"Eminent Domain" is the 32nd episode of the American television drama series The Killing, which aired on June 30, 2013. The episode is written by David Wiener and is directed by Keith Gordon. In the episode, Detective Holder (Joel Kinnaman) and Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) revisit the Seward case in hopes of finding a connection with the current one. Bullet (Bex Taylor-Klaus) takes Danette Leeds (Amy Seimetz) to Kallie's favorite hangouts. Seward (Peter Sarsgaard) asks to speak to his imprisoned father (Duncan Fraser).
Plot
At the police station, Danette demands to see Linden, telling the desk sergeant that Joe Mills (Ryan Robbins) took her daughter. She causes a commotion and gets arrested. At the hospital, Linden and Holder question Angie Gower (Laine MacNeil), the victim found at the vet's office. Angie describes her encounter, adding that she saw his eyes in the rear view mirror but could not see his face. Linden shows her a photo lineup that includes Mills. She cannot identify any of them as her attacker and Linden is frustrated. In the hallway, Holder scolds Linden for pushing the girl too hard. He questions if Mills is the right suspect, after Angie's inability to identify Mills and the lack of evidence connecting Mills with Trisha Seward's murder. Linden argues that fear may have stopped Angie from identifying Mills. Reddick (Gregg Henry) arrives to tell Holder the vet tech didn't see the person who dropped Angie at the clinic. Linden goes to the station to speak with Danette. She tells Danette that Mills has already left the hotel. Danette reminisces about Kallie's childhood and begs Linden to find her.
That night at the prison, Seward hears Alton (James Lewis) tearing sheets in his cell to make a noose. At first, he tries to talk Alton out of committing suicide but can see that Alton has made up his mind. Alton asks Seward not to yell for the guards, and Seward complies, speaking a few encouraging words as Alton hangs himself from his cell window. Henderson (Aaron Douglas) arrives late to work and learns that Becker already left. The cell block has not been monitored. He finds Alton's body and immediately calls for medical assistance.
At the station, Linden and Holder update Skinner (Elias Koteas) on Gower and Mills. In Skinner's office, Adrian's foster parents (Paul McGillion and Ingrid Torrence) complain about Linden's visiting Adrian at the playground. They say he's now back to sleeping in the closet, a habit he had throughout his early childhood. In her car, Linden shows Holder photos and the apartment floor plan from the Seward file, which he realizes she's had all along. Since there's no closet in Adrian's bedroom, Linden realizes he may have slept in the closet in the room where Trisha was murdered. They break into the vacant Seward apartment and Linden lies down in the closet, where she discovers glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. She peers through an air vent at the bottom of the closet door and is able to see Holder when he stands in the spot where Trisha was murdered. She concludes that if Adrian were sleeping in the closet that night, then he must have seen his mother's killer.
In Skinner's office, Linden tells him the new theory about Adrian and again points out similarities between Trisha Seward's murder and the other victims'. Skinner still isn't convinced there's a connection. She tells him the two of them are responsible for preventing Seward's execution, if he is innocent. He worries that she is getting "too close" to the case again and reminds her that it was hard for him when she fell apart during their initial investigation a few years ago. Still frustrated, she leaves after he instructs her to focus on finding Mills.
Henderson asks Seward why he didn't help Alton by calling for the guards. Seward states that he did "help" him. In a visitation room, Seward sits across from his imprisoned father, who is surprised his son wanted to meet with him. Seward explains that something changed his mind. His father tells him that he "called in a favor" to get the razor blade to his son, hoping he would attack Becker. He also takes credit for his son's toughness, saying he taught him some things. Seward scoffs at the skewed perception of their relationship and reminds him that he abandoned their family, leaving them practically starving. As Seward leaves, his father says he's proud of him for serving his sentence like a man. Seward replies that dying in a jumpsuit doesn't make him a man.