Jarod "Felson" is in Las Vegas at the Marquis Casino, playing Blackjack!  When he ends up being over $100,000 ahead, the head of security makes the decision that Jarod must be cheating and tells his man on the casino floor to "shut him down."  Jarod is held by security until the manager, Mr. Morgan arrives.  Even though the Blackjack tables use eight decks of cards, they are certain that Jarod has found a way to count them and that his winning is nothing but a scam.

Jarod turns the tables on the security chief and exposes the fact that for the past 10 years he's been running a scam with one of the Blackjack dealers to steal $1,000 chips.  Mr. Morgan has the security chief taken away and asks Jarod what he wants.  He tells Mr. Morgan that what he wants is 5% of what he doesn't lose while Jarod is in charge of security.  Morgan agrees and Jarod becomes the new chief of security at the Marquis Casino.  The first person that Jarod meets while checking out the casino Jarod meets Bernie Baxley, who is an overweight Elvis impersonator. Bernie explains "Elvis" to Jarod, then rushes off to collect $5.00 for kissing the wife of a man at one of the tables while he takes a picture.

At the Centre, Broots is telling Miss Parker and Sydney that he has run every single book that Jarod read while at the junkyard through The Centre's mainframe computer and can find no correlation between any of them.  Sydney says that Jarod is sending him a clue via one of the books in the pile ... "Making Odds Even" by Jason Wolf .  Miss Parker is unconvinced, since Jarod highlighted the entire book.  Sydney tells her that Jarod traced over all of the "8's" in the book ... that 8 is Jarod's favorite number, which he calls "upright infinity."  As Sydney is talking to Miss Parker, he pulls a red plastic monkey out of one of the books.  Miss Parker remarks that Jarod is playing games and Sydney makes the connection between that and the books - saying "high stakes" games ... poker, baccarat ... Miss Parker tells Sydney that only narrows things down to the thousands of gaming establishments on the planet.  She paces the room a few more times as Sydney absent-mindedly plays with the red monkey.  Finally, Miss Parker slaps the book that Sydney thinks is a clue into Sydney's chest and says that she knows just the man to see - and walks out of the room.

Jarod is looking at the book, "Curious George."  He sees a little girl and asks her if she's read the book ... it's about an inquisitive little monkey.  The girl corrects Jarod and tells him that the monkey is "curious" and says she's read that book "about a thousand times."  Jarod asks her if she knows who the man in the yellow hat is and she tells him that she does not.

At a reception out by the pool, Mr. Morgan introduces Jarod to Steve Hanlon, the owner.  Mr. Hanlon tells Jarod that he wants to know why Jarod bothered to clean up the Marquis.  He thinks that Jarod must have some motive other than money.  Jarod tells Hanlon that he's a fan of his.  Hanlon took a small video store and turned it into an entire empire by listening to people and then giving them what they wanted.  Jarod says he likes that philosophy.  Hanlon says that Jarod studies people, too.  Jarod says, "Master Your Space" - the name of a lecture that Hanlon gave at Brownstone 11 years prior.  Jarod tells him that it was first time that Hanlon used "family first" as the company motto.  Jarod tells him that he bought the cassette and wore out his tape player listening to it.  Morgan is getting disgusted with all of Jarod's brown-nosing, but Hanlon tells him that he'd better be careful or he'll steal Jarod for the corporate offices.  Jarod smiles but says "no thanks" - he says they've finally gotten the corruption out of the Marquis and he'd like to help keep it that way.  Hanlon smiles, shakes Jarod's hand and tells him that he has his permission to do whatever it takes.  Morgan stretches out his arm and brings his wife Kitty over to introduce to Jarod.  Jarod remarks that he saw Kitty's picture in the lobby and Morgan says that she used to headline at the Marquis.  Kitty takes Mr. Hanlon and moves off, leaving Jarod with Morgan.

