Directed by David Straiton
Written by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie
Upon discovering a possible link to the recent murder of a man, the team looks back into the death of Vanessa Prosser, a dedicated Democrat campaign worker whose lifeless body was tossed into the River the night of the 1992 Presidential Election.
Tropes for the episode:
- Accidental Murder: David pushed Vanessa down the stairs, but not because he wanted to kill her. When she started touching him intimately, it triggered flashbacks to when his own sister was molesting him and he freaked out. Unfortunately, he pushed her too forcefully, causing her death.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Even though Abbey gets arrested, she lies and states that she killed both the father and the daughter, which means that David can go to Congress and that he won't be in trouble despite the problems that might occur later on.
- Brother–Sister Incest: The baddie turns out to be the older sister of a prominent Congressman, who had molested him as a child. In the present she's his campaign manager, and still retains a disturbing obsession with and degree of control over him.
- Closet Gay: Vanessa's best friend Beth is a closeted Lipstick Lesbian who tries to kiss her during an emotional moment, but gets rejected.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Subverted. David is still traumatized due to being molested by his sister, and he suffers traumatic flashbacks when he gets touched.
- Downer Ending: The case gets shut down due to orders from higher-ups. Scotty takes it upon himself to ask the congressman for the truth, while noting that due to not being able read his Miranda rights, nothing he says can be admitted as evidence.
- Hates Being Touched: David, for a very good reason—his sister molested him when they were teenagers. This unfortunately led to him pushing Vanessa down a flight of stairs at the wrong moment, when she tries to touch him.
- It Will Never Catch On:[Bill Clinton's] such a womanizer.
Yeah, but he's not gonna do that in the White House. - Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the 2001 Murder of Chandra Levy
. However, the politician in the case, Gary Condit, was heavily suspected of Levy's murder by the public and media and lost his reelection bid as a result. It was only in 2010 that another culprit was convicted of the murder, but the charges were dropped a few years later. The murder remain unsolved today. - Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: How the case ended, being shut down by higher ups concerned about the potential political fallout investigating a congressman.
- Staircase Tumble: How Vanessa died.
- Sympathetic Murderer: David killing Vanessa was an accident caused by traumatic memories due to his sister's abuse, and he has been remorseful ever since.
- Trauma Button: Being touched in an intimate way causes David to suffer flashbacks of being molested by his older sister. Vanessa inadvertently triggered this trauma, leading to her death.
