CSI: NY s07e10 Episode Script

** - * I really can't stay * - * Baby, it's cold outside * - * I've got to go away * - * But, baby, it's cold outside * - * This evening has been * - * I've been hopin' that you'd drop in * * So very nice * * I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice * - * My mother will start to worry * - * Beautiful, what's your hurry? * - * And father will be pacing the floor * - * Listen to that fireplace roar * - * So really, I'd better scurry * - * Beautiful, please don't hurry * * Maybe just a half a drink more * I can't believe you talked me into shopping.
Are you coming? What's the hurry? It's just a department store.
Mac, please.
It's not about what's on the racks, it's about what's in the windows.
* To break this spell * * I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell * - * I ought to say no, no, no sir * - * You mind if I move in closer * - * At least I'm gonna say that I tried * - * What's the sense in hurting my pride? * - * I really can't stay * - * Oh, baby, don't hold out * * Baby, it's cold outside * Jo.
Now? Really? - Whoa, I'm so sorry, sir.
- It's all right.
Have a good night.
All right, shoppers, the moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived, and on behalf of Stonefield's department store, let me be the first one to welcome you all to the 67th annual unveiling of our winter windows.
Now, if you'll join me, please, in counting down from ten, and we will kick off the shopping season in style, and afterwards, I'll invite all of you to come on inside and have savings store-wide.
- Are you ready? - Yeah! Well, then let's do it.
Ten nine - Where's the bag? - What bag? - Seven six five - Let's go.
- You're coming with us.
- Four Three Two one! Shop till you drop! Wow, isn't it amazing? - It's pretty impressive.
- I wasn't talking to you.
Whoa.
You see why I hate shopping? * Out here in the fields * * I fight for my meals * * I get my back into my living * * Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
* So, it turns out our victim was the store's general manager, guy named Richard Grossman.
But from what I'm hearing, his employees like to call him other names.
Why? Lot of belt-tightening going on around here lately.
Apparently, he liked to crack a whip along with it.
Makes our boss look pretty good.
I wouldn't go that far.
Hey, I heard that.
We're definitely looking at blunt force trauma.
Pretty significant fracture along the sphenoid bone, and There's some oddly textured wound impression Could have fallen against something, maybe.
Or been struck, hard.
You book our friend the pickpocket? I did.
And I sent his jacket with that bloodstain you noticed to the lab.
Also, I'm running down a list of employees who were on the clock tonight.
What about all the shoppers? There's four floors worth of them.
This place opened up at 10 A.
M.
this morning.
They been coming and going ever since.
Based on liver temp, I'd say Grossman died no more than an hour ago.
Hey, you want me to shut this place down? Well, the crime scene's secure if we need you to go wide or close the doors, we'll let you know.
All right.
Well, there's definitely signs of struggle in this area.
Same here.
Mac, do you see any other wounds on our vic's upper torso? Negative.
Maybe this blood came from our perp.
Whoever it was stepped into some more on their way out.
Ready to go shopping? - For what? - Our killer.
Didn't take long for that trail to run cold.
Nope.
So let's heat it up.
All right, I got blood going this way.
Yeah, but that looks like secondary transfer.
That print doesn't match the one in the staging area.
But this print looks promising.
And here we are.
Hi.
Hi.
I'll be right with you.
Actually, we need to talk to you right now, thank you.
- Excuse me just a sec.
- Sure.
If you're here to ask me about what happened to Mr.
Grossman, I have no idea.
Did you see anyone or anything suspicious at your counter this evening? Maybe somebody in a hurry, maybe hurt.
Are you kidding? Everyone's in a hurry this time of year.
And as for hurt, Mr.
Grossman probably could have died right in front of me and I wouldn't have noticed.
- Why is that? - We were giving away free body beauty kits.
Body whatties? These.
Each one contains ultra gel, UV moisturizer, and a pore-cleansing astringent.
For free? It was all part of our big winter windows promotion, and we got totally mobbed.
Pass that one behind you.
Hi.
Hi.
One per person.
There you go.
Thank you.
Have a great holiday, guys.
Are all your customers women? No, there were men, too.
Everyone loves to get something for nothing.
