CSI: NY s06e04 Episode Script

Dead Reckoning

Mac, this is Mrs Carter.
You're aware of the consequences of what you're about to do? Yes.
I imagine that this is every detective's dream.
Every detective's dream is to have people stop killing each other.
Start at the beginning, Mrs Carter.
Take your time.
I made Kevin his favourite dinner.
I lit the candles.
I poured the wine.
Everything was perfect.
He'd been travelling a lot lately and it felt like weeks since he'd been home.
I wanted this night to be special.
T o rekindle our relationship.
And there it was.
I actually thought that it was for me.
Do you know how stupid that made me feel? - Stupid enough to commit murder.
- He was warned.
I told him that if I ever caught him cheating that I would kill him.
And I will never forget the look on his face.
And then I got on top of him and I started stabbing.
- 17 times.
- It was that many? I only stopped because I got tired.
I took a cab to the Ritz because that's where he'd proposed to me eight years ago.
I had a couple of glasses of wine.
And I got a room.
And that was my evening.
This morning I had breakfast.
Then I walked over to the precinct.
And I turned myself in.
Taylor.
DNA results came back.
She's lying.
Got it.
# Out here in the fields # I fight for my meals # I get my back into my living # Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah #.
What the hell is wrong with you people? - There was no one else there.
- You're lying, Deborah.
We found a partial DNA profile of another woman on the handle of the knife used to kill your husband.
It could have been touched by any number of people before that night.
I entertain a lot.
That woman's DNA was swabbed from the bite mark on a roll we took off your dinner table.
Maybe you can explain to us how another woman's DNA wound up on bread that came out of your oven.
Maybe your staff was hungry - Yeah.
- Sorry.
It's priceless.
You have a confession, a motive, a murder weapon with my fingerprints over it and you're still not satisfied.
Look, I'm gonna give you one more chance to help yourself.
Someone else was in that room with you.
Who are you protecting? I told you everything that I know.
- I want her name! - There is no her.
OK.
You want a name? Amanda.
Bannister.
Park Avenue.
My attorney.
Maybe a few hours in a six-by-eight cell will improve your memory.
Get her out of here.
If you could go back to that moment, just you and him in that apartment would you do it again? Would you stick the knife in his chest? All 17 times.
Regrets are a waste of time, Detective.
Right.
You can't change the past.
Stand up.
T urn around.
No matter how OK you think you are, when you close your eyes at night, it's gonna haunt you.
Let's go.
The stomach contents confirm that Mr Carter did, indeed, ingest the dinner roll.
Just as his wife, Deborah, claimed.
We were lucky.
Starches are broken down quickly by the gastric acid.
But this survived quite well in a full stomach.
See? Barely digested.
Looks like steak, asparagus, salad and corn.
I've always been fascinated at the way corn withstands the acids of the stomach and travels through Sid, please.
Of course.
Yep.
If Kevin Carter swallowed half that dinner roll, then how can the DNA profile we recovered from the other half be that of an unknown female? Bear down.
You got it.
You can do it.
What are you doing? Don't stop.
I can't.
I mean, I'm done.
I can't do it.
I can't take another step.
I'm not gonna let you quit.
Look, you don't have a choice, all right.
I'm done.
Jerry, bring his chair.
- Same time tomorrow.
- Jerry, I'll take it.
Sure.
What are you doing here? Where's Lindsay? She's working.
I volunteered to come by and get you.
- Thanks.
- So what was that? What? You gotta try way harder if you're gonna get out of this chair.
Doc, you know what? I got a policy, buddy.
I don't take advice unless I ask for it.
Yeah, well, I got a policy too.
I'm always upfront with my friends.
You should have been up out of that chair weeks ago.
- You're not pushing yourself.
- What? I'll give you five minutes of the pain I feel every time I take a step! I've treated trauma patients that would trade places with you.
Look you came here to take me to work, right? Let's go.
There's a fireman that came into emergency one day.
Big strong guy.
