AUS Television: City Homicide, Episode 4.17 "Gut Instinct"

City Homicide
Season Four, Episode Seventeen, Gut Instinct
Original Air Date:  October 27, 2010

A jewelery store owner and his wife are awakened by two masked men.  While one takes the husband, Isaac Goldberg, to his store to rob it, the other stays at their home with his wife, Gisella.  She is found murdered by her sister, Ruth Engleman, who arrives for a planned trip to the gym.  The case turns out looking like an inside job gone wrong.  When Bernice Waverley asks Detective Sergeant Peter Copeland to assist with the investigation, the trouble begins.

Matt arrives at work early to find Rhys already there hoping to get caught up on some work while everything is quiet.  However, a call takes the two out of the office.  Jennifer and Nick, who have rekindled their relationship, are called in just after 6:30 in the morning.

With information provided by Ruth Engleman, they learn that Isaac is probably at his store.  Matt dispatches Rhys and Nick to find him.  They find him tied to the staircase of his shop with tape over his mouth and wanting to know about his wife.

The suspects list starts off with a store employee, Adam Milton.  He didn't show up for work that morning and the CCTV footage was removed from a concealed cupboard inside the store leading Nick to believe it was an inside job.  Jen and Allie were unable to find Milton at his flat and the neighbours believe he moved out the day before.

As Nick and Rhys are leaving Matt's office, Bernice Waverley comes to speak with Matt.  She has received a call from armed robbery who want a role in the Goldberg case.  Matt wants the case left exclusively with Homicide but Waverley has already asked Detective Sergeant Peter Copeland to assist with the case.  While they are waiting for Isaac Goldberg to arrive at Homicide from the hospital, Matt and Copeland grab a coffee so Matt can bring him up to speed on the case.  Copeland suspects Goldberg might have set the robbery up himself.

Rhys and Copeland go into the interview room with Goldberg while Duncan and Matt watch on the monitors.  Copeland takes the questioning down a road to set him up because he thinks he is involved in the case.  Rhys says nothing and simply watches Goldberg and his reactions and Copeland.  Goldberg is offended by the implication he had anything to do with the robbery and especially the death of his wife.

Rhys doesn't want to rule Goldberg out as a suspect too soon but Copeland has already ruled him out in his mind.  Matt gives the order to Rhys, Duncan and Copeland to find Adam Milton and bring him in for questioning.  When Rhys and Copeland have left, Duncan expresses his concerns that Copeland is hijacking the case, caring more about the robbery than the murder.  Rhys is uncomfortable with Goldberg and Duncan suggests he keep digging and see what he can turn up.  Matt gets information that Adam Milton is really Adam Miller.  Miller has past experience with aggravated burglary.  With the new information, Miller becomes the top suspect.

The next morning, Bernice shows up to the briefing and Copeland tells her they got a lead on the man who was fencing the stolen jewelery.  The information comes as a surprise to Matt as he wasn't told about it.  No new information has been found on Miller and he still cannot be located.  Bernice thinks the fence might be able to give them some help and Copeland suggests he take one of the Homicide crew along with him to the bust.  He chooses Jennifer because he says the fence has a weakness for good looking women. 

The fence, Rob Doherty, is due to arrive at his favorite pub in a few minutes giving Copeland enough time to hit on Jennifer while they wait.  Doherty arrives and Copeland goes after him, cornering him.  Doherty is cooperative but Copeland still resorts to brutality to get the information he wants out of him.  Doherty gives them the name of Dale Blunt.  Blunt is Miller's partner in crime.  Rhys questions Copeland on the information he has received from Doherty suggesting Doherty might have been lying.  Copeland responds by making the point that Miller's criminal activities escalated throughout the course of his career and says that Maplethorpe was there and can corroborate what Doherty said.  Jen admits she didn't believe Doherty had lied.  Allie wants to go after Blunt but Copeland lets them know he is being picked up already.  Armed Robbery is doing the bust instead of Homicide.

Jennifer goes to see Matt to make a complaint against Copeland for roughing up Doherty.  Matt asks her if Doherty will sign a complaint or corroborate her version of what happened.  She doesn't believe he will because he's afraid of Copeland.  Matt tells her he will take in on board but Jennifer gets the impression he will not be doing anything about it.

Dale Blunt comes in and it is clear he has been beaten.  Copeland struts in, his shirt and jacket covered in blood and he admits he used force because Blunt "resisted".  Copeland waltzes out of Homicide telling Rhys and Matt to call him when they are done with Blunt. 

