Need 100 Grand? Just Take It Out of "Petty Cash" (Episode 7.11)

Previously on: Olivia doubted Vic could still be valuable to the Beltran investigation now that he's no longer a cop. Vic proved otherwise by faking Pezuela's death. Ronnie told Claudette almost everything about Shane's reasoning for wanting him and Vic killed. Vic put out a reward on the street for his ex-best friend's head. Ronnie has had enough shenanigans and wants to run away to Mexico; Vic promised they'll both run if his latest scheme fails. Shane has demanded $100,000 and sent a blackmail package to Claudette.

Unbeknownst to Vic, Corinne is working with Dutch and Claudette to bring down Vic. Claudette tried to appeal to Mara for her cooperation.

Corinne offers coffee to Claudette and Dutch as they wait for the phone to ring. When it does, Mara only wants to speak to Claudette. She tells her that Shane wants $100,000 by 5 PM; Corinne is to personally make the drop at the fountain in Hollenbeck Park. Mara wants Claudette to promise Shane won't be hurt because "I know how some suspects wind up dead getting booked." The cops need to know Shane tried to kill Vic and Ronnie strictly out of self-defense.

Mara continues making demands: "You need to guarantee that he gets a light sentence. Otherwise, I will blow this whole thing out of the water!" "I'll work it out with the D.A.," Claudette agrees. When his wife hangs up, Shane compliments, "That was beautiful, baby." They'll never have to worry about Vic Mackey again. I wouldn't count on that...

Shane vows he's never going to prison and he won't let Mara end up there either.

Claudette gives Corinne instructions for the drop. She needs to act like everything Vic tells her is news. "Don't go along too easily," adds Dutch. Corinne mutters, "Having a problem with all this won't be a stretch." Claudette won't have her wear a wire during the initial meeting because Vic can smell a setup.

Corinne asks tensely, "How will Vic not figure out that I set him up?" Claudette will make it seem like Vic's been on their radar for a while. Dutch will go through the motions of arresting Corinne to maintain her cover. Corinne doesn't like the sound of any of this. "You came to us to get Vic out of your life," Dutch reminds her.

Corinne's next question is how to get into the witness protection program. Claudette explains that would involve testifying. Corinne vehemently refuses to do it; Vic would know she put him in jail. "It was his own doing," Claudette points out. Corinne still feels guilty.

Edgar-veda, lurking outside Vic's house, remarks, "You're a little overdressed for your paper route." This morning's edition of the L.A. Times ran a story about the tragic suicide of Cruz Pezuela. "His shrink should be sued for not recognizing the 7 warning signs," Vic says dismissively. Edgar-veda is sure his friend wasn't suicidal: "Beltran had him whacked." He's willing to bet Vic pulled the trigger.

"Olivia's not returning my phone calls," Edgar-veda goes on, "Now you drop a body in the middle of my campaign." He leans in the car window. "You're not screwing up my investigation and costing me the mayor's job with one last scandal, Vic." "Nice to know that justice is still your top priority," Vic snarks.

Corinne gets a call from Vic. He needs to talk to her, but can't get into why over the phone. Corinne lies she doesn't have much time; she's getting ready for work. Vic asks if she can take a personal day and meet him at Hollenbeck Park.

"Vic, this is crazy," Corinne snaps at him in the park. He asks her to come back to this bench at 5:00. Corinne is incredulous: "You're gonna hand me a bag full of money to give to the guy who tried to kill you?" Vic sees it as a small price to pay to get all the Vendrells out of the U.S. Shane wants to hurt Vic, not Corinne, so she shouldn't worry. Can Corinne do him this one last favor?

Vic sits down for a friendly lunch with Beltran. He bets the cartel boss is glad Cruz's narrow-mindedness died with him. Vic can understand Cruz "being down with La Raza," but 40% of the drug trade in L.A. is owned and operated by blacks. The cartel could use a "trade rep who's fluent in the culture." Of course, this means Vic himself.

Beltran doesn't see the advantage in allying himself with a "white cop who's made a career cracking the heads of low-level gangbangers." Uh, Vic's actually taken down his share of big ones too. Vic offers to "set up a meet-and-greet with the black board of directors." If Beltran supplies their drugs at a reasonable cost, he'll end up with a monopoly in a year or two.

