The Rookie

Hey.

I need your help with a case.

- Aren't you supposed to be on maternity leave?

What are you, my husband?

- Look, forget I said anything. What's up?

- I have an open file that's almost ready

to hand off to the DA's office.

If I take care of it now,

it won't be hanging over my head when I get back.

Wanna help me out? - Sure.

What you doing?

- Trying to figure out the crib assembly.

In the closet?

It's peaceful in here.

Who's on the phone?

Customer service.

- Do you have your order number handy, ma'am?

- Hi, Aaron. - Hi.

- Angela, I know you're working.

Wrap it up,

or I'm gonna call Grey and tell him what you're doing.

In the future, you could disguise your voice.

- I'm not comfortable being pulled into your web of lies.

Get over it.

I need you to collect DNA from a suspect.

I'll text you his name.

Okay. Do we have a warrant?

No.

- Then how am I supposed to get his DNA?

You wanna be a detective?

Figure it out.

All right, let's get to it.

Special of the day: Frank Teska.

Frank spent two decades

working his way up from a street-level enforcer

to a proud boss of a renaissance crew

that ran everything from prostitutes to drugs.

- Then Frank's temper got the best of him.

took an eight-year fall for involuntary manslaughter.

- Although there was nothing involuntary about it.

More recently-- that is, last week--

Frank exited prison and, we believe,

took out his brother, Ed,

to reestablish leadership.

- We have prison intel over Frank's

last few months inside.

He was making a push

to get into the ghost gun business.

- Specifically, 3D-printed weapons,

which are invisible to metal detectors.

Next-generation ghost guns

are printed using a high-strength,

nylon-based polymer,

which is illegal to buy in bulk

without proper paperwork.

- Now, this morning, METRO raided Ridgeside Chemicals

based on intel that Frank was about to take a delivery

of 300 gallons of that polymer.

- Which leaves Frank without a supplier.

Exactly.

- Which is where Officer Chen comes in.

She'll be going undercover at Southland Chemicals in Venice,

the only other local manufacturer of the polymer.

- And I'll be living at the Langholm apartments.

So until further notice,

if you see Officer Chen out in the world,

do not acknowledge her.

All those assigned to support,

see Sergeant Bradford.

Everyone else, let's get to work.

- Mornin'. - Hey.

You feelin' all right?

- Yeah, I'm just taking it a little slow this morning.

I, uh, saw some friends that I haven't seen in a long time.

- Oh, you need a little carefree time.

Just be careful not to burn yourself out.

- I won't, but ever since we got justice for Blanca,

it's like this weight has been lifted,

like my soul feels lighter, you know what I mean?

I do, and I'm happy for you.

- I even signed up for this dating app, YouSpark.

I can't remember the last time I even flirted with a guy.

- Well, let's hope sparks fly soon.

- Gotta love a Daddy Cop joke.

- Hey, I need you to run down to the morgue for me.

Fun. Why?

Remember NoHo Doe?

I do.

A torso found in North Hollywood,

no definitive cause of death,

and no means to ID him.

- It was a dead-end case I took on

to keep Skip Tracer Randy out of jail.

Was that the right decision?

- Definitely not, but I have to solve it now.

To that end, an arm was found

near Silver Lake Reservoir this morning.

- Gotta be connected to the torso, right?

No--no pun intended.

Not necessarily.

There are a surprising amount

of severed limbs in this city.

Mm.

- Oh. - Kay.

Thorsen, what are you doing?

Looking for DNA.

- It looks like you're moonlighting

at the sanitation department.

- Yeah, I could see how you could think that.

You know, it's not often that you find

a young, budding detective

with this amount of dedication to solve a case.

- Tell me you came by this evidence legally.

- I mean, I might've committed a minor trespass

to gather evidence, but per police procedure.

you walked on the suspect's property,

dug through their trash bins,

and brought all their trash here.

Basically.

Well, you're not sorting

through that filth in my station.

Get it out of here.

And Thorsen,

this table better be spotless

when you're gone.

Yes, sir.

I called Hard Luck.

What--really?

He's such an unreliable CI.

- No, he's just a little twitchy sometimes.

He's the only informant I got who has an in with Frank Teska.

So he's gonna point Frank in the direction

of your new identity at Southland.

- Yeah, or he'll go on a three-day bender

and wake up in Reno.

No, he won't,

'cause I told him it was for you.

He knows it's important to me.

Aw.

Undercover love.

- I'm sorry to say the new arm is not a match for NoHo Doe.

- Yeah, I figured it was too much to hope for.

- But the method of amputation on it is confounding.

How so?

- I've never seen such well-defined

traumatic separation of tissue.

I honestly don't know what instrument was used

to remove it.

A katana? Lightsaber.

No and no.

- Any idea what was used to chop up NoHo Doe?

- Definitely a blade done post-mortem,

but I have no idea what the cause of death was.

I did find evidence that your torso owner

had a hip arthroplasty.

- So if we find a severed limb with hip hardware,

it's most likely our guy?

- Exactly, and then I'll be able to ID him

off the serial number. - Outstanding.

Thank you very much. Shall we?

Looks like we're going on a leg hunt.

This job is so weird.

Hello.

I'm Larry Ellis,

and you must be Jamie Hall.

I can't tell you how excited I am to be part of this--

Oh, uh--uh,

it's nice to meet you too, Larry.

Um, maybe you could show me to my office.

- It's not the right leg. - It is a right leg.

- No, I mean it's not the correct leg.

- But we'll take it off your hands.

20 bucks.

Five?

Anything you need, I'm here.

So just let me know.

And again, I am so happy to help the LAPD.

"NYPD Blue" is my favorite TV show,

so you can imagine.

- Uh, Larry, I really appreciate the offer,

but you know, the best thing you could do for me

is to treat me like all your other employees.

And you know, this should really be the last time

that you mention the LAPD, okay?

Yes, of course.

Copy that.

Uh, I've been practicing all the lingo.

No lingo.

- No lingo. - Yeah, okay.

I'm just a regular plastics salesperson.

Jamie Hall.

You all set up, Jamie?

Yeah, all good.

Although we should probably keep an eye on my boss.

He's a little overeager.

- Want me to have a talk with him?

No, no. I've got it.

Are you good? - Yeah.

Yeah, we got you covered out here.

Wherever you go, we go.