Written by: Robert Van Scoyk
Directed by: Anthony Pullen Shaw
Jessica becomes involved in an internal police investigation when a colleague is left for dead in an accident in which a rookie policeman is killed.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: A seemingly random drawing of a red car gives a clue to the oft-repeated image of the murder victim of the week dead on the driver's seat with the color crimson surrounding him.
- Combat Medic: Dr. Ramon Perez becomes an unintentional one when he prevents an attempt on Paula Raynor's life in the hospital by stepping into her room and interrupting the killer (after said killer had already knocked down a guard).
- Cowboy Cop: After repeated failures to bust a smuggling operation due to a leak from within his own squad, and then a rookie member gets killed, Sgt. Lofton goes off on his own to solve the murder and almost kills the wrong guy.
- Going to the Store: Jimmy Haynes uses the ice cream spilt onto his pants as an excuse to leave the party in order to arrange the murder of Bondy.
- Jerkass: Capt. Elgin Meyers takes special delight in informing Sgt. Lofton that he's being re-assigned to the 19th precinct as a Desk Sergeant, for no other reason that just to be a jerk.
- The Man Behind the Curtain: Well, the man behind the door. Sgt. Vince Lofton was ready to kill Det. Alex Maggio to avenge the death of John Bondy. Turns out the real killer is behind the door BEHIND Alex—it was Jimmy Haynes.
- Meaningful Background Event: As Dr. Ramon calls Jessica to tell her about the attempt on Paula's life, we see the police officer who was guarding Paula's room in the background, holding an ice pack to the back of his head (since the killer struck him there in order to get to Paula).
- Mistaken for Murderer: Because of the ruse set up by Sgt. Lofton below, Paula initially thinks he was Bondy's murderer.
- Playing Drunk: Part of the ruse set up by Sgt. Lofton and Bondy. Lofton will show up to the party late and drunk, pretend to accost Bondy, then watch which cops leaves the party after Bondy to suss out the leak.
- Protagonist Title: The episode title refers to Paula Raynor, a computer technician friend of Jessica's who started recently dating Bondy and was a witness of sorts to his murder.
- Red Herring: The camera keeps framing Alex Maggio in such a way as to make the audience suspicious of him. This is heightened when he and his fellow cops come to visit Paula and he's wearing shades, as well as when Sgt. Lofton brings an informant along, spots a red car, and find Maggio there. Turns out, the perp was someone else.
