A Soundless Echo

In the fourth episode of AMC’s The Killing, “A Soundless Echo,” the Larsen family begins making funeral arrangements for their daughter, Rosie. Detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder shift their focus to Bennet Ahmed, Rosie’s literature teacher, who has a murky past and a pregnant young wife. The episode’s title comes from a line in Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, which appears in a letter written to Rosie.

The episode opens with Kris Echols in an interrogation room. Linden shows him video of Rosie at a Halloween dance, but he denies killing her. Holder tells Lieutenant Oakes that Kris, desperate for meth, will likely break soon; Oakes tells Holder to clean himself up.

Linden tricks Kris into seeing Jasper and his lawyer across the hall, and Holder hints that Jasper is cutting a deal. Linden plays cell-phone footage from a place called The Cage for Jasper, who says it’s not what it looks like. Kris explains he wouldn’t hurt Rosie because she was kind to him, and when shown the same footage, he dismisses it.

Darren Richmond learns Mayor Adams leads by eight points. Gwen Eaton suggests he ask wealthy entrepreneur Tom Drexler, who hates Adams, to fund a media package; Richmond refuses.

Adams meets Jamie Wright at a bar and invites him to join his team. After donors reject Richmond, Gwen secretly calls her father, Senator Eaton, to arrange a meeting with Drexler. He admires her creativity but criticizes her for sleeping with Richmond.

At the high school, Sterling admits she’s the girl in the cell-phone video. She says she was tired of being overlooked when Rosie was around, went to The Cage with Jasper because she was drunk and he was nice, and wore Rosie’s costume because Rosie had left the dance. She claims the blood there came from her nosebleeds. Sterling thinks Rosie sometimes met someone after school.

Holder offers to follow up with the Larsens, but Linden insists on handling it, annoying him. Linden later questions the Larsens about a possible affair; Mitch dismisses the idea. The Larsens visit a priest to plan Rosie’s funeral. Mitch fixates on a crucifix and asks where God was when her daughter needed Him.

Gwen and Richmond attend a party at Drexler’s penthouse, also attended by Adams. Drexler gives Richmond a $50,000 check, saying he wants Adams to know he helped him lose. Richmond then secretly meets Jamie, who updates him on Adams.