AUS Television: City Homicide, Episode 4.18 "Killer Moves"

City Homicide
Season Four, Episode Eighteen, Killer Moves
Original Air Date:  November 3, 2010

Homicide is called in to investigate what appears to be a tragic traffic accident where a young woman is killed when she is struck by a vehicle while she is jogging.  The case becomes complicated when Ronnie (Genevieve Morris) reveals that the man in the car, Lachlan Fraser, was dead, very dead, hours before the accident.  Rhys helps Allie try and get in touch with her past.

Allie and Duncan are called in to investigate the case but Matt re-assigns it to Nick and Jennifer.  When Allie and Duncan both protest, Matt relents and allows them to speak to the dead man's wife and sends Nick and Jennifer to help with the street canvass.  Allie questions him about the missing I.D. of the young woman and Matt orders one of them to get on that.

At the morgue, Fraser's wife, Danielle, identifies his body.  While they are giving his wife some privacy to say goodbye to her husband, Ronnie states the man had a stroke and there was major lividity in his back and in the backs of his legs indicating he was on his back for a while before he was put into the car.  Time of death was approximately 10 p.m. the night before.  There was also a bone spur found in his neck leading them to believe he was murdered and didn't die of natural causes.

His wife knew of no enemies to her husband and their four-year marriage was solid.  He was an impulsive man who worked in investments for a living with his business partner, Toby Rowcastle.  Toby and Lachlan had a dream of starting their own Dojo as both were avid Karate practitioners.

In interview, Toby discusses karate with Allie who also studies martial arts.  Both Toby and Frazier were black belts.  When asked about his whereabouts the night before, Toby seems a bit taken aback and says he was home but no one can confirm that.  When Toby is leaving interview, Danielle sees him and he immediately goes to her to console her.  Their behavior leads Duncan to believe they were having an affair.

Rhys finds information about Fraser's business background.  He was declared bankrupt in 1996 and his previous business associates didn't view him favorably.  Allie doesn't believe Toby's claims that he is a sensai because of his age.  Jarvis, who has been watching the briefing asks about the I.D. of the jogger.  Apparently, no one had followed up on her and she remains unidentified.  Jarvis is unimpressed by Matt's performance.  Matt orders that Duncan and Allie bring Toby back in for questioning again.

Toby insists that he and Lachlan were friends and he could never kill him.  Toby believed Lachland to be a business genius and didn't know he had been declared bankrupt in '96.  The men met through Toby's old dojo in Thornbury, where they were trying to establish their own outfit.  Toby doesn't believe his old dojo and Lachlan could have ever argued about the business even though Lachland claimed they had. 

Allie and Duncan speak with the sensai, Kenji Yamamoto, about Lachlan Fraser.  Fraser attended the dojo but repeatedly broke the rules and disrespected the dojo and the art.  He was eventually asked to leave.  As they are talking, a woman, Carla Shanklin, walks up behind Kenji and confirms that Fraser had injured two of her students.  Carla runs self-defense classes at the dojo that were attended by Fraser until he was asked to leave.  She confirms that Toby is incredibly bright but, at the same time, incredibly naive.  Fraser needed him to start the business and could easily take advantage of him.  She doesn't believe Kenji could have had an altercation with Fraser either as he is too advanced to allow anger to rule him.

The jogger had very few items on her at the time of her death, none of the witnesses recognized her and no one has called in to claim her.  The initials "A.J." are on some of her belongings.

Matt asks for updates on the case.  Duncan and Allie bring him up to speed on what they learned at the dojo.  Rhys does a little digging and learns that Fraser had a lot of medical bills to a clinic, Albert Park Therapies, on his credit cards.  Allie and Duncan speak with the chiropractor about possible injuries to Fraser there that could have resulted in his death but the doctor denies that could have ever happened.  While Duncan is questioning the doctor, Allie speaks with his receptionist.  She is able to place doubt with Allie that the doctor could have never felt any animosity towards his client who last had an appointment two months prior to his death.  Rhys calls Duncan to let him know that Toby and Lachlan were poaching staff from Kenji as well as moving in on his territory.

Lachlan's files show he offered Carla a job but she denies accepting it.  She was tempted but she declined because she didn't like Lachlan.  Allie suggests Carla was fixated on Lachlin because she developed a crush on him and he turned her down.  She claims he would hang around after class and hit on her.  Danielle Fraser claims her husband wasn't that way.  Despite being presented with evidence that her husband wasn't having his back treatments as she thought, she insists he couldn't have been having an affair.

Matt isn't happy that the team doesn't appear to be any further to cracking the case than they were yesterday despite their efforts.  Matt snaps at Duncan to do his job.  Duncan goes into Matt's office and apologizes for being out of line and admits the case is getting to him.  There's nothing solid to grab onto.  Matt suggests to go back to the victim to get to know him better.  Duncan starts to tell his friend "Matt, you're a good detective," and Matt finishes for him "but not a good sergeant". 