Huh? Hit a walk-off home run at the department softball game.
Rounded the bases, crossed home plate.
His team piled on top of him in celebration.
Broke his back.
Never met anybody with a heart like this guy.
It took a lot of sweat and pain and perseverance but, eventually, yeah, he walked again.
Is that the end of that story? He said pain is the payment for each precious thing.
T ry harder, Danny.
Let's go.
Come on, let's go! - Oh, hey, babe.
- Hey.
Hey, how was therapy? Therapy was good.
What are we working on? Kevin Carter's clothing.
We're looking for a trace of another woman.
Man! How does eight years of marriage end like that? Love.
Wealthy guy.
Comfortable lifestyle.
If she married the money, she put that ring back in the box, hang the jacket up, sit down with her husband for a nice porterhouse and a glass of Merlot.
Of course.
It's so obvious.
She stabbed him in the chest 17 times with a carving knife because she loved him How do you do it? Crime scene cleanup by night, lab tech by day.
And student loans.
It's the great motivator.
These are the Carter crime scene photos.
I was searching for anything that would lead me to that second female suspect who was in the room.
You realise there was nothing recovered or analysed from the scene that hinted to her identity.
Yes.
So I switched focus.
I have cleaned up a countless number of crime scenes.
And I always tried to imagine what happened, piece a story together based on what was left behind.
And food is a major theme in murder.
There's a good half-pound of asparagus there.
A normal portion for two people.
Same for the corn.
The salad, still in the bowl.
Looks like it hasn't been touched.
If you'll notice the way the dressing sits in the curvature of the lettuce.
It was never tossed or lifted, as if it was never served.
Steak, asparagus, salad and corn.
The pieces of beef are still whole.
I'm pretty certain not one bite is missing, which makes sense because the dinner plates are still clean.
And the silverware.
So if nothing was consumed, how is it that the stomach contents is consistent with Kevin Carter having eaten a full meal? Anything from DNA on the dinner roll? I made the mistake of asking for local and national searches in CODlS together.
As you know, the comparisons in the national system are done monthly.
Ask for it before then? it gets approved, if you're lucky.
So you were lucky.
According to the young lady on the other end of the phone in Albany, I'm persistent and charming.
Oh, and modest.
Ha! Let's see what we got.
Yes! Based on Haylen's discovery, Kevin Carter had already eaten the exact same meal that Deborah had waiting for him.
Sid's autopsy report said the food in Kevin Carter's stomach was ingested 1 0 to 1 5 minutes before he died.
The garage where he parks his car is a half a block from the building.
Had to take at least 15 minutes to park the car, walk home, take the elevator up to his apartment.
The ring and the note.
He was having an affair.
It wasn't just a one-night stand.
It makes sense that she would know what his favourite meal is.
So dinner with his mistress out in public is too risky.
Instead, she cooks and, conveniently, lives nearby.
And if that's true, then the female profile we recovered from the dinner roll could have transferred from Kevin's lips moments after a kiss goodbye.
Only one problem.
It doesn't explain how the same DNA profile ends up on the handle of the knife.
Hey, guys.
Our case just got complicated.
As if it wasn't already.
Unknown female DNA? It's a match to 21 case-to-case hits in Connecticut, Jersey, upstate New York, Long lsland.
Murder, burglary, robbery.
Kevin Carter's mistress is a one-woman crime wave.
We now have case-to-case hits linking DNA from the Carter case to 21 felonies across three states in seven jurisdictions.
There's forensic evidence in all these cases, including several different DNA profiles.
But the only profile in common in all the cases belongs to our mystery woman.
Three of the murders occurred in New York.
One in the Bronx three days ago.
Drug-related home invasion.
Vic was shot with a.
9mm automatic.
Our mystery woman's DNA on spent shell casings at the scene.
Early morning stabbing in Queens at a club.
DNA on the rim of a glass believed to be used by the perp.
The Carter homicide doesn't seem to have anything else in common with the other two.
No ballistic matches, commonality from weapons, fingerprints.
