High Potential episode 3 opens with a man (Chad Guerrero) sitting in a luxurious tub with lit candles all around and a glass on a small table next to the tub.
A black-clad figure comes into view and approaches the tub. The figure grabs the man's legs and pulls them up, sinking the man under the water in the tub. The man tries to pull himself out of the water but can't. He drowns, and the figure disappears.
How will Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and company solve this crime? Read on to find out.
Challenge accepted
Morgan pulls up to the crime scene, a luxury hotel. Oz (Deniz Akdeniz), Daphne (Javicia Leslie) and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) are already working the scene. Karadec challenges Morgan to create a theory about what happened. Morgan says a man wouldn't have spent money on a fancy hotel room unless he was planning on entertaining, so he must not have been alone. Daphne and Oz pop find the man's wallet in the safe, with his ID revealing he's Earnest Lozano from Mexico City. They leave to dig into Lozano's history.
Morgan believes Lozano was drugged because the glass next to the tub was rinsed out and wiped off. No one would do that unless they were trying to hide evidence of a drug. She also points out the glass is heavier and nicer than the glassware in the room. Karadec thinks the glass must be from the bar downstairs. They go to the bar.
The bartender (C.K. Bolado) confirms Lozano was in the bar with a woman the night before. Karadec and Morgan join Oz and Daphne at the hotel's security office where they are reviewing camera footage. They see Lozano and a woman go into his room, then the woman leave alone half an hour later. They ID her as Dr. Iris Bowman (Melinda Page Hamilton).
Cleared by candles
While being questioned, Bowman tells Karadec she left about 30 minutes after she and Lozano went to the room because he fell asleep. Lozano is about to arrest Bowman when Morgan says Bowman couldn't be the killer because of the candles by the tub.
All of the candles were burned down except for one, which must have been put out by the water splashing from the tub as Lozano fought for his life. That candle was almost halfway burned down. That means it had been burning for over an hour when the killer struck. But Bowman was only there for 30 minutes according to the camera footage. So, she couldn't be the killer.
Identity theft
At the precinct, Oz and Daphne tell Karadec they tracked down some of Lozano's co-workers in Mexico City who said Lozano is alive and well. The co-workers also said a few years ago Lozano told them he had a driver on a trip to L.A. who looked exactly like him. He also lost his wallet that trip, which was probably stolen by the driver.
Morgan leaves a note for Karadec to say she's working at home, taking the box of evidence with her. Morgan and Elliot are going through the evidence box looking for clues when Karadec shows up, angry that Morgan compromised the case by taking evidence home. But Morgan finds a lead from.
The pants "Lozano" was wearing were tailored in a very specific way. She tells Karadec they need to find a tailor from Madagascar because that particular stitching is only used by Madagascar tailors.
The next day Morgan and Karadec track down Raissa (Khamailei Angelil), a Madagascar-born tailor. She recognizes the photo of the dead man and says his name is Eduardo. From Raissa's shop they are able to find Eduardo's car and figure out his full name, Eduardo Cortez, from his car registration.
The climbing killer
The next morning Oz, Daphne, Selena (Judy Reyes), Karadec and Morgan are going over the medical examiner's report on Cortez. As the group talks through the evidence Morgan remembers the latch on one window was unlocked, which could have been how the killer got in and escaped.
Oz returns to the hotel room to check out Morgan's theory. He finds powder on the ledge outside the fourth floor room where Cortez was killed. The power is magnesium carbonate, used by climbers.
The scam
Daphne digs into Cortez' financials and finds he's been depositing huge checks from a woman named Glenda Walker (Audrey Wasilewski). Karadec and Morgan find out Glenda is an older woman in assisted living. Her son Kyle (Graham Rogers) is with her when they arrive to talk to her.
Talking to Glenda they figure out Cortez has been running romance scams on older lonely women. They go back to Cortez' apartment and find a stash of cash as well as some photos of him and his daughter taken by someone with a distinctive tattoo. Morgan remembers seeing that tattoo on the bartender at the hotel.
They go to the hotel to confront the bartender, who pulls a knife on Karadec in his fight to get away. But Karadec overpowers him and arrests him. During questioning the bartender admits he and Cortez were scamming lonely women.
Morgan remembers that Kyle wore a Long Beach Climbers shirt. She figures out he was the killer. But he didn't do it alone.
Iris Bowman wasn't just a lonely widow. She was scammed by Cortez and wanted revenge. She met with Cortez, drugged his drink in the room, got him into the bath, opened the window latch and left so that Kyle could kill him. They arrest Kyle, and he confesses to the murder.
New episodes of High Potential air Tuesdays on ABC, becoming available to stream on-demand the next day on Hulu.
