CSI: NY

It's 12:15 noon, rush hour at the Grand Central Station. People from all walks
of life coming and going as they try to go about their usual daily business. A
man with a saxophone tries to give the commuters entertainment, as well as make
a living for himself. A little girl wearing a pink dress is seen walking with
her mother, who is holding hand and telling to her to hold on to Franklin, her
stuffed bear, tight. The little girl says she will, but the number of bustling
people separate the two. The little girl calls for her mother, but she can't
see her through all the tall people. The mother calls desperately for her
daughter, whose name is Emily, but she doesn't find her because she's too small
to stand out. The two are then drifted further apart by the waves of people.

Emily climbs up a few steps on the stairs hoping to find her mother. She hears
a scream from behind her and turns around to see a man with burn marks on his
face howling in pain. A metal container is flying through the air, spilling out
it's liquid contents. Emily drops her bear and looks at her sleeve where a drop
of the liquid landed and sees that it's burning through her dress.

The crowd panics and runs as the man with the burned face screams louder and
clutches his face as he falls down the steps. He staggers to the center of the
station and collapses.

Later, Mac arrives at the scene and sternly tells the officers to get the
people back and away from the crime scene now. He starts barking orders to have
the whole area roped of and doesn't want people coming up and down the stairs.
He tells the people who were sitting on the stairs to watch to get back, and
calls an officer to secure the area. He walks over to the man just before he is
wheeled out on a stretcher. Hawkes uses litmus paper to determine the acidity
of the liquid found in the crime scene and tells Mac that the pH (power of
Hydrogen) is 14, consistent with lye. Hawkes puts the litmus paper in an
evidence envelope and asks Mac where to start. Mac tells him to go with the
victim and try to find out something, and Hawkes dashes off.

As the ambulance speeds off to the hospital, Hawkes starts to inject an IV tube
into the victim's arm when a med personnel asks him if he's qualified to do
that. Hawkes answers "Five years in the ER. You want my resume, or do you want
my help?" The personnel calls ahead to the hospital about the victim while
Hawkes tells the victim to nod his head if he could hear him. The man manages
to force out a "yes", and Hawkes thinks it's a good sign that he can still
talk. He asks if the victim saw the people who threw the lye on him, the victim
answers that he did. Hawkes then asks if he could describe them, but the man
doesn't get to answer as he starts to gag and goes into cardiac arrest. A medical
personnel starts to put a breathing tube down the man's throat as Hawkes
desperately gives him CPR.

Back at the station, Mac sees traces of lye on the steps and tells Flack that
this is where the attack started. Flack tells him that there was nothing in the
interviews that's worth mentioning. Mac looks at the crowd and comments about
having "two thousand eyes, not one witness."

Later, a frustrated Hawkes comes back and throws his gloves into the trash can.
He informs Mac and Flack that the victim is "on a detour to the morgue" and
that he wasn't able to get anything from him. Flack identifies the victim as
Dr. Spencer Howard, a prominent plastic surgeon who just got off the 8:30
train, then thinks that they have a "wackadoo" throwing around acid at people's
faces. Mac corrects him ("It's lye, not acid."). Flack goes off to question the
"nuts" in the city and work his way up, and Hawkes starts to process the area.
As Hawkes takes a new pair of gloves, Mac assures him that he did everything he
could to save the victim, and Hawkes tells him that he could never get used to
it. He notices Mac holding a bottle of phenothaline and asks if he's found a
blood trail. Mac tells him that he found a lye trail, informing him that
phenothaline also reacts with hydroxide. Hawkes tells him it's a "good thing
that wasn't on the exam". Mac asks if he's ready to search for the "Holy
Grail", and when Hawkes looks confused, he explains that the person has to have
some sort of container to be able to throw lye on someone's face. Hawkes starts
to expound on the Holy Grail when Mac stops him, saying that he's read The Da
Vinci code too, and then tells him to grab a bottle to search for more lye.

The two start to spray the area, and Mac picks up the lye trail. From the
pattern of the spill, he thinks the container must've been kicked around during
the commotion. Hawkes finds a stuffed bear behind the telephone booth and finds
the imprint of shoe. Mac finds more lye but with a different pattern of spatter
(the one made when a cup is being emptied completely of its contents), calls
Hawkes over and tells him that the trail ends here. Hawkes says he couldn't
find a container, so they think someone must've taken their murder weapon.
Hawkes then sees Emily, the little girl in the pink dress, near the yellow
tape, with her mother and a medic bandaging her arm. He comes over and asks for
her name then shows her the bear. The girl exclaims happily, and then Hawkes asks
if he could borrow Franklin for a little while. The girl asks him why ("Did you
lose yours?", then Hawkes tells her that Franklin might be able to tell them
who hurt her arm and promises to take good care of the bear, getting Emily to
agree.