Morgan says that Jarod is a "company man" and Jarod tells him that he agrees with Mr. Hanlon's theories on family, if that's what Morgan means.  Morgan doubts that Hanlon's views on family are sincere.  He tells Jarod that casinos aren't places for families to vacation together.  It's all a scam to make Hanlon richer.  He tells Jarod that because of the arcades that Hanlon built, even the kids go home broke.  Morgan tells Jarod that no matter what Hanlon says, deep down, he's still "old Vegas."

Later that night, as Jarod takes a cab to the hospital, he looks though his red notebook at the newspaper articles in there about a showgirl named Maggie Blaire who was attacked in the garage of the Marquis and beaten so badly that she's in a coma from which she may never awaken.  Jarod arrives at the hotel and sits at Maggie's bedside.  Looking at the unconscious girl, Jarod says "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here, Maggie."

An orderly comes into the room, sees Jarod and tells him that he thought Maggie was all alone.  Jarod tells the orderly that she's not alone anymore and the orderly says that he doesn't want to offend Jarod, but that Maggie isn't going to wake up.  Jarod says that he knows that, but it doesn't mean that Maggie can't hear him.  He introduces himself and finds that the orderlies name is Buddy.  Jarod gives buddy a business card and asks him to page him if anything happens to Maggie.  Buddy takes the card and tells Jarod that it's nice to know that someone gives a damn.

Miss Parker and Sydney pull up to a car in New York City ... the area concerns Sydney and he asks Miss Parker what they are doing there.  She pushes her way past a body guard and introduces Sydney to the man getting out of the back seat of the car ... his name is Johnny.  Miss Parker tells Sydney that Johnny's brother hacked into The Centre's computer and is now serving "10 hard" at Joliet.  Johnny is tired of the introductions and asks Miss Parker what she wants.  Sydney gives Johnny a picture of Jarod and Miss Parker tells him that he's working a con in a casino.  Johnny looks at the picture and says "this face is not a con" and tries to hand the picture back to Sydney.  Johnny gives the picture back to Miss Parker instead and says, "Pass."  Miss Parker blocks his way into his car and tells him that passing is not an option because she heard that at 3:00 tomorrow, Johnny is shipping a boatload of stolen cars to Venezuela and if he doesn't want the port authority all over his little boat, he'd better help her.  She tells Johnny that she'll give him $50,000 for the information on Jarod - no questions asked.

Backstage at the casino, Jarod finds Bernie in his dressing room, drinking.  Jarod asks him why he isn't on stage and Bernie welcomes him to the "Heartbreak Hotel" and tells him that there is "no more stage for the King" because the casino fired him because he's put on 20 or 30 pounds and there have been complaints about the show.  Bernie tells Jarod that after 24 years, it's all over and he's scared of being ‘just himself' after all those years of being someone else.

At The Centre, Sydney is reading through "Making Odds Even" when the phone rings. It's Jarod.  Sydney asks Jarod where he is and as he plays with the plastic red monkeys Jarod tells him that he's counting on Sydney figuring that out later.  Looking at the book, Sydney says "counting on, or betting on?"  Jarod comments that Sydney is so well read.  He also comments on what a pleasure it is to be able to read whatever he wants these days.  Sydney asks him "Why the games, Jarod?"   Jarod replies, "It's in the mail," then hangs up.  Having finished the conversation, Jarod lays the monkeys down so that they form his favorite number ... 8.

After Jarod sees Ivy safely inside of her car, he looks around the area and notices that there is a surveillance camera right across from the spot where Maggie Blaire was attacked.  The film from that camera must have gotten the entire thing on tape.  Jarod goes to the security room where all of the tapes are kept and pulls the one that is labeled 7/4/96 - the night that Maggie was attacked.  He watches Maggie clock out for the night and then zooms in on her time card.  The date on the card is April 28, 1996.  Someone has switched the tapes.

