It comes as no surprise that Detective Cornell is not the belle of the ball at work either. The dour homicide cop is one move away from getting a time out on the naughty step because of the Crawford case (season one). Secrets and Lies begins with Cornell almost being read the riot act for her attitude. She tells her boss not to worry, “I’m a people person.”
Clearly Major Bryant knows that Cornell is anything but and another “non-people person is Danny. Who, we find out later, is not just a mysterious guy looking for his sister, he is a detective also. Not only that but he and Cornell know one another.
The episode centers around Liam Connors, not his real name, who is the chief suspect in Eric’s mind. Danny wants to talk to Kate’s former assistant as he was the last person to see Rachel, Danny’s sister, before she disappeared.
Danny and Eric team up after Warner lets Liam’s girlfriend go. Danny is furious but his new partner tells him that Connors will be at a rock concert. They go to grab Liam but Cornell beats them to the draw. As the uniforms grab Connors, the detective tells Eric that they need to stop meeting like this.
(Perhaps Cornell is more of a people person than she lets on. That was a very obvious attempt at humor. It may well be that she really has taken Eric off her most wanted list.)
She questions Liam and his bail is posted by Eric, at Danny’s suggestion. After a slight run-in with his brother-in-law, Warner is joined by Danny, who has Liam in the trunk of his car.
The two men take Connors to a hotel room and question him. The young assistant did not kill Kate, he has an alibi, but he was hacking the company’s accounts. Liam tells Danny that the person Rachel was with on the night she went missing was Neil.
Eric tricks Neil into coming to the loft and Danny strikes the moment the two men enter the room. Danny beats on Neil until he confesses who he was with that night.
According to Neil, Rachel was just “there,” he was with Carly, a professional escort. Danny rings the woman’s number and they get an “out of order” message.
Things look pretty tense and Danny looks ready to pound on Neil some more when there is a knock on the door. It is Cornell. She looks at Danny, who answers the knock.
He says, by way of greeting, “Hello detective.” She greets Danny in typical Cornell fashion, nodding ever so slightly she says.”Detective.”
So Danny is a cop, presumably from the same precinct as Cornell. It would not be too surprising that learn that they are somehow related. Both have negative people skills. Danny may be like a bull in the China shop but his expression mirrors that of Cornell; dour with a capital “d.”
Viewers who have not watched season one of Secrets and Lies learn that Cornell is actually the best homicide detective that Bryant has. While she will not be winning any popularity contests, Cornell is on the top rung of the homicide ladder.
More is learned about the Warner family. Greg points out to his brother-in-law that for all the family’s apparent closeness no one really talks about anything.
Patrick turns out to be the weakest link in terms of the family business. Taking too long on a bit of recreational fun with Melanie he misses a crucial meeting.
Eric is furious but manages to save the situation by talking straight with the potential partner company owner.
Kate’s secrets appear to have dried up at the moment. This episode was all about learning who Liam really was and if he were Kate’s son. Along the way Eric develops some cojones and Danny reveals his true colors, albeit inadvertently.
For the record, Cornell shows up twice while Warner is questioning his “suspect.” The detective must be good as she seems to know what Eric is going to do before he does.
Secrets and Lies airs Sundays on ABC.
Cast:
- Juliette Lewis – Detective Andrea Cornell
- Jordana Brewster – Kate Warner
- Michael Ealy – Eric Warner
- Mekia Cox – Amanda Warner
- Terry O’Quinn – John Warner
- AnnaLynne McCord – Melanie Warner
- Charlie Barnett – Patrick Warner
- Eric Winter – Neil Oliver
- Graham Phillips – Liam Connors
- Carter MacIntyre – Shane Campbell
- Nikita Dionne – Tina Sawyer
- Kenny Johnson – Danny
- David James Elliott – Major Bryant
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