CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Two nuns get the shock of their lives when they find a woman suspended from the rafters of their church, dripping blood onto a statue of Mary. Nick and Warrick get started on the investigation by rigging a pulley system to lower the victim down from her resting place. To make matters worse, the woman was tied to a crudely built crucifix, positioned like a dying Jesus. Since the woman was still bleeding when she was found, it's likely she died while on the cross, probably of suffocation. But the woman also has a head wound; Catherine heads off to find the point of origin of the trail of blood drops inside the church.

When Father Frank Berlin arrives at the church, Brass wonders where he's been. "Serving breakfast at the shelter," he responds piously, though he's 45 minutes late. He's more concerned that he can't have mass that morning since his pulpit is a crime scene. Though he seems not to recognize the victim, Grissom isn't so sure, and Greg notices drops of blood on the priest's jacket. His explanation? He broke up a fight at the homeless shelter. It's not a good enough story, as far as Grissom's concerned, and he asks Greg to take the Father's clothing in for examination. Berlin balks at the idea, but he has no choice. Later, Greg sees a spark of emotion in the priest when the man sinks grief-stricken on to the steps of the church.

As Catherine walks the church alcoves, she finds a set of votive candles. After placing a dollar in the donation box, she lights a candle. "This one's for you, Sam," she says as she makes the sign of the cross. Outside, she finds more blood as well as a pair of strappy heels and a set of car keys. With the panic button, she finds the victim's car parked on the street.

Back at the lab, Sara takes what evidence she can find, scraping under the woman's fingernails for DNA. She also finds a thorn from a bougainvillea shrub in the woman's foot; Grissom confirms that there were shrubs present at the church. He also notices a familiar looking mark around the woman's neck and sets off in search of the source. From his desk, he retrieves a set of rosary beads (once his mother's) and matches them to the bruise pattern. "Who would strangle someone with a rosary?" Sara wonders.

Warrick examines a rolling scaffold inside the church, testing each rung of the ladder with PHENOLPHTHALEIN. He comes up short until he finds a red hair on a rung, which also tests positive for the presence of blood. As he ascends, he finds a bloody foot print as well as another red hair. When the red hairs are sent in for testing, Hodges identifies them as belonging to a Guernsey cow. Nick searches the church's utility room and finds what tools were likely used in the construction of the cross, including a clawed hammer. It's looking more and more like an inside job.

When Father Berlin asks to get his clothing back, Grissom isn't ready to hand it over. Unfortunately, Grissom wants even more from him, namely, to search both the rectory and the nuns' rooms. He's looking for rosaries, and the younger of the two nuns, Sister Bridget, promises to deliver them to him.

Sofia questions Hugo Bombay, the owner of a car found near the church. He loaned it to the victim, Charlotte Danville, the day before, even though she had her own tricked out Lexus. It's a sketchy explanation, especially considering Charlotte didn't explain why she wanted to borrow Hugo's car. All Hugo knows is that Charlotte was supposed to be singing at his club, but she had a run-in with a man before her set. The man's name: Cody White, a used-car salesman who does commercials on television. Hugo seems a little kooky, but he's got a solid alibi and is released.

Cody White is livid when Brass arrives to take the Lexus that Charlotte had been driving. Apparently Cody loaned the car to Charlotte, but eventually he needed the car back. Charlotte hadn't been happy about it, but she'd given him the keys and stalked off. Now Cody's the unhappy one, since his car is heading to the precinct whether he likes it or not.

At Charlotte's apartment, Catherine and Sofia are surprised at its well-appointed appearance. They find evidence of a fight, including blood stains and overturned furniture. In a photo album, Catherine recognizes pictures of a much younger Father Berlin, Cody White and Charlotte together in a school setting. And Sofia discovers something else: a broken rosary near her abandoned purse and cell phone. She'd also emptied her liquor cabinet, judging by the full garbage can and a drain that smells of whiskey. Combining that with a new bottle of folic acid vitamins and a fridge full of vegetables, both women suspect one thing: Charlotte was pregnant.

At the lab, Grissom compares the rosary found in Charlotte's place to Father Berlin's. They look exactly the same. When Brass goes to question Berlin, he finds him and Cody White in a scuffle outside the church confessional. Looks like their friendship isn't what it used to be.

At the station, Brass is ticked off that Father Frank lied to the cops about knowing Charlotte, and his alibi is weak--he was with a crack addict, walking off the guy's high. But his questioning comes to an abrupt halt when Sister Bridget barges into the station with the bloody hammer in hand, confessing that she committed the murder. Physics isn't on her side, however; there's no way at her weight that she could have hauled both Charlotte and the crucifix up the pulley.

Nick checks out the hammer and pulls a print off the handle; it's a match to Father Berlin. Oddly, the blood on both the hammer and his jacket don't match Charlotte's. Why would Sister Bridget assume that Father Berlin committed the murder? Grissom discovers records that mention the removal of the priest from his former parish after a female parishioner killed herself. Sister Bridget may have suspected Berlin was involved. Yet another wrench is thrown into the proceedings when Catherine confirms that Charlotte was ten weeks pregnant, and Father Frank's semen was found in her bed. Since another DNA sample was found on the bed skirt, it will take time to confirm the identity of the baby's father.

Judging from Charlotte's photo album, she and Frank were once a happy couple, but she attended the prom with Cody. Was that what first sent Frank to the seminary? When Brass asks Father Berlin point blank, "Who killed Charlotte Danville?" the priest answers, "I did." Grissom doesn't buy it, so he sends Sara and Catherine back to the Lexus to gather more information. Though the car has been cleaned, Sara knows a spot that is always missed by the detailers: the gas pedal. She uses LUMINOL to reveal a bloody shoe print.

Brass questions Cody about paying Charlotte's rent and loaning her such an expensive car. Cody replies that he was just doing a favor for a friend, but Brass sees it as an awfully big favor. Later, Sofia and Sara hit up Cody for a DNA sample at his car dealership, and Greg comes back from Cody's office carrying boots that have tested positive for blood. Cody's also wearing a cow hide vest with red spots--Guernsey cow, to be specific.

With the evidence staring Cody in the face, the truth starts to come out. Over the years he'd given Charlotte everything she ever wanted, but she'd never loved him. She was about to leave him for someone else and had even gotten her own place.

The night Charlotte died, Cody showed up at her apartment, demanding to know who she was going to be with. When Cody realized the "other man" was Frank, he went crazy, attacking her. The day Cody went to confession with Father Berlin, he'd confessed to the priest that he killed Charlotte, but since Frank holds his vows sacred, he didn't give Cody up. Cody confesses a second time about how he strung Charlotte up in the church. He can't explain why, but something evil got into him that night. Sofia wonders if that he'd have acted on his evil impulse if he'd known the truth: Charlotte was pregnant with his child.

Brass and Grissom slowly draw the real story from Father Berlin. Though it was a painful decision, he'd chosen to leave his vocation to be with Charlotte. He loved her too much to walk away from her a second time, as he had following high school. They'd made love only once after he decided to leave the church.

In the end, Father Berlin can't escape his nature; he asks to see Cody once more, to grant forgiveness. "It's Christ's mandate," he sadly tells Grissom. He has to give absolution, no matter how heinous the crime, no matter how his life has been destroyed.