Duncan and Allie interview Blunt about Gisella Goldberg's murder.  He denies having anything to do with it.  He claims Miller told him where everything was kept in the shop and Blunt went to the shop with Isaac while Miller stayed at the house with Gisella.  Blunt wants a deal in writing before giving them Miller.  Rhys asks Matt if he can take a closer look at Isaac Goldberg but Matt turns him down because of the interview with Blunt.  Allie overhears Matt denying Rhys his request and telling him to "for once, try and act like a team player".  When Matt leaves to speak with Blunt, Allie asks Rhys what he will do.  Rhys is going to speak with Ruth Engleman again.

Rhys brings Ruth in and talks with her about the relationship between Isaac and Gisella.  She says her sister was the dominant one in the relationship.  Gisella liked to remind Isaac that the money between them was hers.  She then tells Rhys about an accident that happened two years ago.  The family was returning from a cousins wedding.  Isaac and Gisella took a shortcut off the highway and the car had run off the road into a dam.  Isaac had gotten free but Gisella was stuck in the car.  Ruth saw him go back to rescue her.  Later, while Rhys is researching the accident, Bernice arrives at his desk.  He runs the theory by her that the accident might have been Isaac's first attempt at killing his wife.  Bernice tells him to test the theory on the team.

That night, Jennifer confides in Nick that she feels like she is losing a friend in Matt.  There is a knock on her door and it is Matt with a bottle of wine in tow.  He feels bad about how things went that afternoon.  Matt tells her about Waverley bringing Copeland on board and that he never would have gotten involved with Armed Robbery. 

The next morning, Rhys presents his theory to the team.  Copeland immediately has a laugh at it.  Rhys believes the CCTV was taken not because Blunt wanted to keep himself from being seen but because there was something else on the footage that couldn't be seen:  Goldberg leaving the shop.  He also feels the method of murder shows an emotional connection to the victim.  When Matt says the theory doesn't take anything away from Miller being the prime suspect, Waverley speaks up about the accident, which Matt knew nothing about.  Rhys then tells them a bit about the accident.  Bernice wants the theory looked into.

Jen and Nick are looking for clues at Goldberg Fine Jewelery.  Nick finds duct tape that was used to bind Goldberg's at his store and Jen feels if Rhys can go above Matt, she can too regarding Copeland.  Allie learns that the wound they found on Goldberg at his shop shouldn't have still been bleeding if it had been administered several hours before he was found.  Matt shoots down all the evidence they bring in against Isaac Goldberg saying it is too thin for the DPP to do anything with.  When Matt receives word Adam Miller has been found and is being brought in, he tells Rhys he can talk to him all he wants about Goldberg once Miller has been interviewed about Gisella Goldberg's murder.

Jennifer goes to see Bernice Waverley and asks if she was able to speak with Matt that morning.  She tells Bernice about Copelands brutality against Doherty and assures Bernice that Matt was going to raise the issue with her.  Bernice says she will look into the matter.  As Matt is getting ready to go into interview Miller with Copeland, Waverley lets him know that Ethical Standards has just launched an investigation into the armed robbery detective. 

Miller admits that there was no reason for Blunt to remove the CCTV as he was adequately disguised.  He also claims he didn't harm Gieslla Goldberg.  Miller goes on to tell them about how much Isaac disliked his wife and about the things he'd seen while working at the shop.  Copeland isn't pleased about the investigation against him and he blames Matt for it.  Matt warns him to never compromise a member of his team again or he will take action against him himself.  Rhys wants to go at Goldberg for the murder and Matt agrees they will do it together.  Rhys presents Goldberg with a theory of how things happened the night of the robbery and asks him about the rescue in the auto accident.  Goldberg admits that Gisella loved to belittle him in front of everyone and that he enjoyed killing her. 

Matt calls Rhys into his office and wants to know why Rhys didn't come to him earlier with the evidence he had instead of going above his head to Waverley.  Matt accuses him of trying to undermine his authority.  Matt warns Rhys that if it happens again, regardless of who his aunt is, he is out of the squad.

The case in this episode was interesting and engaging, as usual, but I think the biggest part of this show was the interaction between the Homicide team members.  Some big things happened in this episode.  Matt and Rhys have never had a strong relationship but things deteriorated even more here.  Waverley finding out about Goldberg's accident wasn't something Rhys planned.  It isn't like he went to her office and started telling her about it and complaining that Matt wouldn't let him do any checking.  Jennifer, on the other hand, did go over Matt's head with her complaint about Copeland (who needs to be taken down a couple of notches, by the way).  If Matt ever finds out about that, I'm sure their friendship will suffer for it.  I truly felt sorry for Rhys when Matt had him in his office.  And the looks on the faces of the rest of the team, they said a lot, didn't they?

Music from this episode:
How Does it Feel by Eskimo Joe

For more information:
City Homicide Official Site:  http://au.tv.yahoo.com/city-homicide/
Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024932/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-17228