In his room, as Jarod looks at the photographs that were taken of Maggie's face on the night of the attack, he watches one of his simulations from The Centre on a DSA.  The simulation is dated 10/12/67 and Jarod is recreating the murder of Marilyn Monroe.  The young Jarod has trouble finishing the simulation because he doesn't know if the murderer was there to kill Norma Jean or Marilyn.  He stops and says there's something wrong.  Something is wrong with this picture.  At that moment, the adult Jarod looks at the police photos again and notices that there is something wrong with those pictures, too.  He traces a spot in one of the bruises on Maggie's face ... it's in a peculiar shape ... one that Jarod has seen at the casino on Morgan's wrist.  The shape of the bruise on Maggie Blaire's face matches the shape of the face of Morgan's wrist watch.

As Jarod is escorting one of the showgirls to her car (and asking her if she is absolutely sure she doesn't know who the man in the yellow hat was), a man getting into his car in a nearby spot unfolds a copy of the picture of Jarod that Miss Parker gave to Johnny in New York.

At The Centre, Broots wheels in a large package for Sydney.  It has the number "8" all over the brown paper on the outside - and Sydney knows it's from Jarod.  Inside, there is a wire cage and one red plastic monkey, suspended in the middle.  Miss Parker comes in to get Sydney and finds both Broots and Sydney inspecting the cage.  She gives them an "I'm not asking" look, then tells Sydney they have a plane to catch and leaves the room.
 
 

Outside of the casino, Bernie Baxley is packing up his motor home.  He tells Jarod that he's thinking of heading back East for a change of scenery.  Jarod picks up a snow globe and shakes it.  Bernie tells him that it's an official piece of Graceland memorabilia and that Elvis named the house for his Mama.  Bernie says that people always say that Elvis let himself go at the end ... that he didn't care about the music anymore.  Bernie says that he thinks it's just the opposite.  Elvis cared so much that he ran too hard and too fast and then didn't have enough left to finish.  Bernie is saddened that he won't be able to finish for Elvis now.  Jarod tells him that you never know.  Sometimes a change of scenery makes all the difference.  Bernie isn't all that sure ...

Jarod's pager goes off and he gets to the hospital just in time to hold Maggie Blaire's hand and tell her that she's not alone ... before her heart stops beating and she dies.

In New York, Miss Parker and Sydney walk up to Johnny as he sits at a table on a sidewalk outside of a shop.  Miss Parker asks him where Jarod is and Johnny tells her it'll cost her a hundred grand.  Sydney tells him that wasn't the arrangement, but Miss Parker interrupts him and says that, actually, it was.  She opens her briefcase and pulls out a manilla envelope with $100,000 in it and hands it to Johnny.  He tells her that Jarod is at the Marquis Casino in Las Vegas.  Then he smiles and says that it's always a pleasure taking "white collar" to the cleaners.  Miss Parker returns the smile and says that she knows what he means ... she actually brought $200,000 because she didn't think he'd be such a cheap date.

As Jarod is uploading Morgan's fingerprints and picture to somewhere on his laptop computer, he calls the administration office of the hospital where Maggie Blaire died.  He tells them that he wants to make arrangements to pay for her hospital bills but finds that they have already been paid by someone else.  He asks who paid them and they tell him.

Only one person is at Maggie's funeral as Jarod approaches ... it's Kitty Morgan, Peter Morgan's wife.  She tells Jarod that she wanted to pay her respects, but he tells her that he knows that she was the one who paid for Maggie's hospital bills and for the funeral.  Mrs. Morgan tries to leave, but Jarod stops her and says, "You found the video, didn't you?  The one that Peter made sure the police never saw."  Kitty tells Jarod that she doesn't know what he's talking about.  He reaches out and takes off her sunglasses to reveal a black eye.  He tells her that she doesn't have to pretend like it's not happening anymore.  Kitty tells Jarod that he doesn't understand ... that Peter doesn't mean to hurt her.  Jarod tells her that he does mean to hurt her and shows her Morgan's rap sheet.  He tells Kitty that she's not the first person that Peter has hurt and that unless he's stopped, Maggie isn't going to be the last person he kills.  Kitty is appalled at what she's seeing ... she had no idea.

