Three Point ShotEpisode 302 (036) - Sep 17 1997
Both big basketball fans, Jim and Blair arrive at practice session of the
Cascade Jags, organized by Simon through his good friend, team owner Arthur
Dell. They are introduced to Dell and Chief of Security Ray Krause. Blair
recognizes Krause from somewhere and Krause acknowledges that he was once a
gifted college point guard, but lost a pro berth when he fell down a flight of
stairs.
Blair is even more excited at the opportunity to meet some of the team's star
players, but Jags golden boy Dwight Roshman lives up to his reputation for being
a prima donna and pointedly ignores them. It is no secret that Roshman is the
main strength of the Jaguars, but he is considering leaving the team. However
team veteran Orvelle Wallace greets Jim and Blair warmly, and Blair admits that
Wallace is his hero, even remembering a time when Wallace signed a gum card for
Blair when he was in Junior High.
During the practice session, there is an ugly altercation between Wallace and
Roshman which aggravates Wallace's old ankle injury. Jim overhears Wallace
threaten Roshman. Wallace goes off for treatment and Jim and Blair are asked to
leave as the session is cut short. Returning to the dressing room, Roshman asks
his assistant Jerome to pull up the hood of his jacket, take the keys to his
Viper, and act as a decoy to put the ever present news reporters off the trail.
Jerome is gunned down and killed in the arena garage.
Suspecting a case of mistaken identity, Simon sends Jim and Blair off to
question Roshman, who has been receiving death threats. When they visit him at
his home, he is typically unco-operative, saying he needs to practice, so Blair
challenges him to a game of 2 on 1 with him and Jim, hoping to win his respect
and a little more Q&A time. Blair says he used to be an All City point guard
whereas Jim played ball in college. Roshman is wiping them off the court when
Blair drags Jim aside and chastises him for not capitalizing on his
"special" talents. As Jim begins to utilize his senses, Jim and Blair
start to work as a well-oiled team and turn the tables on Roshman. But Jim
notices a strange sound coming from the backboard, and manages to tackle Roshman
just in time as it crashed towards the ground.
They are joined by Roshman's fiancée, Shelley, who is Orvelle's niece. It
turns out there is no love lost between Roshman and Wallace because Wallace
knows that Roshman has physically abused Shelley in the past. Roshman is
convinced that Wallace rigged the backboard when he apparently visited them that
morning, and Jim adds that he overheard Wallace's threats earlier in the day.
Blair refuses to believe that his hero could be a murderer but Jim reminds
Blair that the domestic violence charges that Shelley filed last summer provides
Wallace with a motive. They question Wallace and he admits that he visited
Roshman that morning to offer his apologies and though he doesn't approve of the
union, Shelley is free to make her own decisions.
He agrees to accompany them to the station to make a statement and they walk
out to Blair's Volvo. As Blair and Wallace hang back in conversation, Blair
remarks on the rhino horn bracelet Wallace is wearing, a gift from the Masai
people of Tanzania.
On the way to the station, Jim receives a call that the Viper has been
spotted nearby and they rendezvous with the police units. The car only contains
a couple of kids who found it abandoned and took it for a joyride.
Jim reports the investigation progress to Simon. Wallace is a suspect, as is
Simon's friend Arthur Dell, who could stand to make some money on the player
insurance taken out on Roshman. Simon resists the implication, but Jim maintains
it has to be checked out. Simon therefore produces a much sought after pair of
invitations to the Jags pre-match party for him and Jim that evening, but Jim
snatches both of them, intending to take Blair instead.
In the meantime, Blair and Orvelle are talking quietly in the breakroom and
Blair expresses his admiration for Orvelle. But Orvelle feels he is old and
washed up, his only chance being the coaching position he has been offered with
the Jags next season. But if Roshman carries out his threat to leave, the
opportunity disappears.
Jim and Blair attend the party and do a bit of sideline detective work, but
when Shelley and Roshman turn up announcing their engagement, the tension
between Roshman and Wallace escalates and they get into a fight. Later on
Roshman is found dead in the shower stalls. At the murder scene, Jim discovers a
chipped piece of porcelain-like substance and bags it as evidence.
When the news hits the headlines, Simon is under tremendous pressure to solve
the case and Jim is told he is in danger of being replaced as the investigating
officer. As Dell's policy only paid off in the case of accidental death, Shelley
could not have dragged the body into the showers alone and Krause only had an
old gambling charge to his name, Orvelle remains the prime suspect. Although
Blair cannot believe the evidence, he admits that he has withheld vital
information from Jim. He recognized the porcelain chip that Jim found as
actually being a piece of Orvelle's Masai bracelet. Jim is furious but quickly
resolves to keep the deception secret. However, it allows him to get a search
warrant on Orvelle's home.
When Blair overhears the radio news report that the odds on the upcoming
playoffs have reduced from 6-1 Jags to 5-1 Portland Rapids, he organizes to meet
an informer through his bookie cousin, Robert. The highly placed racketeer,
Glimmerman, provides the piece of vital evidence that points to the killer.
The search on Wallace's place reveals a pair of gloves in the trashcan and
Jim and Simon go to the sports arena to arrest Wallace for murder. When Blair
rushes in with his evidence, the killer takes Shelley hostage and Jim must track
them down through the fly space of the sports arena as the Jags/Rapids game
plays on underneath.
Credits:
Main Cast: Guest Roles:
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