CSI:New York

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Grand Murder At Central Station

Written by Zachary Reiter
Directed by Scott Lautanen

Mac and Hawkes are at the scene to investigate every commuter’s nightmare—what appears to be a random attack Grand Central Station. Mac quickly realizes that their victim, a well-known plastic surgeon, was killed when someone threw extra strength lye in his face. Although Mac has his hands full exerting control over the commuters’ rush hour panic, he soon finds the lye trail, which seems to disappear into thin air. Hawkes finds a teddy bear that was dropped in the melee—he notices a footprint on it. Quick analysis shows the footprint has a heavy concentration of lye, and Hawkes assumes whoever stepped on the bear was close to the action and can ID the perpetrator. Or maybe even be the perpetrator. Back at the lab, complications begin to unfold as a tox screen shows the victim was taking strong painkillers, which was strange considering autopsy report didn’t mention any pre-existing injuries. And the burn pattern of the lye on the victim is suspicious as well.

Mac and Hawkes realize that they’re quite a few possible perpetrators, as they discover the good doctor wasn't all that good: there are numerous malpractice cases pending against him. Mac eventually tracks the lye back to a cup now being used by a saxophonist at Grand Central and by using acid etching; he raises the logo of a pharmaceutical company, which points in the direction of someone the doctor worked with. But Hawkes does some investigative digging of his own and comes up with an even more interesting motive: the victim had recently insured his hands for 10 million dollars. Was the innocent victim not so innocent and possibly a victim of his own insurance scam gone horribly awry?

Meanwhile, Stella and Danny investigate the strangulation of a beautiful young woman found on a Manhattan rooftop. No ID, no purse, and no evidence of sexual assault. She looks to have been strangled. Stella examines her hands and fingernails. No defensive wounds, but she recovers trace amounts of a mystery trace which looks to be GSR, but turns out to be fine metal shavings. Back at autopsy the CSIs receive surprising news: the victim was blind. Who would strangle a blind girl? An examination of her apartment reveals something even more amazing: the blind victim was a talented sculptor. Danny uses the victim’s Braille GPS to track the girl’s last few hours – leading him into New York’s hottest craze, cuddle parties, where men and women lay in “puppy piles” to get to know each other better. A perfect place for a blind sculptor to touch and ‘study’ people for her sculptures. Did she ever unwittingly cuddle with her killer? Stella asks for help from a former flame to find out.

Aiden informs Mac that she has gone over every shred of evidence on the Regina Moore rape case and has absolutely nothing to go on. But when Mac takes a second look at the case he realizes that Aiden may have tampered with evidence-- an unforgivable act. How will he handle anyone who dares to compromise the integrity of the lab?