CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Episode opens as a flashback to the bar Catherine and Nick visited towards the end of the previous episode. We see Catherine sat at the bar, all views are fuzzy to indicate her state of awareness.

Cut to a dark room, holes in the curtains allow sunlight to stream into the room. Catherine wakes up, she is alone in the room. She gathers the sheets around her, stands and looks out of the window.

She then enters the bathroom and with items from her purse she begins to take various samples from her person. She then takes a shower and leaves what we can now see is a seedy motel.

She speaks to the man running the motel office. He is disinterested in what she has to say, favouring a personal conversation he is having on the phone. She grabs his arm and demands "Did you see me last night?" He confirms that he did, that she was out of it and that the room was paid for with her own credit card. The manager can't provide great detail about her companion, as he puts it "I get paid not to notice." Catherine leaves, dissatisfied.

New crime scene. A man is slumped at a kitchen table with a bleeding head wound. The camera pans up and out to give a wider view of the room where we find Sara and Grissom examining a model on the counter top.

"I think Malibu Barbie did it!" quips Sara as the camera reveals the model to be a perfect half inch replica of the crime scene. It was presumably left by the killer and must have taken weeks, possibly months to build. The blood pools are identical in both the crime scene and the miniature replica, and both are real blood. In order to mirror the crime scene so perfectly the killer must have waited around after the crime to complete the model.

Sara and Grissom determine that there was no forced entry, the body has not been posed and that blunt force trauma to the head is the likely cause of death.

Outside in the driveway of the crime scene the body is taken away. A number of women are standing behind the crime tape screaming and two fans break through and begin to run towards the house closely pursued by a police officer. Sara meets Greg at the bottom of the path and thanks him for coming. Greg can't believe she is leaving as the victim is revealed to be the rock star Izzy Delancy. Sara mentions she has something to take care of and leaves Greg to process the house with Nick and Grissom.

Inside the house Sofia and Nick interview the Nanny who they originally mistake for Mrs. Delancy. She confirms that she found the body and immediately called 911. She then asks for a copy of the police report which Sofia clearly finds distasteful.

Back at the motel Catherine is standing in the parking lot. Sara meets her and asks what's going on. Catherine explains that she woke up in a strange motel room, naked and with no memory of getting there. She suspects that she was slipped Rohypnol and possibly raped. Catherine gives Sara her improvised rape kit which Sara points out will not be admissible in court. Catherine explains that she doesn't want an official investigation; she just wants to know what happened to her. Sara agrees to process the motel room and Catherine asks her not to mention the incident to anyone else.

Back at the major crime scene Sofia is questioning the actual Mrs. Delancy whilst Nick collects evidence from her. Mrs. Delancy claims that she was out at a coffee shop and did not enter the kitchen upon her return. Sofia emphasises the likelihood that the perpetrator had access to the house and queried how many people had the code to the main gates. The list provided is extensive. She suggests that their first suspect should be Izzy's teenaged son Sven, a product of her husband's first marriage.

Sofia and Nick begin to question Sven. He explains that upon arriving at the house he played games and did his homework. Typically he never saw his father until dinner time, and in general saw him infrequently because he lives with his mother. Sofia probes as to whether there is any anger about this but Sven seems indifferent. Sven's mother Dusty enters the room and whilst comforting him notices the team have fingerprinted him, which she is unhappy about. She refuses to provide an alibi and leaves taking Sven with her.

Back in the kitchen Grissom is still inspecting the miniature model of the crime scene. He notices the incredibly specific detail of it, including the contents of the bin. He then discovers a bloodstained rolling pin in one of the kitchen drawers.

Catherine is now back at the lab where she processes her evidence. Wendy enters and is curious about Catherine's strange samples. Catherine becomes snappy with her interference and upon discovering her swab was negative for semen she leaves whilst Wendy remains, looking confused.

Catherine delivers a urine sample to Hodges in a paper coffee cup. She also provides him with her improvised swab and asks that it be checked for spermicides. Hodges demands a case number and Catherine pulls rank telling him to consider it a proficiency exam. As she leaves Hodges' lab she runs into her father (Sam Braun) in the hallway. When she questions his presence he makes a poor excuse and then tells her she doesn't always need a reason to call him, he then leaves.

At the coroners office Grissom and Doc Robbins sing to one of Izzy Delancy's songs whilst preparing to begin the autopsy. Doc Robbins plays air guitar with one of his crutches and when asked the cause of death he offers it tunefully, his findings corroborating the initial assessment of blunt force trauma. As Grissom looks at an X-ray of the chest cavity he notices a key in the victim's stomach.

Catherine returns to the motel in a taxi and collects her own car. She checks the glove compartment for her gun, which is there. She then returns to the club that she and Nick visited the previous night. She questions the owner who does not remember her being there as it was a busy night. The surveillance cameras only cover the cash registers and could not provide an identity for her. She tries to recall the face of the man who offered to buy her a drink but her memory is blurred.

Grissom turns his attention to the tiny figure in the miniature crime scene. He dissects it to see if there is a key in its stomach, but there isn't. This means that the killer does not have knowledge of every aspect of Izzy's life. Sara supplies a possible motive for Sven, Dusty and Izzy current wife: ownership of rights to his songs which each stands to inherit under different circumstances. Ecklie requests that Grissom release photos of the miniature to the press in case a member of the public unknowingly contributed parts to it. Grissom disagrees so Ecklie seeks support from Sara. She backs Grissom in his refusal and Ecklie makes a snide remark that he is not surprised by her position. Grissom and Sara seem perplexed by this.