In another part of New York, a couple is seen lounging on the rooftop. The
woman moans in pleasure as the man massages her feet. She then tells him that
her sun's gone away, so he stands up to move one of the plants blocking the
rays when he notices someone's feet not far off. He slowly approaches and sees
a dead girl with cuts around her neck. The woman, who was probably wondering
what the man was looking at also walks over. She sees the body and screams.

Moments later, Danny and Stella are on the rooftop, the former taking pictures
and the latter saying they couldn't find a purse or anything to identify the
body. Danny notes the victim was strangled with clean cuts around the neck and
had hemorrhaging in the eyes. Detective John Scagnetti, who was interviewing the
couple, approaches them and says "Mr. and Mrs. Butterball" doesn't know
anything, and the landlord knew everything about his tenants and had never seen
the victim before. Stella takes a magnifying glass and spots gray smudge on the
victim's cheek, thinks it's gunshot residue (GSR), but Danny says there's not a
drop of blood around, and nobody reported a gunshot.

At the ME's office, Dr. Zao confirms that the cause of death (COD) was
asphyxiation due to strangulation. Danny says that doesn't explain the GSR on
her face and Zao tells him he's swabbed it and sent it to trace. Stella asks
Zao if the cuts on the throat was from a rope, but he says it's hard to say
because the ligature marks were too thin to be traditional rope, and they
didn't find any fibers on the neck. Stella agrees, saying they didn't see
anything at the scene, to which Zao tells them the victim didn't see anything
either. He tells them that the victim was actually blind, and Danny asks "Who
strangles a blind girl"?

Cut to Flack at the plastic surgeon's clinic. He informs Dr. Stanley Thatcher
that his partner is dead. Thatcher, who's currently prepping up a patient for
surgery, looks at Flack in shock, and Flack tells him that someone burned the
victim's face at the Grand Central Station. The news startles the patient and
looks at Flack with pen marks on her face, and that startles Flack. Thatcher
still can't believe his partner's death, Flack asks if the victim had mentioned
any incidents of harassment or threats from anyone, and the surgeon tells him
that the victim was well liked. Flack picks up one of the scissors from the
tray and asks if he ever messed up in surgery ("Nip a little too much here,
tuck a little too much there"), waving the scissors and snipping them in the
air. This disturbs Thatcher and asks Flack to put it down, which Flack readily
does, and the doctor explains that plastic surgeons try to make people into
swans but they can't always "fix an ugly duckling". Thatcher then tells Flack
he has to get back to his patient, so Flack gives him a calling card and tells
him to call the second the scrubs come off.

Back at the lab, Hawkes examines the shoe print on Franklin the Bear. He sprays
a little phenothaline on it and finds traces of lye on it. Mac approaches and
asks if Franklin "tell you anything or did he lawyer up?" Hawkes shows him the
lye, saying that Emily had dropped the bear right where the victim was
attacked. He thinks that the killer must've stepped on the bear after dropping
the cup. Mac notices the irregular pattern on the sole of the left shoe,
meaning that the killer walks in the balls of the feet. Hawkes adds that the
wear pattern should be consistent on all the shoes of the killer, except if the
shoes are brand new. Mac tells Hawkes to document his findings and leaves.

Hawkes starts taking pictures of the bear. In another part of the lab, Danny is
analyzing the GSR on their victim's cheek on the computer. Stella walks in and
asks for progress, and Danny tells her that it isn't GSR. The computer results
show that it is Carbon, more specifically carbon steel that's "subjected to
high temperature, giving it it's spherical shape". It is usually associated
with grinding. Scagnetti walks in and hands Stella a pink bag, saying that they
found it in an alley and that it belonged to the victim, who is identified as Evelyn
Danner. They also found a Braille GPS Trekker, a device used by blind people to
help them know where they are in the city. Danny says he could hack into the
device and trace the victim's last known whereabouts.

At Evelyn's apartment, we see a lot clay head busts. Danny stares at a
sculpture while Stella admires the victim's work. Stella finds it hard to
believe Evelyn was blind because of her exquisite attention to detail. Danny
says Evelyn was a sculptor by profession and that she lived alone, which makes
him wonder who the models were. Stella thinks that the sculptures were either
commissioned pieces or personal friends, then sees a half finished piece. Danny
pulls out a letter under one of the busts, and when Stella asks what's written
on it, he asks her if she can read Braille.