Tracy, would you mind if I took a quick look at your shoes? - These? - Yeah.
Oh, those are so cute! Did you get those here? I got them at a discount outlet in the Village.
Well, we'll let you get back to work.
But if you think of anything, would you let us know, please? Yeah, no problem.
And you can have one of these, too, if you want.
- Ah.
- That's cool.
Thank you.
I mean, it's free.
I can take it home to the girls.
Danny.
Okay, there's no way those cute, pointy heels are a match to our footprints, and she doesn't look like she's hurt in any way, but there is blood on this cotton ball dispenser, and in this kit, the astringent is probably %80 alcohol, so I'm thinking that our killer went directly to this makeup counter for a reason.
Hi.
Welcome to Stonefield's.
Welcome to Stonefield's.
Thank you so much.
Welcome to Stonefield's.
There you go.
Hi.
Welcome to Stonefield's.
If he was injured on that snowflake, he would have needed some quick first aid.
Let's find the bathrooms.
Family bathrooms usually have a lock for privacy.
Boom.
Took at look at your résumé, Howie.
You did three bids for theft.
Is that right? Getting caught that much makes me think you're in the wrong line of work.
Yeah, maybe pickpocketing isn't your forte.
- You got no right to hold me.
- What, are you some kind of lawyer? Hmm, I know enough.
I mean, you got no stolen items, no evidence I committed a crime.
Well, that's where you're wrong.
I witnessed you stealing that woman's wallet.
That's evidence enough for grand larceny.
Well, I guess it's your word against mine, then, huh? Well, those are odds I'm willing to take.
Most definitely, and if you beat the larceny rap, that still don't help you with the murder thing.
What, you mean that gore fest in the store window? No, no way you're putting that on me.
Hmm.
Well, then explain how blood from the crime scene ended up on the sleeve of your jacket.
I got no idea.
Come on, you know so much about the law, you never heard about felony murder? It means if there is a homicide during the commission of another crime, everyone involved in that crime can be charged with murder.
Look.
Look, I just bumped into her, okay? Bumped into who? Some lady at the store.
I was just in there warming up and she comes bolting out of the bathroom, - and she bumped right into me.
- And? And went about her business, just like I did.
For God's sakes, I'm a pickpocket, not a murderer.
Jo, check this out.
This security camera video was time-stamped right after the murder.
Our pickpocket clearly bumped into someone, but I can't tell if she's bleeding.
Wait a second, play that again.
Okay, stop.
Go from there.
Danny, freeze.
Zoom in on her face.
I've seen her.
Can't believe you're still here.
Oh, my God.
Are you okay? Look, I'm sure you're happy to be out of the cold, but you haven't said one word since we brought you in.
While the paramedics were bandaging the wound on your back, they noticed that you had a lot of bruises and scratches on your body.
So what I'd like to do is take some samples from underneath your fingernails.
It doesn't hurt at all.
Is that okay, Alena? It is Alena, right? Alena Maybrook? According to the store record, you're an assistant manager at Stonefield's.
Did you kill Richard Grossman, Alena? All right.
Since you're not willing to tell me what you know, I'll tell you what I know.
Mr.
Grossman was your boss.
Your blood was found in the staging area of that window where he was killed.
And you fled the scene, made a couple of quick stops at the makeup counter and the bathroom to clean yourself up.
Why? Tell me what happened, Alena.
According to her background, she's a regular girl scout model employee, pays her bills on time, never jaywalks.
I'm sensing a "but" here.
Well, she may not have seemed to be in too much of a hurry to skip town when you found her in that park, but two weeks ago she emptied her bank account, cashed out her 401 k, and bought a one-way ticket to Aruba, departure date-- tomorrow.
In my book that's no vacation.
It's an escape plan.
So if she did kill Grossman, it was probably premeditated.
Hey, Adam, you get anywhere with that USB port Jo found at the crime scene? Uh, not yet, but whatever it's a part of probably belonged to the victim.
I found prints that were a match to Richard Grossman.
We didn't find an electronic device along with it.
Maybe Alena took it when she fled? Yeah, it's possible, but she had nothing on her when Jo brought her in.
