The Mysteries of Laura Episode 1.06 The Mystery of the Red Runway

Billy teases Laura about her ugly yet comfortable shoes on the way to a West Village crime scene: 22-year-old Tyler Cole was shot in the back while walking a dog in a Tom Burke Black Label pea coat. Laura and Billy proceed to Tyler's Washington Heights apartment to meet his roommate, who explains he rarely saw Tyler, an orphan, who worked as a design assistant for Tom Burke. The partners crash their way into Burke's office to return the dog and find out more about Tyler, who only worked for Burke for 18 months - and didn't normally walk the dog. When Laura spies Burke putting on a pea coat identical to Tyler's, she knows he was the murderer's intended target.

Back at the precinct, Jake and Max are enjoying a cappuccino when the department's Deputy Comptroller calls to order Jake to get rid of his professional coffee machine. Hatching a plan, Jake sends Max to find a copy of the department budget, then interviews Burke, looking for motive - is there anyone who'd want to kill him? Burke admits there are many rivalries and dramas in his business - he recently dropped notorious model Natalie Marquez from his campaign - and the whole fashion world is in New York for Fashion Week. But nobody would want to kill him! Billy's thrilled when Jake sends him and Laura to interview Natalie, who explains Burke is OCD, can't stand brown liquids and is paranoid of counterfeiters. Yes they had a falling out, but she got away better than top stylist Alison Torres, who had an atomic blowout with Burke a few months ago. After checking Natalie's Fitbit, Laura knows she isn't their killer, so Billy and Jake track down Alison. When Alison starts using bad breakup words in her description of Burke, Billy figures they had a relationship, just as her security guard takes off running through the park. Billy takes the guy down and finds a gun in his waistband, the same caliber that killed Tyler, so he takes him down to the precinct.

Jake calls Burke down to the precinct to ask him to cancel his fundraiser that night - the so-called Super Bowl party of Fashion Week. When Burke refuses, Jake tasks Laura with going undercover to the party as protective detail. Intuiting Laura's intended wardrobe is less than adequate, Burke brings his people to get her all spruced up and spanxed into a magnificent ball gown. Moreover, Laura will carry his signature clutch, which will make its debut at the party. Meanwhile, Max packs up his desk. Now that Jake has his hands on the department budget, a dark secret is about to emerge... which is why Jake summons him to Laura's house. According to the NYPD, Max doesn't exist. Is there some kind of conspiracy going on between him and Laura?

At the party, Burke introduces Laura to elegant importer Gabriella Luca, who co-chairs his anti-counterfeiting campaign. Gabriella gets friendly with Laura at the hors d'oeuvre table, pointing out the Tom Burke original clutch Laura's stuffing sushi into is worth $12,000; she knows expert work when she sees it. And she isn't intimately involved with Burke, nor does she want to be. According to Gabriella, Burke is a greedy bastard who always wants more. Just then Burke walks out to the street for some air, so Billy and Laura follow him. Moments later, shots ring out and Burke crumples to the ground.

Once the crime scene's established, Jake arrives to relieve Laura, sending her home to relieve Max, who's watching the boys... because Laura hired Max as an unpaid intern?! Jake suspends Laura for a day, effectively taking her off the Burke case, but she doesn't bother listening and shows up for work. She makes a beeline to Jake's office to explain there was a hiring freeze when independently wealthy genius Max showed up, offering to do anything not involving a gun. Why wouldn't any sane person take him on as an intern?! Jake can't fire Max! Jake points out that he can't fire Max - because he doesn't actually have a job.

Laura sits at her desk, comparing the $12,000 Tom Burke clutch to a knock-off found in Tyler's apartment. That's when lightning strikes - maybe whoever's making the knockoff Tom Burke goods is trying to kill him before he wipes them out. While Laura reviews surveillance footage of the shooting, Billy and Meredith go shopping on Canal Street, hitting up a vendor for a lead on his supplier. The supplier's sweatshop is full of Tyler's design drawings, so they sneak off to get a warrant. His shot arm in a sling, Burke comes down to the precinct to learn the counterfeiters were knocking off his clutch before it hit the runway. Tyler must have fallen in with the counterfeiters - the bullet that killed him was meant for him all along. Laura shows the team her findings on the surveillance video, and Billy and Meredith identify a guy they saw in the sweatshop. Jake arranges for a SWAT raid, but by the time they storm the sweatshop, it's empty.

Laura decides it's time to pay Gabriella a visit, in hopes she can offer insight into who might be counterfeiting Burke's designs. In between stuffing pistachios in her mouth, Gabriella has little to offer, but Laura remembers that when they met, Gabriella confessed to stress eating. Billy recognizes their suspect loading boxes into Gabriella's warehouse, so he cuffs him; and Laura discovers that the boxes are filled with knockoff Tom Burke clutches. Back at the station, Laura and Gabriella are locked in a silent stare-off, so Jake sends her and Billy back for one last look at Tyler's apartment. That's when Max presents a plan to gain the Deputy Comptroller's approval on the coffee machine: play to her chocolate habit with a little bribe.

Back at Tyler's apartment, Laura deduces that he was reading up on copyright law. Maybe he was having second thoughts on betraying Burke and planned to turn in Gabriella? Meredith and Max review Gabriella's financials to find large monthly payments into Gabriella's accounts - from Tom Burke! Laura finds Burke backstage in the final moments of his runway show. Playing on her knowledge of all his finicky behavior, Laura riles him up so she can flush out the truth: not only did he steal Tyler's clutch design, but he decided to counterfeit it himself, controlling both sides of the business. When Laura lies, telling him Gabriella confessed everything, Burke runs onto the runway. Laura trips him and whips out her handcuffs. Back at the precinct, Laura's surprised to see a regulation coffee machine - no more cappuccinos, sigh. Even more surprising: Jake traded the coffee machine to the Deputy Comptroller in order to bring Max on full-time!