Ep 3. Beauty Burglars

Cagney & Lacey was a popular police procedural drama series that aired from 1981 to 1988. The show followed the lives and careers of two female detectives, Christine Cagney (played by Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (played by Tyne Daly), as they worked to solve crimes in New York City. Season 2 of the show premiered in 1982 and consisted of 22 episodes.

Episode 3 of season 2, titled Beauty Burglars, sees Cagney and Lacey investigating a string of burglaries that target wealthy women while they are at the beauty parlor. The episode opens with the detectives visiting the scene of the latest burglary. They find that the burglar stole a valuable pearl necklace and a diamond ring from the victim, who had left them in her purse while she was getting her hair done at the salon. The detectives interview the salon staff and other customers who were present at the time of the crime, but they don't get any leads.

As the detectives continue their investigation, they discover that this is not the first time that such a crime has occurred in the area. In fact, there have been several similar burglaries in other beauty salons in the past few weeks. The detectives realize that they are dealing with a very organized and sophisticated group of criminals who know how to target their victims and avoid detection.

The detectives start interviewing some of the victims and their friends to see if they can identify any patterns or suspects. They find that all the victims have one thing in common - they all have expensive jewelry and accessories that they carry with them to the salon. The detectives start to suspect that there might be someone at the salon who is passing on information about the victims and their belongings to the burglars.

The detectives decide to go undercover as customers at the salon to see if they can catch the burglars in the act. They arrange for Cagney to go in as a customer with a valuable piece of jewelry, while Lacey waits outside in an unmarked police car. Cagney enters the salon and begins to chat with the other customers and salon staff, trying to gather information about the burglaries. She pretends to accidentally leave her purse behind and goes out to the car to retrieve a decoy purse with a tracking device inside.

Cagney re-enters the salon with the decoy purse and starts to get her hair done. As she expected, the thief strikes and takes the purse, thinking that it contains the valuable jewelry. Lacey follows the thief in the unmarked police car, but he manages to evade her and escapes on foot. However, the tracking device in the decoy purse leads the detectives to a warehouse where they discover the stolen jewelry and arrest the burglars.

In the end, Cagney and Lacey successfully solve the case and recover the stolen items. They also manage to catch the burglars and bring them to justice. However, they are left wondering who it was at the salon who was passing on information to the criminals. The episode ends with the detectives vowing to keep an eye on the salon and its staff, in case the burglars strike again.