At the lab, Mac is just getting off the phone when Aiden catches up to him.
While they're walking, she tells him that she's been on Regina Bowen's rape
case for a week and she still hasn't found anything. It's frustrating her that
Regina's been raped by the same guy twice and Aiden can't do anything. Mac
tells her to go over the evidence again, and that she isn't to work any other
case until they find tangible evidence or a solid lead against Pratt. As he
enters the elevator, he tells her to send the case evidence to his office.
Aiden nods and walks as the elevator doors close.

Mac is next seen at the ME's office with Zao, examining the plastic surgeon's
body. The lye (Sodium hydroxide) burned through the mucus wall and inflamed the
trachea, indicating that the victim inhaled a fair amount of lye and suggesting
that his mouth was open when the lye was thrown to his face. Zao takes the
victim's clothes from the rack and tells Mac that there's an unknown substance
that could possibly be a transfer from the suspect, and he's already sent a
sample to trace. Mac takes notice of the circular burn patterns on the victim's
right hand. The right palm was void of any burns. Mac finds it strange that the
palm is clean when human instinct is to throw your hands up palms out when
something is thrown at you. Zao wonders if the victim didn't have enough time
to react, and Mac decides to do a little re-enactment.

Three dummies, all wearing the same type of clothes as the victim, are set up.
Each of these have different positions; first dummy, hands up, palms out;
second dummy, right and left forearms covering the face; third dummy, left hand
down, right hand possible extended. Hawkes stands in front of the third dummy
and guesses that the victim was shaking someone's hand when the lye was thrown
at him, so maybe he knew his attacker. The two start throwing red liquid at
each dummy and comparing the patterns to the ones on the victim. They don't
find a pattern that matches, so Hawkes wonders how the victim got that burn on
his hands. Mac then takes the third dummies right hand, turns it palm down, and
pours the red liquid slowly. The pattern is a match, but Mac was slow and
deliberate. They figure the lye was slowly poured over the right hand before it
was thrown on the face, but that doesn't make sense. Hawkes asks about their
next move, and Mac says they have to find the cup.

The next day, Stella steps out of the elevator and gets off the phone when
Danny walks up beside her. He has the Trekker on his hand and pushes a button,
and the device says "Fifty-eight eighty-five Broadway, Thirty-five T-H floor,
Midtown Manhattan, New York City," in a monotonous computer voice. Stella is
impressed, and Danny tells her that it's what Evelyn used to get around the
city. It also has vocal and text capabilities and it can tell you where you
are, right down to the spot you're standing. Stella asks about its memory,
Danny says that it keeps a log from the minute of purchase, and that he's also
found out Evelyn's whereabouts the night before she was killed. He presses a
button, and the Trekker spouts "Eight hundred sixty-two West forty-five T-H New
York, New York, ten thousand one hundred twenty-five," which leads them to a...

..."Cuddle party", the hottest new scene, as Stella explains to Danny while
they watch at least 20 men and women caress, touch, and kiss each other. Stella
walks over to a cuddle caddy named Ira Feinstein, who takes them to the side
bar to talk about Evelyn. Feinstein says that Evelyn was a regular because this
was the only place she could be accepted mentally and physically. The rules in
a cuddle party are simple - "Pajamas stay on, no dry humping, no sex, you're
free to join the puppy pile, and if you had a good time, send me a
cuddle-monial," which is a letter regarding a person's positive experience to
touch. Stella asks again how Feinstein knew the victim, and he replies that
Evelyn though he was an interesting subject for a sculpture ("She liked my
nose, thought I had personality."). Feinstein also tells them that he had
nothing to do with the murder since he's dedicated his life to non-aggression.
Danny asks "Mr. Finklesteen" if Evelyn ever cuddled with someone in particular
in the "doggie" pile, and the caddy answers that there was one guy, a
good-looking fellow, but he can't remember his name. All he knows is that the
guy is an amateur hockey player. Danny gives him a card and tells him to call
if he remembers the name, and they thank him and start to leave. Feinstein
calls after them "if you ever need a cuddle, you know where to find us." Danny
stops, says "I don't cuddle," and walks out.

