Stabler goes to Isabella’s home, where she is greatly relieved to hear that the police believe Roman is alive, though missing. But she’s convinced that her brother, Rocco, is no longer in prison in Italy and instead is in the United States, pulling Roman’s strings. And when Stabler has Vargas hack into the Italian jail’s security cameras, they see that another man appears to be posing as Rocco — meaning the murderous Spezzano is on the loose.
Father DeLuca, the shady priest from the previous episode, summons Stabler to his church. While Elliot waits to talk to DeLuca, someone in a nun’s habit watches from the balcony but scurries away when El looks up. That’s totally Rocco in a nun’s habit, right? When DeLuca approaches, he gives some fake story about wanting to help the kids in his parish, but all he really wants to ask is if they’ve found Roman. Stabler says he can’t discuss the case, and leaves.
Outside, Becky texts Grandpa Elliot — and his pause to look out his phone is the only thing that saves him from being closer to his car when it blows up!
Randall swings by later that day to bring his brother, who is remarkably fine after nearly being cooked over easy. They talk about Randall intercepting the call he thought was from Joe Jr. “I’m telling you,” he says to Elliot, “I got a feeling about this.” They agree that Randall will let Elliot know the next time a call comes through.
Father DeLuca finds Roman, shivering in an alley from the fever resulting from his infected gunshot. He speeds the young man to Isabella’s, where she lays him out in the barn to treat him. “Rocco is here,” he says, gasping. “So is she.” Isabella immediately knows who her grandson is referencing — a woman named Lucia — and she comforts him as he babbles that Rocco and Lucia came to the house, looking to kill Isabella, so he promised to help them in order to stave them off.
OK so maybe I was wrong about Rocco hiding by wearing a nun’s habit around the parish. The person we saw earlier is a woman — Sister Mary — but PSYCH! she’s really Lucia, Rocco’s sister! Turns out, Rocco is hiding in the back of the church, where they’re torturing Father DeLuca until he gives up Roman’s whereabouts.