Charlie and Rex are in deep water after a university rower named Niko Fermi is shot by a sniper during training.
Tropes:
- Cassandra Truth: Greta mentions Niko had told her that he had a line on some money, with her accusing him of falling back on his gambling habits. He was actually talking about how he had been squeezing Dean Whitlock for money when he found out she was accepting bribes from wealthy families to let their kids enroll in the university and its programs. Charlie comments to Greta that at least she can live knowing that her son never lied to her and that he never did fall back on gambling, which means a lot to her.
- Dead All Along: Niko is revealed to have already been dead before he was even on the boat that morning. He actually died playing Russian Roulette with Damon and the gun they were using was rigged to kill him. The whole rowing team, along with Coach Reid Armstrong and Adler Cullen’s sister Sabrina, concocted a plan to cover the incident up by making it look like Niko was shot by a sniper, establish everyone's alibi and frame Jerry Auchincloss by using his history with the rowing team and a rifle stolen from his residence.
- Determinator: Damon mentions that he and Niko had a tendency to compete with each other over who would be rowing in the boat and who would be acting as cockswain, using the game “Put Up or Throw Up” (the first one to reach 500m on the rowing machine makes the other do a shot, it keeps going until one player can’t anymore). Both of them were very determined, although Niko was way more driven than Damon was. Unfortunately, Niko’s determination was used against him by Dean Whitlock to kill him using a rigged gun he and Damon were using to play Russian Roulette.
- Every Man Has His Price: Dean Whitlock is revealed to have been taking bribes from rich families, including Damon's, to give seats to their children instead of more deserving students. Niko found out about it and tried squeezing her for money, only for her to murder him in response.
- Frame-Up: The rowing team concocted a plan to frame local Gulf War veteran Jerry Auchincloss by having Sabrina Cullen pretend to shoot the already dead Niko with a sniper rifle stolen from his house so it would look like Jerry shot him while Coach Reid took advantage of the commotion to plant a bullet with Niko’s DNA on the other side of the river. They chose Jerry as their fall guy because of the long history between him and the rowers.
- The Gambling Addict: Niko's father Lorenzo was a major one, and because of it he owed a huge debt to the mafia, who eventually put a bullet in his head after he avoided them for so long. Niko was also this before he was involved with rowing, though unlike his late dad he had no mob connections. Niko's mother Greta was so pleased that her son finally found something more constructive and managed to kick his gambling habits before he ended up like his dad. Too bad Niko followed his dad to an early grave anyway, albeit under different circumstances.
- He Knows Too Much: Dean Whitlock killed Niko after he found out she was taking bribes from wealthy families to let their children enroll at the university instead of more deserving students and tried extorting her for money.
- Murder by Suicide: Niko found out that Dean Whitlock had been taking bribes and tried squeezing her for a cut of the money. Not wanting to let the truth get out, she concocted a plan to trick Niko into killing himself by making Damon a lock on the rowing team and lying to Niko about the rigged gun she gave him to play Russian Roulette to scare Damon into stepping down.
- Old Money: Everyone on the rowing team excluding Niko comes from this, as well as other students at the university. Donovan and Dean Heather Whitlock mention that Damon's parents even donated two million dollars to the university a while back. Turns out a lot of the students' parents, including Damon's, bribed Whitlock so their children could get in instead of more eligible candidates. Damon is devastated when he finds out the truth and decides to put up his own money to help fund the next generation of rowers in honor of Niko.
- The Reveal:
- Niko wasn't killed by a sniper; he was already dead before he was put on the boat that morning. His real cause of death was from a game of supposedly non-lethal Russian Roulette gone wrong.
- A lot of students got into the university over more qualified candidates because their parents bribed Dean Whitlock. Niko found out about the whole thing and tried to extort her for money, only for her to murder him using a rigged gun Niko and Damon were using to play Russian Roulette.
- Russian Roulette: When the rowing team heard that Damon was going to be a lock, they knew that they would be slowed down during speed trials as Damon was the weakest member of the team and that one of them was going to be kicked off. Niko came up with a plan to scare Damon into stepping down (as Damon had to do it of his own free will) by having the both of them play Russian Roulette, with Damon unaware that the gun Niko had was rigged to skip the fourth chamber and the bullet they were using was fake. However, unaware to Niko, the gun was instead rigged to always stop on the fourth chamber and that the bullet was real. The game ended in Niko shooting himself in the head, with Coach Reid and the rest of the team throwing the gun in the river and working to concoct a plan to cover it up. The rigged gun came from a gun specialist in Montreal and the payment to do it came from a numbered account belonging to Dean Whitlock.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Jerry Auchincloss, an ex-Gulf War veteran who was discharged when he developed PTSD after killing a soldier in a single shot to the head in 1991 while standing in the middle of a nerve gas attack. His PTSD is so bad, that when he confesses to killing Niko, he confuses it for his kill during the Gulf War. He's also been in a feud with the rowing team for years due to them disrupting his fishing traps and stealing his hat. Jerry is rather trigger-happy, but did not kill Niko due to him suffering from Parkinson's Disease that makes his hands too unstable to aim and fire a rifle properly. He’s not charged for shooting at Charlie and Rex, but the SJPD manage to get him some help for his PTSD in the form of a veteran's rehab center to help him get back on his medication and sends his regards to Niko after the case is solved.
- Spotting the Thread: In Sabrina Cullen’s testimony, she said that during her morning jog, she waved to the rowers like she usually does. However, that morning the rowers had done their practice run going east instead of west like they usually do, which ends up exposing Sabrina’s testimony as a lie. She was the one who shot at the rowers as part of their plan to frame Jerry Auchincloss.
- Team Dad: Coach Reid Armstrong treats the rowing team as if they were his own sons. After hearing about Niko’s death, he kicked into protection mode and helped them concoct a plan to cover it up by framing Jerry Auchincloss, afraid that this incident would ruin the rest of their lives.