Back at Stella's office, she and her boyfriend Frankie Mala are looking at the
unfinished head bust from Evelyn's apartment. Stella thanks Frankie for
agreeing to help out, and asks his opinion if the sculpture was something
professional or personal. Being a sculptor himself, Frankie thinks that the
lack of details suggest that it was personal. Stella then asks if he could
finish it, and he says he'll manage since the left side of the face is pretty
well established but his hands would probably be sore when he's done, to which
Stella replies coyly with "I thought you like working with your hands?" They
are interrupted by Zack, telling her that a man from the Braille Institute was
waiting for her. He excuses herself and follows Zack out, leaving Frankie to
work with the bust.

At the lunchroom, Stella is listening to the man reading the letter found at
Evelyn's apartment. It's from a guy named "Steve", and he's regretting their
break up and asking her back. Now Stella thinks this is a crime of passion.

Mac is sitting behind his desk and frowning at Grand Central Station's crime
scene photos. He examines a photo closely and sees dust voids, consistent with
a stool and a small square case. Mac connects it to the saxophone player and
goes to the station to talk to him. Mac sees a metal cup behind the player's
case, and the man notices him and asks if he wanted to request a song. Mac asks
if he could look at the cup, and the man is apprehensive until Mac shows his
badge. The man then hands him the cup with no questions asked, Mac hands back
the bills in the cup and asks where he found it. The man tells him "it found
me", and we see a flashback of the cup hitting the man's saxophone case, then
he picks it up and shakes off the liquid. Back to the present, Mac takes out a
piece of litmus paper and dips it inside the cup. The test comes up positive
for lye. He's found the murder weapon and takes it back to the lab, where he
starts wiping the cup clean. He puts a few drops of some green chemical to a
Q-tip and wipes the cup with it, and stops when the chemical starts to bubble.
He wipes it off and finds the word ZELCO on it.

Next we see Danny, Stella and Scagnetti walking towards a group of hockey players. Stella introduces herself and asks for Steve Samprass. Steve moves forward, and the take his aside for questioning. They tell him that Evelyn was found dead at the rooftop of his apartment building, and he says he had nothing to say. He couldn't believe she was dead because they were getting back together. Stella asks why they broke up, he tells her he was getting a lot of heat from his teammates because of Evelyn's condition. But he realized that he wanted her back so he wrote her a letter. He recalls the day she sculpted his face and tells the detectives that it was what made him write the letter, and he knew it worked because Evelyn had left a message on his phone saying she'll be coming over. Danny asks what time, and Steve said around 6pm. He usually was out from practice by that time, but he had to stay late for a meeting. Stella tells him that although he had an alibi, she's still going to talk to his teammates and check the answering machine to confirm. Meanwhile, Danny takes notice of the ice skates one of Steve's teammates was carrying over his shoulder, then looks at Steve's. Danny bends down and says he's going to have to take all the ice skates. "I have an idea."

Back at the lab, Mac opens the box containing Regina Bowen's case evidence to help Aiden in her quest to give the victim justice. He looks at the testimonies and the photos, and then sets his sights on Pratt's hair sample. He takes it out of the envelope, and he is shocked to find the broken seal. It dawns to him that Aiden attempted something unethical and stares into space in disbelief. Stella walks in and notices his expression. Mac tells her to shut the door and shows her the seal. Stella doesn't believe Aiden would tamper with evidence, but Mac says Aiden is the only one working the case. He now must decide on what to do with Aiden's misconduct.

Somewhere else in the lab, Flack catches up to Hawkes and tells him that the dead plastic surgeon had three law suits against him for medical malpractice, with damages worth millions. The plaintiffs referred to the victim as "a butcher with a medical degree". Hawkes takes a protein bar from the dispenser, then Zack comes in with toxicity results on the victim, who tested positive for aspirin. Hawkes finds that odd because there's no indication the doctor was in pain prior to the attack, so Flack thinks that maybe the doctor was an addict. Zack also informs them that the unknown brown substance on the victim's shirt is tanning bronzer.

