Recap: A hooker who's decked out in animal print and leather skimpwear is hovering over her naked john, telling him she's going to slow things down 'cause she has a special surprise for him. She orders him to close his eyes, then quietly walks over to the patio door to let in two thugs, one of whom fatally shoots the naked man. The gunman shows his boss, Mr. Burtane (it's Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue!) the note that the hooker left with him before absconding to an unknown destination: Dear Mr. Burtane, Pay me $200,000 or I go to the cops. Love, Marcy Mr. Burtane snarks at the gunman for so stupidly letting Marcy just walk away after giving him the note. The gunman concurs that, yep, it's definitely a problem, and promises to track her down asap. Aboard the Riptide, Murray tells Nick and Cody to dress up for their evening out, 'cause he's treating them to dinner/a surprise. In the next scene, we see that the surprise is a Cupid Connection dinner, which a giggling Murray describes as "a supermarket of single ladies interested in meeting men". Nick and Cody groan at the prospect of spending the evening being picked over by a group of disconsolate women...and when Murray giggles joyously after a couple of ladies walk by and brazenly check them out, a visibly irked Nick advises him to suppress his innate geekiness and try to act more aloof. A downbeat looking woman asks Nick if he would possibly consider dancing with her...and when he grimaces and goes, "Yeah, I guess so", she's like, "Really?!!" and quickly ushers him over to the dance floor, where she launches into a tirade about how little trust she has in men. A fuzzy haired brunette named Sheila Hayward hones in on Cody as he accidentally spills punch all over his suit...and after the two chuckle at his clumsiness, they stare hungrily at each other. When they hit the dance floor, she explains that the only reason she's here is 'cause her aunt bought her a ticket to the Cupid Connection dinner and forced her to go in the hope that she'll find herself a nice mate. Later, the two sit at a table and enjoy some get-to-know-each-other chitchat. When he tells her he's a PI, she looks troubled and says she had a fight with her sister a month ago, has no idea how to reach her, and gets the strong sense she's in grave danger. The following day, Nick is suntanning in all of his bare-chested glory - yum! - while snarking at Cody for offering Sheila the resources of the Riptide Detective Agency pro bono in order to locate her missing sister. He reminds Cody that they agreed on no more freebies for pretty women 'cause it always gets them into trouble, but Cody breezily argues that this is merely a small favor for his newest squeeze.
After suntanning, Cody tells Nick and Murray that Sheila told him Marcy's landlord refuses to respond to any calls about his missing tenant, then says he has a hare-brained scheme in mind to extract intel. The Riptide trio heads over to Marcy's decrepit apartment complex, pretending to be a TV production team. Cody - who, for some reason, has decked himself out like a cheap street pimp - tells the landlord (Barney) that he's a producer who's very interested in leasing parts of the apartment complex to film a new TV show. He hands Barney his faux business card and says he'd be willing to pay around $1,000/day, and Barney looks intrigued by the prospect of earning such easy money. Cody wanders over to Marcy's apartment and says he'd really like to start filming in this particular unit, and Barney says the tenant hasn't been there in weeks, but that it's OK with him if he wants to go inside and check things out. The trio enters the stank apartment, notices that there's a lot of weird, S&M type stuff laying around, and spots Marcy's day planner. Murray leafs through it and quickly learns that Marcy was employed at The Leather Castle, and sees that she has helpfully documented the appointment times for her various johns. When Cody spots a cigarette still burning in an ashtray sitting on the windowsill, he's like, "Egads! Someone's been here!" - just as Burtane's two thugs emerge from out of nowhere, swing a few punches, and flee out the window. Nick and Cody leap through the window after them and pursue the two by car...but the chase ends when a slow moving truck suddenly pulls out in front of them and blocks the intersection. Barney's wife, who was instantly suspicious of the faux TV production team, has called the police. Murray is promptly arrested...as are Nick and Cody when they return to the apartment complex to collect Murray. As the Riptide trio sits in a holding cell at the police department, Murray waxes on about how utterly fascinating he finds this case, and needlessly recaps what has happened thus far in the episode. Nick rolls his eyes and says it's pretty obvious that Marcy is a hooker who specializes in S&M, but Cody says he's reserving judgement and calls it "an unproven theory". Marcy calls Mr. Burtane to once again demand that he give her 200K. He assures her he has the cash, and agrees to meet her this afternoon at a nearby pier. Lieutenant Quinlan cackles gleefully at the sight of the Riptide trio sitting in the holding cell, and mocks them by referring to them as The B Team...and cackles harder as he informs him that no one is coming to bail them out. Cody tells him they're working on a very important case, and that their client will be arriving any minute to spring them. Quinlan says that's unlikely 'cause they're being held for trespassing, burglary, and breaking and entering. Even though they didn't actually 'break and