CSI:New York

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Open and Shut

Written by Wendy Battles
Directed by Joe Ann Fogle
Starring Robert Joy

When a young woman is found dead, her body splayed upon a modern art sculpture during a photo shoot at a hotel, the team is drawn into the dangerously glamorous world of models and mayhem. Bloody fingerprints are found on her right index finger and a Cartier love bracelet on her wrist. She is one of the hotel employees. While processing the crime scene, Stella and Flack hear gunshots in the neighboring loft apartments. They find Grace Thomason kneeling near the blood-drenched body of her husband, Daniel Thomason. A second male victim is found draped on Dan Thomason’s legs. A bloody hammer and bouquet of flowers are on the floor. Grace says that the man was beating her husband with the hammer and she shot him. Grace says she has no idea who the second victim is. She confirms that both murder weapons, the gun and the hammer, belonged to her. Hawkes finds the Thomason’s address written on the unknown victim’s hand along with the words 10 a.m. Meanwhile, Sid notes an oily substance found in the female victim’s gouges. He also finds tiny hairs on her inner thigh that are not hers, but belong to a camel. Flack finds fashion photographer Tony Deluca with a camel hair lens brush. They also realize that the victim engaged in sexual activity right before her death. Tony says that one of the key models Mandi asked him to take shots of the victim, as she wanted to be a model. Back in the bullpen, Stella sits with Grace. She says that the second victim Ron Blunt was her husband’s limo driver. Grace says that because her husband said Ron was driving erratically she called the police and he was dismissed. Lindsay notes that Ron did not bring a weapon to the scene meaning it wasn’t premeditated. She also notes that there is no blood spatter on Blunt’s shirt, which should be there if he attacked Dan with the hammer. Meanwhile, Hawkes notes that Dan’s brain matter is found in the bathroom but there are no trails of blood that lead from the bathroom to the kitchen, where the body was found. The team begins to question the sequence of events related to the double murders. While Stella hopes that Grace is innocent because she dealt with a similar circumstance, the rest of the team thinks Grace may be their number one suspect.

In the hotel area, Mac pays a visit to Mandi the model whose trace was found on the railing the victim plummeted from. Flack heads to the newsstand where he finds a tabloid featuring a picture of Mandi that the victim took as her love bracelet is visible in the corner of the photo. With several unanswered questions, the team turns their suspicions to Mandi whose secret relationship with the victim is of interest.