CSI:New York

Season 3 - Episode 9 - And Here’s To You, Mrs. Azrael

Written by Peter M. Lenkov
Directed by David Von Ancken
Starring Robert Joy

Mac and Stella arrive at the ICU to find a teenage car crash victim dead. Mac notes a pillow on the floor, a clear plastic oxygen mask dangling, and signs of a scuffle around the bed. They learn that five days earlier Nicole and her friend Heather were drinking and driving hence the reason for the accident. Nicole, the driver, had spent five days in the hospital before her death whereas Heather died on impact. Julie, a hospital volunteer and Heather’s mother, is at the hospital when Mac and Stella investigate. Meanwhile, Frank, Nicole’s father, rushes into the hospital to find his daughter dead. Ellen, Nicole’s mother, states that she hasn’t seen Frank in fifteen years when he lost custody of their daughter. Stella finds a fingerprint on the soap in the room. Lindsay and Danny find scratch marks on the door lock to Nicole’s room. Sid confirms that Nicole’s cause of death was asphyxia. Adam confirms that a shrimp-like crustacean substance was on the victim traced to the hospital’s aquarium. Flack interrogates the hotel employee who maintains the aquarium. He states that he was walking by Nicole’s room and she was thirsty so he went in and brought her cup of juice to her mouth transferring the substance onto her person. Stella detects that Nicole’s last few words were no Nicole, Heather. Meanwhile, Stella realizes that a Matt Huxley’s print showed up on the bar of soap. When Mac goes to interrogate him he splits. Flack finds tools on Huxley that were used to pry open the lock on Nicole’s door. Huxley admits that he stole a doctor’s uniform and slipped through to see Nicole. Huxley says that the two made a promise to each other that if they were close to death and in pain they would end each others’ lives. However, Huxley says when in the room he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Stella confirms that a gift bag that Nicole’s father brought into her room was used to kill her. She also discovers that Nicole’s mother had an insurance policy on her daughter giving her a motive to kill her daughter. With three suspects in line, the team comes to a true revelation when they discover who the murderer is.

Spending day and night in the hospital working on the case, Hawkes remembers the experience he had when he lost a patient. The episode comes to an end with Hawkes saving a patient’s life.