Pilot

**Pilot** is the first episode and series premiere of *The Mysteries of Laura*.

## Synopsis

Laura Diamond is the mother of mischievous twin boys, she also happens to be an NYPD homicide detective. She tries to juggle work life with raising her boys, then there is also the boys' father, Laura's soon to be former husband, well, if he signs the papers that is.

## Recap

There's a high-speed chase in progress in New York City. When the perp crashes his car, he turns to fire on Detective Billy Soto, then runs into Brooklyn Bridge Park. Billy's partner, Detective Laura Diamond, calls. She's got this guy covered. Grinding her messy mom Volvo station wagon to a halt, Laura leaps into the fray, calmly advising the perp to stop pointing his gun at a dreadlocked hostage, then starts counting to three. On three, she shoots the perp's ear off, cuffs him, then pulls a pack of wipes out of her purse to clean off the hysterical hostage's face. It's just another day on the job for our intrepid cop mom/mom cop Laura.

Laura's barely sat down at her desk when her uptight co-detective Meredith Bose lays into her for flouting procedure. Laura thinks procedure is for douchebags and Captain Hauser agrees - and of course, he needs a favor. Wealthy computer mogul and Bedford resident Eric Walden has been receiving death threats, so Hauser promised to do a suburban drive-by and he wants Laura to come with him. They're interrupted when plucky administrative aid Max Carnegie sticks his head in the door with a message for Laura: 911 at Newhall! Laura claps the siren on the roof of the Volvo and hauls ass over to the school... which her 5-year-old twin boys have defaced with red paint. She rushes home to spray them down, promising their father, fellow cop Lieutenant Jake Broderick, is going to be very, very angry. That's when Jake knocks on the door with a pizza and nerf guns - surprise! Jake is raffish and lovable, but Laura's permanently pissed off with his random lame attempts at fatherhood, and his failure to sign their divorce papers. And no, he can't watch the kids that night; Laura will just have to find herself a babysitter.

There are no cell phone bars in Bedford - what if Laura's sitter needs to reach her?! - but there is a dinner party in progress at the Walden Estate, presided over by housekeeper Margarita and including billionaire Eric Walden, his fashionista wife DeeDee, brother Brad, attorney Richard LeDeux and Lisa, a dear friend.

Laura is just tucking into cheesecake and wine when Hauser offers to check Eric's bedroom. Although he's been brushing off the death threats, Eric admits he'd do anything to have his life the way it was. He rudely dismisses the detectives, then settles into a chair in front of the fire. Hauser and Laura are about to drive off when they hear screams. Eric is dead in the chair where they left him.

The coroner reports that the murderer used a fast-release syringe full of paralyzing agent with a cyanide booster; Eric was dead in three minutes. There's no sign of break-in, so Laura knows it was an inside job. After hours of questioning, Laura learns Eric angered colleagues by not sharing his new cell phone technology, and Hauser orders tails on three possible suspects: DeeDee, lawyer Richard and Eric's brother Brad.

Since Target's already closed, the only thing Laura has to feed her kids for breakfast is day-old pizza, and they munch away happily as Laura faces their angry principal sans Jake. With the painting incident as the last on long list of infractions, the boys are permanently expelled. Afterwards, Laura tries to drive home the point to Jake - they have no child care! Jake is confident Laura will figure it out; she always does. Laura begs him to sign the divorce papers and get out of her life once and for all, but despite his serial infidelity, Jake is clearly still in love and wants to stay married.

Back at the precinct, Max pulls up a long rap sheet on brother Brad. Maybe he killed Eric to cover up stealing the prototype of his new phone - which is slated for release tomorrow. Luckily, Max already knows Brad is attending a pool party at a tony hotel club, so Laura and Billy buy bathing suits to get themselves poolside. Once they see Brad exchange the prototype for an envelope, the chase is on. Billy retrieves the prototype and Laura takes Brad down in the men's locker room. Brad admits he sold the phone for $2,500 to cover a debt - but at least he wasn't diddling another woman in his own bed! According to Brad, DeeDee caught Eric in the act. Now Laura thinks DeeDee is the murderer, so Billy intercepts her having lunch with Richard at a sidewalk café. DeeDee defends Eric and dismisses the incident as irrelevant gossip. Spying Richard's colorful file case, Billy tells Laura it's likely filled with proof that DeeDee's after Eric's billions.

Laura's got bigger fish to fry - she's got to get her kids into a pre-K today! She has Max run plates on teachers' cars in front of a local school, then barges into cheer Coach Culp's practice to threaten jail time for six unpaid parking tickets, unless she arranges an interview for the twins. That's when Billy calls. Richard left the file case in his car while attending a Tai Chi class - but how to get it? Laura rushes across town to charm the valet into letting her into Richard's Ferrari. As the class ends, Laura discovers DeeDee and Richard were trying to revise her pre-nup while their divorce was in progress. Next it's onto the Medical Examiner, who explains that the poison was actually a cocktail containing mercury, which leaves a trace in the body of its handler, i.e. the killer. Laura calls DeeDee down to the precinct to hand over her husband's personal effects and probe her soul. In tears, DeeDee admits she loved her husband. They were working their marriage out and had even agreed to dissolve the pre-nup. Hauser rushes DeeDee's tear-stained tissue to the lab, as Laura's suspicions move on. It's time to find Eric's mistress!

After another failed school interview, Billy and Laura are hot on the trail of Eric's mistress when Meredith informs that DeeDee tested positive for mercury. Crestfallen, Laura asks Hauser to allow DeeDee to attend Eric's funeral the following day, then proceeds to the fancy hotel where Eric met up with his mistress. While Billy questions the maids, Laura zeroes in on a fancy ring worn by one of them. Under Laura's withering gaze, the maid admits Walden's mistress left the ring behind and she was "holding" it. In possession of the ring, and after re-examining the tissue with DeeDee's DNA sample, Laura tells Billy she knows who killed Eric and why.

The next day, Billy, Laura, Hauser and the Chief of Police gather at the Walden Estate just before the memorial. When DeeDee overhears Hauser telling the chief they've solved the case, she marches to the lectern to announce that Laura Diamond will be making an announcement: DeeDee, her dinner guests and her staff are innocent. It was Hauser's wife - who died a month ago in a car accident - that was Eric's mistress. She left her ring in Eric's hotel room, and when Eric spied Hauser's matching ring, he realized Hauser made the death threats. Hauser injected Eric, right under Laura's nose. He then took DeeDee's sample, switching it with a sample of his own DNA. Hauser runs for it, but he's no match for Billy, and moments later they're both pointing their guns at each other. An angry Laura steps in front of Hauser's gun and starts her count to three. Hauser fires, but Laura has already taken his bullets, so she punches her former mentor square in the face and reads him his rights.

Back at the precinct, Billy advises Laura to apply for Hauser's job, just as Jake arrives. She lays into Jake, taking off her wedding ring once and for all. They're done! Promising to sign the divorce papers that night, Jake hands over new school uniforms for the boys - he got them entry into a pre-K that loves a challenge. Oh and by the way, the captain's job has already been filled... by Jake!

## Cast

### Main

* Debra Messing as Detective Laura Diamond
* Josh Lucas as Captain Jake Broderick
* Laz Alonso as Detective Billy Soto
* Janina Gavankar as Detective Meredith Bose
* Max Jenkins as Max Carnegie

### Recurrent

* Charles and Vincent Reina as Nicholas and Harrison Broderick
* Alysia Joy Powell as Alicia
* Marc Webster as Reynaldo West