The Dead Shift

The cold open

Rain slicks the asphalt outside the Crownline Cab depot, where fluorescent tubes buzz over rows of yellow sedans dripping onto oil-blackened concrete. Inside the raised glass dispatch office, Orson Varga sits slumped in his leather swivel chair, the coiled nylon cord of a two-way base radio twisted violently into the deep bruised furrow around his throat. The ledger on his desk lies open, but the night's takings are untouched.

The victim

Orson Varga, 54, taxi fleet owner and loan shark

The lineup

• Gage Corley
• Theresa Baum
• Quincy Prado
• Zelda O'Hanlon