Beltran knows that meetings like that are how you end up getting arrested. Vic would be happy to go to the meeting alone and negotiate. Beltran wants a deposit from the gangs.

At the L.A. County Jail, Vic asks an incarcerated gangbanger to arrange a board meeting. The guy will see what he can do.

Olivia reminds Vic he has to be trusted enough to get to the cartel's inner workings. Vic can't help he's still being cagey. Olivia has tried talking to Cruz about it and describes him as an uncooperative shithead. She wishes she knew where her blackmail file is. Vic reassures her that it being lost is a good thing; nobody can use it against her. He knows his jobs are to find it and help ICE bust Beltran. Vic Mackey is a man who makes good on his promises.

Vic gets a phone call from jail. The black board of directors' meeting is at 2:00 in Inglewood. Crosstown traffic in L.A. being what it is, Vic is gonna have to hustle to get back to Corinne at 5:00.

A uniform lays some mail on Claudette's desk. Ronnie casually breezes over and starts fishing through it. "Something you need?" asks Claudette. Ronnie huffs in annoyance: "This new guy handing out the mail must be dyslexic. When's Danny coming back?"

Claudette has a case for Ronnie and Billings: shooting victim pronounced DOA. The teen's name is Cardell Rhodes. "The football player?" pipes up Julien. It transpires he was Cardell's coach during his Pop Warner days. Ronnie thought he was on desk duty.

Claudette explains she's got the majority of the cops sweeping the streets for the upcoming presidential motorcade. "Much as I want out of my forced detention, Julien's history with the kid gives him a leg up here," says Ronnie. Claudette agrees; she wants Julien to partner with Ronnie instead of Billings. Detective of the Year grumbles that he'll go back to his crossword puzzles.

Ronnie stops Billings on his way downstairs, asking for a favor. "I took a bedroom tumble with a woman on the force," he explains, leaning in confidentially, "She found out she's not the only teeter-totter on the playground, got pissed, and now she's tryin' to jam me up with Claudette."

Imaginary Mystery Woman wrote a letter to Claudette and Ronnie needs it intercepted. Billings' man-crush on Ronnie is evident in his reply: "That poison panty-gram won't hit Claudette's desk." Ronnie gives his partner a fist-bump.

Ronnie informs Vic the letter wasn't with the first round of mail. Vic is sure it'll turn up with the afternoon round. Ronnie has another possibility in mind: Shane's just fucking with them. Vic knows neither of them can afford to take the chance in getting complacent; it's a good thing Ronnie's still on restricted duty.

Ronnie explains about being put on a homicide case with Julien. "One minute, one minute," he snaps at said uniform, who's hovering over his shoulder. Vic gives Ronnie a brief run-down of the cartel situation.

Elsewhere, Shane strides purposefully into an alley full of bums. He lifts up a sewer grate, looks inside, and lets it drop back down with a clang. Shane raises his voice, addressing the alley at large: "I put somethin' over here fer safekeeping. Y'all know what I'm talkin' about. Now where the hell is it?"

Shane kicks over a shopping cart, then slams a homeless man against a wall: "You think yer quality of life sucks now? You wait 'til I get done with you." He asks where his gun is. Getting no answer, he roughly kicks another man awake.

"Think pink while you still can, hero!" says the homeless man, brandishing a revolver, "You die now among the righteous and the urine savior." When it pulls the trigger, it goes click instead of bang. Shane snatches it out of his hand and opens the chamber: "It's not loaded, Pig-Pen." Before leaving, he smacks the homeless man's forehead for good measure.

At a warehouse, Vic asks Beltran how much weight the cartel can provide to the blacks as a starter kit. However, he counsels that it might be better in the long run to "absorb them into your corporate structure." Cruz never managed to grow past Byz Lat level. Beltran scoffs that Cruz was a "waste of clothes."

Cruz renovated this warehouse and built others for the cartel to store their drugs, but they were all "over budget and behind schedule." "You're gonna fill this whole place with drugs?" asks Vic, gesturing around them.

Beltran wants to know if the blacks understand the terms of working with the cartel. Vic inquires about taking some cartel guys along since this meeting could turn hostile. "You forget, eh? My background is professional military," Beltran replies, whatever that's supposed to be.