Well, check this out.
This wrought iron branch was collected from the display.
Uh-huh.
Well, it looks like the ones in the window.
Yeah, except they were all soldered into place.
But this branch was found under the turntable and the blood pattern is impact spatter.
Suggesting it was used as a club.
Plus the markings at the end match the wound impression I found on Richard Grossman's skull.
So maybe the killer picked it up from the spare supplies in the staging area, used it to take him out and then threw it down.
You know what they say.
Sticks and stones may break your bones Looks like this one was used as our murder weapon.
** * Let's sit down by the track * * And wait in the dark for the train to pass * * Don't question what you know * * Gotta let it come and let it go * * Wanna be the best in town * * Gotta keep on moving till they all fall down * - Yo, Mac.
- Let me guess.
She gave you a full confession.
Our job is done.
Wouldn't that be nice? No, she still won't say a word.
But something I found at the crime scene is speaking volumes-- piece of glass from one of those window lamps actually had human flesh burned into its surface.
Got a hit in CODIS to a Pascal Denton.
Now, he's Stonefield's window display designer.
It turns out before he was a designer, he was a regular at Rikers.
Did six months for assaulting a police officer.
Any connection to the victim? Well, we found his prints on the wrought iron branch used as the murder weapon.
On top of that, Grossman fired him a week ago.
Gives him motive.
Still doesn't explain how Alena fits in.
No, but this will.
She and Pascal got engaged six months ago.
So all this time we thought she was there alone with Grossman.
Maybe her fiancé was there, too.
Where is he now? Pascal Denton.
NYPD.
Danny, coming your way! Stay down! Don't move! Got him? I got him.
- I didn't do anything.
- 2.
5.
Pow.
My partner and I we give each other a hundred imaginary bucks every time a crook says he didn't do anything.
Thanks to you, 2.
5 million.
- I don't like cops.
- Oh, yeah? That why you broke an officer's collarbone ten years ago? That's not how it happened.
All right, I was heavy into the street art scene.
Commonly known as vandalism.
He was chasing me when he fell off that ledge.
Is that what happened with Richard Grossman? Did he club himself with a piece from your window display? What are you talking about? What, Grossman got hurt? There you go, acting all innocent again.
That little jackass was very much alive last time I saw him.
Then how'd your burnt skin end up on a broken light at the crime scene? Easy.
I was trying to snap his weaselly neck.
You want to explain this to me? It's a holiday display with no holiday in it.
- Where are the snowmen? - This is my interpretation.
Well, let's see how you interpret this.
- You're fired.
- Can't do that to me? No? That's where you're wrong.
That's the last time I saw Richard Grossman.
So how do you explain your fiancée ending up there? - What, Alena? - Mm-hmm.
I haven't spoken to her in six months.
Not since she broke off our engagement.
One day we're planning a summer wedding.
The next, she gives me my ring back and says never to talk to her again.
Pascal Denton's telling the truth.
We heard back from the banquet room where they were getting married.
And the deposit check had been sent back six months ago.
Honeymoon was also canceled.
And judging by the state of the scabbing on Pascal's arm, there's no way he got that burn last night.
Did he give you any sense why Alena broke off the engagement? - No clue.
- Well, I can certainly tell you this much.
That victim you're standing over was also an attacker.
- How so? - Take a look at these wounds.
First we have the scratches on the face and neck.
Then there's the bite marks on his left hand.
Not to mention contusions and inflammation in the groin area.
And put all that together with the defensive wounds you found on Alena, and I don't have to tell you how this looks.
He had 60 pounds and four inches on her.
So maybe she didn't have a choice.
Meaning Alena Maybrook is guilty of nothing but self-defense.
You know, Alena, I was always taught to respect the dead, but I got to tell you.
Guys like Richard Grossman make it tough.
It took a subpoena, but the store's HR department finally turned over a stack of harassment complaints against him by other employees.
We now know that he attacked you, too.
You've been through so much, Alena.
You called off your wedding six months ago.
Now you're having to deal with this.
Tell me what is going on.
Talk to me.
I really can feel your pain.
I just wish I could read your mind.
It may not have been premeditated, but she still killed the guy.
