Chicago Justice – AQD

By: Nicole Dintelman

It’s a new week and a new case on “Chicago Justice.” This week’s episode opens with some very capable looking businessmen having a meeting and watching a train video talking about the said noise of said train. Apparently, people in the company are facing backlash due to the train horns in the communities. A delivery person enters the room with a box that the meeting leader, Alderman Christopher Jones (Derrick Trumbly), needs to sign for. The delivery person then turns the box upside down and dumps what looks to be oil on the table and says that they’re sending poison into their communities and killing their kids. We think he was going for dramatic effect. If not, he still wins the award.

Mr. Jones goes outside for air and as soon as he walks out he’s hit by a maroon SUV. Wonder if this is related to the oil? Nagel (Joelle Carter) and Dawson (Jon Seda) are on the case immediately and have the faux delivery person, James Sprague (Robbie Tann), in custody questioning him about Alderman Jones murder. Sprague swears that he didn’t kill anyone and Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) charges him with criminal damage, Mark Jefferies (Carl Weathers) promises the President of the Transportation committee that he will do everything he can to make sure they find out what happened to Alderman Jones.

The oil wasn’t oil at all. It was prune juice. The activist group is eco-friendly and said they are trying to save the environment and they would not try to kill anyone. The witness that saw the hit and run of Jones saw a partial plate which led Nagel and Dawson to a nice little lady who rented her car on an app called car-a-la-carte. There really is an app for everything now. They followed the app to the SUV’s location and found two teenagers inside getting stoned. They found the car and were just joyriding, the woman who actually rented the car Jane Reynolds (Kate MacCluggage), synced her phone and left behind her phone number. Once they located her she said her daughter had been kidnapped.

They took Jane to the station to question her and she said a man called her and said he had her daughter and she was to rent a car then go to different banks and get eight thousand dollars and wait for his call. Then, she could get his daughter back. Stone isn’t buying her story but by law is obligated to investigate fully. Nagel and Dawson were tasked with the job of letting the father know. The father had no idea what was going on and blames his ex-wife for what happened. Jane blames her ex-husband, of course. So it’s a classic case of parents fighting with a child stuck in the middle.

A new twist presents itself when Anna Valdez (Monica Barbaro) brings Emma to the station. She was with her class at the museum, on her field trip, the entire time. Exactly where she was supposed to be that day. It’s virtual kidnapping, the newest internet scam. Mark wants Jane charged with reckless homicide because she did not call the police when she hit Alderman Jones. Valdez didn’t like this idea because she feels that Jane was an innocent victim in all of this. Mark tells her that if she can find who planned and carried out the scam then he will consider offering Jane probation.

Dawson and Nagel go to Jane’s home to see if they can find a message on the answering machine from the kidnapper. There is a message, but it’s someone using a scramble me app to disguise their voice. Once they unscrambled his voice they realized it was her ex-husband. Valdez tells everyone that after researching it, unfortunately, it only leads to a charge of intimidation. But Stone says to arrest him for murder. He’s planning on sticking it to Ted Reynolds (Josh Cooke). It was because of his actions that someone was killed so he should be the one to pay for that.

Nagel and Dawson arrest Mr. Reynolds and leave Emma (Nola Tellone) in the care of a social worker. Stone and Valdez are having dinner and drinks together discussing marriage when Ted’s attorney, Holly Washington (Faith Prince), drops off a motion to dismiss. In court the following day, Stone argues that because Ted Reynolds led his ex-wife to believe that he had kidnapped their daughter, which is a felony, and she hit and killed Alderman Jones racing around to get the money he is ultimately responsible. The judge agreed and denied the motion to dismiss.

So, it’s time for trial and for a public defender Ted Reynold’s attorney is hardcore! She’s grilling the voice expert who reversed the scramble me app to discover it was Ted Reynolds and winning. When Mrs. Reynolds takes the stand she has to talk about hitting Alderman Jones and she says that she was on the phone with Ted when she hit Jones and he said that if she hangs up he would kill Emma. She said that she didn’t call the police because she was trying to save her daughter. Of course, here comes super public defender to cross and she comes up with allegations that Mrs. Reynolds made against Mr. Reynolds while they were going through their divorce. The jury was deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial. Stone vows to refile against Mr. Reynolds.

Nagel thinks it would be valuable to talk to Emma. Emma and Dawson both go to talk to Emma and she doesn’t think that they ever fight. She never heard them. Emma thinks that daddy still loves mommy and they want to be together. Stone arranges a meeting with both the Reynolds to go over Mrs. Reynolds deal. When Ted sits there smug, Mrs. Reynolds declares she no longer wants the deal and Dawson starts to handcuff her. She tells her ex-husband that she can’t believe she used to love him.

Ted Reynolds then stands up and tells his ex-wife that he made her go to car-a-la-carte because that’s what he had to do anytime he wanted to take Emma somewhere. He made her go to four banks because he wanted her to know what it was like to chase after a buck as he’s had to work four jobs to pay for her lifestyle since they divorced. Ted’s attorney says “that’s not a confession.” However, Ted says, “Yes, it is.” Ted feels like his ex-wife has already taken everything away from him so now he might as well go to prison. We’re thinking he’s probably thinking if he’s in prison at least he doesn’t have to pay her anymore.
Dawson arrests Ted Reynolds again for the murder of Alderman Christopher Jones and Stone tells Mrs. Reynolds her new deal will be one-year probation. Stone and Valdez invite Mark out with them for a drink to celebrate the victory but he passes. Mark says that he needs to go home and kiss his wife. We’re still hoping that Stone and Valdez will end up kissing, too! Their chemistry is off the charts!