Next we see Flack down at the police station interviewing one of the plaintiffs, who tells him to go ahead and say what animal she looks like. Flack stammers "cat", and the woman tells him that the victim said he could fix it. She went to him for a little eye lift, and now she looks like "a freakin' cat!" Flack asks if she decided to get even, she says she decided to get a lawyer and sue the doctor, who settled for 1.7 million dollars. "That's a pretty good chunk o' change," Flack remarks, and we now see him talking to another plaintiff - a man who's face was kind of droopy. The man says that he deserved every penny of it after the victim damaged all the nerves on his face, and hearing of his death gives him great joy ("If I could smile, I would"). Flack asks him of his whereabouts on the day of the murder, and the man, whose name is Donald Scott, says he was in the courthouse making a plea for his client's release. He shows Flack his ID which he swipes every time he enters the courthouse. Flack sees a picture of Scott before the operation, and Scott bitterly says "Which Donald Scott do you think is more handsome?" Flack asks if he has to answer that question, and we see that he is now talking to the last plaintiff, a woman whose lips seem to be drawn back to a smile, and asks if she has to answer his questions. "If you wanna make this easier," Flack tells her and she resigns. She tells him she was asking 5 million dollars for the damages but the victim wouldn't go above 2 million. Flack then notices discoloration on her hand, and she tells him she has a pigmentation disorder called Vitiligo, and when asked if she uses tanning bronzer to mask it, she says sometimes and asks what it has to do with anything. Flack informs her that traces of tanning bronzer were found on the victim's shirt when he died. The woman then admits to having a settlement meeting with the victim and that she grabbed the victim's shoulders in anger, but she was nowhere near Grand Central. Flack asks for her left shoe, which she hands to him, and compares to the photo of the print on the stuffed bear. She asks "what's the verdict?", and Flack replies with "Let's just say you got a lot to smile about."

At the lab, Danny has lined up all the ice skates and is sharpening the blades one by one, making sure to collect samples of the metal shavings. Later, he complains how the computer is taking so long to analyze skate dust to Zack, who defends the computer and tells him that Mac would have his ass if it broke down. Danny laments about finding good help these days just as the results come in. Meanwhile, Stella checks in on Frankie if he's finished with the sculpture. After adding a few finishing touches around the eyes, Frankie says "he's ready" and turns the bust around. Stella immediately recognized him as one of Steve's teammates. Danny comes in and asks "Guess who the metal shaving belong to?", but before he could tell her, she finally remembers the name and answers "Paul Deacon". Danny says Paul was Steve's center-forward and roommate, as it turns out. Stella thinks that the evidence still isn't enough, that metal shavings and a sculpture doesn't mean murder, so they have to put him on the roof. Danny offers to drive back to the crime scene, and Stella tells Frankie she owes him before they leave.

At the lunch room, Hawkes is watching Jennifer Lopez's music video "Get Right" while grabbing a bite to eat. Mac comes in, asks him if he was on a break, and when Hawkes answers he was only taking five minutes to eat, he replies with "Hawkes, eating is frowned upon." Hawkes stops eating and starts to throw away his food when Mac tells him he was kidding. Hawkes laughs it off, and then tells Mac that Flack struck out on the patients and said it was like a freak show. Mac thinks they shouldn't look at the patients and shows Hawkes his results from the cup. It turns out that Zelco is a huge pharmaceutical distribution company that gave away about a thousand of the cups as corporation gifts a few years ago. Six cups were shipped to the victim's company for the doctors and the support staff. Hawkes asks when Mac wanted to move, Mac wanted to check something out first and leaves. Hawkes continues eating, and when he was about to put a piece of broccoli in his mouth, he sees Jennifer Lopez strutting her stuff and something clicks in his head. He blesses her, throws his food and eagerly goes back to work.

We cut to Stella and Danny searching the rooftop for anything that could put Paul Deacon in the crime scene. Stella notices three trees, one of which was slight bent to the right. She calls Danny over, and after Danny wonders "which one of those trees need Viagra", they take a closer look and find a bloody ribbon holding the branches together. They take it back to the lab where Danny processes it, lifting prints and confirming that the blood on the ribbon is human.

At Mac's office, Hawkes pops his head in through the door and tells Mac about a rumor that Jennifer Lopez's ass is insured for 1 billion dollars. Mac is confused, and Hawkes explains that her ass is her trade instrument, just like "a soccer player's legs or a supermodel's face". Mac realizes that the victim might have insured his hands, and Hawkes says he's found out that the victim did have his hands insured for 10 million. It now makes sense to Mac that the whole case was an insurance scam. For that amount of money to be given to someone, the insurance company had to have witnesses, so the victim chose Grand Central at rush hour.

Later, Mac is at the surgeon's clinic and has lined up everybody facing the wall with their left foot raised. He starts to compare each shoe to the photo of the print on the bear. He finds a match and asks the man to turn around. The man happens to be Dr. Thatcher, and Mac tells him to cancel the rest of his appointments that day.