Aside from DNA, there are no forensic connections to any of the 21 cases.
File are still coming in from the other departments.
We're looking for dots to connect.
Any progress identifying Kevin Carter's mistress? The ring she bought him was a peridot on a plain gold band.
It's cheap, simple.
Can be purchased at a million places in the city.
Also, it's pollen.
More specifically, pollen from pansies.
- This was on his clothing.
- No flowers in the apartment.
It was transferred to Kevin's jacket.
I think the woman he bought the flowers for, who bought him the ring, was the same woman he had dinner with before he was killed.
Pansies and peridot are gifts for a first wedding anniversary.
One more thing.
Carpet fibres.
These were all over the vic's shoes and socks.
Microscopic analysis showed a high degree of morphological integrity.
They were coated with high concentrations of a fluorochemical urethane, which is a protectant.
Now all of this is consistent with new carpet.
And the same brand was recently installed on two floors in the building next to Carter's.
We need to canvass the apartment complex.
This Carter homicide just turned into Son of Sam times five.
The mayor wants answers.
Commissioner's under fire.
Press is all over us.
Where are we with the investigation? How did the media get this? I have no idea and, at this moment, don't really care.
I've got a press conference in 30 minutes.
My guess is I'm gonna face aggressive questions about this mystery female killer.
Where are we, Mac? There's no other forensic connection.
No print matched to any of the scenes.
The MOs are different.
She's all over the place, geography-wise.
We have a murder suspect in custody who confesses to the murder but denies the existence of this mystery woman.
DNA's a compelling connection.
What else do you need? More than what we've got, before I suggest there's a serial killer in the city.
But what about the press? I have to tell them something.
Come on, Chief.
I've seen you do that.
"No comment, I'm not at liberty to discuss this" dance before.
Another body turns up, they will have a field day.
They'll scream cover up.
Say that we should have warned people.
I just need some time.
Well, I'll see what I can do.
No promises, Mac.
- Sorry to bother you.
- I'm Detective Bonasera.
You know this man? Hey, sorry to bother you.
Do you know this man? Hey, sorry to bother you.
Do you know this man? I swear if I see one more hairy guy in a wife-beater and boxers, I'm gonna lose my mind! Sorry to bother you.
I'm Detective Bonasera.
This is Detective Flack.
You know this man? Of course I know him.
He's my husband.
I can't believe this is happening.
That he's married to another woman.
That he's dead.
No one would blame you for being angry.
Kevin owned an import-export business.
He travelled a lot.
At least that's what he told me.
I passed the bar right after we got engaged.
Landed a job at a big firm.
Neither one of us was home much.
You give Kevin this, Zoya? Last night was our first wedding anniversary.
- I made him his favourite dinner.
- Steak, asparagus, corn and salad? Yes.
How do you know? Did you leave the apartment that night after Kevin left? No.
No, I cleaned up the dishes and worked on some briefs until midnight.
God! I feel so stupid! He said he was catching a red-eye to San Francisco to meet with a client.
I had a ton of work to do so I didn't complain too much.
- Is that her? His other wife? - Uh-huh.
The one that killed him? - You never seen her before? - No.
Never.
- Ever been to her apartment? - Absolutely not.
Mrs Carter, we'd like to take a DNA elimination sample.
From me? I don't understand.
You said she confessed.
Someone else was in the apartment when Kevin was killed.
If it wasn't you, the sample will prove it.
- You think she knew about Deborah? - I don't.
This guy covered his tracks well.
Both of Kevin's parents are deceased.
His brother was killed in a car accident in Seattle 10 years ago.
Used the same name but his brother's social to create a second identity.
Married to two women in the same apartment complex.
It's hard to believe they never bumped into each other.
And if she is lying? She's the second best one we've had in here in 24 hours.
Zoya has a motive to lie.
And a motive for murder.
This puts an image on the number of cases we're dealing with.
Yeah, not quite.
There are still boxes trickling in.
Here.
Incident reports from all 21 cases.