Duncan goes back and looks deeper into Lachlan Fraser.  Jennifer mentions she might have a word with Matt about the canvass she and Nick are assigned to and Duncan warns her against it because of the conversation he had with Matt the night before. 

Rhys does some Internet research on Allie Kingston's past to learn more about her.  He reads articles about her former days as a runner.  While he is reading, Allie arrives announcing she has identified the jogger, Amy Jefferies.  Rhys admits he was looking Allie up but she wants him to keep his nose out of her business.  Duncan gets Allie to go back to the dojo because Matt wants them to crank it up. 

They arrive at the dojo and find Carla and Kenji practicing.  Duncan requests a word with Carla and, when Kenji starts to leave, Carla stops him.  Allie pushes Carla hard to try and get the truth but ends up provoking her into a fight.  Duncan starts to arrest Carla for assaulting an officer but Allie stops him.  Carla starts to walk away and Kenji orders her to honor her opponent.  Carla wasn't with Fraser.  She was training at the dojo until 1 in the morning and Kenji confirms that.

Rhys questions Allie about her time as a runner.  Allie explains that her mother got more out of it than she did causing Allie to drop out, go overseas and join the police force.  That was a major disappointment to her mother and the two haven't spoken in years.  She tells him about trying to contact her mother only to find the number disconnected to which he replies they are the police.  She writes that off because she can't legally access that information.  Matt steps into the room to get Allie because there is another interview she must do.  Kenji Yamamoto came in voluntarily with something to confess.

Kenji admits he did have an altercation with Lachlan Fraser on the night he died.  Fraser challenged and Kenji didn't refuse.  Fraser went to the dojo and confronted Kenji between classes because Carla would not work for him.  Fraser accused Kenji of sleeping with Carla, thus keeping her from leaving to work for him (Fraser).  Kenji agreed to fight with Fraser who said he would come back after Kenji's last class that night.  Kenji was angry and waited past one in the morning but Fraser failed to show up.  Allie wants to drop Kenji from the suspect list because she believes he didn't have anything to do with Fraser's death but Duncan refuses to remove him. 

Matt drops three more photos on Jennifer's desk to add to the next days canvass.  When she learns there isn't a new lead but that Matt hopes the photos circulating around might lead to one, Jennifer protests.  Nick steps in to agree with Jennifer but Matt insists they add the photos to the canvass and get started.  Jennifer leaves and when Nick catches up with her, she chastises him for interfering in the discussion she was having with Matt.  Jennifer is starting to feel the pressure of all the secrecy surrounding their relationship.  She feels like they are still living undercover.

Rhys gets a new lead for Duncan and Allie.  He followed up on some of the members of Carla's self-defense class and everything Carla said about Fraser hanging around after class was true.  He would complain about having a bad shoulder and try to get some of the female class members to massage his shoulder.  When some suggested he see a chiro, he told them he already was and that "she" was fantastic.  Duncan and Allie go back to the Albert Park Therapies to speak with Kelly, the receptionist.  She didn't turn up for work that day.  Duncan calls Nick and Jen to check Kelly's home.

When they get to Kelly's home, they find her packing her car.  She takes off running and Allie follows in hot pursuit.  In interview, Kelly admits that she was stealing from her boss and that is all.  She ran because she thought her boss might have found out after they questioned him the first time.  She breaks down and admits that she was treating the doctors clients herself.  She has an appointment book with names, dates and times in her car.  Fraser complained his neck was really sore and when Kelly had his head in her hands, Fraser grabbed her bum.  She lost it and turned his head, killing him.  She panicked and came up with a plan to make his death look like a car accident.  Until Duncan and Allie mention Amy Jefferies, Kelly didn't know she had killed her too in the process of trying to conceal her own murder of Fraser.

Amy Jefferies boyfriend has finally returned to Melbourne and he will be coming in to identify her body.  Rhys gives Allie a piece of paper with her mother's name and address written on it.  He drives her to her mother's home.  Allie knocks on the door and a man answers.  Allie asks about Barbara Kingston and he tells her she won't be long as she has just taken the girls to the park.  Allie leaves and gets back in the car with Rhys and tells him it was the wrong house. 

I loved that we saw a lot of Duncan this week!  That's something we haven't had the pleasure of in a long time.  It seems that here of late he has been blending into the background more and more and I've missed seeing him as a primary character. 

Poor Matt.  Is it just me or does it seem like he is losing control of his new sergeants job fast?  I dearly love Matt Ryan but I think it might have been best for him to stay on as a detective rather than trying to bump up to sergeant.  He's trying his best but his best doesn't seem to be good enough.

The back story about Allie and her mother was interesting.  It gave us a little more insight into who Allie Kingston is and what made her the way she is.  I like the friendship that is developing between she and Rhys.  They are both kind of the odd man out on the team.  Bernice hates Allie with a passion and no one seemed to really trust or like Rhys when he arrived on the scene.  I guess it was only natural the two would develop a bond.

With the sad news that this very well might be the last season of City Homicide, it looks like we've just got a handful of episodes left.  Mini-series aside, here's hoping that if this truly is the end of the series, the end it with a bang!

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