On Danny and Stella's case, the two question Paul in his and Steve's room. Paul tells them that he and the victim dated, and Danny comments on Paul having a taste for "sloppy seconds" because Steve was seeing Evelyn before him. Stella suspects that Steve had no idea that Paul was "skating off" with his girlfriend, and Danny segues by saying Paul took pride in sharpening his skates, and the tiny particles of metal stick to the skin for days, and bets Paul that he just sharpened his skates. Stella tells him they have the ribbon with prints and blood from the scene, and asks him "Are you gonna tell us what happened, or you want us to tell you?"

Paul shakes his head before admitting to be home at 6. He got to Evelyn's make up message before Steve, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. As the message ended, there was a knock on the door and there was Evelyn. Paul tricked her into thinking that Steve was on the roof and brought her there, where he confronted her about dumping him, saying that he loved all her art stuff while Steve thought it was lame. Evelyn said she doesn't want to hurt his feeling, but she loved Steve. Paul said she can't dump him because she's blind, and she said that the difference between him and Steve was that the latter never saw her as a blind girl. Paul asked what was he to her, and when she told him he was just a "hook up on a rebound", he snapped and hit her hard. He then grabbed the ribbon on the tree and dragged her along as he strangled her to death.

Stella walks up to Paul and tells him that though she never knew Evelyn personally, she gives her credit for one thing - "Without being able to see, she saw right through you." She then turns him around and cuffs his hands.

At the police station, Mac is interviewing Thatcher. "Did you know that Dr. Howard had a policy insuring his hands for 10 million dollars?" The doctor says it's not unusual for someone to insure his instruments of livelihood. Mac starts to discuss the 3 million dollars the firm has for malpractice suits. Thatcher's records were clean, but because the victim's had "more flags than the UN building", he was becoming a liability to their firm. Thatcher wasn't going to let his hard work (getting through medical school and residency) go to waste by his partner's mistakes, so he wanted to part ways after the victim had cashed in his insurance.

Thatcher denies his involvement, saying that he was nowhere near the train station, but Mac knows from the doctor's shoe that it's a lie - no pun intended. His plan had to happen in front of a lot of people so that no one could accuse him of staging it and make it look like a random act. It would've worked except he forgot the one thing he couldn't control - Grand Central Station at rush hour.

We see a flashback of Thatcher meeting the victim at the Station, holding a cupful of lye. The two walk towards each other, and as Thatcher was pouring the lye on the victim's hand, someone bumped into him causing him to let go of the cup right into the victim's face.

With that, Mac tells Thatcher that he's lost his license, his money and (slides a picture of Dr. Howard's burnt face in front of Thatcher) his friend. Thatcher's face contorts to that of disgust and slides the photo away. "It never ceases to amaze me," Mac starts, shaking his head. "How a man of higher education can commit such...stupid crimes." He then takes the photo and leaves the interrogation room.

Hawkes is seen covering Franklin the bear's lye stain and tying a yellow ribbon around its neck. He puts it inside a box for delivery to Emily Dickerson.

That night, Aiden comes in to Mac's office. Mac tells her to shut the door, and then shows her the evidence with the broken seal. "What were you thinking?"

Aiden starts to shake her head, and Mac tells her to sit down. She goes to the chair in front of his desk and listens as he tells her of the three things he will protect at any cost - "The honor of this country, the safety of this city, and the integrity of this lab." He explains that as scientist, the hold a great deal of power because they have the ability to assign guilt to a person. When they gather evidence, they make a promise to the people of the city that they will handle the evidence with great care and good faith. He then tells her that she had broken that promise when she broke the seal.

Aiden tells him that though she wanted to, she didn't plant the evidence because she knew she wouldn't be able to live with it. Mac asks her if she couldn't live with it, or if she couldn't compromise the integrity of this office. "You know how much this place means to me, Mac," she says. "But Regina was raped twice, and he's gonna get away with it twice?"

"And if the credibility of this office is suspect," Mac counters. "How many more do you think will walk? Ten? Twenty? A hundred?"

Aiden lowers her head and looks away. Mac sighs, saying that he can't have someone like that working in this office, and fires her. Aiden is shocked, but she knows it was coming and accepts Mac's decision. She stands up and lays her badge on the table, telling Mac that she can't do this anymore, that if something like this happens again, she wouldn't be able to trust herself. She asks Mac a final favor - to catch Pratt for Regina. Mac makes that promise and assures her that the folder will never leave his desk until they catch him. Aiden then nods and leaves the office. Stella comes in seconds later and asks if Mac is okay. Mac says he's fine and thanks her, so she leaves him alone to stare out the window at the New York City lights.

End.