Body of Proof - "Shades of Blue"

Body of Proof 2.12: “Shades of Blue”

“Would you do an autopsy on a friend?”
“I’d prefer not to.”
“Well that’s what you’re asking me to do to Meeks.”
- Peter and Kate

This week we find ourselves at a truck stop late at night where a driver finds a dead body after nearly running over a guy. Megan rolls up with an extra coffee for Peter but he was thinking the same thing. Guess it’s good if you like coffee. Bud’s not on scene because his wife is having a bad bout of morning sickness. The other cops on scene are kind of jerks, saying the dead guy is likely a dealer or an addict. Either way, the victim (Johnny Vasquez) was killed execution style. Back at the lab Megan and Ethan are doing the external body exam and find some hairs (Vasquez is bald so it’s likely the killer). Peter stops by with some information on the sawdust on Johnny’s boots. Bud immediately identifies it as used in dive bars to clean up beer and he and Sam head to one of the two near the crime scene. The waitress is high but Sam agrees to not arrest her if she gives them the names of Johnny’s associates. Meanwhile, back at the lab, Megan’s autopsy is unremarkable. Johnny wasn’t an addict but he had drugs in his system. Turns out, once Peter tries to call the guy’s parole officer, Johnny isn’t really Johnny. He’s an undercover cop named Eddie Castillo.

The undercover cop unit is pretty gung ho about finding Eddie’s killer and Megan and Kate are a little surprised. Bud and Sam get back from the bar only to get a call that the waitress they just talked to got caught trying to rob the place. She claims it was because she’d ratted people to the cops. She was afraid for her life and didn’t want to stick around. Back at the lab, Megan and Peter are talking to Eddie’s wife. Not much of value comes out of it, other than that he didn’t break his wrist in a prison fight. Ethan and Curtis are in the lab and Ethan finds some non-biological material in the knuckle wound from Eddie’s hand. Curtis bemoans the fact that it’s going to be a lose-lose situation with a cop killer case until Ethan says he identified who the hairs belong to, a 2-time felon named Quinten. Meeks (Eddie’s current and Peter’s former partner) is really pissed off when he hears the news. His captain agrees to let Meeks go as back up to bring in Quinten.

Megan’s not sure things are all squared away. Quinten tested negative for drugs consistently after his last arrest but the hair found is positive and all the same length. They came from police evidence. Things are not going to go well at the raid. Meeks sort of sneaks off from the group and gets into Quinten’s apartment just as Peter calls Bud and Sam to tell them that Quinten’s being set up by a cop. The SWAT team busts in and stops Meeks from shooting Quinten. Too bad their captain is really pissed off at Kate and Megan for interrupting the operation. He doesn’t think their evidence was compelling. So Megan goes to get a fresh hair sample from Quinten. Ethan finally figures out what the trace was from Eddie’s hand wound: gold from a dental filling. There’s another strike against Meeks. Peter ends up at a bar where Meeks is wallowing in his suspension. Peter is a little horrified to find out that Meeks doesn’t have an alibi for the time of Eddie’s death. He was five miles from the crime scene.

Before Peter can say much more Megan summons him back to the lab. She’s not happy she found out from Ethan about the filling being a match to Meeks. Peter pretty much tells her that he believes his partner and that if they go after Meeks, he (Peter) can’t be with them. I kind of feel bad for Peter. But only a little. Next thing we know, Megan is demanding to see the murder weapon to see if Meeks planted it or not and threatens to have the entire homicide division drug tested to do it. Kate steps in and demands Peter do it, even if it makes him uncomfortable. She tells him that he needs to pick a team.

It looks like Peter has chosen the lab when he tells the captain he doesn’t want to go back to the force. But he only gets the gun by telling the captain about Megan. I’m not sure I really want to know what Peter told him. It seems a little creepy. Before Peter gets back, Bud brings Jeannie by the meet Megan. She’s been having some difficulties (frequent urination and drinking lots of orange juice). With a quick blood test, Megan guesses Jeannie has gestational diabetes. Peter drops off the gun and Megan has a bit of a problem firing. The gun recoils and the slide catches her between her thumb and forefinger. To make matters worse, the two cops from the crime scene show up with a bottle of urine with a bow on it. Really mature. Not.

But there is some good that comes of the bottle of urine. It proves that none of the cops in the homicide division were taking illegal drugs. Unfortunately, the test Megan did on the gun came up with no new evidence. Curtis found a minute trace of latex with partial DNA in the box it was processed in. Megan gets Peter begrudgingly to bring Meeks in to take a blood sample. Meanwhile, Bud and Sam meet up with the waitress. She’s been let go and told that the record producer that Eddie called wants to meet with her if she can get clean. Guess there’s one happy ending.

Bud stops by Megan’s office to tell her that she was right. Jeannie has gestational diabetes but it’s manageable. Megan is glad and when Bud says he owes her, she gets him to go and arrest Meeks. I’m not 100% sure that he did it. The two other cops that were at the scene are kind of jerks and a little sketchy. Anyway, the captain tells the whole squad to write down statements regarding Meeks’ involvement in the case. All is not as it seems though. Peter busts in to find out that arresting Charlie was just to get the others on camera signing their names so they could find the real killer. And I totally called it. One of the two cops from the crime scene was the killer. We end with some encouraging moments. Bud and his wife bond over beans and he promises everything will be fine and Megan and Peter are back on good terms.