‘Shoot the Messenger’: The Body Count Rises as Daisy Reunites With Hassan

The murder of Khaalid Suleman kickstarted Shoot The Messenger‘s central mystery, but a shocking discovery shows the crime is linked to something much larger than gang violence.

Picking up where the previous episode left off, Daisy (Elyse Levesque) arrives at the aprtment of Avril Trong (Clark Backo) and finally reunites with her source Hassan Ali (Araya Mengesha).

Hassan, who is still recovering from getting shot after Khaalid Sulenan’s death, is about to tell Daisy what happened the night of the shooting. Just then a masked man kicks down the front door, asking Hassan for Khaalid’s missing phone.

Hassan claims he doesn’t have it and the inruder shoots Avril in the head, killing her instantly. The man then orders Daisy to bind Hassan’s hands. Outside the door, detective Kevin Lutz (Lyric Bent) catches Daisy’s attention and tells her to distract him.

He announces himself as police, which leads to a standoff in the apartment. The man escapes down the fire escape, leaving all three distraught.

At the police station, Kevin interrogates Ali about his disappearance after Khaalid’s shooting, Ali admits the reason why he reached out to Daisy for the story was because he found her attractive.

Kevin is convinced Hassan knows the man who killed his friend and his girlfriend. Hassan refuses to answer the questions about the shooting, or about his connection to businessman Eric Lawson (Al Sapienza).

Elsewhere, Attorney General Sam Charles (Ari Cohen) continues his affair with his employee Chloe Channing (Hannah Anderson), Daisy’s sister.

Daisy sits down with her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Anthony (Rick Fox), she tells him about the toll her latest story is taking on her. Viewers find out Daisy doesn’t drink because of her addiction to cocaine.

At the Gazette offices, Daisy checks in with her editor Mary Foster (Alex Kingston) after the shooting. Mary tells her to take a few days off to recover, but Daisy insists she must keep digging into the story. The meeting is interrupted when they’re told Hassan is being released from police custody.

After his release, Hassan sees one of Eric Lawson’s cars driving off as he gets into his friend’s minivan. The police follow Hassan hoping he leads them to the shooter.

Later, a drunk Daisy gets a visit from Kevin, who is making sure she is OK after the shooting. He tells Daisy he their affaircan’t continue his since she’s involved in two murders he’s investigating. Daisy confesses to Kevin that the shooter was looking for a phone. Kevin then walks away from their relationship.

Elsewhere, the Muslim community comes together for Khaalid’s funeral, which Hassan attends from afar. The cops listen in on a conversation between Hassan and Khaalid’s sister, Xannan (Shadia Ali). He reveals that Khaalid was killed because his bosses want something on his phone. Hassan says he can’t go to the police because Lawson could have people on the inside.

At the mosque, Hassan retrieves Khaalid’s missing phone from its hiding spot.

Later, Daisy calls fellow reporter Simon Olenski (Lucas Bryant) and shares her theory that Hassan could be blackmailing someone with whatever is on the phone.

The “Guns and Gangs” detective tells Kevin about Hassan naming Lawson, revealing the businessman has been supplying his drivers with drugs to sell on the streets. The detective tells Kevin he needs him to bolster the case against Lawson before a judge can sign the warrant for his arrest.

Daisy and Simon interview the ex-wife of Hassan’s basketball player’s friend, revealing the man was a sex addict. After showing her a photo of the basketball player with an older woman in bed, their faces are scrambled.

Kevin stops by the house of Judge Susan Reeves (Brenda Bazinet) to leave the arrest warrant for her to sign. Since she’s entertaining guests at her home she promises to look at it and sign in the morning. As she goes to put it in her office, viewers see that Lawson is a guest at her party.

At the Gazette, Daisy and Simon share a sweet moment over dinner. She gets a call from a source, who sends her the photo back with unscrambled faces. The photo now shows the basketball player having sex with Judge Reeves.

Shoot The Messenger airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on WGN America.