At Ronnie and Julien's crime scene, a white man sits on the bumper of an ambulance, explaining what happened. He was just talking to Cardell when the gunshots started and the teenager shielded him from the bullets. The man, Polk, is in Farmington on a football recruiting trip. He thinks Cardell was about to commit to his school and laments the loss of talent: "He was on his way to a Heisman." Julien agrees, "That kid had eyes in the back of his head."

Ronnie turns the focus back to the murder: "You vet these kids pretty thoroughly." Was Polk aware of Cardell having any personal problems or enemies? "The shit you have to put up with to get a BCS bid," gripes Polk, "Take a banger to brunch." Julien doesn't believe Cardell was involved in a gang. Polk goes on, "I had to get permission from a shot-caller just to get a sit-down with the kid."

Julien pays a visit to Cardell's mother, who describes her son as "a child of God." Julien holds her hand, asking if she knows who might've shot Cardell. "Why would anyone wanna hurt my baby?" she sobs. The front hall is full of pictures of Cardell in his football uniform and his trophies.

Another relative wonders why God would let something like this happen. Julien nods that this job tests his faith every day. The other woman's son died last year in a drive-by. Does Julien believe Cardell was running around with gangs? Julien shakes his head and hands her a business card.

Ronnie meets Julien outside the house: "Recruiter told me Cardell was repping Acorn Park." "How in the hell does he know what goes on around here?" asks Julien. Ronnie reminds Julien what the guy said about the shot-caller. Julien insists that wasn't Cardell. Ronnie understands Julien has history with Cardell, but they have to look at the case from all angles.

Julien says, "This kid was the closest thing to a hero this neighborhood ever had." Ronnie would love to be wrong; it's still too soon to draw any conclusions. He sends Julien to talk to Acorn Park; Ronnie will "discourse with Spookstreet."

"You're using the ICE sting on Beltran to scam $100 grand off Beenie Spears' guys?" Ronnie asks Vic incredulously. Vic doesn't know how else they can come up with Shane's buy-off. Has anybody checked inside Ronnie's mattress recently? I.A. never could find his share of the money train cash. "Playing both sides like this is crazy dangerous!" Ronnie cries.

Vic only needs both sides occupied for a couple of days longer so they can get Shane out of the country and Beltran busted. In exchange, ICE will give both of them a deal and immunity. "Jesus," Ronnie sighs. He tells Vic he tasked Billings with intercepting Shane's letter to Claudette. "The wheels are comin' off this whole goddamn thing," Ronnie predicts tensely.

Vic is on his way to the gang council and "could really use some backup that speaks Ingles." Ronnie wishes he could, but Claudette has him working a murder case.

Dutch enters Claudette's office, saying she doesn't have to go on the stakeout if she doesn't feel up to it. Claudette vows to put the cuffs on Shane and Vic even "if you have to take me there on a damn stretcher with IVs running." She distractedly lifts up the stacks of paper covering her desk. Dutch asks if she lost something. Claudette can't find her medicine and knows it was here a minute ago.

Dutch hands her a prescription bottle from a nearby shelf. The captain wonders how Vic is gonna get $100,000 together for Shane. She worries someone could get hurt. Julien comes in and Claudette asks if Ronnie's talked to Vic at all today. Julien reports Ronnie's gotten some phone calls, but he doesn't know who was on the other end.

Claudette and Dutch tell Julien about their plan to arrest Vic for aiding and abetting fugitive Shane. If Julien can free up time from working Cardell's murder, the captain wants him to come along. Claudette wanted to let Julien have time to mentally prepare himself for having to "throw bracelets on former colleagues." Dutch thinks Ronnie and Vic might be planning something. They were his teammates once, so Julien has to pick a side. Julien agrees to walk point with their backup from Rampart Division.

Vic tries to convince the black gangs of the upside to switching suppliers: lower cost, unlimited quantity, and high quality product. One of them tells Vic, "We've been with the same wholesaler since before you had a cowlick." Vic shows them a bag of meth made from Mexican ephedra "by Ph.D. chemists." The gangbangers explain they only agreed to the meeting as a courtesy.

Vic invites them to look out the windows. A couple of cars full of Mexicans are parked in the driveway. Someone pulls a gun on Vic. He warns that if they shoot him, "there'll be an RPG in this room before I hit the floor." Vic then tells a story about his colleagues murdering a whole precinct full of Mexican police last year, along with their dispatchers and janitors. Beltran did it to take over turf. If he was willing to do that to his own people, what do the black gangs see in their future?

