Dead Heat is the 6th case of the seventh and final season of the series and is the 140th overall.
Description[]
The team investigates the 1986 murder of accomplished 45-year-old Mexican-born jockey Sonny Sandoval, who "disappeared" within hours of losing a race he'd long planned as his last before retirement.
Synopsis[]
In 1986, a group of horse jockeys pray with a reverend before racing. A jockey and his son walk down to the starting gate. The father says after their next win, he wants to return home to Mexico. Later, the jockey is killed and his body is buried in a shallow grave.
In the present day, the team discovers the jockey's body after it was accidentally dug up during construction. They find a business card with a 10-digit number on it. Rush learns the victim, Sonny Sandoval, has multiple puncture wounds in the back of his head. They learn Sonny’s son José filed a missing person’s report. Vera reports that Sonny made a lot of money, but his house was going to be foreclosed. Jeffries says that Sonny had women, money, cars and a free pass from the police. He goes to talk to the local bookies. In his calendar, Jeffries sees he has an appointment with a woman named Wanda.
Sonny’s son José tells the detectives he thought his father went back to Mexico, but suspected something was wrong when he couldn’t find him. Valens tries to speak to José in Spanish, but José says he doesn’t understand since he was born and raised in Philly. Valens smiles and replies, "So was I." José says he wanted to be a horse jockey like his father, but he grew too big. He states the last time he saw his father was after Sonny lost a race. José says his father’s assistant, Angelo Rivera, took advantage of him.
They meet with Angelo at a city horse stable where he teaches kids to ride. Angelo says Sonny was like a father to him. The detectives tell him they know he was arrested for theft and possession of drugs. Angelo explains he took the painkillers and became addicted after he broke his collarbone. He remembers when Sonny defended him after another jockey named Rick Yanko criticized his riding style.
Later, Rush explains that her mom worked at a race track and she would wait there until her mother got off work. Jeffries and Vera go to a bar and meet with Ric. They inform him they found Sonny’s body and suspect Ric had something to do with it since he became successful after Sonny disappeared. Ric says Sonny made him a better rider. He shows them that he was paralyzed from the waist down by a horse in ’92. Ric explains that the jockeys had a brotherhood like bond. He remembers when Sonny told him about an operation he refused to have. Ric remembers the horse owner, Randall Baxter, told Sonny that he is his boss and shouldn’t spend his money carelessly. Ric says even though Baxter hated Sonny, he couldn’t fire him since Sonny had a three-year contract. Ric believes Baxter thought Sonny was worth more dead than alive.
At the race track, Vera and Jeffries ask Baxter about Sonny. He recalls that Sonny was one of his best riders. He adds as long as Sonny had his head on straight, he was a very good jockey. He thinks Sonny’s female trainer was a bad influence. Baxter remembers when Sonny got angry at him when he wanted to send one of his best horses out to stud. Sonny declared he didn’t want to ride another horse named Sapphire because he was too young. Baxter ordered him to ride because of his contract. Baxter claims that the trainer, Kristi Duren, filled Sonny’s head with ideas that they needed to treat the horses better. He explains that Sonny moved in with Kristi.
Later, Jeffries informs Vera that Kristi is in the city. Vera tells Stillman that they located a safe deposit box that belonged to Sonny. Stillman shows Vera a picture of him asleep in his car. He orders Vera to get a physical.
Rush and Valens meet with Kristi and inform her they found Sonny’s body in a horse pit. She reveals that horses back then were killed for their meat. Kristi explains Sonny showed her a lot about horses and life. She remembers when Sonny suggested she take a job in Saratoga. Kristi tells Sonny he was a great racer. She remembers he took pain medication and had a hard time getting out of his tub. Kristi also recalls that Sonny and José were arguing in Spanish. Kristi figured that José had money problems from gambling. They wonder why José lied about not having money problems or having the ability to speak Spanish.