These will help create a profile on our donor.
Hopefully, we can find something that links them other than DNA.
- It's just gonna take time.
- We will.
One box at a time.
One file at a time.
I got here a bit early.
Danny, about yesterday.
If If I came across rude Don't apologise.
You're just doing your job.
Look, I'm done whining.
I came here so you can help me get out of this wheelchair.
I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.
I got a few precious things I need to pay for.
You got it.
You're doin' great.
Hey! Got your message.
What's up? Zoya Carter's DNA has no match in CODlS.
She is not our killer.
We're starting all over again.
Not exactly because I might have something really good.
OK.
I found another forensic connection in at least three of our linked cases.
Now this World Send package was recovered from a drug-related home invasion murder in the Bronx.
Now I also found cocaine residue on the inside of the package.
Now these were recovered from a Westchester County home invasion the next day and a Greenwich, Connecticut crime scene a day later.
Now cocaine residue on all three of these packages have the exact same chemical fingerprint.
Three different counties.
Three separate police labs and no one connected the dots, until Hawkes initiated a wider CODlS search.
And it gets better.
All these crime scenes are only 12 miles apart and these packages were all delivered by the same World Send employee.
By analysing times, locations and MOs, we've created a 3D geographic profile for our mystery woman.
The highest peak represents her most probable place of residence.
Checking for parolees? Outstanding warrants? Yes, sir.
Does your profile include where she might strike next? Nothing I'd hang my hat on.
The odd intervals and variety of her crimes make it difficult to predict.
We do know what she may look like.
Using genetic data extracted from her DNA samples, witness accounts, and forensics, I've created a basic physiological profile of our killer.
We believe she's of European descent, female, 20 to 30 years of age, She has dark hair, dark eyes.
She's well groomed, socially active, extremely athletic.
But I can't explain the bizarre pattern or the diversity of the victims.
In several cases it appears that our suspect was working with one or more accomplices.
But one thing is certain.
Her crime spree is increasing in violence and frequency.
Isn't it unusual for a woman to commit so many violent crimes? It is.
That makes our suspect list very small.
Your profile narrows it even further.
Well, this might narrow it down to one.
OK, now we've got three drug-related home invasion homicide vics, all linked by our mystery woman's DNA.
Now each vic has a long rap sheet for narcotics, trafficking and possession.
All are linked forensically by Lindsay through cocaine residue found on World Send packaging recovered from the scenes.
All three packages were delivered by this woman.
Marcia Vasquez.
Locked up in 2001 at age 17 for possession of drugs and weapons.
She was sentenced to five years' probation.
No DNA profile on CODlS.
No recent arrest activity.
She's now 25 years old, lives in the North Bronx and she's been a World Send employee for six months.
Each package was delivered the day before the murder.
Hey! What are you doing! Watch out! Got her! Got her! Got her! Move! Don't move! Drop it! Put the knife down! Shoot me! Shoot me or I'll kill you! Don't move! - Drop it now! - Stay back! - Drop it now! - Shoot me or I'll kill you! Drop it! Do it now! Shoot me or I'll kill you! Why didn't you just pull the damn trigger? The truth is coming out.
In this room or in court, it's coming out! You didn't act alone so who you working with? I told you.
You're wasting your time! I'm not saying nothin'! I'm not writing nothin'! I'm not giving you nothin'! Nothin'! Well, we've got your DNA.
Yeah, I know you refused to give it so we collected a sample from your fingerprint card.
It connects you to more than a dozen homicides.
- A dozen homicides? - Yeah.
It puts you in the Carters' flat the night of the murder.
I don't know nobody named Carter.
The only thing I know is you're a damn coward.
Who are you protecting? Who else is involved? - What the hell happened out there? - Nobody got hurt.
That's not the answer I was looking for.
He froze, Mac.
He couldn't pull the trigger.
She could have easily killed him.
- Don Everything OK with you? - Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm not convinced.
Well, why do you need to be? Did I do something wrong? It's what you didn't do.