Vic just wants to "promote a little racial harmony through economic opportunity." The buy-in is $200,000.

Vic tries to leave for his meeting with Corinne, but his Mexican colleagues waylay him in their truck. Beltran wants his money now. Vic tells them he needs to get gas. While the pump is running, Vic pops his trunk and shoves money in a duffel bag. Vic dashes to the gas station bathroom and puts the duffel bag in the trash can, covering it up with paper towels.

Vic calls Ronnie and says quickly, "Code red. Third and Alvarado gas station men's room trash can." When one of the Mexicans answers, he pretends he's talking to one of his kids: "All right, sweetheart, Daddy has to work late."

"Van Bro!" Ronnie greets everyone's favorite wheelchair-bound street artist/informant. Van Bro cheerfully replies, "Gardocki, my man!" He's sorry to hear about the dissolution of the Strike Team. Ronnie must be "the last cat standing. Upright and breathing."

Van Bro advises, "Signify your own path, you won't get caught up in other folk's bullshit and tribulation." That's how he lives his life and look at him: "Standing strong and doing the damn thing."

Ronnie gestures at what looks like spray-painted pieces of tin roof. What happened to Van Bro's talent? Van Bro calls it "nonrepresentational art." After all, it worked for Basquiat. He offers one of his art pieces to Ronnie. The detective just wants information about Cardell.

Van Bro heard bookies were pissed at the teenager, accusing him of point shaving during a game the night before. He doesn't want to speculate, but supposedly Cardell was "steppin' outta bounds with all kindsa daylight numerous times." All of this is coming fourth-hand, however. He doesn't have any names until Ronnie gives him a $20; suddenly, it might be Deuce. Van Bro calls after them, "Stay black!"

Billings, eating sushi at his desk, gets a call from Ronnie and suddenly remembers he's supposed to be intercepting mail deliveries. "Oh shit," he says, "Yeah, lemme look." We flash briefly to Ronnie's furious expression. Julien interrupts, telling his partner that Cardell wasn't involved in point shaving. Stepping out of bounds was his way of preserving his knees for college ball. Ronnie isn't listening; he's having a few terse words with Billings.

When Ronnie hangs up, he suggests going back to the Barn. Julien would rather talk to Polk the recruiter again. Ronnie reminds him that Polk is a victim too, not a suspect. "Maybe he was the target," says Julien. Ronnie can't argue that's an angle worth examining. He dashes off, lying that he needs to get a prescription filled. Ah, one of Lem's favorite tactics, God rest him.

Shane puts on a backwards ballcap and pulls up to a street corner. "Hey, yo, my man!" he calls, flashing some gang signs. Getting no answer, he adds, "You goddamn deaf, homie?" The drug dealer approaches the driver's side window, suspicious that he's never seen Shane in the area before.

Shane flashes a wad of cash to show he's serious, then grabs the dealer's arm and yanks him partially through the open passenger window. Shane drives a short distance away and sticks his now useless badge in the dealer's face. Of course, the dope pusher doesn't know that. Shane presses the revolver's barrel to the guy's cheek, requesting to be let into a stash house off Normandie.

"I ain't doin' shit for you! I'm 16!" the kid cries, panicked, "Take me in; they'll call my mom!" Shane punches the boy in the face, saying, "I don't have her number." He hits the kid in the stomach once and the face again.

Shane marches the kid toward the stash house at gunpoint, asking about the weaponry inside. "Enough to shred your bony white ass," the kid grumbles. There's probably about $8,000-10,000 in cash sitting around too. Once inside, it looks like the place has already been tossed. A squawking police radio out back confirms my suspicion.

Shane throws the kid into a nearby shelf, knocking things over and making a hell of a lot of noise. Uniforms on scene spring into action with shouts of "We got a runner!" Shane manages to weasel his way out undetected.

Vic lays a briefcase full of cash on Beltran's desk and is offered a shot of something. Vic waves it off, saying he doesn't smoke or drink. Beltran can respect "a man of few vices." Vic used to believe in hard work being its own reward, but has now decided he doesn't want to die miserable and broke like his grandparents. He hopes Beltran understands he has "an action hero on [your] payroll."

Corinne nervously takes a seat on the designated park bench. Dutch and Claudette are in a car behind a nearby fence; they're backed up by a van full of uniforms. Claudette hopes the former Mrs. Mackey can get through the operation without cracking. Ronnie approaches, carrying the Duffel O' Cash. Dutch is surprised to see him. "Where's Vic?" Claudette hisses angrily.

