- Patrick works with special agent Hightower to figure out who killed a struggling gold prospector.
- Gold mining town Hadley's sheriff Trey Hughes calls the CBI after fellow prospector Melinda Drew found and former software developer Rick Loomis, divorced and recently moved in with his son adolescent son Jeff and new girl Cheryl Meade, who sneakily prepared to leave the naive adventurer. Patrick discovers that local claims seller Wes Attwood cheated, but he's found murdered in the trailer of local thief Scott Monroe, who didn't actually rob Rick. Patrick sets a gold trap.—KGF Vissers
- When the former software designer Rick Loomis is found dead in his truck by Melinda Drew, Lisbon and Patrick are assigned for the investigation. Soon they learn that Loomis changed his previous life to become a prospector and moved to Hadley with his new girlfriend Cheryl Meade and his son Jeff Loomis, using the savings that Jeff inherited from his grandparents to go to college. Lisbon twists her ankle and Hightower replaces her in the investigation. Patrick learns that the seller Wes Attwood cheated the prospectors to sell lands without gold cheating them; the local thief Scott Monroe uses to sell stolen prospectors equipment; and the local owner of a store Dean Puttock had sold many equipment to Loomis. Patrick plots a trick to catch the killer.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- In Gold Country in Hadley, Cali. The victim is Rick Loomis, he was shot in the head. He's dead in the back of his truck.
There are dozens of gold prospectors in the woods.
Jane turns on the truck and finds blaring heavy metal playing. He pops in the CD and finds smooth jazz. He posits that the killer hated Rick's jazz and ejected the disc to move the truck after killing him.
Melinda Drew, the woman who found the body, worries that they're losing prospecting time.
Lisbon tries to keep the hungry prospectors behind the tape but Jane shouts that he sees gold and they rush through. Lisbon is knocked into the stream, twisting her ankle.
Back at CBI, Cho says Loomis moved to Hadley six months ago with his son and girlfriend. He was shot with a Colt .45. He was shot somewhere else and driven to the creek. He was shot at least two days ago.
At the mining camp, Jane plays poker with Melinda and two other prospectors. They tell him all anyone has to do to start mining is find open land and register a claim.
Hightower pulls up to join Jane. He reports that Loomis' was a former software developer. His girlfriend was Cheryl Mead. His son is Jeff, who's smart but a little hostile.
Jane can tell Hightower is tense and asks about it. She doesn't want to talk.
They meet with the girlfriend and son. They learn Wes Atwood sold Rick the claim and it went well at first, but not so well lately. They say he was mining somewhere other than his usual claim and thought he'd be gone a few days. Cheryl says Rick didn't believe in guns.
Cheryl says Rick raided Jeff's college fund to prospect and she gave up a good career. She says they're flat broke. She starts to cry but Jane says she seems guilty with her grief. She says she was working at the diner when Rick was killed.
At the office, Rigsby finds Cheryl had $5,000 in the bank and a ticket to San Francisco. And Rick bought a Colt .45 recently.
Jane wanders down to the creek to find Wes Atwood trying to sell a claim to a couple. Atwood introduces Dean, who says he can sell him any equipment they might need. Dean leaves.
Wes shows two prospective clients how to prospect. He puts a pan in the water and comes out with tiny pieces of gold. The clients jump for it. Jane asks if Wes has another spot he can sell him. Jane wants to go now, but Wes makes plans to meet him tomorrow at 8 a.m.
Cho talks to Cheryl at CBI. He asks about the gun and the money. She was planning to leave Rick, but he didn't know. He kept coming home announcing they'd hit the motherlode with small nuggets.
Jane finds Hightower trying to find Atwood in town. Jane sees Atwood and hugs Hightower to hide from him. They follow him.
They find him shooting gold flakes into the creek, salting the claim he was going to sell Jane. Hightower takes him in.
Cho talks to him. Wes says he was selling people hope. Cho threatens him with fraud charges. He says someone has been stealing equipment from prospectors and that must have been who killed him. He seems to realize something as he says this.
Lisbon wonders why Sheriff Hughes didn't mention the thefts. Rigsby goes to talk to him.
Back in town, Jane and Hightower go to Dean's equipment store. Melinda is in there cashing in her recently found nuggets for better equipment.
Dean confirms Rick replaced all his stuff after it was stolen, spending over $10,000. They look at his invoice, finding he was switching to hard rock mining in the hills.
Jane asks to hold one of Melinda's gold nuggets. He tries to wander off with it.
Rigsby calls with the name Scott Monroe, a local thief who just got out of prison.
They mention that Hightower's kids are there. Her husband just dropped them off, saying he had to go somewhere. Hightower tries to hold it together, but it clearly extremely upset.
Jane doesn't ask questions, saying he knows the answers.
Hightower and Jane go up in the hills to look for Scott. They find a body on the floor of his camper. It's Wes Atwood.
They get a call with a Scott Monroe sighting.
Lisbon has Hightower's kids entertained tearing up paper and picking it up. She calls to check in.
When she gets off the phone, Jane tries to encourage her to let it out. Finally, he says he knows she's getting a divorce and her husband is acting out, leaving the kids at work. He says it's office gossip and people say she cheated, or he did.
She changes the subject to the case. Jane wonders why Loomis' body was moved. The killer apparently didn't want anyone to know where he'd been killed. He wonders why.
Van Pelt and Rigsby pick up Scott Monroe in a bar.
At CBI, Monroe tells Cho and Lisbon that Loomis' son Jeff stole his dad's equipment. He sold it to Monroe for $100.
They call Hightower. She and Jane talk to Jeff.
He admits the theft. Jane knows Loomis knew it was his son because he didn't call the police. His dad apologized, but Jeff walked out.
Jane tells him owning a gold mine will ease the pain.
Jeff has no idea what he's talking about.
They go to Dean's store to look at a map. Jane explains that Rick found gold but didn't tell his son because he wanted to prove it to him with gold in his hand. Dean and Melinda watch.
Jane tries to jog Jeff's memory. He uses Jeff's hand as a kind of Oujia board reader over the map, dropping it on a specific area.
He says "interesting." Then he says it didn't work.
Melinda and Dean are intrigued.
Jane leaves abruptly. Everyone follows him. Jane drives off.
He goes into the hills and finds drilling equipment and blood on the ground.
He examines the hills and finds gold seams.
Dean walks up. Jane explains he pulled over and followed Dean there.
Dean says his family has been mining since the first gold rush, so it belongs to his family, not Loomis.
Wes Atwood figured out it was Dean and tried to blackmail him. He thought he could frame Scott Monroe for everything.
Dean pulls out a gun.
Jane shouts for Hightower and she comes out from behind a rock.
Dean grabs Jane and fires at her. She gets pissed and stands up and walks straight at him. He fires. She hits him in the knee, then Jane gets free and she hits him in the shoulder, then the chest. He's dead.
Jane points out she could have killed him. She says she got angry.
He applauds her knee shot. "I was aiming for his head," she says.
Back at CBI, Hightower tells Jeff he and Cheryl get his dad's gold mine.
Hightower comes to collect her kids, who are sacked out. Hightower thanks her then gives her a big hug.
Lisbon asks Jane what working with Hightower was like. He raves, saying they had a great connection. He succeeds in getting Lisbon jealous. She whacks him with a crutch.
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