enter' considering that Barney freely gave them access to the apartment. Sheila arrives and gets the charges dropped against the trio after explaining to police that her name is on the apartment lease, and that she has no problem with them entering her apartment. After exiting the police station, she offers to take them out for dinner to make it up to them, then rubs up against Cody and gives him a giant smooch. After she ambles to her car, the trio is confronted by Burtane's thugs, who dismissively call them "low life PIs" and warn them to stop nosing around Marcy's apartment. Murray uses his portable computer to look up the deets on The Leather Castle, and sees that it's a fancy S&M whorehouse owned by Earl Burtane. He then logs into the King Harbor County Hall of Records [that was somehow completely digitized in 1984] and quickly learns that Mr. Burtane has a criminal record. Nick and Cody "disguise" themselves as gas company employees, then enter the grounds of The Leather Castle, which looks to be really derivative of Hugh Hefner's Playboy estate. As they ogle the scantily clad women roaming around, Nick nods appreciatively and remarks on how much he'd enjoy being a member of this raunchy sex club. They run into a bikini clad woman, introduce themselves as gas company employees, tell her that someone named Marcy Hayward reported a gas leak, and ask her if she knows where Marcy is. Bikini girl, who looks completely unconcerned about a possible gas leak in her midst, says she hasn't seen Marcy for several days and suggests they inquire with her boss, Earl Burtane. After she sashays off to her impatient john, who can be heard calling out to her from whatever headboard he's chained up to, Nick and Cody notice Burtane and his two thugs climb into a car after loudly announcing that they're off to abduct Marcy. LOL. Nick and Cody rush back to their car to follow them, and this time they're able to keep up with the bad guys.
Mr. Burtane and his thugs arrive at the pier, find Marcy, and promptly surround her. Burtane orders Marcy to come with him - but she refuses and makes a run for it. The thugs fire their guns, which naturally freaks out the innocent bystanders...and as Nick and Cody draw their weapons and exchange fire (!) with Burtane and his thugs, Marcy races past them, avoids all the flying bullets, and manages to escape. [Note: somehow no passersby were accidentally shot during the filming of this scene.] In the aftermath of the botched abduction, Burtane admonishes his thugs for not being able to shake Nick and Cody...and/or for not realizing that they were being tailed in the first place. He orders them to kill the two cheeky PIs, then track down Marcy's sister and see if she knows anything about her whereabouts. Later, Murray tells Nick he dug up everything he could find on Marcy Hayward...and Nick looks over the intel, furrows his brows, and murmurs, "How do you tell a woman her sister is a slutty hooker?" Cody and Sheila, meanwhile, are lip-locked on the Riptide. She tells him that locating Marcy is the most important thing to her, and he's like, "Oh...really?" and swiftly changes the subject. Smooth, Cody. During dinner at Straightaways, Nick tells Murray he's bummed that Cody is so enamored of Sheila and worries that he'll get hurt. Murray looks intrigued by this admission and urges him to spill his guts further, so Nick says he has a weird feeling about Sheila and can't help but wonder how on earth she could have a sister like Marcy. After searching King Harbor for Nick and Cody, Burtane's thugs manage to locate their car, which is parked near the marina. During a cozy dinner-for-two aboard the Riptide, Sheila remarks to Cody that he seems very quiet tonight and asks if his quietness is somehow related to Marcy. He nods and tells her she's OK, but that it looks like she's gotten herself mixed up with something criminal. He tells her that earlier today he and Nick saw Marcy almost get grabbed by Burtane and his thugs, and Sheila gets angry at him for waiting until now to drop that bomb. When she demands that he share everything he knows, he reluctantly adds that it looks as though Marcy may be involved with a raunchy S&M prostitution ring. During the course of his research, Murray quickly learns that Sheila hasn't told Cody everything about herself, e.g. she has a criminal record. They return to the Riptide, where they spot Sheila standing on the deck staring up at the sky, then go below where Nick breaks it to Cody that they managed to dig up some stuff about Sheila he should know 'bout...and by stuff, he means that she was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Cody's all, "Wha-a-a?!" and refuses to believe it, then chides them for digging up dirt on an innocent woman. Murray solemnly says there's more, then tells him that when he hacked into some bank records, he learned that Marcy closed her bank account the very same day that Sheila made a big deposit into hers. Nick tells Cody he's letting his judgement be affected by how desperately he wants to bone Sheila, and Cody accuses him of being jealous that Sheila fell in love with him without even giving him (Nick) a second glance. Nick sternly replies, "I thought we were better friends than that", and Cody snaps, "So did I." Sheila, who has been eavesdropping on the conversation from the deck, enters the room and explains that Marcy voluntarily gave her her money for safekeeping, and that the deadly weapon arrest occurred after Marcy lied to the police about being attacked by her. She tearfully asks Cody to take her home now, and the two beat a hasty retreat.