Ronnie drops the bag onto Corinne's lap. She's worried that Vic isn't there, but Ronnie assures her that he's okay. Before Corinne can say much of anything else, Ronnie disappears. Dutch radios an order for the uniforms to arrest Ronnie. Claudette counters that they need to stay where they are; Vic could be watching from somewhere.

Dutch argues, "We've got Gardocki dead to rights." That's all on tape and can be discussed later. Claudette snarls, "We haven't got the real bastard yet."

"Shane's an hour late." Corinne is understandably freaked out that she's sitting in a park in Los Angeles with $100,000 in a duffel bag. Dutch wonders if Mara revealed to Shane what the cops are planning. "What if Vic figured out I was working with you? That's why he sent Ronnie," Corinne is barely holding it together, "Somebody talk to me!" "Okay, call it," Claudette sighs.

Dutch gives the abort mission signal. "Goddamn it!" Claudette screams, pounding the dashboard.

Shane and Mara try to plot their next move. Mara comes up with the harebrained idea of robbing the safe at the real estate office where she works; it's full of escrow checks. "Mara, if I can't knock over a stash house, what makes you think we're gonna walk into a bank and cash a buncha stolen checks made out to a goddamn escrow company?" asks Shane.

Mara presses a finger to her lips, indicating Jackson, who's napping on the floor. She goes on that they also have lots of cashier's checks for apartment rentals: "Folks in the hood don't have checking accounts." "I don't know about crackin' into no safe," Shane whispers. He won't have to because Mara has the combination. Shane still doesn't think it's a good idea.

Mara insists it could work; the only people in the office at night are on the cleaning crew. He points out the small problem of her being a fugitive. "They're illiterate and don't speak English," Mara reassures him. Shane beams proudly at his criminal mastermind spouse.

Edgar-veda is growing suspicious about his friend Cruz's supposed suicide. He's been dead a day and a friend at the coroner's office said his body was already shipped back to Mexico. When someone commits suicide in L.A. County, an autopsy is required. The coroner didn't have enough time to do that. Edgar-veda is willing to bet Cruz isn't dead. Vic dodges the question. The councilman worries about the possibility of Cruz testifying.

Edgar-veda threatens to tell Beltran that Cruz is still alive: "I will wreck this investigation before I let you and Olivia cut me out." Vic asks Edgar-veda which is the worst-case scenario: "being denied your legacy as the great brown reformer" or the public finding out a cartel bankrolled his campaign. Edgar-veda just wants both of them to respect each other's goals.

Ronnie unsuccessfully tries to get intel out of Julien about the special assignment Claudette had him on. Julien wants to reinterview Polk, who's back from a recruiting trip to San Diego.

In a parking garage, Olivia and Vic have a chat about the investigation. Vic wants to pull Ronnie into the fold instead of using some of Olivia's friends from ICE. He needs Beltran to think he has a friend in local law enforcement. Olivia can't authorize that. Vic hands over Olivia's blackmail file, letting her know he resisted the temptation to use it against her.

Vic trusted Olivia and it cost him his job. Even if he gets away from Beltran alive, he has no future. All Vic wants is her help getting a softer landing.

Shane corrals the janitors at the real estate office into the back with the universal language of gun in your face. He keeps trying to order them around even though Mara told him they don't speak English: "Hit the deck, dammit." Shane takes the safe combination out of his pocket, snapping at the crying cleaning crew to shut up. Even though the numbers are right, the safe won't open.

Shane sighs: "All right, anyone moves, morto, morto." He jogs out to the car, waving for Mara. She doesn't want to leave their toddler unattended in the car, so Shane tells her to bring him along. Shane tells her the safe won't open. Mara gives him instructions that he doesn't understand. She then practically shoves Jackson at her husband so she can open the safe herself.

One of the cleaning ladies offers to hold him and Shane obliges. "Gracias," says Mara, turning around with a fistful of checks. The Vendrells head off on their merry way. Mara guesses there's only about $5,000 in her hand (with rent in L.A. being so damn high?). "That'll work!" Shane says happily.

