CSI:New York

Season 3 - Episode 14 - The Lying Game

Written by Wendy Battles
Directed by Anthony Hemingway

When Stella and Flack find a woman in the men’s restroom of a swanky hotel they realize that they may have a deceased drag queen on their hands. They find her with her head in the toilet. Flack confirms that she is definitely a he. Stella takes a sample of the toilet water and finds a fingerprint on the victim’s earring. After speaking with the hotel’s night manager, Flack determines that the murder took place after 11 p.m. After a bit of research, Flack confirms that Congressman Eric Garth - who was at the hotel for a dinner party - got into a fight with a woman that met the victim’s description. Sid notes that the victim has a burn mark on her forehead. Stella questions the victim’s friends and realizes that a Bambi burned the victim with a curling iron. When Stella meets with Bambi she notices water in her watch possibly from drowning the victim in the toilet. However, when Lindsay notes that trace found in the victim’s hair is from crustaceans or the king crab legs that were served at the hotel dinner the congressman attended the team wonders if their he/she’s murderer is Bambi or Eric Garth.

Across town, Mac and Danny are called in to investigate the death of a man found in a salt truck. Danny finds a golf ball with a corporate logo and blood on it in the truck. Sid confirms that the man was already dead when he was put in the truck; the cause of death is blunt force trauma. Mac finds black reflective material in the wound. When the team finds a wallet in the victim’s pocket they identify him as Robert Gallagher, the head of Sweet Extreme, a company that does marketing for extreme sports. Mac heads to the company to interrogate Robert’s partners Steffen and Jackson. Meanwhile, Danny tracks down the winner of the golf game that the golf ball references. Winner Dana Haines says that she’s never seen Robert in her life and that she has an alibi for the night he was murdered. Back at the lab, Danny tells Mac that the black material found in the victim’s wound is from grip tape most commonly used on skateboards. Danny spots blood on Robert’s office chair. He also finds blood in a nearby golf case. When Danny checks out the suspects’ alibis he realizes that both Jackson and Dana gave fake places where they supposedly were on the night of Robert’s murder. Stephen says he was at the gym. Later, Mac finds out that Dana and Jackson are having a secret affair. After a bit of research, Danny realizes that Epsom salt was found on the skateboard that was used as a murder weapon; he also realizes that Epsom salt is also used in therapeutic baths at gyms. With evidence pointing towards Steffen, Mac and Danny look into Dana and Jackson’s affair to analyze if there is any motive there.