Rise and Fall

The detectives race against the clock to try to solve two missing persons cases and Jack calls Medina out for playing politics with the department. Read the BeeSight Beeap to find out what happened on the fifth episode of the seventh season of CBS's Without a Trace and join in the discussion.

BeeCap

A counselor named Ariana talks with a woman Named Fran who has just witnessed a violent crime. Ariana calms Fran down and gets her to walk past two dead bodies and out the door. Fran asks where her brother and his wife are and Ariana explains that they were killed. She gets Fran into the ambulance and tells her that she'll visit her in the hospital.

The detectives are notified that Ariana went missing after counseling Fran. They find out that Fran's ex-husband Andy was abusive and they suspect he killed Fran's brother and sister in law. Medina makes Andy their number one suspect, but Jack says it may not be as obvious as he thinks. He suggests they look at the 192 other violent crimes cases Ariana worked on and says they should also talk to her girlfriend.

The detectives interview Ariana's girlfriend. She says that Ariana didn't have any unusual cases and no one had threatened her. She tells the detectives that Ariana became a counselor because she saw her mother's boyfriend murder her mother when she was young and that trauma made her want to help other people. She also tells them about a dinner date she and Ariana went on recently. She said that Ariana had given her a pair of earrings and she noticed bruises on Ariana. She asked Ariana to quit her job, but Ariana said she couldn't after that, the two didn't talk much about her work.

The detectives look into her mother's killer and find that he was paroled 2 months ago and is now missing. They think he could have a motive to hurt Ariana since she testified against him in court. They also think Ariana could have had a problem with someone from work and look into the 12 cases she worked on over the past week. Medina reminds the detectives that Andy is still missing and should be their prime suspect.

The detectives meet with Fran and ask her what happened the night Ariana went missing. She said that her abusive ex-husband had followed her to her brother's house. Her brother told her to hide and he answered the door. Andy barged in and her brother hit him in the head with a flashlight. Andy then became angry and shot her brother and sister in law while she watched from inside the closet. The detectives as if that was the first time she met Ariana and Fran says no. She says she met with her a week ago to talk about her abusive husband. Ariana told her to withdraw some cash and find shelter. Fran says that Andy knew about Ariana because he found her card in her purse.

The detectives find out that Ariana went to a coffee shop after visiting Fran in the hospital. An eyewitness also recognized Andy from a photo and said he was at the coffee shop at the same time as Ariana. Medina then walks in and plays the broadcast of the news that a 4 year old girl named Madeline Ross has just gone missing from a mall. He tells the team that Madeline is now their top priority. Jack protests having his case killed and Medina says that Ariana is already dead, but they can still save the girl.

Jack confronts Medina and says that he doesn't know that Ariana is dead. He thinks Medina is just trying to gain publicity for finding the girl, thinking that he'll get a bigger reward than he would get finding a lesbian. Fitzgerald then interjects and says he'll take over Ariana's case and Jack can look for Madeline. Medina gives Fitzgerald one hour to find Ariana.

Fitzgerald acquires Andy's phone records and sees that he called his mother after Ariana went missing. He call's Andy's mother, but she refuses to talk to him and hangs up.

The rest of the detectives interview Madeline's parents. Mrs. Ross says that she took her kids, Madeline and Shelly, to the mall to pick up their uniforms before their game. She says they were running late, so they were in a hurry. Mr. Ross says he waited in the car while the girls went inside. Mrs. Ross says she passed a bath store and ran inside to get a gift for her sister. She had Shelly watch Madeline on the bench while she went in the store.

Madeline says that she knew her mother was going to take a long time so she pulled out her video game to pass the time. Madeline asked if she could play and Shelly said she got mad and turned her back to her sister. She kept playing the game and when she was finished, Madeline was gone. She started screaming for her sister, but she was no where to be found. Shelly cries and blames herself, but Samantha assures her its not her fault.

Danny tells Jack that none of the cameras caught the man's face because he kept his head low as if he had done it before. He says that witnesses saw the man leave in a silver Accord. He checked the security cameras and could get a license plate number, but no clear shot of the man's face.

Fitzgerald is able to apprehend Andy while he was trying to pick up cash his mom wired to him. Medina refuses to authorize Fitzgerald to interrogate Andy, but eventually he consents. Fitzgerald questions Andy about Ariana and Andy says that Fran lied to them. He says that he did pick up Ariana to talk to her about his wife and wanted to know why the cops were following him. Ariana told him what Fran told her and he showed her that he didn't have a head injury from any flashlight, so obviously Fran lied to her. Andy says that he dropped Ariana off at a corner in SoHo.

