this place, and even I took lessons from Padilla.

Mmm.

His love of skydiving was infectious,

and his military experience, that was a big draw.

But I don't know, lately it seemed like he didn't wanna talk about it.

Well, Tina, from the moment Padilla arrived here today

until he went up in the jump plane, did you notice anything suspicious?

No, everything was perfectly normal until...

Sorry, I'm still processing all of this, so... Um...

He was a really good guy.

Well, Tina, thank you.

If we have any further questions, we'll let you know.

Hmm.

-This is interesting. -A blank white key card.

The key card itself isn't that interesting,

but the fact that it's here is.

It doesn't belong. They use metal keys here.

Mm-hmm.

This could be for a million different things.

Well, then let's go whittle it down, big guy.

All right, let's see what we have here.

ME's report.

Oh, God. How did you get that so fast?

I don't know what to tell you. I'm extremely charming, Lieutenant, okay?

-Suzie fast-tracked it. -Which we will talk about later.

Understood. You guys wanna know how Padilla died?

Hypoxia. It's lack of oxygen.

He suffocated.

Wait, the techs checked his gear.

His helmet and oxygen mask were working properly.

Any chance it was a rare medical condition?

No. Doesn't explain the death threat.

We'll continue to investigate this as a murder

unless we have reason to believe otherwise.

A midair homicide. I will work this case for free.

I don't mean that. That's just something people say.

Nice to see such dedication.

Solomon.

What a nice surprise. How can we help you?

Internal Affairs received information that Ms. Gillory interfaced with our ME

without proper supervision, instructing her to, quote,

"Put a rush on the Padilla case. That's a direct order from the higher-ups."

Well, no. That's maybe a bit of a paraphrasing on Suzie's part.

I just... She just... She did me a favor.

That favor cost us $12,000 in rush fees.

-What? -Morgan.

I appreciate you letting us know,

and I will make sure that this never happens again.

-Yeah. -Will you?

Can you honestly say that this isn't just the most recent example

of her flouting procedure at every turn?

Okay, hang on there for just one second.

I've never flouted anything. Thank you very much.

You sure about that?

- She's got a... - Get off me.

Oh.

Wait.

Yes, I am.

This marks one overstep too many.

I'm sending you to Detective Training Academy.

Sorry, that... that's not a thing. Detective Trai...

Okay, that sounds like obedience school for cops.

More or less.

Once you've completed the course, you may resume regular duties.

Are you serious?

Ugh.

All right, just... I'm gonna finish this case,

- and then I'll go to... - ...your academy.

Uh, no, you may not.

And if you don't pass, there won't be any more cases.

Look, I know you're being sent for training,

you don't want to learn rules that you will not follow.

Wow, you're good.

But, full disclosure, I helped create the course.

Of course you did.

Great. I was worried I wouldn't know exactly who to resent

while I'm stuck here.

Please just keep an open mind.

Are you asking me not to start a fight with anyone?

That is exactly what I'm asking.

Adam. You're looking well.

Dottie. You haven't changed a bit.

Morgan. This is Sergeant Dottie Reynolds. She runs the course.

Hi, Dottie, nice to meet you.

Listen, you seem like a busy lady. You do not need to be babysitting me.

I had an idea. Why don't I just take the final exam?

- Morgan. - That's not how it works.

But with an open mind, it could be.

It appears you're doing the Lord's work with this one.

- Hmm. - Mmm.

Why would she say that? What does that mean?

She read the memos.

There's no memos.

IA sent Morgan to detective school?

Yes, yes, I know.

Silver lining though. I think that this will be really good for her.

Oh, I don't care about the class.

I need to know what's going on in my squad so I can stay ahead of things.

I got it under control.

-Do you? -Mm-hmm.

I heard about your case.

Padilla was Air Force, which means at some point, JAG is gonna try and step in.

Which is exactly why I reached out to my contacts.

Oh, good, because my contacts already got back to me.

So, you already reached out to your contacts on my case.

Military cases are sensitive.

So, I threw around some rank to keep JAG from getting in the mix.

Well, thank you for the assist. I can take it from here.

Well, I'm actually going to Padilla's house with Karadec.

Because you need to throw rank around at the victim's house?

You're down a consultant, Lieutenant. Thought I'd lend a helping hand.

And when I need one, I'll come find you.

I'm already here. Consider me your new secret weapon.

Your silence speaks volumes.

Oh, yeah? What does it seem to be saying?

You don't want me on this case.

More like I'm wondering why you wanna be on this case.

Good leaders don't solve problems from their desks.

Captains aren't usually out in the field. And yet time and time again, here you are.

Now, your silence is speaking volumes.

Well, what do you think it's saying?

It's unclear.

Yeah, that's what worries me.

Padilla's house is immaculate.

Every book squared to the edge, every object in its place.

A soldier's precision in civilian life.

If I didn't know better, I'd have guessed you lived here.

Let's bag that up when we go.

I'm guessing your view of the military isn't a very good one, Captain.

I don't see how an institution built on hierarchy and obedience

jives with a man who lives in the gray.

Well, you misread that one, Detective.

I respect the military.

The discipline it instills isn't at odds

with knowing when and how to bend the rules,

especially when someone on your team is in trouble.

You may be surprised to learn,

the most honest part of our body is our feet.

That does surprise me. - Something to say, Ms. Gillory?

Well, yeah, mostly I'm just trying to pace my attention span.