Jarod tells Kitty that he's there to help her and that he can stop Morgan if she'll help him, but she's too frightened to agree.  Morgan threatened to kill her if she told anyone about finding the tape and what happened to Maggie and then he just kept hitting her.  Jarod asks Kitty why he stopped and she tells him that the phone rang.  Jarod tells Kitty that one day, the phone isn't going to ring in time to help her.

At the casino, Kitty pulls up in her car.  Jarod is waiting.  She has the car all packed with her clothes ... she's leaving.  Before she goes, she hands Jarod the real security tape for the day that Maggie was beaten.

In his room, Jarod watches the security tape that Kitty gave him.  Morgan and Maggie walk into the frame ... Maggie is happy - she's just landed the role in Atlantic City - she's laughing.  But Morgan doesn't want their affair to end and the encounter quickly turns ugly.

Eating PEZ in his room, Jarod is practicing forging Peter Morgan's signature.  Then Jarod calls Mr. Hanlon and tells him that he's discovered a serious problem and wants to discuss it with him in the morning, around 10 AM.  Jarod also calls Ivy and asks her if she can do him a favor.  Jarod makes an International call and finally, as he is putting the tape that Kitty gave him into an envelope addressed to the Las Vegas police, he calls Morgan and tells him that he needs to see him tomorrow morning around 10 AM to tell him about it.  Jarod goes to Bernie's trailer and asks him his waist size ... Jarod thinks that Bernie must be about a 38, but Bernie sucks it up and says he's a 36.

In the morning, Jarod is packing his things, getting ready to leave his motel room.  As the maid comes in with new linens she tells him that it has been 5 days since he has slept.  Jarod tells Blanca that he has too much to do and there aren't enough hours in the day.  She sees Jarod packing the "Curious George" book and says "Jorge"!  Jarod asks her in Spanish if she has read the book and Blanca tells him that she has read it many times because she has 5 children!  Excited, Jarod asks her if she knows who the man in the yellow hat is -- but Blanca doesn't know.  Jarod gets pensive for a moment, eats a PEZ, then asks Blanca if she'll do him a favor ...

Jarod meets with Morgan and tells him that someone is skimming a hundred grand off the top, every Tuesday cash pick-up.  Meanwhile, Ivy rushes up to Steve Hanlon and hands him an envelope from Jarod.  She tells him that Jarod said he'd meet him in the security bay just as soon as he can.

Jarod tells Morgan that for every $300,000 that is being picked up by the courier, another $100,000 is being dropped off at another locale.  He tells Morgan that if they keep the scam going, they can find out where the other locale is.  Morgan wants to just call in the police, but Jarod tells him that if he can pull this off and find out who the accomplices are at the second location, he will be Steve Hanlon's twenty million dollar hero.

Meanwhile, The Centre's private jet is landing at the Las Vegas airport and Miss Parker, Sydney and a sweeper team are headed for the Marquis Casino.

Jarod is still convincing Morgan to play along as Hanlon is in the security bay looking at the contents of the envelope that Jarod gave him.  Alarmed at what he sees, he switches one of the cameras so that he can see the courier pick-up.  He sees and hears Morgan as he walks up to the courier.  The courier asks Morgan where Davis is.  Morgan tells the courier that Davis isn't there but he is Peter Morgan and he runs the Marquis.  Davis or not, it's "business as usual" ... take the $300,000 to the bank, run the skim to the drop and he'll see him next Tuesday.  As the courier says it's okay with him, he takes off his sunglasses ... It's Bernie Baxley!

Thinking he has just done something good, Morgan walks back into the casino and smiles at Jarod as he passes.  Once Morgan has walked by, Jarod leans out toward Bernie and, in a voice that sounds just like Elvis, say, "Well, thank you very much!"  Bernie smiles and gives Jarod an "Elvis move" in return.

