Ep 17. Shuffle, Ball Change

The episode begins with a distraught mother named Brooke Kozowyk who comes to the Philadelphia homicide department to report her son, Billy, missing. Billy was a ballet dancer and had an audition in New York City that he was excited about. When the detectives look into his disappearance, they find that his hotel room had been ransacked and his car was found in a seedy part of town with the seats ripped out. As the team digs deeper, they discover that Billy was gay and had been leading a double life. His boyfriend, Alex, had left a series of voicemails on his phone that provided the police with a possible motive for the crime. It becomes apparent that the audition Billy had landed was in fact at a male strip club.

Their investigation leads them to one of the strippers named Desmond Finch who offers to help. Despite his criminal record, Finch appears to be genuinely interested in helping the detectives. While going through surveillance footage, they see Billy being dragged out of his hotel by two men. The detectives recognize one man as someone they have encountered before.

As the investigation deepens, the detectives uncover a seedy underworld run by an ex-cop named Deeks. They discover that Billy had been lured into the seedy world of male stripping by Deeks, who was running an illegal operation. Billy had not wanted to participate, and Deeks had ordered his men to kidnap him and his boyfriend, Alex, whom they believed was in possession of drugs. Alex had run away, leaving Billy behind.

Despite being threatened by Deeks and his men, the detectives managed to link the kidnapping to several other cold cases that they had been trying to solve for months. Their investigation on the seedy underworld ultimately left them with only one suspect, but they couldn't prove it without concrete evidence.

In a sudden twist, the series of tapes found in the hotel room helps identify the perpetrator, clearing the doubts of the detectives and providing a satisfying climax to the episode. Alongside this, the close-knit teams' bond strengthens after working together to solve a baffling murder case.

Cold Case season 4 episode 17 entitled Shuffle, Ball Change is a crime thriller that highlights the gruesome reality of male strip clubs and underground criminal activity in the city. It is a reminder that sometimes in a case, the truth is elusive, but it is always waiting to be discovered.