CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

In a casino, a couple (Mr. and Mrs. Rifkin) wins at roulette, then goes to a bar. The husband checks out another couple that he'd seen in the casino (the mystery couple); the wife agrees to try anything once. The next morning, the maid finds a dead body in the hotel room.

Grissom examines the body; the woman's throat was slit; the bedding, sheets and towels are missing. The deceased is Alice Dominguez, but the room is registered under the name "Parker" which they discover is the name from a stolen credit card that paid for the room. Catherine and Grissom examine the body further and find that the woman didn't struggle at all. Brass talks to other hotel guests, one of whom heard an argument around 10:35 the night before. Nick talks to the valet parking guys, and meets a guy he used to play baseball with, Kenny, who asks about what happened, and Nick gives him some information about how the crime was committed.

In the autopsy, Dr. Robbins finds that the cut wasn't very deep, and Mrs. Dominguez's blood contained both alcohol and Ecstasy. He also found glitter on her feet, and recognized it from a strip club called Shimmer.

Warrick and Sara go to the Dominguez's hotel room, where they find that the clothes are still present, and a gas receipt that gives them the vehicle licence and make. Nick, in the parking garage, finds a dead male in a vehicle. His throat has also been slit, but differently than his wife's; they also find a knife in the car. The finger prints on the hotel door and the knife both belong to the husband; Grissom says that it's possible that the husband killed the wife, but who killed the husband?

At Shimmer, Grissom and Catherine talk to a stripper who recognizes the dead couple and says that a second couple, the mystery couple, paid for the dances, and just watched. Catherine gets a call about an evidentiary meeting in the Sam Braun case, and has to leave. Archie reviews the elevator tapes; they see a key to a room at the Tangiers in the mystery husband's hand. A news cast reports 'insider information' on the case, and Nick realizes that he is the source, via Kenny.

At court, the media wants a statement from Sam Braun regarding his case being dismissed, but the lawyer says that he has no statement.

Grissom talks to the Rifkins, who say that the mystery couple invited them to their room, and nothing happened because they got 'creeped out.' when the husband asked 'how much do you love your wife?' They tell Brass and Grissom that they got into an argument and the mystery couple kicked them out.

Catherine talks to Warrick about Sam Braun, saying that she had a DNA test run on herself against blood evidence in the case, and that's why the case got thrown out.

Brass and Grissom go to a cheap motel, where they find another woman with her throat slit. Brass identifies her from her i.d. in her purse - Wendy Laggerman; they look for her husband, and while searching the parking lot, another motel guest starts scooping ice from the ice machine and discovers the husband's body. They struggle to get the body out, and can't because it's in full rigor and frozen. They race to process the scene before everything melts, and Grissom finds a knife in the ice. There's also a blood smudge inside the ice machine to be processed.

In the motel room, Grissom examines the 'magic fingers' box on the bed, and suggests that the killers may have put coins in it, which would have finger prints. Catherine wonders why the killer changed hotels; Nick admits that the killer probably heard about himself on the news and so changed his m.o. Back at the lab, Nick processes the coins. Greg tells him that there was an unknown blood sample on the knife, which would probably be the killer's.

Grissom goes over the case with Catherine, and wonders how the killers get the husband to kill his own wife; Catherine suggests a gun to the head, and Grissom counters with saving the wife from something worse. They wonder why this husband was put in the ice machine; Catherine says that they had no car.

Nick runs the prints and comes up with Mandy Klinefeld, married to Cameron and living in the area. Brass and Grissom track down the Klinefelds, and asks about their hotel stays; Grissom pulls a Shimmer sparkle off Mr. Klinefeld's shoe.

The team goes over the case; they suspect that Mr. Dominguez was forced to kill his wife, and then taken out to his car, where the Klinefelds killed him. Glitter was found on both Mr. and Mrs. Dominguez and on Mr. Klinefeld. The second murder has no prints available, but some blood on the ice machine. Brass and Grissom go to the judge's chambers but he won't sign the warrant because there's not enough evidence, and the doesn't want to be overturned on appeal as it will hurt his chances at advancement.

Nick reviews the casino tapes of the Klinefelds and the Rifkins drinking together, and they see Mrs. Klinefeld kiss Mr. Rifkin and put her tongue in his ear. Mr. Dominguez has already been autopsied and washed, but not Mr. Laggerman, and they get a sample from his ear, which comes back as being female DNA, and matches the blood sample from the ice machine. This is enough to get them a warrant.

They arrive at the Klinefeld's house; the door is open. Brass announces that they're police and have a warrant. They search the house and discover Mrs. Kleinfeld dead in the living room, shot in the back, and Mr. Klinefeld dead in a chair. Brass announces, "We have a problem... Somebody got to our killers before we did."

TO BE CONTINUED...