Avenging Angel

Avenging Angel

Broadcast Date	17 February 1996
Season	3
Broadcast Order	17th
Episode Number	66
Production Number	317
Writer	Alison Bingeman
Director	Alan Simmonds
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“	You like to think of yourself as your own person, don't you, Tracy? Well, you're not, and you never will be. You are your father's person. And that's why you're a cop, Tracy. He made you what he wanted to you to be—and you never had a choice.	”
	— Barbara Vetter, Avenging Angel

Summary[]

When the body of an abused woman is found at a women's shelter, her daughter accuses her father of murder.

Guest Cast[]

Detailed Story Recap[]

After tending to one victim of domestic abuse, Laura Stone, director of a shelter for battered women, hears a scream come from one of the other rooms at the shelter. Unlocking the door and entering, Laura finds Julie Henderson, a teenage abuse victim, sobbing hysterically, and Julie's mother Gloria Henderson, lying on the floor, dead of multiple stab wounds.

While getting ready for work, Tracy gets an unexpected and somewhat awkward visit from her mother who apparently intends to stay for a while. Then Tracy gets a call about the killing and has to leave. At the shelter, a reporter is covering the story, publicizing the place which is supposed to be a secret safe haven for women who are victims of domestic violence. Nick puts the whammy on him and gets him to leave. Gloria Henderson's husband is the prime suspect in the case because he has three prior convictions for spousal abuse.

At the precinct, Julie Henderson is questioned about the death of her mother. She says that her father, Jack Henderson, had been stalking her mother. Julie says her father followed her mother to the shelter when she came to drop off Julie's clothes. He broke into the room through a window and attacked his wife. Julie also tells them of the abuse Mr. Henderson inflicted upon his family over the years. Reese is skeptical and wants to hold Julie as long as possible.

Mr. Henderson is located at a local clinic seeking treatment for lacerations. Nick and Tracy pick him up. When they question him he says that his wife wanted the family to reconcile, and took him to the shelter so they could talk with Julie about that. But Julie was so upset at the idea of the family getting back together that she attacked and killed her mother and would have gone after her father also had he not jumped out of the window to escape. Nick and Tracy don't believe this story. Nick especially seems convinced that Mr. Henderson is guilty. Just before they finish questioning Henderson, a uniformed officer brings in a bloody knife which was found in Henderson's hotel room. At first Henderson denies that it's his, but then admits he used it to cut off his bloody clothes.

Tracy goes home and finds her mother drinking. They argue about their family problems and then Tracy slaps her mother. At the morgue, Natalie tells Nick the knife found in Mr. Henderson's room was not the murder weapon. Natalie hopes Mr. Henderson doesn't get off on this "technicality." Back at the precinct, a lawyer from the Crown Prosecutor's office tells Nick and Reese that because Mr. Henderson's room was searched before a warrant was actually issued, any evidence they found there is not admissible in court. None of it incriminates him anyway. Reese reluctantly lets Mr. Henderson go but keeps Julie Henderson in custody.

Because of the publicity surrounding the murder of Gloria Henderson, another woman is attacked at the shelter. Now Laura Stone is completely fed up with the police. Alone in her office, Laura looks at pictures which show that she was once a battered woman herself. She takes a pistol from a drawer and loads it with bullets. A bit later, while looking around the shelter, Nick finds one of the bullets on the floor and Laura gone. Then while Nick is out driving around, spacing out to the past, and listening to Lacroix, Laura takes justice into her own hands. She waits for Mr. Henderson outside his hotel and when he appears she shoots and kills him.

Nick returns to the precinct and joins Natalie observing the last part of the questioning of Julie Henderson. Julie's story just doesn't add up. The police could not find the clothing Julie said her mother was bringing to her, and the window of her room at the shelter was broken from the inside. Julie admits to Reese and Tracy that she killed her mother in a rage over the possibility of her parents getting back together. She dropped the murder weapon down an exhaust duct. Listening to this confession, Nick turns away, upset, and Natalie comforts him.

The flashbacks were to late nineteenth-century China. While watching a cock-fight with Lacroix, Nick sees a woman being slapped around by her master. Nick intervenes but the woman won't accept his help. Later she is found mortally wounded, presumably by the man who beat her. As she takes her last few breaths, Lacroix helps himself to an unexpected snack while Nick goes after the man, puts the bite on him and kills him.

Vampire Lore[]

Fan Fiction[]

Quotes[]

Barbara Vetter: You like to think you're your own person, don't you, Tracy? Well, you're not. And you never will be. You are your father's person. That's why you're a cop, Tracy. He made you what he wanted you to be. And you never had a choice.

Nightcrawler Monologue[]

I hear something familiar on the wind tonight. A lonely woman's cry for justice, from beyond death. And what justice is sweeter than that exacted by those who have been wronged? What law more perfect than that exercised by an advocate, who moves swiftly and with resolve. Only you who've practiced it know what I'm talking about. A man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds clean.

Notes[]

Behind the Scenes[]

The German title of this episode is "Tödliche Rache" ("Deadly Vengeance").
Diane Cary, who plays Laura Stone in this episode, also appeared in "Dead Air" (playing Dr. Christina Noble), and wrote the episodes "Be My Valentine" and "Let No Man Tear Asunder". She is the wife of series co-creator and executive producer James D. Parriott.

Continuity[]

Canadian Content[]

Julie says she was carrying her things in a bag, "like a Bay bag". The Hudson's Bay department store chain (often called The Bay) was established in 1670 as a fur trading company, and had a significant impact on Canadian history.