- Tell that to the new district attorney.
- Who, Krasnoff? You got to be kidding me.
Given the science supporting self-defense and the lack of evidence for any premeditation, he's unwilling to press charges.
Did you explain to him that he's a dumb-ass? You know the game, Don.
- She's been in custody for 24 hours.
- Yeah, I know.
I'll process her and get her out of here.
But, Mac, let me ask you this.
What if we crack this puzzle, and she's already used that ticket to Aruba? We'll cross that bridge if we have to.
She certainly worked a lot.
According to Stonefield's payroll department, starting six months ago, Alena Maybrook went from working under 40 hours a week to over 70.
That doesn't make sense.
Why suddenly start working so much when you know your boss is a scumbag? Did Alena file one of the harassment reports against him? No.
But she was a documented witness to some of his sexual misconduct with a sales clerk named Tracy Parker.
That's our girl from behind the makeup counter.
Looks like she fought to have him fired and brought up on charges.
But the complaint was ultimately dismissed, and Grossman got to keep his job.
Store manager-- one, assistant manager-- zero.
Makes your blood boil.
Well, it probably pissed off Alena, too.
My thoughts exactly.
We found some of her blood at the same counter where Tracy works.
The two of them definitely shared some past negative experience with our vic.
Then go back to Tracy Parker.
If Alena did decide to kill Grossman out of vengeance, she might know more than what she told you before.
He said if I didn't go out with him, he would cut back my hours.
I was barely putting food on the table as it was.
So you agreed to date him? I'm a single mom with two young children.
What choice did I have? Well, I certainly wasn't judging you, Tracy.
I think what that man did was inexcusable.
No, I was judging myself.
I should have been stronger.
I should have stood up for myself, but I was too scared, too embarrassed.
Until Alena came to you? She'd overheard some of Grossman's advances.
Said she would stand by me and make sure he got what he deserved.
Were those her exact words? No, you don't understand.
She didn't want him dead.
She wanted to stop him from taking advantage of other women.
And when Stonefield's refused to punish him, maybe she found another way to do that.
No.
That's not the type of person that she is.
What type of person is she? Alena let me leave early every night so I could put my kids to bed.
She would even close out my register and do inventory for me.
I'm 100% certain, if Alena really did kill Richard, she absolutely had to.
Hey, the broken USB port that Jo found near the body at Stonefield's-- I finally ID'd the source.
Video camera.
Oh, no, not just any video camera, okay? This is a Rivio 1080p pocketcam, and it is the latest and the greatest in high-def recording.
So I'm thinking the USB connector might have broke off during the struggle.
We already know Grossman's prints were on the connector, so if the camera belonged to him, maybe there was something else on it Alena didn't want anyone to see.
Hmm.
Trouble is, though, it wasn't in any of her personal belongings, you know? Maybe she ditched it somewhere inside the store.
Let me see that camera.
I know where it is.
I saw him duck out of the crowd over here.
Son of a bitch.
- Thanks.
- Thank you.
You got it.
Our pickpocket palmed the camera from Alena's coat when he bumped her in the store.
He dumped the bag here just before we caught him.
Yeah, but what the hell good is that to us now? - Hey, Adam.
- Huh.
You're just in time.
So, did you get the video camera working? Uh-uh, God Himself couldn't get this video camera to work.
Sewage water and electronics just don't mix.
So we're not able to see what was recorded on it? I didn't say that.
See, cameras like this store their data onto solid state memory cards.
Now, they usually have a higher tolerance to damage than other sensitive circuitry.
Usually? I used a silica desiccant to absorb as much moisture as possible.
And here comes the moment of truth.
Alena let me leave early every night so I could put my kids to bed.
She would even close out my register and do inventory for me.
This wasn't about revenge.
This was about money.
I cross-referenced Stonefield's cash register reports with Alena Maybrook's work shifts over the past six months.
Any substantial shortfalls? Only minor ones-- eight bucks here and five bucks there.
Well, why didn't Stonefield's investigate the discrepancies? Well, because, like a lot of big stores, they have what they call acceptable deviation, which means, any cash that's missing from the till under the amount of ten dollars they basically write off.