Could have got you killed.
Am I being second-guessed for not killing someone? - I thought that was a good thing.
- It is.
If it was a choice.
People are concerned about you.
Tell people I said thanks.
But I can take care of myself.
I wish that was true.
If it wasn't for Lindsay saving your arse today, we might be having this conversation in an emergency room or maybe not at all.
Unless you wanna make that official, I got nothing else to say.
What are you working on? Lindsay asked me to cross-reference.
Marcia's pickup and delivery locations with all of our case-to-case hits.
Ah, the tedious side of lab work! - Dr Hawkes.
- Yeah.
Take a look at this.
It's impossible.
She couldn't have been two places at the same time.
Remember these guys, Marcia? You delivered them drugs, waited till they sold their supply and then went back and murdered them for the money.
Robbing and killing drug dealers is one thing.
But what about these people? Can you explain this to me? How do you know the Carters? I already told you.
I don't know the Carters.
Come on, Marcia.
It's over! Who are you working with? Are these contract killings? Is that why they're all over the place? Something's bothering you.
Her mannerisms.
Her demeanour.
The photos of the three dead drug dealers made her uncomfortable.
She turned 'em over, pushed 'em away.
The photos of Carter and the other victims didn't affect her at all.
- Mac - It isn't her, is it? No.
Not unless she has the ability to be two places at one time.
Haylen compared Marcia's movements using the World Send tracking system to the CODlS hits.
She couldn't have possibly been at several of the crime scenes.
Somewhere along the way we got it wrong.
We messed up.
The swab I took from Marcia's print card matched the profile for the case-to-case hits.
I ran it myself.
But how is that possible? She clearly wasn't at some of these crime scenes.
Not contamination.
We're dealing with different crime labs.
We're missing something fundamental.
Until we figure out what that is, I need you all to go through every aspect of these cases.
Something connects them to this phantom DNA.
OK.
Here we go again.
We collected a sample from your fingerprint card.
It connects you to more than a dozen homicides.
Stella, Chief Sinclair's giving a press conference announcing the arrest of the phantom killer for the six o'clock news.
- Stop him from doing that.
- No problem.
Where are you going? Brooklyn.
No telling how many potential victims there would have been.
Excuse me, sir.
I need to speak with you privately.
Excuse us.
Chief, you can't move forward with this press conference.
Detective, this department and city need a bit of good news.
We have the person responsible for countless crimes in custody.
This arrest isn't what it appears to be.
Marcia Vasquez is not the phantom killer.
She is responsible for three of the murders but not the rest.
I was told the DNA's a match in all the cases.
Chief, you have never questioned my judgement before.
- That's right.
- Don't do it now.
Please trust me.
Can I help you? I'm hoping you can.
Do you touch all the cotton out of these boxes? - Most of it, I guess.
- Do you ever wear gloves? We're supposed to but they make my hands all sweaty.
Am I in trouble? I hope you're not an inspector or something.
No.
Just a detective with the New York Crime Lab.
Approximately one month ago, White Tip Cotton won a city contract to provide evidence swabs for the NYPD Crime Lab and several other departments.
Earlier today, a DNA sample was taken from a female employee of the company, confirming what our investigators suspected.
The cotton swabs provided to our department were inadvertently contaminated by this female employee during the packing process.
Although these swabs were sterilised at the end of that process, sterilisation is only effective in eliminating bacteria, not human DNA.
There is no phantom murderer running loose in the streets of the city.
Our investigators, led by detectives Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera.
Ied to the arrest of two homicide suspects, one of whom will be charged with the murder of three individuals.
Press conference over.
I'm sorry.
This is a crime scene cleanup.
You're not allowed to be here.
He was my husband.
He cheated on me with another woman.
I'm sorry.
Um Thought I had the perfect man, perfect life.
They look like a happy couple, huh? I don't know what I'll do.
How I'll move on from this.
He was my life.
I'm glad she killed him.
So I didn't have to.
- Drop it! - Shoot me! Do it now!
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