Have you ever heard of Heavy Calliber? No? Maybe that’s because it’s a fictitious 80’s hair band that’s so large even it’s cover band, Hot Lead, has problems on this week’s episode of Life. The KISS ringers’ lead singer ends up dead at a club they just played. Who better to step in than Crews and Doc Reese.
Doc Reese, you say? Crews thinks he should give a nickname. Dani Reese is DR. DR is doctor. Doctor is doc. Get it? She’s not too thrilled but the dead guy in make-up is kind of preoccupying her. They figure out he was suffocated with a piece of plastic but everyone loved this guy. The band had sold out the venue for the past four nights and when Mitch (the real name) stepped on stage, he really became Jude Hays (the lead singer of Heavy Calliber). So, yeah, if everyone loved him, who would kill him?
The guys in the band have no idea. They all went off to party together and didn’t even know Mitch went back to the club. They also said that after the show, they get out of their make-up and gear. Why, then, was Mitch found in full Jude Hays mode? The band does give them another suspect, though. Mitch was the second Jude Hays for Hot Lead. The first one, Tyler, tried to sing one of his own songs one night, the crowd revolted and he was kicked out. A little while after Mitch joined the band, Tyler attacked him. He was locked up for four months, released six months ago and is now nowhere to be found.
How do you find a missing Jude Hays impersonator? You hire out every single one in the city and they come straight to you. Tyler doesn’t show up but some one else the Hot Lead guys do know knocks on the door. Turns out when they were auditioning new Judes, a girl showed up. Instead of being a little open minded, the stupid boys laughed at her. Could be a motive, no? Plus, she works at the club where Mitch was found dead. Since Crews and Reese are still trying to track down Tyler, they pay her a visit at work. Emma seems harmless. She’s simply obsessed with Heavy Calliber. In fact, that’s why she started working at the club, it’s the club they always played when they came to LA. Still, she does have an obsession with covering things in plastic, too. No go, though. A test proves her plastic doesn’t match the plastic used to kill Mitch. And she does point Crews and Reese to some one who might have seen something.
Al is a homeless guy who hangs around the club. He says he saw another band member come back to the club with Mitch that night. This is the bassist who is really a dentist. This dentist is really effed up, too. He keeps a tally on the wall in his office of how many women he’s slept with. He even asks Doc Reese if she wants him to “uncap his sharpie” for her. Seriously? Gross. I guess he’s trying to top Heavy Calliber’s bassist’s number. Anyways, he swears he didn’t kill Mitch. He was off with lucky number whatever. However, the prescription drugs Crews and Reese discovered could be a powerful motive. Seems he was trading them for sex in order to beat the ever important number.
If he’s already going to jail for that, then why wouldn’t he just confess to killing Mitch? They finally find Tyler and rule him out, too. Seems all the Jude Hays impersonators are willing to share Jude with everyone else. What about the original Jude Hays? He either died in a car crash, overdosed, was killed in a plane, stabbed, etc. Guess he’s out, too. Tyler does give our favorite detectives a good tip. He was once sent a piece of plastic in his fan mail. Crews and Reese ask Emma for any pictures she might have of Hot Lead concerts. That gives them their first real lead in the case. There was one guy at every concert. One guy so obsessed he followed the band to New York, Seattle, San Diego, everywhere. Al. Uh-huh, the homeless guy. How does this guy travel all over if he’s homeless? And why, when he was stealing all the money and jewelry left at the make-shift grave for Mitch did he also take the cards addressed to Jude?
Ding, ding, ding. Al is actually….Jude Hays. He never died and he wasn’t homeless. Wow. Knew there was something up with that guy because he was acting all crazy. Now we know, you can’t just take some one’s word that they’re dead. Rock stars are so unreliable.
You know who turns out not to be unreliable? Tidwell. He even poured out all of his liquor so Reese wouldn’t be tempted at his place. They’re so cute (thank god they cut his hair). On the Charlie front, he didn’t really get anywhere with his case but he did get his original car back. I agree, Charlie, time to get back to your roots.