Miss Parker, Sydney and the sweepers are now in the casino, spreading out, looking for Jarod.  Morgan is telling Jarod that perpetuating the scam was very exciting ... the guy fell for everything he said.  Jarod and Morgan enter the security bay to find Hanlon there.  Morgan starts to tell him what he's been doing but Hanlon beats him to it by replaying the tape of what just happened during the courier pickup.  Hanlon hands Morgan the papers that were in the envelope that Jarod gave to him ... they all appear to have Peter Morgan's signature on them and indicate that he has stashed over 4 million dollars away in a Swiss bank account.

Morgan turns to Jarod and tells him to explain to Hanlon what just happened.  Jarod walks over to Steve Hanlon and tells him that he's sorry he didn't catch Morgan sooner.  Hanlon's bodyguards grab Morgan and one of them punches him in the stomach.  Angry and outraged, Morgan says that he didn't do anything wrong.  Jarod leans down until his face is even with Morgan's and says, "Neither did Maggie Blaire."

Hanlon's men are starting to beat Morgan up as Jarod leaves the room and runs into a homicide detective from the Las Vegas police who is looking for Peter Morgan.  Jarod hears the sound of things being broken from the room behind him and tells the detective that he thinks Morgan is asking for a raise, then walks away, a satisfied smile on his face.

Jarod takes off his tie and starts to leave the casino when Sydney sees him and calls out his name.  Jarod runs in the other direction, across the casino and out the door to the pool area.  With Miss Parker and Sydney behind him and the two sweepers cutting off his escape from the front, Jarod appears to be trapped.  In the background, the there is a "security alert - pool area" going out over the PA system.

Miss Parker confronts Jarod, smiles hugely and says it's her lucky day.  Her joy is short-lived as she finds her team surrounded by Jarod's security team.  He tells them that Sydney and Miss Parker are grifters and that they should be turned over to the LVPD.  He also tells them that they might want to strip-search Miss Parker ... he thinks she was palming chips.  Miss Parker hisses at Jarod that she will get him.  He gives her a sarcastic look in return and says, "Wanna bet?" then flips her a 50 cent piece, which she catches.  Jarod calls "tails" and Miss Parker opens her hand to find that the coin did indeed land with the "tail" side up.

Jarod leaves a wreath of white gardenias on Maggie Blaire's grave.  The next day the headlines of the Las Vegas paper tell the story of Peter Morgan being arraigned for the murder of Maggie Blaire.

Someone else is reading the morning paper, too.  Bernie Baxley reads an article about an armored car con that netted $400,000.  He's back in his Elvis costume ... tosses the paper in the back seat and drives away in a red Cadillac convertible that bears the license plate "I ELVIS."

In Jarod's motel room, Sydney and Miss Parker are looking for clues.  Miss Parker has Jarod's red notebook and Sydney is saying that there isn't a paper clip, no trash, no lint ... nothing but a mobile made of multi-colored coins and playing cards.

Blanca, the room maid comes in and gives Sydney a copy of the book, "Curious George."  There's another plastic red monkey in the book marking the place where Jarod has inscribed, "To the man in the yellow hat.  From the monkey who got away."  Sydney is smiling as he looks up ... but Miss Parker is NOT.

Somewhere in the wild, Jarod opens the back of a truck and takes a monkey out of a cage.  He's wearing a shirt that says "National Wildlife Federation" on it.  He carries the monkey toward the jungle.  There's a man with him and he asks Jarod if he's going to set the monkey free.  Jarod tells him "That's the plan.  Living creatures, they don't belong in captivity."  As Jarod watches the monkey scamper off to his new life, he turns and smiles ... and the screen fades to black .....
 
 

Guest Stars: Pamela Brull (???), Vito D'Ambrosio (???), Paul Eiding (Bernie Baxley), James Handy (???), Gregg Henry (Peter Morgan), Felton Perry (???) and Kara Zediker (Ivy)