And as an assistant manager, Alena would have overseen a lot of those registers.
Yes.
112, to be exact.
So if she pocketed an average of seven dollars per register, twice a day for six months She would have stolen over a quarter of a million dollars right out from under their noses.
Grossman discovered she was stealing from the store, and she killed him to keep her secret safe.
Have Flack issue a robbery warrant for Alena Maybrook.
I want all available units out looking for her.
Search the airports, the store, her apartment, the works.
She's not going to get very far.
What do you mean? Well, I had a hard time amplifying the DNA in her blood you collected.
So I looked at it under a microscope, and I detected high levels of leucocytes.
Did you get her medical records? Yeah.
I did.
She's been diagnosed with T cell lymphocytic leukemia.
She's dying.
Alena, thank you for meeting me here.
I'm glad we could finally talk.
Me, too.
We know about your illness.
How long do you have left? Doctors gave me three months.
That was six months ago.
I'd been too busy planning a wedding to pay attention to all the stomachaches.
There must have been treatment options.
Sure.
Surgery, radiation, aggressive chemotherapy, all with a combined one year survival rate of under 15%.
You still had a fighting chance.
A chance at what? Languishing in some hospital bed? Torturing my body day in and day out just to prolong the inevitable? No, thanks.
If it was me, I would want to live as long as I possibly could.
That's what I thought at first.
But in the end, I decided that, for me, quality was much more important than quantity.
The registers at Stonefield's tell a different tale, Alena.
As long as you kept the amounts low, no one noticed you were stealing-- no one except Richard Grossman.
He used what he knew to extort you, didn't he? What did he ask for in order to keep your secret? Oh, you don't need to stop on account of me.
Carry on.
I know all about your little crime spree.
I even decided to make a movie out of it.
Please, Richard.
I can't lose my job.
I'm not doing this for myself.
No, no, no.
No need for that.
Consider this between us.
Nobody needs to know.
I realize times are tough.
You have to get what you can on the side, right? I completely understand.
Of course, if I'm going to help you I may need a little help myself.
That's enough to give you motive.
Honestly, that's enough to give anyone motive.
I thought it would be a one-time thing.
But not for him.
After that, I couldn't live with myself.
Day by day, I was losing my life, and he was trying to rob me of my humanity.
Enough was enough.
I don't care.
Turn me in if you have to, but I am not doing this anymore.
That's no way to treat a guy who's saving your life.
You're not saving me from anything.
It's even hotter when you struggle.
What are you doing? Stop it! That's right, baby.
That's right.
Aah! I knew I was hurt.
I just had to try to pull myself together and go.
Gotta love the irony.
I'm in the middle of dying, and I wind up killing a guy.
Grossman's death solved a lot of your problems.
It wasn't my problems I was worried about.
When you find out you're dying, a lot of things run through your mind.
For the first time, my life had a definite end date.
The last thing I wanted was for people to see me waste away.
So, I decided to turn in my resignation.
Alena, I know why you're here, and I want to assure you, your job is still safe.
I'm sorry? It's been a particularly rough quarter.
Many of your colleagues are going to need to find other employment after the holidays.
But people have families.
Of course they do.
Try to look at it this way.
You're lucky to still be a part of ours.
Easy for him to say.
While he was sitting in his office, there were people out there in the store, working their asses off.
Those same people were going to lose their jobs without advance notice.
No bonuses, no benefits, and no time to find a new job before the new year.
All of this, while the store was spending thousands on windows.
I stopped feeling sorry for myself after that.
I couldn't resign.
I decided to stay on the job and help someone in some way.
There's something so poetic about snowfall.
Snowflakes don't have a long life span, but they leave such an unforgettable mark.
You wouldn't talk because you were stalling.
When you realize you're going to die soon a part of you wants to make sure there was a reason why you lived.
I turned the case over to robbery division.
By the time they look at it, she may not be alive to prosecute.
This is why I so love window shopping.
She stole from the store, which was wrong, but she was trying to help people, which was right.
And it just shows you, you just don't have to buy everything you see.
Sometimes you can stop and take a minute and look, and try to find something to admire and then move on.
I'll buy that.