Greg encounters Grissom in the hallway and gives him an update on the key found in the victim's stomach. It opens a safe, one that Izzy has apparently hidden from the other members of the household.

Back at the crime scene Greg uncovers the elusive safe and opens it to discover among other things, three boxes with skeletal chicken heads in them. He also finds some pink fabric which matches a quilt in the nanny's room. On her laptop there are pictures of these chicken heads that have been submitted to a gossip magazine, confirming that the nanny has gained access to the safe.

Catherine picks Lindsay up from her dance class. As Lindsay gets in the car they argue about Catherine's lateness. Catherine is despondent and apologises as she receives a text message from Hodges confirming there was no spermicide on Catherine's swab, making it likely that Catherine was not raped. Her mood improves with this news and she begins to chat more freely with Lindsay. Suddenly another car crashes into theirs and a man opens Lindsay's door and removes her from the vehicle. Catherine asks if her daughter is ok, but it quickly becomes apparent that he is not helping, but instead kidnapping Lindsay. He bundles her into another car which speeds off leaving Catherine screaming for her daughter.

A short time has now passed and police and medics are at the scene. Warrick arrives and Catherine reels off details she remembers about the incident whilst he attempts to calm her. It becomes apparent that it was a premeditated crash and that Catherine was not a random target.

Back at the lab Catherine has acquainted Grissom with her situation in full. She says that she didn't tell Grissom about the motel as she feared a lecture. Grissom is relieved to hear that her kit proved no rape took place. He suggests they check her old cases in search of anyone with a grudge.

Nick can't find any physical evidence on the car that crashed into Catherine's vehicle, he also apologises profusely for leaving her alone at the bar the previous night. Catherine consoles him and states that they would have got to her one way or another. Catherine's phone rings, it's her father asking when she was going to tell him about Lindsay's kidnap. Catherine points out that it only just happened and that news has reached him suspiciously fast. He gives her another poor excuse and they end their call, although Catherine is now clearly suspicious.

Catherine tracks Sam down at one of his casinos. She demands to know what is going on and Sam produces two polaroids, the first is of her lying naked in the motel bed, the second is a picture of Lindsay bound and gagged. Together they are a ransom demand. Catherine blames Sam who denies all wrong doing. Catherine calls him "a thug in thousand dollar shoes." His response is to slap her.

Catherine takes the pictures back to the lab where they identify the chair Lindsay is tied to as one item listed in a burglary some weeks earlier. They raid the address and find Lindsay unharmed. The suspect is seriously injured in the raid. Catherine identifies him as the man at the bar. Grissom points out that the car accident was a two man job, but Catherine cannot remember any other people.

Back at the lab, Greg and Sara are processing the evidence from the murder. Having discovered that the nanny had accessed the secret safe and was selling her findings to a gossip magazine Sofia brings her in for questioning. The nanny confesses that Izzy had swallowed the key to antagonise his wife. The nanny had then commissioned a new key from its outline on an X-ray Izzy had taken. She claimed her purpose was only to sell information. Sofia mentions that they found evidence that she was having an affair with Izzy and that she had a motive to kill him as it meant she'd have the scoop on the story. She denies it.

Greg discovers that Izzy's marriage to Dusty was not legally recognised and that she was not provided for when they split up, giving her additional motive. Sara and Sofia go to Dusty's house to question her on this point and when pressed, she finally provides her alibi, she was with Izzy's current wife. Whilst there they discover that her son Sven is passionate about technical drawings and has the skills to make scale models.

Sven is interviewed again but denies any involvement. He point out that both his mother and stepmother have reason to kill him. Sofia confirms they have a solid alibi. As they continue to question him, he is shown a picture of his father lying in a blood pool, at which point he experiences a fainting spell. Sven claims that he always faints at the sight of blood. Grissom wishes to test this stating that, if true, he would be incapable of committing the crime. An experiment proves Sven is not lying, leaving all current suspects cleared of the crime and no persons of interest left for them to investigate. Grissom assures Sara that he will deal with it.

In the hallway Wendy informs Catherine of a partial match to the DNA of the kidnapper. He is the brother of Robert O'Brien, the man who committed suicide at Sam Braun's implosion party in the previous episode. A hair from the ducts tape used to bind Lindsay was that of Robert's lover Joe Hirschoff.

Catherine searches for Sam again and finds him leaving a casino. She asks him to stop any action he's been taking against the guys who kidnapped Lindsay but Sam feigns ignorance. Catherine explains that Sam bankrupted Joe and Robert, causing Robert to kill himself and Joe to seek revenge. Whilst they talk Catherine notices someone familiar in the distance behind Sam, she realises it is Joe as he raises a gun and points it at Sam. Catherine begins to scream which causes Sam to turn and follow Catherine's line of sight, as he does so Joe shoots him twice in the chest and runs. He is shot dead seconds later by Sam's bodyguard. Sam collapses and Catherine cradles his head in her lap. As she screams for help, he lies still in her arms.

At the lab Grissom is investigating the miniature crime scene with a microscopic optical device. He notices something stuck to the back of a miniature picture frame. Upon closer examination it appears to be a picture of a dolls head with bloodstains on it. Grissom looks puzzled as the episode ends.