Burtane's thugs, who have been staking out the Riptide, watch Cody and Sheila leave and recognize Sheila as Marcy's sister. They follow the two in their car...and after a few minutes on the road, Cody notices that they're being tailed. The thugs smash into their car and run them off the highway, then pull Sheila out of the ensuing wreckage. They tell her they're looking for her sister, and she insists she has no idea where she is. One of the thugs checks Cody's pulse and declares him a goner, and a devastated Sheila screams, "Noooooo!!" Nick tells Murray he blames himself for the car accident...and Murray nods absently as he scans the hospital's records on his computer. He's startled when he discovers that both Sheila and Marcy were admitted to the hospital on the exact same day and time, which somehow seems impossible...unless.. The nurse gives Nick permission to briefly visit Cody, who's all bandaged up and is in serious condition. Murray, meanwhile, hangs out with the nurse and helps her out with the video game she happens to be playing while on the job, and blushingly explains that he's an expert 'cause he's the person who designed it. Cody regains consciousness when he senses Nick hovering over him, and weakly tells him that the thugs ran him off the road and abducted Sheila. Nick apologizes for upsetting him earlier and points out that it's not true that women are always attracted to him [though, let's be real, it's likely almost always], and insists that all he wants for him is happiness. Cody clutches his hand in response, then admits that the romance between himself and Sheila was probably moving way too fast. Duh - ya think? Over at The Leather Castle, Burtane tells Sheila that Cody is dead, and that his thugs are out looking for Murray and Nick so they can off them too. He then orders a flunky to lock Sheila in Marcy's room and hopes something useful comes from that. Murray bursts into Cody's room to share a startling finding: Sheila doesn't have a sister, but rather a split personality. He explains that he confirmed this from the hospital's records, and learned that Sheila has been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder...and that Marcy is "her dark side". Cody looks wigged out, while Nick mulls over the shocking revelation and points out that sooner or later, Burtane is going to realize he actually has Marcy [if, up until now, he's been too clueless to recognize her as one of the regular hookers in his creepy S&M stable]. Nick promises Cody he'll do his best to not let anything happen to Sheila/Marcy, and then he and Murray rush off. Sheila looks over "Marcy's" wigs and S&M gear before slipping into a skimpy get-up. She then fake cries for help...and when one of Burtane's armed thugs enters her room to investigate, she knocks him out from behind and grabs his gun. Burtane and his entourage enter the estate's bar/dining room...and a few seconds after that, Marcy struts in. Nick and Murray arrive at the entrance of The Leather Castle, and Nick tells Murray he'll find a secret way in, and orders him to wait by the security gate for the cops. Nick sets off the sprinkler system in the bar/dining room, which foils Marcy's plans to shoot Burtane. After some gunfire is exchanged and Marcy suffers a non-fatal gunshot wound, Nick kneels beside her, removes her wig, and assures her she'll be OK...then gives her the good news about Cody surviving the car accident. On the hospital grounds, Cody limps to where Sheila is sitting, seats himself next to her, and tells her she looks great. Sheila tells him she was bewildered to learn that she has nine personalities (not sure if that's in addition to her "dark side" Marcy personality, which she was aware of), and Cody says he's keeping his fingers crossed for her full recovery. She tells him that the Sheila he got to know this episode may not exist anymore and that she now has to figure out who she really is, and Cody shrugs and says that since he's not terribly picky about the women he hooks up with, he'll probably like whatever personality she eventually morphs into. She thanks him for everything he's done for her this episode, and the two share a final canoodle.
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