At her house, Corinne asks why Vic never came to the park. He explains he had a last-minute job interview with ICE. He apologizes for leaving her hanging. Did anything happen that could've spooked Shane? "Just me and the crackheads," Corinne replies. She tries to return the money; Vic wants her to keep it for the kids in case they never hear from Shane. "Please tell me when this is gonna be over," she begs.

The conversation is interrupted by Cassidy, emerging from her room to hug her dad. Corinne tells her to go to bed; it's a school night. Cassidy shows Vic her latest math test; she got a 98. Vic is proud of her for cleaning up her act after the lingerie party incident. As a reward, he gives Cassidy $20.

Polk promises to fax a list of all the L.A. kids he spoke to on his recruiting trip once he gets home to Dallas. He's used to talking to prospective players in the presence of their high school coach, overprotective mother, and maybe the family minister. With Cardell, however, "I had a meet-cute with some inked-out thug in baggy clothes and a grill." That caused him to reconsider offering a scholarship.

Julien argues said inked-out thug could've been trying to make sure Polk didn't try to take advantage of Cardell. Polk sees himself as Mr. Opportunity, offering inner-city kids "money, education, the chance to get out of a shitty environment." Julien won't let up: "In your job, you destroy more dreams than you make come true."

Polk scoffs. Last year, a mom tried to hit him with a baseball bat because he passed on recruiting her son. He adds this family was from the same block as Cardell.

Julien sits back down with Cardell's mom's friend Mia. Her son's murder remains unsolved. Julien asks where she was when the recruiter was shot. Mom's Friend claims she was at home watching her stories. Ronnie and Julien know Polk also recruited this woman's son Dion. The kid had been offered a scholarship and a car. His mom doesn't believe it all fell through just like that. 6 months later, Dion was shot in the head at a bus stop.

"As a mother who's lost a child, tell me you didn't know [Cardell] was in that truck," says Julien. Mia starts to cry: "With them dark windows, I didn't." She blamed Polk for destroying her son's future.

Ronnie finds a manila envelope on Claudette's desk. There's no return address, but Shane's alias Cletus Van Damme is scrawled upon it. Ronnie hustles down to the clubhouse to open it. Inside is a ream of paper and only one sheet with anything written on it. The message reads: HEY RONNIE. TELL VIC HE'S A SHITHEAD. YOU'VE BOTH JUST BEEN PUNKED. Pissed, Ronnie throws the papers at the wall.

Dutch tells Claudette he called IAD to get paperwork started on Ronnie. Claudette is willing to let him go. She has a mountain of paperwork on her desk. Dutch says now that Vic resigned, Danny is willing to come back to be Claudette's assistant. He promises they'll get Vic.

"We can't expect justice out there when we don't demand it in our own house," says Claudette. Dutch gives her an unnecessary reminder that she's not in control of everything. Claudette tells him that he's free to leave if she doesn't like how she's handling the case.

Vic tells Ronnie how things are going with Olivia: "ICE is gonna take care of both of us; I know it." Ronnie wonders why Shane didn't come to collect his bag of money. Vic guesses he was giving them busy work. A truck's arrival causes Vic to mutter, "Jesus, this is cutting it close." He tries to lighten the mood: "A little ulcer never hurt anyone." Oh yeah? Tell that to Lem. Like me, Ronnie fails to see the humor.

Vic introduces Beltran to his little friend Ronnie Gardocki. Beltran shakes his hand; Vic has spoken highly of Ronnie's character. Ronnie tries to look pleased by this: "He taught me everything I know."

Shane goes to a mini-mart/check-cashing place where he knows the owner. He slides a wad of cashier's checks through the bulletproof window. The owner, Boo Ray, isn't interested in doing favors for Shane. "You know these are as good as cash," he coaxes. Shane looked the other way when Boo Ray sold weed out of the back of the store.

Somewhat reluctantly, Boo Ray hands over the cash. Shane immediately notices he's short $2,000. Boo Ray's vig is 50 cents on the dollar, which Shane calls unacceptable. He pleads that he has a kid and another on the way. Boo Ray threatens to call the cops because "givin' up a killer cop ain't snitchin' in my hood." For once, Shane does the smart thing and walks away.

Outside, Mara is obviously disappointed at the cash she's handed. Didn't Shane say the shop owner was his friend? Realizing how tired Shane looks, Mara pulls him close to her chest and strokes his hair. "I guess we both have to embrace the reality that neither of us has a friend in this world," Shane mopes, "Except each other." End of episode.