Valens asks José if he is embarrassed about being Mexican. José explains his mother wanted him to assimilate. They ask him why he reported Sonny missing so late. He explains that Sonny needed a new trainer for Sapphire and he didn’t want to let his dad down. José remembers he told his dad that he was fully committed to training Sapphire. Sonny told José he had to have the horses trust him. Sonny said since Sapphire had never lost a race, if he lost, it would be his fault. Sonny then got mad at a man named Juan Diaz. José explains that Juan sold horse meat and came around to see if they had any he could buy.
Later, Valens meets with his dad and asks him if he knows about his mom’s hurt knee. Valen’s dad explains that she slipped and fell just before she was going to make paella.
Jeffries tells Stillman that today is the anniversary of a missing person who is a daughter of a friend named Wanda. Rush informs the team that Juan Diaz was deported to Mexico. They learn that Juan and Angelo came from the same town. Rush and Valens meet with Angelo and ask him about Juan. Angelo explains that Juan offered him a job to bury horses. They ask him if he buried Sonny in the grave. Angelo remembers when he told Sonny he was sorry that he lost his horse, Firewalker. Sonny told Angelo he knew he stole from him and suggested he take care of himself. Angelo informs the detectives that Firewalker was killed during a stable fire that he suspects was set for insurance money. Rush handcuffs Angelo and takes him to the station.
The detectives bring Baxter to the station and ask him about the horse he lost. They tell him they know he was investigated for insurance fraud. Rush shows Baxter a record that the several millions he made from the loss of the horses. The detectives suspect he killed Sonny to keep him quiet. Baxter remembers when he was with José when they watched Sonny in his last race. They saw Sonny take the lead, but lose in the last minute. Baxter told José that he was angry, then had a heart attack. Baxter says he thinks Sonny lost on purpose. Rush informs Baxter they are going to arrest him for insurance fraud.
Vera brings Sonny’s safe deposit box to the station. They see it contains his life insurance policy and a copy of last physical, which shows there was blood in Sonny’s urine. Valens tells José they suspect Sonny was killed with a bow rake. The detectives tell José they believe he lost a lot of money on Sonny’s loss. José says he didn’t think his father cared about him. They inform him that Sonny was in bad shape and signed his son as his sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy. José remembers when he found his dad at the stable after he lost. A drunken José told Sonny he borrowed $10,000 and bet it on him to win. Sonny explained he couldn’t let Baxter win after what he did to Firewalker. Sonny told José the horses deserve better. José got angry and hit his dad on the head with a rake.
José is arrested for his father’s murder.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush
- Danny Pino as Scotty Valens
- John Finn as John Stillman
- Jeremy Ratchford as Nick Vera
- Thom Barry as Will Jeffries
- Tracie Thoms as Kat Miller
Guest Cast[]
- Sam Henning as Randall Baxter (1986/2009)
- Ronnie Alvarez as Angelo Rivera (1986)
- Rick Batalla as Sonny Sandoval
- Michael Francis Cardelle as José Sandoval (1986)
- Isamel "East" Carlo as Ramiro Valens
- Susan Diol as Kristi Duren (2009)
- Carlos Sanz as José Sandoval (2009)
- Jacob Vargas as Angelo Rivera (2009)
- Anna Wood as Kristi Duren (1986)
- Michael Enright as Rick Yanko (2009)
Co-Starring[]
- Greg Felden as Rick Yanko (1986)
- Mark Berry as Chaplain (1986)
- Victor Herminio Lopez as Juan Diaz
Notes[]
- Tracie Thoms does not appear in this episode.
- This episode shares similarities with the Season 3 episode "Frank's Best":
- Both victims are fathers who are killed by their respective sons.
- Both sons feel neglected and overlooked by their father and have anger issues.
- Both victims have a beloved animal who is put in mortal danger prior to their deaths.
- Both victims appear to a friend who they worked alongside and acted as a mentor to.
Music[]
All music featured is by Santana:
- "Oye Como Va"
- "Everything's Coming Our Way"
- "Evil Ways"
- "Black Magic Woman"
- "Se A Cabo"
- "Jin Go Lo Ba"
- "Samba Pa Ti"
