Overview: Zoe and Dan travel to a Chicago farm to make light of a case involving a dead prized bull. The tension between the two investigators increase when they were forced to share a room in a motel. Meanwhile, Zoe’s oldest niece Taylor falls head over heals for their new handsome neighbor.
Synopsis: A prized bull turns up dead after eating Johnson grass. Silly as it sounds, the insurance company requires a review of the case given the size of the claim. Zoe (Joely Fisher) and Dan (Chris Potter) drive five hours to a Chicago farm to ensure that no fraud was committed. During their investigation, Ted Knox, the owner of the farm that has the Johnson grass shoots at Zoe after finding her on his property. Zoe and Dan files a complaint to the sheriff, but was advised that nothing will come of it. She was, indeed, trespassing. On the bright side, the sheriff sheds some light on the case. It seems that the neighboring farms have been on a dispute for some time now due to another incident. This becomes evident after speaking to their client, Jim Bauer. Adamant with his belief that this was a stunt his angry neighbor pulled, he blatantly accuses Ted of opening the gate of his bullpen and deliberately knocking one of his fence posts just so one of his bulls would be able to go to the next farm and eat the lethal Johnson grass. Zoe becomes suspicious of this testimony especially after finding a test tube at the pen. Continue reading...
The two sets off to interview the veterinarian only to find that he is out of town on an emergency and won’t be back until the next morning. Dan and Zoe are left with no choice, but to spend the night at a motel. Surprisingly, only one room is vacant and all the other motels are full. Given this predicament, the two investigators share the room. An awkward situation intensifies when Dan calls Janelle to cancel their date. They were supposed to watch Coldplay in concert. Annoyed and secretly jealous, Zoe attempts at slighting Dan for dating a former claimant. Janelle is the record store owner/landlord of the case involving a power outage. Dan retorts by picking on Zoe’s strained relationship with Marcos. Although only having met the guy once, when she fetched Zoe that morning, he immediately sensed Marcos’ cold attitude toward her partner. He was of course unaware of the events that transpired that resulted to Marcos’ behavior. Clearly, Dan and Zoe’s actions stem from their attempt at hiding their true feelings for each other. Both find it difficult to sleep as they toss and turn through out the night.
Jeannie introduces Julian to Taylor. Julian is Jeannie’s visiting grandson. Immediately, Zoe’s teenage niece falls head over heels for the good-looking neighbor and invites him to their house to watch a movie. To disguise her true intentions, Taylor enlists Carla to become the third-wheel only it is Taylor who ends up as one. The next morning, she shares to her aunt the discomforting results of her attempt to get closer to Julian. Providing some guy input to the girl’s love trouble, Dan suggests that Taylor should play hard-to-get. Taylor appreciates the suggestion and immediately takes action. Her new strategy worked, after deliberately running into Julian and pretending to be uninterested, Julian calls and leaves her a message.
After a brief chat with her niece, she sets out to interview the farmhand Miguel, while Dan speaks with Ted Knox. Miguel was the one who found the dead bull. They have to rely on his testimony, since no autopsy could be taken given that the carcass has already been cremated. Miguel sticks to his statement though unable to confirm whether the bull had torn down the fence. Dissatisfied with his statement, Zoe looks for the barbed wire that the bull supposedly tore to get to the neighboring farm. As she suspected, the wire has no trace of blood. Dan learns from Ted that he is not the only one holding a grudge at Bauer. He declares that Jim maltreats his farmhand and only pays him minimum wage. This, his false testimony and his sudden disappearance is as good a confession. Fortunately, Jim Bauer’s daughter Mary, who turns out to be Miguel’s girlfriend provides him an alibi. She attests that they spent the night together, making it impossible for Miguel to be involved with the crime. Given this new development, the investigators spend another night in the small town. Another awkward night ensues, which worsens when Dan leans in to kiss Zoe. But this was interrupted when the motel manager dropped by to inform them of an available room.
Tracking Mary’s phone calls, the investigators learn where Miguel has been hiding. On their way to the church where the farmhand is hiding, Zoe and Dan attempt to discuss last night’s incident. However, Marcos’ call disrupts them. So the two leaves it at that, pretending that nothing happened and focusing instead on the case. Miguel tells them what truly happened. On the morning he went to check the fence, he saw the veterinarian Dr. Miller hauling off the bull. Knowing that Miguel is an illegal immigrant, the vet forced Miguel to lie and cover up for him. Afraid of Dr. Miller’s threat, Miguel would not divulge more information regarding this new discovery. Dan continues with his research and learns that the veterinarian is a bull breeder himself and that he owned a similar looking bull as the one owned by Bauer. Comparing notes about the disposal of the bull, Zoe and Dan have differing information. According to the vet’s nurse, the bull was hauled off in a dump truck, while Miguel’s statement declares that the vet hauled it off on a flatbed. To get to the bottom of this charade, Dan and Zoe bring the Bauer’s to identify the bull that Dr. Miller had just sold. They reach him just in time and they correctly identify the bull as Zeus.
Putting two and two together, they make light of what truly happened. Dr. Miller’s prized bull McArthur died due to cyanide poisoning caused by the Johnson grass. The vet’s problem began when he left a $50,000 insurance policy on the bull lapse. Moreover, he already had found a buyer. To solve his problems, he decided to switch his dead bull with that of the Bauer’s. This explains the sedative that Zoe found in the coral, which was used to tranquilize Zeus. The testimonies of the nurse and Miguel did not coincide, because unbeknownst to them there were actually two trucks that were used – one held the carcass, the other the sedated bull. Finally, the mystery is solved and they return to the city to close the case.
Sophia also had just cracked her case. The simple jewelry theft turned out to be a scam. After running some background checks on the claimant and secretly lifting his fingerprints from a coffee mug he used on his last visit at the office, Sophia discovers that the claimant had already filed several claims to the stolen brooch. This she divulges in front of his unsuspecting fiancée who played a fool in her fiancé’s fraudulent scheme.
The same could be said about Taylor. Instead of returning Julian’s call, she decides to drop by to ask him about his message. To her dismay, her efforts were of no use after learning the true nature of her crush’s call. Apparently, Julian had become attracted to Carla and wanted to ask Taylor her phone number. Zoe finds her distraught niece and comforts her in her time of need.
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