Fitzgerald asks Medina for more help because he thinks Ariana is still alive. Medina says that the other girls that were abducted were killed within 8 hours and they're on hour six. He says that for that reason, he can't spare any boots to look for Ariana.

Vivian calls Median and says that the profile of Madeline's disappearance fits the cases of a couple other girls who were found dead the same day they were taken. She says that the murderer of the other girls was seen in an old pick up truck. The detectives then get a hit on the license plate and find the Accord. They surround the car and find it empty, except for a yellow boot that Madie wore to the mall.

Vivian shows Madeline's parents pictures of the suspected murderer's pick up truck and asks if they've seen a car like that before. They say they haven't. Vivian pushes it and asks them to imagine it with a truck cap and they get upset. They ask if the detectives know something about Madeline's disappearance. They explain that the man who took Maddie may have been connected to other cases as well. Mr. Ross gets angry, grabs Medina and demands to know what happened to the other girls. He says the girls turned up dead.

An officer reports that he may have pulled the suspect over earlier. Jack and Elena go to the officer and he tells them that he pulled a truck matching the description of the amber alert over for speeding. He says that the man apologized and said he was trying to sneak past the construction zone without waking up the daughter. The officer remembers looking in the truck and seeing a girl sleeping under a blanket next to him. The driver told the officer that she had been having trouble sleeping and he was relieved that she was finally asleep. The officer says he let him go with a warning, because the Amber alert was for the Accord at the time and the update for the truck didn't come in until later. The officer is worried he let the killer go. Jack asks if the girl was alive. The officer says he can't say for sure and hands him the paperwork from the traffic stop.

The man's name is Richard Lamb. They search his home and find it empty. They track down Richard's brother and bring him in for questioning. He denies knowing anything about Richard kidnapping girls. He says that he doesn't know where his brother is and thinks that they're just trying to set him up. He asks if he's under arrest and the detectives say no. They ask for him to stay and help, but he leaves.

Fitzgerald calls Fran back in for questioning and tells her he knows she lied to him. Fran admits she lied and explains what really happened. She says that her daughter Carla and her junkie boyfriend Zack found out that she had cash, so they followed her to her brother's house. Zack banged on the door and her brother hit him in the head with the flashlight. He then shot her brother and sister in law, then left. Fran says she lied to protect her daughter. Fitzgerald asks where to find Carla and Fran tells him.

Fitzgerald finds Carla and asks her what happened. She says that Zack was loading up their car and went in the house to get something. Ariana then approached her and told her she could help. Zack returned and made Ariana get in the car with him, then took off. Carla says she doesn't know where he went, but he has a brother in Virginia. She says they left about 20 minutes ago. Fitzgerald puts an APB out on Zack's car.

Jack tells Medina that he followed Richard's brother and he went straight home and made no calls. He reminds Medina that it's hour 9 and asks if Medina wants him to go for a drive. Medina, upset, tells him to go.

Fitzgerald gets a call saying that Ariana's body was found in the trunk of Zack's car. She bled to death from a head injury caused by blunt force trauma. Fitzgerald angrily tells Medina that Ariana's dead and he missed her by just 20 minutes. He then informs Ariana's girlfriend of her death.

Jack goes to Richard's brother and asks where Richard is. The brother says he doesn't know. Jack takes a wire coat hanger and chokes the brother. He eventually tells Jack that he saw a pass to a state park in Richard's room. The detectives go to the park and surround Richard's truck. Richard gets out and begins shooting. The officers return fire and kill Richard. Maddie is found alive in the back of the truck. She is then reunited with her parents.

Medina tells Jack that he can't shake the feeling that he's responsible for Ariana's death. Jack tells him that he was just thinking about advancing his career and with the successful rescue of the young girl, he should be a shoo-in for the promotion. Medina admits that he wanted Jack to do whatever it took to be able to find Madeline. Jack says he'll keep his tactics secret and Medina asks what he wants in exchange. He says he wants Medina's job. Medina agrees and tells him his move was well-played. Jack tells Medina that his work is not a game.

BeeThoughts

I really don't understand why the department wouldn't be able to handle two cases at the same time. I would think that a city would often have simultaneous cases tht are high priority. It's too bad that Ariana didn't make it. I think that may eat away at Fitzgerald and possibly even Medina. I think Medina has hit a new low in Fitzgerald's eyes. I can't wait until Jack replaces him.

- Kristine R.